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I72
v.2
EDWARD IRVING'S WRITINGS
VOL. II.
London
Edinburgh
Dublin
•
ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO
·
·
32 Ludgate Hill
35 Hanover Street
85 Middle Abbey Street
4873
A.B
THE
COLLECTED WRITINGS OF
EDWARD IRVING
IN FIVE VOLUMES
Um
EDITED BY HIS NEPHEW
THE REV. G. CARLYLE, M. A.
VOL. II.
LONDON
ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO
1864
1
Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne & Company.
lass 2.24.pl?
CONTENTS.
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
LECTURE I.
LUKE III. I, 2,
LECTURE II.
LUKE III. 3,
PAGE
3
•
16
LECTURE III.
LUKE III. 7, 10,
29
LECTURE IV.
LUKE III. 10,
40
LECTURE V.
LUKE III.,
56
LECTURE VI.
LUKE III. 15-18,
69
LECTURE VII.
LUKE III. 16-18,
SI
LECTURE VIII.
MATT. III. 13; LUKE III.,
383220
95
vi
CONTENTS.
LECTURE IX.
PAGE
JOHN I. 19-28,
105
LECTURE X.
JOHN III. 23,
113
LECTURE XI.
JOHN III.,
LECTURE XII.
LUKE III.,
•
127
136
LECTURE XIII.
LUKE III.; MATT. XIV.,
148
LECTURE XIV.
LUKE III.; MATT. XIV.
MATT. XIV.; MARK VI.,
161
•
LECTURE XV.
LUKE III.; MATT. XIV.; MARK VI.,
•
•
174
THE TEMPTATION.
LECTURE I.
LUKE IV.,
•
191
LECTURE II.
LUKE IV.,
207
LECTURE III.
216
LUKE IV.,
LECTURE IV.
LUKE IV.,
231
LECTURE V.
LUKE IV.,
240
CONTENTS.
vii
DEDICATION, .
HOMILIES ON BAPTISM.
PAGE
247
HOMILY I.
THE SIGNIFICATION OF THIS ORDINANCE, .
249
HOMILY II.
THE SEALING VIRTUE OF BAPTISM,
270
•
HOMILY III.
THE DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN BAPTISM,
289
HOMILY IV.
THE NEW STANDING INTO WHICH BAPTISM BRINGETH THE
CHURCH, AND THE ENGAGING PARENT OR SPONSOR,
TOWARDS THE CHILD,
HOMILY V.
THE DUTIES OF THE CHURCH AND THE ENGAGING PARENT OR
SPONSOR,
HOMILY VI.
THE STANDING OF THE BAPTIZED IN THE CHURCH,
HOMILY VII.
THE STANDING OF THE BAPTIZED WITH RESPECT TO THE
LORD'S SUPPER,
306
321
343
358
HOMILY VIII.
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE FLOWING FROM BAPTISM,
375
HOMILY IX.
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS FLOWING FROM BAPTISM,
395
HOMILY X.
JUSTIFICATION AND RECAPITULATION OF THE WHOLE DOC-
TRINE CONTAINED IN THE ABOVE HOMILIES,
414
viii
CONTENTS.
HOMILIES ON THE LORD'S SUPPER.
ON SELF-EXAMINATION,
HOMILY I.
PAGE
435
HOMILY II.
THE THING WHICH IS SIGNIFIED IN THE LORD'S SUPPER,
482
HOMILY III.
THE INVITATION, ADMONITION, AND ARGUMENT FOR ALL BAP-
TIZED PERSONS TO COME UNTO THE TABLE OF THE
LORD,
•
•
502
HOMILY IV.
THE INVISIBLE GRACE SIGNIFIED AND CONVEYED TO THE FAITH-
FUL IN THE RECEIVING OF THE BREAD,
HOMILY V.
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP,
HOMILY VI.
THE INVISIBLE GRACE SIGNIFIED AND CONVEYED TO THE FAITH-
FUL IN THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP,
HOMILY VII.
THE LORD'S SUPPER AS A COMMEMORATIVE ACT, .
HOMILY VIII.
THE SUBSTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE CONTAINED IN THE LORD'S
SUPPER,
•
•
526
552
578
589
605
t
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
VOL. II.
A
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
THESE
LECTURE I.
LUKE III. I, 2.
HESE verses are to the narrative which follows, of pre-
cisely the same import as the date is to a letter or any
official document, ascertaining the precise time, place, and cir-
cumstances, under which the wonderful events that follow began
their course; and, therefore, instead of being slightly passed over
as an uninteresting enumeration of names with which the mind
refuses to be burdened, they should be used by the expounder
of the record, for that very purpose for which they were set
down by the writer, as affording a clue by which to ascertain
the veracity of the narrator, and the certainty of the things
narrated. Therefore, though it may not be so agreeable to
many ears to discourse of historical fact and evidence, as of
orthodoxy, doctrine, and religious experience, yet, seeing the
thing must sometimes be done for the conviction of the gain-
sayer and the knowledge of all, I hesitate not to treat of
that of which the evangelist has written; of the circumstances
of place and time; and the evidence thence to be derived of
the character of the narrator and the things narrated.
The verses draw our attention to the state of Judæa at the
time when the word of the Lord came to John, the son of
Zacharias, in the wilderness. To understand the civil or
political state of Judæa at this time, it is necessary to go
back nearly two hundred years, when the connexion between
the Jews and the Romans commenced. You will see it all
recorded in the first book of the Maccabees, which, for a
4
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
beautiful narrative of heroic and pious deeds, is not to be
surpassed by any poetical or true history that was ever
written.
A little more than three hundred years before the birth
of Christ, Alexander the Great had the empire of all the
East given into his hands, according to the prophecies of
Daniel. He infringed in nothing the religious worship or
civil immunities of the Jews, but treated them with the
highest regard; while upon Thebes, and Tyre, and Gaza,
and other cities around, he wreaked his utmost wrath. He
left no heir to his unbounded empire, which at his death
fell into the utmost troubles. Still Jerusalem was pre-
served from contamination by the mercy of God, and en-
joyed the government of her own high-priests and laws
for more than one hundred and fifty years of these troubled
times. By degrees, however, she fell away from the statutes
of the Lord, and profaned His holy temple. The high-
priesthood was bought for money of the kings of Syria, to
whom Palestine fell after the death of Alexander, and Jason
the high-priest introduced heathen rites into Jerusalem, and
sent offerings to Hercules, the god of Tyre. He also brought
thither the customs of the Greeks, establishing games and
gymnasiums, and other profanations, to which the priests and
the people were speedily given up. Therefore it pleased the
Lord to bring up against them the armies of Antiochus, king
of Syria, who twice plundered the city, and spoiled the temple,
and wrought all the abominations, with the account of which the
book of the Maccabees opens. But, lest the whole land should
fall away, and the promises of the Lord should fail, He raised
up His servants of the house of Maccabeus, and especially
Judas, one of the bravest and most heroical men that ever
arose in the day of a country's need. He struggled long and
sore with the armies of the oppressor, and by strength of the
arm of God he did redeem the land and give it rest. But,
perceiving the host gathering upon its borders like the locusts
of the East, he was directed to crave the help of the Roman
republic, which was beginning about this time to grapple with
the strength of established thrones. And the Romans, who,
in their better days, never refused to listen to the voice of the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
5
distressed, struck a league, offensive and defensive, with the
Jewish people. This was not well completed till the host of
the tyrant king of Syria burst upon the land of Judah once
more. Judas threw himself in their way with a handful of
men, and, after the most pious devotedness and valour, was
cut off, with the greater part of his host. After him his brothers
rose up in his stead, and kept the heart of resistance within
the land, till about one hundred and forty years before the
birth of Christ.
ence.
From this time, for one complete century, the high-priests
assumed the state of kings; and having fallen into many
quarrels amongst themselves, at length referred their disputes
to the Roman consul, whose decision dissatisfied the injured
party. Civil wars broke out afresh, with much confusion, and
continued until forty years before Christ, when Herod, by
the authority of the Romans, was settled upon the throne.
Between Judas Maccabeus and Herod there intervened
but one century, during which the political and persevering
Romans had possessed themselves of the arbitration of the
Jewish state, which shews how sore a remedy for the disturb-
ance of any land it is to invite or permit foreign interfer-
This Herod, who was but the tool of Augustus Cæsar,
emperor of Rome, was guilty of many cruelties, cutting off his
wife and children, and addicting himself to enormous crimes.
He still reigned when our Saviour was born; which event
being intimated to him by the wise men from the East,
brought about the murder of the innocents of Bethlehem;
after which, God, unable to endure him any longer, smote
him unto the death with one of the most shocking and mon-
strous diseases of which there is any record. Upon his death
the kingdom was divided amongst his three sons, of whom
two, Herod and Philip, are mentioned in the verse before us.
This division took place about thirty years before the time.
mentioned in our text. Two of his sons still reigned over
their portions at the time John came forth in the wilderness,
preaching repentance for the remission of sins. The third
brother, who was the oldest, had received for his share Judah
and Jerusalem, over which, at the Baptist's coming forth,
Pontius Pilate, a Roman, governed. The name of this brother
6
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
i
was Archelaus, and he is made mention of by Matthew as
reigning in Jerusalem when Joseph and the virgin returned
out of Egypt, which deterred them from going up to Jerusa-
lem, and made them turn aside for concealment to the de-
spised town of Nazareth. This Archelaus having given
offence to the Romans by some plots which he was making
against their power, was by them removed, and his govern-
ment taken into their own hands that very year our Lord
appeared in the temple, and claimed it as His Father's house.
The three parts, therefore, of Herod's kingdom are stated
to have been in these hands at the coming forth of John-
Judæa and Samaria, in the south, under Pontius Pilate, hav-
ing been forfeited by Archelaus; Galilee and its coasts, in the
centre, by Herod, the son of Herod; Ituræa, and the region
of Trachonitis, in the west, by Philip, also the son of Herod.
There is a fourth region mentioned by name, Abilene, under
the administration of Lysanias, a Roman, of whom little is
known. This country, Abilene, which in the Gospels is more
frequently named the region about Decapolis, was a part of
the ancient inheritance of Israel lying beyond the Jordan,
and pertaining to half the tribe of Manasseh. It was not
included in the kingdom of Herod, and it fell not to any of
his sons, but was under Roman administration.
These three sons of Herod who succeeded him came each one
to a dishonourable end-Archelaus dying in banishment, ast
did also another of them, and the third escaped by a timeous
death the punishment of his crimes. This did not take place
till after the death of our Lord, which was seven years from
the time of the Baptist's appearance, here so circumstantially
defined. During all this time, Pontius Pilate was governor of
Judæa, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee; and these two became
friends upon the condemnation of Christ. This is the same
Herod that had John the Baptist beheaded, and the same
Philip whose wife he had adopted into his house, and the
Herodias whom he had adopted was his own father's
daughter; and indeed the crimes of this family are not once
to be named, they are so enormous. When they had died off
from the earth which they had polluted, Herod Agrippa, the
grandson of that Herod who sought Christ and murdered the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
7
innocents, was promoted to be their successor; and in the
reign of the Emperor Claudius had also Judæa and Samaria
bestowed upon him: so that under him all these four pro-
vinces mentioned in the text came to be united into one, and
for three years Jerusalem again had a king. Hence, in the
12th chapter of the Acts, it is written, "Herod the king.
stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he
killed James the brother of John with the sword. And be-
cause he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to
take Peter also." After this enormity, he was not permitted
long to abide upon the earth; but having gone down to
Cæsarea upon a heathenish errand, he harangued the deputies
of Tyre and Sidon from his throne, and was applauded as a
god, at which his heart being elated with vanity, God could
endure him no longer, but smote him with the most humili-
ating of all diseases, making him while living the food of
worms. The grandsire smote the babes, the grandson smote
the saints, and the vilest of creeping things smote them in
their turn. We cannot dismiss this brief account of that
bloodthirsty and blasphemous crew without pronouncing the
old truth, that there is a God who reigneth over the realms of
the earth, and bridleth their impotent rage-a God who,
though He may bear with minor offences till the day of judg-
ment, yet if any man, great or small, dare to transact enor-
mities in His creation, He will descend at once, and smite
him into pieces like a potsherd; and it will nothing avail to
protect him, though, like these ancient offenders, his habi-
tation be the munition of rocks, and his seat a well-esta-
blished throne, and his speech persuasive as the voice of a
god. Judgment shall reach him, and scorch him, and con-
sume him, as easily as the fire of heaven doth pierce, and
scorch, and consume the most secret and interior parts of our
dwellings.
To return to our delineation of Jewish affairs at the time
the Baptist came, which was the fifteenth year of the reign
of Tiberius Cæsar; that is, fifteen years from the time that
Augustus had taken him into a share of the government, or
the twenty-sixth of our era; but it is necessary to be remem-
bered, as we mentioned on a former occasion, that, our era
8
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
not having been fixed till five hundred years after the birth
of Christ, has been found by more accurate chronology to be
fixed four years too late; so that, though we say it is 1822
years from the birth of Christ, it is actually 1826. Our
Saviour, therefore, was in His thirty-first year, and John the
Baptist some months older, when he appeared on his commis-
sion to prepare Messiah's way. From the twelfth year of
Christ, when, as hath been said, the sceptre departed from
Judah, and a lawgiver from between her feet, up to this His
thirty-first year, during this period of nineteen years, of which
we have no account in the evangelists, we know from Roman
and Jewish history that Jerusalem and the land of Judah were
sorely vexed with the Roman yoke. The power of life and
death were taken from them, and placed in a Roman gover-
nor; their strongholds were garrisoned by Roman soldiers;
justice was administered by the Roman laws; the means and
property of the people were registered, and exactions taken
thereon; and every other badge of a conquered province was
laid upon them. Only in matters of religion, of which the
Romans were always very tolerant, were they left in posses-
sion of their proper customs. They retained their sanhedrim
or national assembly, and their high-priest, and their feasts,
and the service of their temple; and a certain respect also,
when it could be done, was given to their national laws and
customs.
Now it could not otherwise be expected than that the Jews,
the most ancient and high-minded of nations, so often pre-
served by special interpositions of Jehovah, should groan
under such a bondage. They were expressly commanded in
the book of the law, "One from among thy brethren shalt
thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over
thee, which is not thy brother." The people were fain to
submit, and to pay tribute to Cæsar; but they held the prin-
ciple that it was not right, and came upon our Saviour with
that most popular question, Whether it was lawful to pay
tribute to him? thinking to disgust the people with Him, if
He answered, Yea; and if He answered, Nay, to embroil Him
with the ruling powers. Hence also publicans, who were such
as farmed the imposts from the Romans, were held in great
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
9
hatred as a sacrilegious race, who lent themselves to the
violation of the nation's heaven-derived rights, and were
placed under the ban of excommunication, so that no one
would eat with them; and it was brought as a chief accusa-
tion against our Saviour, that He did eat with publicans and
sinners. One small relic of independency they still possessed
in their high-priest. Of this Luke has not been unmindful, in
fixing the time and circumstance at which the event he hath
recorded took place—Annas and Caiaphas being the high-
priests. This seems to bear against that law of the Jews
which appointed there should be but one high-priest at a
time. But though, properly speaking, there was never but
one high-priest, he had always a substitute to officiate in his
stead, in case of any accident or ritual uncleanness disquali-
fying him from his duties. This personage is denominated
in the last chapter of Jeremiah the second priest. In the
eleventh of John's Gospel they are joined together by the
appellation of the chief priests. The most probable solution
of the difficulty that two are named in the passage before us
is this, that Annas was the chief priest, and Caiaphas his son-
in-law was associated with him in office. The appointing of
the high-priest was at this time usurped by the Romans, and
there were changes in it almost every year. Hence the ex-
pression in John, " Caiaphas was high-priest that same year."
Hence also this Annas, who was superseded during our Lord's
ministry by Caiaphas, we find again at the head of affairs
after the day of Pentecost, when they hauled Peter before him
to answer for his preaching. The probability is, that whether
in office or out of office, Annas, whose experience had been
great, having been high-priest fifteen years before this time,
took the sway over Caiaphas, his son-in-law, who had never
before held this most responsible office. It is also worthy of
remark that the most approved reading of the passage is not
"high-priests," but "high-priest :"
" but "high-priest:" "Annas being the high-
priest, and Caiaphas," a form of expression which manifestly
throws Caiaphas into the secondary place mentioned above.
Such, then, was the state of civil and ecclesiastical affairs
when John the Baptist came forth from the recesses of the
wilderness, in which he had grown in serene and solitary de-
ΙΟ
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
votion apart from the haunts of men; visited, doubtless, as
was Elias, with special messengers from on high, to occupy
his time and thoughts with the high commission on which he
was about to appear. The time and condition of things are
narrated with the same exactness with which the prophecies
of the Old Testament are opened, and with the same form of
expression—“The word of the Lord came to him in the wil-
derness." There he was reserved, his body communing with
the inclemency of earth and heaven, annealing itself to severe
encounters, his soul turned inward upon itself, and upward
to God, uninfluenced by compliances, untamed by customs,
filled with meditation and the Spirit of God. He waited the
appointed time when God should call him; and, when called,
he issued fearlessly upon his office, which the wickedness of
Herod and Herod's adulterous wife permitted him only three
years and a half to occupy. Then Jesus stepped forth at
large into the room of His precursor, and for the same space
of three years and a half was permitted to occupy His office
of salvation, completing between them the one week of the
prophet Daniel, during which the covenant was to be con-
firmed with many; for a week in the prophetic language is
seven years.
It is not necessary with intelligent men, who seek the good
of knowledge, and the satisfaction of doubt, and the clearing.
up of difficulty, no less than the establishment of doctrinal
discourse, to make any apology for the above information,
which has been collected from the most authentic sources.
But I should not have been at the pains of collecting it,
had it not been of the utmost importance, not only to
the doctrinal understanding of the whole narrative that is to
follow, but especially to the verification of the facts attend-
ant upon John's appearance. These facts are of the highest
consequence to the ascertaining of our Saviour's commis-
sion; for this was the occasion upon which he came among
the rest to be baptized. John publicly refused, but being
commanded, obeyed, upon which a voice from heaven pro-
claimed, and a dove from heaven pointed out, the One
whom God honoured by the name of beloved Son, and
announced as the sin-offering of the world. This, Christ made
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
I I
the foundation of His claim; this, His disciples appealed to;
and it is of the utmost importance that this should be well
authenticated to all coming ages. Now, we shall shew that
the vouchers which authenticate it lie all in the appendage of
the date; and had it not been for the most minute way in
which it is dated, had these two verses on which we lecture
been awanting, I hesitate not to say that it would have been
difficult, perhaps impossible, to deal with an adversary. As
it is, I shall build upon it an argument on which I am willing,
in any similar case that might now occur, to stake not only
faith, but fortune and life.
First, then, it is to be observed that this gospel or history of
Christ, containing, amongst other things, this narrative of
John's preaching and Christ's baptism and divine separation
in presence of all, must have been in circulation within thirty
years after these events. For the author of this treatise wrote
another subsequently to this, the Acts of the Apostles, in which
he speaks of himself as having been an actor; so that this Gos-
pel was written in the lifetime of one who bore a part in the
actions which immediately ensued. Now, his second treatise,
the Acts, brings down matters to sixty years after Christ's birth,
or thirty years after the date mentioned in our text; so that
this Gospel being finished before the Acts were begun, and
sent to Theophilus, must, at the very latest calculation, have
come into circulation within thirty years after the events here
recorded, when a great part of the multitude baptized by John
must have been still alive, and many who were eye-witnesses
and ear-witnesses to the separation of Christ must have been
living, to contradict the thing if it was not so. I take for
granted that the treatise of Luke, so soon as it was written,
was spread abroad, and not confined to a corner.
Of this we
have far more evidence than could have been expected at such
a distance of time, not only of the circulation of Luke's Gospel,
but also of the other three. In a century they had, by their
superior worth, thrust out of notice the various other narra-
tives which had been drawn up and circulated of the gospel
history. Before that time they are quoted from by Christian
writers as if universally acknowledged. Nay, in little more
than a century, a book was actually composed, by name, a
A
12
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
!
harmony of the four. Now, this could not otherwise have
happened in times when there was no art of printing, but by
the most rapid and free diffusion of the books, and the most
eager desire to transcribe them.
It is, therefore, beyond a doubt, that, however much earlier,
certainly within thirty years from the date of John's baptism,
this narrative was circulating upon the spot where the very
events narrated took place, and where the memory of events
so singular must have been as fresh as the memory of the
French Revolution is amongst us at this day. Now, do but
conceive how strong a test this is to the truth of everything
narrated. Suppose a similar case. Say that a book were pub-
lished and circulated in London by a set of men as the founda-
tion of their claims to belief-by the followers, say, of Johanna
Southcot; and that this their public document commenced
by saying that, at the beginning of this century, in the fortieth
year of George III., when such a man was mayor of Lon-
don, and such another high sheriff of the county, and such
another lord bishop of the diocese. At that time, dated after
the manner of our text, there came a man out of some neigh-
bouring forest, say Epping Forest, to the banks of the Thames.
That he was dressed in the most uncouth and savage attire,
and fed on the roots of the earth, refusing all the comforts, and
despising all the forms of civilised life. That he lifted up his
voice day by day, sparing no rank nor description of men, and
night by night retiring into the gloomy and savage wilderness,
from whence he issued again only to take up his woeful burden
against the universal declension of the land; until the whole
of the city was moved to its centre, and went forth with one
consent to hear the savage and severe denouncer of their
conditions. That, in our hearing, he pronounced our priests
hypocrites, our rulers extortioners, our soldiers spoilers, and
all men gone astray and needing repentance; and having done
his terrible office day by day, he returned night by night to the
wilds of nature, and harboured with the savage tenants there.
Let us be told, moreover, that the man was no raving fool,
but of such terrible energy of eloquence that the common herd
quailed before him, and every rank, stooping its particular
pride, craved of him what he wished them to do—the priests,
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
13
the governors, the soldiers; that the general inhabitants flock-
ed to him, and rank after rank submitted to be schooled by
him. Upon which he requires of every man the unseemly and
inconvenient rule of allowing himself to be taken and by
him dipped in the river, with certain solemn promises of re-
pentance and reformation. Let us be told, moreover, that thirty
years ago, while all this was going on, and multitudes were
submitting soul and body to the terrible reformer, there came
from the assembled thousands one youth, at the sight of whom
the haughty preacher stood humbled and abashed; that the
preacher refused to do the duty for him alone of all, declaring
himself to need his ablution, and that he was not able to tie
the latchet of his shoe. Let us be told, moreover, that in our
sight and hearing the modest stranger declined the honour,
and insisted upon submitting to the ritual, that upon his com-
ing up out of the water, there descended, cleaving the clear
blue heavens, a dove, which lighted and sat upon his head in
the midst of the assembly, all-forgetful of its timorous nature,
whereupon the hollow vault was filled with a voice like the
voice of thunder, and from the empyrean descended these
solemn words, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased."
I say, let the followers of any religious sect that started into
being thirty years ago, ay, I may say fifty years ago, or one
hundred or two hundred years ago, set forth such a story as
this now related as the ground of their claim to divine origin,
and insist thereon that we should break up our whole establish-
ment of church and state, and model ourselves upon their out-
landish and novel doctrines. Would people, building upon
so extraordinary a tale, so lately happened, so much in our
power to remember, or so much in our fathers' power, or in
our fathers' fathers, would they obtain one single convert?
The very publicity of the thing, the extraordinary nature of
it, would at once expose its untruth if so be it happened
not. Any one who should set up his face for it, would be
hooted as an idiot, or silenced as a terrible liar; and if he
had ultimate views, he would be put out of the way as a most.
unblushing and horrible knave. He and his infamous trash
would be spouted forth with the highest indignation and the
14
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
+
most sovereign disgust from the ear and faith of every man
but a bedlamite or a fool. But such was not the case with
this narrative, though beginning with precisely such a tale;
it was received, and believed in, and made converts, thou-
sands in a day, who sacrificed all their wealth for it, and
many of them their lives also. That, I say again, is to my
mind the most indubitable proof that the whole affair actually
happened as it is narrated; unless the people of Jerusalem
were with one consent resolved to be duped, and for the sake
of being duped, which men hate as they hate death, for this
were resolved to sacrifice all possessions, life present, and
hope of the life to come.
Now, all the weight of evidence rests mainly upon the
narrative being dated. Say such a narrative of events by
the river Thames had come forth without being dated, like
the story of Whittington, or the tale of Nigel's fortunes,
then it might have got into circulation for the pleasant
moral or the great talent of it, or some other recommenda-
tion, and no one might have taken the pains to expiscate
the truth. Then after lying dormant a season, it might
be brought to light, and set forth as having been once re-
ceived, and therefore entitled to credit, and so slip into cur-
rency without having even received the necessary sifting.
But not so when it hath a date, and that date within the
memory of living men, or men lately departed. That is a
challenge of every man's veracity. Each one is pitched
against it; and each one, if it be worth his while, will ex-
pose it, so that it can never creep into circulation through
the remissness or neglect of the people.
Of so much consequence to the whole ensuing narrative
are these two verses, which the modern taste of discoursing
would pass by as utterly unprofitable, for some matter of a
more latent and popular kind. But conceiving the religion
of a country to rest upon many pillars, which are founded all
upon the Word of God, and that we Christians are set by the
state to uphold it each in his proper sphere, I confess I can-
not in conscience permit any opportunity to pass of bringing
any illustration or strength to the Divine record on which our
whole faith is pillared.
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
15
Let me urge every one to the serious consideration, not
of the evidence only, but of the matter which John came to
preach-repentance for the remission of sins. This is the
beginning of a spiritual life, the foundation of religion-re-
pentance, with a view to the remission of sins through the
blood of Christ.
LECTURE II.
LUKE III. 3.
HEROD the Great and Archelaus, his son, who ruled Judah
and Jerusalem for more than fifty years previous to
Christ's first appearance in the temple, were placed upon the
throne by the influence of Rome, and held it only upon their
good and respectful behaviour to the emperor. Their policy
was therefore not Jewish but Roman, and bore directly against
the national feeling, which burst out from time to time among
the priests and the people. Every patriotic man was cut off
from appointments in church or state; creatures of the reigning
power were introduced into office; and all things adverse to
the independence and freedom of the nation were promoted.
When Archelaus was deposed, the sceptre departed from
Judah and a lawgiver from between her feet, and she became
in appearance, as well as in truth, a conquered, subjugated
province. In this state she had continued now for eighteen
years, having been fleeced by four successive governors, who,
so much as is known of them, had a bad reputation even in
that Augustan age of rapacious governors; and Pontius Pilate,
who now held the reins under Tiberius, was noted for a flagi-
tious and unprincipled man.
For any high-minded nation to be ruled for fifty years by
foreign influence, and for eighteen more to be galled by a foreign
yoke for an imperial city, which for twelve centuries had
reared its head in imperial greatness, to be overawed by the
presence of outlandish soldiers, spoiled by the exactions of
rapacious governors, and treated after the forms and fashions of
foreign laws, hath always been considered by men as the sorest
tribulation under which they can groan, and as calling for the
sacrifice of their dearest blood in order to shake it off. But for
Judah and Jerusalem to be so enslaved-the tribe and city of
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
17
David, the seat of God's temple and of His holy presence,
whose walls had been built in troublous times and defended by
the Lord of hosts in the face of all nations-must have been
tenfold misery. Their law to be discarded, which had been
given at Mount Sinai; their sceptre to be beaten in pieces,
which had been promised to be everlasting; their holy hill
to be made the citadel of an uncircumcised soldiery; and their
streets, which had echoed to the minstrelsy of David and
his sacred choir, to be invaded with the ensigns and march
and music of a Gentile nation, hardly known to them longer
than a century—this must have been insufferable to the noble
feelings and ancient spirit of the people, no less than the actual
imposts were oppressive to their worldly comfort and pros-
perity. And to crown all, they had Moses and the prophets
read to them daily in their synagogues-Moses, who reminded
them of God's selection and nurse-like watchfulness of their
infant nation, and His condescending to become their Law-
giver and King; the prophets, who were wont to deal the
woes of God upon the nations round about, and to comfort
Israel with the tidings of a great deliverance. Those prophets
to whom the fates had been revealed were now no more. For
five centuries no seer had arisen in Israel to foretell the end
of her calamities. These had thickened around her until the
enemy had entered into her city, over which many years re-
volved with no vestiges of hope or better fortune in reserve.
This was the sad condition of the holy city upon which
Isaiah cast his prophetic eye; and seeing in the depths of the
gloomy darkness which overspread her hopes, the harbinger
of a great deliverance appearing, he lifted up his voice, as if
he had been one of the people who were suffering the misery
of forlorn fortunes and departed hopes, and cried, "Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye com-
fortably unto Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is
accomplished and her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath re-
ceived of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice
of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight,
VOL. II.
B
18
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
and the rough places made plain; and the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it, for the mouth of
the Lord hath spoken it." This which Isaiah saw with his
prophetic eye, and spoke in figurative disguise six hundred.
years before, the Lord now prepared His hand to fulfil by the
ministry of His servant John, whom He had brought into the
world and educated for that single intent. But to understand
the fulfilment, you must understand the language in which the
prophecy is written, for it is all an emblem of the moral con-
dition of men. The wilderness from the midst of which John
was to cry, and the desert over which a pathway for the Lord
was to be prepared, is that same wilderness and solitary place
which, in another place, he saith was to become glad—that
same desert which was to rejoice and blossom like a rose;
and the glory of the Lord which was to be revealed, and which
all flesh should behold, is the pacification of the warring in-
habitants and elements of the earth, which in that same place
he describeth, when there shall be "nothing to hurt or to de-
stroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
John was to pioneer the way for this grand proclamation of
peace and goodwill on earth. He was first to face the rugged
wastes of moral nature, and lift up his voice through all its
desolation, commanding the valleys to be filled, and the high
places to be abased, and the crooked places to be made
straight, and the rough places to be made plain: that is, he
was to summon every obstruction to Messiah the Prince to
give way and surrender; he was to rebuke the proud eleva-
tions of human life which might resist Him; he was to raise and
comfort the depressed conditions of life which had cast away
hopes of Him; he was to rebuke the uneven and crooked poli-
cies of men, which would eye Him askance, and wilfully mis-
take Him; and the rough severities and unpeaceful tempers of
life which would tear the Saviour's dove-like affections, he was
to tame and smooth for His coming. For the moral world was
then a wilderness, whereon grew at pleasure every rank and
noxious weed, and wherein raged every excessive passion and
brutal lust. There was a hot warfare of every interest-
people struggling with princes, and princes with each other;
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
19
knowledge making for itself a place, and obliged thereto to
shut itself up in the strong tower of stoical apathy. But espe-
cially had the daughters of impurity possessed the people;
and liberty lived no longer upon the world, save amongst the
recesses of the north and east, where it lived by the strength
of the desolation which frowned around it. The world was a
waste howling wilderness, in which no repose of peace, nor
voice of happiness was heard, and speculation wearied out,
and hope sickened to death, had fled the breasts of all, save
a few who were persecuted out of life.
It was no easy ministry to enter unbefriended into this hot
warfare of lust and pride and passion, and meet it in the face,
and struggle with it single-handed and alone. To rebuke the
soldier in his fiercest moods, to discover the priest in his most
hidden and secret hypocrisies, to bridle kings in the race of
their powerful wickedness, and in the breasts of oppressed and
degraded people to kindle the spark of hope and feeling anew,
—such was the Baptist's office in that wilderness, into which,
for five hundred years, no pruning, reforming hand had been.
sent by Heaven. It was the sublimest and the most terrible
position into which a frail man could be put by the Almighty,
and I much question whether another mortal hath ever occu-
pied a similar position. Christ afterwards sent out twelve,
then seventy, in bands of two, to cultivate the ground the
Baptist had broken up; but the Baptist was alone upon the
ground. Elias, whom the Baptist much resembled, was left
alone among the prophets; but Elias was the remnant of
many whose example he had before him. John was the
beginning of a new race. Elias fled from the face of the per-
secutor; John fled not, but bearded power in its very palace.
Elias had a miraculous Hand to sustain his words with signs;
John did no miracle, but had to stand in his own defence-
less humanity. He was to attack the universal customs and
likings of men, and all his armoury was his voice. Samson
the Nazarite had a work to work, and the strength to per-
form it was placed in his hair. John had a greater work to
work, and the power to perform it was his voice. "What art
thou?" said the Pharisees. "I am the voice of one crying in
the wilderness,” replied the Baptist.
20
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
To educate him for this terrible office, (for the Lord doth
not despise the education of His ministers, as do many modern.
upstart sects,) he was subjected to the rite of the Nazarite, by
which no razor could come upon his head, and no strong
drink pass his lips, and no luxury soften the severity of his
holy office. Such should ever be the ritual of a true reformer
and missionary. And he who cannot keep his body under,
and put it, when need is, upon the shortest, hardest allow-
ance, is not worthy to talk to others of restraining and restrict-
ing their present indulgences of power and pleasure within
narrow bounds. And the Baptist had his habitation in the
wilderness; he fared upon locusts and the wild honey, and he
girdled his loins with the hair of the camel. "The child grew,
and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the desert till the day
of his shewing unto Israel:" that is, till his thirtieth year.
What he communed with, or how he spent his time, God hath
not informed us; but, as hath been said, it was a noble train-
ing for the rebuker and reprover of a world, for a greatly
endowed and virtuously disposed mind hath nothing to fear
from solitude. Our Saxon Alfred came forth from his shep-
herd concealment recruited by meditation with his own soul,
with nature, and with nature's God, and refreshed for the de-
liverance of England. Gustavus Vasa of Sweden came forth
from his concealment amongst the miners of Dalicarlia, and
overthrew, in the strength of severe virtue, the oppression of
the Dane. Hoffer, whose name is holy in the bosom of op-
pressed ones over the face of Europe, before he made his
demonstration for the Tyrolese, retired to the loneliest
mountain of the Alps, and dwelt many days apart from men,
feeding upon the milk of a goat, his only companion, and then
came forth purified from all sinister intention by communion
with his Maker, to whom, unlike our home-bred patriots and
reformers, he did devote his whole soul; and he ceased not
from the work to which he had girded up his soul until the
earth beneath his scaffold drank the blood which no bribes of
the usurper could corrupt. And so also of religion it hath
been found; for religion and freedom are twin-sisters, which
may never be parted without risk to both. Christ, after
His baptism and setting apart, we have no account of for
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
2 I
three years, during which He doubtless counted the cost of His
undertaking. Paul being called, retired three years no one
knows whither, and came forth to shatter the theology and
customs of Judæa, Greece, and Rome. Luther came forth
from his temporary concealment, like a lion from his den, to
roar in the teeth of all his foes. Knox meditated with his
noble soul his pious work of reformation while he was lashed
to the oar like a convict upon the rivers of France, and from
his place of banishment he blew the first blast of his trumpet;
after which he returned, like a flame of pure fire, to set his
country in a blaze of religious ardour, and, like a pillar of fire,
to guide them in their most glorious work. And what is there.
good that cometh not out of suffering? and what is there great
that cometh not out of self-denial? what is there new in know-
ledge or in virtue that cometh not out of solitary thought?
and what is there noble and lasting in purpose that cometh
not out of long nursing and strengthening in the secret cham-
bers of the mind?
Now John, as hath been said, had given unto him the most
terrible office of attacking everything in society's customs
which might impede the progress and success of Him that
was to follow after. It was needful, therefore, that he should
be armed at every point to meet opposition, that he should
have nothing to love but his life, and nothing that he cared
for but the end and object of his mission. Therefore he was
taught to brave life's hated extremities; abstemiousness was
his highest feast, and I doubt not hunger and thirst and
nakedness were his familiar friends. And looking upon the
wild beasts of the desert, he would not fear the face of an
infuriated man or a blood-thirsty woman. What to him was
a scowling Pharisee, or a mocking Sadducee, or a fawning
publican, or a rough soldier, or a riotous mob?-these were
jocund, cheerful sights to one who had roamed amongst the
roaming denizens of the desert, and in the midst of them laid
his head down under no canopy and with no defence but the
canopy and defence of the providence of the Most High.
And what lessons of Providence he would learn during these
trials and troubles of his forlorn estate! For without many
such interferences, he must have perished utterly. And what
22
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
time for conning the Word of God, and holding communion.
with Him that was with His people forty years in the wilder-
ness! And what a nursery for schooling the young Nazarite.
into contempt of those stately forms and cunning disguises in
which sin doth prank herself, the vanities, the affectations,
the pomp and circumstance, and painted decorations, under
which wickedness hides her shocking head and vile deformed
person! What a school for the severe and terrible moods of
the Spirit which he was called to utter; what a rough training
for a rough prophet! He was to weep with no lamentation,
like Jeremiah; he was not to ride in the chariot of the sub-
lime, like Isaiah; or clothe himself with the cloudy mysterious-
ness of Ezekiel, nor flee like Jonah; but he was to strike home
at every thrust the point blank of his rebuke, was to shake
and shiver and demolish the retreats of self-esteem.
He was
to lay every man a wreck upon the waves, and disappoint
him thoroughly of all his bravery, and bring all to one com-
mon confessional, and make them passive under the same.
rebuke, and submit them to the same humiliating rite of
washing and cleansing. He was to spare no living wight;
the portals of the palace were not to be sacred against the
spiritual leveller, nor beautiful women to be sacred from his
uncivil tongue. If such a preacher was to appear again even
here in this Christian island, leaving rule aside, and striking
into the bosom of every corruption the land groaneth under,
why, the religious would disown him, saying that he was no
preacher of the peaceful Jesus, and the irreligious would wag
their heads at him in scorn, and power would libel him, and a
prison or worse would be his certain doom.
Foreordained in the ancient prophecies to such an office,
given of God to childless parents for such an office, educated
for it, and now, after thirty years' most special education,
called to it, what topic was meet for him to preach,—what
single word could express his many-toned exhortations and
his much-varied rebukes,-what single word express the soul
and intention of his office,-what word but this single one,
repentance, change of mind, and change of life? The word of
the Lord came unto him in the wilderness, and he came into
all the region about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repent-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
23
ance unto the remission of sin. His business, as hath been
said, was to level and reform the sinful exuberances of his
countrymen, and bring them under a common sentiment of
unworthiness, that they might welcome him who came in the
name of the Lord to save. Therefore he preached repent-
ance and a change of life. His brief exhortation was-" Re-
pent and be baptized, confessing your sins."
There must have been in the tongue of this wayfarer of the
desert some terrible fire of conviction, some wonderful unction
of holiness, that with such a brief in his hand he should have
found any audience or verdict in his favour. To come crimi-
nating men with one general accusation of wickedness, re-
morselessly cutting through all decent disguises into the
naked breast of their character,-without any insinuation of
manner or soft forms of language,-without smiles, apologies,
or any indulgence, to cut up the whole form of life, and with
ruthless denunciation devote it like chaff to the whirling fire
of hell; all unaided, unbefriended, a savage man to do this,
and in no strength but the intrinsical beauty of holiness and
odiousness of sin, to carry his point with all classes of the
community, is one of the noblest triumphs of the truth;
and it ought to encourage for ever the lonely possessor of
any truth to give it forth to the world, in the assured
hope that the Father of truth will sooner or later find for
it acceptance. John's success is not a matter of specu-
lation, but is recorded in this very chapter. His method
of discourse is also upon record, and no matter of specu-
lation. Such a severe and heart-piercing style of minister-
ing religious truth may, by the blessing of God, do good in
this lame age of the Church; and we shall therefore do our
utmost to give it breadth of exposition in our future discourses.
But our object at present, after contemplating the sublime
position of the Baptist as the great forerunner of Messiah,
is to study the method which he took in executing his
office. They are wont to tell you upon all hands that the
way to herald the good news of the gospel of peace is to
droop the wing, and glide softly and gently into the hearts of
the people; and every other method they decry as improper
and unpropitious to the gospel of peace. But they know not
24
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
what they talk about, neither do they know the history of the
propagation of the gospel. Here is John, the first herald of
salvation; his was a withering blast. There is Christ, the
very Teacher: what a stern upbraider was He of worldly
customs! Few are the honeyed words of His speech. There
was Stephen after Him, who cut the people to the heart, so
that they gnashed on him with their teeth. There was Paul,
that uncourtly apostle, who had the presumption to speak to
kings of temperance in their pleasures, of righteousness in
their power, and of judgment to come, to bridle their haughty
dealings. There were all the prophets before the inaugur-
ation of the gospel; there have been all the reformers since.
Were they sleek and silken men? No; they were terrible
Were they prudential men? No; they were men who
bore their lives in their hand, and wore their wealth in thin
rags of clothing, and had all their preferment in heaven.
Well then, I ask, whence cometh this universal call for soft,
prudential, complimentary discourse? Who hath commanded
it? When did it reform the Church, or propagate the faith,
or purify morals, or put Satan and his power to flight? Out
upon it; it is a taste, an ephemeral taste, that hath no sanc-
tion in any age of the Church. 'Tis an upstart of the worldly
wisdom that hath now the helm of presidency, a product of
that soft enjoyment to which all men, religious and irreligious,
would devote themselves.
men.
What an ungracious orator was this John the Baptist—a
very firebrand, a most unguarded man. He joined himself
to no party; he entered into no paction with any one; he
sought no backing; he trusted to the truth he had in com-
mission to make its own way. His was to give it voice, God's
to give it success. And behold how successful he was withal!
He excited a sensation, and, as is usual, roused 'the jealousy
of the vested interests. They sent to know what or who he
was, and in what right he spoke. He answered that he was a
voice, and no more; that his speech was all he was good for,
and all he wished to stand by. To that he referred them,
leaving them to digest its severe sentences as best they might.
Now it seemeth to me that the Baptist is the type of
every herald of salvation. We have to do with the same
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
25
overgrown wilderness of moral life. There are the same
towers of pride and mountains of vanity to be brought
low; the same hollow hopelessness and deep despair to be
filled with consolation and assurance; the same rough
asperities of character to be shorn smooth; the same
crooked and intriguing policies to be made straight, that
the gospel of Christ may have free course and be glorified;
there is the same gate upon the heart to be lifted up;
the same bolted, barred gates have to lift up their heads,
that the King of glory may enter in. I do therefore con-
sider the Baptist as our pattern and permission to take
strong weapons of argument, and terrible denunciation,
wherewithal to clear away these obstructions, and make a
highway for the descent of our Lord. Christ came not
until the Baptist had come. The gospel of salvation cometh
not until the fear of condemnation and ruin hath seized
us. The Baptist rested his lever upon the instant coming
of Christ, and from that fulcrum took his purchase upon
the present. The preparation took its character from that
which was to be prepared for. The usher and forerunner
made his address and approach as beseemed the character
of Him who was to follow. From which I conclude
that this previous debate, this work of the pioneer before
the main battle, should by the preacher have a Christian
bearing and intention. Though he discourses bitterly and
terribly against all forms and conditions of the world which
repulse the progress of Christ, and without remorse demo-
lishes them, he is to do so only to open up the way of Christ,
not out of natural violence of temper, not out of the sour-
ness of disgust, not out of satirical taste, not out of con-
scious power, not out of ambitious levellings of dignities,
nor cruel anatomy of characters these are mean advan-
tages taken of this dignified place, unholy weapons which
God blesseth not; and they are to be exploded for ever
from this divine service. Not the less is severity of manner
and strength of argument, and dissection of character, and
every other method of demolition to be employed, but
employed with the view and intent of opening an easier
passage for Christ the Saviour, who cannot come until the
26
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
towers of carnal security have been shaken, and the refuges
of lies destroyed. Such weapons of our warfare are not only
legitimate, but they are commanded to be used. John the
Baptist is the great type and emblem of this preliminary
discoursing, and he is not a well instructed scribe, nor a wise
disciple, who doth not so employ the preliminary pioneering
of the way as well as the main battle.
Therefore, in the free exercise of my vocation, I command
all to repent, every one of his peculiar transgressions, and to
flee from the wrath to come. "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye
die, ye that work iniquity." There cometh One who shall
lay the axe to the root of the tree and consign every un-
fruitful one to fire unquenchable. He shall separate the
wheat from the chaff, preserving the one in His garner, con-
suming the other with fire. A few years, and the voice of
the preacher will be heard no more. A few years, and the
overtures of salvation will be unclasped no more. A few
years, and your ear will listen only to the shrieks of
horror and the throes of despair. And a drop of water to
cool your tongue will not be able to be commanded by
the soul which now refuseth all the treasures which heaven
contains.
And, will ye then die with the voice of salvation in your
ear, and the pledge of salvation in your hand? Why will you
do so? What gain ye by such a course? What? What?
Some miserable pittance of world's wealth and enjoyment
for a transient season. Say it were a coronet, what then?--
say it were a throne, what then?-say it were the wide world,
“what is a man profited though he should gain the whole
world and lose his own soul?”
Turn, then, each one from your sins, that your immortal
soul, against which a world is no equivalent, perish not; turn.
unto God confessing your sins, for "He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins," and "the blood of Christ cleanseth from
all sin." The end of all things seen and temporal is at hand.
The beginning of all things spiritual and eternal is at hand.
"There is no device in the grave, whither we hasten." And
at the judgment-seat, nothing but a changed life hath any
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
27
hearing, and from the judgment-seat there is no appeal, and
in hell there is no repentance nor city of refuge.
Therefore, now, while the light of heaven gleameth in your
eye, and the soul stayeth in her insecure and fragile taber-
nacle, even now, ere death's finger hath stopped your ear from
all hearing of salvation, and your soul from all tender touch
of remorse,—now while God lingereth, yea, lingereth at the
solicitation of the Vine-dresser, ere He cut you down as cum-
berers of the ground,-turn even now at the voice of this re-
monstrance that His Spirit hath sent on purpose to quicken
and resuscitate decayed and irresolute souls,-now, now,
come confessing your sins, and seeking of the Holy Ghost
what you shall do to inherit eternal life.
And, ye generation of godless rebels, that refuse and will
not come to any terms, however gracious, but hold out in
perfect contempt of God, the sands of your life are fast ebbing,
and the last particle shall soon fall, and you shall sink speech-
less into the waste places of spirits reprobate; when desola-
tion's blast shall come over your well-being, as the whirlwind
cometh over the deep; and changeless, pitiless, iron-clasped
destiny shall engirdle you for ever.
Therefore let the vicious man break his vicious engagements,
and the blasphemous dismiss his oaths, and the unjust man
restore fourfold of his ill-gotten gains, and the impure man
cleanse himself, and the proud man humble himself to a pray-
ing mood, and the vain man clothe his vanity in self-abase-
ment, and all put on bowels of charity, and robes of holiness.
For He cometh, He cometh, "and every eye shall see Him,
and they that pierced Him shall mourn and weep, and they
that trampled Him under foot shall call upon the hills to
cover them from His terrible vengeance." But He shall come,
not in human guise a simple peasant youth, as He came to
the baptizing of John, He shall come in the clouds of heaven,
with the archangel and the trump of God; and His enemies
shall flee howling from His terrible presence and consuming
wrath.
The children of Israel repented at the preaching of John
the Baptist, and were baptized in the waters of Jordan, con-
28
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
fessing their sins. They went forth from Jerusalem, hardened
in wickedness and guilt-they came home humbled in
spirit, dressed like modest virgins to meet the Bridegroom
when He might arrive. But ye, shall I say ye all repent, and
resolve in the strength of God to change the tenor of your
ways? Then God speed ye, and advance ye in holiness, that
ye may be ready to meet the great Bridegroom when He
cometh, and enter with Him into the marriage-feast, and for
ever live in the mansions which He hath prepared for you,
with the banner of His love over your heads, and the praise of
His love on your lips, and the sense of His love ruling in your
hearts.
IN
LECTURE III.
LUKE III. 7, 10.
N our last discourse we considered John, the precursor of
Christ, as an emblem of that precursive work which must
always precede the reception of Christ, and the desert in which
he lifted up his voice, commanding it to be levelled and dressed
for the approach of One that was coming, we did regard as an
emblem of that moral wilderness of pride, cruelty, cunning,
and lust, upon which the gospel, according as it advanceth,
worketh a pruning, repressing, and purifying influence; and
we took to the pastoral office an equal liberty to pull down
and demolish, to rebuke, to condemn, to pour and utter wrath
and indignation upon every evil thing that exalteth itself
against the coming of Christ. And if any challenge us for
following such a course, or ask at us our authority for such a
daring invasion upon the pleasant places of their fond affec-
tions, it is our part to answer them as the Baptist did, "that
we are the voice of one crying in the wilderness," and that
not we, but God, is responsible for the fearful tidings which
we bring. For it seems to me, that though the ministers of
religion be not called to any catholic renouncement of home
and its soft affections, nor of the world and its active inter-
course, but rather to set forth therein before the common eye
the wisdom and discipline of Christ, they should be on their
guard lest by these or other tender attachments, by the fear
of the world's power or lofty patronage, they be led to at-
temper the severe and terrible truth to the feelings of a soft
and luxurious age.
In which expostulation with the temper of the times and
the shackled state of the prophetic office, we doubt not that
many whose ears have been accustomed to the soft and slen-
der tones of peace wherewith the land abounded, and spoiled
30
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
for the audience of anything resolute and terrible, did think
we were of a cruel and biting temper, unkind and unevan-
gelical, in which they are indeed deceived; for we only
sought, against the stomach of our own feeling, to catch the
spirit of the unabashed Nazarite of the desert, conceiving
that this city before which we testify hath much need of the
same weeding and pruning and gracious reformation; and
therefore we shall not shrink from continuing that which
we have begun, and pursuing the Baptist's short-lived and
shortly-recorded ministry in the same spirit in which it was
uttered by the Baptist and is recorded by our evangelist.
It was bit-
They were
The Baptist came forth in rough and hairy garments from
his rough and desert abode, and the multitude assembled
from Jerusalem and the country around Jordan, to the skirts
of the desert, to hear the sublime and solitary man; but
rougher far than hairy raiment or rocky wild was that
ungentle voice which he rung among the thousands of Israel.
Such a salutation as he opened with never perhaps smote the
pride of any assembly, "O generation of vipers!"
terly, it was uncourtly, but oh, it was truly said.
the offspring of vipers: for often had their fathers stung to the
death the benefactors, the saviours, sent from heaven to save the
nation, and soon were the children to shew themselves born in
the likeness of their sires, by stinging with persecution and
death him before whose voice of judgment they now stood
abashed, and that greater One whose shoe-latchet he was
not worthy to unloose. And to this biting salutation he adds
the cold, sarcastic question, "Who hath warned you to flee.
from the wrath to come?"-no congratulation that they had
taken flight, no cheerful welcome, no encouragement to per-
severe-nothing but the taunting question, "Who hath warned
you?" It was no wish for information that moved the inter-
rogation, for he knew well who and what had moved them;
but it was to upbraid them with all the calls and messages
their worthless nation had spurned, to express wonder that
any warning should have virtue to bestir them, and to set
their spirits on the search whether motives of curiosity, of
censure, or of malice did not bring them together. Out of
one form of speech into another he casts the burning indig-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
31
nation of his spirit, composing altogether a very masterpiece
of the indignant and scornful style so frequent in the pro-
phets, and always the best suited to a declining age. His
next stroke is a summons—an unwelcome summons—at their
cold, formal, and lifeless hearts, "Bring forth the fruits meet
for repentance." Well they knew whereat this blow was
aimed, at their ritual and ceremonial fervour, upon which
they built their assurance of salvation—“I thank Thee, O God,
that I am not as other men are-extortioners, unjust, adul-
terers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I
give tithes of all that I possess ;"-and well they knew how
ungracious were these fruits of repentance-humility towards.
God, and love towards men, defence of the widow and the
injured, protection to the stranger and the cripple, and justice
towards all. All this they had learnt, or might have learnt,
from their prophets, and especially from Isaiah, the opening
expostulation of whose prophecy is the best commentary
upon this address of the Baptist. But the last is the un-
kindest cut of all, "And go not to say, We have Abraham for
our father." This was the very palladium of the nation, to
which they confided when driven from every other hope.
How they used to recoil upon our Saviour, "We be Abra-
ham's seed, and were never in bondage unto any man."
"Abraham is our father:" "art Thou greater than our
father Abraham ?" This John touches with sacrilegious
hand, and tells them in his iron-hearted tone, “I say unto
you that God is able of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham." Take no credit, then, for circumcision and
pure descent; dismiss all your confidence in the promise
made to your father: for the stones you tread upon might
have been entitled to as much. If upon these stones—I
fancy the Baptist casting his eye around the rocky waste—
the Spirit of the Lord should breathe, as upon the dry bones
in Ezekiel's valley of vision, and they should receive the
breath of life, and arise full of thought and feeling, what
would you, O generation of vipers, think if the thoughtless,
ungrateful creatures, new started into conscious being, should
employ their first faculty of thought and speech in casting
contempt upon the rock from which they were hewn, and the
32
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
hole of the pit from which they were dug-in boasting them-
selves before their Maker of their newly-derived honour, and
challenging Him, as He had now endued them with anima-
tion, 'twere monstrous cruelty and high injustice not to lift
them higher still, even to the very highest, and bestow upon
them the nearest or equal honour to Himself? And you, ye
ungodly race, will go to boast of your high original in the ears
of God's deputies, and claim right upon the head of special
favour; and because God hath favoured you most of nations,
ye will therefore expect to continue most favoured still; nay,
ye will take His heaven by storm, ye will have it over the head
of your ingratitude and all your viperous cruelty. Then,
know to your discomfiture, that now the axe is laid to the
root of the trees, and every tree which bringeth not forth
good fruit is cast into the fire.
Here concluded the Baptist's stern deliverance of his
message, and here concludeth our comment upon it. For,
being entrusted with the same office, we would rather disbur-
den our mind for the salvation of the age in which we live,
and to the people before whom we minister, than comment
upon any passage, however expressive. Be the Baptist,
therefore, our warrant for what we now advance.
It doth not become me, who have been educated in the
softness of civilised life, to affect the rough and scornful lan-
guage so becoming in the son of Zacharias. And though
this country has been disgraced by martyrdoms of the Lord's
servants no less than Israel was, still, as by the singular
providence of God upon the liberties of the land, we are not
likely again to be troubled with such inhuman spectacles, I
shall not use the reproachful language of the Baptist, and
salute ye a generation of vipers; but I will not fear to sa-
lute ye a cold-hearted generation, who are not moved as ye
should be by the overtures of God. Else, why this standing
upon the porch of salvation, and never entering in? why feel
conviction, but never obey? why admire saintliness, and not
seek it? why weary of the world, and not rise unto the world
to come? why apprehend death, and not think of it? why
foresee judgment, and not prepare for it? why shudder at
doom, and not flee from the wrath to come? Oh, flee from
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
33
the wrath to come, for you are often warned. Already the
axe is laid to the root of the trees, and they are falling fruit-
less into the fire unquenchable. Here is another emblem
of the terrible effects of hell, and it is an impressive one-
While those that have the fruits meet for repentance shall
stand in their gracefulness, refreshing the eye of every be-
holder with the odour of their presence, and shall be trans-
planted into paradise, there to flourish with embowering
shade in Eden's first bloom; the others, rudely smitten in
their unfruitfulness by the axe of death, shall fall from their
stock, though proud thereof as were Abraham's seed, hewed
down as cumberers of the ground, and all their strength
and beauty resolved into a few handfuls of idle dust. But
ah, how this, like every other emblem, falleth short of the
very truth! The tree is an unfeeling lump; but man is
pregnant with feeling. Briefly is the tree resolved into its
original elements, but man never resolveth again into the dust
of the ground. Oh, it goes against nature to look into this
terrible abyss and shipwreck of humanity. But it behoveth
us, the watchmen of the people, to look with a steady eye
upon the roughest wave, and warn the crew to stand to their
posts, lest it whelm them in its bosom. Oh, be warned then
of that fearful dismantling which those unhappy foredoomed.
men amongst us, who are fruitless of good works, must
undergo. The tender shoots of worldly affection, which are
woven over the beautiful and sociable world, as the vessels
are ramified over the tree, shall all be nipped up, and leave
their solitary unbefriended hearts cold and naked, and un-
sightly as the stunted trunk bereft of all its honours. All
love, esteem, patronage, and veneration, however pure their
origin, their duration will be brief. Though you hold in the
embrace of your affections the choicest of the race, set off
with all elegance and art, their jewels of the present life, like
fairy gold, will become leaves and sand, when they are swept
from their place, and their remembrance will remain within
our breast the source and origin of a thousand lamentable
regrets. But there will take place at that great consumption
of all our glory, an erasure finer still than this erasure of the
outward affections of the mind. I doubt not the mind will
VOL. II.
C
34
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
fall into jarring contention with itself, and destroy its own
intrinsic fabric; for, even though you cut us off from all the
tender objects of our regard, the soul hath the divine faculty
of pleasing and gladdening itself in the solitude which sur-
rounds it, and it can dress a feast of recollections sweeter than
the realities, and open up regions of hope brighter than any
regions of enjoyment; and not only delight itself therewith,
but give them force and utterance, and acquire power over
other spirits from its solitary dwelling-place. All which noble
functions and privileges of manhood must depart, as the pure
organisation of the tree disappears before the consuming fire,
and is not seen in the dusky dross.
But I must go further in this disclosure. It is not the
cutting off of outward objects, and the erasing of the mind's
inward capacities of enjoyment, but something infinitely
worse. Did annihilation come-annihilation were joyous to
that which it is my painful duty to portray. Being thus
stripped of her joyful and pleasant powers, she is left to be
invaded and possessed by the spirits of those bad passions
and appetites which vexed her in life. For I reckon that
every evil affection of the world and the flesh hath a patron
demon, who useth them in life to cheat poor souls whom he
enthrals through eternity, having established a right over
them in time. All strong appetites, all impetuous passions,
all malignant affections, will fire the soul, and sting her into
madness, yea, torture her, as the demons did the maniacs in
our Lord's day and generation. Reason reigneth not, pro-
vidence restraineth not, grace quickeneth not, repentance
availeth not-there is free scope for the demon of every
unsubdued passion to reign and domineer, and run on tilting
against each other within the field of the all-enduring soul.
And I doubt not, as it happeneth generally in the prison-
house of criminals, it will happen in this prison-house of souls.
If criminals be not kept apart, and good men do not enter to
hold their evil passions in check, nor heart-softening visits of
kinsmen, nor hope of reprieve or conclusion, then that house
of criminal confinement becomes worse than a den of savages,
or an asylum where reason is dethroned. Now yonder come
no soft intercessions, nor earnest entreaties, nor blithe hopes.
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
35
nor solicitous friends, nor better subjects, to impregnate the
hellish mixture of spirits reprobate. Things must wax worse
and worse, for there is no element of amendment. When I
talked of obliteration coming over the fair parts of damned
spirits, I talked mercifully. For, say that your benevolent
men took thither your benevolence, and had nought to give,
or none but ingrates to bestow it on; say that you who had
taste did take it to a formless pit, and you who had feeling,
to a herd of men worse than banditti or a press-gang; and
you who had fancy, to have your brain seared with ceaseless
images of woe, whereof these words convey hardly a pale
reflection;-oh, my friends, avoid it all-though there was
nothing to be gained, take the Baptist's advice, and avoid
the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched,
the lake that burneth, the outer darkness, where is weep-
ing, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth-avoid all this,
seeing it is in your power, by bringing forth the fruits
meet for repentance. The Baptist preached repentance
for the remission of sins, preaching at the same time Him
through whom that repentance was rendered available. We
preach repentance to the remission of sins, through the blood
of Christ, to every one who heareth us, praying them to "turn
unto the Lord, and He will have mercy, and unto our God,
and He will abundantly pardon." Now, seeing that there
turneth upon this repentance such a grace and such a sal-
vation, it behoves us, like wise men, to study whether we have
the fruits of it or not;-if we have them, to rejoice in Christ,
who hath given us the victory; if not, to seek them forthwith
through the Holy Spirit, which worketh in the children of
disobedience. Our delineation of the terrible issue to the
impenitent was meant to stir and move attention to that
which we are now to set forth; and therefore we crave your
ear to the things of your peace, ere they be for ever hid
from your eyes.
It behoves us to be very guarded, lest we
confound that repentance which is through Christ to the
remission of sins, with those temporary regrets and remorses
which are produced by the changes of temper or the reverses
of life. That repentance which bringeth remission of sins
and deliverance from the wrath to come, is not a fit of anguish
36
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
brought on by some outrageous commission, though that
anguish should be so intolerable as to draw tears from our
eyes, and scare sleep from our pillow, and give our spirits
over for a season to thoughtful moods, and agonising fears,
and direful compunction. This may be the mere revolting of
nature the recoil of the better parts of nature from some
act of the worse parts; the natural contention which there is
in every breast between the good and the evil. But we do
not say that it may not be the beginning of a good and godly
work of repentance. It proved so in David; there is no evi-
dence that it proved so in Cain. In the generality of cases,
we fear, from want of the knowledge of Christ and Him
crucified, it proves like the morning cloud and the early
dew, which soon passeth away. Mark the end. Do such
visitations of regret die away by remedy of time and worldly
intercourse, and come to life again only upon similar gross
delinquencies? If so, then put it down as no salutary symp-
tom of eternal health, but as the fits and paroxysms of a fatal
disease, which will wax fainter and fainter as life ebbs away,
until all commotion be sealed up in death.
There may not only be many compunctions of conscience
which produce no abiding reformation of life, but there may
be many reformations, fair and comely in the world's eye,
which are no pledge nor evidence of a remission of sins. A
rake reformed into a good member of society; a headstrong
youth tempered down into a sober man; or a vain coxcomb
changed into a grave office-bearing citizen; or an avaricious
merchant satiated with success till he become a munificent
benefactor or a dispenser of God's ordinances, brought into
the reverence of seating himself at the table of the Lord;—
these and a thousand other reformations, seemly in the
world's sight, and for which the world is properly content to
forget former delinquencies, may none of them go deep enough
to bring in their train the forgiveness of sins, because not one
of them may have any reference to God, or originate in any
consciousness of sin against His holiness, or bring us to seek
salvation through the great propitiation for the sins of the
world.
Nay, more, a man may get entirely disgusted with his
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
37
former ways through the experience and necessity of a new
discipline and the pursuit of a new object. The keen and
well-disciplined soldier gets often disgusted with voluptuous-
ness, the careworn statesman with all sorts of gay dissipations,
and the disappointed statesman with all sorts of manœuvre
and intrigue; nay, it is endless enumerating to what sudden
veerings the human character is liable according to the object
of desire which allures our pursuit. So that in the midst of
these manifold strains of compunctious feeling, and their
manifold alterations of character, we have the more need with
precision to define and with distinctness to feel that repentance
which is for the remission of sins. By these marks you shall
never be at a loss to distinguish it :—
First, By a sense of guilt in the sight of God present in
the conscience, springing, not from any consequence of our
sins, though that may well enough originate it, but living in
our minds through an apprehension of God's extreme holiness,
and our entire worthlessness in his sight. In a natural state,
men never once imagine themselves to be under the divine
law, but form a rough estimate of themselves by comparison
with others. Now, this average of character which we take for
a standard, this comparing of ourselves by ourselves, is the
most blinding of all things, and while it abides, never can
admit a comparison of ourselves with the law of God. There
are others who carry an appeal to the law of God, but upon
principles which defeat all the good that might accrue. They
see how it overreaches their performances, but they think that
if they do their best their delinquency will be overlooked. I
say not that any one can do more than his best, or that God
will require more. But to live under this rule of judgment is
to take upon us the judgment of ourselves, and to hinder any
divine feelings from springing up in our minds of humility,
of dependence upon Christ for forgiveness, or upon the Spirit
for help. If we are always cogitating whether we have done
our best, we are judging ourselves, whom the law of God.
should judge; and all affections for ourselves are brought into
active operation, so that no self-condemnation may be ex-
pected; and thus there is no self-condemnation, no self-convic-
tion, nor self-humiliation, nor confidence in the cross of Christ,
38
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
nor spiritual feeling of any kind. It is the vainest of all
things to have a law, and judge by the culprit's own ideas of
his own ability. And if this principle, so commonly applied
to divine judgment, were acted upon at human tribunals, you
might as well burn the statute-book at once, and shut the door
of every court. Do I say that God will punish any one
who has done his best, or that He requires of us to do more
than we are able? No; but He is to be judge of that, not we
ourselves. That question, whether we have done our best, is
the very count upon which we are to be indicted at the last
tribunal, and fairly tried out and out by impartial justice. But
do not imagine that God will bow Himself on that day from
His lofty judgment-seat, and sist all procedure upon a reference
to ourselves whether we had done our best-that, in short,
He will allow every criminal to do the office of a grand jury to
himself, and if he ignore the bill, pass him untried and uncon-
demned. But to stop all mouths, say I were to put that ques-
tion this moment, Hast thou done thy best? couldst thou an-
swer, Thou hast? Then thy conscience never reproved thee;
then thou hast never known regret or remorse, never thought
what thou durst not speak, nor spoken what thou would have
fain recalled, nor done what thou heartily repented; and
thou hast whiled away no time, and shut thine ear to no whole-
some counsel, and shut thy conscience on no light of convic-
tion, and indulged thy mind in no prejudice. Now, if thou
thinkest so, ask thy neighbour if he thinketh so; ask the wife
of thy bosom, who certainly were not willing to divulge thy
faults. All these subterfuges, springing from pride, and vanity,
and fondness of sin, must be scattered; we must bring our-
selves bona fide to the measure of the law, and distinctly per-
ceive our deficiency; and we must not blink the consequences
of unrepented guilt, nor shut out of view the terrible punish-
ment of sinners through any sentimental disrelish of horrid
things. Nay, it is the meditation of these awful issues, and
the imagination of that crisis, when this law, which now
speaketh in a still, small voice, will speak in thunder as it did
from Sinai, whence it came-when the array of the last assize
shall display itself, and every fleet minister of execution shall
stand ready harnessed at his post,-the mustering of thoughts
JOHN THE BAPTIST
39
like these, make the unrelenting soul of man quake for his sin
like the timid child. And such thoughts, we think, are gene-
rally the beginning of repentance; and it was by such thun-
dering denunciations that the Baptist brought the people to
the waters of repentance.
But here it endeth not.
There must be moreover a confes-
sion of our sins, which were vain unless we knew the humble
confession of them would find an audience on high. But this
we are assured it will, through the blood of Christ. "If we
confess our sins, God is righteous and just to forgive us our
sins, and the blood of Christ cleanseth from all iniquity."
LECTURE IV.
LUKE III. IO.
THIS
"HIS is the first baptismal service upon record. And if
anything were needed as a commentary upon the sacra-
ment of baptism, we should refer to the stern and severe wel-
come to the fount, upon which we have already discoursed, and
to those imperious commandments to all who came. But there
needeth no commentary upon either of the Christian sacra-
ments; whereof the one before us signifies by its very emblems
an ablution and purification from former uncleanness-the
other, a divine nourishment in a new life, and a sacred union
to the body of Christ;-the two taken together presenting
to our eye the two great principles of our dispensation—re-
pentance towards God, and faith towards the Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore it doth at all times become the ministers
of this ordinance, at its celebration, to discourse to the people
present upon their sinfulness by nature, and the necessity of
repentance and regeneration, and a life of holiness; as at
the celebration of the other, it becomes them to discourse of
the union with Christ, and the privileges and enjoyments and
duties of His members. Of the former of these, the Baptist
hath set us the example in the exhortation to all ranks to
amend their ways; and in the latter, our Lord hath set us the
example in that divine discourse recorded in the Gospel of
John. Of these two models of discoursing over the two
sacraments of the Church of Christ, it now falleth to our lot
to expound and apply the former.
The uncivil epithets, and harsh upbraidings, and gloomy
forebodings of the Baptist had the effect, not of alienating and
disaffecting the people, but of making them gentle and docile,
because they perceived in him the spirit of the ancient pro-
phets. The dulness and monotony of forms, and the weari-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
4 I
some traditions and customs, had not so degraded the voice
of nature within the breast of the people, that she should not
know and acknowledge the force of truth. In the views and
doctrines of one who had studied in the desert, and perused
nature in her severest mood, and derived his theology fresh
from the Word and Spirit of God, there must have been an
originality and freshness of divine unction highly relishable
to one who had been led with the stale and unspiritual tradi-
tions of men. In the inward principle of repentance, a change
of feeling, a change of soul, as well as a change of life, there
is something infinitely nobler than in the eternal drudgery of
outward observances. The spirit becomes her own master.
The streams flow from an inward fountain. The life and the
heart are in union, and there is no master between them, save
the invisible mastery of God. Nature speaks for this self-
government, she desires to be set right inwardly by divine
teaching and reformation, that she may be outwardly right.
She hateth, by blind prescription of any man, or any positive
rules, to be watched and constrained into the proper course.
The Baptist's style of preaching, though severe, commends itself
to nature's highest and noblest moods; and when we add to
this the Baptist's personal accompaniments, we shall not won-
der at the sway which he wielded over every class of men, the
most hardened and the most fierce. Around a man who can
despise accommodations and conveniences, and deal with
nature in ancient simplicity and independence, and move
amongst her social and religious institutions, like a traveller
from another world, free to judge, and censure, and approve,
as having himself nothing at stake,-around such a man there
is a moral grandeur and authority to which none but the
narrowest and most bigoted minds will refuse a certain awe
and reverence. And when such a personage assumeth to
himself divine commission, and publisheth new truth with
divine authority, and rebuketh all wickedness, and scorneth
all consequences, he taketh by the natural right of the wiser,
the bolder, and the better man, a high place above those who
feel themselves enslaved and shackled by customs which they
despise.
Therefore, not without sufficient cause, it came to pass
42
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
that people of all descriptions, and also of various nations,
Jews and Gentiles, excommunicated publicans and soldiers
of old Rome, levied from every quarter of the earth,
overawed and tamed, came to this wayfarer of the desert,
asking him with humility and simplicity what they ought
to do. "What shall we do then?" Oh, it is a noble
triumph which this forerunner of Christ achieved, to lay
prostrate before the edge of truth the distinctions of so-
ciety, and the pride of the heart and the pride of life,
and every other thing which exalteth itself against Christ-
raising the valleys, levelling the mountains, straightening
the crookedness, and smoothing the roughness of the people!
For here they are of every class beseeching to know what it
behoved them to do against that terrible coming whereof he
spake. First came the people, by which you are to under-
stand the mixed and indiscriminate assemblage; after them
came the publicans, who were a hated and excommunicated
tribe, because they ministered to the rapaciousness of the
conqueror; after them the soldiers, who were the conquerors
themselves. These three classes came in turns, according to
their moral rank-first, the people who were living under
the law, and whose, by right of many promises, was the
Messiah whose advent was proclaimed; then the publi-
cans, who, though of the nation, were held as traitors to
the heaven-bestowed law and constitution of the country;
finally, the soldiers, who had brought the country into subjec-
tion, and might fear the severest treatment from such a union.
They came humbly praying to be informed what it became
them to do. And the Baptist, who yesterday was a solitary
dweller in the desert, and to-day is a counsellor of multitudes,
dispenseth to each rank and class of men that advice, and
openeth up that walk of repentance and reformation, which
became their several vocations in the community.
In commenting upon these three several injunctions to the
people, the publicans, and the soldiers, it would be altogether
unsuitable to the style of modern life to make an express
discourse to the people generally, a second to those in public
vocations, and a third to military men, expounding to each
that line of duty which becometh them as persons baptized
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
43
into the faith of Christ. This would not be convenient, be-
cause it would require a congregation of each sort of men to
listen to the exhortation. But there is a way of treating the
subject which, while it alters the form, will still retain the
spirit of the original, In our modern state of society each man
doth, as it were, contain within himself a part in union with
each of these three divisions of the Baptist's audience. The
people who first came before him represent that part of our
character which is brought into play by the interests of
private and social life, and the Baptist's exhortation to them
containeth a lesson of the spirit in which we should fulfil our
duties to each other; his lesson to the publicans teacheth
us how we should fulfil our duties to the state, which every
one hath to discharge in a lesser or greater degree; and his
lesson to the soldiers may be considered as an address to our
more fierce and intractable moods, teaching us how to use
the power we possess over others, and the weapons which we
are entrusted with by the Most High. These three strains of
exhortation to these three conditions of our nature we shall
open up apart, and apply to you who have been baptized
into the Church of Christ, and are therefore called on for the
repentance and reformation set forth in this the first baptismal
service which the world ever witnessed.
To the people the Baptist said, "He that hath two coats, let
him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat,
let him do likewise." It is the privilege and prerogative of
every brief proverb or maxim to be interpreted in the same
large and liberal sense in which it was uttered, as it is the
right of every detailed and argumentative discourse to be tried
and balanced in all its parts. A proverb is the compressed
spirit of wisdom, and requires much prudence in expanding it
into detailed conduct. And this proverb of the Baptist's,
which we shall shew before we close to be full of the greatest
wisdom as well as benignity, might easily be strained to a
latitude of application which would burst the whole frame-
work of well-tempered society. If we were to follow it with-
out discrimination, then would each needy person, who chose
to claim our superfluities, have a divine right therein, what-
ever may have been his previous character, and whatever
44
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
courses.
may be his present habits. So that the honestly-acquired
and well-preserved substance of the worthy would become.
the store at which every thriftless prodigal had a right to
supply himself, until he made it bare and impoverished. A
general subjection of industry to wastery would be the fatal
consequence, if every one, so soon as he became unprovided,
could draw upon the bank and storehouse of the rest; and the
terrors would be overthrown which wait on poverty and
abject fortunes to stimulate industry and deter from dissipated
This is all true, and shews the danger of interpreting
the proverb rashly. But, upon the other hand, it is well known
how the superfluities of fortune are wont to be expended
unprofitably upon the pampering of our appetites, which doth
lay the seeds of disease in our mortal frame, and expose our
immortal souls to a thousand soft temptations and gay delu-
sions; how they are expended viciously upon the pursuit and
purchase of forbidden pleasures, which drown the soul in
fleshly lusts; expended vainly in splendid decorations of our
persons and our houses, which generally involve us in the
slavery of a thousand worldly fashions; expended ambitiously
in reaching place, title, and preferment, for no end save that
of figuring in the annals of the day. All which customary
methods of expending superfluities are the strength of the
enemy's position against the soul, being in truth various
idolatries in which he holds us, and which must be burst
asunder before we can be baptized with the baptism of repent-
I know that a defence is made for these extravagances,
upon the score of the many artizans who are thereby honestly
supported. But I would not have any one to benefit others.
at the expense of ruining his own soul; for "what is a man
profited though he should gain the whole world and lose his
own soul?" Nor is it my intention to rebuke a noble, dignified,
and splendid way of life. It is the part of Christians to occupy
their stations, high or low, with a divine dignity. I only
speak of the sacrifices which are made to vice, to vanity, and
to worldly ambition, in which no one may indulge himself
for any gain that may thence accrue to others.
ance.
Now the Baptist, knowing well how much the selfish did
prevail over the generous adaptation of our superfluous means;
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
45
perceiving how the former leads to every species of degrada-
tion, the latter to divine dignity and honours, and foreseeing
little chance of men passing the bounds of prudence and
becoming prodigal of their gifts; and also knowing how law
seemeth to every man his own, and hindereth any claim which
a wild fanatic might make from religion upon his brother's
property,—the Baptist perceiving these strong provisions of
nature and society against the too generous interpretation of
his maxim, did, in laying down the law upon the subject of
superfluities, express it as it is in the text, "He that hath
two coats, let him give unto him that hath none; and he that
hath meat, let him do likewise." The maxim is a good
maxim, and it is one of the children of the wisdom that
cometh from above. There is no danger of our forgetting
our own interest, and reducing ourselves to nakedness or want
for another's sake. There is great danger of our forgetting
the naked and the destitute in the deep sea of occupation,
and the incessant noise of business in which our own concerns
do involve us. If we need, therefore, to be admonished upon
any side, it is that upon which the Baptist hath touched;
and if we can bear an extreme admonition, it is there where
we are extremely forgetful.
We have been at pains to defend the maxim by guard-
ing it against the abuses to which its brevity and gene-
rality make it liable, and shewing that it was neither
intended as a harbour for squanderers, nor as an encourage-
ment to injudicious lavishness and profusion, but simply as
a guide to the direction in which a Christian's superfluities.
should go-meant to instruct us in the will of God con-
cerning the overflowings of our cup, and the superabundance.
of our portion. But in carrying the precept into effect, there
is required of us as much exercise of judgment and prudence,
as if we were laying out the same amount upon a speculation
of merchandise, or a scheme of enjoyment. The Almighty
doth but indicate His will, He leaves it to our heart and soul
and thought and mind to perform His will. And he who
giveth not both the feelings of his heart, and the faculties of
his mind to his charities, is a meagre servant of God, with-
holding from Him the allegiance of His noblest endowments,
46
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
and spreading amongst His creatures temptations which
are the most powerful against integrity and holiness. For
charities are to the poor the same snare which the mer-
chandise of silver and gold is to the rich, engendering the
same aspirations after the temporal good, awakening the same
covetousness, and setting them upon the same ignoble shifts.
And therefore, unless wisdom and caution be employed, we
are responsible, I think, to God, as great tempters and workers
of evil through heedlessness, rather than as great redressers of
evil and workers of good. I do allow that the weight of the
crime lieth with the poor, who thus take advantage of our
openness of heart and hand; but we are not guiltless, if by
due consideration we could have saved our brother from
offending.
Therefore I would be at pains to caution you against the
mastery and profusion of the precious means of well-doing
which God hath put within your power. Not that I think too
much is given by us, but that with a little more thought
it might turn to more profit both to ourselves and those
upon whom we confer it. Our charities, like our devotions, or
our acts of faith, should be personal things as much as pos-
sible, and public things as little as possible-offerings to need
which we have taken pains to ascertain to be free from all im-
posture, tributes to our merciful Saviour who died for miser-
able sinners, and acknowledgments to God who hath made our
basket and our store to superabound. And to this end time.
is demanded of us, and personal knowledge, which must
always precede hearty feeling, and visitation to the distressed
such as our Saviour paid, and consolation such as He bestowed,
in order that our heart may be made better by the vision of
mercy, and our gratitude quickened to the Most High, and
our dependence upon Him bound more closely, and all our
Christian graces revived and refreshed;-in order, on the
other hand, that the poor may be cheered with a counsellor
for Heaven, and improved in the hour of their temptation, and
led to God by the presence and bounty of His servants, and
instructed in the providence of God, and the riches of a gracious
Saviour;-in order, also, that the rich and poor may meet.
together, and their mutual dislikes be removed, and the gospel
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
47
may have free course and be glorified over all ranks of the
people.
But, whereas it is one thing to know a duty and another
thing to do it, and no Christian precept hath been expounded
until the strength hath been displayed in which it is to be
carried into effect, we now hold ourselves to give out sufficient
inducement to move every Christian to walk in the footsteps
of his blessed Saviour.
Therefore, if ye would imitate the example of your
blessed Saviour and be to the downcast and miserable what
He was to the sons of men when they were low and lost,
be at charges to humble yourselves to those of poor estate;
and for that end divest yourselves of all the attributes of place
and rank, as our Lord divested Himself of His divine attributes.
Take under your superintendence certain portions of oppress-
ed and miserable men, as He took under His superintendence
the whole fallen race of Adam; humble yourselves as He
humbled Himself; engage yourselves with all your affections
as He did, and the blessing of God will rest upon you, and
the little ye bestow will be amply refunded. And the feel-
ings of Christian affection, which you gratify within your
breast, will build up your own sanctification, and ye shall ob-
tain evidence of your calling and election; and the bread cast
upon the waters of the present afflicted state, shall return unto
you through eternity, after this troublesome season is past.
If anything should bind these duties upon you, beyond
the command of the Baptist, it is the example of your
Saviour. And ye are baptized; therefore it is your proper
vocation, and truly it is the vocation of every Christian,
the royal law of love, the new commandment of love,
the only true test of discipleship, without which, as Paul
hath said, all gifts of utterance, all gifts of faith, all power
of miracles are utterly vain. Therefore look to it; for though
we may seem to this critical age to have been touching only
as it were a side of Christian discipline, we have been touch-
ing its heart; and according as men do respond in their
feelings and answer in their conduct to this suggestion of
the Baptist, they may consider themselves sound at the heart
or hollow at the heart.
48
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
OHN
So may the Lord enable you, that when you come to
judgment ye may be found with all your other works to have
possessed this the only qualification which will pass the bar
of judgment, and introduce us to life eternal. I know no one.
that is to do this greatest charity for the needy but the
charitable, the truly charitable. This is the first duty. It is
like delivering a man out of the spoiler's hand before you.
feed him. It is like breaking the fetters of a slave before
you advance him. Nay, it is delivering a whole race, which
we have always with us, and our Lord says are to have
always with us, delivering them from the oppression of the
oppressor before we proceed to take further cognisance of
how their state may be improved. Therefore the man that
shieldeth himself from charity on this score is a sophist—a
sophist to his own heart, for it is only another argument for
charity. It is charity moving to a deed of justice. It is
justice and charity combined, which is the noblest pair that
can meet in a human breast.
Do you ask me how this just office is to be done for the
sake of charity. I would not legislate to you, but I would
advise. First, for the conviction of those who come forth out
of doors to solicit, I commend to you the support of the Men-
dicity Society, which undertakes on a large scale the inquisition
of those characters whom no private inspection could wind
through all their deceptive haunts. Their tickets will relieve
your charitable feelings when they are excited by street-peti-
tion; their inspection will take care that your charitable feel-
ings are not cast away upon the undeserving But it is not
street-solicitors, but misery in its thousand retiring forms of
shame, poverty struggling hard to keep its head above the
wave, worth pining in neglect, iniquity trampled over by neces-
sity, shame waiting for forgiveness, heart-sick vice longing
for virtue's paths, dishonour too severely punished, virtue too
severely tried, health prostrated through over-exertion of body
and over-anxiety of mind, disease preying upon famished
frames, the wants of nature unsupplied, souls unevangelised,
children uneducated, wives and families deserted or borne down
by graceless husbands and unaffectionate fathers. These, and
a thousand other forms of misery, which harbour unseen, and
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
49
cry to Heaven for redress; and Heaven crieth to men in this
holy book, but men hear not, and the abject miserables
perish for evermore. Ohon! ohon! a fancy cometh upon
my brain which I dare hardly utter, lest it overwhelm the
feeling of this assembly, and unman myself into unbecoming
weeping. I fancy in some sad abode of this city, upon some
unvisited pallet of straw, a man, a Christian man, pining,
perishing, without an attendant, looking his last upon naked-
ness and misery, feeling his last in the pangs of hunger and
thirst. The righteous spirit of the man being disembodied, I
fancy to myself arising to heaven, encircled by an attendance
of celestial spirits, daughters of mercy, who waited upon his
soul when mankind deserted his body—this attended spirit I
fancy rising up to the habitation of God, and reporting in the
righteous ear of the Governor of the earth how it fared with
him amidst all the extravagance and outlay of this city. And
saith the indignant Governor of men, "They had not a morsel
of bread nor a drop of water to bestow upon My saint. Who
of My angels will go for Me where I shall send? Go, thou
angel of famine; break the growing ear with thy wing, and
let mildew feed upon their meal. Go, thou angel of the
plague, and shake thy wings once more over the devoted city.
Go, thou angel of fire, and consume all the neighbourhood
where My saint suffered unheeded and unpitied. Burn it;
and let its flame not quench till their pavilions are a heap of
smouldering ashes."
It is my intention to dilate upon the history of God's
judgments in the hearing of this city, after the manner of
an ancient prophet, and with none of the soft lullabies of
modern speculation, that the city may be warned, and
turn unto righteousness, otherwise, like Nineveh, it shall be
destroyed.
But at present, to guard your several homes and neighbour-
hoods, I exhort each man to set on the vigilance of a Christian
watchfulness, and to take heed unto the people, to go in and
out before them, and make a place in their affections, that
they may haply be won over to the Lord our God. I ask
each one that hears me to do a little, to give a little money,
more words, many prayers, and as much time as he thinketh
VOL. II.
D
50
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
God entitled to out of the twenty-four hours, to some such
hallowed vocation. Stand like guardian angels between men
and perdition. Heave off from them necessity's fangs-the
ravenous tooth of want. Keep their bodies from an untimely
grave, that their blood be not on the land. Keep their souls
what in you lies from wickedness, that their sins may not smell
rank to Heaven, and draw down the thunderbolt.
Say not, we give to this charity so much and to that charity so
much more. God wants not money alone—the silver and gold
are His; but He wants your heart, your feelings, your time,
your anxiety. He curseth these mere money charities, mak-
ing them engender poverty in far greater abundance than
they annihilate it, and scourging them with the means of
those who grudgingly bestow it. The mere mammon works
mammon's work; divine charity worketh God's work. A
Christian may as well give over his faith into the hands of a
public body, and believe what they appoint to be believed,
and think that he thereby satisfieth God, as cast his charity
over to a public body, yea, or to a private individual, and
think that he thereby satisfieth God. Our right hand is not
to know what our left hand doeth. It is with the heart, and
soul, and strength, and might, that He is to be worshipped
and served.
Therefore, take heed to the Baptist's exhortation to bap-
tized people, for ye are baptized. He does not command
you to subsidise indolence, or support extravagance, but
with your excess and superfluity in hand, to make a pilgrim-
age in miserable places, and do your endeavour to relieve
their misery, to save human nature from intolerable grievance,
to supplement what is lacking in the providence of God, to
lend your substance over to God's purpose, that it may be
repaid manifold, that the blessing of him that is ready to
perish may come upon you, and that you may become, in
God's room, fathers to the fatherless, and friends to the friend-
less, the stranger's shield, the orphan's help, the refuge of
the destitute, and the salvation of many sinful souls, and
shine like the stars in the firmament for ever and ever.
The general sense in which the proverb should be inter-
preted, as it bears upon superfluities, is therefore this, that we
JOHN THE BAPTIST..
51
should prefer the claims which come from without upon our
humanity, our charity, our benevolence, to those which come
from within upon our personal, social, or anti-social gratifi-
cations; that we should be as willing to contribute to the
enjoyment of another as to contribute to our own, because it
is more blessed to give than to receive. That instead of hunt-
ing the shops and bazaars for refinement of ornamental dress.
and furniture, or buying from foreign collectors objects of
virtu and antiques, and ranging the round globe for its idle
and exquisite singularities, we should seek the alleys and
lanes of this city, where the abject and miserable dwell, and
the melancholy prisons into which the wretched are cast out
of sight and out of help; seek there to refit shipwrecked
fortunes, and right disabled and diseased frames, and comfort
sore affliction, and pour the oil of consolation into wounded
spirits, and give the oil of joy for mourning and the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Often, very often, I could
weep amidst the emblems of smiling fortune, enshrined in
chambers and antechambers and lofty saloons. Like old
Diogenes, I could leap and trample upon silken couches and
massy tables, in no cynical pride, but in Christian indignation,
when from out the windows of these chambers I look upon
the unpitied, unattended, unbefriended habitations of the
wretched poor.
Out upon the votaries of state and equipage
and fashion! They care for nothing but self-indulgence and
vanity, and have no pity of their kind, but would turn pale
and wax sick of sentiment to behold that misery which
flesh and blood as good as theirs is fain to endure in
its feverish veins and filthy habitations. Away, away
with such unsubstantial men and women their hollow
hearts let fumes of vanity fill, their silly heads let intoxi-
cation of excess continue to sicken; their vain routine
of life let vanity continue to drive in his airy chariot ;
let age plant its wrinkles upon their dissembling faces, and
ennui consume the years of their old age; and let there be no
mourning over their death, nor tears dropped in their grave,
nor broken-hearted mourners to visit it in the shadowy twi-
light; but instead, let cold marble entomb their colder hearts,
and unfeeling stone be the bearer of their memory. Away
52
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
with them; they are good for nothing, except to flutter in the
train of some greater personage than themselves, or them-
selves to lead out the train of splendid triflers. God convert
them with some voice as terrible as the voice of him that cried
in the wilderness.
I speak to other men, to honest men, to men in whom
nature is not shipwrecked, and in whom, happily, a better
nature hath come to birth or maturity. To you I speak, my
Christian flock, over whom the Lord hath appointed unto me
the oversight. I guard you, young men, whose guide for life
and eternity I am honoured to be; and to you, domestic
men, who are the strength of this flock; and to you, elderly
men, who are its counsellors. I warn you against the invasion
of the pomp and circumstance of human life. I warn you
against the parade and retinue of state. I warn you against
luxurious meals and splendid fêtes. I warn you against the
wine-cup when it sparkles, and against beauty when it
wreathes itself in the witchery and enchantment of its smiles.
I warn you against the many inventions of luxury and con-
venience, which are the links of a chain that girdles the
mightiest of the earth in ignoble bondage-the fuel of a fire
that consumes the world's myrrh and frankincense before the
shrine of Belial, and in the end catches and consumes the
very heart that ministers at his altar. And I counsel you to
expend your thoughts upon the nobler offices of humanity, to
be a father to the fatherless and a husband to the widow, and
the orphan's help and the stranger's friend. As God pours
into your coffers, return Him part back upon the poor and
the needy and the destitute, who are His special care. Make
visits to the abject; speak comfort to the downcast. Be a
blessing to your neighbourhood, and make the hearts of the
destitute to sing for joy. Then shall the eye bless you, and
the ear shall taste the sweetness of your worthy praise, and
your heart shall be filled brimful of enjoyment, and merrily
shall your life pass under the eye of the great Spirit of joy,
who shall at length remove you to the habitations of His
righteousness.
I am not ignorant of the difficulty of carrying into effect in
this unprincipled city these exhortations, for I have felt that
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
53
difficulty; every day of my life I feel it. There are locusts
that prey upon the generous, and grub up all that they can
catch from Christian benevolence, idlers, deceivers, wretched
spendthrifts, and contemptible souls, who steel one against
giving, and draw down upon one the character of a mere
novice in London life. But, if to be an adept in London life
is to shut one's purse to charity, and open it to gaudy shows,
then Heaven keep all my flock in a constant noviciate. For,
after all, let the greatest novice yesterday imported from the
most innocent and unpolluted simplicity of rural life, gratify
all the freshness of a Christian and benevolent heart for one
year, and, when the year is over, cast a reckoning, and, after
deducting from his whole expenditure the necessaries, examine
what part of the residue went to liberality, what part to please
the world's fashions, which in his heart he doth nauseate and
despise, and I mistake if he shall not find a result turn out
which shall silence into shame any talk about being duped
into over-liberal giving. But as I said at the beginning, it is
not my part to recommend a clothing of all the backs of the
thriftless, and a feeding of all the mouths of the dissolute. I
know that too much clothing, systematic clothing, charity-
school clothing, is carried to excess in those parts, which makes
men of a northern training blush for the paltry meanness of
those who receive, and the thoughtless squandering of those
who bestow. If the Baptist did support or command this,
then I would argue against his position upon a thousand
grounds. For, connected as
For, connected as it is with schooling, it doth
almost more harm to the little creatures than their education
doeth good; and upon the parents and the population
generally it worketh the basest effects, which I do not specu-
late upon, but know from much study and observation and
converse with the lower classes in this city. First of all, it
lowers their ideas of schooling or learning, which they think
worth nothing of itself, but needing the bribe of clothing to
make it worth the having. Then it separates the child from
the family, who now think him provided for; or it makes the
little degraded thing in his charity-living a little idol upon
holidays to the family, to corrupt the fine old homely inde-
pendence of this ancient land. Then, being dissevered from
54
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
his parents, it casts the little nursling into the lap of some
lady's favour, where he remains until he can have a place
obtained for him. Now, if there be good in educating men,
it is to teach them to act for themselves, not to act as an-
other's puppet. If there be any good in educating one of a
family, it is to cast him back into the bosom of that family
that he may raise the honest pride of his father's house; and
if there be any good in educating the people, (which I am
sorry to see men calling themselves Christian, and at the head
of our most self-magnifying Christians, begin in this realm to
doubt,) if there be any good in educating the people, which was
wont to be the watchword and is now the bugbear of Christian
leaders, it consisteth in raising the tone of the people's mind,
in fermenting and inspiriting and ennobling the populace, and
delivering them from vulgar, sensual, and brutal vices. All
which good effects this system of drafting out from the midst
of them a sort of pigmy militia of school-boys and school-
girls, all dressed and marshalled in uniform, doth completely
hinder; for instead of casting them back upon the mass from
which they came to improve and soften its character, it doth
make them despise their birth-place, forget their lineage, and
oft, very often, despise the parents who gave them birth.
Therefore to such a system I do not ask your help, except
it were to open its blinded eyes and introduce into it the heart
of better feeling; but nevertheless I ask your rags of clothing
for the naked, your crumbs of meat for the hungry. It is no
excuse to tell me that there are impostors. That is no argu-
ment against what I say, but it is an argument for another
duty which I shall shortly explain. There are impostors, I
allow, but there are necessitous cases, you must allow me in
return. Well, between these two descriptions of persons, how
are we to proceed?
I am well aware, that in a city like this, or any other city
or country, by blindly following the rule of the Baptist you
would foster idleness and reward deception, and do much
more injury to the community than you would do good. You
say truly it is borne in upon your conviction, when beholding
an object of want, that it is a case of importance, and between
your doubts and your feelings you are sorely distracted what
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
55
to do. Now, it is not difficult to tell you what it behoves you
to do. Consider what an impostor is, one who invadeth the
sacred domain, the sanctified domain, of poverty and want, in
order to pilfer it of its heaven-derived right upon humane and
Christian hearts. Now, say you saw a man slinking out of a
poor cottage, which you knew for the moment to be deserted
of its inhabitants, and suspected he had been upon no good
errand there, what would be your duty?-to keep your eye
upon the skulking knave, and watch his hiding-place; and if
aught is amissing, hand him over to justice. And where, I ask
you, is the houseless stranger's cottage? is it not in the heart
of charitable men? And where is the naked man's wardrobe?
is it not in the heart of charitable men? And where is his meal
of meat? is it not from the crumbs of the table of generous
men? And what is he who takes his stand in the way of gene-
rous men, or solicits at their gate with false appearances, to
win that remnant which is holy to the children of poverty and
want? Is he not a pilferer upon their undefended habitation?
is he not a filcher of their poor, uncertain pittance? is he not
a vilifier of their whole order, yea, a murderer of their pitiful
existence? And who is to right the state of abject poverty
from these its stout and daring plunderers? Can poverty
right itself?—poverty which lives by grace and favour, can she
exalt her voice and talk of right? Can she who bends in sup-
pliancy and asketh aid to her feebleness take arms into her
withered hands, and exile from her domain these marauders
and these vilifiers of her poor, abject condition? Who, then,
shall right her wronged estate? Who is to right the man
stricken of God's providence out of his means, and out of his
hopes, and out of his confidence; and by being rendered de-
pendent, rendered likewise bashful and timorous, and incap-
able of making siege on such? Who is to right this claimant
of God's from the hands of the ruffian, mighty in artifice and
guile, stored with all pitiful tales, and pertinacious in all bold
solicitations?
*
*
*
*
*
LECTURE V.
LUKE III.
WE had intended, as we stated in a former lecture, to
apply the Baptist's exhortation of the publicans to that
part of our character and conduct which concerns the public,
and his exhortation of the soldiers to that part of our cha-
racter and conduct which concerns our own defence, and the
power we hold over others; but, upon second thoughts, we
have abandoned this purpose, conceiving it to be too minute
for the nature of the lecture, which should follow strictly the
current of the text, diverging as seldom as possible into any
adjacent topic, however useful. We shall therefore continue
to follow forth the train of the Baptist's discourse.
In the exposition of this discourse, whose unity we have
endeavoured to restore, we had advanced to the point at which
the publicans came forward, asking what it behoved them to
do. These publicans were the collectors of the revenue in
the interest of the Romans. At Rome, where everything was
saleable, to the very city itself, according to the saying of the
Numidian prince, the revenues of the provinces were set up
to sale by the Senate, and were generally rented or farmed by
men of the equestrian or second rank. But these Roman
knights would have thought themselves degraded by per-
sonally collecting the dues, and were wont to employ some of
the conquered people-to one, farming the toll of a bridge;
to another, the impost of a particular commodity; and so
forth through all the articles of excise and custom. These
were the publicans, who made their living by gathering the
taxes for the conqueror. It was their interest to be extor-
tioners, for all beyond the rent they paid to the Romans was
their own. It was the nature of their office to press upon the
sorest feelings of the people. They were the tools of the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
57
conqueror to fleece the conquered, and made their living out
of their country's degradation: all which made it an office
for unfeeling and ignoble spirits to undertake. Its tendency
was to extortion and to false accusation, as we see by the
declaration of Zaccheus, a chief man among the publicans: "If
I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I
restore him fourfold." On these accounts, this class was ex-
communicated from the very privileges of Jews, and ranked
upon the same file with the heathen, as we learn from that
expression of our Lord, "Let him be unto thee as a heathen
man and a publican." It was disgraceful to eat with them,
and in this respect they ranked with heinous and hardened
sinners, as we learn from that railing of the Pharisees, "He
eateth with publicans and sinners." The sense of this de-
gradation had eaten into the heart of these people, and they
stood aloof like men infected with disease; they came not to
John with the rest of the people, but in a body by themselves.
In the parable, the publican durst not draw near, he stood
afar off; he dared not lift up his eyes, but looked upon the
ground; he smote upon his breast under the agitation of
strong remorse for crimes, and cried, in the agony of his heart,
"Lord have mercy upon me a miserable sinner." All this is
necessary to be understood in order to perceive the force of
the Baptist's exhortation, which struck home to the heart of
their besetting iniquity. The publicans came to be baptized,
and said unto him, "Master, what shall we do?" And he
said unto them, "Exact no more than that which is appointed
you." In which reply the Baptist shewed as much discretion
as he shewed faithfulness. He did not blame them for occupy-
ing a place which must be filled by some one, and without
which no government can uphold itself for a single day; he
did not involve his ministerial character with political ques-
tions, and rebuke them for lending themselves to the con-
queror, knowing that conquest and subjection are dispensa-
tions of God for good, however bitterly they may taste, and
however evil they may work: and yet, while he kept clear
of these questions foreign to his vocation, he did not fail to
strike a sure and decisive blow for the sake of righteousness,
-admonishing them upon the weakest part of their character,
58
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
and commanding them to guard against it. "Levy," says he,
"the dues of Cæsar, but go not beyond. Raise no false ac-
cusations in order to obtain confiscations of property. Push not
to extremities. Guard against extortion and unjust exaction;
and if you cannot bear mercy, bear justice before you, and
faithfully perform your part between the conqueror and the
conquered-between the exactor and the object of his
exactions." This might be an example to every preacher of
righteousness: how it behoveth him, in the first place, to
guard against tides and currents of popular feeling, and to be
moved by the interests of righteousness alone; and, in the
next place, being so moved, to be fearless and strike home at
every blow. Here, before the Baptist, were the extortioners
of a people, and the people they ground with their extortions
were standing by; here were the scorn and byword of a
nation, and the nation which scorned them were standing by:
yet the Baptist catches none of the nation's scorn and fury,
neither identifies himself with any popular feeling; but re-
membering that he is a man set for God, not for a party, he
takes God's part, and not the nation's part, and admonishes
the tribe of their offences against God, not against the national
spirit or national feeling. Now my experience of the pastoral
office in both the extremities of this island hath taught me a
sore lesson upon this head. How dangerous to one's reputa-
tion, and unwelcome to the people professing Christ, it is to
stand aloof from their approved strains and party feelings,
upon the rock of your pastoral liberty! If you will not cry
up what they cry up, and cry down what they cry down, you
are held at naught, talked against, and wickedly misrepresented
both by pastors and by people: which experience giveth me
much pain and anguish of soul, because of the worldly spirit
of confederation and party which it shews still harbouring
among the disciples of Christ. But ye, the people of the flock,
will justify me for upholding the interests of righteousness
among them, though I see no duty in banding and confeder-
ating with any sect, however popular; and ye are my defence
against these misrepresentations of Christians which grieve
my heart. And while John struck for no party, you will
observe how fearlessly he struck for God. He feared not the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
59
frown of any class, and he sought not their favour; he con-
sulted not their station, for he was minister of high as well as
low; he aimed to turn all to the Lord by repentance, and
therefore he pointed out the sins of all. And so it will always
be with the faithful minister of Christ. If he become popular,
it will be, not because he humoureth the people's opinions, or
tastes, or failings, but because he teacheth the people truth,
and openeth up to them the whole counsel of God; not
because he can be pronounced Calvinistic, or because he can
be pronounced Arminian; not because he preacheth for the
Established Church, nor because he preacheth against the
Established Church; not because he chimeth with the party
of the state in power, or with the party out of power; not
because he affecteth a low and vulgar manner of discoursing,
nor because he affecteth a high and refined,—all which strains.
of popular feeling are beside his office, and beneath his dignity:
but he wisheth to be beloved of his people, and of all men,
from the beggar to the prince, because he is the faithful
shepherd of their souls-who prays for them all, and preaches
for them all, and deals plainly between God and the souls of
them all, doing what in him lies to deliver their souls from
death, and their feet from falling. He will be a censor, but
he will not be censorious; he will be satirical, but he will not
be a satirist; he will be a denouncer, but he will denounce for
salvation's sake. What saith the Scriptures? "All scripture
is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Even such various profit should the preacher of righteousness
bring to those who listen to his voice.
Now, I have no hesitation in declaring that the liberty
of prophesying is fallen into bondage, and needeth to be
enlarged. You must shape your discourse by the rule of
the schools either of Geneva or of Holland. You must deal
in generalities of doctrine which hath nothing but dogmatism;
or if you speak of practice, it must be wide of the conscience.
If you come home and sift the secrecies of the heart, and lay
bare the errors of the time, and burst the sores of the several
ranks of men, paying the tribute of your counsel to rich as
well as poor-to religious as well as irreligious-to nobles, to
60
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
statesmen, to princes, to kings, as well as to mechanics, to
tradesmen, and to merchants,-you are suspected for some
dangerous one, some leveller of distinctions, some radical disse-
minator of sedition. But, in the name of the free gospel, is it
come to this, that when we address a class of men, we should
be thought to do them an injury? Are our counsels evil
things, that they should be valued by their fewness? Are our
rebukes invasions, that they should be watched, not welcomed?
I for one conceive more highly of my office. I regard it as a
favour done to a man to tell him of his sins; and the oftener
I do it, the more love do I manifest for him. I dare omit
no man, nor rank of men, because it is my office to love them
all, and preach repentance and forgiveness to all; which cer-
tainly were in vain, and simply commonplace, unless I might
preach previously the courses to be repented of and the sins
to be forgiven. When I look to Paul, and see him commenc-
ing a high philosophical discourse before the Areopagus of
Athens,—when I see the same Paul before a bench of kings,
preaching to them of righteousness in their government of
the people, and of temperance in their pleasures, and of judg-
ment to come, when their judgments were to be reviewed,
and themselves judged,-when I see the same Paul melting
with a farewell discourse upon the desolate shore the Ephesian
elders into outbursting lamentation, and pleading for his life
before tribunals, and in popular assemblies,—it seemeth to me
—and I cannot but express it—that of the ancient arts which
are lost, the art of apostolical preaching is one.
Last came the soldiers, crying, "What shall we do?" and
he said unto them, "Do violence to no man, neither accuse
any falsely and be content with your wages." That these
were Roman and not Jewish soldiers is rendered probable—
first, by everything elsewhere mentioned in the Gospels and
the Acts concerning soldiers; and, secondly, by the well-
known policy of the Romans to quarter in every province
soldiers raised in other parts of the empire, and to send the
soldiers raised in that particular province away to a distance
from their homes. Therefore it is to be inferred that none of
these soldiers were educated in Jewish customs, or versed in
the prophecies which testified of John, or of Messiah which
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
6I
was to come. They were rough sons of pillage, congregated
from all heathenish lands, adhering to a godless and fearless
craft, and perhaps never before addressed in the name of God.
Yet before the Baptist-such was his authority,-before the
man of the wilderness, naked of all human ornaments or
graceful commendations, clothed with no orders or robes
ecclesiastical, but with camel's hair and a leathern girdle,
supported by no civil insignia or authorities, before this
man (such is the awfulness of naked truth) these legionary
bands laid aside their fierceness and forgot the mockeries
of their profession, and at once became transported into the
feelings of simple peasantry, and came forward like the rest
praying for advice and admonition from the mouth of this
inspired youth; and, though an unarmed youth, he gave it
to those steel-clad warriors with the plainness and fidelity
of a father. 'Do violence to no man, neither accuse any
falsely and be content with your wages." We of this age
can hardly judge of the licence of military life in the days of
old. What would be thought of the soldiers who, in these
times, should scourge and deride and crown with thorns the
man they were leading to execution, and in the midst of his
agonies should mock his sufferings by offering for his refresh-
ment vinegar and gall, and after death insult his lifeless body
by piercing it with a spear? To do violence, to plunder, to
sack and despoil, and if the briefest way of possessing cannot
be used, to come with false accusations of disloyalty, of inso-
lence, and of secreting enemies, and anything, in short, which
may give the victim to execution and his goods to confiscation,
was the character of the Roman soldiery when on service; and
some century and a half ago it was the character of British
soldiery, when they were let loose like wolves and tigers upon
the unoffending Church to which we have the honour to
belong; and during the times of peace it was the character of
that same Roman soldiery to turn their fierceness against
their superiors, and to cry out for increase of pay and extra-
vagant largesses, to mutiny, to enthrone emperors and de-
throne them at their pleasure, and to hasten into all riot and.
excess. The Baptist, though reared in the wilderness, was
no stranger to the camp; and now that an opportunity is
62
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
offered of exhorting them, he doth it like a fearless servant of
the living God. "Do violence to no one, neither accuse any
falsely and be content with your wages."
My spirit is recreated and refreshed by such manliness. It
is like inspiration from on high to know the customs of the
primitive ministry, to behold these heralds of the skies-these
messengers of heaven, to read and see their dealings with the
sons of men. John was nowise afraid of inquiring the cause
as now-a-days we are. He knew his cause was like an ada-
mant, and would not break by the roughest treatment-the
stone cut out with hands which was to become a mountain,
and fill the whole earth. He feared not to hurt his usefulness,
as they constantly talk of, as if the disciples of Christ were.
all changed into disciples of utility. He thought not of pru-
dence, which now is thought to be the chief furniture of a
Christian minister. No! here he was a vessel fraught with
truth, launched by God to every inhabitant of the earth, dis-
loading at every man's door that commodity of truth which
Heaven hath charged him with for his particular use. And
he hesitates not to bear up against the stream of man's pre-
judices, or to face man's strong embattlements of error, well
knowing that while the Lord is pleased, he should continue
his bountiful voyage, and can by no power be restrained; and
when the Lord is pleased to remove him, He will send others
in his stead; and so he is content to be removed from the
service by the blows of those he would benefit, or any other
instrument whatsoever.
Now, do you ask what serves such strictures upon the
Baptist's style of serving his commission? I answer, for my
encouragement in these times to do the same, were it not
for these everlasting memorials of the Church's priesthood,
I should strike sail, and lay myself up in some little har-
bour of thought; but, by the grace of God and the example of
the Baptist, I will venture forth amongst your several avoca-
tions, and speak a word of admonition for the living God.
You may say this is not preaching Christ. I answer, This
was the Baptist's way of preaching Christ, and he was the first
preacher of Christ. But it is idle talking with the bigotry and
narrow-mindedness of the age, which taketh pleasure in being.
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
63
fettered and benighted. This method of the Baptist's will
continue to the end of the world the best method of preparing
a sinner for the welcoming of the Saviour. Could any power
at this moment break open the hidden solitudes of angelic and
heavenly life, and give this world's incurious gaze a sight and
feeling of its order and blessedness, they would return disgusted
with the trifling, the hypocrisy, and the misery of these terres-
trial scenes, and long to be home among those things whereof
they have had a foretaste. Such a glimpse of glory, and such a
disgust with this pitiful existence, would do more for the cause
of Christ than to plead a thousand times the round of all popu-
lar doctrines. John the Baptist aimed to produce the effects of
such a transfiguration of the soul. He sought to spread doubt
and dismay where formerly confidence and complacency were
felt. He sought to school every class out of their long-
cherished habits, and to disgust them with their present enjoy-
ments, and create a craving after something nobler and better.
Then having brought them by his glimpses of better things
into disgust with the old, he opened up to their levying
spirits the gain and blessedness of the new, which, without
such management, they would neither have had the disposi-
tion to relish or room to contain.
Now, we crave upon this example the liberty of our office
to summon forth the people of every class, and to dismiss
them with an admonition of what becomes them as a people
baptized into Christ.
The poor we exhort to be poor in spirit, rich in faith, and
heirs of the kingdom; to trust to the Lord's providence,
which clothes the lily of the field and feeds the raven's brood;
to be industrious and frugal, and live by honest arts, not by
dependence upon, or flattering of, those above them; not to
be envious of superiors, or to delight in railing against those
that have the rule over them, but to be sober-minded, and to
hope unto the end for the glorious coming of Christ, who shall
exalt those that fear Him to high and noble estate. The in-
dustrious tradesman we exhort to guard against dishonest.
and fraudulent dealings; to keep his heart from the love of
accumulating wealth and from sensual enjoyments; to make
the house of God, not the verdant fields, his Sabbath recrea-
64
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
tion; to make his fireside, not the tap-room, his evening joy;
to trust in God for promotion in his craft and in the affairs of
the corporation; to receive his gifts with gratitude, and to
enjoy them with a merry heart, as an heir of the grace of God.
To the speculative merchant, I say serve God rather than
Mammon, lest the cares and anxieties of this world eat out
the desire of the world to come; in all your getting, get under-
standing, whereof the merchandise is more precious than the
merchandise of silver and gold; lay up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves break
not through and steal; oh, guard against a worldly mind; set
your affections upon the things above, and hold commune
with the skies, otherwise your ever-occupied activity will con-
sume your soul with earthly cares; above all things, avoid the
love of money, which is the root of all evil, and which, some
having coveted after, have pierced themselves through with
many sorrows; keep also from intemperance and luxurious
meals, and let the exquisiteness of your meat and drink never
be your boast, but give thanks to God, who hath made your
cup to run over, and goodness and mercy to follow you all the
days of your life. To those retired from affairs and at liberty
to enjoy their ease, I say-in your present plenty and pros-
perity forget not your former scantiness, and remember the
poor neighbourhood with which your villas may chance to
be surrounded; feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and
turn not the beggar from your gate; in your present rest and
refreshment, forget not the many who are still plunging in the
sea of this troublous world, and give them succour and sus-
tenance according to your wisdom and ability; exalt not your-
selves proudly, but condescend to those of mean estate, re-
membering that the Lord can bring you low; for the sake of
power prostrate not your sense of sacred truth and honest
principle, but stand by your country's welfare and honour in
your various spheres; in your prosperity forget not God in
your hearts, remember Him in your enjoyments and recrea-
tions, then will He remember you when you are in sickness
and are brought down to the chambers of the grave. To those
who are occupied in the world of fashion and of gaiety, I
speak with admonition equally kind and instructive, for they
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
65
are not outcasts from God, as they are generally regarded,
but have a station of great trust and great peril committed to
their watchful intendancy. You are the wardens of the
forms and fashions of high life, which soon disseminate them-
selves through the community. Therefore, yours is no common
post. Into your parties and assemblies, admit those only,
men as well as women, whose reputation is unblemished by
any public crime. Keep others at a distance, until by peni-
tence and reformation they have made atonement to offended
virtue, and, even then, admit them with a mark of observa-
tion. Let those parties and assemblies be graced by truth,
and ornamented with cheerfulness and joy. Dismiss the vain
and empty youth, who careth only for his attire; and the aged
person who affects the levities and gay colours of youth, like-
wise dismiss. Flatterers dismiss, and censurers, and foolish
jestings, and unsober fancies. Upstart wits, who make merry
with grave and serious things, dismiss. Idlers and lookers on,
and paraders and flippant fools, and all the varied tribe which
flutter around beauty, and bow the knee to greatness, and track
the heels of influence, away with them to schools of wisdom,
that they may learn to fill their empty heads with knowledge,
and their more empty hearts with feeling. Sunday sports
follow at your peril. Give your servants rest, and shew them
an example of holiness. Take your whole household to the
house of God, and, like your godly ancestors, seat yourselves at
their head. Follow such customs, make such customs fashion-
able, and God will reward and ennoble you for evermore.
To servants, I do, in the Baptist's room, give exhortation,
that they serve their masters not only with fidelity, but with
affection, and contract a love for the family in which they
dwell, taking an interest in its prosperity, and endeavouring
to promote the same; that they guard themselves against
evil company, and keep at home; that they devote their Sab-
baths to the recreation of their soul, as well as their body;
that they serve God, who is above all, and adorn themselves
with the robes of righteousness as with a vesture, and make
faithfulness the girdle of their loins. Masters, I exhort to
take a charge of their household, and watch over its moral and
spiritual concerns; to read the Scriptures to their assembled
VOL. II.
E
66
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
domestics, and to pray with them and for them; to have an
eye to every chamber of the house that it be undefiled, and
to allow no evil communication to pass beneath their roof, in
order that the blessing of God may descend upon them from
above, and their dwelling-place may become a house of God
and a gate of heaven. Children, I exhort to love their parents,
and honour them in the Lord; to defend the honour of their
parents by a wise and becoming behaviour at home and
abroad; to second the care of their parents by giving diligent
heed to their instructors, and serving their masters with faith-
fulness; not to forget their parents in old age, but to be
around them a wall of affection and loving-kindness, that
their gray hairs may come down with honour to the grave.
Parents, I exhort to tend their children as a shepherd doth
his sheep, and as God doth the sons of men; to teach them
the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, and to
shun evil, which is understanding; to train them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord when they are young,
that when they are old they may not depart from it.
Husbands, I exhort to love their wives, and wives to love
their husbands, and give them honour. Young men, to guard
against youthful lusts, which war against the soul, and to turn
their youthful strength to the subjugation of the evil one, and
the service of the living God, who will reward them with an
old age of honour and an eternity of glory. Young women,
to clothe themselves with modesty, not with vain apparel; to
love home, and practise household virtues; to adorn their
minds with tender affections and with pious sentiments, that
their very presence may wear a vestal severity, and banish far
from them the idle, flippant creatures who use them for their
amusement, or watch for their ruin.
Men of letters, who write for the behoof of the public, I
exhort to study truth, and to set it forth with honest and
intrepid zeal; to deliver themselves from prejudice, that they
may set the world free from prejudice; to remember they hold
the pen for God, and that God, who hath given them talents,
calleth for an account of the talents which He hath given.
Readers, I exhort to be of a severe and manly taste, and to
discriminate between virtue and vice that is decked in virtue's
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
67
guise; between noble principle and self-interest which weareth
the mask of principle; between idle romance and solid truth,
between amusement and edification; and, above all, to make
God's own Book the standard whereunto to refer all the writ-
ings of this and other ages.
Governors, and senators, and judges, and magistrates, and
all trustees of the commonweal, I exhort to hold their offices
with a patriotic and a pious soul, to abjure bribery and cor-
ruption, to forget personal promotion, yea, even to forget
their own interest in the higher interest of the many whose
happiness dependeth in a certain manner upon their adminis-
tration. Ye are God's representatives, the sacred depositaries
of His power, ye wear the sacred sword of justice, ye are the
hands and instruments of His providence to the nation.
Therefore, remember your high estate and dignity, do faith-
fully by the high trusts committed to your charge; and it
will come to pass that the nation's heart will beat at the men-
tion of your names, and the nation's tongue will sing to your
praise, and ye will have your tomb in the nation's remem-
brance, and your monument in the annals of the nation.
And the governed, the subjects, I exhort not passively to
obey, but to obey out of an enlightened loyalty to the state
and to the magistrate who standeth at its helm, and to turn
a deaf ear to the clamours of sedition, and the speculations of
political sophists. To look to the character of men, and with
high disdain spout forth every renegado from honest and
virtuous life, and every assassin of high and noble reputation.
Nevertheless, as the good plebeians of this free realm, I ex-
hort you to take an interest in the administration of affairs,
and watch and ward the ancient liberties of the land, and
keep power in check, and make corruption, as ashamed, to
hide its face.
And, finally, all good Christians who have been baptized in
the name of Christ, I exhort to keep their head above the
world, and dwell in heaven before the time, and mortify
their members which are upon the earth, and walk before the
Lord in love and unity, and keep themselves unspotted from
the world. I exhort you to love your Lord and Saviour, who
came to seek and save you, and devote yourselves to His
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
service, who died for you and rose again, knowing that you
thereby secure to yourselves a crown of glory, which He in
His time will shew who is the King immortal and invisible,
the only Potentate, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might, keeping truth, and doing righteously, sanctifying
the Lord God in your hearts, and working the good pleasure
of His will. And may the God of peace that brought from
the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you
perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you
that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
LECTURE VI.
LUKE III. 15-18.
BEFORE proceeding, we think it necessary to make a criti-
cal remark in order to restore the unity of the discourse,
which in our version is broken, as if its parts had been delivered
on two separate occasions. This is caused by the version of
the 15th verse, where the subject changes from the exhorta-
tion of the several classes to the announcement of Christ. It
runs thus in our version, " And as the people were in expecta-
tion, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he
were the Christ or not, John answered, saying." This has alto-
gether the air of the beginning of a new discourse, occasioned
by a new state of things, the musing and meditation of the
people. It carries us from the congregation whom he had
baptized and exhorted to the general public, by the expres-
sion, “All men musing in their hearts," leading us to imagine
that after a season the leaven of John's preaching began to
foment through the mass of the nation, upon which he took
up the new strain, advertising them of Christ's speedy arrival.
Now, if this break of place and time, which our translation
leadeth us naturally to imagine, were actually so, we would
have the unseemly and improbable spectacle of a congrega-
tion baptized and addressed by the forerunner of Christ with-
out one hint of Him whose way his voice was consecrated to
prepare. For you will take notice that in no part of the
discourse which we have handled has there been one allusion
to Him that was to follow, the quotation from Isaiah being
by the evangelist, and not by the Baptist. Now, upon turning
to the original, you that are learned will find that at the begin-
ning of the 15th verse the very opposite of a new topic is
suggested, the two parts of the discourse being linked and
bound together by the most powerful conjunction of the Greek
70
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
tongue. You may remember in many of our Saviour's dis-
courses to the Pharisees and to His disciples such expressions
as these,-" The Pharisees therefore said within themselves,"
"His disciples thereupon reasoning within themselves,” which
are thrown in to state the effect produced by what He said.
upon the minds of His audience, which effect induced Him to
follow it up by something appropriate. Such expressions,
instead of disjoining, do actually conjoin the two parts of the
discourse, which might seem diverse the one from the other,
were it not for the interjection of such a clause to signify the
occasion of the new drift which it took. Now, exactly the
same in the conjunctive words and in the form of grammatical
construction is the clause rendered, "And as the people were
in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts concerning
John;" the word rendered "expectation" implies merely a
casting in the mind, and that rendered "all men" is merely
all. So that it runneth by the original thus, "Thereupon the
people musing, and all casting in their thoughts of John
whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, and said
unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water, but One
mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoe I am not.
worthy to unloose; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire." The new rite of baptism, unknown under the
Mosaic dispensation, the authoritative manner of the Baptist,
and his prophetic announcement of the opening of a new era,
led the people to imagine that He who was promised had now
arrived; and within their hearts they meditated and mused
upon this, the great national expectation. This was the very
state of mind into which John had aimed to bring the con-
gregation; he seizes it therefore, and strikes at once into the
great purpose of his commission, the first advent of Christ.
The two parts of the discourse, therefore, are not to be dis-
joined; they were addressed to the same people at the same
time; the one part ushered the way for the other, and the latter
took advantage of the impression which the former had made.
To confirm this, we refer you at your leisure to the Gospel
by Matthew, which contains the counterpart of this discourse
wrought into one, without any interruption whatever.
This second part of John's discourse with the people de-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
71
pends then with the strongest and closest connexion upon that
which went before, and is not to be separated to a different
time, and place, and audience, as our version of the 15th verse
disposeth one to imagine. In truth, it is the substance of his
message, the end of his appearance, for which all that he had
said and done was skilfully intended to prepare the way. To
excite the more notice of his person, and give the more weight
to his severe exhortations, he came forth from the desert in
the most uncivilised garb; and having gathered the people,
he took them to task in the most stern and fearful mood. He
spoke as if he had held the commission of the Eternal to
calumniate, and denounce, and sentence the world, proclaiming
the instant commencement of a new age of judgment, and
division, and wrath. Then, to cleanse the people, and wash
away their pollutions, and fit them for this great investiga-
tion of men, he brings them to the stream of Jordon, so holy
from the first of times, and purifies them with the baptism of
repentance unto the remission of sins. Then he rises in his
tone, and with notes of terror names them all; he schools
them like children into a new discipline, and subdues their
fierce and fiery natures by the unquenchable power of truth.
and holiness. All the while the people are passing through
his hand, and sitting under his biting and instructive tongue,
he speaketh no word in explanation of what or who he was,
or in whose authority he did these terrible and unheard of
things. Over this he preserveth an impenetrable silence, until
the curiosity of the people arose to the highest pitch, and they
began to cast within their breasts whether he might not be
Messiah himself, unto whose coming they looked for deliver-
ance from all their tribulation and thraldom. Now was the
time for the skilful messenger of Heaven, for the voice crying
in the wilderness, to do the office to which it had been anointed
by the Most High. The people are now excited: the Messiah
is present in their thoughts; they are delivered from their
misconception of a high temporal prince; they think they see
Him in a poor wayfaring man; they are disabused of their
prejudices; and recovered to the simple conceptions of Mes-
siah as the sent of Heaven for the world's redemption; they
can be content to imagine this simple, unadorned son of holi-
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
ness to be "the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace." Such power
is there in wise and skilful speaking to move the minds of
men, and such art is it allowable, nay, dutiful, for the mes-
senger of Heaven to employ in his great and good office
of heralding Messiah. John waited; he broke not the matter
abruptly to the people full of a thousand misconceptions. But
he veered about the point. He smote the consciences of the
people, and shook their courage, and made them apprehensive
of Divine wrath. Their nature called for protection, and they
flocked to baptism, the symbol of protection; and their hearts
drew to him who administered it, and they thought such a
one might be Messiah, their Prince. Then he broke his mys-
terious, well-preserved silence, and answered to the eager,
longing anxiety of the people," No, I am not Messiah, your
Prince; I am but the forerunner of His glory, and the mes-
senger of His coming. I am not worthy to untie the latchet
of His shoe. He cometh, and is hard at hand, who is mightier
than I; and when He cometh I shall wax and wane, and be
forgotten. And when He baptizeth, He shall not anoint your
body with water, but your soul He shall anoint with the Holy
Spirit of God, and your hearts enkindle with that coal from off
the altar of God with which the angel anointed the lips of the
prophet. Therefore, prepare. He cometh, and every eye shall
behold Him. He goeth abroad upon the earth, and divideth
the sons of men in twain with the sword of division. The
earth shall be before Him as the threshing-floor before the
husbandman; and the people upon the earth shall be under
His hand like the chaff and the corn in the hand of him that
winnoweth the thrashing-floor. And the wheat He shall convey
clean away to His sacred storehouse of redeemed spirits; the
chaff He shall drive upon the blast of His indignation to the
fire that is never to be quenched.”
I cannot help remembering, before entering upon this the
last prediction of Messiah, that it is the last, and that here-
with the prophecy is ended, and the testimony of Christ is
sealed. These verses complete the great roll of the prophecies
and preparations with which God brought His only-begotten
Son into the world. It had its beginning from the mouth of
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
73
God in paradise, and here it hath its close from the mouth of
a wanderer in the wilderness. Strange contrast! the mouth
of the Almighty, and the mouth of a houseless wanderer-the
paradise of Eden, and the wilderness beyond Jordan! Yet,
without being superstitious or mystical, it doth seem to me
an alteration of place and person emblematical of the woeful
change which four thousand years had brought upon our race.
That same divine truth, the hope and ensign of a world's sal-
vation, which flowed at first from the lips of God, as the refuge
and hiding-place of our first parents from His deserved wrath,
and which in the earlier ages had such credit upon the earth
as to have its heralds among kings, and high priests, and
princes-Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham; and Melchisedek,
prince of peace; and David, the most devout, and Solomon,
the most wise of kings-being spoken in temples, and palaces,
and high-places: that same truth, I say, hath, in the lapse of
this world's degeneracy, so fallen out of reputation with the
sons of men as to find its heralds only among captives, and
herdsmen, and outcasts, who, if they ventured with it into
august presences, were stoned, or cast into pits and dens of the
earth, or fiery furnaces and fatal prisons. Truly the time for
deliverance was fully come, when the world had waxed so
wicked that for a man to have a message from God was like
the sealing of his warrant of death. For even this same John,
who now got an audience from the mixed people, paid the price
of his head for venturing it in palaces. And Christ himself
was crucified, and Stephen was stoned, and eleven of the
twelve apostles were put to death; and so was Paul, and thou-
sands who, in the first ages, witnessed the good confession of
Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. This contrast of the
first and last scenes and speakers of this great prophecy of a
coming Saviour is not less instructive of the world's gradual
removal from God and the message of God, than is the con-
trast of the spirit in which the beginning and ending of it are
breathed. Its beginning breathes consolation and hope, its
ending breathes threatening and terror. The first, which was
given in these words, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the
head of the serpent," was a sweet assurance that the enemy
who had so rifled them of their innocency and their immor-
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
tality should yet pay dearly to One of the woman's seed the
price of his malice; while the last, now before us, is a stern.
warning of an approaching Judge, who, with rigid judgment
and more rigid execution, was to make strict inquest into the
characters of men. So true is it that the Almighty suits and
tempers the nature of His communications to the character of
the people to whom He sends them;-to the humble shewing
Himself humble, to the froward shewing Himself froward; to
every wicked man making Himself known according to his
unrighteousness, to every good man making Himself known
according to his righteousness, that men might stand in awe
of His mighty power and purest holiness.
But to return to the proper subject of lecture. The people
being by the skilful management of John's discourse removed
from the universal misconceptions of Messiah, and doubting
in their minds whether this outcast friendless person might
not be He, John broke the silence of their musings, and
declared, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier
than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to
unloose: He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire." The whole subject of John's baptism as distinguished
from Christ's, we separate for the subject of some future
theological lecture, when we shall have brought John's minis-
try to an end; and therefore we say nothing of it at present.
Our object is rather to catch the spirit of the Baptist, and
engender in your hearts that same most dignified estimation of
Christ which the Baptist expresseth. And assuredly He must
have been transcendently great, and by some singular attri-
butes elevated above the rest of men, to whom the Baptist
would pay the tribute of such self-humiliation. He had
rebuked every class of men in his presence, and trampled
all their pride and glory in the dust, upbraiding them as a
viperous generation, rebuking them as heirs of wrath, and
commanding them to flee out of the tabernacle of pride,
vanity, and self-conceit, and take refuge in the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins. This same stern and
haughty censor of public manners, stopped not at the assembled
people, but carried his searching spirit into the private recesses
of individual character, advancing far and wide his humi-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
75
liating and holy discipline, until he reached the very palace;
and there he stayed not, but so prevailed with Herod, as to
work high respect in the breast of the tyrant, not certainly by
fawning flattery, but by plain and truthful dealing. He dealt
with the conscience of the king as Paul did after him, and as
all worthy ministers of Christ will not fail, when occasion
serveth, to do to king or subject, who before God's judgment
are alike; yea, he rebuked the king in his palace, the morals
of which he commanded him to reform. And being cast
into prison, he bore his confinement with patience, until the
Lord by the cruelty of a woman saw meet to remove His
faithful messenger. Such was John, so faithful to his office,
and so fitted for his office, so unquenchable in his zeal for
holiness, and so unabashed before the state and dignity of
man. All which is necessary to be had in mind, in order
rightly to appreciate the value of his testimony to Christ, that
he was not worthy to untie the latchet of His shoe. The man
who with his last breath levelled all distinctions, now stands
abashed before one that was not present, stands self-confessed
as a worthless unserviceable creature, not fit for the most menial
office about His person. What an idea he must have had of
the Saviour's dignity! He was himself no mean one; we have
high testimony that of the sons of women, there was never a
greater than John the Baptist How infinitely exalted, then,
above the sons of women must He have been, of whom the
sternest, the severest, and the greatest of the sons of women
uttered that declaration, "He cometh after me, the latchet of
whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose!" If truly Jesus be
no more than what these modern heretics make Him, a pro-
phet, an anointed prophet and no more, a son of Mary and
Joseph, then John must have been strangely beside his
proper character, must have forgot himself, or spoken to
deceive the people, when he declared that he was not worthy
to unloose the latchet of His shoe.
John truly entertained other notions of Christ when he
pronounced this panegyric upon His dignity. He saw in
Him the expectation of all ages, the heir of all the prophets,
and the object of all the types and ceremonies of the law.
He saw in Him the Judge of all the earth, who was to make
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
division between the good and the wicked, and in whose hands
were the destinies of the world. He perceived in Him the
Redeemer promised to the fathers, whose name is "Wonderful,
Counsellor, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of peace."
He in whose distant day Abraham rejoiced, whom Moses
desired the people to expect and to hear, whom David adored
as his Lord, whom Solomon celebrated in his adoration of
eternal wisdom, of whose sufferings and glory Isaiah wrote at
large, of whose new reign Jeremiah and Ezekiel gave glorious
predictions, whose arrival Daniel dated and defined, whose
triumphant entrance into Jerusalem Zechariah foretold, and
of whom Moses, and the Psalms, and all the Prophets bear the
amplest testimony,-before all this weight of divine testimony
to Christ, John felt abashed. He felt himself as nothing
before Him. He abased all the high temper of his mind, and
humbled himself as infinitely beneath His regard. But though
a greater prophet than John never arose in Israel, yet the least.
in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he; that is, the least of
us who live under the dispensation of Christ, know more than
the Baptist knew with respect to the person of Christ. We
know more than Christ himself was able to reveal to Jewish
minds, we know the higher things which the Spirit taught to
the apostles, and which they have taught unto us-that Jesus
was the Son of God, above all powers, and dominions, and
thrones, and principalities, and every name that is named in
heaven; the brightness of the Father's glory and the express
image of His person, who upholdeth all things by the word
of His power, by whom also He made the worlds; that He
is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, who
was, and is, and is to come—our Saviour, and our Redeemer,
who hath reconciled us to God by His death, and justified us
by His resurrection from the dead, who is the resurrection and
the life, and in whom if a man believe he shall never die.
Now if John, who saw these things dimly as through a glass,
gave such high testimony to Christ, how much more ought
we who live under the dispensation of the very blessings
which he dimly foresaw! And in demonstrating that high
reverence of our Redeemer which we feel, the Baptist also
may set us the example. His rapid transition from the con-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
77
tempt and rebuke of other things to the adoration of his
coming Lord, should not only set us the example, but shew
us the proper way, of testifying our reverence to Christ.
That fine and rapid transition of John's from condemning
all the painted forms and artificial vanities of human life to
profound veneration of Christ, is, it seems to me, very instruc-
tive, not only to the heralds, but to all the followers, of the
Saviour. Jesus Christ should be our standard of admira-
tion, and whoever possesseth the resemblance of Christ should
have our profound regard. To be a Christian is to resemble
Jesus, and to feel like a Christian is to love whatsoever
resembles Him. All accomplishments of body and mind
ought to be viewed only as the modes and manners of the
soul, which alter with time and place; and beyond these we
should look for something, before yielding our homage. It is
well to pay due respect to dignities; learning, also, should have
its value in our eyes, and taste, and politeness, and whatever
other rules the world hath adopted for preserving its welfare;
but these are not ultimate things for a Christian to love or
admire; they are mere conventional things for him to under-
stand and use at the proper season.
And whenever he finds
them stealing upon him as ultimate goods, let him beware;
whenever he finds others regarding them as such, let him pity
their delusion, but by no means encourage it. Therefore,
these various idols which occupy the souls of men, the
fashions, the manners, the state and equipage of life, we
should outface in their effrontery, and not allow them to carry
it over the solid and substantial excellencies of a Christian
spirit. In order to cast all these into the shade, our Lord
appeared in the humblest guise, destitute of them all, without
a house, without a home, without a place to lay His head.
And in declaring ourselves the disciples of our Lord, we do
in a manner signify that we are heedless of all these things,
by attaching ourselves to One that did without them all.
Now, believe me that reverence for Christ is shewn in this
very thing which I now set before you. It is not merely in
our glorifying Him as God by our prayers and confessions,
though that should not be withheld; it is not in our uphold-
ing the value of His redemption for the sins of men, though
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
that also should not be withheld; it is not in protesting, as
we have done in this discourse, against those who underrate
His nature, though that also should not be withheld; but the
true exaltation of Christ consists in that which John the
Baptist so well exhibited,-in despising everything by men
most admired, when laid in the balance with the least upon
which Christ hath set the seal of His approbation. Is not
this taught in the account of the last judgment, where the
prisoner, the stranger, the hungered, the naked of His house
are pitched upon, not only as the most honourable characters
upon the earth, but as admitting to heaven those who con-
sulted for their welfare? The things despised, the things that
are accounted nothing of the world, by these God saveth the
world. Now, ye who are called by the name of Christ, I ask
you if ye have the Saviour in such exaltation as to regard with
high honour every virtue, every quality, which holdeth of
Him, however remote it may be from the world's estimation?
Do you love peace more than victory? do you covet meekness
more than power? do you rejoice in the good rather than in
the evil? Do you seek out those who honour their Saviour,
that ye may honour them? And in short, have ye abjured
the vain and pompous qualities of the world for the lowly and
despised qualities of Christ?
Ah! it is an easy matter to praise the Lord and His Christ
with the lips, and it is an easy matter to thunder anathemas
against all who do Them dishonour; but something is required.
besides. Had Christ been content with expressing His sym-
pathies for fallen man, or had He thundered His vengeance
against His enemies, and cut them off from Him for ever, or
used His riches and dignity only for the sake of those rich
and dignified places where He dwelt from eternity, then where
should this poor and desolate earth have been dwelling still
but in the midst of darkness and sin and sorrow? But no,
this dignified Personage, whose shoe-latchet the first of men
would not have presumed to loose, made Himself of no re-
putation, and was content with the meanest attendance, or
rather Himself became the servant of the meanest when He
could do them good. He cared for no state of rank or royalty
or numerous attendance; He performed for His followers the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
79
most servile office of washing their feet; He complained not
of scanty meals and houseless wanderings; He complained
not of misusage, and when railed upon by the lowest of the
people, He railed not again, but committed Himself unto
Him that judgeth righteously; He never exhibited a heart
swollen with the sense of His insulted dignity, nor did He
abandon wretched places over which His heart was swollen
almost to bursting with sympathy, and suffering, and sorrow.
Why did He so? In order to bring out to us in perfect relief
a pattern of the mild, and benevolent, and patient, and per-
severing parts of human character, and affix our love thereto;
that it might be detached from the gaudy and ceremonious,
and proud, and ambitious aspects of this world.
Therefore, as many of you as the Lord our God hath
called, I do entreat to take example from the Baptist's min-
istry, and while you look severely and with rebuke upon
the idle and ostentatious displays of the world, to cultivate
within yourselves admiration of the lowly graces of your
Lord and Saviour, who, "though rich, for our sakes became
poor, that we through His poverty might become rich."
Shew forth your admiration and adoration of Him by ad-
miring and adoring everything which appertaineth to Him.
Go about and seek those who reverence Him in their hearts,
and do them acts of grace. Go about among the poor, and
the prisoners, and the hungry, and the naked, and be unto
them as angels of mercy. Let the world roll its own way,
regard it not, envy it not, and when occasion serveth, rebuke
it; but be your walk in the footsteps of your Master, under-
valuing gay assemblies for poor and abject places, refusing
high invitations for charitable suggestions, watching over the
wants of your neighbourhood, and blessing it with the tender
sympathies of a disciple of Christ. In this way testify your
love and estimation of Christ, and His Spirit will dwell within.
you. Oh, if I chose to be severe on the professing members.
of Christ, I could read against them sore rebukes of their
paltry affectations of the world's opinions, and the world's
costly and unprofitable fashions, to the injury and danger of
their own souls; but I rather choose to pray you, for the sake
of Christ, to be entreated to walk in His footsteps, and attach
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yourselves to works of charity and love, that you may bring
honour to your great Head and Lord, and live in the light of
His countenance all the days of your life, and after death be
received unto His rest. "Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord. They rest from their labours, and their works do follow
them." "Those that honour Me I will honour, and I will raise
them up at the last day." "Therefore, follow after righteous-
ness, holiness, faith, temperance. Be rich in good works, ready
to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for
yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that
you may lay hold on eternal life." In this way testify your
regard for Him who hath brought you out of darkness into
His marvellous light. In the spirit of your minds do Him
honour, in all your acts do Him honour; then your lips shall
testify to Him of their own accord, and without a voice you
shall rebuke those that undervalue Him, and by the blessing
of God convert them to the knowledge of the same truth in
which you stand. Which offices of Christian love may the
God of all grace, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, enable you to perform, to the glory of His own great
name, to the manifestation of His blessed Son our Saviour,
and to the salvation of your own immortal souls!
LECTURE VII.
LUKE III. 16-18.
LEAVING for separate discourse the theological question
of John's baptism, what it was, and how connected with
and distinguished from the baptism of Christ, we enter, not
without solemn and painful feelings, upon the topic of the
17th verse, wherein is set forth the discernment and severation
which the coming of Christ was to make between the wheat
and the chaff, into which the sons of men are metaphorically
divided by the Baptist. This effect of the preached gospel,
at once to create a chasm in society, and set men apart to the
right and to the left with a kind of preparatory judgment,
was revealed so conspicuously upon Christ's arrival, which
brought a sword upon the earth; and hath so uniformly at-
tended the progress of His religion since, in this country and
in all countries of the world; and is so much prophesied of in
the Revelation, in the contest between Michael and Satan, to
terminate in the great battle of Armageddon, that it may be
pronounced not a casual, but a necessary, not an initiatory,
but a constant attribute of the faith; and therefore it doth
become a great question of Christian economy, upon which
inquiry should be held, and for which the servants of Christ
should be prepared. Now, this discernment and severation
which Christ and His doctrines make, by their presence, be-
tween the good and the evil, cometh to pass not out of any
uncharitableness or malice which they bear to men, whom
they are commanded to love as they do themselves; but
out of a natural disunion and disagreement which there is
between Christ and the world, such as there is between light
and darkness. For, while the members of Christ's body do
cultivate the graces and virtues for which the Head of the
Church was distinguished, it will come to pass that the world
VOL. II.
F
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
will hate them, even as it hated Him, according to His own
premonition of His disciples,-"If ye were of the world, the
world would love its own: but because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you." Into the causes and present form of
this difference between the Church of Christ and the world
I shall now enter at large, according to the grace given to
me, and endeavour to graft thereon such admonitions to
both parties as may, by the blessing of God, be profitable
unto both.
everlast-
If any man will look into his own heart, and institute
a comparison between its dispositions and the dispositions
of the Word of God, he will find the source, the
ing source and perennial fountain, of the discord which I
have undertaken, in God's strength, to disclose. Each man
must here be judge for himself; and let each man severally
judge whether what I am to say be according to the truth of
his own experienced feelings. First of all, there is a forget-
fulness of God, a not caring to have Him in our remembrance,
which is an eclipse of the soul's natural light, an eclipse, how-
ever, not like those in nature, unfrequent and incomplete, and
soon passing away, but constant and ever-enduring, being
under the active agency of the powers of evil, who seek to
devour him with darkness, even as the savage tribes suppose
of the natural eclipses of the heavenly bodies. In this absence
of God's illumination, which fallen nature is born into from age
to age, the soul, not seeing nor feeling God, not rejoicing in
Him, nor prompted by His Spirit in righteous paths, betakes
herself to the things which solicit her natural desires, and re-
joice her natural inclinations, and minister to her present hap-
piness-to things of sense, to things of science, to things of
present gain. What else can she do in her prison-house, in her
dark prison-house, but make the best of it? There shooteth a
ray of conscience from heaven, through the grate-work of her
cell; but the light from the world or the glare of hell consumeth
it up, and it falls unnoticed, and exciteth to no heavenward
ambitions. We become, in this absence of the divine light,
in this degradation of our noble industry, like the old hoary
man, who, being set free from the Bastile of France, begged
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
83
for Heaven's sake to be taken back into that prison, which had
unfitted him for the enjoyment of the liberal air of heaven.
I know that these similitudes fall upon the ears of men like
visions and dreams. They say, "What talk you of a prison-
house? This earth is a spacious theatre of blooming beauty
and rich enjoyment, and no prison-house or wilderness, such
as your theologians do prattle of. And this natural under-
standing, which ye liken to darkness, is the glorious receptacle
of all knowledge and all truth, the fountain of all ideas which
are written in books, or established in the works of men."
Even so I allow the earth doth seem, and the understanding
doth feel itself to be. And by this communion with the
lovely and beautiful things which are seen, this glory in the
many truths which are known to nature, the soul is filled full
of her own self and her own abode, and hath little or no room
for the tidings which the eternal Word of God revealeth of
higher intelligence, dark to nature, and of a better world-to
nature unknown. The soul confineth herself to things seen
and temporal, and will not be enlarged to things unseen and
eternal. It will not have a wider scope, it will not be winged
for heaven, it will not commune with the Father of universal
truth; it is content with its present limitations, it is sophisti-
cated by its present ideas, it loveth its present drudgery: and
therefore I say again, it is naturally an imprisoned slave.
What boots it to talk of enjoyment! the slaves of the West
Indies have enjoyments; and what boots it to talk of liberal
movements! the slaves of the West Indies have no walls about
them, and yet they are pitiful, wretched slaves; they have
privileges also, they have affections also, they have reason
also, yet they are such slaves as no prisoner within the
walls and grates of the Fleet would exchange conditions
withal. And what do you talk of the spacious earth and the
capacious reason! the earth is as spacious and the reason is as
capacious to the Italian or the Greek; and who of you would
call them free? Freedom lives in the manly mind which hath
no superior but the superior of reasonable and legal govern-
ment, and cannot be constrained by the will and pleasure of
any other mind. And I return to my first position, and say
that men are naturally wretched and imprisoned slaves. They
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obey not reason, with which their conduct varieth; they obey
not conscience, which is the admonition of high reason; they
obey not even the conceptions of their understanding, or the
rules of prudence, or the receipts of experience; but they jolt
from side to side, and run in all directions, they retrograde,
they advance, they are stationary, they are inconsistent and
incoherent, and always at war with their own selves. Repent-
ance, remorse, new resolutions, reformations, relapses, crimes
against good feeling, pains and penalties and acts of penance
done before the mind's consciousness,-these are the history of
every man's conduct. Who, then, is the man that will talk of
his being free, in the only good and noble meaning of the
term? But with the bondage of this ignoble life men have got
so enamoured, entangled, and debased, that, taken as a body,
they have no more heart for the enlargement which Christ
bringeth to their ears, than the prize-fighters, taken as a class,
have for doctrines of humility and peace; or the gipsies,
taken as a class, have for the doctrines of regular settled life;
or the paupers, taken as a class, have for doctrines of severe
economy and noble independence; or ale-house politicians,
taken as a class, have for the Saturday night of the pious
cottager. The human race, taken as a whole, are in the same
predicament towards Christ, and maintain against Him the
same front of opposition which these several classes would
maintain against any one who would go amongst them and
preach redemption and deliverance from their several degrada-
tions, by which each is so degraded as to conceive it his most
noble privilege and immunity.
How may such a world be expected to treat Christ, who
cometh into it, teaching its fallen condition, disreputing all
its glory, and stripping bare all its self-conceit, telling its good
men that they are not good, its wise men that they are not
wise, its kings that they should rule in righteousness, its people
that they should live in peace and love. Oh, what can He
expect who cometh forbidding revenge, condemning quarrel,
strife, and bloodshed, that sweet game of kings and people;
who cometh prohibiting intemperance and bridling lust, and
stripping vanity of all her gaudy train, and striking pride
low, and placing humility on high; who cometh blessing
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
85
poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, love of righteousness,
mercy, peace-making, and persecuted men, and denouncing
woe upon those that are rich, and those that are full, and
those that laugh, and those that are well-spoken of by all
mankind; what, I say, can He expect but that those an-
cient masters of mankind,-those princes of the heart and
rulers of the life of men, shall rise and combine against.
Him, and slay His precious life, and cut off the memory of
And
such unsparing doctrine from the face of the earth!
yet it was a wondrous pity, for truly this was like the insur-
rection of his countrymen against the man Moses, who would
have delivered them-like the world's rejection of Noah, who
could have saved them-or as if Nineveh had rejected the
message of Jonas. But what can be expected of benighted
men but that in their darkness they should do things of which
they should be ashamed? or of enraged, infuriated men but
that they should strike the mediator who would make peace
between them? The men of Athens poisoned Socrates, their
wisest man, because he told them truth; they also poisoned
Phocion because he flinched not from the truth. And Plato
was sold for a slave, and the apostles were put to violent
deaths, and the reformers were either slain or ran hairbreadth
escapes; and, in later times, Wesley and his followers, in this
land of freedom, had often the severest encounters from the
natural passions of men. Why be surprised that the world
should arm against Christ? The world were not the world,
if it could do anything else. If a man arise to tell them un-
welcome truth, I have shewn you how the people smite him.
Need I tell you how power muzzles him, and how spies
watch and entrap him? It maketh no matter in what land a
man maketh advances upon his age. Galileo they imprisoned.
They dug up the bones of old Wickliffe, and sent them, as
of old the bacchanalian rout did the limbs of Orpheus, down
the stream to the mighty deep. They imprisoned Bunyan;
upon Locke's head they set a price; and the patient Penn
they restricted of liberty. And, in short, the world is so
restful, so error and prejudice-bound, and the powers of evil
do so restrain and hinder her advancement, they do so cut
and maim and destroy every one who would unbind her and
86
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
help her forward, that verily I declare it again, to me the
wonder would have been if men could have spared Jesus
Christ, the prince of truth, in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, the captive earth's redeemer,
heaven's champion, truth's arch-advocate, error's arch-enemy,
death's destroyer, the grave's conqueror, and the bruiser of
Satan's head. Oh, had the world, the devil, and the flesh
done anything less than scorn and mock Him, and crown
Him with thorns, and spit on Him, and crucify Him, and
smite His cold and lifeless clay, then I should have hesitated
whether He was the Messiah, the messenger of the living God!
And His followers must fare the same for ever, until God
hath put all things under His feet. If they be bone of His
bone, and flesh of His flesh, as the spouse of Christ should
be; if they partake of His body as their bread, and of His
blood as their living water, and bear fruit in Him as the
branches do in the vine, and work concurrent with Him, as
the members of the body do with the head of them, how can
they otherwise fare than as He fared? "The disciple is not
greater than his master, nor the servant than his lord. If
they hate me, they will also hate you; if they persecute me,
they will persecute you also." Whoso looketh for the love of
the world and the love of Christ must be deceived, for Belial
hath no communion with God, nor light with darkness, and
the friendship of the world is at enmity with God. The world
may alter the nature of its hostility, and even disguise it with
feigned patronage; but it is not in the nature of things that
they should cease to persecute this way until they wholly
embrace it with their souls. Perhaps there never was an age
or country in which religion had more friendly treatment than
this in which our lives have been happily cast. For which it
behoveth us to thank God without ceasing. But though it be
an invidious task, it is not difficult to point out the enmity
even of this age to Christ and the followers of Christ. There
is no open persecution in person and property, which I hope
is done away with for evermore. But there is a persecution.
of all that distinguishes the faith of Christ. Do not I call
modern Unitarianism a persecution of Christ in all His most
essential characters? They have robbed Him of His divinity,
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
87
they have robbed Him of His offices, leaving Him only the
condition of a prophet. Why, if He had claimed no more
than this, the Jews would never have quarrelled with Him.
The Jews persecuted not the son of Mary, but the Son of
God. Had He claimed no more than a commission from on
high, He would have got no worse treatment than an ordinary
prophet. Into this late-sprung sect every hater of Christ at
heart edgeth himself, and striketh the old favourite blow of the
world under the sanction of a divine name; and they boast
at heart that half the kingdom are with them, which I will-
ingly allow, because they refuse no one to their brotherhood,
and are content to admit any one who will rail upon Christ's
divinity. They crucify Him, they put Him to an open shame;
they strip Him of all His glory; they clothe Him in imperfect
manhood, and bandy words and arguments with "the Word
which was in the beginning, which was with God, and which
was God." Under this banner rally all kindreds and denomi-
nations of men; your witty scoffer, your excommunicated be-
liever, your semi-infidel, your liberal, your thin-witted specu-
lator, and your arrogant disputer,—all under this banner launch
their animosity and dislike against the true, essential, only
valuable traits of Christ's character. And need I say how
they stigmatise the believers in the old orthodox doctrines
of His divinity and atonement,-doctrines upon which the
Romish Church and both the Churches of this island, and
every Church since the first foundation of our religion, have
been rooted and grounded; how they stigmatise us as enthu-
siasts and fanatics, and men who have made shipwreck of
reason, and can give no account of the hope that is in them?
This, I reckon, is the most covert but most effectual head
which in these times the world maketh against Christ. Next
to this is the dislike of the higher ranks of fashion. If you
talk to them of the humility of a Christian, of his being in the
Spirit all the day long, of his denying himself to all untruth
and ungodliness; if you set religion in array against their
hollowness of heart, their vain pretences, their time and life-
consuming gaieties, their squanderings and dissipations-they
make brief work of it, and call you mad. You are bit as
with an infection, and lost to all good. So that to be a Chris-
88
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
tian in their atmosphere, you must be in a great degree an
outcast, or you must take up the cross against father and
mother, and brother and sister, and friend. Next to this I
place in order the persecution of men of business, whether
professional or mercantile. Your medical men are too know-
ing, and your lawyers are too busy in their chambers, and
merchants too intent on drudgery and luxury, and the lower
classes so set upon recreation-potions to steep weary labour
in oblivion, that, if all these classes have any idea about
heartfelt godliness and living faith in Christ, it is to scoff at it,
and to decry it as cant or weakness. Truly it is not my wish
to exaggerate, but when to this coldness, and scoffing, and
hatred I add the discountenance of sober-minded, zealous
pastors, by those who have the power, the decrying of Calvin-
ism, which this age mistaketh for necessity and fatalism, and
the adoption of meagre, unsubstantial Arminianism, the dis-
countenance and discontinuance of the strong, manly, spiritual
discourse of our fathers, and the patronage of empty essays of
morals or rhapsodies of enthusiasm,-when I take these things
into account, it seemeth to me that there is at bottom as suc-
cessful an opposition maintained to vital religion in this day as
in former times, and that the world is as full of animosity
as ever it hath been to the cause of our blessed Saviour.
When I reflect upon what hath been said, and cast an eye
upon the mass of popular opinions and feelings, to observe
whether I have spoken according to the truth, the conviction
is borne in upon my mind that I am not up to the true mark
of this age's mistreatment of Christ. The best index of the
esteem in which the world holdeth any set of opinions will
be found in the printed and popular books. These are, as it
were, the voice of the time, the record of the common mind.
Now, if you compare the thought at present expended in the
service of Christ with what was wont to be expended in for-
mer times, you shall find it infinitely decreased both in quality
and in quantity. There are no such men now as there were
wont to be, girded about with the girdle of the truth, and
engaging for Christ in the front ranks of the great contest of
thought. If you want a powerful demonstration against the
infidel, or a strenuous wrestling with the world, or a heart-
JOHN THE BAPTIST
89
searching appeal to your own personal condition, any divine
contemplation, any quintessence of thought, or unction of
godliness, you have to go back several ages to draw it forth
from the great men of old, who, though dead, still speak by
their works. The men of Christ are dismayed, driven back,
and heartless; they make no onset, they muster not, they
gather not, they burst not upon the enemy, they are content
to be unmolested, they allow the science, the literature, the
poetry, the policy of the age to depart from God; they give
them bad names, they curse them, and then they are con-
tented. They wait in expectation of some second Pentecost
to do the marvellous and hopeless work of recovering this
nation; they pray for the outpouring of the Spirit, they
form societies, and do little else. But verily they ought to
think, they ought to reason, they ought to rouse their man-
hood, and awake these gifts, and be brave and expeditious in
the warfare of the soul, and so serve Christ with the very ut-
most, noblest capacities which He hath bestowed. Not only
do the books printed in behalf of Christ manifest by universal
consent a waning strength, but the other books against Him
have gotten a strength inestimable. Books of science and
philosophy have in general waxed so contemptuous as to
think the subject beneath mention, or worthy only of an
equivoque or a sneer. Books of imagination, how insolent
they generally are towards vital godliness, I say not, because it
needeth not to be said. And your circulating literature, which
I suppose composeth two-thirds of this nation's reading, is a
most unweeded garden of envious and hostile feeling, of sec-
tarian and partisan passions. The Church, the catholic and
universal Church, the mystical body of Christ, is totally for-
gotten in the midst of party contentions and worldly interests.
It is all about right and establishment, emolument, power,
and such like adventitious attributes of religion. On these
they are very eloquent, very indignant, very bold; but upon
the verity itself, upon the hindrances and opposition to Christ,
upon the currents of power setting against Him, say but a
word, and they will devour you. Such defenders of the faith!
such advocates of truth! And will any man who taketh
all these things into account, and many more, of which it is
•
90
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
not convenient to speak at this time, say that this world hath
dropped its hostility towards the Church, or that the same
discrepancy and discordance which hath existed from the
beginning existeth not still, ay, and will exist till the world
end, or the Church hath annihilated the world by converting
it and taking it to its bosom?
Seeing, then, that the presence of Christ and His discipline
doth continue down to the present time to make division
upon the earth, and rouse up all the evil passions and interests.
of man into an active hostility against His peaceful, unoffend-
ing Church, and that the thing threatened by the Baptist doth
exist amongst us, and that our people are divided into two
portions, the fruitful friends and barren enemies of Christ,
who are lying confused and intermingled like wheat and chaff
upon the unwinnowed threshing-floor, it now falleth to my
office to lift up my voice amongst you and strike the warn-
ing of the great Husbandman's arrival, who will thoroughly
purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner,
and burn the chaff with fire unquenchable. And think not
that I love this office of fearful admonition. I love it not, but
I hate it not, and I will not flee from it when our evangelist
presents a proper occasion. I would make my lecture as
broad as my text, and so discourse as widely as the inspired
document. And this, the age having neglected, hath run itself
into narrows and creeks in the great ocean of religious thought,
instead of keeping the open and illimitable ocean, and traf-
ficking to all the regions of human interest and knowledge.
Let the enemies of Christ be therefore warned-those who,
under various forms, have been mentioned above: His enemies
under guise and name of friends, who, under covert of the name
of the Most High, put to shame His only-begotten Son, and
think they serve God by depreciating the brightness of His
glory and the express image of His person; next, His enemies
for the world's sake, who, from their several spheres of power,
and pride, and fashion, and knowledge, and riches, frown
indignation upon His humble, faithful followers; next, His
enemies who revile Him in the standing monuments of books,
who, by their wit serve discord, folly, and wickedness, and re-
nounce the faith, and sell themselves to some adverse interest
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
91
within the land: all these, and every other class or individual
man who hath not the love of Christ in his heart, and bridleth
not his tongue by His wisdom, nor directeth his life by His
commandments, but maketh his religion a matter of form,
or a matter of gain, but not a matter of all-directing prin-
ciple,—all, I say, to whom religion in their mind stands by the
side of morality and of policy and of worldly wisdom, as a
book in a library standeth by the side of other books, whereas
it should be to them what intelligence is to all the books,
the very thing which maketh them profitable, all such reli-
gious (that is, self-named religious) or irreligious, public or
private, avowed or secret enemies of Christ in this Christian
land, must take warning that their destruction will come and
will not tarry, that they shall be accounted of only as the
chaff which the wind driveth to and fro, and used as the chaff
is used, to be consumed in the fire unquenchable. They are
but the husks of men, the outward slough, and no more; they
shroud within their body or their mind no divine generative
principle. They can propagate their kind upon the earth, but
in the soil of heaven they root not, they spring not, they flour-
ish not. What availeth it to mince the matter and shipwreck
souls? If ye cannot hear, ye cannot; if ye will not, ye will not.
But that mattereth not. It is certain as that the Lord liveth
that ye shall be consumed if you abide and continue in your
animosity to the most merciful and forgiving Son of the most
high God.
Here twice, nay, thrice, in one brief discourse hath
the Baptist rung your peal, "Who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come?" Every tree which bringeth not forth
good fruit is cast into the fire and is burned; the chaff He shall
consume with fire unquenchable. And the Lord himself hath
read unto you the same most awful fate-“If a man abide not
in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men
gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."
The tares are at the great harvest gathered together and cast
into the fire that never shall be quenched. What say ye then,
fellow-men, who bear an evil heart to Christ? This is the end
and issue of your enmity. It came not of man's wit, and cursed
is the man who hideth it from his fellow-men. We are but
the organ of the word, the voice that crieth in the wilderness.
92
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Ours is not to provoke you, but to announce the will of God
concerning you, which is this, that if you drop not the wea-
pons of your warfare against Christ, be they riot, or wicked-
ness, or wilfulness, or lust, or pride, or avarice, or vanity, or
cruelty, or any form of abused power,-if ye lay them not down,
and repent of your past rebellion, and humble yourselves in
dust and ashes, and accept His overtures of forgiveness, and
strike with Him an everlasting covenant of peace and amity,
and keep in His cause till the end of your days-this way,
this only way of salvation, if you refuse, then verily there
remaineth for you only the way of destruction which you
now tread, which leadeth down to the chambers of the grave,
with the fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indigna-
nation to consume you quick. Call me not cruel, my fellow-
men, for so stating the truth; then Christ was cruel who died
for the world, and every prophet who warned the world, and
every apostle who compassed the world with the ministry of
salvation; and every father is cruel who sets the ruin that
waits on evil courses before his child; and every friend is
cruel who holds back his friend and points to ruin in his path;
and every physician who prognosticates the fatal issues of
disease to his patients, or to hinder those issues, cuts and
lacerates his tender frame. Call it not cruelty that I thus
from time to time make known the fatal issues and conclu-
sion of an unchristian life; but call it kindness: for therein
I do for your sakes disguise and discompose my own proper
nature, which is to preach the tender mercy of Christ to all
to whom, consistently with the truth of Christ, it may be
preached. And, accordingly, all friends of the persecuted
Saviour, who love Him in their heart, and with their heart
believe unto righteousness, I hail with all my affections to
the inheritance of the promise which accompanies the threat-
ening in the text; and my only grudge is, that this welcome
doth not embrace the whole world. But there is this consola-
tion, that every one hearing me it doth, if they choose, embrace;
and if it embrace them not, their own obstinacy, and that alone,
is to be blamed. They will not come unto Jesus that they may
have life. Those, therefore, who have within them the ever-
lasting seed of the word, which liveth and abideth for ever,
JOHN THE BAPTIST
93
shall soon be removed from this the winter of their growth.
Whatever be their unsightliness or their lowliness in the eyes
of the world, however despised and underrated-if they sanc-
tify the Lord God in their hearts, and have within them the
germ and principle of the divine life, they shall be removed in
the midst of all their depression, and admitted to the man-
sions which Christ hath prepared for those that love Him.
It rejoiceth my heart to think what bed-ridden, infirm, heart-
broken sufferers, what humble cottagers, what reviled and
persecuted worthies, what imprisoned and tortured martyrs,
what men of truth whose reproofs society could not endure,
what men of divine schemes whose bosoms laboured with
desires of good, which philosophy contemned and power held
back, shall be brought, each from his unnoticed abode, and
his unbefriended employment, and translated by the Lord to
uphold the concerns of heaven.
O brethren! Christian brethren! if ye be persecuted by the
world for Christ's sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for
great is your reward in heaven. "Ye shall rest from your la-
bours, and your works shall follow you." And let not your im-
perfections trouble you, and Christ will present you to God
pure and blameless, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
And the husbandman valueth not more the precious wheat,
the reward of his labour, and the hope of future harvests, than
Christ valueth you, who are the reward of the much travail or
His soul, and whom He hath purchased with His precious
blood out of all kindreds, and nations, and tongues. And the
husbandman doth not, when he hath parted the wheat from
the chaff, store it with more care in his garners, and there
defend it from every risk, than will your Saviour, when He
hath by judgment once parted you from the wicked, remove
you from the reach of all that now trouble your peace, and
place you in as much safety as was he who was removed
from the rich man's gate and carried to Abraham's bosom.
Now, when I take this thing to thought—this thing which
is commonly spoken of, but seldom thought of-that a crea-
ture should be trained for heaven in the school of this sinful
world, in a place where sin is reigning on all hands, for a
place where sin is not, it doth seem to my mind the most
94
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
amazing of all things, and one of the highest exercises of
Almighty grace; in a place where all is dust and corrup-
tion, for a place where all is pure essence and immortality;
in a place where all God's works are marred with sin, where
men verge in their baseness to the very edge of brutality,
where our notions are vulgar, our intercourse impure, our
words deceitful, our books ungodly; the whole shape and
form of life-the painted sepulchre or the adorned coffin of
purity and godliness, which it containeth not, but hideth and
burieth, that such a place as earth should become a nursery
for such a place as heaven, is, we declare the most marvel-
lous of all things; and in proportion as it is marvellous, the
more devoutly to be admired and praised. And that this
should be compassed upon the heirs of glory, without alter-
ing one law of temptation, or culling one agent of sin, but
permitting to them as varied arms and as fair a field as before,
compassed by the love and watchfulness of the great Bishop
of our souls, is the most wonderful display of Divine power,
and wisdom, and grace, whereof we have any record.
The more do ye require, who feel within your souls the
growing meetness for heavenly places. "It is the doing of the
Lord, and wondrous in our eyes." Be of good cheer under
the enmity of men.
Greater is He that is for us than all who
can be against us. Take not the maltreatment of the world
amiss; for thereunto ye are called, that ye might inherit
a blessing. For Christ also suffered for us, the just for the
unjust, that we should follow His steps. If ye suffer for
righteousness, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror,
neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with
meekness and with fear.
что
LECTURE VIII.
MATT. III. 13; LUKE III.
O this baptism of John, at Bethabara beyond Jordan, came
Jesus the son of Mary, from Nazareth, in which place He
had lived since the death of Herod, subject to His parents, in-
creasing in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and
men-being about thirty years of age, the time at which the
Levites under the law were wont to be anointed and set apart
to the priestly office. He came on purpose to be baptized of
John, in the river Jordan, along with the rest. John, though
he knew Him not, as he himself declareth, knew that upon this
occasion He was to be made manifest unto Israel; therefore,
says he, am I come baptizing with water. So that the Al-
mighty, by this general assembly of the people, and solem-
nising of their minds and purifying of them in Jordan,
intended to put things into a condition sufficiently dignified
for that event which we are now to discourse of. He wished
to manifest His Son by a voice and a sign from heaven, and
to that end it was necessary to assemble a multitude of the
people, which multitude being assembled, it was necessary to
bring into a reverend and attentive frame, that the effect
might not be transient, but abide. From this assembly, His
Son was to draw the most faithful of His adherents, His first
witnesses and apostles. Therefore the Lord sent forth His
servant whom He had prepared in the wilderness to rebuke
and chasten the minds of the people out of levity and sinful-
ness, and induce upon them all a frame of penitence and
apprehension of wrath, and desire of the Saviour's appear-
ance; which end being accomplished by the act of baptism
and the discourse ye have listened to, all was mature and
ready for the great demonstration now about to be given of
the Son of God.
96
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Jesus came forward and offered Himself for baptism, but
not until all the people had been baptized before Him.
John, by what sign we know not, recognised His person, and
forbade Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and
comest thou to be baptized of me? But Jesus answering
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness. And he suffered him." The bap-
tism being a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,
John perceived it to be out of place for One who had done
no sin, neither was guile found in His lips, and would have
hindered Christ from being subjected to a rite which had
in it a confession of sin of which He was guiltless. With
that humility and self-abasement, therefore, before higher
gifts, which is not only consistent with, but always attendant
upon, a hatred and free rebuke of meanness and iniquity,
John wished to receive the rite at the hands of Jesus, as being
conscious of much imperfection and wickedness. “I have
need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" So
ought every minister of the Lord to feel in the presence of
his Saviour, that he is but a servant; and though it be his
duty in that office to rebuke the various frailties and errors of
men, to feel that he himself standeth in the same necessity,
and would do well to submit to the same ritual at his Master's
hand; for the best are unprofitable servants, and come short
of the glory of God. The Saviour, who was better acquainted
with the nature both of His own and the Baptist's commis-
sion, answered and said unto him, "Suffer it to be so now,
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he
suffered him." In which answer you will observe the Saviour
payeth respect to John's scruple, and asks it not upon right
but upon sufferance; thereby admitting that the true purport
of the ordinance appertained not to Him, but that it behoved
or became Him to fulfil all righteousness. To understand
this expression, I crave your attention to the following expla-
nation: This baptism was an ordinance of God, whereby the
gospel dispensation was to be introduced. It was part of the
Divine appointments, and it became Christ as the end and
fulfilment of the law, to submit Himself thereto. "Forasmuch
as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
97
Himself took part of the same;" and taking part of the same,
He must submit to all the conditions flesh and blood are
heir to.
Therefore He was born of a woman; therefore He
was submitted to the rite of circumcision, and presented
before the Lord in the temple; and went up to the passover,
and attended in the synagogue, and observed all the law,
which He came not to destroy but to fulfil; and not only so
with respect to the institution of Moses, but also with respect
to the institution which He Himself was to set up. He
partook of the supper which He instituted, and humbled
Himself to wash the disciples' feet. He bore His own cross,
which we are commanded to take up and follow Him. He
was crucified in the flesh, which we have also to submit to;
and He was quickened by the Spirit, by which same Spirit
that raised Him from the dead, we also are raised to newness
of life; and in everything He set us the example of our
Christian calling, that we might follow His steps. Whether,
therefore, this baptism of John be understood as holding of
the old dispensation or of the new, it was incumbent upon
Christ, who submitted to every institution of both, to fulfil it.
It was a part of righteousness, that is, it was a part of God's
holy commandments, which Christ came into the world to
shew us the example of fulfilling, both in the letter and the
spirit; and therefore, though He had no wickedness to
repent of, nor sins to be forgiven, it became Him to be
immersed in the water of baptism, that the apostle might
afterwards be able to say, "Being buried with Him in bap-
tism."
To fulfil all righteousness, I understand therefore to mean,
to observe every institution appointed or sanctified by God.
For the word in the original is not "holiness," but justice,
-not "spiritual purity," but clearness from condemnation,
and innocency before the law; and the word "to fulfil" is
not to perfect, but to implement. "It behoveth us, it is neces-
sary, or a part of my office, to implement the demands of the
divine law, though they apply not to My proper and ever-
lasting nature. I am come forth from the Eternal for this
very end of submitting to the laws, moral or ceremonial,
which God imposeth on man; to brave all the ills and natural
VOL. II.
G
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
maladies which sin hath brought upon the world; to be
tempted by the alternate powers of the devil, the world, and
the flesh, to finish transgression and make an end of sin, and
with My dying breath to testify in the face of heaven, 'It is
finished' the work which Thou gavest me to do, that I have
performed; the cup which Thou gavest me to drink, I have
drained it to the very dregs." The Captain of our salvation,
saith the apostle, was made perfect through suffering,-not
that in His proper nature He was ever affected with imper-
fection, but that, in order to be the Captain and Leader of
men out of thraldom, it behoved Him to be brought in con-
tact with their sympathies, to obtain their confidence; and it
behoved Him to come down into the shaded forest-chamber
of this suffering world, to sound the depths of sorrow, and
become acquainted with the extreme passages of grief, and
thence to ascend, bearing all and braving all, with all the
whips and scourges of misery upon Him, and all the arrows
of the enemy sticking round about Him, to ascend through
the very article of death and jaws of the grave, through the
rent veil of His flesh,-to ascend, conquering and to conquer,
into that glory to which, as the Captain, He would lead all
the captive suffering children of men. This is the spirit of
His incarnation, one great end and meaning of His manifes-
tation in sinful flesh, to teach humanity how there resideth
with the Spirit of God a power to fortify humanity, and make
it victorious over all trials and temptations,—a power to re-
construct the fallen ruins of humanity into a temple of holi-
ness, wherein the service of God shall proceed more purely
than it did in the tabernacle of Moses, or in the temple of
Solomon, or any other emblem of the heart of man, which is
the only temple of the most high God. This courage and
confidence in his power of being regenerated could never,
never have been imparted to sinful human nature but by an
instance, an experiment made into the world of human na-
ture of very flesh and blood, being preyed upon at all points,
and standing fast in its integrity through the mighty opera-
tion of that Spirit, which is freely offered to perform the same
office in all who will take up His cross and follow His foot-
steps. Therefore He said unto John, "Suffer it to be so now,
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
99
for thus it is My office to fulfil every righteous appointment
of God's, and in the end to stand acquitted before the law of
Moses, and before My own better law of having fulfilled to
the very uttermost all their obligations." And John suffered
Him, that is, he acquiesced in His higher wisdom and better
judgment, acting in the spirit of his declaration just uttered
to the people, "There cometh One, the latchet of whose shoes
I am not worthy to unloose." So also the centurion was
humbled with a sense of unworthiness before the Lord, and
thereby grew in His favour, and drew forth His admiration.
So also the woman who washed His feet with tears in Simon
the Pharisee's house, drew down the forgiveness of her many
sins by her silent abasement before His holiness. So also
the woman who shewed that last attainment of faith and
humility by touching the hem of His garment, as He went
on His way to heal the daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the
synagogue. Which instances do all testify that there is a
timorous unwillingness, proceeding from a sense of insuffi-
ciency—a misgiving before the thought of Christ's holiness
or holy law, which is to Him a great commendation, and
draweth from Him encouragement and a supply of the need-
ful grace and strength; even as Paul, under that strong self-
conviction, three times besought to be delivered from any
longer contention with his infirmity, had that most gracious
inspiration bestowed on him, "My grace is sufficient for thee,
and My strength is perfected in weakness." Wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, humble yourselves
and ye shall be exalted; when you are weak, then are you
strong; when you feel your insufficiency, and cry with strong
prayer and intercession unto God, then your help cometh
from His sanctuary, where reside the chariots and horses of
the Most High.
When John had yielded to the will of his Lord and Master,
and done the office of baptizing Him, He straightway came
up out of the water, and being absorbed in prayer, the hea-
vens were rent, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily
shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven,
which said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." Every outward ordinance of God's appointment is.
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
intended as the vehicle or instrument for conveying divine
grace from on high. Of these ordinances, that of the written
Word is the first and noblest, which is the great vehicle of im-
mortal truth; and being used as a vehicle for the spirit of
man to come into audience of the Spirit of God, it never
faileth to bring down the light of divine intelligence into the
soul. Creation also is a vehicle of divine wisdom; and being
contemplated with devout regard, will yield no small know-
ledge of His eternal power and godhead, which are clearly
seen in the things that are made. So also is providence a
medium of communing with the invisible things of God, and
the richest and most constant food to prayer. So also of
the ordinance of baptism, which some are apt to regard as
a mere ceremony, and which others misinterpret into com-
plete regeneration. But it is an instrument of grace to
every child who is admitted thereto, a constant presentation
to the opening mind, that, as it opens and feels the dark-
ening of its sinful nature, there is also coeval therewith the
opening of a dawn, whereof by baptism the portals were
disclosed, and from which it may expect a fountain of light,
able to struggle with and overcome the darkness of nature.
On which account I regard infant baptism as a question of
high importance in the Church of Christ. And, in like man-
ner, there is a grace which accompanieth the communion of
the body and blood of Christ, and which is present in those
symbols to all who with devout souls come to seek it,-as
much present as nourishment is present in the bread and
wine to the body of man. Therefore, when the body sub-
mitteth to the ceremony, the soul should expect and seek the
grace therein contained; and as prayer is the action of an
expecting and seeking soul, prayer, inward prayer of the soul,
should always go in concert with the action of the body,
whether that action be in reading the Word, in beholding crea-
tion, in studying providence, in administering baptism, or in
receiving the communion of the supper. Agreeably to this
principle of all divine institutions, our Lord having submitted
to baptism, was wrapt in prayer or communion with His
Father's throne; just as any of us ought to be when waiting
upon the Lord in His ordinances. For, brethren, you ought
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
ΙΟΙ
always to remember, in meditating the actions of Christ's life,
that He was very man; that He was liable to human reason,
as well as to human sense and human suffering; that He was
on earth towards God, seeking His face, and following His
counsel, and meditating His nature, even as men are upon
the earth; not an angel, but an embodied spirit, and that the
spirit which was embodied was the spirit of man. I consider
Him waxing from youth to manhood, according to the growth
of human nature, struggling with its infirmities, tried with its
trials, living in the same twilight of divine knowledge, and
needing the same aids of a written Word, of prayer, and of
communion, which man doth need. And, therefore, when He
ascended out of the water, He waited in expectation of grace
to be given to Him from on high; and He besought it with
the humility of a suppliant.
Nor did He wait nor beseech in vain. God in heaven pre-
pared to make the great and glorious demonstration of His
incarnate Son. He had concerted all this assembly, all these
ceremonies for this very end; and now the conjunction was
come, and the time was fulfilled. The moment the cere-
mony had been performed upon Jesus of Nazareth, and He
ascended out of the water praying in His heart, and the
universal Eye being bent upon Him as the last of the bap-
tized; then the heaven was rent and divided asunder, and
the blue vault disclosed the empty space within the ethereal
curtain, and the winged messenger of peace, which, in Noah's
time, brought tidings of God's mercy returned to the earth,
came forth, and sought the head of Jesus as He came unto
the dry land. And when the people stood beholding the
miracle of God, stunned into the mutest silence, the awful
silence of the people was broken by the voice of Jehovah as
of thunder, and in the ears of all the people it pronounced
these words:"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased."
Now was fulfilled the ancient prophecy of Moses—“A
Prophet shall the Lord your God send like unto me, hear
Him." Now was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah-"There shall
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall
grow out of his roots; and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
Lord." Now He was consecrated with the oil of joy above
His fellows, and now was declared the decree of the Lord-
"Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee; ask of me
and I shall give Thee the heathen for an inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession." To this
event St Peter, looking back, says on this wise-" The word
was published throughout all Judæa, and began from Galilee,
after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who
went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil; for God was with Him." To this Paul maketh
reference in the same manner in his discourse to the men of
Antioch, referring the beginning of his ministry to this same
event" Of David's seed hath God, according to His pro-
mise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: when John had
preached before His coming the baptism of repentance unto
all the people of Israel."
When God called Moses to be His messenger unto Israel, it
was by the back of Horeb, over against the wilderness; when
He called Samuel to be a prophet in Israel, it was in the dead.
of night in the temple of the Lord; and when He, by the
hand of Samuel, anointed Saul to be king over Israel, it was
between themselves two; and when He anointed David, it
was in the midst of his brethren, in his father's house; and
Ezekiel was visited among the captives by the river of Chebar;
and it came to Amos among the herdman of Tekoa; and
unto the Baptist it came in the lonely wilderness; and unto
Saul, the persecutor, as he travelled onward to Damascus ;
and unto John, the apostle, in the solitude of Patmos. Not
one of these, the anointed ones of God, His angels and mes-
sengers unto the sons of men, had any congregation of the
people assembled, any general diet of Israel before whom to
bring him forth with honour, no herald to foreshew his com-
ing, no baptism to purify the bodies, no Baptist's discourse to
purify the hearts of the people, no opening of the vault of
heaven, no formal messenger from on high, or visible presen-
tation of the Spirit of God, no voice of the Eternal, no words
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
103
of loving kindness from the tongue of the Most High, nor
fatherly benediction, nor celestial commendation unto all the
sons of men, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased."
This was an honour reserved for Him whom prophet, priest,
and king prefigured; in whom Israel was to be glad and
Judah to rejoice; who was to manifest His glory to the Gen-
tiles, and of whose fulness all the nations were to partake.
This testimony, which God gave at Bethabara to the chil-
dren of Israel, is not less given to us, men and brethren, upon
whom the ends of the earth have fallen. It was not given in
that miraculous way in order to astound their ears or terrify
their hearts into acquiescence, but it was given in that way in
order to overcome the strong prejudices in which that people,
and in which all people, are bound towards the messages of
Heaven. The daily routine of life, and the sensible, visible
laws of nature so fix the attention of mankind, and carry
them away from stale contemplations upon the nature of God
and the obligations of duty, that, in order to deliver them, the
Almighty had to break the laws of nature, and thereby dis-
solve the confidence in visible things, which, as it were, charmed
the people away from hearing His voice. Nature, visible
nature, in some shape or other, is the idol of all men. The
Almighty had to enter the temple of this idol, and, as it were,
set its ritual aside, in order to shew how weak the idol is.
The miraculous part of the testimony is, therefore, a small
part of it, only accessory, and rendered so by the stupid
devotion of men to sensible things. The true and substan-
tial part of the message is the information that Jesus of
Nazareth, the man Jesus, was the Son of God, in whom He
is well pleased, and whom we are commanded to hear. God
singled Him out from myriads of men, as the one to whom
they were to give ear, as the one whom He loved and hon-
oured as His Son. Now, this Son of God, so approved of
Heaven, hath left His words on record, and brought them into.
your hands. And God requireth of us attention to the same.
He will question us why we listened to every teacher and
perused every author's book, but heeded not that which He
licensed and stamped with His own hand-"None of those
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
masters of taste or science, in whom you take pleasure, have
any authority, yet you hear them; Him only you do not hear
whom I proclaimed from My holy place."
I trust, my Christian brethren, this accusation applieth not
to you,
that you give to the Saviour the reverence to which this
signal distinction entitles Him. He cometh as your Brother,
seeking your love; He cometh as your Friend, seeking your
friendship. He will introduce you to His Father, and His
Father will dwell with you, and you will have the marvellous
honour of being called the sons of God; and when He who is
our life shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is.
Such honour doth Christ present to you. In order to bring
this within your power, He loved you from eternity. And to
make it known, He became flesh, and submitted to the various
appointments of the law, and to this ceremony of which we
have discoursed. Therefore, I pray you to be stirred up and
magnify the Son of God, who died for us, and rose again.
FROM
((
LECTURE IX.
JOHN I. 19-28.
ROM this passage of Scripture we learn that besides the
people, and publicans, and soldiers mentioned by Luke,
there came a deputation from Jerusalem to wait upon the Bap-
tist, and discover from his own lips what was his character and
intentions. The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem
to ask him "Who art thou?" Out of some political motive,
some reason of state, or some vile apprehension of their place
and nation, they dispatched these subtle and crafty men to put
the question to the Baptist. And the Baptist met their subtlety
and craft with truth and simplicity-the proper and always suc-
cessful antagonist of duplicity. He confessed, and denied not,
and said plainly, "I am not the Christ." And they asked him,
'What, then, art thou Elias?" building upon the last words of
the Old Testament, “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and fearful day of the Lord.”
Now, John truly was the object of this prediction; as our
Saviour declareth, "All the prophets and the law prophesied
unto John, and if ye will receive it, this is that Elias which
was to come." The prophet gave John the name of Elias, as
denoting best the character he was to be of; but the Jews
misinterpreted it into the notion that Elias was to come again,
and at the passover were wont to put it in the form of a ques-
tion to their children. And in this sense the scribes and
Pharisees asked the Baptist if he was Elias returned; to which
John replied that he was not. Then they put it to him, "Art
thou that prophet?"—meaning, it is likely, the prophet foretold
by Moses before his death, "A Prophet shall the Lord your
God raise up among your brethren like unto me, Him shall
ye hear in all things." To this also he answered, "No." Then
said they, "Who art thou, that we may give answer to them
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?" He answered,
"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight
the way of the Lord." Then they questioned him of the
authority of his baptism, to which he replied, announcing the
better baptism which was to follow. Such was the record
that John gave concerning Christ to the official people that
waited upon him from Jerusalem-simple, and full of truth,
self-denying and glorifying the Master before whose face
he came to prepare His way. Of this witness the Saviour
Himself maketh honourable mention in the defence of His
divinity before the Jewish people: "There is another that
beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which
he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he
bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony
from man: but these things I say, tha: ye might be saved.
He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing
for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater wit-
ness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath
given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of
me, that the Father hath sent me." Notwithstanding of all
this honest self-denial, and faithful witness to Messiah, we
are told in another place these deputies believed not, neither
were impressed by the man who prevailed over the ignor-
ance of the people, and the hard-heartedness of the publicans,
and the ferocity of the soldiers; which shews that, of all the
strongholds of Satan, pride is the strongest, which truly is
more than ordinary error, being the boast and bravery of
error. A proud man is not only hardened like the rest of
this world, but he is annealed. He hath added to the hard-
ness of the iron the temper of the steel; and when others
are bruised he will not yield, but will fly to pieces sooner.
Also we are taught by this example, that of all the forms of
pride, the pride of knowledge is the most insuperable; the
pride of riches in the publicans yielded, as also the pride of
chivalry in the soldiers, when the pride of knowledge in the
scribes and Levites did only gather fresh importance. Of
which also the reason is most obvious, because knowledge is
the eye of the mind, which, being blinded by error, leaves all
passage impervious; and when pride comes to the aid of such
JOHN THE BAPTIST
107
knowledge, it employeth our hands and all our faculties in
withstanding any kind friend who would remove the veil, so
that we are in darkness, and vain of our darkness, and barri-
caded in it till One stronger than ourselves do set us free.
These spies having done the duty of spies, went home to their
masters more hardened than they came, and reported things,
I doubt not, with the usual exaggeration of spies. But how-
ever this was, their masters believed as little as the deputies,
insomuch that we have not the slightest hint that one of them
listened with any favour to the Baptist; but, on the other
hand, we have reason to believe they utterly rejected him and
his doctrine. For the Saviour, when they put Him to the
torture of dangerous questions, retorted upon them with that
which silenced them at once. "John the Baptist's ministry,
was it from God?" They durst not say from God, for then the
question followed, "Why believed ye him not?" They durst not
say of men, for then they feared the people, who all believed
John to be a prophet. This is a most instructive lesson to
us upon the subject of religious prejudice, which perhaps of
all other forms of prejudice is the most difficult to be con-
vinced. For religion, when it hath taken a seat in any heart,
is the most sacred and the most valuable of its possessions;
and anything which threatens it is regarded as a most deadly
enemy. And truly, if it threaten the strongholds of religion,
a most deadly enemy it is. But not only the strongholds,
but everything connected with it comes to take equal import-
ance; the forms, the ceremonies, the abstractions and subtle-
ties of faith acquire as much, yea, often more sanctity than the
tempers, and graces, and godly habits which are the end of
the revelation. And any one who sides not with us in these,
the devices of man, and the accommodation of particular
times and ages, we reject from our charities, of whatever
report he may be in the attainments of the divine life. This
pharisaical spirit, this love of outward and traditional things,
hath afflicted every age, and afflicteth this present age in no
small degree; and I question whether, in this state, we shall
ever have it extinguished. For there is an opinionativeness
which seems almost inseparable from faith, and which yet is
not of the essence of faith. If indeed our faith cometh from
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
hearing of men, or from tradition, or from any other source
than the fruits of the Spirit wrought in our heart and life, this
dogmatism will continue to attend it; but if it spring from
the proof of the thing, from the inbred conviction of its holy
fruits, from the growth of heavenly temper, then that charity
riseth up within the breast which thinketh no evil, is the death
of all divisions and of all evil-speakings, and the true form of
Christ's discipleship is manifested within us. In looking upon
the outward, visible Church, it hath always appeared to me
divided into two classes-one which held Christ in all chari-
tableness, and another which held Him in all uncharitable-
ness; the former lying open to light, and trying every spirit
with a kind experiment, and hoping the best, and hard to be
convinced of evil—the latter, doubting and distrusting every
one, weighing his every word with a critical exactness, and
with all their ears listening to the report of evil; the former
intelligible, by their simplicity and singleness of heart-the
latter most confused and unapproachable, by reason of their
bigotry to their church and favourite pastors, and their forms
and other credentials; the former most soft and touching, by
their tender pity of your frailties, and their kind counsels of
your waywardness-the latter most repulsive by their firm
and constrained fellowship, into which you can enter as a
party only through the needle's eye of their prejudices. In
the one class you will find the school of Christ, in the other
the school of the Pharisees; and I do exhort those who listen.
to my unworthy exhortations to become of the former, Chris-
tians in heart, not churchmen, nor sectarians, making no
difference among the spiritual servants of Christ, and tramp-
ling under foot the little distinctions of outward form. For
if you do not watch over this with diligence, if you allow
yourselves to be all of this or of that sort, saying, "I am of
Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas;" then you place
a fence around your liberty, and become the dupes of your
favourites; if they be designing, the partisans of their falli-
bility, the reflection of their imperfect light, and, in short,
anything within the limits of positive idolatry, if it go not
ofttimes to that very extreme. Into these remarks I am led
by the melancholy spectacle of all believing on John but the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
109
religious Pharisees, who had become the slaves of traditional
faith, the idolaters of the elders rather than the servants of
the living and true God.
But to continue our exposition of the Baptist's ministry, so
far as it is recorded in the other evangelists. It is further
stated by St John, that the next day after this on which
Jesus was baptized, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and
saith, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world!" And the next day again-for it appears that
this congregation at Bethabara was for several days-John
stood again with two of his disciples, and beheld Jesus walk-
ing by, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God!" This testi-
mony I quote, and dwell upon with delight, because it not
only manifests the rapture which the Baptist had in contem-
plating his Lord, and how he burst forth with expressions of
fondness and admiration, but because it testifies the object
and end of Christ's coming, to take away the sins of the world.
There are many this day who give in to the doctrine of His
being the sent of God, the true Messiah promised to the
fathers, but refuse to acknowledge the purpose for which He
came—to take away the sins of the world; which to our eyes
is a most marvellous blindness, seeing the end marked out.
through all the prophecies of the Old Testament where His
coming as foretold is "to finish transgression and make an end
of sin, and bring in an everlasting righteousness." "To bear
our sins and carry our sorrow." I know not what blindness
of sight should hinder men from recognising this as the whole
spirit of the Christian dispensation; still less do I know what
hardness of heart should hinder them from hailing it as the
only hope of their salvation. If there was a man who had no
sin whereof to accuse himself, no deep-seated spring of ini-
quity for ever overflowing his heart and life, that man might
well object to a Saviour from sin; but there being no man
unconscious of sin, or unwilling to confess it to himself or
others, how we should reject the mediation of Christ I cannot
understand: it is one of those devices of Satan, one of those
perversities of human nature of which no account can be ren-
dered. But however much we may start in these times from
the preaching of Christ as the great atonement of our sins, it
ΓΙΟ
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
was the first idea which arose in the Baptist's mind as he
looked upon Him walking by the banks of Jordan. His
ejaculation, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world," may be well supposed to have reference
to the scape-goat which bore with it into the wilderness the
sins of all the people. The ordinance of the scape-goat is
recounted in the book of Leviticus after this wise:-" And
Aaron shall put both his hands upon the head of the live
goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children
of Israel, and all their trespasses, and all their sins, putting
them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away
(by the hand of a man appointed) into the wilderness. So the
goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into the land that
is not inhabited, and he shall let that goat go into the wilder-
ness. And he that carried forth the goat called the scape-
goat shall wash his clothes, and wash his flesh in water, and
after that shall come into the host." With a view to this
ordinance, it seemeth to me not unlikely that the Baptist used
the expression, "Taketh away the sin of the world." The
transgressions of men were laid upon the head of Christ, and
He bore them away into the land of God's forgetfulness.
And though I know sufficiently the theological disputations
upon the question of Christ's sacrifice, for whom it is offered
up, such abstract disputations must be kept as the exercises
of the learned. Our office here is freely, as did the Baptist
and the Saviour and the apostles, to present Him as the pro-
pitiation for your sins; and not yours only, but the sins of the
whole world; in which, if you put your trust, and, putting your
trust in it, follow after the walk and conversation of those
who believe, then shall you be justified from all things from
which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. If you
say you have no sin, then you are liars, and the truth is not
in you. If you have sin, then no one can redeem the soul of
his brother from death, and there remaineth nothing but a
fearful looking for of judgment. Therefore, draw near unto
Christ and confess your sins over the head of this Lamb of
God, and He shall bear them away from the sight of God
for ever.
But it is not only as the Holy One, who bore our
sins and carried our sorrows, that Christ is presented by the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
III
Baptist to the congregation of the people, it is also as the
deliverer from the power and bondage of sinfulness, which
cheateth men out of their New Testament right as the sanc-
tified and preserved people of God, and bringeth them under
double condemnation, as those who have preferred the bond
of Satan to the redemption of Christ, and loved darkness
rather than light, their deeds being evil.
Now, here is a nobler aspect of the Saviour than the former.
He not only will bear away the guilt of your sins upon His
own head, but He will by the mighty working of His Spirit
bring you out of the darkness of error and the bands of ignoble
vice into the clear vision of light and the noble liberty of the
sons of God. And who is he that hath known the thraldom
of sin, and wisheth not to escape from it, its blindfolding of
the noble and virtuous perceptions of man, yea, its shearing of
the very locks wherein lie all his moral strength and graceful-
ness, its base captivation and binding of him, and ultimate
demands for drudgery or sport,-where is the ignoble soul that
would not thence escape into the liberty of serving God in
holiness and fear all the days of his life? And who that hath
known the weepings and wailings of this sore captivity of sin,
its mean concealments, its dreaded exposure, with all its
burning shame, and doth not long to be at ease from its in-
ward torments of the soul and its castigation of the conscience
with everlasting scourges? But it availeth not for nature to
wrestle with the universal contagion, it cleaves to her closer
than clenched fetters, it burneth in the blood, and is warped
with the strings of the heart, and it looketh forth from the
lurking eye, and it speaketh in the imprinted features of pas-
sion and pride, and the heart within is deluged with the floods
of iniquity, its guiles and deceptions and desperate wickedness
surpass the knowledge and the power of man. From this
thraldom and sorrow, and from the cleaving curse of this foul
disease, behold the Lamb of God will deliver you. He will
take away your sin, and thoroughly cleanse you from your
iniquity. He will wash you as with hyssop, and make your
whiter than the snow. Behold, then, the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world; come unto Him that
ye may be made partakers of His grace and saved from
II 2
JOHN THE BAPTIS1.
the wrath to come. Ye have been baptized into His name,
ye need further to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with
fire. The great emblem of this deliverance of the soul from
fear and bondage ye have in the pouring out of the Spirit
upon the Church at Pentecost. This is the baptism with the
Holy Ghost and with fire, with which the servants of Christ
having been baptized, became enlightened and emboldened
and manifested new powers and energies upon every occa-
casion; and if ye feel still oppressed with the sense of your
sinfulness, and still fearful toward God, and under the potent
dominion of the prince of this world, ye will be delivered and
enlarged by that same Spirit which delivered and enlarged
the Church of Christ. Your Saviour died for your sins, and
straightway the Spirit was poured out on the Church; so if
you die to sin, straightway the Spirit will be poured out on
you, and work the same deliverance and emancipation of
your souls. But if ye set spies upon the Saviour, as the
Pharisees did, mistrusting Him, or if ye seek to depreciate
Him, as do many in this day, and strip His character of all
its glories, then hardness of heart and continuance in sin will
be the fatal issue. Come, therefore, my beloved brethren,
come unto Him and seek the forgiveness of all your sins, that
they may be blotted out and days of refreshing may come
from the Most High.
LECTURE X.
JOHN III. 23.
To go about to examine the traits of the Baptist's character,
and his performance of the high part appointed him of
God, would be presumptuous, were it undertaken in the spirit
of criticism, whose chief occupation is to discover faults; but,
being undertaken in the spirit of reverend contemplation, to
observe the characteristics of a Christian herald and witness,
and hold them up to your imitation and our own, it is not a
presumptuous, but a dutiful office, and hath in it that desire
to be taught of God, and to profit from His works, which He
never faileth to bless with instruction and improvement. For
if we do not scruple, in the works of nature, to study the wise
contrivance and curious adaptation of every creature, the
means and the final ends of things created; nor to submit the
works of Providence to exact account and profitable study in
history, natural and civil, and in the biography of private men,
-no more ought we to hesitate in submitting to examination.
those men whom He hath chosen for the purpose of instructing
the earth, and thereto endowed them with His gifts and graces.
And in the same proportion as the regenerated soul and devout
life of a messenger of God is nobler than the history of any
inferior creature, or the character of any natural man, however
virtuous, may we expect the lessons thence derived to be more
exalted, and the blessing remaining with ourselves more en-
larged, than from contemplating any other of the works of
God. Therefore we shall continue to consider the life and
character of the Baptist with the same devout contemplation
and study with which we would survey any wonderful work
of God's hands, or any singular revolution of His providence,
in order to get insight into the mind and will of God con-
VOL. II.
H
114
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
cerning human nature, and derive illumination upon that path
in which He wisheth us to go.
You will understand us, therefore, not as exalting ourselves
into judges of the Lord's approved messenger, but as students
and interpreters of the same, while we proceed to exhibit
some features of his character which have not yet come before
us in the course of our meditations.
From the opening of the Baptist's ministry at Bethabara,
beyond Jordan, to this his baptism at Ænon, near to Salem,
there is an interval of three years and a half, concerning which
we have no record either of the Baptist or of Christ. The
reason of this silence as to Christ we stated, when we discoursed
of the thirty unrecorded years of His youth, to be this, that
these documents called the Gospels are not intended for a
biography, nor yet (St John's, perhaps, excepted) as a record
of doctrine, but simply as a witness or testimony unto the
world that Jesus is the Christ, the sent of God, the Messiah
promised unto the fathers. There is every reason to believe
that the Jews had amongst them a book, into which were col-
lected all the prophecies that regarded the great hope of the
nation, in which His place of birth, the time and signs of His
coming, His works and character were described, that no
usurper might insinuate himself into the confidence of the
nation. Hence Herod sent to inquire of the chief priests
where Messiah should be born. The apostles being Jews,
and deeply imbued with the common expectation, and con-
versant with the common ideas respecting Messiah, out of
which they were most hard to be delivered, drew up those
grounds upon which their own conviction rested, and pre-
sented them to their countrymen in the form of these Gospels
-Matthew and Mark first; Luke afterwards, and with more
universality and enlargement, as addressing himself to people
less exclusively Jewish; John, not till twenty or thirty years
afterwards, and chiefly to refute certain mistakes concerning
the person of Christ, which were already beginning to shew
themselves. The first three Gospels being therefore of the
nature of testimony, pleaded at the bar of the Jewish nation,
and of the world then interested in the question, and to all
succeeding ages, must needs confine themselves to matters
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
115
of notorious publicity, which could be contradicted if they
had not been so; and they must hold as much as pos-
sible to the course and train of the digest of ancient pro-
phecy, by which the Jews defined the person of Messiah, and
which was engraven upon the common mind of the nation.
Hence Peter, in his speeches to the people after Pentecost,
pleads always some prophecy, which he took for granted not
only that his audience knew, but that they were wont to apply
to Messiah the Prince. Consulting for this end of public con-
viction, Matthew, Mark, and Luke made no account of those
three years and a half which intervened from our Saviour's
baptism to His entering on His ministry, and which, it is
reasonable to suppose, He spent in solitude, until the Bap-
tist should have ripened things for His appearance. John,
His forerunner, during these three years and a half,-the
first half of the week during which Daniel prophesied that
Messiah should confirm the covenant with many, did doubt-
less continue to tread in the course which he began with such
heroic boldness and fidelity; and though nothing is said of
his encounters or success, we shall, in this and future dis-
courses, have to exhibit the storm of envy and malice which was
gathering in the temple and the palace against the messenger
of God, soon to burst upon his devoted head. We may grudge
this silence over the acts of so noble a personage, the most
poetical, perhaps, in history, and whom certainly poetry, if
she had not lost her high faculty of selection, would choose
for her subject; but that envious silence which we grudge is
another testimony amongst many to the high aims with which
the evangelists wrote. Poetry, and pathos, or justice to the
best of men, or recording the memory of deeds better recorded
in the book of God's remembrance, all that which prompts.
historian, biographer, or man of genius, was second-rate or
out of the question with men who were travailing as in birth
with a world's salvation; who beheld a world lying in wicked-
ness, and shot across from land to land to save them; and
committed to scattered leaves of Epistles words of healing and
saving virtue-every word precious as a soul-and sent them
forth to seek their fortune amongst the disbelieving part of
What had they to do with taste, criticism, finish, and
men.
116
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
such puny accomplishments, when life, life eternal, immortal,
was breathing in their sentences? Oh that we had such men
again; men who coined truth, and made it current in its first
mintage, striking spirit with the first impression of spirit,
and taking men with the pure virgin tints of nature and
truth, spirit-stirred, enrapt with the high themes of salvation,
and who left behind them in their glorious course literary,
sectarian, and clerical distinctions, as the trifles of the pre-
sent world with which the enemy entraps the souls of the
unwary. The evangelists, so girt to their high object of
preaching Jesus to an ignorant world, and proving Him Mes-
siah before a prejudiced people, looked upon John as the
secondary person which he regarded himself to be, and
brought him forward only as the attendant and witness of the
Son of the Highest. Therefore they record the transactions
of that celebrated day when by his hand He was baptized
with water, and by the Holy Spirit with power from on high.
And they notice him no further until another incident occurred
which brought him again into connexion with Christ.
The Pharisees, who sought at the beginning to question
him into some betrayal of his trust, and reaped the reward
which God hath appointed to duplicity, viz., greater convic-
tion in error, and in the end shame and confusion of face,—
these disciples of tradition, not of Moses, finding the Baptist
going counter to some of their favourite religious nostrums
about purifyings, took it greatly to heart, and entered into dis-
putation with his disciples. "There arose a question between
some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying." Some
have thought that this question was honestly stated by those
Jews who wished well to John, and that the purifying of
which they disputed was the purifying of baptism, and that
the question was of the relative importance of the Baptist's
and the Messiah's baptism. At first sight this notion seems
congenial with the spirit of the context, for the whole passage
is introduced by the information that Jesus came into Judæa,
and His disciples began to baptize, and goes on to state that
John was also baptizing in the neighbourhood at Ænon, and
then the dispute arose between the Jews and John's disciples
concerning purifying. But, upon more mature consideration,
JOHN THE BAPTIST
117
it is manifest that the Jews who entertained this dispute were
not friendly to John, and that the dispute was not concerning
the two baptisms, or concerning baptism at all. The Jews
who entertained the dispute were not of John's believers, be-
cause it was with John's disciples they disputed. By John's
disciples we must understand his adherents, and those who
disputed with his adherents must have been not of his adher-
ents, otherwise it would have been written, "John's disciples
disputed amongst themselves." But further, the form of these
interrogations is invidious, and evidently seeks to stir up
envy and strife between him and Christ, and the whole strain
of his answer bears the character of a rebuke to them, a
defence of his ingenuousness, a still more powerful testimony
to Christ, a blessing also upon those who believed, and a
threatening upon those who disbelieved Him. That it was
not a dispute concerning their relative baptisms I judge from
this, that the word is "purifying," not baptism. Now, the word
for purifying is never applied either to the baptism of John
or of Christ's disciples, or of Christ's apostles, or of the Holy
Ghost, or any other baptism. The word "baptism" is in one
place applied to purifying, as the baptism of cups, pots, and
tables, (and once in the Hebrews, where it is rendered "the
doctrine of baptisms," I think it much better to translate the
baptisms of doctrine, or the purifying influences of doctrine.)
But the word "purifying" is never, on the other hand, used for
baptism, and on that account cannot be so taken in this place
without violence to every rule of just translation.
The incident I understand, interpreting the words literally,
and taking the whole spirit of the context, to have been this:
-The disciples of John, taking their views of doctrine from
John himself, who took his from Moses and the prophets,
were not found so wise as the disciples of the Pharisees in the
smaller matters of the law. Like our Saviour, they ate with-
out having previously washed their hands, and paid no respect
to the traditions of the elders. This could not pass unnoticed,
being under the daily observation of men. It was like neglect-
ing in Catholic countries to kneel before the passing host, or
to cross and pray at the sound of the Ave Maria bell. It
could not escape notice even in our Saviour, as Mark informs
118
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
us, in these words, which cast light both upon the customs of
the time and the character of the people, (chap. vii.):-" Then
came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the
scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw
some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say,
with unwashen hands, they found fault: for the Pharisees, and
all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, hold-
ing the tradition of the elders. And when they come from
the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other
things there be, which they have received to hold, as the wash-
ings of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. Then
the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why wash not thy dis-
ciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread
with unwashen hands?" Such an incident and dispute as this
I suppose to have happened between the Jews and John's dis-
ciples, and not once to have occurred, but to have been con-
stantly maintained. It was in truth the great point of difference
between them and the Jews, just as between us and the Catho-
lics; the great point of difference is, whether the traditions of
the Church, the mummery of mass, and processions, and images,
and relics, and beads, and indulgences, shall be conformed to
with as much exactness as the graces, and virtues, and works
of the Christian life. This source of constant soreness to the
Pharisees, whose power, like that of Catholic priests, lay en-
trenched behind the habitual reverence of their outward bul-
warks, was doubtless the cause of their disbelieving John and
persecuting him as they did. They could not part with their
power over an ignorant people. They knew where lay the
strength of their spell, and whoso revered not that cabala was
an enemy, and not worthy to live. Now, when Christ appeared
with His disciples, baptizing on His own account, and the
fame was spread abroad that a great Prophet had risen up
amongst them, and that God had visited His people, the
Pharisees, enemies of both, thought this a fine occasion for
bringing their malice to bear upon them both. Thinking
that the Messiah and the Baptist were of the same make and
mould with their own double-minded selves, and that the
same love of power and jealousy of a rival, and envy of a
superior, had a dwelling-place in the bosoms of Heaven's mes-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
119
((
sengers, as in the bosoms of the devil's messengers,—they
thought now was the appointed time for dissolving the confe-
deracy of Heaven, and retaining their sovereignty of the igno-
rant and abused people. And so with the dispute about puri-
fyings in their minds; they came to the Baptist, and tried him
with this cunning bait, “Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond
Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the same bap-
tizeth, and all come to him!" Rabbi being a term of reverence
which Christ forbade His disciples to covet, as being too lofty
and consequential, they meant to insinuate themselves into the
favour of the Baptist, as if the rough son of Zacharias was to
be cajoled, like a courtly, pompous Pharisee, with a smooth
and sounding word. In like manner, they came to Christ
with their courtesies when they were thirsting for His blood—
Master, we know that thou art a teacher sent from God; is
it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or no?" "Rabbi, He that
was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness."
To the flattery of a name they add a soothing speech-He
to whom thou barest witness, who owes His dignity to thy
testimony—not to God's, as was the truth-He that was with
thee beyond Jordan, that is, one of thy great company, one of
thy attendants, behold, the same baptizeth; behold, mark His
presumption, He hath taken up thine own high vocation; He
usurpeth upon His master-upon him to whom He owes His
distinction; and all come to Him: thou art no more anything;
thou art deserted; the whole world flock to His standard;
and He hath fairly cast down thee the instrument whereby
He himself arose. Now, that this was a well-concerted bait for
human nature, any one who knows human nature will at once
allow. It hit every malignant feeling. It began by speaking
his self-consequence, for it carried memory back to the great
day of his shewing unto Israel; it referred Christ's distinction
to his doing; and thus, having endeavoured to exalt his pride,
it aimed a blow at it, by insinuating Christ's ingratitude, by
magnifying His success, by wondering at it, and wickedly
pitying the Baptist's greatness come to an end. I know how
difficult these things are to stand. They are the chief arts of
hell, the arch-mocks of the fiend. He puts them into the
mouth of affected friends; they smooth them down to your
I 20
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
affections; they carry their intrigues cautiously on; they work
and wind your writhing spirit, and seek to fill it with all the
contents of envy and malignity. The world is full of such
weak or wicked persons, who are the first to pity your de-
parted glory, to tell you of another's success, to tarnish all
your well-won honours with the breath of their spitefulness.
And they call it teaching you humility; they wag the head,
and call themselves your guardians; they applaud not, they
approve not, because they are prudent, and would not blow the
fire of your vanity. Wretched, uncharitable men, they per-
ceive not that they are all the while taking your vanity for
granted: they accuse you of vanity, they are acting upon
their accusation, all before you have been tried. Which doth
reveal only this, what vain creatures they would be in your
condition, and how uncharitable they are to him whom they
call their friend. Now, all such, and all who are infested with
such, and all men who would learn a lesson of wisdom and
gentleness and true-hearted friendship, I crave to attend to
the divine reply which this servant of God gave to these
servants of the evil one.
John answered and said, "A man can receive" (assume)
"nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves
bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am
sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but
the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this
my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease."
The piety, the humility, the beauty, the tenderness of affec-
tion, and the noble self-abasement which are contained in this
reply to one of the most vile and insidious questions that ever
was propounded, bespeak for the Baptist another character than
that rough, warlike, and intrepid front of opposition in which we
have heretofore seen him entrenched. It opens with a pious.
ascription to God of all power which he himself, or He they
wished to oppose to him might possess. "A man can assume
nothing except it be given him from Heaven." He strips him-
self of all self-begotten or self-continued power, and at once
undeceives these dissemblers by bowing himself before the
JOHN THE BAPTIST
I21
throne of God. "I am nothing," saith he, "therefore trouble
not yourselves about my reputation, whether it rises or de-
clines. I am the depositary of so much of Heaven's strength
while Heaven pleaseth, therefore care not for me. God will
not withdraw it till He seeth it to be consistent with His
good and holy purposes. And then most gladly will I re-
sign to Him that which I was unworthy to have ever pos-
sessed." Thus, then, doth piety, with one of her simple words,
unveil deception, outwit sophistry, unriddle enigmas, and
cheat the envious wretches who would ensnare her steps.
Thus God giveth His servants words in the time of their need,
according to His promise; that is, He keepeth their bosoms
so confident and untroubled, and supplies the springs of.
righteous and pious feeling, that it ever occurreth to them to
speak the truth; and their eye being single, their whole body
is full of light. If I were surrounded with ten thousand
enemies, I should ask no other armour.
If I were set upon
by a thousand sophists, I should ask no other wisdom. And
if the tongues of all the envious men in this wide world were
raised at me, I should ask no more eloquent defence than this,
which prevailed over all the enemies of the Baptist. The
reply doth embosom in it so much piety, and such complete
defence against the assaults of envy and malignity, that I
cannot help opening it up for the encouragement and con-
solation of every one here present who hath to meet such
attacks of the enemy.
Envy, and jealousy, and malignity, have their origin in
the same evil principle which moves the thief to possess
himself of our property, or the fraudulent to outwit us in
our dealings. It is a stealing of reputation and of good
name. It springs from the consciousness of inferiority, and
it is a confession of that inferiority. It hides a discon-
tented mind; and yet it cannot hide it, but divulges it. The
envious are not only thieves, but they tell upon themselves.
Every one who hears their envious tale is their confessor, and
would do well to give them pity, but not absolution. They
deserve no absolution till they have the grace to perceive how
much they need it. The thing, when looked upon nakedly,
is the meanest, worst of knaveries; and therefore it becomes
I 22
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
1
necessary cunningly to hide it under various disguises. The
most common is, an interest in our welfare. They profess to
know how rich we are in the commodity they would deprive
us of, and then they would sicken our enjoyment of it by
shewing how full of snares it is, and therein they do well act
one part of friends, if they bear up the other part, which good
men delight in more, of rejoicing with us in our joy, and
bearing up our hearts against the envies of others, as well as
bearing it down with their fears. If they shew confidence in
our good parts, as well as distrust of our evil, then it is excel-
lent friendship, and the more to be admired that it hath in it
counsel and warning, as well as congratulation. But, if this
be the eternal cant-"I am no flatterer, I am plain with my
friends, I love you too well to flatter you, beware of vanity,
beware of pride, beware of the world"— then I say, Down with
it; it is rank envy, and proceeds from absence of kindness; it
is the satyr disguised and cloaked with friendship, and will
cast the mask the moment you are found tripping; it will
bear you down with calumny, instead of aiding you with
counsel. Call they this Christ's discipline, call they this
charity, which rejoiceth in the good, not in the evil, which is
the minister of hope, not of suspicion, the inspirer of joy, not
of cold distrust? Away with it from our communion.
friends rejoice with friends, speak tenderness, love with pure
hearts fervently, and reserve suspicion, keep it far back, unwill-
ingly advance it, never display it; but weep over it secretly, and
talk of it alone in prayer to God, that it may prove unfounded.
Another way envy hath of shewing itself is by criticism, or a
regard for truth. There is a noble love of truth, and a fear-
lessness of uttering it before friend and foe, which one of the
most truth-loving of English philosophers pronounced to be
the seed-bed of every other virtue. This liberty of speaking
truth one who means to take its full scope from the chair of
truth should be the last to blame. Let truth be said, come
what will. But this noble virtue is one of the commonest
cloaks of envy in these times. They stab through this veil
private character, domestic charities, public virtues: whoso-
ever hath any elevation, there are a thousand ready to assail
and pull down. They take an error in a word to be the sign
Let
JOHN THE BAPTIST
123
of a malignant heart, and a gesture of the body to speak the
darkest, deepest hypocrisy. It is painful to witness the many
of this land who feed and fatten upon scandal, who lacerate
and suck the blood of the worthiest men, giving full scope to
their villanous weapons, for no end I can see, but because,
being themselves in the sink of all vice and iniquity, cowardly
and behind a screen, they would drag down to the same
abominable vileness the fair reputation and honourable pur-
poses of the most unblemished men and women. They play
a game between truth and falsehood, between sincerity and
sport; they make no difference between things good and evil,
calling bitter sweet and sweet bitter; and, being themselves
divested of virtue, of religion, of honour, broken in name,
which therefore they dare not avow, ruined in prospects, they
do wreak the malignity which the devil hath stocked them
withal, in reward for their souls sold over to his service, upon
all who have not the interests of their master, his hellish
interests of strife and malignity, at heart.
Many other are the disguises, besides personal affection
and love of truth, which malignity and envy do assume in
order to gratify their wicked purposes. And I do exhort the
people of my flock to be on their guard against their own
hearts, lest they indulge under these or other forms this most
wretched passion against the fair name and good fortune of
others. Probe deep, and put yourselves to severe and painful
inspection, lest this arch deceit may be lurking in your hearts;
for where it is present, the devil hath a friend sure and stead-
fast, and the Saviour hath an enemy the most difficult to be
cast out. And as all men of fair reputations and good success
have this stealth and plunder to expect, I pray you to take
the Baptist's way of meeting and defeating it. Do not give
them the advantage by losing your temper; for, being thrown
off your guard, you may chance to do or say something of
which they will make a handle to abuse you. But are we
patiently to stand by and hear our good report blasted and
blasphemed? There is the mistake. They cannot blast or
blaspheme your good report—which is good only while it
stands with the good and with God, the author of all good-
ness. To stand well with the scum of men is no standing
124
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
are ye.
whatever; to be well spoken of by all men is one of the four
woes which Christ pronounced, "Woe unto you when all men
speak well of you. Blessed are ye who are persecuted for
righteousness' sake. If ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy
This is your calling, to suffer for the sake of Christ."
Take it well, therefore; take it all joy when ye fall into
divers persecutions; for so persecuted they the prophets that
were before you. The creatures are a sort of reptile which
adhereth to the stem of noble plants, and hath its food from
that which their bark and leaves can well enough spare. But
the noble plant riseth not against the reptile that feedeth on
it. No more do ye.
But this lesson is more easily taught than practised. And
the reason why it is of such difficult practice is, that we do
not sufficiently remember from whom our various gifts of
good name or good deeds proceed. We consider our dis-
tinction as our own, whereas it is God that maketh us to differ;
and having this touched, we feel as if our own were invaded,
and make an effort to defend ourselves. Now, though I
blame not self-defence, but consider it as a Christian privilege,
yet that you may be guarded in the true defensive armour of
the Baptist, I pray you to remember that God is your defence,
and will bring you safety. Remember that if God were to
take away His restraining Spirit, ye would soon sink into all
the evil conditions into which your enemies would fain bring
you. Therefore separate not your confidence from Him who
sustaineth you, but remember, in the extreme assaults of the
enemy, that He is for you who is greater than all that can
be against you. Therefore, when they revile you, revile not
again, but commit yourselves unto Him that judgeth
righteously. Let their calumnies be your incitements to
prayer and watchfulness. Let their far-blown words and
vanities, greedily devoured by the world, teach you what a
bubble worldly reputation is, and induce you less and less to
consider it in your conduct, and to transfer more and more of
your allegiance unto the living God. So shall you convert.
these ministers of Satan into ministers of God, these enemies
into friends. And ye will feel what a wise man once said,
"Oh that we knew the value of an enemy! we would purchase
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
125
him with purest gold." Were there not thieves of our pro-
perty, we would never become acquainted with the wisdom of
laws, and the defences of government, and the securities of
home, and the severer virtues of citizens. In like manner,
were there no thieves of reputation, we should never become
acquainted with the value of a good conscience and a trust in
Heaven, nor have known half so well the lessons of forgiveness,
and meekness, and long-suffering, and mercy. The most
precious part of our Saviour's life is His mistreatment and
crucifixion; the most precious part of the lives of the worthies
is their imprisonment and martyrdom. And at this day,
depend upon it, the most precious part of every Christian's
experience is the reviling of the wicked, in public and in
private.
But while we thus counsel you to be armed in pacific and
enduring graces, we exhort you to give the enemy no cause
to blaspheme. Exercise Christian prudence and Christian
courtesy towards all; becoming all things to all men, as far
as consisteth with sincerity and singleness of heart. Have
about you the wisdom of the serpent; for he is a serpent
with whom ye have to contend. And when they do break
out and discharge the artillery of their spitefulness and scorn,
present to it a soft and yielding defence; so shall it injure
you the less. But oh! forget not to pity them, forget not to
pray for them. "They know not what they do." "Whosoever
offendeth the least of these little ones, better for him that a
millstone were hung about his neck, and he were cast into the
depths of the sea.” "Forgive your enemies, love them which
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you." Think of their pitiable and miserable con-
dition. It is a sore thing for them to live on spleen; it is a
sad thing for them to become friendless through their spite-
fulness. Think on the viperous stings which they have
within them, and the venom which they breed in their in-
ward parts. If the thing they utter be loathsome, how
much more loathsome the heart from which it came! And
think of the poor wretches who bear such hearts in their
bosom continually: it is as a consuming fire within them.
Their breast is a habitation of demons, an unclean lurk-
A
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
ing-place of evil spirits. And think of their debaucheries
and dissipation by night and day, of their ruined characters,
of their heart without a friend, of their soul without a refuge,
of the tyranny of their master,-think of these things, and
pity them from the bottom of your heart, and pray for them,
and do them good, that peradventure they may be won upon
by your kindness, and seek forgiveness of the Lord for the
persecution of His people, and be saved from the wrath to
come, "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.
with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on
them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of his power; when he shall come to be glorified of his saints,
and to be admired of those that believe."
*
*
*
*
*
*
NOT
LECTURE XI.
JOHN III.
OT to feel envious of another's exaltation, but to rejoice
in it, even when it interferes with our own place and
brings with it our downfall, is so rare yet so necessary an at-
tainment of Christian life, and is so strikingly exemplified in
these words of the Baptist, that we have thought it good to
make it the subject of another discourse. For this world is
the theatre of so much rivalry, and men, forgetting the interests
of everlasting truth and universal love, do so attach themselves.
to their own personal advantage, as to account every one an
enemy who trespasseth thereon, and cry, "Away with him,"
without any regard to the humility of his conduct or the
righteousness of his intention; and, on the other hand, there
is so much emulation and endeavour to outstrip our fellows,
so much ambition of high places, that, with a savage glad-
ness, they delight to invade the good and established rights
of those who have obtained the lead; so that, between the
resolution of those above to dispute, and, if possible, keep
down the pretensions of others, and the resolution of those
beneath to pull down those above and rise into their places,
must discord, and bad feeling, and evil-speaking arise to
trouble the happiness of life. First, feelings of jealousy, and
envy, and rivalry are bred within the breast, and soon give
birth to acts of wickedness, and malice, and malignity, out of
which come strifes, and quarrels, and dissensions of various.
kinds, which occasions those agonising scenes and shocking
crimes of which the world is full. These bitter and malevo-
lent passions are the foes of faith, virtue, patience, temper-
ance, brotherly-kindness, and charity, and everything else
which belongs to the discipline of Christ, and they are veils
upon the understanding, and keep out the light of truth. A
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
man under the influence of malignant passions is at the
opposite pole from truth, and is in darkness, and, if he be
brought to believe, his faith is like that of the devils, and
maketh him to tremble but not to obey.
All this cometh of too much devotion to our own selfish
passions and interests, and too little regard to the feelings
and interests of others; and the only cure for it is to bring
the latter more prominently forward, and to cast the former
into the shade. By dwelling upon our sensations, and con-
sulting for our own gratification, and keeping an eye to our
own interests, we forget the rights and feelings of others; and,
on the other hand, according as we attend to the well-being of
others we lose interest in our own. A bad temper is nothing
but a succession of selfish feelings and selfish actions in small
matters; when it ascends to higher, it is called a bad heart
and a bad life. And tyranny of rulers is another form of the
same evil. They use the sacred power consigned to them by
God and their country for their own private and peculiar
gratification. And even the best parts of human nature may
become tyrannical. An hospitable man may be a tyrant by
his hospitality, and a generous man by his generosity, and
one who loves you may, by the excess of his love, make you
his slave. And this often occurs in human life, that the most
selfish men, when unobserved, can do the most generous ac-
tions, and delight in their secrecy, as a miser delighteth in
his wealthy store, and will not bear even the acknowledg-
ments of the party whom they have obliged; so that this
intense regard to one's self corrupts even those parts of human
nature which God hath implanted for the welfare of our
neighbour, and converts acts of kindness into inflictions of
self-willedness, and takes from them the power of propagating
kindness in return. And this also I have found, that the
spirit of this selfishness hath insinuated itself into things.
admired amongst men-into friendship, for example, which
they value by its poverty, and esteem most highly when it is
bestowed upon one alone; in love likewise, which they hold
can exist in truth only between two hearts; in clanship, which
is thought more valuable by the strength of its antipathies;
in patriotism also, which they shew forth very often by their
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
129
hatred and declamations against other lands. Which are all
but refinements of that selfishness, jealousy, and rivalry,
whereof we have undertaken to exhibit the remedy in these
words of John the Baptist; who, in his person, exhibited the
most notable instance of pure and perfect freedom from all
such evil dispositions. But that you may sufficiently appre-
hend the extent of this evil whereof I discourse, and the value.
of the remedy which I have to propose, I crave of you to
follow me while I point out the ineffectual endeavours which
society makes by her own wisdom and strength to overcome
the mischief.
First there is the institution of marriage and of families,
which may draw out the feelings of selfishness from the
breast, and disperse them over the whole house; and society,
discerning the advantage of such a diffusion of a man's
interests, hath merely done its utmost to bind him to his
household, and bind him from deserting it to indulge any other
varying or wandering of affection. Perceiving the advantage
of extending our interests further, it hath joined us in town-
ships and corporations, and other local jurisdictions, whose
interests it expects us to superintend; and finally cometh
nations, in whose common interests we are expected to em-
bark a portion of our private interest; and after all comes
confederations of nations, and alliances of peoples, for the de-
fence of some common right or the attainment of some com-
mon good. And over each of these, law extendeth a shield
and canopy of defence, endeavouring to join all in a common
sentiment of equity and justice; and what law cannot do,
well-regulated society endeavours to discharge, which, careful
of the weak and jealous of the strong, establisheth a rule of
common politeness and civility, which doth take a man's
personality and power out of his hand, and oblige him
for the while either to be good and gracious, or to play
the part of a hypocrite by seeming to be so. Now, while
these several spheres of sympathy continue to be filled, the
family sphere, the neighbourly, the political, and the social,
society goes on prosperous and happy. And society dis-
solves by the breaking up of these honest and dutiful rela-
tions, and the introduction in their stead of vanity, ambition,
VOL. II.
I
130
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
pleasure, self-aggrandisement, and other affections which
centre in ourselves. But these excellent institutions of the
community do but call a truce, or strike up an armistice, or
fence off a space, and define a time within which there is to
be peace, and all beyond it leaves as irreclaimable; and
truly it is irreclaimable, by any hands save those of our
Maker and ourselves. Within the rules of society and of law,
decent trust and confidence is reposed; but beyond them, all
is activity for our own interests and jealousy of the encroach-
ments of others. For while we regard the world, as philoso-
phers of the selfish school do regard it, as a collection of
beings intent each upon his own aggrandisement by all means
which society allows, we feel it necessary to battle it for our-
selves, to make what ground we can, and keep it how we can.
And while we regard ourselves as the fabricators of our own
lot, good or bad, keeping out of sight the government of
God, we must regard every other man in the same light, and
so come to be jealous of each other's power. And so truly
it is, almost always, when a sense of God and of religion is
absent.
What society hath done its utmost to promote, the
Almighty, by the revelation of the everlasting gospel, hath
sought entirely to secure, by teaching us that great lesson
with which His apostle opened his discourse before the judges
of learned and polished Greece: "God hath made of one blood
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and
hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds
of their habitation." Or as John delivers it to the Jews who
tried him with their wiles: "A man can receive nothing
except it be given him from heaven." In which sentences are
disclosed the great doctrine of God's government over all,
which bruiseth the serpent head of selfishness and malice.
By this doctrine, taught through all Scripture, of God's
overruling all things by the word of His power, we are
instructed that however active we may be in securing our
welfare and averting evil, it is God that directeth the whole
action, and bringeth out the issue; that no one can prevail
against us beyond His permission, and that in permitting it
He hath ends the very best in view; and that if we will but
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
131
put ourselves under the authority of His laws, He will keep
us by His providence, enrich us with His grace, and bless
us with the copious streams of His salvation; and that
seeming evil shall be substantial good, and trials become our
deliverances, and adversities benefits, and afflictions blessings
in disguise, and all things shall work together for our good.
Now, exactly in proportion as this lesson is learned and
acted on, we get delivered out of the power of selfishness, with
all its anxieties, cares, jealousies, and malignant actions, into
the power of faith and trust, with all their fruits of peace,
joy, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, patience, temper-
ance; and being now in confidence and communion with the
Father of spirits, whose sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness,
we are not afraid of what man can do against us, neither are
we afraid that the power of the wicked can prevail against the
progress of the truth.
"For He maketh the wrath of man to
praise Him, and the remainder of his wrath He doth restrain.”
There ensueth a divine contentment with our lot, a resig-
nation to the evil, a temperate enjoyment of the good, and a
thankfulness for all. The limitations of our faculties give us
no distress. We are as God made us, and we shall be answer-
able for that only which He hath given us. And the higher
gifts and offices of another do not grieve us.
"To his God he
standeth or falleth." We rejoice in what is true and worthy
and righteous, wherever it is found. Every device of good-
ness we promote and hasten forward; and we love those
who love it, and we help those who strive for it. Truth
and righteousness are to us the voice and footsteps of God,
and we revere them for His sake who first manifested them
in the person of His dear Son. And if we can promote
good works in others, we delight to do so, and we delight to
have good promoted by others in ourselves. We become ab-
sorbed in God's commonwealth: our citizenship is in heaven,
and we do the works of our Father who is in heaven. For
evil-doers we fret not ourselves; and though they be high in
power and spread like the green bay-tree, we only pity the
more their speedy overthrow. We are not restless, timorous,
or dismayed, because we know the Lord's hand is over them
to restrain the excesses of their wrath. We scorn them not
132
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
by day, we plot not against them by night. Our sweetness
is not soured by their corruption, because our confidence is in
God, who dasheth the wicked in pieces like the potter's ves-
sel. Our vocation is not to labour against them, but to labour
for God; not to hunt them through their labyrinths of error,
but to push forward the interests of truth; not to grieve our-
selves with all the abominations of the earth, but to do justly,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. Thus the
good that there is or hath been rejoiceth us, and the evil that
there is or hath been doth not alarm or vex us. The one is
the food of our joy, the other of our faith; both of our steadi-
ness and perseverance. A constancy of purpose, a tranquil-
lity of speech, a steadiness of execution, mark us to be the
children of the God of order and of truth, around whom,
though there may be clouds and darkness, yet righteousness
and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Where is
envy, rivalry, and jealousy? They have died of their own
accord. Where is malice, cruelty, revenge? They cannot
live upon the soil of such devotion. We are become like the
children of God, merciful and kind, to our enemies forgiving,
because they are only our enemies according as they are His,
and even upon His enemies He maketh His sun to arise, and
His rain to drop fatness down.
The true and proper antagonist, therefore, of the selfish
feelings is not the social feelings, which are limited or con-
fined within the range and application of social institutions,
and which at the ultimate make but a republic of men, each
watched by his fellow, but the religious feeling, which at once
destroys our own individuality, by making us a subject of the
Most High, and subordinates our wishes and our interests to
the revealed will and purpose of God. And not in propor-
tion to the refinements of society is selfishness subdued, but
in proportion to the progress of religion. And a country is
civilised and happy according to the regard which it hath for
the authority of God, not according to the subjection which it
hath to the laws of men. The one eradicates, the other only
opposes the one removes, the other only restrains, the selfish
and malignant passions of the heart. A man may be in-
tensely selfish and malignant, yet a good subject and a reput-
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
133
able member of society. A man cannot be a Christian in the
least, without being in the same degree delivered out of his
own will into the will of God. And whatever of our own free-
will we surrender, is surrendered into the hands of One who
is wiser to guide, and more able to promote. And if we sur-
render all our will and personal interests into His hand, then
indeed we become a part of. His family, His children, the
brethren of Jesus Christ, His disciples and servants, and the
active ministers of His Holy Spirit. We are nothing, He
is everything. We love Him, and He loveth us, and He
dwelleth with us: He in us, and we in Him.
This is the secret of the Baptist's disinterestedness and self-
forgetfulness, that he was dedicated and devoted unto God,
and had no object but to do His will; and whosoever was
engaged in the same work, was a fellow-worker of the house-
hold of saints. And when the Pharisees tried him with their
artful and insinuating words, he told them that a man can
receive nothing except it be given him of God. In like man-
ner, when another's wealth or another's power or worth or
reputation are presented to us by the Evil One as the incite-
ments of our envy, we ought to remember that God hath been
pleased to bestow it upon them, and that they have it not of
themselves; and that what God hath seen it meet to permit,
it becometh not us to grudge or to oppose.
If he seem
to us to use his powers or privileges ill, then let us in our
province stand against the mischief and oppose it. Let us
look to our own liberty in Christ, and not have it invaded
by him or any one; but let us beware of stepping beyond
our own responsibility and intermeddling in another's mat-
ters, which God judgeth. This mild way of beholding the
evil which we cannot hinder is not inconsistent with remons-
trance and friendly counsel, and free declamation upon the
evils which will ensue from such wickedness. For our Saviour
and the Baptist and Paul, though they launched not their de-
nunciations upon the wicked governors and avaricious people.
with whom they were surrounded, yet, when called upon in
the way of their own duty, did not flinch from facing ini-
quity and rebuking it; which brought them all three to an
untimely end. There is a nice balance which a Christian
134
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
should maintain between a trust in the overruling providence
of God, and his own desire of seeing righteousness triumph.
What he wisheth, prayeth for, and doth his utmost to accom-
plish, he should still leave in the hands of God, who in His
good time will bring it to pass. If such be our duty when
we see the wicked wax in power, how much more when we
see the righteous growing up before the Lord! Then indeed
we should rejoice with all our hearts, as John doth in the pas-
sage before us. For though we possess not the blessing, he
is our friend who possesseth it, and we will rejoice because of
his happiness.
There is one interest between us; we are
members of the same household, and labour under the same
Master, whose service is easy and whose burden is light. It
would be to nourish secret rebellion did we not rejoice when
His friends rejoice, and grieve when they grieve. Nay, though
the rise of any of Christ's servants should be attended with
our downfall, it is the pleasure of our Lord, and we will not
be afraid. He sees him to be better fitted for bearing the
burden of His house, or more worthy to be honoured with its
preferments. Let us not repine because of the preference,
but be glad to keep a door in His house; yea, count it joy to
suffer for His sake. Let us have that notion of our own un-
deserving which shall make us say with the prodigal, We are
unworthy to be called thy sons; make us thy hired servants.
In such a way we ought to rejoice in each other's pro-
sperity, and not to grieve; we should assist each other's pro-
gress, and bear each other's burdens, and count ourselves
honoured in giving a cup of cold water to a disciple in the
name of a disciple. What though we have no money to be-
stow, we have our prayers, our wishes, our welcomes, and all
our Christian charities. Of these we need not be scanty; they
grow by use, they increase by dispersion; and, like the sun,
they fling heat and light around on every side and for ever,
yet is not their light and heat diminished. And for envies,
grudgings, and evil-speakings, let them not once be named
amongst you, as becometh saints. Live in peace with one
another, loving each other; and if any one have a fault
against his neighbour, forgive him, as Christ also forgave
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
135
you. And let this example of the Baptist, the first servant of
Christ, be an example to His disciples unto the end of the
world, to sink themselves and their interests in the interests
of their Lord, to become nothing, and to make Him all in
all. Then, by the diffusion of His Spirit, and by His presence
in every heart, we shall live as becometh saints, and enter at
length into the joy of our Lord.
LECTURE XII.
LUKE III.
THE
'HE Baptist came forth from the wilderness unknown and
unbefriended of any one save Him to whom he was
devoted from the womb. And though he did no miracle,
and certainly studied no popular arts, he wrought his way
among the thousands of Israel until he reached the court
and palace of Herod, the king of Galilee. This man is the
Herod whom our Saviour characterises with the name of
fox, when the Pharisees endeavoured to put Him to silence:
Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils to-day,
and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." To
his cunning this prince added adultery and lust, for he lived
with his brother Philip's wife. And to his cunning and
incestuous lust he added contempt and mockery of the Son
of God; for when Pontius Pilate, more honourable than he,
liked not the work of condemning an innocent person, and
gladly handed him over to Herod, the curiosity of the tyrant
was whetted—he had long desired to see Him, and expected
that He would do some miracle to please him. Which
tyrannical moods when Jesus refused to indulge, or to answer
his impertinent questions, Herod, with his men of war, set
Him at nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a
gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate. And the
same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together,
for before they had been at enmity between themselves.
Such was the man to whose court and palace the Baptist,
after three years and a half preaching amongst the people,
found his way.
Now, let us gather our thoughts together for an observation
and experiment, to witness and consider this meeting of two
men from the opposite extremes of life, of the most opposite
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
137
The one
character, and in the most opposite conditions.
brought forth in silken luxury-the other cradled in nature's
roughest couch; the one bred in the midst of plenty, and
pleasure, and power-the other in the midst of hoary deserts
and savage creatures, and fed upon the locusts and the wild
honey, and within whose lips no luxury had ever passed; the
one clothed in incorruptible truth, stripped of every ornament
and grace—the other adorned with every ornament and grace
of life, divested of sincerity and truth. The Baptist, when he
set his foot within the threshold of the palace, was encircled
with every temptation within a tyrant's grasp, in the midst of
flatterers, with no memorial of God, no fear of Him around.
Beauty, festivity, and folly, luxury, falsehood, and wickedness;
but no fear of God, nor regard of man.
How is he to behave himself in such a scene? Will he be
overawed into silence, allow himself in indulgence, favour the
customs, as they say, "Be at Rome like the people of Rome,"
and pass unnoticed what is worthy of rebuke? or will he bend
to circumstances, and play the courtier for a while till he
have made his footing good? Will he encircle himself with
wary prudence? or will he be brave and resolute, firm and
unmovable, and discourse to Herod as he would to another
sinner? This is a wise experiment, and well worthy the at-
tention of all, especially of the ministers of Christ. Christ's
first ambassador in a court and palace, and preaching to a
lustful and tyrannical king-that is the observation we have
to make, and how honourable the result! His spirit quaileth
not; he riseth sublime above the temptations of the place;
his eye discerneth the truth amidst all its gaudy concealments,
and his tongue fears not and falters not to utter it. Like
Nathan, he tells the monarch his fault, and makes no conceal-
ment of his shame. He speaks the unvarnished truth in ears
which had perhaps never before listened to it. The minister
of God, the servant of truth, prevails over the fears of man,
and all the civility and politeness of a court. He said, "It is
not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife."
Now, upon the cautious and prudential principles which are
now applied to the pastoral office, it were not difficult to raise
a very powerful argument against the rashness of the Baptist.
138
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
What ado had he with the affairs of courts and palaces? A
minister of Christ is a man of peace, not of strife. The gospel
is preached to the poor. Ambitious meddling man! to em-
broil himself with state affairs. He had scope enough amongst
the people, with whom he was such a favourite; and in turning
them from the evil of their ways, might have spent a long and
profitable life. Was there not enough of hypocrisy and irre-
ligion to be detected nearer home, that he should travel to
the palace to find it? How admirably to the Baptist would
apply the reproaches which are brought against our Scottish
Reformer for speaking so rudely to a beautiful queen! Un-
courteous it was, ungallant it was, so to speak of the beauti-
ful Herodias and her accomplished daughter. And when he
did preach to this royal assembly, what tempted him, like St
Paul, another of these imprudent ministers, to speak upon
royal vices? Could he not have preached before a king as if
he had been another man? Are not all men equal in the
house of God? It is not to amuse myself that I make these
strictures on the Baptist's conduct, but to set strikingly forth
the notions which prevail of wise ministration of the Word
of Christ. These are the very speeches, to the letter, which
they hold against Knox, and the few men who have had the
courage to walk in the footsteps of Nathan the Prophet, John
the Baptist, and Paul the Apostle. They give praise and
they take praise for preaching to people of station as to
ordinary Christians-that is, if they abstain from flattery, it
contenteth their notion of duty. Ah, it is fortunate that
constancy, and truth, and heroical boldness have their appeals
to the oracles of truth, and the practice of primitive times,
from the changing maxims and current sophistry of the
times; very fortunate that, in the North, we have the noble
example alluded to above; and that, in the South, you have
the discourses which were preached by your Latimers, and
your Cranmers, and your Gilpins before the court of the
godly Edward, and the correspondence held by your Grindal
and others with the stern and mighty Elizabeth.
Now, the answer to all this is plain, and is indeed in their
own words, which contain the true principle, but overlook its
true application. It is just for this very reason-that all men
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
139
before a pastor are alike and equal, that a king is as a subject,
and a noble as a peasant—for this reason it is, that, when he
hath a noble or a royal audience, the pastor should take their
way of life to task, and expose its blemishes as if they were
common men. The minister knows no rank, and he knows
the fear of no rank, and the formality of no rank. He is a
man of God, set for instructing, for reproving, for correcting,
and for teaching men, and for making them meet for the
kingdom of heaven. Their royal place, their noble station,
doth not acquit them of responsibility unto God, but addeth
more; and therefore it were cruel, it were sporting with their
souls' eternal salvation, for the minister of God not to adver-
tise them beforehand of the judgment of God. Therefore Paul
preached to them of judgment to come. Seldom is it they
have an opportunity of hearing truth. They are cradled in
falsehood, and fed with flattery. Self-willedness, pride, and
passion are nursed in them, and the ministry of every evil is
around them. A man of truth is to them like a stranger from
a far country, whose visits are short and far between. Should
that precious moment be lost of warning their souls-the
souls of those in whose hands is the welfare of thousands?
A minister should pray for such an occasion of serving his
country; and, having gotten it from the Lord, he should use
it by casting away smooth and flattering words, and speaking
like the very minister of doom.
John the Baptist, therefore, was trustworthy; he was more
than a prudent man, he was a man worthy the trust of God,
and to be sent on perilous errands. Prudence dwelleth in
earthly courts; truth is the badge of heaven's court. Pru-
dence teacheth not what duty is, but how duty may be best
discharged. Conscience and the Word and Spirit of God
teach what duty is. The voice of duty speaketh from within
and from above, not from the world around. And he that
would find it hath no need to seek here or to
consult this oracle or that counsellor, but to ask counsel of
his soul. Let him bring things to a state of rest within his
breast, put down clamorous passions, disinherit evil interests,
and reject the solicitations of a thousand customs; silence
vanity, the world's opinion, gain, and fashion; and when their
seek there, to
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
stormy waves, restless as the ocean, have been calmed, he will
hear a still, small voice,-that is the voice of duty; and, if he
will obey it, it will wax louder and louder, until it be distinct
as the notes of a trumpet, and sweeter than the voice of love.
Now prudence cometh into play, but not till now. When
the sacred three-conscience, the Word of God, and the Spirit
of God-have given forth their fiat, then let wisdom and pru-
dence come in to determine what is the best method of carry-
ing their fiat into effect. This is the true philosophy and the
true divinity of the matter.
Now is the time for Christian courtesies of manner, for
graces of behaviour, for gainliness of speech, for meekness,
gentleness, and all the arts of pacification. Now is the time
for argument, eloquence, and fearless urgency. Take now
unto yourself all calculations of foresight, strengthen yourself
with all friendly advice and aid, and even of your fears take
friendly counsel. Afterthoughts and calculations of conse-
quences are not for determining the thing to be done, but
the way to do it most effectually-therefore not the inward.
counsellors and advisers of the mind, but the outward minis-
ters and servants who execute her counsels. It may do well
enough for a Jesuit or an ambitious courtier, but it is not for
a Christian, who has line upon line, and precept upon precept,
to run a calculation of chances, and out of the future, more
uncertain in its issues than the public lottery, to draw forth a
very doubtful probability, and make of it a rule to influence,
if not to counteract, the unerring rules of God's revelation.
And where is faith, if thus we are to travel by sight? This
prudence is the death of faith; it leaves it nothing to do
whatever; for when all is seen and calculated to a certainty,
where is there any more trust in God? A Christian's life-
a Christian minister's life—is one great series of imprudences.
It courts not the world's favour; then it is imprudent. It
standeth not for its rights, but forgets and forgives, and
comes by loss; then it is imprudent. It careth not anxiously
for to-morrow-it hoardeth not-it is open-handed-it speaks
truth which is despised. Imprudence! It is unpolite often,
and often offensive. In short, it is a life of loss and re-
signation; and just in proportion as it is so, it is a life
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
141
of faith, which looketh at the things unseen and eternal.
Ay, I mistake; it doth calculate, but it calculates for the
whole scope of existence, not for the period merely that is
on this side the grave. It taketh in all the future conse-
quences, and not a few only-therein it is prudent; but
in respect to the world, it is little better than a long list
of imprudences.
Think not that I cut off prudence, wisdom, and discretion
from the life of a Christian as of another man-I do but
assign to them their secondary place. There are these three
-conscience, wisdom, and faith-which do each preside
over a separate province of Christian life; or rather, to every
Christian action they contribute each a part. Conscience
I consider as the eye and voice of the soul, which, being
guided by the Word and Spirit of God, beholds and tells the
thing that is good and wise to be done. This prime minister
of the inward man works best alone. If you bring to his side
considerations of usefulness, of practicability, or of outward
seemliness, you confuse his judgment, or tamper with his
faithfulness; and according as you silence advocates from
without, and make stillness within the breast, to hear the
suggestions of reason-God's gift-and of reason's two helps
-the Word and Spirit of God-you are the surer of an
honest and upright judgment. The purpose being resolved
within the heaven-determined conscience, it then comes to
action; and now, as hath been said, is the time for prudence,
discretion, and wisdom, which are handmaidens for executing
the counsels of reason and of God. These are not to bring
down the lofty decision of the soul, to divest it of heaven's
plumage, and make it creep by the earth. Nay, though it
should not only be unwise but foolish, if it be heaven-sug-
gested, "the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of
man." Though it should not only be foolish but dangerous-
not only dangerous, but fatal to be carried into effect-still,
being counselled as above, it must not be forsaken. What is
to keep our courage up, then? What is to recompense us?
What is to divide us from foolhardy and violent men? Faith
is that which is to keep our courage up, and recompense us,
and distinguish us from foolhardy and violent men high
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
trust that what God hath counselled, God will prosper and
finally reward. Faith stands in stead of present utility.
The world to come brings out its glories to countervail
present losses; and the more that, for the sake of faith, is
resigned of renown, reputation, and advantage, the more is
that faith perfected, and the more is conscience cheered in
her divine dictatorship. The doctrines of faith and of present
utility are the antipodes of each other. Where all is done for
utility there is no faith. Now, prudence is the philosophy of
present advantage. "Faith is the substance of things hoped.
for, the evidence of things not seen." Is wisdom then ex-
cluded? No; but a Divine wisdom cometh instead of a human
wisdom. The conscience is guided by the oracles and Spirit
of God. Now the Word of God is surely wiser than all books,
and the Spirit of God wiser than all men. So that the
fountainhead of wisdom poureth itself into the springs of
action. Conscience is to the stream of life like what the
ancients fabled of their rivers, that each river had a guardian
god who resided in the solitude and caverns of its fountains,
guided the useful course of every streamlet, and presided
over the majestic flow of their united waters, and entered on
its majestic wave into the full court of the ocean god, where
he had a seat of dignity in proportion to the tribute which he
brought to Neptune's watery domain. So conscience sits.
and reigns supreme at the fountainheads of action, and hold-
eth counsel of the Lord, and directeth her various courses.
according to Divine admonition, and, gathering force, rideth
upon the full stream of a Christian life, which is not lost
among the shifting sands of human policy, but is borne, a
noble testimonial, into the ocean of eternal good, to contribute
its part to the great and good ends of the Almighty counsels;
and the good conscience, which presided so well over its
appointed trust, is in very truth received into the court of
God, with honour in proportion to the tribute which it hath
brought to the universal good, over which God appointeth
every man a guardian, and to which He honoureth every man
to be in some sort a contributor.
On these principles the Baptist is to be justified from
the accusation of rashness and imprudence which would be
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143
brought against such conduct in times like the present,
when usefulness hath gone well-nigh to supplant, certainly
greatly to straiten, the liberty of conscience, and the strong
sustenance of faith. The Baptist brought his useful ministry
to a speedy end by this act. I doubt not that he knew his
fate, and saw his death in all its horrors, and perceived that
his usefulness was to be extinguished by a ghastly death,
yet he flinched not at the suggestion of any earthly counsel.
'Oh, I allow it is a frightful and a painful thing, and well
worthy to be shunned, that the venerable man should yield
up the ghost under the cloud of night in a gloomy cell—
that the eye which gleamed with heaven's light, and shot
heaven's own fire through all impediments into the vul-
nerable consciences of men, was to be glazed in death by
the minister of a tyrant; and those lips upon whose breath
the thousands of Israel hung ravished, and which over-
mastered the hardest and most flinty resolutions of man, were
to grow pale under the knife or bow-string of a haggard
headsman; and that the ruler of the land, who should have
feed such a minister of righteousness as John the Baptist
with half his domains, should make a gazing-stock to revel-
lers and flatterers of that reverend head whose desires
were all for the salvation of men, and quench that voice
which spoke only for righteousness, as if it had been blowing
poisoned pestilence over the land; and, most painful thought
of all, that with this preacher of repentance were now spilt
the lives of many souls, and their eternal salvation ship-
wrecked for ever. It was a most unsightly crime and a most
sad calamity. And all this the Baptist could have avoided,
if he had kept his foot from the palace, or, being in the palace,
had refrained from one uncourtly word. But he would not
take that prudent step, he would not flinch from his com-
mission of truth. He unburdened himself before royalty,
and was content to forfeit first his liberty of preaching and
then his life.
These measures he never would have taken had he listened
to the universal outcry there is now raised of usefulness. But
he consulted with God and his conscience, and bore himself
as you see. And he murdered his usefulness-at least so
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
they would be apt to say in these times. But no, he was
more useful in his death than he could have been by a
thousand lives, even such lives as he lived. He died for
truth, which is more noble than to live for truth-by how
much death is more painful than life, and the deprivation
of all things more trying to human nature than the pos-
session of all things. I say he died for truth, the noblest fate
which a human being is permitted to have, amply recompensed
in heaven and on earth; the brightest ensign that can be
raised for the hopes of a dark and benighted world.
us.
To die by the visitation of God, that is, to wait until we
have no longer time allowed us,—is to yield to necessity's law;
and we cannot expect any praise or admiration. To forestall
our time by willingly running into hazards may be very
noble or very base, according to the occasion which moves
But to die for daring to utter God's truth when others.
have not the heart to speak it, is at all times a godly death.
It is godly, because the consciousness of truth for which we
die is from God; it is celestial, because it prefers truth, the
offspring of heaven, to all the blessings of home and all the
possessions of the world; it is a kind of immortality in death,
because that same truth for which we have died is immortal.
Therefore I have a kind of veneration for ancient heathens
who died for the sake of truth,-a veneration not diminished
but increased by the circumstance that they perceived it but
dimly. And for all men who have died for their principles,
even though they should afterwards turn out false, I feel the
same respect, especially if I perceive them to be virtuous men,
who were not moved by rage, desperation, and stoical pride,
but by a calm preference of death to dissimulation and false-
hood. Oh, of how much more honour are they worthy who,
being called of God on high to be His ministers abroad unto
the sons of men, and thereto furnished with a portion of the
Divine Spirit, Divine sons of wisdom purified from all self-
ishness, sanctified from all duplicity and malice, are troubled,
imprisoned, and put to death because they will not betray
their sacred trust! Such are entitled to a Divine honour, if
any imperfect mortals are. They were taken up by God
and preferred to His special confidence, whereof they proved
JOHN THE BAPTIST
145
themselves to be worthy. They came by loss in His service,
the loss of father and mother, and brother and sister, and life
itself; and having resigned all for God, they have received
all which a glorified saint is capable of receiving. They
walk clothed in white, they have palms of victory in their
hands, and sing the song of Jehovah and the Lamb. In
the New Jerusalem they are honoured, in God's sight they
are honoured, above the rest of His saints. And much more
upon the earth, for whose sake they suffered and poured forth
their precious blood,―much more upon the earth, which hath
few that it can with justice honour, ought these the honourable
ones of heaven to be magnified above all sons of the mighty.
And in the eye of thoughtful and righteous people it doth
but magnify the honour of such worthy deaths, when they are
done at the bidding of the basest and most brutal passions.
A show of justice, a trial and a sentence, and a mockery of
righteous execution, do somewhat cover over the foulness of
the deeds; and a battle arrayed against such men in the field,
and the gallantry and chivalry of a war against the saints, doth
cast a glare over the wretchedness of the persecution; and
the forms of inquisition and antic dresses are able to blind.
virtuous and manly natures to the shocking principles and
barbarous cruelty of persecuting deeds. But when, as in the
case before us, riot and jollity prepare the way, and wiles
and wantonness bring up the attack, and lust moves the
measure forward, and pride will not allow the cruel purpose
to recede, and the order is given for the murder in cool blood,
and in the very giving is declared to be against justice; ay,
and in the teeth of the highest estimation and regard-not
against innocency alone, but against a life worth half a king-
dom: and, being thus declared horrid cruelty by the very
tongue that gave it, when it is carried into effect in the inward
dungeons of a prison, without an eye to witness the shedding
of sacred blood, or a heart to condole, or one ear into the cell
of whose most tenacious memory the cry of vengeance might
arise; and, being performed in such dark disguise, and in
such an untimely way, when the reverend head, elected by
God, and by God anointed with wisdom above its fellows, is
for mockery's sake served up in a lordly dish, as if it were a
VOL. II.
K
146
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
dainty thing, served up to a woman—a beautiful and admired
woman-to glut the raven of her eyes, and compose the ven-
geance that rankleth in her heart;-so hellish a martyrdom,
a sacrifice so decked by the spirit of every lust, whereon every
demon of the pit hath a feast,-such a piece of glory in hell
hath doubtless in heaven a high renown. The murdered man
is tenfold murdered, and hath tenfold honour in heaven and
in earth. He is murdered in spite, in sport, in jollity, and
jest he who deserved a crown. And a crown noble in pro-
portion to his hardest fate he hath received in heaven. He is
one of those who have not defiled themselves with untruth,
nor known the blemish of hypocrisy-who have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and
walk on high with triumphant palms in their hands, clothed
in the raiment of unsullied purity.
And on earth such a death is the life of thousands. It be-
getteth its like in distant ages; and in benighted lands it
kindleth spirits to preach repentance as fearlessly as the Bap-
tist did. When courts put forth their artifice, and kings their
power, it teacheth men of God how to behave themselves
fearlessly. And when the painted beauty and artificial love-
liness of woman would wean them from their course, it shews
them how to behave themselves. The cause of truth never
received such an exaltation over courtiership, gallantry, and
shamefacedness, as in this example of the first Christian
herald. And wherever it is told over the world, it shall breed
men of the Baptist's heavenly function, to brave the wicked-
ness of courts and the wiles of seducing women, and speak
the truth at the hazard of their lives. What names shall
stand like those of Knox and Luther in the forefront of the
annals of nations, the Christian heroes thereof, begetting
another progeny, each in their proper realm! So that such
a death for the Almighty's sake is the generation of a thou-
sand spirits; its fruits are countless, and its value not to be
reckoned up.
Therefore the Baptist did well to go fearlessly forth upon
the field of his destruction, and speak his message to the man
who held his life in his hand. Learn you, brethren, to do
likewise to speak the truth in your several places, and to
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147
those into whose company Providence brings you. We have
no commission from God to preach repentance to a land, as
had the Baptist; but each one of you in his province is bound
to speak the truth as fearlessly as he. Now, if ye will search
into this matter as hath been said, with conscience, the Word,
and the Spirit of God for your guides, you will discover how
much of the truth is sacrificed for courtesy and custom's sake.
If you speak the truth, your friends will take offence; but
speak it for the pleasing of God. Your counsellors will call it
imprudent, but speak it, relying upon faith for your reward.
Whatever you speak, let it be the truth, spoken gently, softly,
and with a persuasive tongue, but still in truth, so as not to
be mistaken. One day of such discipline shall reveal more
falsehoods to be in you than you could well believe. One
day of such discipline will convince you more of the wicked-
ness of the heart than a thousand sermons. One day of such
discipline will teach you the necessity of divine grace and
the unction of the Spirit of truth, better than all that I or any
minister can ever persuade.
LECTURE XIII.
LUKE III.; MATT. XIV.
WHEN the conscience of truth so prevails within the
bosom as to set at naught the courtesies of life, and
the distinctions of rank, and the fear of death itself, then
the messenger of truth hath a sacredness in his person, and
his words take a weight which overawes the most wilful,
and for a while melts the most hardened mind. From the
perilous extremes in which it is spoken, it is divested of all
suspicion, and takes the stamp of sincerity; and a speech
which can make its sincerity good, hath secured almost every
point of conviction. The reason that we disregard each
other's counsels is, that we distrust each other's motives;
referring their speeches to the study of self-interest, to the
influence of custom, to the commonplace of the times, to the
love of power, to a fault-finding temper, to self-conceit, and
a thousand other obliquities, to which, being liable ourselves
in giving counsel, we think it reasonable that others should
be likewise liable. Truth is so masked up and disguised, and
made to play so many parts, that falsehood, borrowing her
dresses, passeth herself off for truth. But when truth casts
away these disguises, and appears in naked simplicity, she is
not to be mistaken. Woe to the man that yieldeth her not
reverence and welcome; for she hath within his bosom a
friend that will punish him for his mistreatment, and in his
tender part he will be wounded, and stricken, and seek for
rest in vain. To reject truth when she cometh undisguised
is a kind of suicide upon our conscience; it is a suicide upon
our happiness, either in time or in eternity-most frequently
in both.
Of all which we are to lay before you now a notable ex-
ample; not singular, but very remarkable, as being exhibited
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149
upon one of the most hardened and wicked of men.
That
Nathan should have prevailed upon King David is not so
wonderful as that he should have failed; for his speech was
witty, his parable a finely-laid snare for an erring conscience,
and he to whom he spoke was a generous and noble-hearted
prince, overtaken in a fault, and seeking to veil from the
public eye what the most of kings in those barbarous times
would have gloried in. That Paul should have made Felix
to tremble, and almost persuaded King Agrippa to be a
Christian, we are prepared to expect, from the specimens of
his irresistible discourse which we have recorded. But that
John the Baptist should have been able to work conviction.
upon the crooked mind of Herod, to outwit those policies.
which made our Saviour designate him "fox," and check the
arbitrary wilfulness and pride of his character, of which we
are soon to have a melancholy instance, and awaken a heart
that seemed to be drowned in luxury and vice, and allay his
thirst of revenge when he was attacked in one of his strongest
affections, this is a triumph of truth whereof I do not re-
member a parallel in ancient or in modern times, in history
sacred or profane. And yet that Herod was so affected we
are informed in the most positive terms by the inspired
historian.
Herodias had a quarrel with John, and would have killed
him, but she could not; "for Herod feared John, knowing
that he was a just man and a holy, and observed him," (or,
as it is in the margin, kept him or saved him,) "and when
he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly."
Also, when Herodias sought his death, "the king was ex-
ceeding sorry," and consented only because his royal word
was pledged before the high estates of the nation. And the
remembrance of him whom he had beheaded he could never
erase; for when the rumour of Jesus went abroad, he said,
"It is John whom I beheaded he is risen from the dead, and
therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him."
(C
Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man
and a holy." What a triumph to justice and holiness these
words record, that they should be able to strike fear into the
heart of Herod! In the original it is literally fear or dread,
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Herod had a fear of him.
not reverence. Herod had a fear of him. Whether this pro-
ceeded from the Baptist's reputation with the people, as
Matthew would lead us to suppose when he saith of Herod,
"that he would have put him to death, but he feared the
multitude, because they counted John as a prophet," or from
the immediate influence of a just and holy character upon his
own mind, is of little account; as in either case it is a testi-
mony to the power of those high qualities in the most unpro-
pitious places, and over the most abandoned men. The
character of the Baptist could reach a man whom hardly
anything else could reach, and hold in the chains of fear one
who made many to tremble. Herod, though in his palace,
surrounded with his royal guards, feared him. He knew
the Baptist was stronger than he; for truth is mighty, and
mightily prevaileth. And being already conscious of his
offendings, and having enough to do to keep down the voices
of crime and transgression within him, he feared this right-
eous man, whose words gave such edge to his self-accusations,
such point to his remorse. Unarmed, the Baptist daunted
him more than an army of men, an embattled city, or a
fenced tower, or any other source of physical and outward
force. It reminds me of the saying of the first James, when
Knox's daughter came to petition for her husband Welsh's
pardon. The monarch asked her who she was; she replied,
"The daughter of John Knox." "Knox and Welsh," said
he, "that is a fearful junction of bloods.
And had your
father any sons?" "No, only three daughters." "Had his
three daughters been three sons," said the conscience-struck
monarch, “I would ill have bruiked my three kingdoms in
peace. He may return if he will consent never to preach
again." "Sooner than he should consent to that," said the
godly and heroic woman, "I would kep [that is, I would
receive] his bloody head here," stretching out the matronal
apron in which she was attired. Such was the saying of a
man who, having declared the Church of his native country
the most perfect under heaven, a few years afterwards sought
to overthrow it, and had banished into perpetual exile its most
faithful pastors, and, among others, this same Welsh, whose
wife had with him that instructive dialogue. Might hath an
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151
instinctive dread of right, and dare not face it. Conscience
makes cowards of the wicked, by the same influence by which
she maketh heroes and martyrs of the righteous; and there
never upon the earth occurs a more unequal strife than when
a man with a clear conscience comes to contend with a man
whose conscience is defiled; no numbers can make up the
odds; no power, no armour, no subtlety of eloquence. As to
subtlety of eloquence, see how simple truth in Paul's lips over-
threw the state orator Tertullus; as to power, see in the instance
before us how John's justice unmanned and made of a king a
timorous man; and as to numbers, contemplate Luther alone
before the imperial diet of Germany, how he outwitted all the
Italian arts of nuncios and ambassadors, and, after three days'
debate, stood up before them all and said, “I can do no more,
God be my help," and they were discomfited before him. O
brethren, I would let you know what strong men ye would
every one become if you would disband the artifices and
addresses of life whereby truth is strangled, and adopt these
counsels; allowing no human policy to colour the fountain-head
of action, but listening to the voice of conscience and of God,
and bringing truth from a heart possessed with the spirit of
truth. John did not more prevail against Herod, nor the Re-
former's daughter against the backsliding king, nor the father
of the Reformation against the assembled courtiers and false.
priests of Christendom, than ye would prevail in your various
circles of life by observing at all times the sacred counsels of
truth. Even the world hath discovered the might of truth in
that most noble maxim, that honesty is the best policy; and we
have heard of an English statesman who went into some subtle
court—I think of France—and outwitted all their intrigues by
speaking nothing but the truth. So that the world knows the
usefulness of this doctrine in the long run; but unfortunately
the world hath not the means of bearing up under the present
and pressing evils to which it may dare to expose one-the
sour looks, the uncivil words, the temporary alienation of
those who cannot hear truth, and the mistakes and slanders of
the world; so that it is rare to find one natural man who shall,
before all companies and in all conditions, have resolution to
speak the plain unvarnished truth. He fears the offended, he
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
dreads consequences: or if he can look hard upon hard issues,
then his affections, his tender affections, fear to wound the
affections of another, and he softens the matter down till it
hath in it no sting of offence, and then it hath generally no
sting of truth. So that the old cynical Athenian who, with
a lighted lantern in his hand, peered about the streets of
Athens seeking for an honest man, and finding none, might
haply meet with no better success in the present age among
such as have not been anointed with the spirit of truth from
on high. But I should hope he would find many in the
Church of Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life; for
it is the nature of their discipline to lay their account with
the displeasure of the world, and not to be afraid with its
terrors, nor with its judgments to be amazed, but to commit
themselves unto God, that judgeth righteously. They are
lights-certain, steadfast lights-upon the uncertain naviga-
tion of life, unto which the rest may take heed. And if they
be careful against the spread of jesuitry, whereof, I think, a
small infusion threateneth, if it be not already present, in the
religious spirit of these times, if the Church, I say, clothe
herself in the white raiment of truth, and every disciple of the
Holy Catholic Church stanchly standeth by righteousness
and truth, then, sure as the first Christian missionary carried
terror to the heart of the proudest and subtlest tyrant of the
times, will the Church carry terror to the breast of the deceit-
ful and malignant world, and in the end prevail against it, and
destroy it, and bring in a universal righteousness, a universal
reign of truth.
Herod being held in check by the justice and holiness of
the prophet, is said to have observed him, or kept him, or
saved him. The word in the original means diligently to
keep or preserve anything that it come by no harm; and the
drift of the context favoureth, then, the radical meaning of
the word, for it is said in the preceding verse that Herodias
would have killed him, but she could not, for Herod feared
John, knowing that he was a just man and a holy, and carefully
watched or preserved him. Now, if it were that he watched
him lest he should do any harm, then there is no reason in it
why Herodias could not kill him; but if it means that he
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153
watched him lest he should come by any harm, then both the
spirit of the context is saved, and the radical sense of the word
perceived. Not that we fancy Herod had any dear affection
for the Baptist, which led him to place him out of the reach
of the snares of the revengeful adulteress,-for I do not give
him the credit of any such honourable feeling; but he had
a mingled feeling, partly fear, partly policy,-fear to lift his
hand against so holy a man, and so revered of all that knew
him,-policy lest if any unadvised mischief were perpetrated
against him, the blame of it might rest with his tyrannical
measures; therefore he thought it best to put him beyond
the reach of danger in a place of safety. It is observable how
God makes the wickedness of men to praise Him, so that His
saints escape by the jarrings of the wicked. Paul was pre-
served by the contention between Sadducees and Pharisees
before the council held by Claudius Lysias, the governor of
Jerusalem. So Luther was preserved in a place of safety by
the Elector of Saxony, and made way for his doctrines through
the divisions which then agitated the empire, being protected
by the one party against the violence of the other. And here
John is for a while preserved by Herod against the prompted
passion of his queen Herodias. Upon which I cannot refrain
from making one remark-how prompt, saucy, and revengeful
is the indignation of women. It taketh no time for delibera-
tion, and hath no coolness to weigh the matter, but hasteth
and hurrieth onward to the execution of its purpose. And
herein the wisdom of God is to be noted in appointing unto
man the head and rule of his house, that he may let and
restrain these humours by command and power, until reason
and reflection have time and opportunity to come in and
determine. God having gifted man with a greater faculty of
reason, and woman with a greater faculty of feeling, and reason
being needed to preside over feeling, He gave to man the
presidency of the house. That Herod confined John, not for
the purpose of putting his tongue to silence, but for the ends
of his safe keeping, is manifested further by the other par-
ticulars given by the evangelist of the regard in which he
held him. He did many things, and heard him gladly, or
sweetly, as the original signifies. He did many things at the
A
154
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
suggestion and bidding of the Baptist. What these were in
point of fact, we have no account; what they were in spirit,
we have no need of any account. The Baptist was not the
man to suggest anything of an ambiguous or dubious kind.
His lessons were all of one character-repentance towards
God, and preparation for Christ that was to come. And from
the aptness of his reproofs and exhortations to publicans and
priests, and people and soldiers, whereof we formerly dis-
coursed, we may form some idea how faithful, how uncompro-
mising would be his dealings with the king. They would be of
a piece with that only note of the royal lecture which is given,
that Herod should not have Herodias, his brother Philip's
wife. Doubtless they would concern the function of royalty
and respect the means of government. He would command
him to set faithful men around his throne, who loved God,
and hated covetousness. He would command him to purify
his court, and begin with the example of purifying his own
chamber. He would command him to submit himself to God,
and publish edicts throughout his realm enjoining the fear of
God; and the heathenish customs which had crept in, of games
and contests, of amphitheatres and gymnasiums, of the arena
and the palestra, he would order him to put down, as having no
concert with the service of the living God; and many right judg-
ments he would command him to execute, and not to oppress
the poor, or to grind the people with exactions, or to surfeit.
himself with luxury, or to please himself with flattery, or to
exalt himself with pride, or to forget the living God, or to do
aught else unworthy of the prince and ruler of the people.
It is impossible that the Baptist could speak within the por-
tals of Herod's court, and not speak of those things which
were everywhere submitted to his eye. If he bearded the
lion in his den, he would not crouch before him in the way,
or fear to encounter him in his ravagings. If he touched him
in his private and peculiar affections, he would not fear to
touch him in his court and public acts of government. And
many of those recommendations of the Baptist he followed.
The force of truth and righteousness thus far prevailed against
the pride and force of custom. What a noble triumph again
of unarmed righteousness! What an encouragement, in these
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
155
milder times, to speak everywhere the sincere and simple truth,
to exhort, to rebuke, to instruct in righteousness, to be bold,
to lift up the voice like a trumpet, to tell the people their sins,
and the leaders of the people their transgressions! It cannot
be that men are now more deaf to truth than they were then,
or less ready to reform what they are convinced is amiss. If
they shut their ears to counsel, it is because they suspect the
by-ends and intents which suggest it. Therefore let every
one who giveth counsel purify himself from all selfishness,
and all self-seeking, from all evil temper and fault-finding, and
bring out his truthfulness like the day, and his righteousness
like the noon-day. And he shall certainly prevail to work
some improvement upon the most stubborn men. I know
how our pride bridles up and starts back at the mention of our
misdoings, and sets ingenuity to work to detect some evil or
ambiguous motive in him that gives it. But I likewise know
that if the counsel touch a real flaw in our character, or an
error in our conduct, or a wilful act of wickedness, it is not
lost; it sinks down into the mind, but it is not lost. Conscience
takes it in keeping, and is troubled, and many days, perhaps
many years after, confession giveth testimony that it hath not
been in vain. Therefore continue patiently to sow the seeds
of truth, and in due time your friend shall reap if you fail not.
Be not offended that he is at pains to detect some unworthy
motive inducing you. If you love the cause of truth, you
should be willing to endure a little sifting and a little severe
handling. Nor be dismayed though your friend should call
you officious, meddling, and hypocritical, but continue faith-
fully to assure him of your honest intentions; and though he
should cut you off from his friendly trust, and debar you from
his home and his haunts, never despair. These are far better
symptoms than if he heard you as though he heard you
not, or turned aside your counsel with some commonplace
remark upon our common failures, or some slight sally upon
your being so good and so honest and so full of advice.
I would rather have a tough encounter for the cause of
truth, than have it slip out of hand through these smooth
railleries, which content the soul of the receiver, and too often
content the soul of the giver, whereas it contenteth nothing
156
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
but the vanity of both. Hold to your friend, if so be that
he allow the truth of what you say. Well then, say to him,
but if it is true, why not follow after it? And allow not
yourself to be smiled out of your object, but hold to it, keep-
ing a steady and serene aspect. Do not frown down, but
sober down the gay and sprightly air of confession with
which your counsel is received. This mood of the mind will
never do for the entertainment of sober truth. Therefore put
it to flight with a steady, unmoved countenance, which will
not smile in accordance with their sweet, strict, and reviling
tone of confession. Confession is no confession which is not
made with shamefacedness and downcast magdalene looks,
and soft and sorrowful tones, and feelings and signs of sadness.
Therefore, I say again, stand it out, until the gay and courtly
humour is gone, and the mind is come into a mood for enter-
taining truth. Now it is, but not till now, that the contest
begins the preceding was but a gay avoiding of the contest.
And now will pride arise, and summon up its advocates, and
a vigorous self-defence will be commenced; and now is your
time to put forth manly and divine power in behalf of truth,
and prepare yourself for retorts-first courteous, then dis-
courteous. And now be upon the watch how to defend your-
self: if with pride, then pride encountering pride is like flint
encountering flint; and fiery contention, and high words, and
strife, and separation, perhaps blows and blood, may be the
result. And in such a case you have betrayed the truth; it
hath been wounded in the house of its friends, and between
you hath it been slain. But if you make your defence with
meekness and humility, and sorrowful confession in the
slight things with which they upbraid you, and receive their
hard words upon the soft and downy defences of Christian
grace and charity, then your defence is worth a thousand
attacks, and, like the Scythian, you wound your enemy in his
onset, you wound him by submitting. He catches in his
arms, not his foe, but his friend-he presses to his bosom one
whom he meant to kill, but whose meek and merciful touch
melts and overcomes him. Such urgent constancy for truth's
sake, such yielding for interest's sake, almost no one can with-
stand.
In the personal question they find you yield, and
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
157
acknowledge all your imperfections; this is such a rebuke to
those who in a greater matter are fighting for personal interest
against the truth, that it generally breaketh the bone. And here
it is the advocates of truth are to wait and expect their victory
-when the battle is turned against themselves, and they
endure so much and confess so willingly.
All this mockery of pride on the part of Herod, John
doubtless encountered in the outset; for, as we see by the
And all this
sequel, Herod was one of the proudest of men.
he withstood. He had the advantage of being feared as a
just and a holy man.
There could be no accusation of am-
bition or of advantage brought against one who bore all his
wealth on his person, and held all his influence in his voice—
who made no head for himself but for Another who was after-
wards to arise. One so disinterested, one so advanced upon the
vantage-ground of his disinterestedness, never appeared upon
the earth, as John the Baptist. And to this he owed no
small part of his success in every quarter. And if we priests
in the latter day would compel men by the awful voice of
truth, not hunt them out by the soft words of policy, we
must take our stand upon the same vantage-ground, and
care for nought that is valued, that is told and talked of
under the sun. The earth, and all it holds, must be to us as
nothing our food the plainest, our raiment the simplest, and
everything awarded to an earth-despising mind. I do not
say positively that we should be reduced to houseless wan-
derers, but we should have a spirit in us ready for it. We
should suffer, yes, I say we should suffer the dignities, the
honours, the splendour, the very conveniences and com-
forts of life; we should suffer them for the sake of the times
and the feelings of our friends, and for their usefulness' sake,
(if I may use that most unclerical word, never used in the
New Testament to a pastor, though now the only one that is
used;) but we should be ready to resign our all when we are
staked against a point of conscience, and to go forth upon
the wide and wild world, like the two thousand non-conforming
priests of England, and the six hundred covenanting priests.
of Scotland, at the era called glorious era of the Restora-
tion.
158
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Herod heard him gladly or sweetly. The eloquence of the
Baptist, nursed in deserts, the wild costume of his language,
his oration like an old prophet's woe-denouncing burden, or
like an Indian orator's song of lamentation and revenge, the
harmony of gesture, and the desert-like array of his person,
-all this was, as a spectacle, one of the most fresh and racy
things which could pass the threshold of a court. And I
figure to myself the gay gallants of the place making merry
with the rude bearing of the wanderer, and the silver-tongued
courtiers inwardly shaking their sides at the bold truthfulness
of this man, and the false women trembling for some unman-
nered exposure, and the heartless enviers hoping for the ex-
posure of all but themselves. It was, doubtless, no small
pleasure to them all to hear the Baptist preach and talk-
the novelty and freshness of the whole exhibition, and the
great entertainment which there was in it.
-3
But the Baptist was of other metal than to stop short at
these impressions. His discourse was not a spectacle; his
doctrine would not turn a joke; his rebukes would not be
repaid with a smile; nor his services with salutations or ap-
plause. These are current coinage for vain ostentatious per-
formers at a theatre; but such newspaper, pamphlet, and
courtly applause or censure hath no nourishment for a man of
God. It toucheth, it moveth him not, except to shew him that
he hath not yet reached his mark. Thereupon he setteth his
arrow on his bow again; he wingeth it anew, and sendeth it
with a double strain, that it may strike through these courtly
coverings and trappings of vanity into the inner man of the
heart. He stands to his post; he spies out the vulnerable
parts of the van host; he lieth in wait for them; he findeth
his occasion, and sendeth his bolt into the quick.
So did the Baptist to Herod, who, with all his faults—and
they were many-was a proud and resolute man, far beyond
the sphere of vanity and ostentation; a self-determining man,
who knew to value manly qualities in another, and valued
them in the Baptist; a clear-headed man, who knew truth
when he heard it even against himself; and a man of counsel,
who could discern that the Baptist's way of it was the best,
though bearing against his own throughout. And I doubt
JOHN THE BAPTIST
159
not he listened to the Baptist with honest conviction, and pur-
posed to listen to him longer, and either to yield to him or to
make the Baptist yield. And fain, fain would I have seen the
issue of the contest; but an incident occurred, which we shall
hereafter consider, to mar it in the midst of its operation. Yet
Herod heard him sweetly, and was exceeding sorrowful to put
him to death, and never afterwards could wipe the memory of
him from his conscience.
"It is the Baptist risen from the dead." It haunted him, and
would not give him rest. When Christ's fame arose, he
sought to see him, that he might be satisfied it was not the
Baptist. Such way had this servant of God made upon this
arch-servant of the devil, that he had not only sway in life, but
in death domineered over him. From his ashes he spoke to
the tyrant. His blood spoke loud from the inmost dungeon
of the palace into the ears of the prince; it planted thorns upon
his unholy court; it slew his enjoyment with his mistress, and
rankled like poison in his breast; and he said, when he
heard of any extraordinary person, "This is John the Baptist:
he is risen from the dead." "John have I beheaded, but
who is this?"
Such is the influence which a man of God, with truth
upon his lips, may gain over a man of Belial, cunning as the
fox, proud as Lucifer, and blood-thirsty as the tiger. I have
opened it up for your encouragement to follow the same
course of speaking truth in the love of it; and hereafter
I shall shew you the resistance in the tyrant's mind, that ye
may be upon your guard. This discourse hath been to en-
courage you to speak the truth; the next shall be to dis-
courage you from resisting truth.
Now, I have not been unmindful, all the way, of shewing
you the only fountain of truth, the Lord Jesus Christ; one
lesson of whose discipline I have been teaching you. And
yet I cannot close without informing you that the strength to
speak, the purpose to speak, and the words of truth to be
spoken, come all from above; and that while pride, vanity,
courtesy, or any other worldly custom, holds dominion over
you, you are under the power of him who, from the begin-
ning, was a liar and a murderer, and who is the father of liars.
160
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Therefore, if there be any truth in what hath now been de-
livered any nobility, any persuasion, or any counsel-it
amounts to this, that ye turn unto Christ, who is the truth,
and submit yourself to His Spirit, which is the Spirit of truth,
and walk in His statutes, which are right, rejoicing the heart.
(Ps. xix.)
LECTURE XIV.
LUKE III.; MATT. XIV.; MARK VI.
THIS notable instance of the first preacher of Christ we
have dwelt upon the more, because in him is presented
to us a model of a Christian preacher and a Christian disciple,
in those sterner and severer aspects which are now either held
in no account or treated with disrepute. When the preaching
of the gospel is conceived of as all grace and mercy, and no
motive hath any sanction but that of love, and masculine
truth hath learned to lisp in accents of courtesy, and to seek
her way by prudence and address, we have thought, by hold-
ing up for a while the Baptist's unsavoury diction, and the
Baptist's uncivil demeanour, we might find a good apology for
infringing the soft custom of the time, and speaking with
force and determination, as they were wont to do in the times
of old. For you will observe how the Saviour sent from His
tongue words like edged swords, and made havoc amongst
the most heart-cherished idols of His hearers :-at one time,
in the house of Simon the Pharisee, who entertained Him
courteously, preferring to all the pomp and preparation of his
supper-table, the simple, devoted act of a despised and unfor-
tunate woman; at another time, in a large assembled party,
telling them to ask the halt and lame, the blind and beggarly,
to their feasts, that it might be the hospitality of the heart,
and not a trade and barter in splendid entertainments; again,
preferring the mite of a widow to the costly offerings of the
rich; at all times stinging every hypocrite to the quick through
all his veils; denouncing whole orders of men-Pharisees,
Sadducees, scribes, and lawyers, the highest ranks in Jeru-
salem-for their abuse of their place, and devoting them to
the wrath and indignation of God. And when He sent forth.
the seventy on their errand of preaching, He not only gave
VOL. II.
L
162
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
them a message of peace, but a burden of woe :-" Into what-
ever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways
out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust
of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you;"
thereby teaching us that there are two sides of the commis-
sion-roll whereby we preach Christ-one fair and hopeful as
the morning, the other dark and gloomy as the setting of
midnight. And Paul, I am sure by many examples, walked
in the same footsteps:-at one time braving the magistrates
of Philippi in their duty, and scorning their insufficient apol-
ogies; at another, daring the Roman governor to lay a
lash on him; at a third, appealing to Cæsar like a free man;
and through all his Epistles conducting himself like a mag-
nanimous man, and a devoted saint, and the very opposite of
a timorous devotee. And the Reformers did the same; and
the missionaries, before they prosper, will have to do the
same; and at home, Christian preachers, to make a lodgment
in strong and stubborn hearts, must do the same.
The great
and awful attributes of God must shine forth; His sword of
justice must be unsheathed in the heavens over a wicked world.
Then truth must go before Him, and tell that One is coming
after with the axe of discrimination in His hand, to hew the
profitless cumberers of the ground from their place. And
there must be a shaking of the high towers of the heart, which
are riches, pride, and glory; and there must be a quaking
of the soul for its very existence, and a loud cry of "Repent,
or perish; repent, or in a few years ye shall, like Nineveh, be
destroyed." This rough beginning of it must still be made in
every soul, and in the general world; and the harsh discourse
which is to make this rough beginning of it must be held—it
must be a part of every discourse. A summons to surrender
must precede every overture of mercy, and the direful alterna-
tive of death and destruction must close this overture, other-
wise it will never come to pass that the people will take alarm,
be moved, and shaken, and cry out for mercy to the living
God, and accept His offered mercy in Christ, and come unto
Him that they may be healed and their souls may live. Do
the whole seek the physician? No; but the sick. Therefore,
sicken the people at the heart, and afflict their soul with fear,
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
163
that they may flee unto the Chief Physician. Do the honest
men cry you mercy, or heed your offer of mercy? No; they
turn it aside with high disdain: but the poor criminal, who
groaneth his soul out in bondage, heareth it most gladly.
Convict the people, then; sist them at judgment, and fairly
convict them against all their subterfuges, and hand them
over to execution; and then they will listen to the slightest
suggestion of mercy, and hunt the avenues of it out, and
seek its ministers, and sue them, and catch their words with
more delight than ever did felon catch the words of his
reprieve, or prisoners the merry news of a general gaol-
delivery. The Baptist's office is gone much into disuse-so
much so, that had I not a flock to feed and edify in holiness,
as well as an audience to convert, I would willingly forego the
preaching of mercy, address myself to topics of warning, ex-
postulation, and denouncement, and leave the people to their
chance of peace and comfort, which, it seemeth to me, they
could not miss, go whither their feet might carry them to
the house of God. Mercy is too soft for this hard and flinty
world to have been sent from heaven alone. They would have
pierced her ample bosom, and nailed her outstretched arms to
an accursed tree, and otherwise entreated her vilely. There-
fore the Lord sent in her company the terrible form of Jus-
tice, with his arm revealed; and hand in hand they go over
the populous earth, from city to city. And Mercy begins the
parley, saying, “Peace be unto this city, good-will to the chil-
dren thereof from God on high; salvation to the sons of men,
through the cross of Christ, from the punishment of all their
sins." Justice standeth by her side, but she shieldeth his blows
with her radiant form. They hear, and they are saved; they
hear not, and Justice prepareth himself to act.
He girdeth
himself for death and slaughter like a man of war; but Mercy
intercedeth, and haply prevaileth. But if obdurate the people
of any city remain, then she gathereth up her raiment, and
from its purity she shaketh off the polluted dust of that city,
devoted to destruction from the arm of the justice of Almighty
God.
Now, the idea having got possession of my mind that the
preaching of the everlasting gospel, whereby we are saved
164
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
from the wrath to come, hath lost the accompaniment of
the law, of the stern and spiritual law, which was the only
thing that brought the apostle's self-confidence to the ground,
wherein lieth the strength of sin, and without which the strong-
holds of sin shall never be discovered; being convinced, on
the one hand, that the orthodox and evangelical adhere to
grace and mercy, and other topics of consolation, too pertin-
aciously for the conviction and conversion of the unregenerate
world, and that the Socinian and heterodox do, on the other
hand, take from Mercy her olive-branch, and from Justice his
sword, and send them forth like two conquerors from the
schools, to ply the head with words, but seldom make the
heart to quail within its natural holds, or melt before the love
and attachment of its Maker; being convinced that by the one
Mercy is sent to the work with too slight an attendance for
this sin-armed and Satan-defended world, and that by the other
the self-deceived world is not solicited either by heaven-profess-
ing Mercy, or shaken by hell-denouncing Justice,-I thought
it might be profitable to the place and time, and encouraging
to our own purpose of upholding the ancient custom, thus to
hold up, as I have done at great length, this ministry of the
Baptist and forerunner of Christ, which now hastens to a
close.
In treating this last act of the Baptist's tragical life, these
views directed our method, and we began by what might be
thought very singular,—a defence or justification of his bold-
ness in chastising the crimes of a monarch,—and thereafter
we examined what success he had in that perilous ministry;
in both which topics of discourse we had an eye mainly to
your improvement in the difficult duty of speaking truth, and
nicely acting on behalf of truth. In doing which office for your
spiritual welfare, we took occasion to lay down the true doctrine
of duty, which consists, first, in listening to the voice of con-
science, guided by the Word and Spirit of God; then in taking
human wisdom and prudence to execute the inward counsel,
and to perform it in the face of disadvantage and disappro-
bation, through the help of that faith which is the gift of God.
This course the Baptist followed. He had begun with the
common people who came out to him from the regions round.
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
165
about Jerusalem; he wrought his way amongst the higher
orders, setting his face steadfastly against unrighteousness;
and at length he arrived at the sacred seat of power, the
throne of the king, and went to work after his ancient fashion
of preaching repentance, because the kingdom of heaven was
at hand, and he followed up his preaching by challenging
whatever he saw amiss: for he had received his commission
from Heaven to forewarn men, and advertise them before-
hand of a Saviour. And the tetrarch was a man, and no
more than a man, before the living God. And his soul was
precious in the Lord's sight, all wicked as it was. And the
Lord, though He saw what counsel the tyrant would take
against His servant, was too merciful even to Herod to let him
go down to the pit without a warning. Though his father had
persecuted the infant Saviour, and slain the innocents, whose
mangled limbs and harmless blood cried to Him for vengeance;
though he himself had been guilty of many a crime, and lived
in open contempt of Heaven's decrees,-yet the Lord, who
is rich in mercy, sent him a note of warning. And the Bap-
tist being commissioned to all men, went in unto him, and
shunned not to declare unto him the counsel of God. But
the Baptist being resolved in the point of duty, took to him-
self, I doubt not, all the arts of speech which did not com-
promise the truth. He did his utmost before the king, and
was not unmindful of respect and reverence to his elevated
station, and cleansed his breast of plebeian spitefulness-if ever
it harboured in his breast-and guarded himself against rude-
ness, pride, and vanity; and, I doubt not, reasoned with the
king, and besought him, and earnestly entreated him, if he
saw any gentle mood coming over his mind; or if he saw
in him noble moods, I doubt not he addressed himself to
these, and shewed his royal virtues and sovereign graces of
character, and taught him the majesty of justice and honour.
I doubt not the sincere yet wise messenger of God took all
the measures which were likely to insure success, and did not
assail the weak parts of the monarch, mock him, or harrow
up his soul with fear, but spoke to him as a messenger of
God should speak to one whom God hath appointed the ruler
of the people. For had not the Baptist so entrenched him-
166
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
self in truth and uprightness, and graced his speech with all
the ornaments which are proper to truth, and poured into it
the affection and love which, in his most terrible moods, the
messenger of Heaven maintains, it is not conceivable that he
should have gained the monarch so far as to become his pro-
tector, his scholar, his servant-for in many things he took his
instructions, and obeyed them-that he should have overawed
him, or secured so deep a place in his heart, as that when he
did him wrong he could never afterwards be at peace. How
far the Baptist prevailed with the monarch we set forth at
large in our last discourse; and we now proceed to follow the
tragical history onwards to its close.
Though the Baptist bore hardest against the affections of
the monarch, the king had too much regard for him to sacri-
fice him to wounded affection. He did not imprison him, we
shewed, out of revenge for his faithful admonition in respect
of his brother Philip's wife, but to protect him from her ven-
geance. Now, here I take another distinction between men
and women. There are stronger parts in man than his affec-
tions; in woman there are none so strong. Herod bore John's
assault upon his affections, and heard him gladly notwith-
standing; but Herodias could not. Herod did many things
at the Baptist's suggestion; and Herodias feared he might
also, at his suggestion, put her away, and therefore hastened
to precipitate his death. In which difference in the consti-
tution of man and woman, I pray you to observe the
wisdom of the Creator again. The woman being destined
for the part of a nurse and a mother to the world, and the
man for the father and governor of the world, the Almighty
made affection strongest in the breast of the one; in the
breast of the other, He made authority and command prevail
over affection, when it so happens that they cannot be sweetly.
accorded. Woman was intended for the solacement of man,
and to that end was bestowed upon him in Paradise at first;
and when she led him astray, her share in the sentence was,
that her desire should be to her husband, and that he should
rule over her. But to man the bitterest half of the curse did
fall that he should labour the ground, and win his bread.
with the sweat of his face. So that man was made the slave
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
167
of labour, the tiller of the ground, the owner of the ground,
the governor of the earth; and woman was made the comfort
of man in the midst of his many toilsome labours, and of his
heartless supremacy.
Therefore, affection was made the
strongest in the one, and in the other, understanding, rule,
and strength—understanding to direct, rule to undertake,
and strength to carry into effect, the management of this
niggard earth, which the Lord yielded to his sovereignty.
Now, in making these remarks, I am so far from dividing,
that I do, in truth, unite the bond between man and woman,
by pointing out the proper domain of each; for upon the
proper regulation of this rudimental relation of all society,
its prosperity, in a great measure, dependeth. For example,
in old Rome, when women nobly did the part of wives and
mothers, what noble men were reared, patriotic, affectionate
at home, and terrible abroad; and in this country, where
these domestic virtues are equally prized, what a seed of pious.
and heroic men we have to boast of. But when the ordi-
nances of society go in this respect against the ordinances of
God, to what unseemly conditions it leads. Amongst the
American Indians, you have women in bondage to the men;
they bear the burdens, they work the work, they do every-
thing but hunt and carry on war; and being thus abstracted
from their natural office of soothing and softening the man,
it hath come to pass that the men are of an indomitable pride,
-strength of will, cunning, and revenge being their chief
characteristics. They have rejected the alliance of woman's
heart, and see to what they have been brought! In ancient
Egypt, again, the opposite experiment was made. The
woman had, by the marriage contract, the supremacy; and
see what effects it produced upon the people! They became
quiet, peaceable, lovers of justice and order—and so far it
was well; but they became soft and effeminate, and submis-
sive to tyranny and misrule; their understanding became
debased, and their very senses fell from their proper use,
when they arrived at and became subservient to soft affec-
tion-the most miserable pass of meanness. They worshipped
every timid creature, and paid them divine honours; even
cruel creatures they worshipped, for possessing that boldness
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which they wanted-loving the one, fearing the other. And
all the idolatry which elsewhere had been rendered to the
ideas of things, or to forms which represented these ideas, or
to noble and useful men, was by them rendered to living
creatures, whose brutal proneness of nature they beheld by
outward sense. Much more might be said upon this sub-
ject, with regard to which, instances crowd upon our remem-
brance; but we pass on to the drift of our discourse, and
observe, that the affections being wounded in Herodias,
set the whole course of her nature in arms; Herod bore
the wound, being controlled by higher faculties, which we are
now to discover.
It was on his birth-day, always an auspicious day for pride
and vanity, when religious men are wont to look back upon
their past life, and confess its worthlessness unto the Lord,
and recount the mercies of their God, and their own wondrous
preservation, when they humbly make prayers for their for-
giveness, and meekly set about better purposes and resolu-
tions;-on his birth-day, which pride regards as the noblest
in the calendar, and vanity magnifies with ostentation and
display; on this day Herod, unlike troubled and patient Job,
who prayed that it might not be joined to the days of the
year, nor come into the number of the month, that it might
be solitary, and no joyful voice be heard therein;-on his
birth-day Herod assembled the pride of his kingdom, his
lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; and having
feasted them well, the daughter of Herodias came in, and
danced and pleased Herod and them that sat with him. It
was an auspicious moment for pride. The monarch on his
throne, with all his peers around him; the monarch holding
the celebration of his birth-day; the monarch's heart delighted
with the performance of his daughter, and all his peers sharing
in his delight; the heat of wine, added to the inflammation of
pride and power and vanity, you will allow it was an aus-
picious moment for pride; and he who was the first to con-
ceive pride, and to bring it forth, to the disturbance of heaven,
and who hath ever since watched over his child, was at hand
to join the tyrant in his proudest mood; and having no enemy
on the earth whom he dreaded more than the Baptist, he now
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
169
seized his opportunity to revenge on him all the lessons of
penitence and humility which he had taught mankind. See ye
not it was Satan again arrayed against God-as formerly he
was in the person of Job, so now in the person of the Baptist?
If he contended with the archangel Michael for the body of
Moses, so now he contended for the life of the Baptist, who
was born to humble pride in the penitence of sackcloth and
ashes; and the enemy chose his fittest instrument, the proud
king of Galilee, and took him in his most heroic mood, and
plied him with wine and wassail, and fed him with the adula-
tion of his nobles; and thus having intoxicated him, sent in
his beautiful daughter to display her graces before them all.
It would have been more becoming her, like Vashti, the high-
minded queen of Ahasuerus, to have refused such a summons
to exhibit her beauty and gracefulness before a company
of revellers. But whether with invitation or without it, she
presented herself, and thus to the assemblage of evil passions.
within the breast of Herod, added the intoxication of joy at
that for which a father or a kinsman should have blushed.
The king, swollen with vain delight, said that whatever she
should ask he would grant her, to the half of his kingdom;
and, like a headstrong fool driven to some foul catastrophe,
he confirmed his large promise with an oath in the presence
of all his court. Pride, vanity, and immodesty having done
their office, revenge came next to complete the transaction.
Herodias went to her mother, in whose thoughts the Baptist.
was always first, who, combining the coolness of a man with
the fury of a woman, bade her ask the head of John the
Baptist in a charger. The girl, whose youth should have
shuddered at the thought of blood, was of too bloodthirsty a
stock, and too well fleshed in blood, with which the scutcheon
of her father was stained over, to hesitate a moment; and
forth she sallied from the chamber of the woman, with the
fate of the first of men upon her lips.
Ah, this is a cruel tragedy, and pity it is that woman's
tender nature should have been the chief actor herein. But
let no flattery or praise of poets put tender-hearted woman
off her guard; and let no gallant speeches of men obscure in
them the truth, that they are of the same mould, and liable
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JOHN THE BAPTIST
to the same frailties, and in some directions to greater frail-
ties, than men; even as in other directions man is liable to
greater frailties than woman. Against all prejudices of the
affections, let woman be on her guard-jealousy, disappoint-
ment, and revenge. Also, let her be on her guard in identify-
ing herself with the ambition and crimes of her husband,
which she ought to hold against. And oh! most especially,
against cruelty of every kind let her be watchful; for woman
was made to be a mother to the needy and a nurse to the
weak, and a personification of God's providence here below.
But while out of this instance of woman's wickedness I bring
forth these admonitions for the sake of woman, let me justify
the honour of womanhood by stating, that though the fore-
runner of Christ was so entreated of them, Christ himself had
His chief care and consolation from women. He owned no
parent but a woman; a woman watched over His youth; and
women waited on Him in all His wanderings; and He wept
for the sorrows of a woman; and a woman anointed Him for
His burial; and when all forsook Him in the hour of Hist
need, the women watched at His cross; and a heathen woman
warned her husband to have nothing to do in the fate of so
good a man; and women were the first to visit His tomb, and
had the first revelation of His resurrection; and in every age.
they have been ready to lay down their lives for His sake.
Had the daughter of Herodias been of such a stock, she
would have shuddered at her mother's request, and rather
than have sought such a suit she would have consented to be
herself the victim to pacify her mother's thirst of blood. But
she hastened to fulfil it. She came in straightway with haste
unto the king, and said, "I will that thou give me by and by,"
or forthwith, out of hand, “in a charger the head of John the
Baptist." Now began the struggle in Herod's breast. He
was exceeding sorry; yet, for his oath's sake, and their sakes
that sat with him, he would not reject her. It was not, as
hath been said, out of affection to his wife, nor yet to her
daughter, but for his oath's sake, and those that sat at meat
with him, that he consented to the heinous act; by which
he proves himself, as we observed in our former discourse, to
have been a man who joined stern pride to all his policy and
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
171
wickedness. But mark, his passions gave way, his policy also
gave way, but his pride would not give way. That which is
called "the last infirmity of noble minds" should have been
called the strongest and most irreducible bulwark of the mind.
A wanton man, a wily man, a vain man, a worldly man, you
will far sooner master than a proud man, who despises those
things upon which the others build themselves, regarding the
approbation of his own breast, and deriding the vain man
who striveth for human approbation. If he be a slave of the
senses, he despiseth himself for being so; if he laugh with the
merry throng, he scorns his own smile; and you will see scorn
looking through the light of his smile as the storm lowereth
over the blink of sunshine, and hasteneth to swallow it up.
The proud man is the true Stoic. Pride is the highest form of
unregenerate nature, being strong within itself, even as Satan,
the father of pride, was the highest and strongest angel that
fell from heaven. No wonder, therefore, that the pride of his
oath, and of his consistency, should withstand in Herod what
his passion and policy had not been able to resist. It withstood
his fear of the Baptist's influence with the people, his reverence
of his holiness and integrity, and he sent the executioner to
behead him in the prison, and so his precious life was sacri-
ficed on the altar of pride. The preacher of humility and the
messenger of Christ yielded his life to the minister of Satan,
and once more the blood of the righteous cried from the
earth to heaven for vengeance.
Oh, it was a horrid crime for that magistrate, into whose
hands God had committed the sword of justice, to be a terror
to evil-doers and a praise unto them that do well, to proceed
against the life of an innocent man without charge or accusa-
tion, and to murder him out of hand, as if he were a vicious
and venomous creature! A fine conclusion to a royal banquet
this, to immolate the prophet of the Lord-a grand consum-
mation to the joy of a royal birth-day to extinguish the light
and glory of the nation! And these were fine lords, captains,
and chief estates of Galilee, who sat patiently by, and sanc-
tioned the massacre of the most honoured of the lieges! Ah,
brethren, learn the blessings of our times, when neither king,
nor lords, nor captains, nor chief estates, nor all conjoined,
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
durst put to death, without fullest and fairest trial, the greatest
felon in the land. Value them above price. Let them not be
wrested from you by any power on earth; and transmit them
to shield the heads of your children, as they now shield our
own, permitting us to sit every one under his own vine and
his own fig-tree, without any to make us afraid. These bless-
ings are due unto the grace of our God, who thought our
fathers worthy of His special mercy, but for which we might
have been in a condition as prostrate as they are in other
lands. Therefore to God let the praise of them be rendered,
for to Him alone is it due. And let us not forget that reli-
gion is the mother of law-our Protestant religion, the religion
of the Scriptures, open to every man; which if you once fall
from, then superstitious dependence upon your priests, mis-
rule of every kind, such as now afflict our sister island, will
be the fatal issue.
When ye behold this example of arbitrary power, and of
submissive statesmen, oh render thanks unto the Lord that
power in these lands hath been bridled by law, and that
wholesome law is sustained by free religion; and when you
read unto your children how this first of Christian martyrs
fell within the dungeon of a prison, under no eye but that of
Heaven, tell them of their invaluable privileges, and turn their
thoughts to God who bestowed them, and likewise tell them.
to be ready to go equal lengths for sacred truth. So shall
this martyrdom of the Baptist beget within many breasts a
heroic love of truth, a hatred of arbitrary government, grati-
tude to God, and devotedness to the Lord Jesus Christ;-by
which means the Baptist's death, as hath been said, will be a
thousand times more profitable than his life, and the ends of
God's providence will be served.
Pride, brethren, is that which defendeth the prerogatives of
self, and beware lest in any of your breasts it cast out the doc-
trine which the Baptist came to teach. He had but one life to
lose, but the doctrine which he taught is many times murdered,
and in most cases it is murdered by pride. The Baptist may
be regarded as an allegorical personage, representing the
rough and unwelcome nature of repentance, which must ever
go before the grace of the gospel. Now that penitence which
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
173
he represents is often besought of you, and you will find your
pride steadfastly resist it, for pride is the antagonist of humi-
lity, and rises in arms at the very mention of its name. There-
fore beware lest ye silence the voice of repentance, as Herod
did the voice of the Baptist-that you put it to a distance,
and mure it up in procrastination. Beware, lest in your high
and joyous moods ye murder humility, and for ever after be
haunted of remorse as Herod was. And though Herod saw
the face of Christ, he found no room for forgiveness. So you
may often hear the voice of the gospel, but find no room for
repentance. Therefore, I pray you be upon your guard that
you act not in the breast this tragedy which Herod acted in
the face of day.
LECTURE XV.
LUKE III.; MATT. XIV.; MARK VI.
THE Almighty is not prodigal of the blood of His saints,
whose death is precious in His sight, and whose souls He
redeemeth from deceit and violence. And as He sacrificed
His own dear Son for no smaller object than the redemption
of the soul, which nothing in the world nor all the world could
purchase; so the blood of His Son's members, which are His
saints, He never permitted to be shed save for some good not
otherwise to be purchased. And yet, though He hath over
them a tender watchfulness, they must not shrink from despe-
rate trials, nor desire to be without them; for being formed unto.
Christ by a living faith, they are no longer their own, but bought
with a price; and being of Christ's purchased inheritance, they
are no more at their own disposal, but set apart from a pro-
fane to a holy use-from the dominion of a depraved will and
an evil spirit to the dominion of the divine will and the Holy
Spirit; by which adoption into the household of faith and
among the children of God they are brought into new con-
ditions, consulting no longer for convenience, or pleasure, or
honour, or wealth, but following after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, meekness-fighting the good fight, laying
hold on eternal life;-in which new pursuits they are to look
for suffering, whereby the Captain of their salvation was per-
fected, and whereunto St Peter says we are all appointed,
and for the fellowship of which St Paul mightily prays; with
patience they are to take the loss of all things, to reckon it joy
when they fall into divers temptations, and when they are
counted worthy to suffer for their Redeemer's sake.
Therefore when we behold, as in this instance of the Bap-
tist, that the Lord sendeth His servants on perilous errands,
and by the impulse of truth forceth them into conditions out
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
175
of which there is no escape, save by the bloody path of mar-
tyrdom which Christ also trod, we should not be satisfied
with paying the deserved tribute of lamentation upon the
martyr's tomb, or holding up to execration the bloody men
who persecuted him to the death, but advance into the inward
counsel of the transaction, and endeavour to discover what
good purposes upon earth the Almighty intended thereby to
accomplish. This is the office which still remains to be per-
formed over the memory of this sainted man; and we enter
upon it with humble prayer to Almighty God that He would
open our minds to understand the high purpose of His provi-
dence, and that He would cause our discourse to strengthen
the faith of many.
The post to which the Baptist was called was one of peril,
being the farthest advanced post of the Christian army, for he
was the forerunner of Him whom we are all called to follow;
and the commission with which he was intrusted was full of
danger and of fear, being no less than a summons of uncon-
ditional surrender to all the sons of men, whom he accused of
rebellion, and commanded to lay down the arms of their war-
fare, and to bow the lofty heads of their pride, and prepare
themselves for One coming in the name of the Lord mighty
to save. Four centuries had elapsed since a prophet had
appeared with tidings from on high, during which interval
the nation had been crushed and bruised with oppression, and
wearied out with exterminating wars; and now for more than
half a century the bloodiest family of that bloody age had
held tyrannical sway over it, created in the bowels of society
various factions, corrupted the patriotism and the sacred feel-
ing of the people, and made the face of society a waste and
howling wilderness. And if in the best times the prophets of
the Lord had a rough reception, and generally met with an
untimely end, it was not otherwise to be expected of the Bap-
tist coming upon an errand far more perilous than Jonah's,
and to a royal race more bloodthirsty than was that of Ahab
and Jezebel.
Light cometh into the world, but the darkness of the world
comprehendeth it not. And this is their condemnation, that
they love darkness rather than light, their deeds being evil.
176
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
The prophets of the Lord come unto their own, but their own
acknowledge them not. Their brethren rise up against them,
their familiar friends and those of their own household prove
their foes. Oh, how many, since the days that righteous
Abel fell a sacrifice to his brother's wickedness, have poured
out their souls unto death, for the sake of a stiff-necked and
rebellious generation! St Paul, himself a noble martyr, had
made a catalogue of the triumphs of faith in the death and
suffering of the saints before the time of Christ; and a much
larger and blacker catalogue might be made of those who,
since that time, have given testimony to His name before
the bloody persecutors of the churches. And the Baptist's
case is only one among ten thousand, and the dispensation of
God to the Baptist is the dispensation with which He hath
visited myriads of His people. But let not the righteous be
dismayed.
This is one of the ordinances of the Most High, that the
souls of men should be perfected through suffering, and come
to great honour through manifold tribulation. He bereaveth
them of their earthly treasures, that they may lay up all their
treasure in heaven; He cutteth off their earthly days, that
they may put their trust in the rod and staff of His strength;
and all refuge faileth them, that they may betake themselves
to the covert of His wings. Their manifold distresses are so
many craving appetites, which nothing but faith can satisfy;
and according to the number and greatness of them, so is
their faith. The resignation of present emolument and ad-
vantage for the sake of principle, the resignation of reputa-
tion and worldly favour, and the putting up with contumely
and scorn, for the sake of the profession of Christ, is the only
evidence of our faith. Indeed, I have no idea of faith without
sacrifice on account of it. If faith be a divine trust in God,
what strength hath it, if for its sake we make no earthly sur-
render? There can be no faith without some surrender of
will, of affection, of interest, of pleasure, of reputation; and the
more of will, affection, interest, pleasure, and reputation we
surrender, the more is our faith strengthened. And the more
our trust or faith in God is confirmed, the more is every
divine affection, hope, and enjoyment enlarged. For faith is
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
177
the root of all spiritual life, and the channel through which
spiritual influences are diffused over the several paths of our
inward and outward existence.
Therefore, when many things adverse to pleasure and in-
terest, and abhorrent to flesh and blood, befall any of the ser-
vants of God, they should regard themselves as more highly
favoured than others, and as destined to more high advance-
ment in the divine life upon earth, and in the glorious life of
just men made perfect. There are so many blows dealt by
the providence of God against the worldly and fleshly nature,
that the spiritual nature may breathe and flourish through the
chinks and ruins thereof, and finally crumble it into dust.
For the divine life, in its birth, is like the kingdom of heaven,
to be compared to a grain of mustard seed which shoots
through a rocky soil, and the bereaving trials of life are like
the fire of heaven which splits and shivers the rock, and allows
the roots and stem of the slender plant to work their way,
until they acquire such vegetative power, as by their own
strength to cut and crumble the impenetrable stone which
hinders its enlargement. And what is death to this plant but
the envious axe of the woodman, which comes with cruel in-
tent to hew the hardy plant to the earth? But while he doth
so, it sheds a seed upon fertile and nutritious ground, by the
living nature whereof its roots shall always be fed, and its leaf
shall never fail.
John the Baptist, therefore, and all the sore-tried martyrs
of the Lord, who to our eyes are suffering life's sorest mishaps
and sternest adventures, are, before God and their own con-
science, training up to a high seat in the heavenly places in
Christ. They are mortified in the body, but quickened in the
spirit. They are evil entreated of men, but of God their spirits
are enlarged and comforted. And hence it comes to pass
that when others grieve, they rejoice-when others curse their
persecutors, they bless and curse not. When the noble in-
dignation of bystanders, with convulsive grasp of hand, and
tread of foot, and holding in of breath, sends the blood back
upon the heart as the axe descendeth, the godly sufferer
relaxes every muscle, and lays him down as upon a pillowed
couch to take his everlasting rest. For why? Because his
VOL. II.
M
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
}
soul is visited-he feels a present Lord-he feels a faith burst-
ing into vision-a hope breaking into enjoyment-a suffering,
painful life, departing like night before the dawn of an un-
troubled and joyful morn.
So much is it the nature of suffering to perfect holiness, that
in the ages which followed those of martyrdom, when men
were not called to it in the ordinary providence of God, they
made an artificial set of sufferings, and went into a voluntary
exile from all the comforts and conveniences of life. This,
if I may so speak, is the weakest side of Christianity, or that
upon which Christians are most apt to act-will-worship, a
voluntary humility and neglection of the body, as the apostle
calleth it. Our dispensation having been sown in suffering,
and indeed founded on death, the death of the Lamb of God,
and ever since the blood of the martyrs having proved the
seed of the Church, and our most noble characters having
come out of persecution's school, and the whole of our dispen-
sation breathing of self-denial and hard endurance, of morti-
fication and crucifixion of the old man, it is always ready to
be corrupted into a system of asceticism or of voluntary self-
denial and suffering. Such expressions as these occurring-
"That he who hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;"
"Count it all joy, brethren, when ye fall into divers temptations;"
"I count all things but loss that I may know the fellowship
of His sufferings;" "He who suffers with Him shall also reign
with Him"-it comes to pass that Christians are always fall-
ing into error upon the head of self-inflicted mortification.
Amongst the Catholics it is one of the sacraments, and every-
where there is a yoke of observance, less or more, upon the
necks of the disciples, which they submit to under the idea
Now, the only preser-
that they thereby do God service.
vative from this, which I call the weak side of Christianity,
-not that it is weak on any side, but that human nature
hath shewn itself most disposed to err and mistake it on that
side; against this voluntary humility the only preservative is
spiritual knowledge and understanding, with the progress of
which formality decays and spirituality grows apace. As the
inward man becomes enlightened, he perceives that there is
no need to make artificial suffering, and go into voluntary
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
179
exile from enjoyment. As he is able to read his own thoughts,
and estimate the many moods of his mind by the Word of God,
he perceives that there is a discipline of the spirit which will
bring with it enough of trial and endurance to occupy the
resolution of his mind; and as he proceeds to set his spirit in
order, he will soon find that his sayings, and his manners, and
his actions, must work against the stream of the world, and
meet with strife, struggle, and desperate encounters. And
nature will always go with the world, and friendship also, and
the habits perhaps of his own home, so that he will find a
combination against the Lord and His anointed which will
hold his graces and his instruments of spiritual warfare in con-
stant use. But to persevere and feel this requires spiritual
discernment. A man's conscience must be alive to have this
kind of precaution. It cannot have place in a formalist, or in
a priest-guided mind, or in a darkened understanding; and
hence, just as ignorance and blindness of the mind prevail, will
this superstitious prostration and voluntary humility come to
life; and to its destruction nothing is necessary but to have
a priesthood who address the conscience of the people, and
summon up their thoughts, and give them not "ipse-dixits" of
their own, or traditions and customs of the Church, by which
to shape their obedience.
Nevertheless, though there be enough of trial inwardly and
outwardly in all ages to keep the soul in active life, and holy dis-
cipline, and progressive sanctification, yet when the Almighty
thereto adds sore trials of His providence-bereavements,
losses, crosses, persecution, perils, and sword-we are to regard
them as so many fostering and nutritious measures to hasten
ourselves into premature perfection, and raise us to a preter-
natural purity; and those who endure such afflictions patiently
are to account themselves highly favoured of the Lord, and to
reckon that His grace and His providence are working to-
gether for their good.
Take this, therefore, as the first intention of Providence in
bringing the Baptist to so hard and untimely an end. The
Baptist had done the Almighty good service-he had not
turned back on any occasion from his perilous duty-he had
kept his Nazarite ritual both in body and in spirit, sustaining
180
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
the one upon the simplest meat, and the other upon the hardest
conditions. The Almighty heard the voice which he spoke
always for His well-beloved Son; He saw that he spoke
truth, and held his integrity steadfast unto the end. And
perceiving in His servant such noble and excellent qualities,
He resolved to perfect him for a high place in heaven, and so
directed his footsteps to the fiery furnace of a court, that the
temper of his truth and piety might be purified manifold.
And in the fiery furnace He walked with His servant, so that
his spirit was not harmed; and having thus annealed his
nature to the utmost which this earth could do, He took him
hastily away and placed him among the glorified in heaven.
But, besides the spiritual advantage, both in time and through
eternity, which this dispensation served to himself, there are
others served to the Church of Christ, concerning which we
It was
now come to treat so long as time shall permit us.
intended by God that the gospel should go round the various
classes of the community and knock at every door, because
within every door there are souls which have to do with God,
and to whom He hath a message to deliver. Hence the
Saviour, upon sending forth the seventy, gave them no com-
mission to any one class rather than to another; but gene-
rally, "Into whatsoever city ye enter, and into whatever house.
in that city, say, Peace be in this house." And in the New
Testament there is an equal sympathy for the souls of all;
and though it be said that few great men after this world, few
noble men, and few wise men are called, that seems to me only
the stronger reason for warning them of the aggravated dark-
ness and danger which surround them. Now the Baptist
being the forerunner of the gospel, who bore the tidings of its
speedy arrival, needed to leave a summons with every class, and
accordingly was brought by the providence of the Lord from
the lowest even to the highest, throughout them all. The
experiment was tried upon all, that the Christian Church
might be premonished by his fortunes where lay the sands
and whirlpools and sunken rocks of the voyage. He was set
forth that we who were to come after might take knowledge
of him, and be on our guard. He is truly an allegorical person,
if ever there was one; and had his mission not been recorded
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
181
in the holy gospel, we should have believed him an imagina-
tion of the brain, rather than a real person who had lived and
moved, with human passions and affections. And truly he
was a creature of the imagination-imagined by God for a
specific end, and to that end trained by God's own discipline.
Therefore his person was unattended and unadorned, his
wants were slender, his dealing with all conditions alike. At
all times faithful to others, never careful of himself; he was a
voice, and besides his voice he was nothing. But that voice
was truth-truth of the sternest, roughest kind, yet sterling
truth. And the meaning of the whole mystery of the fore-
runner of Christ is to teach us what is the strength of truth,
and how far, being unmingled with selfishness, it will prevail
over the prejudices and errors in which we lie benighted. The
Baptist is the ideal of the reformer and the missionary, the
first planter and the restorer of religion; and the example of
Brainerd, who, like the Baptist, fared after the scanty fashion
of the Indians-of Schwartz, who domesticated himself, not
with Europeans, but with the natives-of the Moravians in
every quarter—and, in general, of all successful missionaries,
proves that the Baptist's manner of propagating truth is the
only successful one. The same also of the Reformers, who
only half accomplished the work while they kept themselves
within the constraint of plan, and wrought by means of autho-
rity, and succeeded best when they cast themselves among
the people, and wrought from the foundation of society up-
wards to its high places. And in later times, the examples
of Whitfield and Wesley are illustrative of the same great
truth in the divine economy, that to make truth prosper we
must cast ourselves entirely upon its sustenance, throw other
considerations to the winds, and, like the Baptist, rest all our
strength upon the weighty matters of our lips;-to the sim-
plicity and sincerity of which, if the simplicity and sincerity
of our own lives be conformed, and we yield to no fear of con-
sequences, nor truckle to prejudice of time, or place, or power,
but cast ourselves upon the everlasting strength of truth, then,
surely, we shall prevail as the Baptist prevailed.
Now, while the Baptist's life and progress teach high con-
fidence in the power of truth, his violent death teacheth for
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
what truth should hold herself in readiness, and what she is
likely in the end, from one quarter or another, to expect. The
world judgeth so much of success by visible prosperity, that
when a messenger of truth comes under a cloud of persecu-
tion all forsake him, and consult for themselves, and leave him
alone, like Paul the prisoner of the Lord. And the messenger
of truth, thus left to pine alone in cold desertion, might think
that he had taken the improper course, and lose confidence in
the cause.
The Lord, to guard against this fatal dejection of
the mind, and the alteration of measures consequent thereon,
set forth this divine personage as an emblem to all succeeding
messengers of what they were to look for in the propagation
of His revealed will: not to despair though their mouth was
muzzled, their persons mured up, and the whole progress of
their ministry stopped-not to regard this as an evil omen, or
a token of the Almighty's displeasure, but as the best evidence
that they had been walking in the straight and forward path.
Samson, the Nazarite of the old dispensation, did more de-
triment to his enemies by his death than he did in all his life-
time; and what influence John's death had among the people
to sanctify and confirm what he said, we may have some idea
from the circumstance that the Pharisees, who hated him,
durst not, for fear of being stoned by the people, deny his
heavenly commission,
In truth, without his death John would have been nothing.
A stern man is a rude, uncivil man if he shrinks when he is
put to proof. His boldness is accounted forwardness; his
plainness, harshness; and all his reforming doctrines, upstart
ambitious notions and levelling doctrines, if he stand not the
searching proof of adversity and death. I do not say that
death verifies what in his lifetime a man has declared, or that
truth needs any such verification; but this I say, that if a man
make free with the customs and concerns of his fellow-men,
and set forth a searching and purifying discipline, and shrink
from suffering when he is calling upon all to lay down their
enjoyments, and murmurs at sacrifice when he is calling for
sacrifice from all his brethren-then there may be shrewd
suspicion that he is either a weak man himself, and not worthy
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
183
to be followed, or that he is a deceiver, and worthy of all
rejection.
So the Almighty instructs us, that he who calls upon his
brethren for reformation, and preacheth among them the
humbling doctrines of repentance, will himself be called upon,
in the providence of God, for evidence of his disinterestedness;
and in perilous times and places may be summoned to pass
the ordeal of death, to which he should make up his mind, ere
he set out upon the high and perilous emprise of propagating
truth over the face of a truth-hating world.
Moreover, He manifesteth, by the instance of the Baptist,
from what quarters the storm of trial is likely to arise against
the messenger of truth,-from the corrupt priests of religion,
and the hand of arbitrary power, from superstition and from
tyranny; and from these quarters the Church hath experi-
enced all her persecution. There never, that I remember, was
a persecution of the ministers of truth from the common
people, save under the leading of priestcraft or tyranny; in
general the people have given them shelter. But if I were
called upon to decide whether more martyrs had been made
to civil or to ecclesiastical rage, I should be at a loss to deter-
mine; for against the ten persecutions of the Roman Em-
perors we have to set the persecutions of the Albigenses and
the Waldenses, and the Hussites and the Lollards, and the
Huguenots and the Covenanters, the Sicilian Vespers and
Bartholomew's Eve, and the Inquisition's horrid murders,
most numerous of all, and Alva's massacres in the Low Coun-
tries, and much more which it were tedious to enumerate.
From these two quarters the Baptist's example teacheth us
to expect the storm-from corrupt religionists and arbitrary
governors; and therefore, if any man hath truth in his heart,
the more he steers wide of these, the safer and the longer
will he hold his course. But this same fruitful example
teacheth that it behoveth him to obey the summons of these
powers when they take offence at his truthfulness, and to ap-
pear with the voice of truth against them-to carry his lamp
into their nest, and expose its pollution in the sight of all the
people; not daringly to encounter them for the sake of his
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JOHN THE BAPTIST.
speeding well, nor to shrink from the encounter either, also for
the sake of his speeding well, but to be always ready to stand
to his post and speak the truth.
And should they lay hands on him, and separate him to a
sad and gloomy cell, let him be of good cheer. From bonds
Paul wrote the chief of those epistles, which he would not
otherwise, it is probable, have had time to compose; so that
by his bonds he hath edified and converted more than by his
liberty. From prison in Patmos those Revelations which are
the day-star of the Church's hopes were sent forth upon the
world. Luther from his prison poured forth his arguments
upon the Roman Catholic Church. Knox, while his arm was
lashed to the oar upon the rivers of France, conceived the
scheme of his country's deliverance. Your chief men made
themselves exiles in foreign lands during the reign of the
popish Mary, and kept up the heart of the people by their
writings. Therefore the messenger of truth should be undis-
mayed by cells and prison gloom, but use his opportunities.
well, and the Lord will bless him there no less than elsewhere.
I knew a man, some three years ago, who was put in
prison by the hard dealings of a creditor; and being offered
liberty of escape, refused to accept it, being willing, like old
Socrates, rather to die in prison than to escape against the
spirit of truth. And to a narrow cell in the prison he was
conveyed by the hand of justice, and to, what was worse, the
company of wicked, outcast men. Hither he was followed by
a friend, dear to his heart, and was found occupying his hand,
unaccustomed to labour, in cleaning away the filth and im-
purity of his narrow abode. That friend visited him every
Sabbath evening, in order to dispense to him the ordinances
of religion, of which he was now hindered; and there, at first,
they themselves two spent, like Paul and Silas, the time in
praise and prayer. One week passed, and brought another
Sabbath-evening's exercise; but meanwhile his grave and
decent demeanour had won a point of conviction upon one of
his fellow-prisoners, who solicited to be present at the wor-
ship of God, and another, and another, until that whole
quarter of the prison where he dwelt was solicitous to join.
And oaths were no longer heard, and the appearance of
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
185
decent, orderly men, and the happiness of intelligent, well-
ordered society, was restored to those who were lately outcast
and abandoned-all by the influence of this devout man,
whom the adverse providence of God cast into bonds.
But if the worst should come to the worst, and the minister
and messenger of truth be subjected like a culprit to the lash
of punishment and the infliction of death, then this example
of the Baptist teacheth him not to be cast down or dismayed,
as if some extraordinary thing had happened, but to gird up
the loins of his mind, and prepare for martyrdom. That
honour of England, and first of English parish priests, Ber-
nard Gilpin, commonly called the Reformer of the North, after
preaching before the courtiers and councillors of Edward VI.,
sent such a withering blast of truth concerning the corruptions
of the Church, as in these times would almost dispossess any
priest, and unchurch him; afterwards he refused double livings
and bishoprics under Elizabeth, and did, under the bloody
Mary, prepare himself for martyrdom. He had the white robe
prepared; and knowing the hot malice of his enemies, and per-
ceiving their hastening plots, he regularly dressed himself in
it for a space of every day, and sat alone preparing his soul
for the utmost of human trials. And when the order of the
Council came down, he told the messenger he was ready; he
saddled his beast, like Abraham, for an act of faith like Abra-
ham's to offer up, not his son, but himself; and as the Angel
of the Lord interfered for Abraham, so also He interfered for
His aged servant, by sending him an accident on the way,
during the time of his recovery from which the bloody Mary
died. So ought every messenger of truth daily to gird him-
self for the severest encounters; for in proportion as he ad-
hereth to truth will his trials and his sufferings be many,-
yes, even in this day be many. Every kind of accusation it
will expose him to; every kind of mistreatment, to every ex-
tent but the spoiling of his goods and the taking away of
life, from which the good laws of Old England have now
delivered us; but which extreme sacraments for truth every
messenger of truth may still elsewhere be called upon to take.
Upon the whole, let this great first messenger of Christian
truth prepare all succeeding Christian messengers or upholders
186
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
of the same to be ready for every sort of suffering and loss; to
make up their minds to it, not to imprisonment of person,
but to exile from the place which they deserve in the hearts
of men,—not to martyrdom of body, but to martyrdom of
reputation, to scoffs, contempts, and all kinds of personal
abuse. Let them prepare for misunderstanding, misrepre-
sentation, and opprobrious abuse, in all possible ways, by
private tongues, in public assemblies, in periodical writings,
and everywhere. To this let them make their minds up; for
it will come, just in proportion as they drop the frivolous,
false, and hypocritical styles of the world, and address them-
selves to the methods and manners and expressions of open-
hearted and open-handed truth.
But what of that? Thereby your faith is profited; thereby
the world is crucified to you, and you crucified to the world;
thereby the desires of the earth are put under, and the desires
of heaven brought to light; thereby Satan's chains are struck
off, and Christ's deliverance achieved; thereby you die daily
to that which is seen and temporal, and arise daily to things
spiritual and eternal.
And think you not, brethren, in proportion as you make
sacrifices for your God and His Christ, that you will not love
Them more, and They love you more, for the dangers you
have run, and the sufferings you have undergone? Think you
not that faith so shaken will not root itself the more deeply,
until it so enwrap you with the foundation of faith which can-
not be shaken, that it shall become your only hold, your
rock, your tower, your horn, your buckler, and your strong
tower? You shall be more and more rooted and grounded in
the faith, and you shall grow up to the glory of God.
And for you the habitations of the righteous shine afar;
even for you who are followers of them that by faith and
patience inherit the promises. Therefore be of good cheer,
and prepare your soul for every encounter. You know the
cloud of noble witnesses with whom you are surrounded.
They are written in the oracles of God; they are written in
the chronicles of both these lands.
founders of everything we hold dear.
their blood the liberty of conscience
These men were the
They wrought out by
which we enjoy, the
JOHN THE BAPTIST.
187
toleration of spiritual men which we can demand. If you
would go still further into the bowels of the body of darkness
and iniquity which still oppresseth the land, and work out,
not the toleration of the goods and the lives of spiritual men;
if you would deliver them clear from all opprobrious gibes,
from all exhibitions, and shame the poor deluded, deceived
world, overawe it into shame and confusion of face, then
you have only to exhibit yourselves in the pure light of
truth, and stand a little buffeting of wit and ridicule, and
other harmless blows,-perhaps some harmful ones, as loss
of reputation, sacrifice of place and favour and promotion.
Prepare yourself to brave it. Lend yourself to it, like the
old martyr. And it will come to pass yet that the name of
saint, which now savoureth ill in the land, will, in the days
of your children and your children's children, be the most
honoured name; and that the good cause will grow and
flourish to the ends of the world and the utmost ages of time.
1
1
1
THE TEMPTATION.
LECTURE I.
LUKE IV.
We are now delivered from all the preliminaries of our
Saviour's ministry,-His miraculous conception, the
glorious auguries of His birth, His honourable welcome to
the temple by prophet and prophetess while yet a babe,
His appearance there in the strength of youthful wisdom
to take possession of it as His Father's house, His opening
manhood spent in the favour of God and man, and in full
obedience to His earthly parents; until at length, when the
fulness of time is come, He is presented by the Baptist to
the assembled people, sealed with the testimony and pro-
claimed by the voice of Heaven, and anointed by the Holy
Ghost to prepare Him for the duties of that high office to
which, by this glorious succession of signs and wonders, He
hath been set apart. All these things our evangelist hath
set forth in order, redeeming the promise which he made to
his friend in the dedication of his treatise; and having paused
a moment to give the authentic document of His descent
from the first man, through all the fathers out of whose loins
it was promised that He should spring, he now enters upon the
succinct and orderly narrative of the ministry itself, for which
all those signs and wonders, and the Baptist's preaching, pre-
pared the way;—a narrative which well demands the deepest
cogitation, containing, within the compass of a small tract, all,
or almost all, the recorded transactions of a life whose perfect
story, St John says, would have filled the world with books, and
all, or almost all, the recorded sayings of a wisdom which hath
wrought more amelioration upon the world than all the books
which it contains. What a depth of meaning must be in every
sentence of a tract which hath subdued the outward aspect
of society, and the inward character of myriads of men; what
192
THE TEMPTATION.
a breadth of exposition they must bear; and over how large
a surface (if I may so speak) of human feeling and action
will each one of them extend! What a power and graceful-
ness in a life which hath approved itself in the sight of almost
all men, and against which, with a few singular exceptions,
hardly any, even of His enemies, have lifted up their voice!
The whole narrative of the redemption of the world is now
to come under our review,*—the foundation of the Christian
Church, the nature of its government, the power of its minis-
ters, the privileges of its members, and, in short, everything
which, as men and as Christians, can interest us most deeply;
-to expound all which we have undertaken in the strength
of the Lord, to shew forth the light which it may please
His Spirit to impart to our own soul, and to utter the deep
things of God for the edification of the members of Christ.
We have likewise to defend the faith from the attacks of its
avowed enemies, and to find for it entrance into the hearts of
those who have not yet professed themselves its friends. For
all which undertaking we are utterly unable in ourselves, and
go forward in the strength of the Lord, through the ministry
of your prayers, which we beseech for ourselves, that we may
be found faithful to the gospel of Christ, and be strengthened
to speak the whole counsel of God.
That Christ, from the moment He was baptized with
water and anointed with the Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven, was set apart from His former occupation as a
tradesman in Nazareth, to the divine mission of redeeming
a lost and abject world, from the obedience of His earthly
parents to the obedience of His Father in heaven, and en-
tered forthwith upon the work which was given Him to
do, is manifested by the language in which the evangelist
ushers in the mysterious scene of the trial or temptation in
the wilderness. In the subject of lecture it is said, "And
Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan,
and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." St Matthew
says, "He was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil." St Mark, "Immediately the Spirit
*These lectures, delivered in 1823, formed part of an intended series on the
Gospel of St Luke; the plan of which was, however, only partially carried out.
THE TEMPTATION.
193
driveth Him into the wilderness," and He was then in the
wilderness forty days tempted of Satan. According to each
of these three, He is taken, as it were, out of His own hands,
under the guidance of that supernatural power which came
upon Him in the form of a dove, in order that it might be
manifest to the people. The mysterious addition that was
then made to His being, possessed Him with powers which
He had not hitherto proved, which filled Him, which moved
Him, which drave Him away from the haunts of men into
desolate regions wherein to abide, unsustained by earthly
succour, a dread combat with the prince of darkness, and the
adversary of God and man. That I am not rash or self-
guided in saying that Christ received, by the sign of the dove,
and the voice from heaven, His commission and power to
go forth, is manifest from various parts in the Acts of the
Apostles, which always date the beginning of His ministry
from this time, and the power to carry it on, as thus derived,
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all
that were oppressed of the devil." With regard to the con-
ditions of His Being before this era of His life, I speculate,
and have speculated no further than the record bears, that
He was an obedient son, advancing in the favour of God
and man, and possessed with the spirit of wisdom. Much
was fabled by the prurient fancies of the early ages con-
cerning His infancy and youth, which was rejected by the
Church almost as soon as produced. His youth up to the
date of His consecration, from all authentic documents which.
we have seen, passed without anything worthy of record,
and not till then commenced aught miraculous in His works,
aught authoritative and dictatorial in His sayings, aught
intended for a pattern to the world in His life. But from
this time forth He becomes the Messenger of the everlast-
ing covenant, the Messiah promised unto the fathers. Now
His prophetic and priestly offices have commenced. The
Spirit is descended upon Him from above, He is filled with
the Holy Spirit, and He must testify to the truth of Him
that sent Him. From the something additional that is now
bestowed upon Him, it is vain to argue that heretofore He
VOL. II.
N
194
THE TEMPTATION.
must have been inferior to what He now is, and inferior to
His Father by whom those things were bestowed. Surely
He was inferior before His baptism to what He now is after
His baptism, and inferior to His Father from whom those
things were bestowed; but that has no relation to His ever-
lasting equality with His Father. For in order to prepare for
the mediatorial office which He had undertaken, He needed
to divest Himself of His celestial state, to lay down His
supercelestial glory, to make Himself of no reputation, to
take upon Himself the form of a servant, and to be found in
fashion as a man; and that power which He resigned, He,
not in appearance but in truth, resigned. So that He was a
child, and grew in the grace and faculties of His nature like
another child into mature manhood, struggling with the
temptations, and spoiling the tempters of each stage of life,
until He stood at thirty years before His Father, ready to
undertake for the salvation of men whatever His Father
might be pleased to require. And His Father bestowed
upon Him for that same undertaking whatever powers were
necessary for its manifestation; He added to the manhood
in which He stood arrayed whatever powers of the Spirit
were necessary for the work. And having received Hist
Father's pleasure to perform, and His Father's supply of
strength to perform it withal, the obedient Son addressed
Him to the undertaking which from all eternity He had
yielded Himself to work out. So that it is the weakest of
all things for the opposers of His divinity to build their
arguments hereupon. I, for one, who hold His divinity, will
grant His inferiority while He was travailing in the greatness
of His strength through the wine-press of sorrow. But who
made Him inferior? He himself humbled Himself and be-
came obedient. Why became He inferior? That as a man,
and the son of man, He might grow perfect through suffer-
ings, and by death destroy him that had the power of death,
which is the devil. And when will He cease to be inferior?
When He hath finished the work which was given Him to do,
and hath given up the kingdom into the hands of His Father.
Then will He resume the place which He had from the be-
ginning of years, and which, till the end of days, He shall
THE TEMPTATION.
195
maintain, as the everlasting Word of God; unless in the
lapse of ages and the compass of the universe of God, He
should, for some other fallen world, bow Himself again to
the work of salvation, and once more abdicate the right hand
of power to make another demonstration of love and obedi-
ence, in order to bring another glorious family of sons unto
God. There were various stages in the Redeemer's work,
and different aspects which in these various stages He as-
sumed. In the Old Testament dispensation, He was the
Angel of the Covenant that spake the word of God unto
our first parents, unto Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and
Moses; He was the Spirit of praise and prophecy in the
psalmist, the Spirit of wisdom in Solomon, and the Spirit of
revelation in all the prophets; then, in the fulness of time,
He became flesh, and grew by the natural growth of the
body and mind of man; now He stands equipped in man-
hood's prime, and the Lord bestows upon Him the Spirit of
power and wisdom and love; then He lays down His body in
death, that by death He might triumph over death; then He
resumes His body from the jaws of the grave, and ascendeth
up on high. His incarnation being complete, He then enters
upon another state, the state of His exaltation, and takes the
character of Intercessor and King, and for this new condition
of His mediatorial office He receives new powers from His
Father. Hence He says to the eleven, “ All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth." With these powers He
now maketh way over the earth, subduing all things unto
Himself, and also in the heavens He prepareth mansions for
the souls of glorified saints, and receiveth them to their ever-
lasting rest. And last shall come the fulness of all, when
He shall deliver up the kingdom to His Father, after the
great work of redemption is complete. In passing through
these various stages and conditions of His mediatorial office,
various degrees of power and dignity were necessary, which
could come from no one but His Father, unto whom He had
surrendered all; and the account of their bestowal, instead of
being construed into a sign of His inferiority, ought to be
accounted of as a sign of the humility to which He had
reduced Himself, of the perfect obedience which He learned,
196
THE TEMPTATION.
even as of a son unto a father, and of the perfect satisfaction
of the Father with the successive portions of the mighty
work which He achieved.
These things are necessary to be noticed, that the enemies
of His divinity may have no occasion to triumph in these the
signs and expressions of that humiliation unto which He
had reduced Himself, and from which He returned to glory
through successive stages of elevation, at each of which new
conditions of existence were necessary, and new powers for
fulfilling the same.
We are therefore to conceive Him now
as arrayed in His heavenly armour, and furnished forth for
the mighty work.
Now He hath planted Himself in the breach, and hell and
earth have leave to pour out their fires against Him. And
His heavenly Father withdraws to behold the achievement of
His self-devoted Son, and all the host of heaven look on.
And again there hangs upon one man, as aforetime hung upon
one man, the whole hope of the earth. The second Adam
hath taken His human form, and standeth for the sake of all
His children, their federal Head, in whom they rise again, or
are for ever fallen. The world hath now a second chance for
its well-being. Upon this one man, Jesus of Nazareth, its
fate again depends. And now all is to be lost or won for
ever. Ages on ages of sorrow had rolled over its dejected
condition. Darkness and gross darkness had settled down
upon the habitations of men, and the throne of God was com-
passed about with clouds and thick darkness. The world lay
wasted; the princes of the world had it all in hand; the devils
from the pit were its masters, who ruled it with a rod of iron.
Chains of tyranny had just been forged by the ambitious
Cæsar for the free people who had conquered the world; and
all things boded a long reign of that misery and wretchedness
which the instability of the first Adam had brought to pass.
The caldron of its misery was seething on, and sin, which is
the fuel of it, was raging still, and the judgments of the Lord
from on high were descending upon the sorrowful nations.
And all things wore the signs of perplexity and distress,
when a new leader stood forth in the person of this despised
Nazarene, who was to turn the tide of misery at its height,
THE TEMPTATION.
197
and roll back its waves of affliction from the sorrowful earth.
A Captain of salvation hath appeared on our behalf; He is
proclaimed from heaven; He is prepared with powers to
stand for the fallen world; and the sinful masters of the
fallen world are to stand another contest for their long-pos-
sessed empire.
And it is not long before these two rival powers, the Prince
of light and the prince of darkness, the Friend and the enemy
of men, do meet together, in strong contention for the mastery
of the world. Forthwith Jesus is hurried to the wilderness.
to be tempted of the devil; and for forty days in the solitary
wilderness He withstood unaided all the powers of darkness.
The first Adam stood the trial in the garden of Eden, with
all the tokens and provisions of his Maker's goodness; the
second Adam had to stand the trial in the naked wilderness,
with no companion but the wild beasts which prowled around.
The first Adam had all things that were convenient for his
well-being; the second had nothing wherewith to comfort or
sustain His existence-but, far from those for whom He was
enduring the spiritual contention, and with no spiritual host
to assist Him, He had turned loose upon Him the prince of
the host of hell. It lasted forty days, which are a blank in
the history of Christ's ministry, concerning which nothing is
revealed, and nothing can be discovered. For, you will ob-
serve, it was not till the end of these forty days that the three
human trials commenced-the trial of appetite, the trial of
ambition, and the trial of spiritual pride. The recorded in-
stances must therefore be considered apart from the forty
days' temptation. This sore and long-continued assault of
Satan, which was sustained in the wild wilderness, not upon
the exceeding high mountain, or upon the pinnacle of the
temple, is that which we have first to consider. The super-
natural part is now before us, in which the temptations arising
from the world had no influence. The natural part, derived
from the world, under the three forms of appetite, power, and
spiritual pride, we have afterwards to consider-in this lay
the stress and struggle of the contest.
The intercourse of spirit with spirit, with which we have at
present to do, is that of which we have and can have little
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THE TEMPTATION.
understanding, save through the means of things visible and
sensual. But that such an intercourse of spirit with spirit
exists, altogether apart from, and independent of, a bodily
medium, we cannot for a moment doubt. The evidence of it
hath been manifested upon Christ in the last passage, by the
descent of the dove. The dove was no medium of communi-
cation; it was but the visible sign of it to the people, and
somewhat of its emblem, yet at that moment doubtless His
soul drank in powers vastly superior to those which He pos-
sessed before. The apostles at Pentecost are an evidence of
the same, when there was a visible sign and emblem, but no
material cause. Christ's presence, which rebuked and dis-
mayed the demons that possessed the bodies of men, is
another evidence of the same immediate power of spirit over
spirit. And the Holy Spirit, who worketh in the souls of be-
lievers, is a standing monument to all ages of the same mighty
operation. No man knoweth how, no man knoweth why, but
certain it is the truth-that which once told death unto his soul
now telleth life, that which once slew now maketh alive. Such
is the power of spirit over spirit, that the Holy Spirit maketh
the whole visible universe, which once spoke only falsehood
and ungodliness to the spirit of man, to speak truth and
godliness, to reveal Him whom it formerly beclouded, and to
argue for Him whom it formerly argued against. It hath
pleased God to marry the soul of man to a sensitive body,
and through the senses of that body to address the feelings
of the soul; therefore He worketh the wheels of the universe
so as to turn up unto every one lots and fortunes which may
strike into his soul, and His own nature He hath pictured
forth in symbols, and then in written words, for the sake of
human understanding. But this intervention of matter, with
its causes and effects, He hath not made to be vital. The
atheist makes it a god instead of Himself: but He can set it
to a side; He can strike through it whenever it seemeth good
unto Him so to do.
In like manner, there can be no doubt that the arch-enemy
of God and man hath powers appertaining to him by right of
the fall, which he useth within his limited province against
the sons of men, in which God permitteth him, as appeareth
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199
from the history of patient Job. He goeth about like a roar-
ing lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is the father of
lies. He is the father of murders. Pride is the livery of his
servants, and vanity is the snare with which he catcheth them.
He is the prince of this world, whose judgment took place at
the crucifixion of Christ; whose chief strength, death and the
grave, were then conquered; and whose bereavement is now
proceeding apace, until he shall be cast into the bottomless
pit, and Christ shall reign with all His saints. He is the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now worketh
in the children of disobedience. He is the most knowing, the
most proud, the most artful, the most powerful, of earthly
potentates. He hath got the customs and course of the world
on his side. He hath buried under heaps of adversity the
spirits of men, from whose thraldom naught availeth to deliver
them but the Spirit of the living God. Now this master spirit,
this omnipotence of evil,-for over all the dominions of evil he
is omnipotent,—and not absolutely omnipotent, only because
truth is greater than evil, and the high and holy King of truth
greater than the prince of evil,—this master spirit, perceiving
the second Adam, who had been pledged against him from
the beginning, and whom he had sought by Herod, his royal
servant, to cut off in His earliest youth, perceiving Him now
entered on the arena of conflict, prepareth to give Him battle,
spirit with spirit; and that there might be no inroad or inter-
ruption, they meet upon the waste wilderness, far remote from
the haunts of men. And for forty days it is contested be-
tween them.
There were no seven flourishing sons, nor three beautiful
daughters, as in the case of righteous Job, upon whom to put
forth his murderous hand; there were no flocks, nor herds,
nor flourishing household of domestic servants, in the havoc
of whom to make hellish sport; nor great substance, upon
the four corners of which to lay his withering hand. He con-
descended not to try the body of Christ, and to smite Him
with sore boils, and humble Him among the ashes, and make
Him abhor Himself, and scrape Him with a potsherd, until
His friends, when they beheld Him, should sit in mute amaze-
ment for seven days and seven nights. But it was something
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1
of a more terrible kind than this which he dealt upon the
Prince of peace. He who had conquered all the common
soldiers and subalterns of the Lord's host, and been flushed.
with a thousand triumphs, was not, when he came to cope
with the Captain of the salvation of men, to be content with
such humble efforts. And doubtless the Lord Almighty, who
had given up His Son to utmost trial, was not like to inter-
fere, but allow the enemy to put forth his utmost power.
Now or never he was to be humbled. Now or never his con-
quests were to be turned back, and the acceptable year of the
Lord to be proclaimed.
The great and venerable master of English song hath, in
the sixth book of his "Paradise Lost," endeavoured to depict
the war of spirits, in dubious battle on the fields of heaven;
but, according to universal criticism, he hath failed to impress
the mind with the terrible or the awful, but rather with the
incoherent or the ridiculous, although to that part of his work
he seems to have brought the whole muster of his unrivalled
powers. So also hath the venerable father of Greek poetry,
when he mingled his gods and demigods with physical strife,
failed to render them noble, but demeaned them from their
proper place. Our evangelist attempted no such undertaking,
and we are not about to depart from the wise silence which he
observes. But I imagine that when spirit rusheth upon spirit
in strong contention, or spirit worketh against spirit in wily con-
tention, they must be most awful shocks which are sustained;
for body hampereth spirit, and time wearieth it with its slow-
A sword is not sufficient for its vengeance, nor single
men harvest enough for its strokes: the spirit of revenge
would sweep up whole kindreds by the roots; it would root
out the name and remembrance of men; it would subvert
whole cities, plough up the foundations thereof, and sow them
with salt, that they might be no more heard of for ever.
when I think of the true, leal, and hearty servants of the
devil, your Herods, who sacrificed the innocency of sucking
children; your Neros, who for sport would set in flames the
whole quarter of a metropolitan city; your Attilas, who
brushed whole nations with the besom of destruction;-when I
remember the rage of envious hosts, how they massacre man,
ness.
Oh,
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201
woman, and child, and strike their shafts, and balls, and wea-
pons of war into the smoking, half-consumed timbers of houses
without inhabitants; and remember that Satan is the father
of all, and hath within himself all the cruelty, ferocity, and
horrid perfidy which have manifested themselves in this world,
and will for ever be manifested in hell, and that at this
moment he brought the whole of his forces to the attack
against the man Christ Jesus, this seed of the woman, for
whose arrival he had been preparing his artillery for four
thousand years, that not for one instant, in which he made
Job a wreck, nor by one insinuating speech, by which he
overthrew Eve, and brought wreck and ruin upon a world,
but for forty days he came up to the attack, and for forty days
was met and foiled;-when I remember all these the circum-
stances of this trial, it stands before my imagination as the
most terrible thing to which the earth or the heavens above
have ever been witness.
I venture not to depict it, because no mind can conceive of
purely spiritual strife; but I view it as the crisis upon which
the history of the world turned-the stern strife which de-
cided who should be victor over the world, God or the devil;
not the completion of the warfare-for it is not yet nearly
complete-but the turning of the tide of battle, the stemming
of the victor in his pride, the heat of the conflict by which the
work of victory was set on foot, the assurance of prophetic
hope realised, and humanity once more bestirred to cope with
its oppressor, and taught how he might be foiled. Hence, by
our poet already referred to, this temptation has been consi-
dered under the title of "Paradise Regained." In which title
he beautifully expresseth at once the character of Christ as the
second Adam; the end of the strife for what was lost by the fall;
the opposite party in the strife, he by whose arts paradise was
made shipwreck of; and the success of the exploit, the foiling
of the tempter, and the teaching him how in human shape he
had still one superior. But in that most instructive and
finished poem, the great author hath not regarded the trial of
the forty days as distinct from these three several forms of
trial which followed after.
2
If any one regard these views of Christ's previous strife with
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THE TEMPTATION.
the master of spirits in his own spiritual domain as fanciful,
he doth betray his ignorance of one main part of the history
of Christ's ministry, and the effects of His redemption.
Christ's ministry was not a warfare against the devilish pas-
sions of men alone, but against the devils themselves, who had
power given them over the bodies of men. To cast out devils
was one great end of His ministry; and by the testimony of
devils His high character and commission as the Son of God
was proclaimed abroad. They trembled before Him, they
cried out at His presence, and prayed Him to begone; they
craved His mercy, and besought mild terms from Him as a
conquered race. And after His death He descended into
hell to preach unto the spirits in prison. And it is said that
the devils believe in Him and tremble. And throughout all
Scripture, the devil is held forth as the great antagonist power
to the Saviour. And in the Revelation of St John, the devil
and his angels have a warfare with Christ and His angels, and
are cast into the bottomless pit. So that there is a part of
the Christian economy from beginning to ending which hath
reference to the invisible world. Into these mysteries we pry
not, but we will not allow them to be swept from our revela-
tion by the cold hand of their philosophy which dreameth
not of many things that are in heaven and earth. Now, if
these spiritual agents had won a portion in the earth, and
grown unruly thereupon, and broke their bound of hell, to
roam far and wide over the wide world, and wield its infernal
influences to and fro-if the fall, besides working downfall
here below, had wrought, moreover, in the foul pit a courage, a
boldness, a larger scope of daring against the creation of God,
which, when they had overrun this world, might league them
against some other, and so create elsewhere that distress
which here they have created-if all this new animosity, new
activity, new region of the demons grew out of the fall, as
well as the discord which they have here occasioned, in us a
loss of the Divine image, in them a deeper stamping of their
satanic image-then, I say, was it not the part of the Re-
deemer, the great Restorer, the second Adam, not only to
bring recovery to the earth, and restoration of the Divine
image to man, but to cool that new cheer in hell, and to blast
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203
their pride of success and hopes of future triumph, to defeat
them, to spoil them, to cover them with blank confusion, and
restrain their rovings, to bound them within the limits of
their infernal pit, and leave them to gnarl in their infernal
fury, and to be doubly damned-first, by the loss of heaven,
next, by the loss of this verdant earth, which they had fondly
hoped was theirs for ever, by right of the subtle triumph of
their chief over the mother of mankind? And how was this
double damnation, this second restraint of these infernal
spirits, to be compassed, but by meeting their chief and en-
countering all his array, and teaching him that at length the
seed of the woman had arrived who should bruise his head?
Such I conceive to be the mysterious uses of this great ad-
venture in the history of human redemption. But besides its
bearing upon the world's redemption from the thraldom of
Satan, it was a fit beginning to our Redeemer's trying life,
which, I pray you, to hear me open up a little. All His life
long, Christ endured certain unseen, unknown encounters
with the powers of darkness, and the visible part of His en-
durance is not worthy to be compared with that which no
eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man conceived.
is not the suffering which appears, the houseless and homeless
wanderings, the despisings of His offered mercy, the waylay-
ing of His life on every side, nor His death the bitter consum-
mation of a bitter life, that made up the bitter cup which He
had given Him to drink. How much of suffering there was
beyond this palpable fact, no man is able to determine; but
that the far greater part was beyond it, no man who readeth
the history of Christ can doubt. Else to what purpose served.
those frequent retirements from the society of men, the nights
He spent alone upon the mount of Olives, the scene of com-
munion and consolation upon the mount of transfiguration, the
audible encouragements from the mouth of Heaven, and the
ministration of angels and the spirits of holy men, the three
successive retirements in the garden of Gethsemane, with the
agony and the bloody sweat, and the utterance of blank de-
sertion upon the accursed tree? Why these reinforcements of
mind? why these sequestered communions with angels and
the spirits of holy men, and with the voice of God himself?
It
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why this misgiving of His spirit when alone, this dreading of
sorrow, if it were that He had no trials to bear, but such as
were visible to human sympathy? One should think that
He would have been fiercest put to it when the press of His
enemies was most upon Him. Yet with what unruffled meek-
ness He bears Himself in His hardest trials! He parries the
intellectual thrust of His Pharisaical and priestly enemies, as
if He had been dealing with witless children. And how He
brooks the mistreatment of Pilate and His judges, yea, and
the menials, too, of that disorderly court, as if that part of Him
which they could torture and try, gave Him no care and cost
Him no trouble! Men's mistreatments He seems to have
received, and forgiven without an effort. These, then, did not
compose the load which lay so heavy upon His breast, and
which He taketh every occasion to unburthen, shewing as if it
could not be expressed to men, nor by men be understood,
and needed other counsellors and other comforters, which
were to be found in these ministering spirits, of which whole
legions were always at His command.
Put the case, brethren, that any man amongst ourselves
who bore him meekly in the commonplaces of life, and when
rudely handled by misfortune or mistreatment evinced only
the greater self-possession and repose, until it seemed that
nothing which man could inflict, or Providence dispense, had
any power to chafe the serenity of his mind. Suppose this
man retiring whole nights from his family, and passing them
in gloomy solitude-suppose him to have been wretched,
and found struggling with the severest agonies, and summon-
ing to his aid other power than mortal-would you not pro-
nounce at once that some secret grief was pressing him, which
did not derive its origin from the persons or things around
him, but from some haunting recollection, or some foreboding
fear? So also reckon it with Jesus, that the enterprise of our
salvation had in it scenes and distresses to which no human
spirit was conscious, and of which they could no more have
borne even the external accompaniments, than Peter and
John could bear the bright light and pure vestures of the
transfiguration; and if not the external accompaniments, how
THE TEMPTATION.
205
much less the intercourse and the contention of spirits, which
at those awful seasons was carried on!
That same Spirit which hurried Christ into the wilderness,
and strengthened Him to overcome these arts of the tempter,
will work effectually in each one of His children, to enable
them to overcome the smaller temptations with which their
life may be assailed. Adam's posterity after the fall did
not more surely yield to the various forms of sin, than Christ's
spiritual posterity, from the day of this great victory, will
triumph over the various forms of sin. Therefore it is said by
St John that His children cannot commit sin-that is, the
part of us which is born of God sinneth not. It is the old
man which sinneth; the new man sinneth not. Therefore,
brethren, if ye would overcome, be born of God, children of
the second Adam, and the second death shall not have any
power over you. Except ye be born again, ye cannot inherit
the kingdom of heaven.
This transaction in the wilderness is, therefore, the birth of
righteousness, as that in Eden was the birth of sin; and to this
we should look with gladness, as we look to the other with
sorrow. Here let our hearts be lightened, let us now rejoice.
in the victory of our great Redeemer. Let us be glad that
He hath led captivity captive, and received gifts for men.
He is our Captain, He is our King; He will save us-He
who encountered the mighty, and turned not back from the
battle of the strong, but triumphed alone against the great
father of evil. In Him we will set up our banner, and exalt
our horn on high. Rejoice, therefore, and be glad, O daughter
of Zion, in your King; rejoice, and be glad, O ye seed of the
righteous; for the arch-enemy of men will be spoiled, he hath
been put to flight, and his host is scattered. His throne is
overturned in the hearts of men, and the Prince of peace hath
begun His reign. Therefore, be of good cheer, my brethren,
and contend stoutly against your adversaries for the salva-
tion of your souls. That Spirit which came down as a dove
upon Jesus, and as cloven tongues upon the apostles, is
spread abroad upon the earth, and bestowed upon every
one who asketh. "What man is there of you, of whom if his
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THE TEMPTATION.
son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish,
will he give him a serpent?”
Therefore, ask for the Spirit, and it shall be given unto
you.
God sendeth you not in this warfare on your own
charges, but is present with every soldier who calleth upon
His name.
Go forth, therefore, and contend with Satan
in your various places, taking strength and courage from
the scene of triumph that hath now been discoursed of.
"Putting on the whole armour of God, that ye may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you
the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand there-
fore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the
shield of faith, whereby ye shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: pray-
ing always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for
all saints."
:
LECTURE II.
LUKE IV.
THE
'HE fall of our first parents was not due to the natural
working of their own spirits, like the fall of the repro-
bate angels. In the beginning, while yet the angels kept
their first estate, there was no outward solicitation to evil in
any part of the creation of God; and the cause of it must,
therefore, have been bred within their own breasts-how, we
know not; but this, I think, we know, that the leader of that
revolt, inasmuch as he is called the father of lies and the
prince of evil, had the wicked distinction, and hath the
terrible responsibility of giving birth to sin, that most
hateful and miserable of things. It did not seem good
unto the Almighty to annihilate this new-sprung faction,
and the horrid thing to which they had given birth, but to
appoint unto both a habitation and a name in the existing
universe; its habitation, hell; its name, sin; and the name
of those that hatched it, Satan and his angels. Why the
Almighty should rather remove the turbulent to miserable
quarters of their own than annihilate them at once and for
ever, and remove the eye-sore and the heart-sore of hell from
the happy universe-of this, I think, it is not impossible to
perceive the reasonableness and the wisdom. For if Satan,
that angel of light, and son of the morning, and the angels of
light whom he drew along with him into misery and ruin,
were not hindered by the laws of their being from revolting
against God, then it is to be concluded that other angels and
archangels, thrones and dominions, are no more hindered in
like manner from falling. If in one instance it was possible
for the angelic host to forget the goodness and love of their
Creator, and rise against His most just and blessed govern-
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THE TEMPTATION.
ment, then I see not why, in another instance, it might not
likewise be possible. If any one ask me how it is possible.
at all, I answer, that is not the present question. But the
question is, Having once taken place, what reason is there
that it might not take place again? Out of this event, there-
fore, which had taken place in the history of angels, it was
wise and good in the Almighty to provide that it might not
take place again. The cause of it lay in aspiring to be
higher, in hoping something better from disobeying God than
from obeying Him. To prevent this fatal ambition from
possessing, and, in like manner, ruining those who still stood
in their allegiance, the Almighty allowed the rebels to prove
and experience the disappointment of their bad ambition and
their fallacious hope. He allowed them to take the conse-
quences, and the consequences they have taken, and continue
to partake. Thus, out of this sad event was made to issue
stability to those who had not fallen. The fate of the other
was their continuance. For as knowledge is taught by con-
trasts, they now knew what it was to rebel against God;
whereas formerly they did not know, and did but imagine.
Had Satan known, as Michael and Gabriel now know, haply
Satan would not have ventured; but Satan, only imagining,
did venture for his own imaginations against God's constitu-
tion, and so came into that misery from which we have no
tidings that he shall be delivered.
With regard to that previous question, so much agitated in
the schools, concerning the origin of evil, and how it should
be possible for the creature of a God in whom no evil is, to
conceive evil within himself, and to bring it forth-concern-
ing the possibility of this thing, it is not material for us to
speculate, who have the revelation of the fact; and I have
always avoided such speculation upon the great possibility of
things, as being beyond the scope of my faculties, if they be
at all within the scope of the faculties of any man. But if I
were called to give an account of this matter, I would say
thus, that unchangeableness of nature is a condition only of
the Creator; and that if it were impossible for a creature not
to change, that creature would have conveyed to it one of the
attributes of God. Creatures indeed there are which cannot
THE TEMPTATION.
209
change their nature-the lowest creatures of all,-the plants
and inorganic matters of the earth, the agents with which the
physical and chemical philosophers are conversant; the law
of whose nature is their very existence, and without which
they are nothing, and by which they become the servants of
intelligence, which taketh advantage of this their necessity
to work and wind them at its will. But the higher creatures,
upon whom intelligence, and judgment, and recollection, and
forethought are bestowed, such as men and angels, are not
placed in such low conditions; but there are opened up to
them on every side the avenues of enjoyment, which are
capable of being known by the right exercise of those higher
faculties; and being known, of being obtained; and thus their
well-being consists in an active occupation of those their facul-
ties subservient to the will, and in reaping the happy fruits
of such activity. Hinder the possibility of evil, and you at once
hinder the activity of those powers by which that higher
being is distinguished, and you reduce him into the condition
of the inferior parts of creation. Besides, our obedience of
God, if it doth not proceed from choice and preference, is
naught but the obedience of the sun and moon and stars in
their courses; it doth not become of any dignity or worth,
save by its being maintained in the possibility of disobedience;
so that it seems to me, to be able to sin and fall is the very
condition of created existence. With regard to the heinous-
ness of the offence, that depends upon the constitution of the
creature, and the condition in which it is placed, and the
barriers which it hath to overleap in its wilfulness before it
can bring itself to offend against a holy God. And, there-
fore, in order to understand that much-disputed question of
the admeasurement of the punishment to the offence, it were
necessary to understand the good and happy conditions in
which the creature was placed, and against the sweetness of
which he revolted and rebelled and fell into condemnation.
But without insisting further upon that previous question
of the origin of evil, we observe, again, that being once intro-
duced, God turned it in His wisdom to the most account,
when, instead of annihilating the rebels and the hateful thing
which they had begotten, He cast them headlong into hell,
VOL. II.
O
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and allowed them to know those consequences of revolt, which,
not knowing, they had dared, and which having dared, they
could not find fault if they should experience. In which He
did no injustice to them; He gave demonstration to all
heaven of those fates which lay upon the side of disobe-
dience, and secured by another tie continued obedience and
continued blessedness. With regard to annihilation, or ex-
tinguishing a spirit that hath been once brought into existence
by the Spirit of God, which was the only other contingent
possibility, I do not know the soundness even of the idea,
whether or not it is not inconsistent with itself, and have not
time to spend upon a subject so metaphysical; but granting it
were possible, although it might have eased the fallen of their
pains, it would have removed the standing proof from the
unfallen, and instead of keeping before them both sides, would
have kept before them only one, which had not been sufficient
to preserve their allegiance, otherwise Satan and his followers
had never fallen.
But being fallen and removed from their place, I pray you
to observe, that evil hath thereby gotten a head, a habitation,
and a name. No doubt it hath limitations.
With this remark, which we introduce that your faith be not
shaken, we now proceed to open up further views of the forty
days' temptation of the devil, which preceded the three at-
tempts of which the particulars are recorded.
When the man Adam was formed of the dust of the ground,
and God had breathed into him the spirit of lives, and he be-
came a living soul, his Creator prepared for him the blessed
paradise of Eden, and took him, and placed him there, that
he might undergo a trial of his obedience. And having sur-
rounded him with every precious thing, and subjected to him
every living creature, and honoured him with His own society
-that is, the society of His everlasting Word, through whom
the Godhead holdeth communion with men,-He interdicted.
from him one thing alone of all that was seen, handled, and
enjoyed, and prohibited it by a heavy curse. There was the
fulness of enjoyment, with only the possibility of loss. The
good was the greatest possible-the evil was the least possible.
And in what proportion the taste of an apple was to the full
THE TEMPTATION.
2II
beatitude of Eden, in that same proportion the temptation to
disobey was to the inducement to obey. No one can com-
plain that the trial was severe. In this trial of his fidelity,
man, having failed by the cunning and lies of the prince of
evil, became an exile from that spiritual beatitude of which
the garden of Eden was the emblem, and fell into that
spiritual misery and moral barrenness of which the wilderness
and the solitary place are the emblem. Into the wilderness,
therefore, was the Saviour transported to undergo the trial of
His strength and fidelity, because the wilderness represented
the condition from which He had condescended to remove the
sons of men. He had undertaken to make the solitary place
become glad, and the desert to rejoice and blossom like the rose.
Therefore, upon the ultimate stage of this world's unredeemed
wildness He planted Himself, in order to bring back the world's
unredeemed wildness. The savage beasts were around Him,
which are emblems of, men's untamed passions: the tiger, of
his fury, the lion, of his pride, the fox, of his cunning,-the
hungry wolf, of his rapacity,-the serpent, of his grovelling
lusts,—and the eagle, pouncing from his pride of place upon
the lowly creatures, an emblem of that tyrannical power
with which man loveth to oppress all inferior men. Thus
the Saviour stood in the hoary wastes, with all these forms
and emblems of man's fallen nature around Him, in order
to undo the evil which Adam, by eating the forbidden fruit,
had done unto his race. And whereas the tempter had
been the prime mover and instigator of that huge crime,
and ever since had flown abroad in the princely rule of the
air, and roamed abroad in his princely mastery of the world,
it was needful, nay, it was natural, and impossible that it
should be otherwise, that he, who is no coward, though cun-
ning, having braved the Omnipotent in arms, should come up
against the second Adam, who stood amidst these miserable
conditions to give him battle for his long-possessed reign.
The strong man of the house must first be bound by a stronger
than he, otherwise it is idle to think of casting him out. If
Satan yieldeth not, the world cannot be redeemed. If Satan
is made to yield, then redemption is possible, and may take
its course. Therefore, it was necessary that He who was
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mighty to save should begin His career of conquering and to
conquer, as He is here stated to have begun it, by single
combat, with the prince of darkness.
But, moreover, the Almighty intended by His Son a double
blow, not only at sin upon the earth, but at sin in hell. Sin He
purposed clean to purge out of the earth, and bring the mil-
lennial reign about, which is, as it were, Eden in the distant
future, into which the great Husbandman is turning the wilder-
ness whereon He waged this strife for the world's salvation.
But likewise He purposed to drive into their own throats the
bravadoes of hell, their boasts, their blasphemies; and to un-
clasp their iron yoke from the sons of men, into whose souls.
they made its iron bands to pierce; to send them back howl-
ing to their den, and shut them there for evermore; and not
only defeat their ravaging of this fair earth, but to punish them
for their temporary subjection of it; to root the serpent race
out of their new quarters, whence they had conceived a spark
of hope, and got a taste of power, the ambition of which hurled
them from heaven. Thus, I say, did the Almighty purpose
to make the iron, which the Chief Physician extracted from
the soul of man, to enter into their own hearts; and visit
upon their guiltiness, first, the loss of heaven, and next, the
loss of earth; and coop them up for ever within that sul-
phurous pit which is alone fit scenery for their hellish nature.
For the wretched warring spirits, when they get abroad into
any dominion of God, do work desolation therein, and waste
its beauty with fire and sword. They breathe pestilence, they
sow discord, they water it with blood, they cause it to be
reaped with tears; the lamentations of widows and children
are their music, the groans of broken hearts their ecstacies of
delight, the pangs of death their shouts of victory, death their
triumph, and the corruption of the grave their fruit. Such
creators of all discord, heart-sickness, and desolation, the
Creator of all good purposed to restrain for ever within their
own infernal quarters, and He by whom and for whom all
things were created, was to be the performer of the mighty
work. All heaven were the spectators. The security of
heaven from any second insurrection was the great ultimate
good, and the redemption of man was the immediate cause.
THE TEMPTATION.
213
What less was this second enterprise of Christ, but a second
driving in of the power of those demons whom He had once
defeated? Heretofore, He had cleansed heaven of their adul-
terous rebellion against God. He rose in His might, with ten
thousand of His angels; strong in His might, He cast them
headlong from the glory of heaven to the condemnation of
hell. But God did not thoroughly reduce them. He did not
altogether crush them, but gave them a little scope; for Satan
even presented himself with the sons of the morning in the
presence of God. Through this incompleted vengeance, this
relic of mercy, even to the rebellious angels, they did in the
lapse of time, and the devices of their maliciousness, come
roaming forth, and obtain a hold of this earth, which
they have brought into this abject condition. Therefore
they needed to be dispossessed of earth, as aforetime they
were dispossessed of heaven, and hunted back, baffled, into
their horrid habitations, and then bound for ever and ever.
But to make this second head against them, Christ sum-
moned not the host of heaven, He called not upon the
legions which evermore attend Him unseen, but came forth
a naked child, and grew an untitled man, with His body His
only earthly possession. He took no power but as God mea-
sured it out to Him; and having received it, He commenced,
here in the wilderness, the great enterprise, not of baffling
Satan merely, but of dispossessing all His angels of their
power over the souls and bodies of men.
Now, mark how God put things into a condition for reveal-
ing this subjection of the nether world by His own dear Son.
To those spirits which possess the souls of men, and lead
them into error and various idolatry, and torment them with
the pains and agonies of sin,—to those very spirits which now
work in the children of lust, mammon, Belial, pride, and
revenge, to those spirits within the breast which are com-
monly silent, and make no manifestation of their presence,
in this age and in this country, when His Son appeared,
He gave a voice, so that they spoke from the breasts of
those whom they possessed. He made them testify to their
presence in the bosom of man, also to their mischief-making
powers therein. The whole race of demoniacs which existed
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THE TEMPTATION.
in this age, I conceive to have been a phenomenon permitted
by God, in order to make this triumph of His Son over the
spirit of evil manifest. The angels of heaven might have
known it without any such demonstration to the sense; be-
cause spirit can discern spirit, and perceive their distant
habitations, and know their condition, whether exalted or
humiliated. But not so with man while in the body; he
needeth to have demonstration of the sense; therefore, the
Almighty allowed those evil spirits which are still present
in the breast to manifest their presence in those days, in
order that Christ, in His goings to and fro, might cast them
out; in order that they might manifest their fear of Him,
their dread of His very name, their supplication of His
mercy, their obedience to His command, and every other
mark of a subjugated and deposed race; by which men
might be taught no longer to fear the arts of the old ser-
pent who prevailed against Eve, or the arts of his messengers
who plant the tares among the good seed of God's plant-
ing; by which they might take heart, and trust in the
Captain of their salvation, and His power to cast them forth.
Thus, if I may so speak, there was a double incarnation:
first, an incarnation of the Word of God in the Son of man,
and of His Spirit in the apostles at the day of Pentecost;
and, secondly, an incarnation of the devil and his angels
in the breasts of demoniac men; in order that in flesh the
battle might be fought and won, which formerly in flesh
had been lost, and in flesh the triumph over death and the
grave might be gained, which formerly had power to lay
all flesh prostrate, and consume it like the grass. There-
fore, a life which was intended to beat back these froward
devils from the soul of man which they had usurped, and to
manifest unto all that should believe in Christ that, trusting
in His strength, and in the operation of the Spirit which
wrought in Him effectually, they had nothing whatever to
fear from the hellish confederacy which had borne down the
spirit of man, and continueth, in all who believe not Christ,
still to bear it down,-I say, a life which was destined not
only to do this very thing, but to give demonstration that it
was done, needed to be begun, as Christ is here reputed to
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215
have begun. The chief of these legions, attended with all his
host, must be defeated. In silence they are defeated. The
strife must be at the first with the strongest, who being foiled,
all the weaker are likewise foiled, and the work goes on, with-
out interruption, of banishing the wicked powers from the
spirits of men.
So Christ came into the power of the devil, that He might
defeat the devil, as He came into the power of death, that He
might defeat him that hath the power of death, which is the
devil; He came into the grave, that He might rise from the
grave, and deprive it of its victory; He came into the
power of malice, that He might triumph over it. He de-
scended into hell, that He might preach to them in prison,
and teach them to believe and tremble. He took upon Him
the form of a servant, that He might teach His followers
obedience; and, in short, came into all possible conditions,
that He might shew Himself triumphant over all, and put
all things under His feet.
But, besides this view of the temptation, as holding, with
respect to our redemption and recovery, exactly the same
place which the temptation of our first parents held in respect
of our fall and captivity,—the one the first of a long career of
triumphs over Satan, the other the first of a long career of
conquests by Satan,-there is another view of it, of which
I shall treat in the next lecture.
!
LECTURE III.
LUKE IV.
THE
'HE views which we have given in our two former lectures,
arising out of the forty days' temptation, were sufficient
to shew the relation which this great incident in the life of
Christ had to the work of the world's redemption, and to the
defeating of Satan and his angels, and driving of them back
discomfited within the limits of their ancient reign. We are
now to open up our views of this as it bore upon our Lord
himself, and upon the work of His ministry.
We stated in a former discourse, that though Jesus of
Nazareth was the incarnation of the everlasting Word of God,
who created the worlds, and for whose pleasure they are and
were created, He is to be conceived, while He tabernacled
amongst men, as being really that which He seemed—a man,
and the son of man. "Forasmuch as the children are partakers.
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the
same. In that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he
is able to succour them that are tempted." In all the sen-
sations of flesh and blood He partook,-He was liable to
hunger and thirst, to heat and cold; His appetite longed
with all desires natural to man, and His heart had pleasure
in the savours and relishes of the things which are created
and made. The comforts and accommodations of life He
knew the pleasure of, and lamented the want of, in that
pathetic appeal, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay
his head." He felt both the pain and indignity of a blow,
and rebuked the menial who smote Him. In all these
bodily attributes, therefore, was He very man. Again, in
respect to what is called the mind of man, and those feel-
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217
ings which the world produces in us, He was also as one
of the children. He rejoiced with those that did innocently
rejoice, and He wept with those that wept. He was in-
dignant at hypocrisy, and with wickedness He was wroth.
He reasoned as a man reasoneth. His disciples approached
Him as a man is approached; and the multitude consulted
Him as a wise and holy man is consulted. If He had not
been congenial with other men in the affections and opera-
tions of His mind, other men would not have been able to
hold with Him any conference. Therefore we conclude,
that as man is acted upon by man, in the same manner was
Christ acted upon.
In other words, He had a reasonable
soul, without which, the body of a man would no more have
made him man, than the dress of a man would make an in-
ferior creature man; for the body is but the dress by which
the inward man hath intercourse with the inward man of
another, and with the outward world of matter. Further, the
outward world affected the Saviour as it affects every human
being; its fruits nourished Him, its evil afflicted Him, and
its good pleased Him. And I doubt not, from the tasteful-
ness of all His images, that its beauty pleased Him, its sub-
limity affected Him, its twilight shades awakened meditation,
and its gloomy shades helped Him to hold commune with
His griefs. I understand not that tremulousness of mind with
which I say these things, but Isaiah and the psalmist have
spoken prophetically of His pains of body and anguish of
mind, and the evangelists have recounted them in the most
simple narratives, and the apostles constantly refer to them
and argue upon them as our example patiently to endure.
Now, if Christ had not really and truly undergone those trials
with which His followers are tried; if His flesh had been in-
tangible by torture, and His spirit impassive to painful feel-
ing, as the stoics would have persuaded themselves to be; if
the world had in all its vanity passed before Him as a phan-
tasmagorical representation, affecting only the sight of the
eye, but touching not the sympathies and antipathies of the
heart, then what use would His life have served as an example?
or how could we now quote it as the only painful and sinless.
life upon record? If so be that He did not feel, He had no
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THE TEMPTATION.
1
need of fortitude, firmness, patience, wisdom, skill, and every
other means of standing against trial; and what availeth His
triumph, if so be that He felt not a tendency the other way,
which, by these means, He counteracted? Thus to bestow
upon Christ the power of being acted upon by temptation,
and liability to err in all ways in which we are liable, we
do not take from His divinity, we do but make good His
humanity, which is an attribute of His being no less impor-
tant than the other. The question of His divinity rests upon
other grounds, and is to be gathered from the declarations of
the prophets, the evangelists, and the apostles, and from His
own lips. But whatever way that question be taken, it must
not affect His humanity, whereof I now treat.
This human being, then, was to be sent forth upon the most
perilous exploit which had ever been appointed to human
nature. He had to pass through every suffering and trial
which it is possible for man to encounter. He was to meet
with the blackest ingratitude, the highest perfidy, the utmost
scorn, the basest mistreatment. He was to perform constant
services to humanity, and by humanity to be as constantly
abused; He was to utter constant wisdom in the ears of
men, and in almost all His attempts to find an answer in their
hearts He was to be defeated. They were to gather about Him,
and raise Him to majestic height with hosannas, and anon
disperse like the tide when it hath left the ship which it bore
upon its breast, a wreck broken to pieces by its unstable.
violence. Many good works was He to do, and for these
good works they were to take up stones to stone Him. Many
attempts He was to make to gather Jerusalem, as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings; and through the
obstinacy of the ill-fated people, He was at length to sit
down and weep over her, ineffectual tears. Ah me! what
He must have suffered, who had within Him such stores
of truth to unbosom, and could find no one prepared to hear
Him; whose breast travailed with a world's salvation, and
could hardly find in all the world one faithful adherent; whose
voice could command every element of destruction, and add
thereto legions of invisible spirits, and yet had to bear the
contumely of every worthless menial, who could sharpen his
THE TEMPTATION.
219
tongue or lift up his heel against Him!-and this abused
man a Being of perfect virtue, a Being of sovereign power, a
Messenger of God, the only Son of God, the Redeemer of
the world! The father of heathen philosophy imagined that
if a perfect man should appear upon the earth, the sons of
men would arise and crucify him. And therein he shewed
almost prophetic insight into the fate which truth might ex-
pect. And the prophets who foresaw this event were struck
with terror at what passed before their view, and cried out,
"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments
from Bozrah? Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,
and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat?"
Another thus describeth it: "Trouble is near; for there is
none to help. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls
of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with
their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured
out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart
is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My
strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth
to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked
have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and feet. I may
tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part
my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."
Another prophet hath said—“His countenance was marred
more than any man, his form more than the sons of men.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from
him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." And
another—" Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against
the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the
shepherd." And our Lord himself, when reflecting upon His
sufferings, was in an agony, and sweat great drops like drops
of blood falling down upon the ground.
All this was to be endured without once swerving from
the path of blameless rectitude. His spirit, all human though
it was, and able to be wounded, and to feel the smart of
every wound, was to bear without any retort. When reviled,
He was not to revile again; when threatened, He was not to
220
THE TEMPTATION.
threaten. He was human as to its suffering, and had the
severest cast of suffering which hath been allotted to any son
of man; but He was to have no recourse to the refuges of
suffering humanity. No stoical pride to wrap Himself in, no
silent contempt of superior wisdom to support him, no triumph
of argument to indulge, nor successful argument to follow up;
no lifting of the hand, no inciting of the multitude by an
eloquent manifestation of his wrongs, no partizanship nor
personality, no temper nor strife was He to bring to his aid.
He was to meet all, to bear all, without any of the arms
offensive with which men express the passion that is awakened
within them-to be the model of that long-suffering endur-
ance, and forgiveness of enemies, of that all-blessing charity
which He was the first to hail-to be led as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so was
He never to open His mouth.
I believe that in the minds of many the edge of this mighty
trial is taken off by a certain vague apprehension that He was
helped to bear it by the new power which He had received
from heaven: but this is a notion against which we protest,
as totally unsupported by Scripture, and defeating one chief
end of His coming in the flesh, which was to conquer every
form of wickedness and trial that could come against Him
from the cradle to the grave, and to set us an example that
we might follow His steps. If His humanity bore not His
human encounter, but needed the aid of His superior faculties,
then how serveth it as an encouragement or an example to
us who are mere men, and have no such divinity to bear us
up? His humanity sustained Him against all earthly encoun-
ters; and whatever His divinity served Him, it served not to
lighten the load which lay heavy upon His shoulders.
I speak not now of the mere inward struggles which He
had to maintain as the surety of mankind, which many sound
divines have thought could not be of less amount than
all the sufferings which all that believe in Him are saved
from through all eternity. Neither do I speak of those unre-
corded temptations of the powers of darkness which He had
to sustain throughout His life, and of which we have a
shrewd intimation in the expression with which this recorded
THE TEMPTATIOΝ.
221
temptation concludes, "The devil departed from Him for a
season;" nor of the hidings of His Father's countenance,
nor of anything save the outward visible sufferings with
which men can sympathise. It may be said many of His
followers have endured as much; but hath any one endured
it without sin? To endure is nothing. The tortured Indian
endures many crucifixions. Bed-rid patients endure whole
years of torture, of which single nights have in them the
materials of many a tragedy. Nature must endure what
the hand of God layeth on, however great it be. But doth
she endure without murmuring, even what she cannot avoid
enduring? And what is laid upon her by every wicked son
of Belial, doth she endure without the resentment of a man?
But here is a man, a very man, by distinction the Son of
man, enduring heaps of trouble and affliction from every
outward and inward quarter, and carrying Himself under it,
not like a man, but like a God. It is Adam, sent not
into paradise, but into hell, for the trial of His faithfulness,
and enduring all the tortures of hell with no defalcation of
His faithfulness. This was the trial, not that He should bear,
but that He should bear as one who bore not; not that He
should endure in a sinful world, but that without sin He
should endure; that for all His cruel condition He should
be able to challenge the severest inspection of that host of
enemies He was surrounded with, and who had risen up
against Him; that He should bear the knowledge of Him
who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins of the children
of men, and receive the testimony that He had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Such was
the heavy work which Christ undertook, and such the happy
issue to which He had to bring it.
Having before Him this yet unattempted work of con-
quering in flesh and blood all the enemies of flesh and blood,
both on earth and in hell, of preserving Himself immaculate
though a man, perfect and sinless though a sorely tempted
man, it was very desirable that He should have at the out-
set of such a perilous voyage some trial of His strength to
endure its hardships. Having a human soul full of antici-
pation and feeling, as we see through all His life, especially
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THE TEMPTATION.
in the garden of Gethsemane, He could not look upon the
trial before Him without misgivings. If, after having proved
His strength in this wilderness, and through all the scenes
of His ministry, such horrors overtook Him on entering the
last scene of it, what anxieties and fears must have pressed
Him at its outset, when, from being a private man, He under-
took so high a task! Think not I take from His dignity
thus to behold Him accessible to those troubles of the spirit.
It doth but prove the more the tenderness of His humanity,
and encourage that fellow-feeling with Him which is the most
genuine mark of His disciples. But take from your idea of
His dignity or not, it is the truth that He had such mis-
givings, and prayed His Father in His agony to let the cup
pass from Him. We have been so much agitated with dis-
putes about His divinity that we dare hardly trust ourselves
to conceive of His humanity, lest we should trespass upon
the integrity of the former. But this nervous delicacy must
not be indulged either by you or by me; we must look upon
His true humanity, and speak of it as the evangelists and the
apostles likewise spoke of it. And when need is, we must do
the same of His divinity. These misgivings of the human
soul of Christ, it was the purpose of this temptation to
chase away;—to give Him, in the very outset and beginning
of His undertaking, a proof that He was equal to its utmost
perils; that He might take courage and enter upon it with
boldness; that in all His difficult passages memory might
have a spot to flee to, whereat He encountered this, and
more than this. This temptation I consider to be one of
three remarkable passages of the same kind, which are re-
corded in His life. The other two are the transfiguration
and the agony. In the transfiguration, Moses and Elias came
to Him, and conversed with Him of the death that He was
to accomplish at Jerusalem. In the agony, there appeared an
angel unto Him from heaven strengthening Him. So also,
by St Mark, it is recorded of the temptation, that, when the
devil departed from Him, angels ministered to Him. So
that all these three marvellous incidents agree in this,
that spirits from the unseen world came to strengthen and
encourage Him, which proves the more what hath been
THE TEMPTATION.
223
advanced above of the terrible nature of the undertaking,
and of the anxieties which lay heavy at His breast.
It is remarkable, and worthy of all observation, that those
now glorified saints who came in the transfiguration to con-
verse with Him of the death which He had to accomplish at
Jerusalem, had each of them an experience similar to this
temptation during their pilgrimage upon earth, and that they
are the only two who had such an experience. Moses was in
the mount with God forty days and forty nights, during which
he declares unto the children of Israel that he did neither eat
bread nor drink water. And Elias, when he fled from the
face of Ahab into the wilderness, and out of the greatness of
his sufferings laid himself under the juniper tree to die,
received from the angel of the Lord a meal of meat, in the
strength of which he went forty days and forty nights unto
Horeb, the mount of God. These two instances resemble
that before us too strongly, to be passed over in silence,
especially when we have observed these were the very two of
all the host of heaven that came to commune with Him when
He was transfigured on the mount. The former of the two,
Moses, had been called by God to go down to Egypt and
rouse the slumbering and oppressed people, but remonstrated
with the Most High upon the perils and unreasonableness of
the undertaking. Whereupon the Lord gave him two proofs,
making his rod a serpent, and turning his hand leprous, by
which he might perceive the strength of Him whose servant
he was.
When he had delivered the children of Israel from
the house of bondage, and had them in a place of safety and
quiet, the Lord called him up to the same mount, and kept
him forty days and forty nights with Himself alone. During
these days He prepared him for the ministry to which He had
called him, instructed him in the laws and statutes by which
Israel was to be governed, and made such manifestations to
his soul as might strengthen him to follow out his perilous
embassage unto the people. God was sending him a warfare,
and He sent him not on his own charges, but furnished him
with a sufficiency of faith and confidence for the work. He
annealed his soul, if I may so speak, with heavenly temper
for the important work he had undertaken; and gave him
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THE TEMPTATION.
such a foresight of the glorious issue of his work, and such a
foretaste of his reward, as might go with him to his grave,
and bear him up through all his trials, and in the very shadow
of death. Elijah, again, had been very jealous for the Lord
of hosts. He was the only prophet that durst raise a standard
for God in the sight of Ahab and Jezebel, the king and
queen of Israel; he had presented himself in the breach for
God, and singly withstood all the prophets of Baal to their
shame and ruin; and, notwithstanding his godly heroism,
had to flee once more, and in the desert had stretched him
out, and, like Job and Jeremiah, in the weariness of his soul
prayed for death. The Lord had still high commissions
for him to perform. By him by whom He had brought
vengeance upon the friends of Baal, He was to bring sweeping
vengeance upon apostatising Israel, and the bloody pair which
filled the throne. But the heart of the prophet was broken,
and his soul was weary of the struggle which it had to sus-
tain. Therefore the Lord, to restore his soul, and shew him
what He could do for him, delivered him for forty days and
forty nights from the wants of the body, fed him with
supernatural strength, until he came to Horeb; and there,
after various sublime visions of His majesty, and various
declarations of His providence and grace, He delivered to
him His commission: "Go, return on thy way to the wilderness
of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king
over Syria; and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to
be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-
meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." So
Elijah departed thence, and never did his soul halt again or
look back until he had fulfilled the commissions of the Lord,
and was taken up, in proof of his fidelity, without tasting of
death. In like manner, St Paul, about the beginning of his
Gentile ministry, went down to Tarsus, and was no more
heard of for three years; during which I doubt not the Lord
was preparing him for his work, as he had prepared Moses
and Elias in the former dispensation; and, to give him heart
to endure its many sufferings, pangs, and death, He caught
him up in a trance to the third heavens, where he heard
unspeakable words, which it was not lawful for him to utter.
THE TEMPTATION.
225
Now, if, for leading the children of Israel through the
wilderness, and furnishing them with national laws and reli-
gious statutes, soon to come to an end, the Lord did prepare
the man Moses by having him in the mount to Himself for
forty days and forty nights, how much more for the greater
work of laying the foundation of the everlasting kingdom of
Christ, of giving it statutes and commandments, and exem-
plifying the same in practice-of rooting out, not a few Ca-
naanitish nations, but of rooting out all error and sin which
have possessed the world, and of establishing upon the earth
a throne of judgment and a sceptre of righteousness;-how
much more for those ends was it necessary to have Christ
prepared by forty days' proof and trial of His strength and
assurance of victory? If, again, to strengthen Elijah against
the persecution of the murderous Ahab and his more mur-
derous queen, it was necessary to have him for forty days and
forty nights in the sustenance and strengthening of the Lord;
and thereafter to fill his soul with sublime visions of the pre-
sence and providence of the Holy One of Israel, how much
more was it necessary to build up and strengthen the hu-
manity of Christ against the combined attacks of the devil,
the world, and the flesh, which He had to stand against singly,
without any of the people to sustain Him, but all to bear
hard against Him? And if Paul, His Gentile apostle, in order
to meet his buffetings, was plentifully furnished with visions
and revelations of the Lord, how much more the Divine
Master of Paul, whose footsteps he did but follow, and who
Himself had to give the example unto all, to be the future
hope of the human race in those regions of unsullied purity
and unyielding virtue which no man had ventured on before?
Therefore the Almighty, in mercy and loving-kindness to
the man Jesus of Nazareth, whom He had anointed for this.
perilous undertaking, led Him to the wilderness, far apart from
the haunts of men, and kept Him there in perilous strife with
the enemy of souls for forty days and forty nights, during
which He ate no food, and conversed with no earthly creature.
And these days of trial being ended, He permitted Satan to
wax wanton against Him, and to put that humanity to proof,
which, in the future incidents of our Lord's life, was to be sorely
VOL. II.
P
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THE TEMPTATION.
buffeted. This humanity was like the receptacle of His
higher powers. It was the vessel which bore them about for
the consolation of the sorrowful earth, and from which the
earth might partake them, and be blessed. The fulness of
the Godhead was embodied, the glory as of the Only-begotten
of the Father was contained, in flesh. Now, the human
vehicle, the manly body and manly soul by which that celes-
tial freightage was borne about from place to place, needed
to be proof against the sinful storms that assailed it. Had it
in any place given way, then the whole enterprise had failed,
and human salvation had been out at sea again, when in sight
of shore, as far from our reach and knowledge as ever, and
our souls had been once more in gross darkness, and this
earth had been still in the region of the shadow of death.
Thus have we set forth, first plainly, then by analogy of
others, and lastly by a figure, the use of this temptation so
far as regarded Christ, whereof we had formerly set forth the
use as it regarded mankind and the spirits of darkness. It
was to put His humanity to the proof, that He might know
His strength, and, knowing His strength, go to the work with
courage. I pray you to follow me in a short analysis of the
three trials by which Satan assailed Him; that you may
discover how artfully they were laid by Satan against our
Lord's humanity, and how wisely permitted by His Father, to
assure the Son of man of the greatness of His strength.
There are three sides upon which mankind are vulnerable by
temptation. The first is through the lusts and appetites, and
tastes and pleasures of the body, whether they be coarse or
refined, vulgar or elegant. The second is through the world,
its ambitions, its vanities, its occupations, its influences, its
treasures and possessions, its titles, its thrones and dominions
and powers. The third is through the deceivableness of the
mind itself, whereby it becomes its own dupe, is taken in its
own subtlety, becomes first self-deceived, and afterwards the
deceiver of others. Besides these three instruments-the
body, the outward world, and the soul itself—I know and can
conceive no other means by which Satan can assail the nature
of man. Upon each one of these ways he makes a descent
upon the humanity of Christ; and though only by one ex-
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227
!
periment, yet that experiment being the severest possible in
each kind, the most artfully and craftily devised, and the most
difficult to be withstood, must be understood to include all
the rest.
For these three temptations are not to be considered
merely as a trial of hunger, of ambition, and of spiritual pride,
but as the mode of those three classes of temptation with
which Satan hath power to work against mankind. They are
instances, but each is in its kind extreme, and by being ex-
treme, including all the rest. First of all the demands which
the body makes upon our attention, that of hunger is the
most peremptory and powerful. The relishes of appetite, the
delicacies of taste and smell, the beauties and proportions of
visible things, all that is seen, tasted, handled, and heard,
pass away from their sweet entertainment of the sense when
the body craveth for the staff of life. These things will not
appease that craving. It will not be bribed by them into
silence. They must all give way for bread. Everything will
be exchanged for bread. For bread the body will bow itself
down to toil, sweat and labour long hours, deny itself sleep,
clothing-everything for bread. Of which absolute dominion
of this appetite, see a notable instance in the seven lean years
of famine, from the effects of which God preserved Egypt by
His servant Joseph. They parted first with their money,
then with their cattle, then with their land, and finally with
their own liberty, so masterful over all ornaments and posses-
sions is this appetite of hunger. This extreme instance, there-
fore, includeth all the rest, and temptation by them includeth
temptation by all the rest. So that this first assault of the
devil is to be regarded as including one third part of his em-
pire—his empire over the spirits of men through the medium
of their bodily pleasures and sensations. The next thing after
sensual pleasures, not so immediate as these, and therefore
not so universal, but of a higher kind, and acting upon nobler
faculties of the spirit, is the temptation of power. Having
failed through the medium of the senses, the devil next makes
his attempt upon the Saviour through worldly possessions
and here also he arrays the greatest possible of all tempta-
tions. Concentrating the whole world in his grasp, bringing it
!
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THE TEMPTATION.
by some diabolical phantasm under the eye of the Saviour all
at once, he offers it for the least of all returns-the return of
one single prostration. "If Thou, therefore, wilt worship me,
all shall be Thine." Here is all that Alexander sighed for, that
Julius Cæsar accomplished, and that Napoleon attempted, and
for which they fleshed their swords in blood, and stained their
souls with dishonour, and made their hearts like flint towards.
their kind. All this-and under this, all inferior ambitions,
sighed after by soldiers, politicians, lawgivers, and philosophers,
are included-is offered to Jesus without loss of time, without
expense of means. Bow Thyself, and all the world is Thine.
In this instance, therefore, is contained the second part of the
dominion over which Satan hath the mastery, and by which
he assaileth the spirits of men. After sensual pleasures and
worldly possessions, cometh a third and still higher region of
his subtlety and art, by which he worketh the soul against
the soul. This trial, which springeth from the deceitfulness
of the heart, is of a far more subtle kind than either of the
other two, and remains to be encountered after the tempta-
tions of sense and of the world have been overcome. It is
the wandering of the mind in its own mazes, tending to
superstition, delusion, and self-deception of every kind. Hence
the infinite systems of philosophy which, age after age, have
sprung up only to be demolished. Hence the infinite forms
of false religion which have subjected men's minds, over-
throwing reason when revelation is not present, and where
it is, covering it with darkness, and disguising it with fable.
Some of these have been invented for the purposes of worldly
gain, coming under the second order of temptation; but far
more are the production of self-deceived men, who have be-
lieved themselves right, who have fancied in themselves a
higher reason, or a nearer fellowship with God than others
possess, and have brought the power of intellect, the subtle-
ties of logic, the mysteries of superstition, and the gathered
stores of knowledge to defend and support their systems;
and, so sustained, have sent them abroad to wield a more for-
And men, in-
midable sway over men than that of arms.
stead of adhering to their reason steadily, so far as it would
guide them, and in things above reason, instead of examin-
THE TEMPTATION.
229
ing nicely the evidence and observing the tendency of the
doctrine, have been glad to find any food for those parts
of the mind which long after the invisible and the eternal,—
any religion rather than no religion; and so, contentedly have
bowed their necks to some base superstition, altogether un-
worthy the credit, far less worthy the admiration and obe-
dience, of man. Upon this, the deceivableness of the spirit
of itself without any means, the tempter tries our Saviour in
the last place-quoting the prophecy that went before con-
cerning Him, that if He would cast Himself down from the
pinnacle of the temple, the angels would bear Him up and
save Him from any harm. The prophecy was intended for
Messiah, and such guardian spirits were around Him; there-
fore it seemed safe to trust Himself thereto. The smallest
particle of spiritual pride or of self-confidence, the smallest
obliquity of understanding or presumption towards God, the
smallest portion of that superstition to which religious people
are very liable, of making the trial-of consulting God, as they
term it, by opening His Word, or casting the lot, would have
sufficed to give Satan the victory over the Saviour on this side.
But that smallest obliquity of the mind was not present to
His perfect rectitude; and, therefore, here also he failed. In
which three regions of his subtle power being defeated,-in
the sensual, by which he generally tempteth inexperienced
youth; in power, by which he tempteth the prime of man-
hood; in superstition and self-deception, by which he tempteth
hoary experience and wearied ambition or sated lust,—having
failed, and having no fourth region on which to assail the
great Champion of righteousness, he departed from Him for a
season.
These three forms of trial it shall now be our endeavour
to expound upon the principles laid down: first alluding to
the individual case of trial as it is put by the tempter; and,
secondly, to the way in which the tempted Saviour repelled
it. Then from the individual case we shall reason to the
class which it includeth; and out of the short sentence of
Scripture with which it is repelled, we shall draw the doc-
trinal principle by the application of which that whole class
of temptations is to be struggled with and overcome; so as
1
230
THE TEMPTATION.
to lay before you in full, not only the subtlety of the tempter,
and the calm and consummate wisdom of the Saviour, as set
forth in the narrative which Luke and Matthew have given
of this mysterious transaction; but also to open up fully
those three regions of the tempter's power, and the three
corresponding regions of Divine wisdom to which it behoveth
us to flee as unto a city of refuge.
LECTURE IV.
LUKE IV.
IN
N the life of trial and sore temptation for which Jesus of
Nazareth had been anointed by the Spirit of the Most
High, He was not to be exempted from the last and lowliest
calamities of human life, which attend upon outcast and per-
secuted men. Without house or home or settled occupation,
He was to wander from town to town, and from village to
village, a dependent upon God's providence and upon the
common charity of the people. His wants were few, and He
had good gifts to give in return. For a piece of bread, He
could restore a withered limb; for a meal of meat, He could
recover a parent from the very article of death; for a night's
accommodation, He could cast out a devil; and a good re-
ception in any city He could conciliate, by recovering all its
sick and disabled people. Yet these gifts of heaven, which,
in His all-healing hand, had come down to bless the needy.
children of men, were not sufficient to procure for Him a regu-
lar supply of the necessaries of life; and, as we read in the
Gospels, He was sometimes forced to take the hungered's
privilege of rubbing a few ears of the standing corn. From
which instance, recorded not on purpose, but for illustration
of His doctrine regarding the Sabbath-day, and from the other
instances of the precarious meals which He picked up from the
hospitality of strangers, I doubt not that He must often have
fared but scantily; and, not knowing where to lay His head,
must often have known as little where to satisfy the crav-
ings of nature. Many nights He passed under the canopy of
heaven, taking no thought for the body; many days, I doubt
not, He passed under the trial of hunger and of thirst.
which, if any man make any doubt, let him think of the
Of
232
THE TEMPTATION.
volumes which are spoken by these words: "Foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man
hath not where to lay His head."
And though, when thousands of hungry people were ga-
thered around Him, and there were, in all, only five loaves
and a few small fishes amongst them, He had the generosity
to put forth for their sakes His creative power, and swell the
morsel into the materials of an abundant repast, more than
sufficient for all by many basketfuls; yet He took not for Him-
self any such privilege of helping Himself by a miracle out of
the scanty or pitiful conditions with which He might chance
to be encompassed. For He came not to escape by super-
human means the adversities of human life; but to endure, in
the strength of flesh and blood, all the infirmities which flesh
and blood are heir to, and all the evils which cruelty worse
than human could add to these; and, except in two instances
when He covered Himself with invisibility in order to escape
premature death, and to reserve Himself for enduring more
protracted mistreatment, and a more painful and ignominious
death, we have the evidence of His whole life that He faced
the whole cloud of trouble and trial which was brought
against Him by the powers of the present and the infernal
world, and came through them as the sun cometh out of a
stormy cloud,—not abated, but increased in the brightness
of His glory.
In the course of His pilgrimage among the evil conditions
of humanity, having to travel through that region which is
filled with objects of the greatest misery, where man is reduced
to the most desperate shifts, the region of actual want, of
craving and raging hunger,-it was merciful in God to per-
mit Him to be tried here, in the first instance, that He might
know His strength, not only to suffer the pain and the exhaus-
tion, but also to overcome the temptations which, in that mo-
ment of greatest weakness, the evil one suggested to human
nature, and which human nature hath seldom the strength to
resist. Accordingly, after the forty days have passed, during
which the Lord was delivered from the natural wants of the
body, for the supernatural contest which He then carried on,
He is let down again into the conditions of humanity, and the
THE TEMPTATION.
233
body begins to make demands for its proper food. "When they
were ended, He afterward hungered." And though we know
not to what pitch of painfulness His hunger had arisen, it was
a very auspicious moment for the tempter. He was in the
wilderness, far from the abodes of men; not upon the skirts
of the desert, but in the bowels of it, where the wild beasts
prowled around. He was an hungered, after forty days' separa-
tion from food, and must endure the cravings of appetite until
He reached a place where He could obtain bread. At this
moment, when under the sorest call of nature—the call for
the staff of life-the tempter, in what guise we know not, ap-
pears before Him, and suggests an expedient by which He
might deliver Himself,-"If Thou be the Son of God, com-
mand this stone that it be made bread."
Whether this scene, and the others which follow, had an
outward action, or not; whether the devil, in some human
or angelic guise, did appear three successive times to the
Lord, and utter these three successive speeches, and receive
these three successive replies; or whether the whole be
only an allegorical way of setting forth the thoughts which
His human nature suggested unto Christ,-first, the thought
of using the divine gift for His own personal pleasure;
secondly, for the exaltation of His power; and, lastly, for
practising upon the understandings of men,-has been dis-
puted among the interpreters of Scripture. The German Neo-
logists and Naturalists, who outdo even our Unitarians in their
liberty with Scripture, have gone so far as to explain away
all these things by allegory, and to disbelieve, as self-deception
of the writers, all the miracles and prophecies of Scripture—
calling themselves Christians withal; in which liberty the Na-
turalists of this country are fast following them, step by step.
As to the main point of the question, it seems to us of small
consequence whether they are taken as real outward acts be-
tween the tempter and the Saviour, or as inward promptings
of spirit to spirit, such as those by which our minds are led
into evil; for, whether in the one way or the other, the Saviour
proved Himself superior to the guile and power of the Evil
One, which is the chief thing for us to know. But while either
supposition saves the constancy of our Saviour, and the good
234
THE TEMPTATION.
lesson thereby taught to us His followers, I beg to know of
these rational men, what good end is served by turning plain
narrative into allegory? Mystery, that terror of their minds,
is removed; and at what expense, I would ask them, is it
removed? At the expense of St Luke's credit as a historian.
For, verily, if any man could conceive that St Luke, knowing
this to have been an allegory, did set it forth so like a plain
matter of fact, as he hath done; if any man will give me good
and sufficient reason to believe that he could play such a trick
with his readers, I would that moment cast his treatise upon
the same shelf with clever equivoques, artful deceptions,
and fairy tales, which please me by their ingenious and dex-
terous disguises. For the same end, of doing away with
mystery, these Rationalists allegorise the whole person, char-
acter, and agencies of the devil, and bring all the books of
Scripture into discredit; where he is as much spoken of as a
real existence, as is God himself; and, after the same fashion,
they explain away the Holy Spirit as a separate existence.
But oh, rash and unadvised men! they know not whither they
hasten. If it be mystery to conceive of the personality of one
spirit, it is equally mysterious to conceive of the personality
of another spirit; and then what becometh of the personality
of God? The same rational tongue which laughs to scorn the
existence of the devil, as a person, must laugh to scorn the
existence of God, as a person; and this I do not despair of
hearing one day from the pulpit, where He is even now preached
of under the philosophic appellation of the Deity, the God of
nature, and such titles as hide His personality, and are more
proper to Pantheism than to Christian divinity. And for the
separate existence of the human soul, as a spirit, these men
of whom I speak have long been content to give up that
matter as not worth the dividing upon. But the waters have
now got so shallow upon these speculations, that soon their
very footing must be discovered, and then a discerning people
will see what they have to stand on.
But to return, taking St Luke to mean what he says-and
to take him in any other sense is a liberty which a professed
believer should be the last to take the tempter came to
Jesus when He was hungered, and said unto Him, "If Thou
THE TEMPTATION.
235
be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made
bread." It is not credible that the tempter, when coming to
address Christ through the strongest of His sensations, that
of hunger, should by want of skill and management mar his
own dexterous exploit: that by appearing abruptly, or undis-
guisedly, or in any unseasonable way, he should be the means
of marring his own plot. When power was given him to
tempt Job, by cutting off his all, liberty was left him to do it
in the most masterful style. And in the most masterful style
he did accomplish it, beginning with the least valuable of his
estate, and mounting up to the highest, his sons and daugh-
ters, and arranging it so that messenger should arrive upon
the heels of messenger, calamity be heaped upon calamity in
the ear of the patient man, if possible to drive him to distrac-
tion, and to curse God unto His face. In like manner, when
power was for good ends granted in heaven to try the Saviour
of men by these successive trials, I doubt not that Satan was
allowed the whole compass of his wiles, not only to take Him
at the most seasonable times, but to circumvent Him with the
most appropriate pretences, and to urge Him to the utmost
extremity of his power. Therefore, the evangelists having
said nothing as to the manner of his approach, you are at
liberty to suppose it to have been in the most artful guise.
Milton-who has rendered the whole scene into poetry, and
whose muse was in better keeping than is the reason of the
speculators whom we have alluded to above, so that, though
he embodies the scene by imagination, he doth never take
liberties with the Word, much less defraud it of all its sense
and meaning-hath thus imagined and described their meet-
ing in the first book of his "Paradise Regained:'
"Till those days ended; hunger'd then, at last,
Among wild beasts: they at His sight grew mild,
Nor sleeping Him, nor waking, harm'd; His walk
The fiery serpent fled, and noxious worm,
The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof.
But now an aged man, in rural weeds,
Following, as seem'd, the quest of some stray ewe,
Or wither'd sticks to gather, which might serve
Against a winter's day, when winds blow keen,
To warm him wet return'd from field at eve,
He saw approach, who first with curious eye
236
THE TEMPTATION.
Perused Him, then with words thus utter'd spake :
Sir, what ill chance hath brought Thee to this place,
So far from path or road of men, who pass
In troop or caravan? for single none
Durst ever, who return'd, and dropp'd not here
His carcass, pined with hunger and with drought.
I ask the rather, and the more admire,
For that to me Thou seem'st the Man, whom late
Our new baptizing prophet, at the ford
Of Jordan, honour'd so, and call'd Thee Son
Of God I saw and heard, for we sometimes
Who dwell this wild, constrain'd by want, come forth
To town or village nigh (nighest is far)
Where aught we hear, and curious are to hear,
What happens new; fame also finds us out.'"
And then, stealing by simple words upon the confidence of
the tempted Saviour, the poet at length makes him to put
the question thus-
"But, if Thou be the Son of God, command
That out of these hard stones be made Thee bread:
So shalt Thou save Thyself, and us relieve
With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste."
By these quotations you will not understand me to adopt
for certain these imaginations of the poet, which may fall
short of representing the cunning of the scene, but certainly
can never surpass it. But, however it was, we may at least
suppose that the method was as wary as the moment was
opportune; which being granted, we go on to consider the
proposal which he made to turn the stones into bread. In
this there was nothing difficult for one who had made five
loaves into meat for as many thousands, and had converted
water into wine. God is able, said the Baptist, out of these
stones to raise up sons unto Abraham, and therefore able to
make them bread to preserve the life of Abraham's promised
seed. To have obeyed this suggestion was therefore both
within His power, and within the pleasure of His heavenly
Father, who was surely loath that His Son should starve of
hunger. But, besides being possible in itself, it is suggested
with such an inuendo of reasonableness, "If Thou be the Son
of God," a suggestion by which very much is suggested. The
fact is brought before His own mind that He was the Son of
God, on purpose to inflame any spark of pride, if any was
THE TEMPTATION.
237
found in His breast, that, being such, He should be in such
extremity. Therewith is suggested the doubt whether it were
possible that He could be such, and He is solicited to the
proof, and the proof such as all nature was craving for; and
withal the tempter casts himself in the power of the Saviour, to
put him to confusion by actually turning the stone to bread,
and proving that He was the Son of God. He taketh Him
when all nature is in arms for bread; he puts bread within
the reach of a word; he suggests the word; he suggests that
He had been deserted of God, and was no Son of the Highest;
he offers to put it to the proof of that word, which would
give Him bread. Suppose you were in want of bread, and
craving for bread, that, is what not one in a thousand could
bear; suppose you were the king's son in want of bread, that
were more humbling still, and more difficult to endure; sup-
pose you were the king's son hungering for bread in the king's
storehouse, with plenty of bread around you, and had only to
put forth your hand to partake, and yet were withheld by
some secret cause, so much the more painful; suppose, while
nature and pride are thus tantalised in the midst of plenty,
suppose some son of Shimei, some scoffing outcast fellow, who
had been cast out long ago from your father's court, should
come up at this perilous moment, and taunt you with such
speeches as the following:-"You, the son of the king, and
heir of the crown, come to this pass! You boast that all is yours,
and you have not wherewith to fill your mouth! Vain boaster
and pretender! If you be the king's son, why hesitate? Put
forth your hand, take and eat. You now take one of the
loaves, and I will reverence thee as the son of the king!"
This is only to help you to imagine the truth; it is not
intended as a description of the truth, but only to aid the
conception. Now, I ask if it were not a sore trial to be
thus taunted at such a moment when the irritability of nature.
was at its height? Nature would say, Dash the tempter to
the earth; and I am very sure a hundred arms would be lifted
up to do it, if any instance of such abuse were to appear under
the eyes of our people. Suppose a lofty man upbraiding a
beggar with his poverty, or a man able of limb upbraiding a
cripple with his lameness, or one blessed with sight taunting a
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THE TEMPTATION.
blind man with his blindness, what a burst of feeling it would
raise in the bystanders, and what an emotion of contempt
or wrath in the bosom of nature's needful child! Now, if
Satan had betrayed the Saviour into a sin of temper, into an
act of revenge, or a feeling of scorn, or a word of reproach,
he had won the day, and our Captain, who placed Himself
in the breach for our salvation, had been overcome. Or, if the
Saviour, beguiled by the wily tempter, had listened to nature's
call, and, under covert of confounding him by the proof to
which He had been dared, created to Himself food, then He
had been guilty of being outwitted, His human nature had
been caught in the well-laid trap, and had used a subterfuge
for His gratification. Or, if He had, without any hoodwink-
ing of Satan's subtlety, but simply to satisfy nature's call,
commanded the stone to be made bread, even though to
defeat the bravado of the tempter, He had fallen into another
trap of ruin, doubting the providence of God which watched
over Him, and taking by a surreptitious method that food
which He should have looked for in the ordinary course of
the Divine procedure. So that the temptation was manifold;
the snares set for the Saviour were many and deep. And if
He had not been guarded by intellect, by temper, by humi-
lity, as well as by temperate contentment with the providence
of God, He had been undone, and we undone along with Him.
Now, let us remark how the Lord delivered Himself from
the complicated subtlety of this temptation. He did not
revenge cruelty with wrath, nor resent indignity with scorn;
He did not give way to offended pride, and overwhelm His
enemy with the proof; nor did He yield to the gnawings of
hunger, and create for Himself a morsel against His present
necessity; nor did He suffer His intellect to be any way out-
witted by the snares of this question, but coolly, piously, and
with entire self-command, replied " It is written, That man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”
These words cast a strong light upon the employment of
the Saviour's mind during the assault of the tempter upon
the side of His bodily wants. Seeing for Himself no resource
in that hoary waste wherewith He was surrounded, instead of
sinking into the depths of despair, His piety rose with His
THE TEMPTATION.
239
emergency; He remembered the days of the right hand of
the Most High, and the immutable word of His power, upon
which He relied in this the hour and power of darkness. He
remembered what was spoken by Moses, and the prophets,
and the psalms, concerning Him. In that very psalm which
the devil in the third temptation used against Him, He re-
membered how it was written, "Thou shalt tread upon the
lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou
trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me,
therefore will I deliver him." He turned in His distress to
the former providences and preservations of the Lord to
those that trust in Him, and remembered, perhaps, how
through that very wilderness He had guided His people for
forty years; how He had humbled them, and suffered them
to hunger, and fed them with manna, which they knew not,
neither did their fathers know, that He might make them to
know that "man doth not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live."
The pious and well-instructed mind of Jesus had its refuge in
this similar instance of God's ancient people, and was well
assured that, if for forty years He so kept them suspended
upon His providence day by day, in order that He might fulfil
His promise to Abraham, much more now to the Chosen Seed,
to whom He had just vouchsafed His testimony from on high,
would He furnish a supply when He had sufficiently tried His
faithfulness and trust. Therefore, unmoved by the tempter's
art, He quoted that lesson which forty years' sustenance in
the wilderness by quails and manna was intended to teach
the people of God, that "man doth not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God." Thus was the tempter foiled
by our Lord's trust in the providence of God; and thus hath
He taught all His followers how to foil him when they are
in like manner tempted under the wants and cravings of
nature.
THE
LECTURE V.
LUKE IV.
HE Saviour withstood the severest of all bodily trials,
craving and raging hunger, upon the strength of a
promise of Scripture, that "man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God;" and He withstood the offer of all the kingdoms of the
earth, and the glory of them, in obedience to a command of
Scripture, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him
only shalt thou serve." From which two instances of His pious
disposition, the devil, taking a lesson, and perceiving that this
was no common man to be goaded into distrust of Providence
by want, or bribed out of duty to God by glorious objects of
the earth, at once changed his method of proceeding, and re-
solved to try whether he might not take Him by a skilful use
of His own sanctified weapons, and an artful device of piety.
But he did not cast away his wonted arts, but wrought his
new attempts with his ancient artifice, and therefore chose a
scene every way appropriate to the end he had in view.
When he wrought by hunger, he had Him in the wilderness,
far from any supply of hospitality or charity, or any power
of purchase, and there, isolated with hungry want and deso-
lation, he practised upon his victim. Afterwards, when he
pushed Him upon the side of glory, he had Him to the top of
a high mountain-some Alp or Appenine of the earth, from
whose feet spread far and wide the objects of human ambi-
tion—and there, while in His eye was glassed all which men
desire and hunt after, he offered to Him the glory thereof if
He would but bow down before him in an act of worship. Next
purposing, under the disguise of an angel of light, to practise
upon Him with holy instruments for a holy end, he chooseth,
THE TEMPTATION.
241
in the first place, a holy scene, the pinnacle of the temple at
Jerusalem, and there makes before Him his third and last
great proposal. Upon the pinnacle of the temple, beneath
which lay the sanctuary and the holy of holies, and Mount
Zion, and the city of the living God,-upon the pinnacle of
that house which, in His twelfth year, He had claimed as His
Father's, when He said to His anxious mother, who found
Him disputing with the doctors, "Wist ye not that I must
be about my Father's business?"-here, where Simeon and
Anna had welcomed Him in His earliest childhood, and
where He was soon to put forth those powers with which
He was commissioned, did the artful tempter plant Him, and
said unto Him, "If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself
down from hence; for it is written, He shall give His angels.
charge over Thee, to keep Thee: and in their hands they
shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot
against a stone."
Not only was the scene chosen with the utmost skill, to
raise in the mind of the Saviour such an enthusiasm of divine
trust as might have brought Him into the most compliant
mood with the artful request, but it likewise found Him in the
mood in which He was the most likely to comply. The arch-
magician of evil, by his superhuman arts, had brought before.
the eye of His mind, and perhaps, also, of His body, whatever
is noble in the mastership and single sovereignty of the earth.
He had wrought upon the natural desire which there is in
man for glory and renown, shewed Him nations ready at His
call, monarchs waiting upon His nod, wise men bringing the
offerings of their wisdom, and great men the offerings of their
services to His shrine. He shewed Him how busily the nations
were working at his work: how the princes were partitioning
the fair earth, pleased with the vastness of their dominion; how
the warriors were reaping the fields of their bloody deeds, and
politicians gathering in harvests of their political renown;
how inventors were inventing arts, and poets inditing glorious.
imaginations for the honours of apotheosis and a seat among
the gods,-all of them serving, as they thought, their own glory,
while he, even the prince of this world, was the master for
whom they wrought, who kept his secure seat upon the throne
VOL. II.
Q
1
242
THE TEMPTATION.
of their sinful hearts, working each several desire and inclina-
tion to his will, and from his high fortresses in the gay orna-
ments and strong delusions of the world, exercising an un-
divided supremacy over the decayed fancies and subject
resolutions of men ;—all which he proffered in full possession
to Christ-not a monarch's lifetime of it, but that spiritual
supremacy, that mastery within the veil, which he himself had
held since the direful fall. Now, the Saviour was not a stock
or stone, that these visions and this offer of things should pass
before Him without power or impression. He was not an
angel or unearthly being, that, being beheld, they should work
in Him no human desires. It was of the very essence of His
being to be touched by them, and moved with them, as
another human being is. What, then, defended Him against
yielding to that, the smallest portion of which daily overcomes
the strongest of minds, and seduceth unawares the most pious
and devout hearts, whereof they make constant confession to
God, humbly seeking forgiveness? That which shielded and
protected Jesus from this assault upon the noble parts of
human nature, was the activity of other parts still more noble.
His relation to God and to the world to come was present
to His mind, and defended Him from falling. He remem-
bered a higher Spirit than that powerful spirit before Him,
and a nobler glory than the glory of the nations of the earth.
He foresaw, also, a higher destiny, when, through much sor-
row and tribulation, He should come to His kingdom. And
though the prospect was distant and much overclouded,
He descried through the vista of ages the coming of His
kingdom, and the attainment, at length, of that very sove-
reignty which Satan now offered Him over the earth, when it
should be held, not in allegiance to Satan, from whom by dis-
honourable prostration it had been purchased, but in right of
redemption, held, not for the interests of Satan, but for the
interests of God. And I doubt not, that at this perilous
moment the man Christ Jesus remembered all the grounds to
hope and trust in Him which the Lord had given to Messiah
since the world began-all which, by Moses, and the prophets,
and the psalms, had been testified of Him-all which was
figured of Him in the law and history of Abraham's seed-
THE TEMPTATION.
243
*
*
[It has been found impossible to give these Lectures at greater length. The
MS. here terminates abruptly.]
*
*
*
*
*
all that had signified His coming and His work to the nations
--and all that He had received of direct attestation from on
high: as the sending of a messenger before His face to pre-
pare His way, His own angel-announced approach, His arrival
amidst heaven's glorious minstrelsy and the heraldry of angels,
the homage of the country round, and the wise men from
afar, to the new-born Son of God, His reception in the temple
by the two old and hoary servants of God, the holy Simeon
and Anna the prophetess, His preservation from the sword of
Herod, the wonder which wrought within His youthful mind,
and the tokens of the Lord's favour which He had received
during His opening manhood, until at length He was pro-
claimed with God's own voice, and by God's own Spirit set
apart, under the high denomination of God's own Son, for
taking away the sin of the world. His mind being filled with
these things, which appertained to Him as Messiah, much of
which had been fulfilled, and the rest of which stood over for
fulfilment upon His finishing His mighty work, there was no
power in the worldly attractions. They were outdone by
higher attractions. The love of God cast out the love of the
world, and the veneration of God cast out the veneration of
the god of this world; piety prevailed against power, as
patient trial had formerly prevailed against appetite, and he
said, I will worship the Lord my God, and Him only will I
serve.
HOMILIES ON BAPTISM.
"We utterly condemn the vanity of those who affirm the Sacraments to be
nothing but naked and bare signs."-Confession of Scotch Reformers.
1
ΤΟ
ISABELLA IRVING,
MY WIFE,
AND THE MOTHER OF MY TWO DEPARTED CHILDREN.
I
MY HONOURED AND BELOVED WIFE,
BELIEVE in my heart, that the doctrine of the holy Sacraments,
which is contained in these Homilies, was made known to
my mind, first of all, for the purpose of preparing us for the loss of
our eldest boy; because, on that very week you went with him to
Scotland, whence he never returned, my mind was directed to meditate
and preach those discourses upon the standing of the baptized in the
Church, which form the sixth and seventh of the Homilies on Baptism.
I believe it also, because, long before our little Edward was stricken by
the hand of God in Scotland, I was led to open these views to you in
letters, which, by God's grace, were made efficacious to convince your
mind. I believe it, furthermore, because the thought contained in those
two Homilies remained in my mind, like an unsprung seed, until it was
watered by the common tears which we shed over our dying Mary.
From that time forth, I felt that the truth concerning Baptism, which
had been revealed for our special consolation, was not for that end given,
nor for that end to be retained; and therefore I resolved, at every risk,
to open to all the fathers and mothers of the Christian Church, the
thoughts which had ministered to us so much consolation.
I desire most gratefully to acknowledge my obligations to the fathers
of the Scottish Church, whose Confession of Faith concerning the Sacra-
ments, and especially that sentence which I have placed as the motto of
this book, were, under God, made instrumental in opening to me the
248
DEDICATION.
whole truth of Holy Scripture concerning Baptism and the Lord's
Supper; of which having been convinced by God's blessing upon these
words of my fathers in the Church, upon consulting the venerable com-
panion of my early studies, Richard Hooker, I found such a masterly
treatise upon the whole subject of the Sacraments, that I scrupled not
to rank as one of his disciples, and to prefer his exposition infinitely to
my own; yet to both, to prefer that sentence of our own Confession
which I have placed as the motto of my book. For this reason it is,
that I have reprinted those parts of Hooker's treatise which concern the
doctrine of the Sacraments.
And now, my dear Wife, as we have been sorely tried of the Lord,
by the removal of two such sweet children, let us be full of prayers and
fellow-feeling for those who are in like manner tried; and, above all,
be diligent in waiting upon those children of Christian Baptism, whom
Christ hath committed to my charge, as a bishop and shepherd of His
flock. Unto all whom, even as many as by my hands have been ad-
mitted into His Church, I do now bestow my fatherly benediction in the
Lord. May the Lord make you the mother of many children, to glorify
His name for ever and ever. This is the prayer of your loving hus-
band,
EDWARD IRVING.
[This Dedication was prefixed to the volume containing the Homilies on Bap-
tism (published in 1828.) It was intended to publish another volume of Homilies
on the Lord's Supper. That intention, however, was never carried out, and the
Homilies are now printed for the first time from the author's MSS. The selec-
tions from Hooker's Treatise are of course omitted.]
HOMILY I.
THE SIGNIFICATION OF THIS ORDINANCE.
MATT. XXVIII. 19.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
THE symbolical rites of religion differ from its ordinary
observances in this, that there is couched under them a
meaning, which expresseth itself in the symbols, and in the
words which are appointed to be spoken over them. And
the doctrines which are so embodied under a visible form are
the most important doctrines; whose greater importance it is
that giveth them the title to be recorded in a more expressive
and enduring form. For that which liveth in a sensible sign
not only speaketh more plainly, but hath also a greater
security of life, than that which liveth but in oral or written
tradition as we see by the relics of heathen customs, which
survive amongst the people even to this day, long after all
trace of writing and memory of oral traditions have departed.
Therefore the distinguishing characteristics of every dispensa-
tion are, for the sake of greater security, enshrined in a sub-
stantial form. The covenant with Noah, that no second flood
should come up over the earth, but that we should get leave
to sow and reap in security, was embodied to the sense in the
sign of the rainbow. The covenant with Abraham, that in
his seed the ends of the earth should be blessed, was em-
bodied to the sense in the rite of circumcision. And even
the leading facts of the Jewish history were secured in a
similar manner: their deliverance from Egypt, and the stand-
ing order of the priesthood, by the preservation of Aaron's
rod that budded; their receiving laws from God upon Sinai,
by the preservation of the tables of stone; their divine sus-
250
OF BAPTISM.
tenance in the wilderness, by the pot of manna; the presence
of Jehovah, by the glorious forms above the mercy-seat;
and the communications of Jehovah, by the Urim and Thum-
mim, which the high priest wore upon his breast. All these
are deep resources of wisdom for preserving what is most
necessary to be preserved; sensible forms for containing
spiritual meaning; new securities taken against the power of
time, which changeth all things; the statuary of truth, which
may endure, though the picturing and writing of it should be
effaced.
Of these symbolical rites, two have been left by the Lord
Jesus Christ, significant of what He did, and still continueth
to do, for the children of men: these are, Baptism and the
Lord's Supper: concerning which it is our purpose to dis-
course; having this day to administer the former, and soon to
administer the latter, in the presence of this congregation.
Which two symbolical ordinances, we shall shew, manifest, in
the simplest and most expressive forms, the substance of what
the Saviour hath done and taught unto mankind: so that, if
the books of Scripture were lost, and these two sacraments,
with the words pronounced over them, preserved, they would
be sufficient to suggest to a reflective mind the great ideas of
the Christian revelation. And to that great portion of man-
kind who are unable to read for themselves, they speak,
whenever they are set forth in simplicity, the great truths
upon which the world's redemption dependeth, and for want
of which the world would shrink back into its former dark-
ness and barbarism.
man.
But for this very reason, that these two rites speak to the
sense the most deep and mysterious truths of the Christian.
faith, they are liable to be abused to the degrading ends of
superstition, by the natural sensuality and cunning artifice of
For of superstition this is the essential character, that
it seeketh the spiritual in the sensible; and transferreth to
sensible things, first as emblems, afterwards as realities, the
reverence which is due only to things unseen and eternal.
Accordingly, the Roman Catholic Church, which out of the
most spiritual of all systems of truth hath constructed one of
the most perfect and debasing of all superstitions, hath fixed
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
251
the whole meaning of the Christian sacraments in the worth-
less mixture which they consecrate instead of pure water, and
in the bread and wine, which they worship as the very body
and blood of Christ, the substance of the invisible God. And
perceiving the power which they thereby acquired over that
ignorance which the Sun of Righteousness came to scatter,
(but they have used His coming to deepen it,) they have
increased the number of the sacraments to seven; exalting
ordinary services, which have no meaning further than what
is plainly spoken, into mysterious and allegorical representa-
tions of subtle and sublime truth. And, pursuing the same
course of bringing the spiritual into subjection to the sensual,
they have introduced artificial emblems everywhere: lights
and lanterns, to represent the illumination of the Spirit; holy
water, to represent the purification of heart which God re-
quireth of His worshippers; the sign of the cross, to denote
our trust in the Redeemer of men. And even the facts of the
gospel history they have set forth, by holy days, and proces-
sions, and mystical celebrations, to take the senses of the
multitude. Which, verily, I cannot think of without abhor-
rence, I cannot speak of without detestation of those who,
however well-intentioned, first brought these forms to eclipse
the light of the gospel and enthral the souls of the people,
and make, out of a spirit-quickening and spirit-sustaining
religion, one of the most gross and sensualising superstitions.
upon the face of the whole earth.
On the other hand, and in direct opposition to them, the
Famulists, and the Society of Friends, and other mystics,
perceiving that the chief, and I may almost say single object
of our faith, is to quicken the spirit, buried at present in sense
and worldliness, and to give to the things unseen and eternal
the victory over the things seen and temporal, have discarded
the two emblematical ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's
Supper, as not savouring of the spiritual character of Christ's
discipline. Wherein they have certainly gone too far in a good
direction. For though it be the chief, and perhaps single
object of our faith to quicken the spirit, and give it the victory
over the sense; to strengthen faith, and give it the mastery
of sight; yet in bringing this to pass God hath always revealed.
252
OF BAPTISM.
Himself through the medium of the sense. For what is the
incarnation of Christ but a great demonstration of the God-
head to the sense? what His death and resurrection, but a
declaration of life and immortality to the sense? So that
God useth the sense in order to spoil the sense, as He used
mortality in order to spoil mortality. Wherefore, if He saw
it expedient, in making Himself known to the understanding
and spirit of man, to give to His Son a body, and bring Him
under bodily conditions, and so plant the gospel upon the
earth, why should it be inconsistent to continue those two
emblems, which were left to commemorate, through the sense
to the spirit, those things which in that way were first revealed?
And hence our Reformers shewed that spirit of wisdom with
which they were endowed by nature and by the Spirit from
on high, that, while they swept away those impositions which
the Church calling itself infallible, at its pleasure, and for its
aggrandisement, had added from time to time, as the ignor-
ance of men would bear them, they were careful not to refine
or spiritualise upon any of the institutions and establishments
of the great Head of the Church, and have left us these two
sacraments in the primitive simplicity in which they found
them set forth in the Holy Scriptures.
These two holy rites of Baptism and the Lord's Supper,
established by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by Him given in
charge to His apostles, by His apostles established in the
churches which they planted, and ever since continued in the
Church, let us now, in devout dependence upon the grace of
God, do our endeavour to examine and understand; that, so
often as they are dispensed in the midst of us, we may be
filled with their spiritual meaning, and praise the Lord our
Saviour for having left us such signal manifestations of the
great work which He hath wrought for the redemption of a
fallen world.
The signs which embody any doctrine, and declare it to
the sense of man, should be so well chosen as to speak their
own meaning: for, if they needed any ingenuity or demon-
stration to help us to it, the end of their establishment would
fail, which is, to render them independent of the frailty and
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
253
imperfection of oral or written tradition, by giving them the
substantial or statuary form of expression. Therefore, in
shewing forth the signification of baptism-which is the
object of this discourse-we should speak not with the wis-
dom of words, but, as it were, with the dumb show of signs.
Taking the symbols into our hands, we should ask ourselves
what this and this meaneth, and must mean, to all who be-
hold it and that is the truest interpretation which is the
most evident,-that the best demonstration which needeth the
least to be demonstrated.
An infant, in the earliest age of its worldly existence, is
brought by its father to a fountain of pure water, to be
dipped therein by the priest, or washed therewith when the
convenience of time and place admitteth not the former to be
done. To immerse in pure water, or to wash with pure
water, is, everywhere over the world, used for the purpose of
cleansing away impurity, and to all men hath such a significa-
tion. But here is no visible, outward impurity in the child,
for which it is brought to the fountain. Therefore, as the
rite is emblematical of purification, and there is no outward
impurity to be washed away, the impurity signified must be
inward, or spiritual impurity. But this child hath not yet
been conscious of good or ill, and cannot have contracted any
guilt, being admissible to this ordinance as soon as born: it
cannot, therefore, be intended against actual impurity con-
tracted by itself: it must be for the sake of some impurity
which it hath brought with it into the world, that Christ hath
appointed it to be washed with the waters of baptism.
Here, then, to any mind which reflecteth upon the rite of
baptism, is revealed the fundamental doctrine of revealed
religion-that we are shapen in sin, and brought forth in
iniquity, and are transgressors from the womb of our mother.
If the reflective mind goes on to inquire, And what availeth
water to cleanse away the defilement of the immaterial soul?
the question doth not admit of an answer, for it is of the very
nature and essence of an emblem that it should not be a
reality. If water could cleanse the soul, then the thing would
254
OF BAPTISM.
not be an emblem, but a reality. It would be a real experi-
mental truth, not a spiritual truth, exhibited, if the way how
it came to pass could be seen through. And here we are
upon the margin of deep waters, and touch the great dis-
tinction between truth of reason and truth of revelation,
between philosophy and religion. The former is truth mani-
fested to our senses and experience, occurrences and realities:
the latter is truth never discoverable in the currency of life,
or the labour of experimenting,-as it is written, "which
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the
heart of man to conceive;" but which God hath revealed to
us by His Spirit, and manifested by revelation, through the
help of emblems taken from actual life. And herein lieth
the Hutchinsonian doctrine, which is the mother of all
mystery, that, not content with what emblems God hath
served Himself withal for the manifestation of what truth was
necessary to man's redemption, it taketh a bolder wing,
and holdeth that all visible things and philosophical truths
are but emblems of spiritual truth, which it is the purpose of
man's life to discover: thus extending the fact, that religion.
is truth discovered by natural emblems, into a universal
system, that all nature is but, as it were, a visible impression
of the spiritual truth which is behind: and as the day hideth
the stars, so the vision of things hideth the spiritual meaning
of things. But, to return to the emblem before us. Though
we could not discover, from what is done or said in the ad-
ministration of baptism, that the water serveth any purpose
but as the emblem of purification; yet if we go into the
Scriptures, which is beside our present purpose, seeing we
are reading their emblem only,—it is manifest, in every page,
that it signifies no less than the blood of Christ, which taketh
away the sin of the world; the fountain of the Holy Spirit
opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness,
whence Jesus is said to wash us with His own blood: "Unto
Him that hath loved us, and washed us with His own blood."
But upon this we do not insist.
The first doctrine, therefore, that is to be gathered from
baptism is, that the natural pollution which we bring with us
into the world is washed away. And if we go to search in
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
255
the Scriptures, we further find, that it is washed away by the
blood of Christ: but, adhering to the rigid principle of inter-
preting a symbol without foreign aid, this is not to be inferred
from the rite itself.
While the infant is baptized with water, these words are
pronounced over it: "I baptize thee in the name of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," in obedience to
the last injunction laid by our Saviour upon His apostles:
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Here is a declaration of the threefold nature of God, as the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and, being connected
with the cleansing or washing of the child, doth imply that
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are concerned in the
great work of purging away the original sin of mankind: and
its being said in "the name," and not in the names, doth im-
ply that they are One. So that every time a child is bap-
tized, there is a distinct avowal of the existence of a God; of
the threefold personalities of the Godhead; and of the opera-
tion of each, and the co-operation of all, to the great work of
purging away sin, which is shadowed forth. I purposely
abstain from controversy; but if Christ be only a creature,
and if the Holy Ghost be nothing at all but "an Eastern
manner of speech," there never was such a method taken of
disguising truth and of propagating error as this, appointed
by Jesus, of baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost: for surely every one who heareth must
conclude, that if the Father be a reality, the Holy Ghost is a
reality; and if the Father be a Person in the Godhead, so is
the Son, and so is the Holy Ghost. In baptism, then, we
have further shewn forth to the world the doctrines of the
Trinity, and of the co-operation of the three Persons in the
Trinity in the taking away of the natural corruption of the
human soul. And more than this is not said or done: more,
therefore, than this, we think, is not signified: but this,
simple as it is, sustaineth many conclusions, imparteth much
consolation, and imposeth weighty obligation, into which we
would now enter a little.
1. The symbolical ordinance which hath been explained.
256
OF BAPTISM.
hath a threefold intention: first, to the beholders; secondly,
to the child; and, thirdly, to the parents or sponsors of the
child. To all men, who behold and witness this holy sacra-
ment, it sheweth the way which is opened for the forgiveness
of sins to be through the knowledge of God the Father, of
Christ the Redeemer, and of the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier of
men. And if they be worshipping God under the deistical
notion of unity of person, it warneth them of the falsehood
and unprofitableness thereof, and teacheth them, that, if they
would be delivered from sin, they must contemplate Him
under the Christian idea of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
For the ends of salvation, and sanctification, and spiritual
life, it teacheth us that this manifestation of the Godhead will
alone avail;-that, however the words Deity, and God of
nature, and Author of the universe, and such phrases, may
amuse the mind; to sanctify and purify the mind, no concep-
tion, no faith of the Godhead availeth, but this Unity and
Trinity, which is again and again and evermore pronounced
in conjunction with the great symbolical rite of purification.
If, moreover, there should be any one who believeth not in
the original impurity and fallen condition of man, it re-
buketh him of his error, and teacheth him that this is the
very first and fundamental doctrine of our faith; that which
every one who enters the Church must first bow to; that which
is declared as often as a new member is added to the Church;
the constant doctrine, the constant truth, without which re-
demption were folly and the gospel a fable. Moreover, if any
one should doubt of the immortality of man, or the immor-
tality of children, then let them behold it declared over them
as soon as born, that not only do they live after death, but
that God prepareth them from the beginning for heaven, by
washing them with the waters of regeneration. If any one
should have any doubts what becometh of the soul of a little
child which is cut off before it is capable of actual transgres-
sion, let him take good hope from that which he beholdeth
in baptism, that the God who admitted the infant to the rite.
of baptism, to be trained up in His Church, will admit it to
the Church which is above, there to minister in His holy
service. And if any one, groaning under the load of his sins,
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
257
should say within himself, Who shall deliver me from this
body of sin and death? here is "the figure of that which now
saveth us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but
the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resur-
rection of Jesus Christ." And, finally, if any one should be
reposing his hope of pardon upon his own righteousness, here
is the testimony against all such vain confidence; wherein an
infant, before it hath conceived any good, is freely pardoned
and cleansed, by the unbought and unmerited salvation of
Christ.
2. As it respects the child, there is at this time a very
strong controversy in these parts whether all that is signified
in Scripture under the name of the new birth be or be not
conferred in this ordinance upon the spirit of the child. Now,
upon this subject, if those who are interested in the contro-
versy will give me a candid ear, I doubt not to be able to
say something towards adjusting the question at issue, while
I open unto those who are in the better condition of not
having made a controversy of it, the true benefit derived unto
the child.
In the discourse of our Lord with Nicodemus, it is said,
"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven." And St Paul, "Know
ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death? therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death." From which it is inferred, that
if the immersion in the waters of baptism be the emblem of
our death, the rising out of them must be the emblem of our
second birth. And, again, it is written, "Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and re-
newing of the Holy Ghost." From these and similar pas-
sages, it is inferred, that what is said in Scripture of the new
birth, and of regeneration, is to be applied to baptism. At
which the more serious and spiritual take offence, as if it
destroyed the necessity of a holy life, and threw the whole
work and evidence of a man's salvation upon a rite, and so
brought in the most fatal errors of the Popish superstition.
There is no doubt that, by the apostles, baptism is referred
VOL. II.
R
258
OF BAPTISM.
to under the similitude of a burial and a new birth; because
by that rite a believer was taken from the society of the
world into the society of the faithful, adopted amongst the
visible children of God, and made an heir of the inheritance
of life. Therefore, to those to whom they wrote it was natural
for them to appeal to this as the beginning of their spiritual
life; and the act which marked their putting off of the old man,
and their putting on the new; the death of the carnal, and the
birth of the spiritual man. In the same spirit, the apostle,
when writing to those converts who fell away, chargeth them
with having "denied the Lord that bought them;" with having
"trampled under foot the blood of the covenant, with which
they were sanctified;" with having "crucified the Lord afresh,
and put Him to an open shame." But though some had
broken the covenant, it did not therefore lose its significancy
to those who still lived under it: though some trampled
the blood of it under foot, their unholiness did not desecrate.
it, but rather consecrate it the more, in the eyes of those who
still trusted in Christ. And, in like manner, though many of
those children who are washed with the waters of baptism in
every Church, and especially in those Churches whereof the
discipline is relaxed, grow up in ignorance and disobedience
of Christ, and manifest themselves to be the children of the
devil, and not of God, we are not, in order to get rid of them,
to break up and destroy the meaning and purpose of the
ordinance to those who continue steadfast in the faith, and
by whom it should be regarded as the first testimony of
Christ's love, and the public declaration of His willingness to
save them. Therefore, while I would retain the doctrine of
baptism as a new birth, and use that idea as freely as the
apostles did, and urge it as I always do; I would not the
less, but rather the more, inculcate the possibility of falling
under the power of sin, and being lost in fearful apostasy; the
necessity of conversion from our sins, by the Father's effectual
calling of us unto Christ, and by the Holy Ghost proceeding,
through Christ, to quicken those whom the Father hath given
Him in all the life of holiness; with every particular duty and
grace which appertaineth unto sanctification.
For as when we are born of our natural parents the seeds
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
259
of a corrupt nature are thereby conveyed to us, so when we
are baptized into Christ the seeds of a spiritual nature are
thereby conveyed to us: otherwise it were vain to hope that
there could be any fruit of holiness yielded to our husbandry
of prayer, faith, and instruction.
Baptism declaring the
child's natural deadness and inherent corruptness, placeth a
bar against all dealing with the child; for who laboureth upon
the dead? This bar it must remove, otherwise it were the
inlet to no good hopes or painful labours of faith and love.
If it declareth spiritual death, it must also declare spiritual
life, or be utterly ruinous to all purposes and endeavours after
holiness. But as the principle of natural life will soon cease,
unless the means of natural health-food, raiment, and care-
be afforded; so the principle of spiritual life is also made
dependent upon the Spirit of God, who is given to the faith
and prayers of the Church, to the spiritual affections, and the
spiritual instructions, and the holy walk and conversation of
parents. And as the evil born in every child is not developed
but by the help of a fallen world acting thereon; so the seed
of a spiritual life is not developed without a world of redemp-
tion acting thereon. The one world is the visible; the other
world is the invisible, revealed in the Word of God, and
brought into us by the Spirit. And as the eye and the other
senses, when in the flesh, are our instruments of communi-
cation with the visible world; so faith, which is as strong
and desirous in childhood as sense is, and as often called into
exercise, needeth to be turned to the things invisible, that it
may become acquainted with and repose its trust upon them.
And so it is that the new birth of baptism no more answers
to the perfect manhood of a saint, than the old birth of nature
answers to the perfect manhood of the creature. But with
more confidence than a parent trusts by proper care to rear
his child to the maturity of natural life, may he trust, I think,
to rear his child to the maturity of spiritual life: for the for-
mer is dependent upon the diseases, and accidents, and other
forerunners of death; but the latter hath no necessary depend-
ence upon anything but the Spirit of God, which no power
can hinder from blowing, like the wind, whithersoever He
listeth. Nay, more: as the child is secured in its life only
260
OF BAPTISM.
by the force of nature in the breast of its parent, who, when
it cries for bread, will not give it a stone to mock it; when it
cries for a fish, will not give it a serpent to sting it; so have
I the highest authority for saying, that the Father of men
and children is more willing to bestow His Spirit, which is the
only upholder of spiritual life, upon every one who asketh.
No man may take upon him to separate the effectual work-
ing of the Holy Spirit from baptism, without making void all
the ordinances of the visible Church; which become idle cere-
monies, or worse, save for the faith that the Holy Spirit may
be and is in them of a truth, to all to whom the Father grant-
eth the faith of His presence in them. On the other hand,
no one may connect the Holy Spirit absolutely and neces-
sarily with the administration of baptism; for thereby he
would take the gift out of the electing will of the Father, and
the redeeming love of Christ, and fix it in an outward visible
act of an ordained priest: which act of a man will, in process
of time and progress of ignorance, come to usurp the attri-
butes of the Almighty Persons from whom the Spirit pro-
ceedeth. Therefore is it good and right to say, that every
one who cometh to receive baptism, whether for himself or
for his child, should come in the full faith and assurance of
having his sins remitted, and of receiving the Holy Ghost:
remembering always, that faith is not our work, but the gift
of God by Jesus Christ; and believing that this faith being
present, the Holy Spirit is assuredly present in this and every
other ordinance of the Church?
Here, then, is the mystery of baptism revealed unto all
believers-and a most glorious mystery it is-that no sooner
is a child born into this world of sinfulness and sorrow by
natural birth, than, by a spiritual birth, it is born into a
spiritual world of grace and blessedness. The dispensation
of redemption is placed coeval with the dispensation of re-
covery, the seed of immortality with the seed of mortality;
and before the principle of ill hath gotten a hold, the principle
of good is also implanted, to wrestle with and strangle it in
its cradle in order that the hearts of the parents may be
encouraged to do for the sake of their unconscious babe the
offices of spiritual parents no less carefully than they do the
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
261
offices of natural parents; that they may be taught to place
their confidence in Christ, for the sake of their little one, no
less than they do for the sake of themselves; and that, as
their little one grows conscious of good and evil, they may
restrain the one, and encourage the other, in full assurance
of the blessing of Him who allowed His thrice-holy Name to
be named over it; and, when they begin to furnish it with
natural knowledge for the business of life, that they may
furnish it with spiritual knowledge for the life that is to come;
inform it, from the very first dawn of intelligence, how God
adopted it for His own, without any recommendation, calling
Himself its Father; how Christ at the same time signified
His interest in it as its Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost His
work in it as its Sanctifier; that the Persons of the Godhead
allowed their Name to be named over it, and its impurity to
be washed away in the fountain opened for sin and for un-
cleanness;—that it may know that it is not its own, but
bought with a price, even with the blood of Christ, as of a
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. To have the
hearts of parents thus impressed, and thus assured, and thus
bound over to spiritual duties; to have a child thus initiated
into grace, thus commended to God from its mother's womb,
thus possessed with spiritual strength as it grows into natural
strength, and thus fortified with prayers beforehand,—this
surely maketh infant baptism no unmeaning service, maketh
this emblem of the new birth no unmeaning emblem.
And here, though I would not go out of the direct way of
spiritual instruction for the sake of controversy, yet I do see
it of so much importance to the justification of the orthodox
faith established in the Churches, which is girded at by upstart
innovations, as if it were an antiquated folly, and an unreason-
able imposition of custom, that I cannot help saying one.
word to the opposers of infant baptism, upon what they lose.
by deferring this holy rite. They trust the instruction of the
souls of the children to parents, as if it were an ordinary duty;
whereas, to my thought, like the salvation of our own souls,
it standeth out of the list of ordinary duties, in a place of
solitary sacredness, above and aloof from all earthly vocations.
Next, their children grow up without any assurance that the
262
OF BAPTISM.
Saviour hath taken any interest in them, or doth take any
interest in them. There are no primitive bonds, no co-natal
obligations upon their souls. Their religion cometh all from
the future, in nothing from the past. They feel free to the
question, whether they shall be Christians or not: and they
feel out of all obligations, till they take them upon themselves
by consent. Now, for the soul thus to fancy itself for so
many years unobliged—which it must do when so much new
obligation is left to it to take upon itself-is the most heinous
of all things for during this season Satan hath possession
of all that ground of liberty, which waiteth for future occu-
pation; and the probability is, he will so possess it as to
bind them wholly over to himself. Certainly it were a very
dangerous thing if our children were put away from us at
their birth, and brought up remote until they reached years
of maturity, when they might decide whether they would
take upon them the obligations of children and enter under
the obedience of their parents: so dangerous a thing it is to
allow the children of God to grow up till a certain period
without the idea of their being His children, and then leave it
to themselves to decide whether they shall become so or not;
as if an affection grew out of a reason, or everlasting relations
were established by a process of logic. And as to the notion
that they may be taught they are the children of God with-
out any reference to the adoption of grace through Christ, I
hold it to be a Deistical, and not a Christian notion; and to
be proper discipline for the children of a Deist, but most unfit
for the children of a Christian, who in everything sees Christ
as the way unto God, and contemplates every relation which
he beareth to God through the mediation of Christ.
But, to return. In the sense which hath been explained
above, the sacrament of baptism may well enough be con-
sidered as a birth of grace, but a birth dependent upon the
means of grace for its growth and perfection;—an assurance
to all men that the seed of a spiritual life is bestowed by
Christ upon them from the womb, and waits, in order to its
growth, for the application of spiritual means, to which it
will disclose itself more certainly than life will disclose itself
by proper use of the means of health, (but without these
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
263
means it will not be developed :) yet never departeth while
life endureth, but there remaineth, a shame to the present
lethargy of man, and a condemnation hereafter of his wicked-
uess.
Baptism is the solemn sign which makes this great
truth known to the world. It makes it known to those to
whom it is not applied, no less than to those to whom it is
applied; testifying, to all who have eyes to see and ears to
hear, the everlasting truth, that Christ is the resurrection and
the life, the immortality of every mortal creature, and the
light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
It is a manifestation, I say, to all; and it ought to be a con-
viction to all of you, whether baptized or unbaptized, who
behold the sacred rite administered. But it is no assurance
that the spiritual life will be developed in the little one: this
dependeth upon the use of all the appointed means, and the
blessing of God upon every one of them: for there are laws
of the spiritual world no less than of the natural, in obedience
to which it proceedeth; which laws are not discoverable by
reason, but revealed to faith in the word of God. Though I
call it, therefore, the new birth, or the manifestation of another
nature than that which is visible, I do not preclude the doc-
trine of conversion. For if the child give way to the strivings
of evil, rather than to the strivings of good within it, then it
needeth to be converted or turned to the right way: and if it
have borne the image of the old man, it needeth to bear the
image of the new; if it have been obedient to the devil, the
world, and the flesh, it needeth to be changed in the spirit of
its mind, and regenerated after the image of God in righteous-
ness and true holiness. So that while I preserve the sym-
bolical meaning of baptism, and apply to it the language of
Scripture, I introduce no Roman Catholic doctrine of salva-
tion by works—or, rather, salvation by forms-but preserve
the integrity and soundness of our Protestant faith.
3. Thirdly, This ordinance hath a special blessing and
benefit in it to parents, which I now hold myself bound to
open.
The parent, or the sponsor when the parent is not con-
sidered by the Church to be a responsible person, (and in
every other case I consider the use of sponsors to be both
264
OF BAPTISM.
unwarrantable and most destructive of parental obligation,)
is by the sacrament of baptism placed to the child in a new
relationship, which groweth out of the preceding doctrine, and
is as follows: The parent, in the very act of presenting his
child to be buried with Christ in baptism, doth declare unto
the Church that his child deriveth from him nothing but sin
and death; and in the act of baptism he doth, like Abraham,
offer up his Isaac, who from thenceforth becometh dead and
buried by the voluntary deed of the believing parent: so that
I may say the relationship of nature existeth no longer, and
a relationship of grace is constituted in its stead; which thus
ariseth God having permitted His Name to be named upon
the child, it is, in the eye of faith, His by adoption through
Christ; and being given to Christ to keep, He giveth it over
to His Church, who hath all His charges on the earth given into
her hand, being the sponsor and mother of the household:
and from that time forth the infant is the child of Christ and
His Church. Now, the Church, in order to discharge her sacred
office, appointeth one who is willing, and whom she deemeth
worthy, to be responsible for so high an office and as Isaac,
cut off in the flesh and raised in the spirit, was given to the
faithful Abraham to be reared up for the Father of spirits; so
deem we no one so fit, if worthy, to be honoured with this charge
as the father; thereby sanctifying the ordinance of nature
into an ordinance of grace. Nevertheless the Church standeth
sponsor to Christ, and the parent to the Church; who, if she
find the duty neglected, may, and doth, by means of catechists,
and, if need be, I suppose, by actual separation from the
neglectful parent, accomplish that which she is charged withal
by the Head of the Church. And hence the origin and the
duty of ministerial examination of adults, to ascertain their
ability for this duty; and of children to ascertain that it be
duly discharged. This, no doubt, is the standing of a parent
or sponsor to any baptized child, that he is responsible to the
Church, who is responsible to Christ, who is responsible to
God.
And of the great blessedness of the relationship which is
thus constituted, I have to observe, that though this sacra-
ment doth not secure to you the salvation of your children,-
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
265
which, if they live, they must work out against many enemies,
and enter into the kingdom through much tribulation,—yet I
think it gives you the best grounds to hope that those of your
children whom it may please the Lord to take away in child-
hood, He taketh unto Himself; for if He hath given a sign that
their original impurity is washed away in the blood of Christ,
and allowed His thrice-holy Name to be named over them, and
they have not had any occasion of excluding themselves from
the covenant, then I see not why we should doubt that the
Saviour will take them unto Himself, and train their spirits
up for glory-if training they need-in some more favoured
region than this fallen world, in which we are working our
weary way towards the city of our God. (The very question
of a child's immortality would have been a difficult question,
but for this holy sacrament, which proclaims its relation to
the Father of spirits; and for several sayings of Christ con-
cerning children, that of “such are the kingdom of heaven,”
and that their "angels continually behold the face of their
Father which is in heaven.") But if the children be spared
to arrive at maturity, the blessing bestowed upon a family in
the sacrament of baptism is not the less that its infant spiritual
life is cast upon all the uncertainties of ill-directed education,
and all the temptations of an evil world: for baptism is the
only assurance to you that its salvation is possible; that its
natural corruption would not, like a millstone, have weighed
it down in the grossness and darkness of wickedness for ever.
This is your only hope of a holy and dutiful life here, and of
life everlasting. All your parental affections are implicated
with the assurances of this rite, and all your parental hopes
do issue thence as from a fountain. Without this demonstra-
tion of heaven for your little ones, what had you to look for
but the average chance of children, the haphazard of the
world? But if you improve the assurance conveyed in this
holy ordinance, you may almost be confident of an affec-
tionate, dutiful, and pious offspring. Do you say, But this
also depends on circumstances. I answer, And what does.
not? The life of your child depends upon circumstances; yet
you are not hindered from rejoicing in its birth, and calling
upon your friends to rejoice along with you. Your own sal-
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OF BAPTISM.
vation depends upon circumstances, by the means of grace;
yet you rejoice not the less in the glorious gospel. The good
of everything depends upon circumstances; and therefore
there should be no joy nor gladness in the world, if we are
not to rejoice in the baptism of our child, because, haply, its
spiritual life may be shipwrecked amidst the evil disasters of
time. But this is not a matter of hap or hazard, as I have
already said. I think baptism is the assurance to a parent of
a child's salvation, provided he, as its parent, take the even
and holy course set forth to him in the gospel: at least, I am
convinced every parent ought to act upon this assurance, and
humbly leave the result in the hands of God. And certainly
there could have been no expectation to us of meeting our
children in the world to come, had it not been for this blessed
rite, which takes off from them the guilt of their natural cor-
ruption, and cleanseth them of what they derive from us:
thereby giving the best assurance of their being cleansed, by
the same blood of Christ, from the guilt which they afterwards
contract, provided they trust in His salvation, and walk in the
obedience of all His commandments.
But certainly "without holiness no man shall see the Lord;"
and our children, as well as their fathers, if they forsake the
Shepherd and Bishop of their souls to follow after the devices
of their own hearts, will descend to the chambers of the grave;
but this condition, instead of being a painful one, is itself as
sweet and gracious, and should be accounted as much our
privilege, as was the first initiation into this divine way: for
every deliverance from the power of sin is, as it were, the
renewal of that first washing; and to the growing saint it is
a continual washing of regeneration, and a continual rising
unto newness of life. And this first act of purification is the
assurance of all that are to follow; and all that follow should
be ensued because of the earnest given to us before we could
seek it or pray for it; and therefore parents should be thankful
for this condition of progressive holiness being annexed to the
primeval gift, as a continuation and realising of the gift.
To make this matter plain, by an illustration, of the benefit
conferred by baptism upon the parents of a child, let me sup-
pose this parallel case: That to the parents, while yet the joy
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
267
over their new-born babe was fresh, and they had called their
friends to rejoice along with them; into the joyful company
the sovereign of the land, or one graciously commissioned by
him, should enter, and, looking upon the child, declare towards
it a dear and tender attachment, should take it in his arms
and bless it: that of itself were an honour to make the parents
happy, and talk of while they live. But suppose, further, that
the gracious sovereign should declare that he would provide
for their child in royal style,—that he would make for it a
mansion in his royal palace, and a seat beside his royal per-
son, and carefully watch over it, as if it were his own, during
the years of its youth,-that when it arrived at maturity, he
would take it to himself, make for it a coronet of honour, and
bestow upon it a royal domain; and in every other royal way
manifest the most exalted estimation of them and their dear
little one ;—in proof of the reality and truth of which his royal
protestations, say that he should take from his bosom a testa-
ment, wherein it was all written, signed with his own hand,
and sealed with the great seal of his kingdom, and, to make it
doubly sacred, endorsed with writing of his blood, which he
bestowed upon the parents in free bounty, to be afterwards
fully implemented;-suppose such a thing to happen to the
humblest family of the land, (and such things have happened in
the providence of God,) how would the hearts of those parents
be filled with indescribable gladness, how would they call
upon their friends tenfold to rejoice, and how would they
pray for long life to the honoured child, and diligently instruct
him, and carefully rear him up for his distinguished inherit-
ance! They would tell him of the high intention; they would
stimulate him to be worthy of it: it would be the one idea,
the master-thought of his mind, and the pole-star of all his
course. And yet the fulfilment of the promise is crossed with
many conditions. The child may die in his youth; but still
the honour designed for him is the same, and the memory of
it will remain. The child may disobey the laws, and render
himself incapable of the honour; he may be banished to
foreign parts; he may be put to a violent death for his
crimes; he may, like Absalom, take arms and rebel against
his more than father: but none of these conditions, I will
268
OF BAPTISM.
venture to say, would ever cross the threshold of their fears,
so as to trouble the fulness of joy with which they received
so great, so unexpected, so undeserved a boon from their
prince. They would not ask, that, besides going the extent
of his royal prerogative, he should abrogate the laws for the
sake of their child; that he should not only crown him, but,
out of weak favouritism, suspend the regular process of law,
and allow all things to run into disorder. Nay, such pre-
sumptuous thoughts would never enter into the most un-
grateful mind on the reception of such a gift.
Such, parents, is the similitude; and the interpretation is
plain. Your child-born in the meanest, most abject condi-
tion in the universe of God, in sin and misery; at the ban of
the Divine law, which is holy, just, and good; rearing for the
devil's service, to reap hereafter his reward-the Son of God
and Saviour of men taketh, and with the waters of baptism
washeth. These waters are His own precious blood, as “ of a
Lamb without blemish and without spot." He taketh your
shipwrecked child as soon as his nativity, cleanseth him for
heaven, prepareth for him a mansion and a crown that fadeth
not away. He is minded to raise him to honour, and glory,
and immortality; and giveth you the assurance thereof by the
holy ordinance whereof we discourse. But He doth not abro-
gate the law of holiness, by which heaven is kept blessed, and
without which heaven were like this earth, hardly worth the
enjoying He doth not open wide the gates to the admission
of iniquity, or do away with the necessity of sanctification to
every one who should be a partaker of its blessedness. The
blessing consisteth in making salvation possible; in making
it certain, through the obedience of faith and the regeneration
of the Spirit. So that a duty is implicated with the gift,
and the gift is the stimulus to the duty. The assurance of
hope conveyed by this ordinance is the food of holiness and
active well-doing, and the pledge of all necessary help from
heaven.
How much more, therefore, ought parents to rejoice and be
glad over this promise of eternal life, and rejoice over the
second birth of their child among the sons of God, than over
its natural birth into a world of sin and misery! So rejoice
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
269
ye in the Rock of your salvation; so be ye glad in the Elder
Brother of your family, who gave His life a ransom for the
sins of all the rest, and hath prepared for them an inheritance
of glory, if they continue faithful; whereof He hath given
assurance unto all whom He alloweth to be baptized in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
HOMILY II.
THE SEALING VIRTUE OF BAPTISM.
ACTS II. 38.
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis-
sion of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
SEEING, dearly beloved brethren, it hath pleased God, in
His bountiful providence, to bring round unto us the near
prospect of sitting down together to celebrate the Holy Supper
of the Lord, I am moved by the remembrance of all His good-
ness in times past to make unto God the Father some offering
of faithful and true doctrine, touching the person and work of
His Son Jesus Christ, exhibited in the holy sacraments; and
likewise some offering of painful and earnest exhortation unto
all of you, His dear members, who have been baptized into
His Church; that if it please the Father to accept the same,
through the intercession of Christ, He may send forth the
Holy Ghost, to sanctify therewith the ear of this congregation,
to quicken your faith, and to work effectually on your hearts
after what manner He wrought by this doctrine in the mouth
of Peter, which when the multitude heard they were pricked
in their hearts, and said unto Peter and the rest of the
apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And
considering with myself, and finding from discourse with the
brethren, how little alive the baptized are to the privileges
which they have in Christ Jesus the Redeemer, and in the
Holy Ghost their Sanctifier; and how Satan doth use this
their ignorance to affright them, and keep them at a distance
from the nourishment and strengthening of the Lord's table,
whereby their weakness of faith is perpetuated, and their
hardness of heart increased; I do now, in the name of God,
and in the strength of His Spirit, draw near to every one who
OF BAPTISM-ITS SEALING VIRTUE. 271
hath been sealed with the seal of baptism, in order to make
known to them the very truth of their condition in the sight
of God, from the day of their induction into the Church up to
this hour. And this I do likewise for the sake of those whom
I know to be established in the present truth, that your pure
minds may be stirred up by way of remembrance; and that
your hands may be strengthened to travail painfully and
earnestly with the Lord in prayer for the sake of this people,
and deal by wholesome counsel and well-timed exhortation
with all His children whom you know to be lukewarm or
asleep, or, like Felix, procrastinating and postponing the pre-
sent and the pressing duty till some more convenient season.
And now, may the Lord God of our fathers and forerunners
in the Church be with us, while we endeavour to perform the
good service which, for His glory and your health, we solemnly
undertake!
When those men, whom it had pleased the Father, by the
Holy Ghost, to quicken under that testimony which Peter
gave on the day of Pentecost to the person and the glory of
Christ, did cry out, under the strong and stinging conviction
of the word brought home to their conscience, "Men and
brethren, what shall we do?" Peter, without a moment's hesi-
tation, as being prompted by the Holy Ghost, who had been
just sent down from heaven, did make answer to them,
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive
the Holy Ghost: for the promise is unto you, and to your
children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the
Lord our God shall call." The promise being made unto the
parents and their children, every parent, who hath faith in
Christ for his own salvation, may, and ought to have his
child baptized, because his child is born in the covenant, and
is holy: as it is written, "The unbelieving husband is sancti-
fied by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the
husband: else were your children unclean, but now are they
holy;" that is, our children inherit a fellowship in the right-
eousness of Christ, which nothing but their own voluntary act
of rejection and apostasy can deprive them of; and, as a seal
of this righteousness, which they possess in virtue of their
272
OF BAPTISM.
parents' faith, they are sealed with the outward sign of bap-
tism, in order that it may be known and understood of all
men that this is one of God's sealed ones. As the apostle
argues in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans,
that Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him
for righteousness; which righteousness imputed to him pos-
sessing, in reward of his faith, he did then receive the sign of
circumcision, as "the seal of the righteousness of the faith.
which he had yet being uncircumcised;" and therefore did
transmit a holy seed unto his children, so that they also might,
on the eighth day, receive the same seal of the same thing,
even the righteousness which is by faith: so do I argue now,
that our parents, having had faith, and made profession of
the same upon every occasion in the presence of the Church,
had likewise the righteousness which is by faith, and trans-
mitted a holy seed unto their children; in the sign of which
they also are, by the seal of baptism, set apart for a holy
people unto the Lord. The sacrament of baptism signifieth,
therefore, that we were born in covenant, and free to inherit
all the privileges of the covenant, whereof the two principal
are the remission of sins and the receiving of the Holy
Ghost.
Whosoever, therefore, doth present himself or his child (for
it is all one) to the Church for baptism, ought to be moved
thereto by the strong desire to have the pledge of the for-
giveness of his sins given to him from the hands of those
whom God hath thereto appointed; but that of which it is
the pledge he hath yet being unbaptized, as the necessary
consequent upon faith: for where faith is, there also is remis-
sion of sins; and where faith is, there also ought baptism to
be (6
'Believe, and be baptized." "Whosoever believeth, and
is baptized, shall be saved." "Come and be baptized, and
wash away thy sins," said Ananias unto Paul. And the
eunuch said to Philip, "See, here is water: what doth hinder
me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with
all thine heart, thou mayest."
If any one hereupon ask me, And what need, then, of the
sign or seal, when you say the righteousness is already pres-
ent, as the sure consequence of faith? I answer, that faith
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
273
is given by God for obedience, and righteousness is the power
of obedience; and the first act of obedience, and the first
fruit of faith, is our submission to the ordinance of baptism,
which the Lord hath appointed. I answer, secondly, that
faith is given to no man for himself alone, but for the whole
Church of Christ; and therefore must he be baptized, in order
to acknowledge his participation in and subjection unto the
Church. I answer, thirdly, that though righteousness be
already imputed unto him, it is not yet wrought in him: the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ maketh him fit to
enter into covenant with God, and into covenant he entereth
by baptism; after which the Holy Spirit beginneth to work
in his soul. There is an imputed righteousness of Christ, and
there is an indwelling righteousness of the Holy Ghost: the
former of which we have in consequence of faith while yet
unbaptized; the latter of which we have in consequence of
the covenant we have entered into by baptism. Whoso,
therefore, refuseth the sign of baptism upon the plea of
having already received the righteousness in virtue of faith,
doth commit a double offence: one part, of the nature of
ingratitude; the other, of the nature of indifference :-ingra-
titude for the great grace which he believeth himself to have
received; and indifference to the great work which thereupon
is begun to be wrought by the Holy Ghost.
The remission of sins, therefore, or the participation of
Christ's justice, is that of which baptism is the seal in the
present, and of which circumcision was the seal under the
former, dispensation. This is what divines call the act of
justification, in contradistinction from the work of sanctifica-
tion, which till after the former proceedeth not. And towards
that act of justification two things must concur: first, the
sufficient ground of Christ's finished work, upon which a
sinner may be justified; and this out of himself, seeing he
hath as yet no righteousness wrought in him by the Holy
Ghost and, secondly, faith upon that outward ground of
righteousness; and this must be in himself, in order to con-
nect himself with the outward finished work of Christ. And
to the concurrence of these two things two of the Persons of
the blessed Trinity must conspire: first, the Father, to bestow
VOL. II.
S
274
OF BAPTISM.
faith, which is inseparably His own gift; and, secondly, the
Son, to present the propitiation of His own sacrifice. The
former of whom having pleased to bestow His gift of faith, as
the latter hath been willing to offer Himself, there is no cause
of hindrance why the person who hath been so graciously
dealt with should not be admitted into the covenant; because
he hath been freely justified by the blood of Christ, and, being
so justified, he is a holy person in Their sight, and may not
by the Church be counted unholy; and therefore may not be
refused free admission into the holy covenant. And what I
say of himself, I say also of his children, whom the apostle
declareth that either parent rendereth holy. And having
been admitted to the covenant, he is ever after to consider
himself, and to be of the Church considered, as a justified
person, in whom they are to look for, and assuredly to expect,
the fruits of sanctification. And if such a one should at any
time doubt of his justification by the blood of Christ; if he
should be visited with fears of judgment; if the load of his
sins should bear hard upon his conscience; it is to be treated
as a temptation of Satan, leading him to doubt and disbelieve
the great act of God, whereof he hath had the seal: and in
all such cases the proper duty of the Church is to direct his
attention to the instrument, and the seal of the instrument,
by which God did solemnly ratify and confirm the act of his
justification. For a man is not twice justified; he is justified
once for all. Nor is his justification a work, but an act; of
which act baptism is the seal. The work is sanctification,
which therefore proceedeth ofttimes, yea always, by convic-
tion of indwelling sin, by conversion of heart and mind, by
rebukes for backslidings, and chastisements for slowness in
the way of holiness. But if we ever lose sight of our justifi-
cation, all is dark as midnight, and this work of sanctification.
doth necessarily stand still, and go backwards: for the Spirit
proceedeth from the Father and the Son only into and upon
those whom they have justified; not indiscriminately upon
all, but only upon the just. Which justification, if, through
the mists and blinds of Satan, we are brought at any time to
doubt of as indeed all may be, and perhaps at times are-
the first thing to be done is to clear away that uncertainty by
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
275
an explanation of, and a direct appeal unto, the sacrament of
baptism, such as I am this day endeavouring to make. And
for this end the seal is appointed, as well as for those others
which have been mentioned above, in order that it may be
the more signal and conspicuous in the eyes of a misled and
misguided man. And until the uncertainty be wholly removed
concerning our justification, it is a vain thing to think there
can be any sanctification; and it is a vain thing to set the
doubter upon this or that way and method of recovering him-
self. We must work from the faith of having obtained justi-
fication by the blood of Christ, not unto the obtaining of it;
all work which otherwise proceedeth being a work of darkness,
done in ignorance and in unbelief; yea, a work of sin and
error, which thinketh to purchase the favour of God. And
from all such blind working of penance it is the first effect of
the blood of Christ to cleanse the conscience, in order to our
being able to serve the living God: as it is written, (Heb. ix.
14.) "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the Eternal Spirit offered himself unto God, purge your con-
science from dead works to serve the living God?"
And what brings the baptized into such doubtings, but the
infirmity of their faith? They cannot believe that such an
inheritance of undefiled righteousness is simply provided for
them, without any doings of their own: and whoso will not
believe this cannot receive the gift. There is but that one
way, and no other, for every degree of guilt, and every dye of
sinfulness. If you will not enter into the favour of God with-
out money and without price, you shall never enter; for it is
all of grace, from the first even unto the last. And, therefore,
what I say to one I say to all the baptized who this day hear
me: Ye are freely justified by the grace of God in Christ; ye
have received the seal of the righteousness which is by faith;
the possession of the Holy Ghost is your birth prerogative in
Christ, if the possession of a sinful nature was your birth curse
in Adam. And without faith in the justification which you
have in Christ from the penalty and from the power of all
your sins, simply, simply, you cannot be saved, nor proceed
one step in or towards sanctification. And to encourage you
unto faith, I do this day exhibit in your presence the great
276
OF BAPTISM.
seal of God-even baptism. As one who would convince an
unfaithful son of his inheritance doth shew him the seal of his
father appended to the deed of bequeathment, so do I shew
you this day the seal of your Father, in order, if the Lord
will, to stir you up to know of what a holy stock you are,
and to what holiness of life foreordained. But if you cannot
believe, you cannot be established. And as it is the Father's
prerogative to give faith at first, so I believe it to be His pre-
rogative to revive and quicken faith; wherefore I commend
all who doubt and misgive herein, to make their earnest suit
unto the Father, and to plead all His promises, ever having
their eye upon the seal of the covenant.-And so much for
the first part of this subject, which is, "the remission of sins.”
The other part of the dispensation of the grace of God
under which the baptized are brought, is expressed in these
words: "And ye shall receive the Holy Ghost." By which,
they say, we ought to understand, not the outward gift of
power, which hath ceased, but the inward gift of sanctification
and fruitfulness, which we all believe to be co-essential in the
salvation of a sinner with the work of Christ itself. But for
my own part, I am inclined to understand both; for I cannot
find by what writ of God any part of the spiritual gift was
irrevocably removed from the Church. I see, indeed, that she
hath lost the power which heretofore made her terrible as
an army with banners; so also hath she lost the bright and
glorious raiment which made her fair as the moon and clear
as the sun; but why she may not hope, yea, assuredly believe,
to have the former, when the Lord shall see it good, as well
as the latter, is what I cannot see, the one being truly as
supernatural a work of God as is the other. For that the
works which the first disciples were enabled to work was a
true fruit of the Holy Spirit, is not only manifest from their
being constantly named by His name, as in Acts x. 45, 46,
"Because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the
gift of the Holy Ghost: for they heard them speak with
tongues, and magnify God," (this being the visible sign of
the invisible grace,)-but is put beyond all doubt by the
apostle's enumeration of the diversity of the Spirit's opera-
tions, as it is written in 1 Cor. xii. 7-11: "But the manifesta-
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
277
tion of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For
to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another
the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith
by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the
same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another
prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers
kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will." Now, it is
not for man, without some far more cogent reason than
the mere fact of their being withdrawn, to preclude and
prevent you from expecting the whole gift with which at
any time it hath pleased God to endow His Church. It is
not for any man, by an arbitrary distinction, for which I
can find no warrant in Scripture, to name the one part ordin-
ary and the other part extraordinary; and, upon the strength
of this arbitrary division, to say the former was never intended
to be continued, but the latter only. The better way of ex-
pressing the truth is to say, that in the first ages, the faith of
the Church being great, her possession of the earnest of the
Spirit was great: her expectation and her prayer being great,
her answer and her receipt was great: but as she abused the
day-spring which arose upon her from on high, and employed
the glory of the morning in idle and unprofitable and wicked
works; not valuing the gift of pure and holy light, of warm
and vigorous life; the Lord from time to time withdrew His
talents, and sentenced her to that poverty under which we
now behold her;-and of which I will say, that while I bow
with resignation to the will of God, I will never cease to use
the withdrawal of these gifts as an argument of our being
under the judgment and wrath of God; while I regard that
account of the matter with which we content ourselves—that
the extraordinary have been withdrawn from us, but the or-
dinary remain-as a poor shift to remove the blame off from
our shoulders, and as making an unworthy use of the Divine
purpose and intention.
That it was a part of the Divine pur-
pose to bring the Gentile Church under this deprivation of
the Holy Ghost, as he formerly did bring the Jewish Church
under blindness and deafness to the voice of their prophets,
278
OF BAPTISM.
to come.
there can be no doubt: but, in like manner as they are
continually rebuked, and were at length cast out from being
the Lord's people, for this very cause, so do we underlie a
present rebuke; and it ought to be the continual argument
of the preachers of the truth, and to form the grounds of con-
tinual admonition and warning of judgment speedily about
And therefore I present it to you, my Christian
brethren, as the ground of deepest humility in the sight of
God, and most sorrowful repentance and painful intercession,
like unto Daniel's, that we have been brought into this state
of impotency, which argues a like state of unholiness. For
these two, holiness in the inward parts and power in the out-
ward, go together in the dispensations of the Spirit unto His
Church. And being thus convinced in my mind, and moved
in my spirit, I do not hesitate to affirm, that all we who have
been baptized were baptized unto the fulness of the spiritual
gifts, according as it might please God to divide unto every
man, whether the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge,
faith, the gift of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy,
discerning of spirits, divers kind of tongues, or the interpre-
tation of tongues; each one of these being the outward sign
of a particular inward operation of the Spirit upon the soul,
and qualifying the soul for profiting the Church with
that inward gift which is given to it. These are the signs
of the Spirit's presence: and observe what is the fruit of His
presence: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,"
(Gal. v. 22, 23.) And again, "The fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness and righteousness and truth," (Eph. v. 9.) And
again, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death," (Rom. viii.
I, 2.)
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be
that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be
in you, the body is dead indeed because of sin; but the Spirit
is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
279
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we
are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye
live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but
ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be com-
pared with the glory which shall be revealed in us," (ver. 9-18.)
Now, brethren, never doubting that baptism is that solemn
transaction of the Church, whereby she doth introduce be-
lievers, and the children of believers, into the inheritance of
the Holy Ghost, because it is always so declared, as in our
text, I solemnly charge you all, and with you the whole
Christian Church, as being deficient, and destitute, and having
been deprived of these things in consequence of your unbelief
in that great and gracious promise of the Holy Ghost, where-
into Christ entered when He ascended up on high; which He
received for the sake of men, yea, even of the rebellious; which
He is always ready and most desirous to bestow wherever His
Father hath bestowed faith to receive it; and to the end of
for ever declaring and signifying the same unto His Church,
He hath appointed this sign for the judgment of all, this seal
of the righteousness of all who believe. If I understand any-
thing of sound theology, this is the sum and substance of it,
in a few words: That the Lord Jesus Christ, in virtue of His
incarnation and humiliation to the death, hath received from
the Father the gift of the Holy Spirit,-regeneration, resur-
rection, and eternal life, with all power in heaven and in earth;
which now lie all treasured up in Him, not for selfish enjoy-
ment, but for right welcome communication unto every one
who hath received faith from the Father to apprehend and
possess them. This only He waiteth for, that the Father shall
have first bestowed faith: for without faith no gift can be ap-
280
OF BAPTISM.
prehended or appropriated, and that faith is the gift of the
Father. So that still, as is most natural, the Father hath the
pre-eminency and the precedency, Christ the instant and
necessary succession, and the Holy Ghost the continued
operation: and these two, the Father and the Son, concur in
the salvation of every sinner; and every sinner beareth testi-
mony to the Father and the Son.
Now, our assurance of the Father's willingness to grant us
faith, is derived from our knowledge that He hath sent His
Son Jesus Christ to seek and save sinners, of whom we are
the chief; and after bringing Christ through the experience of
the most abject sinner, hath exalted Him above all height,
and hath put into His hands this infinite store of righteous-
ness and power, for the express purpose of distribution to the
Church. And being thus taught that it is of God's good pur-
pose to set His seal upon a Church, and perceiving that seal
to be baptism, with which we have been sealed, what letteth
or hindereth, what moveth not, what stirreth not up to draw
near to the Father with all humble request and reverend ac-
knowledgment of His only will, His sovereign right to save or
to destroy; and to entreat Him with all earnestness to have
mercy upon us, and grant us faith, that we may receive the
Holy Spirit from the hands of Christ, and so testify to the
glory of the Father and the Son? And I am well assured
that such prayers presented to the Father, with such an en-
lightened knowledge, and in such a devout and reverent spirit,
will be answered; because He is disposed, yea, and loveth, to
bestow the Holy Spirit upon them that ask Him, with what
affectionateness a mother doth love to give the sincere milk
of her breast unto her child, or a father to divide his morsel
with his hungry son.
And now, though this is not the proper place, being minded
to treat largely of the Lord's Supper, I may observe in pass-
ing, and for the sake of the light which it reflects upon the
'subject of baptism, that as I have already presented to you
the sacrament of baptism, as the seal of your justification,
while yet out of Christ, I do present unto you the Lord's
Supper, as the seal of your union unto Christ, of your fellow-
ship with His body, of your membership in His Church.
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
281
This union you have consequent upon your baptism, not
present in it. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to effect it by
the progress of your sanctification; and the Supper of the
Lord is the seal of your possessing it. And whosoever sitteth
down at the table of the Lord doth, by his own act, declare
that he is a member of Christ; and upon his declaration he
hath a right to be so esteemed of by all the saints. The
sealing is the last act of every covenant, and maketh it fast
and sure.
Now, there are these two seals connected with our
salvation, "Baptism and the Lord's Supper;" and therefore
there must be two distinct things which they seal up, conclude,
and determine. These two things are our justification and our
sanctification: the former of which we come to the inheritance
of in right of our father's faith; the latter of which is a work
accomplished in and upon ourselves, in virtue of which we
may transmit the holy seed to our children also. Of the
righteousness or justification which we have yet being unbap-
tized, baptism is the seal; and it is, at the same time, the
promise of a work which is yet to be wrought upon us. That
work is the sanctification of the Holy Ghost, wherewith we are
sealed until the day of redemption. Of this work, begun and
in progress, the Lord's Supper is the seal; and, therefore,
every one who comes forward to the table of the Lord doth
solemnly declare before the Church God's faithfulness to the
promise which was made to him in his baptism; that already
it is begun to be fulfilled; that already he is conscious of
faith given, whereby he hath assurance of justification by the
blood of Christ, and of the new life even now begun within
his soul. To such an introduction and commencement of
new life within himself, every one who cometh to the Lord's
table giveth solemn testimony; otherwise how shall he be able
to handle, to eat, and to live on spiritual food? But he testi-
fies to nothing but the beginning and commencement of such
a work, and least of all to its perfection. For while the Lord's
Supper is doubtless a seal of the work of the Spirit begun, it
is likewise of the nature of a nourishment or food for the con-
tinuance and growth of the same; there being therein pre-
sented that elemental life of Christ's holy humanity by which
the Holy Spirit doth feed and foster up the children of Christ
282
OF BAPTISM.
into perfect manhood. For as by Adam's fall, in him the
well of life was corrupted, out of which, by natural generation,
the evil streams have all proceeded; so, in Christ's resurrec-
tion, was the well of life purified, out of which all the holy
streams of the Church proceed, by the Holy Spirit, to and
into those upon whom the Father bestoweth faith. And as
the universal death and corruption came to pass without any
ubiquity or sublimation of Adam's body, so as to comprehend
us all who were truly in it comprehended by the law of God
which said "multiply;" so doth the regeneration and resur-
rection come to pass from the risen Christ, without any ubi-
quity of His body, or sublimation of it, or transubstantiation
of bread and wine thereinto, or consubstantiation therewith ;
but by the will and purpose of the Father that it should so
communicate its holy virtues unto all those whom He had seen
it good to comprehend in Him in the purpose, and in the mani-
festation to give unto Him by faith. And the Holy Spirit,
which proceedeth from both to execute their mutual cove-
nant, doth proceed to carry into effect what the Father hath
given the beginning to by working faith; what Christ hath
given the materials for, in the work of His incarnation and
resurrection from the dead. These materials, with which the
Spirit worketh this work, are continually set forth to faith
(for sense hath nothing to do with it, except as a help to faith
when sanctified, and a hindrance when unsanctified) upon the
sacramental table, which may be regarded as ever spread
before the Church; and from these the Holy Spirit, quicken-
ing in us all spiritual appetite and desire, doth continually
move us to partake the strength of a resurrection life: and so
we are nourished up from strength to strength, and from holi-
ness to holiness, and from glory to glory, by the Spirit of our
God.
Such, brethren, according to my knowledge and ability,
within the scope of one discourse, is the doctrine which I
believe and teach from the Holy Scriptures concerning the
personal seal of baptism, and such is the constant testimony
of the orthodox Church unto this day. And I have now to
press it upon the consideration of all who hear me, if haply it
may please the Father to grant you faith to the acknowledging
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
283
of the truth; if it may please Him to shew you your free justi-
fication by the blood of the everlasting covenant, your setting
your seal thereto in the person of your father or sponsor, and
His sealing thereto in consideration of their faith; if it may
please Him to shine upon you with the light of that favour
which you have in Him, unseal your eyes to look upon it,
and, delighting your heart therewith, rouse you to desire
strength to do Him honour. Upon the springing up of which
desire, behold the table of spiritual strength is spread for you!
Give me ear, while I lay this matter to every man's con-
science.
Our fathers, men and brethren, receiving the word of the
promise, which is written in all the Scriptures, and which hath
been proceeded on in all the dispensations of the great God
our Saviour, that the children of the believers are privileged
to all and sundry the privileges of their faithful parents or
sponsors; I say, having had grace given them to hold fast.
the true doctrine of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, and to
be found unblemished and faultless before the Church, did
present us, the fruit of their loins, unto God, and ask that we
might be received into the number of the children, and named
in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost. Whereby, in consideration of their faith, and in
the eternal strength of the Divine promise, and in virtue of
the unceasing honour with which God honoureth all His
ordinances, and most chiefly the holy sacraments, we, who
were so presented before God, and admitted by His Church,
and hallowed with that most holy Name, do remain unto this
day in the sight of God, and are not otherwise regarded than
as, a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people, that we should shew forth the praises of Him
who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light."
This I say in faith, nothing doubting-God grant that you
may receive it in faith, nothing doubting!-that every one of
you baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost, are, to use the words of our text, living
under a dispensation "for the remission of sins, and the
receiving of the Holy Ghost;" or, to use the words of the
Confession of our National Reformed Church, "are ingrafted
284
OF BAPTISM.
in Christ Jesus, to be made partakers of His justice, by which
our sins are covered and remitted;" or, to use the language
of our Shorter Catechism, "are ingrafted into Christ, and
made partakers of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and
engaged to be the Lord's." Upon this ground I take my
firm stand, and, feeling my footing sure, I proceed to wrestle
with the enemy in the Church, who hath perverted many
through unbelief, and would pervert all.
And what I say
unto one, I say unto all the baptized, that if you have not
solemnly abjured the holy Name of the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, or by the Church been excommunicated
for the pravity of your disposition and the wickedness of your
lives,—which, I trust, is the case with none that heareth me,—
you are, and have been, and shall continue to be, regarded by
the Church as her children, to be instructed in all the liberties
and immunities of the house of God; to be counselled with
all the wisdom of the Spirit of God, and exhorted to enter
into all the plentifulness of the grace of God. And he who
would say you nay to any desire, request, or possession in the
inheritance of Christ, is not a well-instructed steward over the
house, but a hoarder of that grace bringing salvation which
hath appeared unto all men; a grudger of that wine and
milk which is to be given without money and without price;
a fraudulent keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, not
permitting those who have a right to enter in, and this because
they will not enter in themselves.
I solemnly do you to wit, therefore, brethren, every one of
you who hath been baptized into Christ, that you have ever
since been living under the dispensation of the grace of God;
which consisteth of two parts,—the remission of your sins,
and the receiving of the Holy Ghost. And at whatever time
the Lord may be pleased to awaken you to a sense of your
sinfulness-whether original, as derived from the corrupt
stock of Adam, or actual, as wrought out by your own will—
instead of being overwhelmed with the sight of them, and
dispirited from undertaking the work of repentance and
reformation, and plunged into recklessness and despair, or
gradually lost again in lukewarmness and indifference-all
which actings of natural doubt and fear, infant baptism is on
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
285
very purpose contrived and established of God to prevent—you
ought at such a time of awakening convictions to look to this
dispensation of the forgiveness of sins under which you live,
and behold the grace of God extended like a canopy of light
over your head. As those who are not children of natural
darkness, but of revealed light; who are not heirs of repro-
bation, but of salvation; and have God's faithful word pledged
to your own selves, and His all-including covenant sealed
unto yourselves; you ought to look back unto the sacrament
of baptism, and act faith thereon; and so, by the apprehen-
sion of faith, receive the forgiveness of sins assured unto your
faith by that most solemn pledge and being comforted with
the assurance of God's grace in Jesus Christ, bless His name
that He hath not left you to perish in your ignorance and
impenitency, but at length by His Holy Spirit quickened
you to the sense of your sinfulness; and by the same Spirit
shewed you the promise which hath been made for your for-
giveness in His faithful word, and sealed upon you by the
blessed ordinances of His Church.
You ought not, therefore, dear brethren, to stifle the con-
victions of sinfulness which are brought to your minds when-
ever the prospect of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is
presented to you, but rather to bless God that He hath not
seared your conscience with a red-hot iron, or given you up
to judicial blindness: and you ought to say, “For I do know
hereby that the Lord is dealing with me by His Holy Spirit;
that He is stirring me up to perceive my true estate; that He
is not leaving me alone: therefore now, O Lord, speak unto
Thy servant all the mind of Thy Holy Spirit, for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness;
and by Thy grace I will forego my evil thoughts, and forsake
my evil ways, and turn unto Thee: for Thou hast mercy, and
Thou dost abundantly pardon." But doth any one say,
"How do I know that He will have mercy? and how do I
know that He will abundantly pardon? for it is written, 'He
will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy; and whom
He will He hardeneth.' Now, how know I that I am not
one of those whom He pleaseth to harden?" I answer:
What kind of knowledge, or what kind of demonstration
286
OF BAPTISM.
wouldst thou? Hast thou not the Holy Word in thy hand,
continually inviting and entreating thee, which He taketh
away from those whom He hath given over, that they may
not trample it under foot? Art thou not sitting under a
gospel ministry, which continually teacheth and admonisheth,
and instructeth thee to be reconciled unto God; but which
God maketh dumb or deceitful when He intendeth evil to
any Church? Dost thou not behold His Spirit moving upon
thy right hand and upon thy left, taking by the hand sinners
as great as thee, and washing them white in the blood of
Christ? Now, when God is visiting a people in His wrath,
He doth withdraw His Spirit with His word, and no new
branches are graffed into Christ, but those which seemed to
be graffed drop off on every side. But still dost thou desire
some more immediate and personal application of the matter
home unto thyself? 'Tis well. Thou hast it in the sacrament
of baptism, whereby thou wast admitted into the blessed bond
of the covenant: to thee forgiveness of sin was promised;
to thee the working of the Spirit was promised; to thee thy-
self, by thyself, and not in company with any other. And
what more wouldst thou? Thou wouldst some sign of God's
faithfulness done unto thyself? Indeed, thou art very hard
of faith, my brother, and, like Thomas, dost tempt God
exceedingly; but, as to Thomas, the love of the Lord doth
grant this grace unto thee: for hast thou not the working of
this conviction of sin in thy heart, whereupon we are reason-
ing together? Art thou not now stirred up to take a thought
and concern about thy salvation? Art thou not ill at ease,
and seeking for something to rest upon? Or whence cometh
this earnest questioning of me for some ground of assurance
that God hath not given thee up? I tell thee, that if God
had given thee up thou wouldst have had none of those
remorseful feelings, none of those alarming fears. If thou
hadst been dead, thou wouldst have had no scent of the
living waters. And so hast thou the sign thou soughtest,
that God is desirous to accomplish upon thee that good work
which He pledged to thee in thy baptism. And more than
this thou never shalt have on this side the resurrection. If
thou wishest for a visible sensible sign, beware how thou
ITS SEALING VIRTUE.
287
temptest God with thine unbelief: He may permit Satan to
give it thee, in order to destroy thee. But wait for this in
the Lord's good time, and in the fulness of that time it shall
be given; when the glorious Lord, who is now hidden, shall
come forth in His majesty and power; and we who have
believed upon Him when not seen, shall be raised up in His
likeness to look on the face of His manifest glory.
I say not but thou mayest be left a reprobate: it is not
mine to deal out the Father's sovereign grace, with which my
Lord and Saviour doth not intermeddle. But this I say, that
if thou, having such significations made unto thee, such cove-
nants sealed with thee, of His mercy and favour unto thyself,
dost not accept the outward demonstration of the Father's
good-will made unto thee; neither drawest nigh to inquire
reverently at His oracle; and as thou hearest of the mystery
of His free grace from the oracle of His only-begotten Son,
dost not, with bended knee and suppliant spirit, entreat the
sovereign Lord and Father of all, through the mediation of
His Son and thy Brother Jesus Christ; then, seest thou, thou
art worthy to be rejected, and rejected thou wilt be: for never
since the world fell hath any son of man obtained any good
and precious gift otherwise than by the hearty acknowledg-
ment of the Father's sovereignty to grant or to withhold, and
of our own willingness to be wholly at His disposal for good,
as not having deserved it; for evil, as having deserved it—
according as it is most conducive to His own glory. Behold,
then, how this doctrine of eternal election and eternal repro-
bation is only an acknowledgment of God's will to do what
seemeth to Him good with the fallen creatures; to raise again,
if it pleaseth Him; to visit with wrath to what extent it
pleaseth Him and if so with the fallen creatures, then so
with me, who am a fallen creature; and so with thee; and so
with all and to shrink from believing and from declaring
this, or to put in some salvo to soften it, is really nothing less
than to deny the will and liberty of God to do with a fallen
creature what pleaseth Him: if to save, then of His free.
grace to save; if to punish, then of His justice to punish.
And the gospel begins to build upon this foundation of God's
freeness to do His utmost wrath upon every fallen creature;
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OF BAPTISM.
and whatever He saveth it giveth to the account of His free
grace. Now unto all of you He hath made the overtures,
and concluded the covenant of salvation: He hath shut you
up in sinfulness, only that He might remember you in mercy;
which mercy if you despise, then indeed you do prove the
terrible power of sin in yourselves and against yourselves, and
must be given up to eternal and unchanging perdition. One
step forward unto which perdition is to reject the admonition
of the Holy Spirit, pointing out your sinfulness; and, by my
hand, pointing to you baptism as the dispensation of the for-
giveness of sin.
HOMILY III
THE DOCTRINE TAUGHT IN BAPTISM.
ROM. VI. 3, 4.
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life.
AL
LL the conclusions which we have derived in the two pre-
ceding Homilies concerning the standing of the baptized
in the Church, and which we are hereafter to derive concern-
ing the standing of the engaging parent or sponsor, flow
necessarily from the doctrine of baptism, as we find it laid
down in the Holy Scriptures; which, therefore, it may be
necessary to examine at large, with a reference to the pass-
ages on which it is founded: and, first, we carry your atten-
tion to the text and context, where the apostle, having pro-
posed the question, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound?" immediately maketh answer, "God forbid. How
shall we, then, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
In which words he represents the Christian Church to which
he wrote, as having no longer any power to sin living in them:
and what he says to that Christian Church he would, doubt-
less, have said to any. Now, from whence doth he derive this
incapacity or deadness to sin? He deriveth it from baptism,
in these words which immediately follow: "Know ye not,
that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap-
tized into his death?” And what is meant by baptism into.
Christ's death? This the apostle explains in the next verse:
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:
that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
VOL. II.
T
290
OF BAPTISM.
ご
​Baptism, it would appear, then, is a symbol of that death and
resurrection in the members, which was accomplished in the
fact upon Christ the Head, and remaineth to be accomplished
in the fact upon every one of the members. If we inquire,
then, what was accomplished upon Christ in the fact of His
death and resurrection; we learn, that the body, in which He
bore our sin and carried our sorrows, fell into the grave; and
the body, free from the imputation of sin, according to the
Spirit of holiness, arose in power and majesty from the grave.
Of which, if baptism be the symbol, it must signify and seal
that our natural body of sin and death is buried in the waters,
and our spiritual body of holiness and power in the Holy
Ghost ariseth thence. Upon which idea the apostle im-
mediately adds, in the next verse, "For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be
also in the likeness of his resurrection." Here he speaks of
our "being planted" in the likeness of His death, as having
been done at our baptism into Christ; which he had formerly
called baptism into Christ's death, and a burial with Him by
baptism into death. Which three expressions—“Baptism
into Christ's death," "buried with Him by baptism into
death," and "being planted together in the likeness of His
death"-being all used as synonymous with the expression,
"baptized into Jesus Christ," do put it beyond a doubt that
the true meaning of baptism is a death and burial of the
natural man under water. But lest any doubt should be left
on this matter, hear what the apostle saith, in the 6th, 7th,
and 8th verses: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed; that
henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is
freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe
that we shall also live with him." Can there, then, remain a
doubt upon your minds that baptism is intended by God to
signify and seal our being put to death in the flesh, and cruci-
fied as to all fleshly desires and enjoyments; so that, with
the members of our body and the affections of our mind, we
should be under the law of sin and death no longer, but under
the law of the spirit of life; that we should walk no more after
the flesh, but after the spirit?
THE DOCTRINE.
291
Doth baptism, then, leave us in the state of death and
burial? This question is answered likewise by the apostle;
first, in the 4th verse, "That like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life." Which words define with precision
another idea or doctrine signified in baptism, that the bap-
tized are crucified and buried with Christ only that they may
receive of that glory of the Father which raised Christ from
the dead; that quickening power of the Holy Ghost, into the
possession and disposal of which he then entered, and, being
quickened therewith, might walk in newness of life. The
same doctrine is taught in these words of the 5th verse, "We
shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection ;" and in these
words of the 8th verse, "We shall also live with him." Which
two expressions refer, not to the future life of the resurrection,
but to the present life of the saint after baptism, or to the
present life of faith, which is everlasting: according to the
words of our Lord, "He that believeth on me hath everlasting
life." That this is the true meaning of the expressions is
manifest from the 11th, 12th, and 13th verses: "Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in
the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instru-
ments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto
God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God."
There can be no doubt, therefore, that baptism is intended
by God to signify and seal, secondly, our vitality derived from
the act and from the power of Christ's resurrection; whereof
all the after-life of faith and holiness is but the various forms
and actings. Both these effects of baptism in the believer—
the death unto sin, and the life unto holiness-are the work
of the Holy Ghost; even as, in the great antitype of baptism,
it was by the Holy Ghost that Christ, though made sin for us,
did offer Himself without spot unto God, and by the Holy
Ghost was raised from the dead. And this work of putting
us to death in the flesh, and quickening us in the spirit, the
Holy Ghost worketh during all the days of the believer's life,
292
OF BAPTISM.
us.
yea, and in every act thereof: which is a twofold act; one part
being mortification of nature, and the other part regeneration
of grace: the former attended with sorrow and suffering and
anguish; the latter with peace and joy and blessedness: the
former being of the nature of an unwilling sacrifice all our life.
long; the latter turning it into a willing sacrifice: that which
maketh it willing being not ourselves, but the Holy Ghost in
But while we teach that this work of killing and making
alive again extendeth over all our life, we regard it, with the
apostle, to be all sealed, and given unto us like a deed or
instrument at our baptism: and we maintain, that no one who
hath neglected or rejected baptism, having it in his power,
neither may expect, nor will receive, these effects and privi-
leges of the Holy Spirit; seeing he hath not cared to possess
himself of the instrument by which the tenure is held, nor to
honour the great seal of the Head of the Church, which
maketh that instrument valid. And I will say, moreover,
that until believers will honour baptism as the great object
of faith, and look back to it in all their struggles with the
natural man, in all their longings and cravings for the Holy
Spirit, they will not succeed so effectually either in the one or
in the other. But into this it is not my present business to
enter, but rather to confirm these positions of doctrine laid
down above by some other passages of Scripture, of which I
choose next that in 1 Pet. iii. 20-22, where, having occasion to
refer unto the deluge, he thus expresseth himself: "When
once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water. The like figure whereunto" (or the
antitype to which water) "even baptism doth also now save
us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ: who is gone into heaven, and is on the right
hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made
subject unto him."
In this passage baptism is declared to be the antitype
which answereth to the waters of the deluge: by which water
Noah and his family were saved; the waters of the deluge
being the means of Noah's preservation from the wickedness
THE DOCTRINE.
293
of the earth which they drowned. And as it is here declared
that these waters were typical of the waters of baptism, which
separate and preserve us from the wickedness and death of
the natural man, we conclude, that baptism is to the world
the token of their perdition, as it is to the Church the token
of their salvation; drawing between them a sacred gulf,
which cannot be crossed but by passing through the waters
of baptism, baptism being, as it were, the signification to
the world that it is lying under the curse of the deluge:
which was a fuller measure of the primeval curse than had
been laid on man at the fall, bringing with it the shortening
of the term of life; and, as I believe, the deterioration of
all the elements on which life dependeth. For as baptism
bringeth the nature of man into a state of suffering, cruci-
fixion, and death with Christ, far more afflictive than what
the unbaptized, who give nature its own curse, are liable
unto; so seemeth it to me, that the deluge brought the whole
elemental and animated earth into that state of disturbance
and miserable travailing bondage into which they were not
brought at the fall. And thus the deluge, while it hath in it
of the nature of a punishment, hath in it of the nature of a
redemption; and was truly, as I believe, the baptism of the
earth and of human nature into a necessary miserable estate
of longing pregnancy, until the time of its future baptism
with fire should arrive. And now a Church was separated
from the sinful mass of men, and holy things from the sinful
mass of things, which might continue patiently to maintain
the witness until the Lord should come to administer the
second baptism of fire, and deliver all nature of her glorious
birth. And in this way I conceive the deluge to have been
typical of baptism, and baptism to be the antitype of the
deluge. In confirmation of which, Paul, in the First Epistle
to the Corinthians, declares, "That all the fathers were under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all bap-
tized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Where I ob-
serve again, that the water of the cloud, and afterwards the
water of the sea, coming between them and the Egyptians,
was the means of their preservation. And, moreover, in
general, I may observe, that the emblem of the Holy Spirit
294
OF BAPTISM.
under the present dispensation is water; and we are said to
be born of water and of the Spirit, and our regeneration is
called the washing of regeneration. And our Lord gave the
promise of the Holy Spirit in these words: "If any man
thirst, let him come to me and drink: he that believeth on
me, as the Scriptures hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water."
That dispensation of this age was, as I judge, introduced
by the deluge, and shall continue until the baptism with the
Holy Ghost and with fire, which the earth in the day of its
regeneration shall receive. And this is what I understand in
the expression in the text before us, "Baptism, the antitype
to which water." Now, with respect to the remainder of the
text, for which indeed we quoted it, it is declared, that bap-
tism now saveth us; which certainly any one will allow to be
a very weighty declaration, especially when it is corroborated
by such texts as these, “Repent, and be baptized, every one
of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy
Ghost." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
And again, "As many of you as have been baptized into
Christ, have put on Christ." In the face of such expressions
as these, no one surely ought to slight or undervalue the
sacrament of baptism. Then the question is, What is this
baptism that saveth us? And the apostle answereth it in a
parenthesis, saying, “Not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh," which water in itself can do, "but the answer of a good
conscience towards God;" which cannot otherwise be done
than by the application of the blood of Christ, in the hands of
the Holy Spirit, according as it is written, "How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who, through the Eternal Spirit,
offered himself without spot unto God, purge your conscience
from dead works!" So that the word "baptism," in the
mouth of the apostle carried with it the whole substance of
what baptism was appointed for; and was the name of the
thing signified, importing the washing of the Holy Ghost; as
indeed it doth in many other passages, of which I have quoted
some already, and of which I may now quote some more.
Eph. v. 26, "Christ gave himself for his church, that he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
THE DOCTRINE.
295
the word;" where the washing of water is made to include the
power of the word of Christ, which is spirit and life. I Cor.
xii. 13, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one
body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or
free; and have been all made to drink into one spirit:" where
the word "baptism" is made to include all that work of the
Spirit by which we are taken out of the body of sin, and
united into the body of Christ. It is therefore a most
beggarly spoliation and wicked abuse of the mystery which
that word and act were intended to convey, for the spiritual-
isers of these times to talk of water-baptism, and mock this
holy sacrament as a ceremony, which the apostles ever
laboured to deepen into a mystery, and exalt into a heavenly
symbol. This baptism, the antitype of the waters of the
deluge, doth save us, saith the apostle, by bearing up the
ark of the Church, and floating it far above the wickedness
which was consumed in the under-ground convulsions of the
deep and he addeth, that the thing which he speaketh of as
being endowed with such wondrous virtue, is not the outward
washing of the flesh, but the inward washing of the Holy Ghost,
which is intended therein; and by being present in the act,
doth sanctify it from an ordinary washing or ablution into a
holy symbol and most sacred institution of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And how it hath this virtue of saving us, he informeth
us in these words, "By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who
is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels,
and authorities, and powers, being made subject unto him."
To the power of Christ's resurrection he doth attribute the
power of baptism to save the Church: from the exaltation of
Christ in the heavens, and His session at the right hand of
God, and the subjection unto Him of all angels, and authori-
ties, and powers, the apostle doth derive the saving power of
baptism. Baptism, therefore, must be no mean nor common
thing, which is not to be accomplished save by such mighty
ministry. Common thing! It must be the chief work of the
Son of God to accomplish it: not the work of His flesh; no,
nor yet the work of His death; but the work of His resurrec-
tion and ascension and omnipotent power. To baptize with
the Holy Ghost and with fire, was the great work which John
296
OF BAPTISM.
the Baptist set out for Him. "I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." The end of
John's baptism was repentance, "unto repentance;" but the
end of Christ's baptism was "the Holy Ghost and fire." Now,
on the day of Pentecost, when He had given the Holy Ghost
unto His apostles, and Peter's preaching had converted many,
who asked what they should do, "Peter answered, Repent
and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ
unto the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost:" upon which I have two things to remark. First,
that while John's baptism terminated in repentance, "unto
repentance," that of the apostles, under which we now are,
terminates in "remission of sins;" the one leading to the dis-
cernment of sin, the other to the taking it away out of our
sight. Secondly, that the gift promised upon baptism was
the gift of the Holy Ghost, and no more. Now, John had
announced Christ as being about to baptize, not only with the
Holy Ghost, but with fire also; and His apostles confine them-
selves to the Holy Ghost only, whose emblem, as hath been
said, is water; even though they themselves had received the
Holy Ghost in the form of cloven tongues of fire, they made
no allusion thereto in the constituting of the Church, but
restricted the gift unto the Holy Ghost. Because, as I said
above, the baptism of fire yet awaiteth us who have believed
in Christ, and shall be received in that great day when the
Lord shall come in flaming fire, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Then when the earth receiveth her bap-
tism of fire, and is restored to that blessed condition, of which
Isaiah (lxv. 6) and Peter (2 Epist. iii.) make such glorious
mention, we shall receive that second part of Christ's high
office, for which the Baptist announced Him to the Jewish
nation when he said, “He that cometh after me shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Christ himself, who
is the great prototype of all His members, went through these
two several stages Himself; the former at His baptism, when
He received the baptism of water and of the Holy Ghost in
the form of a dove; the latter, when in His grave, He put on
THE DOCTRINE.
297
His resurrection glory, which is called (Phil. iii. 21) the body
of His glory. But forasmuch as the baptism with the Holy
Ghost, whose emblem is water, by which we are regenerated,
and that other baptism with fire which we shall receive in the
grave, and by which we shall be raised up in power and glory,
do both follow upon and proceed out of the resurrection of
Christ, we do not cease to maintain with the apostle, in both
the texts which we have examined, that the baptism of Christ,
or the baptism into Christ, which we administer in the Church,
is a consequence of Christ's resurrection, and a perpetual
token unto the Church, both that He is risen from the dead,
and that He hath entered into power and glory; and every
baptized person liveth by, and ought to live upon, the resur-
rection of Christ. And the life which the Church now liveth
in the flesh, is a life of wrestling against, and suffering in the
flesh and in the world, which she is able to carry on by no
power inherent in the death of Christ, but by a power inherent
only in His resurrection. The life of every member of Christ,
the life of the whole Church, His body, a first-fruits of Christ's
resurrection, is, in truth, a resurrection life, which we have
given to us in a degree, to the end we may be sealed and
pledged, (and, as we say in Scotland, arled,) by an earnest,
and may not doubt, but believe and testify of the resurrection,
first of Christ, then of His Church, then of all creation, which
groaneth and is in bondage even until now; and without
bearing it in mind continually, that the life of the believer
after baptism is a resurrection life, you can neither understand
the spirit of our Lord's life from His baptism in Bethabara till
His agony in the garden; nor can you understand any of those
Scriptures wherein the life of the believer is described; for
example, such expressions as these: "We are quickened with
Christ; we are raised up together with Christ, and made to
sit with him in heavenly places, and blessed in him with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places." "If ye be risen with
Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at
the right hand of God.”
"He that hath suffered in the flesh
hath ceased from sin." These, and many other expressions,
are utterly unintelligible but upon the great principle which
we have been this day laying down, that the mystery and
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OF BAPTISM.
meaning of baptism is a death and burial and resurrection
done upon us in the body by the power of the risen Christ;
and that our life in the Church is intended to be a resurrec-
tion-life, and the Church itself to be a great demonstration
and continual witness, not by word of mouth merely, but by
its presence upon the earth, its constitution, its holy doctrine
and discipline, its whole conformation of that resurrection
Church which is to be constituted over the kingdom of our
Christ. And so well was this understood in the primitive
times, that Satan himself caught hold of it, and perverted the
Church by its means, gradually bringing it to pass, that the
Church should set herself up to be the very resurrection Church,
with her Melchizedek Head, and her worldly dominion, and
other complements which were not permitted her to hold
otherwise than by hope. And thus was the apostasy consti-
tuted, which is nothing but the converting of a part into the
whole, of an earnest penny into the whole inheritance, and a
cunning delusion to make men believe that it is so; which,
though we Protestants have not accomplished in the same
outward grandeur and visible puppet-show as the Papacy, yet
have we committed, or rather we are committing, the very
same substantial error in making the Pentecostal measure of
the Spirit equal to the work of bringing in the kingdom:
which error is the more to be condemned in these times, when
really and truly, of the waters of the Spirit which then flowed
forth, there seems to me hardly a spoonful present in the
whole Church.
1
But, to return to the law and the testimony, I request, for
the further confirmation of the doctrine which I have taught
in this discourse, your attention to another passage of Scrip-
ture, which occurreth in the second chapter of Paul's Epistle
to the Colossians, at the 11th verse. He is entreating them
to be upon their guard against the invasion of philosophy,
and the entering in of traditions into the Church of Christ;
and, to the end of declaring his completeness for all know-
ledge and for all faith, he saith, "In him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily:" to whom, therefore, nothing
could be, nor might be, added. Then, to the end of declaring
their full participation of this all-comprehending fulness of
THE DOCTRINE.
299
Christ, he addeth, "Ye are complete" (filled) "in him who is
the Head of all principality and power." And, to the end
of guarding them against the temptation of returning to the
bondage of the ordinances and beggarly elements of the law,
he addeth, (verse II,) "In whom also ye are circumcised with
the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." To
understand which expression, you must bear in mind, that
circumcision cut the Jew off completely from all participation
in the superstitions of the rest of the world; and so the
apostle means to say, that the circumcision of Christ cut the
Christians off from all participation in the ordinances of the
Jews: and therefore, after being circumcised therewith, that
it was as wicked a thing for any one to go back to Moses
and his beggarly elements, as it would have been for Moses
and the Jews to go back to the superstitions of Egypt. Now,
what meaneth he by the circumcision of Christ? It is said.
to be done without hands; and, therefore, a supernatural and
spiritual act. It is said to be attended with the putting off
the body of the sins of the flesh; and, therefore, to deliver
from all those burdensome ablutions and purifications, and
other carnal ordinances, which, having for their object the
keeping of the flesh clean, are necessarily abrogated when the
flesh itself, or the body of the sins of the flesh, is altogether
put off: this supernatural and spiritual act, called the cir-
cumcision of Christ, doth therefore put away that body of
sin and death whose presence the ceremonial law declared,
and whose uncleannesses it had a fashion of purifying. And
what is this act whose virtue is so wonderful? Read the next
verse, (ver. 12,) and you will find that it is nothing else but
baptism: "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are
risen with him through the faith of the operation" (or energy)
"of God, who hath raised him from the dead." This is not
a new subject, nor yet a new sentence, being grammatically
as well as substantially a part of the whole idea included
under the term "the circumcision of Christ," and pointing out
to us, that baptism in the mind of the Spirit is the name of
the spiritual work, and washing with, or dipping in, the water
of baptism, is the act outward, which is intended to signify
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OF BAPTISM.
the act inward, done without hands, of putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh: for what is a burial, if there be not
first a death? And what is the death of a saint but the put-
ting off the body of the sins of the flesh? If in baptism,
then, we be buried with Him, as it is said, then in baptism we
die with Him: if in baptism we die and are buried with Him,
then from thenceforth are we regarded by the Spirit as having
suffered with Christ in the flesh, as being dead with Him unto
the power of sin, yea, and unto the power of death.
"Know-
ing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more,
death hath no more dominion over him." Wherefore it is
added in this passage, as in all the rest, "In which baptism
also ye are risen with him." So that thenceforth our life is,
as hath been said, a resurrection life nourished and fed upon
the risen body of Christ: which food, accordingly, is handed
down to us in the sacrament of the supper, and thereby is
made a constant declaration of the nature of our life in the
Church. And by what act in us, the subject of baptism, is
this great work of dying unto sin, and living unto God, `ac-
complished? It is immediately added, "Through the faith
of the energy of God, who hath raised Christ from the dead"
It is, then, through faith that this baptismal regeneration
proceedeth. But faith of what? Faith that Christ came in
the flesh? No! that is not the act of faith which worketh
the baptismal regeneration. Faith that Christ died for our
sins? No! What then? Faith of the energy of God, who
hath raised Him from the dead. And he, who will not pass
beyond the cross and tomb of Christ, to look with an eye of
faith to the act of the resurrection, and to apprehend the
energy of God, put forth therein, need never to expect the
baptismal regeneration of which the apostle in all these
passages speaketh, and of which, after their example, I take
liberty to speak; meaning always by baptism what they
mean, not a sign, but the thing signified also,—not a shell, but
a shell with its kernel in it.
In order to justify myself, and, what is much more import-
ant, my doctrine, against the ignorant suspicion of novelty,
I shall conclude this discourse upon the doctrine which the
Church holdeth concerning baptism, by quoting, and shortly
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301
paraphrasing, the answer to the question: "How is our
baptism to be improved by us?" as it is given in the Larger
Catechism of our Church: from which you will see how exactly
these our views of baptism accord with those entertained by
the Westminster divines, and the last council of the Protestant
Church, as we have already shewn its accordance with the
symbols of our Reformers. "The needful, but much neglected,
duty of improving our baptism, is to be performed by us all
our life long, especially in the time of temptation, and when
we are present at the administration of it to others." Here
baptism is wisely considered as a great safeguard against the
snares of the world and the temptations of Satan, and as a
sacrament, whereof the administration should be fraught with
great advantage to the whole Church; seeing temptation, and
the ministration of it, are the only times which they have
specified, though they consider that it ought to be present in
our mind, and improved by us at all times. And how is it to
be improved? The answer thus continues,-"By serious and
thankful consideration of the nature of it, and of the ends
for which Christ instituted it." Our divines, therefore, dear
brethren, considered it as no empty and idle ceremony, but
as an institution whose nature, that is, whose form and sub-
stance, and whose ends were at all times worthy of serious
and thankful consideration: therefore do ye justify me in
endeavouring, with all diligence, to present this subject be-
fore you, and condemn yourselves for slighting it, as you
have been accustomed to do. Further, "By serious and
thankful consideration of the privileges and benefits con-
ferred and sealed thereby." So, brethren, the compilers of
our Catechisms did not hesitate to think that there were great
privileges and benefits conferred upon the baptized; and that
it was not left to chance or circumstances, yielded to some as
a special favour, but withdrawn from the multitude, but both
conferred and sealed upon all in the act of striking that cove-
nant; for sealing is of no import, except as it signifies the
confirmation of a solemn deed and testament by a solemn
act and that the engagement here referred to by sealing is
not on our part, but on God's, is shewn by the connexion,
"conferred and sealed;" he that conferreth being the same
302
OF BAPTISM.
that sealeth. If now you ask, what these benefits are, I
shall enumerate them from the previous question, “What is
baptism?" where they are enumerated thus: "Ingrafting into
Christ, remission of sins by His blood, and regeneration by
His Spirit, adoption and resurrection unto eternal life, and
whereby the parties are solemnly admitted into the visible
Church." Now, I am sure, if you think that I have gone far,
you will allow that the Church, of which I am a minister, goeth
still further than I do, in extending the blessedness of this
ordinance, and without any of the guards or cautions which I
have continually interposed, in dutiful consideration of your
weakness. To all which covenanted blessings, the collateral
engagement on our part is thus added, "We are to improve
our baptism at all times, by serious and thankful consideration
of our solemn vow made therein;" of which, if you inquire
into the burden, then I give it you in the words of the previous
question, "We thereby enter into an open and professed en-
gagement to be wholly and only the Lord's." It is the vow of
self-denial, renunciation of the world, and contending against
the devil, to stand fast in the faith, and to keep all the com-
mandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, to be
wholly and only the Lord's, into which we have entered. But
the pregnant answer of the framers of our Catechism goes on
to unfold the matter in a most excellent way-thus: "By
being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of,
and walking contrary to, the grace of baptism, and our engage-
ments." Why humbled for our sinful defilement? Because
it was washed away in baptism, and ought no more to be
present; and in being present doth shew that we are not
improving the grace of baptism, which would cleanse us
thoroughly, nor fulfilling the covenant for which God would
strengthen us by His sufficient Spirit: and therefore there is
conjoined with this article of our humility, in order to explain
the grounds of it, "our falling short of, and walking contrary
to, the grace of baptism, and our engagements;" of which the
former is sufficient to wash away all our sins, and the latter
to strengthen us for standing to all our engagements. But
our baptism is further to be improved, "by our growing up
in assurance of pardon of sin, and of all other blessings sealed
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303
to us in that sacrament." Now, what meaneth it, if our sins
be not pardoned in baptism; if it be only a shew of doing it,
but not the very doing of it; that the rulers of the faith of
our Church have expressed themselves in such language as,
that pardon of sin is sealed to us in baptism, and have called
upon us to grow up into the assurance thereof? And is it
not my part to speak to the baptized as to men pardoned,
who hence ought to have the blessedness of those whose sins
are forgiven, and whose iniquities are covered; and this, not
only of the pardon of sin, but of all the other blessings therein
sealed to us? Moreover, in accordance with the spirit of this
homily, it is said, "Exemplified by drawing strength from the
death and resurrection of Christ, into whom we are baptized,
from the mortifying of sin, and quickening of grace: looking
to His death as that after which we are to be conformed in all
deadness unto sin, and looking to His resurrection as that
after which we are to be conformed in all the life of holiness :"
that is, seeing in His death and resurrection the reality of our
spiritual death and resurrection in our baptism, and from our
baptism all our life long, as much as of our natural death and
resurrection: further, "by endeavouring to live by faith, to
have our conversation in holiness and righteousness, as those
who have therein given their names to Christ; and to walk
in brotherly love, as being baptized by the same Spirit into.
one body."
From these expositions of the Scriptures which treat of
baptism, dearly beloved brethren, it must be manifest to you,
that it is a far greater mystery than in these times it is wont
to be regarded, and that it is well worthy the most profound
meditation of every believer in Christ. Now, the sum of what
hath been gathered from the Word of God at this time concern-
ing it is this, that in it is done over beforehand, in an emblem,
the death and burial and resurrection of that which is born of
our parents. When I say it is done in a symbol, I do not
mean that it is merely done in a show, or representation as it
were, to help the conception and instruct the mind; for this
would be much better done by a plain discourse upon death
and resurrection than by dipping in water or sprinkling with
it; which act doth not naturally carry with it any resemblance
304
OF BAPTISM.
or signification of death, burial, and resurrection. But I mean,
that to faith, the death, burial, and resurrection of the child is
actually accomplished, and that the symbol of baptism is to
faith the very self-same thing which death, burial, and resur-
rection are to sense, and that the eye of faith should behold,
the prayer of faith believe, and the actings of faith entreat a
baptized child, as one that is dead and buried with Christ, and
risen and seated with Him in the heavenly places. And while
the mystery of baptism requireth us thus to entreat the bap-
tized, it requireth us thus to entreat ourselves: we ought to
feel that we are as dead men in respect to sin, and that, as
dead men cannot act, so we cannot sin; and we ought to feel
ourselves alive only unto God, and not only having power to
please God, but having power to do nothing else but please
Him. I know how strangely these expressions will sound in
your ears, and what odium they may chance to bring on him
that utters them; but that they are apostolical, that they are
the constant language of the apostles when speaking of bap-
tism and the baptized, I have this day sufficiently proved:
nor shall any fear of the face of man hinder me, by God's
grace, from speaking the language of the Spirit in the midst
of the Church.
Wherefore, brethren, I exhort you to look upon one another
as being indeed dead unto sin and alive unto righteousness;
look upon the death-warrant of your natural man as issued
from the court of heaven: yea, look upon him as slain and
buried too in the purpose of God, and go to him with a divine
purpose and assurance, to take him and bind him, and sacri-
fice him with all his powers and faculties unto the Lord your
God. Put me in no ifs, nor conditionals of any sort; there
are no such words in the decrees of God. I tell you, it was
not only worded in baptism, but it was done, if only ye have
faith to believe it; and without faith ye can never be estab-
lished. It was to the very end of destroying doubt, and
putting demur out of the question, that God had you every
one baptized in your childhood, in order that ye might never
doubt; but, from the first dawn of reason, believe in God,
who slayeth and who maketh alive. Go about your cruci-
fixion and your mortification, like men who have Almighty
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305
power at their back, and the Almighty Word for their standard,
before their face; and go about the work of life and holiness,
of resurrection life and holiness, as mighty men of God who
are disencumbered of the clayey tabernacle, with all burden-
some weights. Thus believe, dear brethren; for these are the
truths of faith, these are the lessons of the Spirit, these are
the doctrines of Christ, under which to act, under which to
overcome. Sense will meet you, and clog you; and sight
will cast stumblingblocks and rocks of offence before you :
you will find that you are still amongst the impediments of
things seen and temporal; and that there remaineth to be
done for sense and sight a work kindred to that which hath
been done for faith. But how, I ask,—and I ask it in the name
of human frailty,-how shall you do battle against these visible
and invisible enemies, unless you have the victory already
achieved in your faith, and that not dependent upon a word,
which is common to all, but upon an act which was done
upon yourself? Therefore, oft look upon, and oft strengthen
yourselves by the wonderful mystery of the work of God,
which was declared unto you, and sealed upon you, in the
holy sacrament of baptism, when you were first admitted
into the Christian Church, and enrolled as the soldiers of
Christ to fight all the days of your life against the devil, the
world, and the flesh.
VOL. II.
U
HOMILY IV.
THE NEW STANDING INTO WHICH BAPTISM BRINGETH THE
CHURCH, AND THE ENGAGING PARENT OR SPONSOR, TO-
WARDS THE CHILD.
PSALM CXXVII. 3.
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
F then, as we shewed in the former Homily, the mystery of
baptism be the death of our natural manhood inherited
by generation from our fathers, and the resurrection of our
spiritual manhood derived by grace from the risen Christ;
and if the high privilege of this mystery be unto our children,
the question is, To whom belongeth the right of presenting a
child to have such an act done upon it? This right manifestly
can belong to none but the parent, or, failing him, that person
nearest of kin whom the laws of God and man consider as
holding property in the child. For it is no slight and trivial
ceremony which is to be done upon the child, but a high and
holy transaction of God and His Church, which is to make it
all its life long responsible for the sinlessness of a naturally
dead person, and the holiness of one who is spiritually alive
from the dead. It is to root out all natural affections, and to
plant all spiritual affections in their stead; it is to cut asunder
all natural ties, and to bind fast all religious obligations; and,
in one word, it is to sacrifice upon the altar of faith the infant's
natural life and natural inheritances, looking unto the promise
of a spiritual life, and an unseen inheritance. Which, although
it be a great advantage unto the child, is yet such an advan-
tage as groweth out of a great sacrifice; and who hath a right
to make that sacrifice in the prospect and the promise of that
advantage I know not, if it be not the parent or the kinsman
STANDING TOWARDS THE CHILD.
307
who hath natural right in, and is held obliged to act for, the
child. And thus it was under the former covenant, that the
father of children, and the master of slaves, were bound unto
God for their circumcision; as it is also a law in the new dis-
pensation under which Cornelius presented his house, as also
did the jailer of Philippi, and Lydia, of whom every one upon
believing was baptized, with their whole house.
This question being settled, another immediately ariseth;
which is, And what is the nature of the act which a father
doth when he presenteth his child to baptism? And the an-
swer is, He doth offer it to be slain and buried, which, as we have
shewn in our former discourse, is the first thing done in every
true and rightly-administered act of baptism. Now, I would
pause here a moment, and endeavour to impress upon the
minds of all present, what a deep and pregnant significance
this gives to the act of presenting a child to baptism; by
which act the father declareth before the Church, though not
by words, yet by that sacramental act, which is more solemn
than words, he declareth, "I believe this child of mine to be
wholly conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity, born into a life of
sorrow, and the heir of an everlasting death: all that it hath
derived from me is misery and mortality, and I take pity
upon the sinful and wretched thing which hath sprung from
my loins all this I know through my faith in the revelation
of God in Jesus Christ, where I am also informed that from
among the creatures so produced in sin and doomed to misery,
there is a portion chosen of God unto eternal life, which are
begotten 'not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God,' to this election. I do find, since it
began in Abraham, that there hath been an outward sign or
mark given heretofore by circumcision, and now by baptism;
and though I know that this hath ever included more than
the true election, yet know I likewise, that the true election
hath ever been found included therein; and perceiving that
the promise hath ever been unto the children, as well as unto
the parents, I do now come to seek, for this my child, admis-
sion within the pale of the Church, wherein are these holy ones;
and though I know that I do thereby sacrifice, and put to
death, and bury in the tomb, my child's natural life, and by
308
OF BAPTISM.
this act renounce all right of nature in him from henceforth,
yet am I willing to make the sacrifice; and though I do know
that Satan doth only rage the more violently within the Church,
and that it is God's purpose he should prevail against many
for the trial of the rest, yet perceiving that there is hope there,
and no hope elsewhere, and having a good faith in the promise
of God, as it is set forth in this very sacrament, that He will
raise this child from the dead, I do present him to be offered
by the hands of the Church, to whom pertaineth the keeping
of Christ's priestly office." All this, I say, is virtually declared
by the parent in the act of presenting his child, and that in a
far more solemn manner than words can do.
Now, another question ariseth, By what right is a parent
entitled to ask, and upon what terms is the Church permitted
to grant this boon? First, with respect to the parent's right:
it standeth solely and wholly in his faith, of which the Church
being satisfied may not refuse the boon. For if the Church
be satisfied of his faith, then must she also be satisfied of his
possessing that justifying righteousness of Christ, which is
imputed to and received by faith alone. It were to subvert
the foundations, and to confound the word of God, to separate
the Father's gift of faith from Christ's gift of righteousness,
so as that, being satisfied of the presence of the one in any
individual, we should not be satisfied of the presence of the
other also. I do not say that our being satisfied of the pre-
sence either of the one or the other causeth it to be present,
or insureth that it is present: nay, I know the very contrary,
that the Church is both deceivable and deceived in her judg-
ments; and that there is no infallibility in any man, or in
any judgment of man, but in Christ the Judge of all, at the
judgment of the great day but this I say, that with her
means of judgment, if the Church be satisfied as to the faith
of a man, she may not for an instant doubt as to the righteous-
ness of Christ, which He hath imputed to him in the sight of
God. Now, if God regardeth children as being in their
parents during their incapacity of believing for themselves,
then, whatever is imputed to the parent for his faith, is im-
puted also to the infant as a part of him, and thus the in-
fant, who by generation shared the pollution of his father's
STANDING TOWARDS THE CHILD. 309
nature, doth by grace share the justification of his father's
faith, according as it is written, "The unbelieving husband is
sanctified by the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is
sanctified by the believing husband: else were your children
unclean; but now are they holy." And in virtue of this
derived holiness, this inherited holiness of faith, it is that a
creature born in sin, whom God could not look upon in itself,
but must for ever abhor, becometh capable of being taken
within the holy bond of the blessed covenant; and of having
performed upon it the utmost efficacy of the work of the
Holy Spirit which is signified therein. And the child thus
admitted is as truly a member of the Church of Christ as the
oldest saint upon the earth, because the Holy Spirit is as free
and as powerful to work His work upon the babe, or the
child unborn, from the first moment of conception, as He is to
work His work on the hoary sinner, who, instead of having
any advantage, hath verily the disadvantage, if so it may be
called, of years of sinfulness and prodigality; but I call it
not a disadvantage, because grace is free to the fallen crea-
ture, and not proportioned either to the term of his life or to
the degree of his guilt.
Having thus settled the question of the parent's act, and
the parent's right, we now come to the act of the Church,
what it is; and to the right of the Church to impose obliga-
tions, whence it is. With respect to the Church, there can be
no doubt that as it appertained heretofore to the sons of Levi
to offer up the sacrifices which the children of Israel brought
to the door of the tabernacle, so it doth appertain to the holy
ministry, ordained by the laying on of hands, to offer up the
sacrifice of the fruit of his own loins, which the parent of his
free-will and faith presenteth. I say sacrifice, not in a meri-
torious, but a eucharistical sense; for I consider it no less,
as I have often said, than the great Abrahamic act of faith,
wherein a father, on the strength of a promise of God, is
willing to forego his own right and interest in his child, and
doth make overtures to the Church that it should be by her
hand put to death and buried. Yea, I rise not high enough,
when I say it is the Abrahamic act of faith, which was but
typical of this act, done by every Christian father in present-
310
OF BAPTISM.
ing his child to baptism: for Isaac's natural flesh was not
offered upon the pile of wood, whereas truly and really the
flesh, the body of the sins of the flesh, is slain, and buried by
baptism, in every elect child of God. The true act which
Abraham's offering of Isaac, and every act of Christian
baptism, doth shadow forth, is not less than that first and
greatest act of God the Father, whereby from all eternity He
did offer up unto the death, in a body of fallen yet sinless
manhood, His own co-eternal consubstantial Son.
And as
this stupendous act on the part of the Godhead, is that out of
which groweth the eternal covenant between the Father and
the Son, including all the manifestations of creation, of re-
demption, of regeneration, and eternal glory, so doth this act
of the Christian father, offering his own son in baptism unto
death and burial, open the covenant of grace unto the new-
born fallen creature, and begin the work of his exaltation
from the death and grave of nature up to the co-inheritance of
the throne of Christ; and therefore I call it a sacrifice, as
being the continued memorial, and the very continuance, in
a lower kind, by the Church, of that sacrifice from which the
Church hath her beginning. I call it a sacrifice, moreover,
because, little as it is thought of, it ought to be as painful to
flesh and blood as was that which Abraham was prepared
to do. For, though it may startle you when I say it, yet
doubt have I none, that, in the sight of God, the true time of
the separation of a parent and his child is in the act of bap-
tism, in which the name of another Father is named over
him, and the service of another Father is imposed upon him.
It is true, that, to the eye of sense, the child is present still;
but that is of the nature of a temptation, and not of an
enjoyment,—for to eye him after baptism with the love of
sense, is to covet that which is the Lord's. He is as much
separated from us as was John the Baptist, when he was in
the wilderness until the time of his shewing unto Israel; and
that child which we then renounce, if indeed we did renounce
him, shall be shewn to us again in glory as a child of God,
in the day of the manifestation of the sons of God. But,
alas! alas! let me remember that I speak to human frailty.
O God, how little we are able to fulfil any of Thine ordi-
STANDING TOWARDS THE CHILD.
311
nances; how little we walk by faith, how much by sight!
Remember that we are dust, and that our foundation is in the
dust. Nevertheless, dear brethren, as I am a minister of faith,
for the establishment of your faith, I must render a faithful
account of the mysteries of God, praying always for myself
and for you, that we may be more and more perfected in the
faith and observance of them.
The Church, then, by her ordained minister, doth receive
from the father the offering of his child unto God, and she
gladly approveth it as another fruit of faith and of righteous-
ness. But, before doing the act, she wisely weigheth with
herself what will be the consequences of the act which she is
about to do. She believes, according to the doctrine of Holy
Scripture taught above, that from the lowly bed of this death
a new life, spiritual and eternal, ought to arise. I say ought
to arise, because that, in many and most instances, it doth
not arise, is due not unto God but unto ourselves, though by
God foreseen and provided for. The Church, therefore, as
the handmaiden of God, and the spouse of Christ, believing
Him to be faithful, and feeling herself set for a witness of His
faithfulness against all doubters and disbelievers, doth never
permit herself to doubt that a new life will come from the
lowly bed of this death and burial. She believeth that unto
God's elect this sacrament is made effectual to kill the natural
and to quicken the spiritual man. And though she humbly
acknowledgeth herself quite unable to discern the election of
God, yet, acting in her vocation of a witness, though not of a
judge, and expecting her office of judge when Christ as Judge
shall come, she doth, yea, must believe, that a life will arise
out of the grave of baptism, and upon this faith she must ne-
cessarily act.
Proceeding, then, upon faith of a spiritual life, about to be
begotten in the tomb of the natural creature, she, like a good
mother and guardian, questioneth with herself, "But who is
to care for this new-born life? The parent is parent only of
the natural life, which he hath laid upon the altar of faith, he
hath no right as natural parent in the spiritual life; for that
were to make the spiritual life born of blood: moreover, in this
act which I am to do, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
312
OF BAPTISM.
The Church
must lie with
As the act of
Christ, by His name, the Father, doth appropriate this child
unto Himself; and from henceforth this child I must regard
and deal with as a most holy thing, even as the child of God.
And surely there lieth here a great burden and charge at the
door of some one.
And with whom doth it lie?"
can answer in no way but this: "The charge
him who is the instrument of doing the deed.
generation constituted this parent the guardian of the natural
life, so must the act of regeneration constitute the party into
whose hands it is intrusted the guardian of the spiritual life.
I, therefore, in the eye of God, am the guardian and parent of
these children, because I, and I alone, am intrusted of God.
with the power, and do perform the act, of bringing them into
this covenant-standing, in which, and in which alone, the fallen
creatures can be made partakers of eternal life." And this
reasoning of the Church I hold to be irrefragable. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but the responsibility of the Church
for all her baptized children shall not pass away. The obli-
gation of the natural parent is not stronger than this; yea,
and, I may say, is not so strong; inasmuch as the pledge in
question is infinitely more precious. This being fixed and
declared, we shall advance another step towards the complete
discovery of this mystery.
The parent having resigned his right of nature, the Church,
with the full apprehension of her responsibility for the sur-
rendered child, doth proceed to offer the sacrifice unto God,
in the assured expectation that, as under the law, when the
sacrifice was laid upon the altar, the fire from heaven de-
scended upon it, so shall this sacrifice in due time also be
baptized with fire. In due time, I say, that is, in the resur-
rection after the death, which to faith is seen in baptism, hath
been accomplished to sense in the very grave; for baptism,
like every other ordinance of the Church, is a reality only to
faith, the reality to sense occurreth afterward in the progress
of the curse, and so in like manner the reality of the resurrec-
tion, which to faith is present in baptism, becometh present to
sense in the day of the coming of the Lord; and thus the
whole Church is but, as it were, a foreshewing, for the help of
faith, of that which, in the fulness of the times, shall be real-
:
STANDING TOWARDS THE CHILD.
313
ised in the purpose of God. God is not content with fore-
telling it, but doth shadow it forth by visible symbols, of
which baptism is one. In due time, therefore, when the figure
of baptism shall be realised in the fiery deluge of the resur-
rection, shall be fulfilled the true meaning of the ancient
sacrifices which God accepted, by sending fire to change the
visible corporeal substance of the animal into an invisible
aerial substance, a change similar to that which in the resur-
rection our bodies shall undergo.
This sacrifice the Church being disposed to offer up in
faith, and taking counsel with herself concerning the spiritual
life which she believeth will follow to faith, she seeketh about
to discover into whose hands she may best intrust the rearing
of the child of God. And here she acteth, as I conceive, ac-
cording to her own wisdom, and not after any commandment
of God: and so it is our Church hath adopted, I think, a
much better order than the Church in these parts, preferring
in every case the parent to any other sponsor or sponsors;
and if not competent to the charge, seeking the nearest of kin
whom she judgeth to be so. This order of proceeding I prefer,
because it maketh the ordinance of the Church to run paral-
lel, as far as may be, with the ordinance of law and nature,
committing the spiritual guardianship into the same hands in
which the providential guardianship must ever rest.
And as
the Holy Spirit, in His regenerating office, doth never despise
His work of creation, however fallen and marred of sin, but
entering thereinto, doth cleanse the sinfulness and stay the
dissolution thereof, proving Himself thereby kindly to His
former handiwork, and glorifying Himself over its infirmity,
and shewing forth the oneness of idea in the creation state of
the fallen state, and of the regenerate state of the creation;
even so it is to be believed that it will be congenial to the
Holy Ghost to enter into the natural relationship of father
and child, which hath been laid as a sacrifice upon the altar
of faith, and regenerated into a spiritual relation, rather than
rejecting this, which hath been so generously sacrificed unto
God, to constitute a new relationship between the child and
sponsors, who have in it, and to it, no natural affiance, and
have made the sacrifice of none; and, therefore, I think it is
314
OF BAPTISM.
both more agreeable to the whole principle of the regenera-
tion, as well as more dutiful to the faithful parent, to cleave
as close as can be to the natural relationship, and to avoid, as
much as may be, foreign sponsorship. But, as hath been said,
this is an ordinance of the Church, grounded upon views of
expediency alone; because, virtually, she continueth respon-
sible for the life which she is made instrumental, under the
Spirit, of begetting, and no act of those constituting either
parent or other sponsors can absolve her from the obligation.
Nevertheless, the covenant which the parent entereth into
with the Church is a most solemn covenant, which she hath
a good right to require, and which he should have a willing
heart to ratify. She hath a good right to require it, inasmuch
as she, and she only, hath the boon to bestow. True, she hath
it but in trust for the benefit of Christ's members; but still it
is in trust for all His members that she hath it, and especially
for the infants who are not capable of caring for themselves;
and, therefore, as the mother may well claim of the father in-
dustry to support the child, whom she hath conceived in pain,
and in travail brought forth, and is nourishing with the milk
of her substance; so may the Church, who presenteth the
father with a spiritual child, through her sufferings, and the
sufferings of her Head, well require of him the functions of a
spiritual parent. And what on her part it is both rightful
and prudent to require, on his part it is both reasonable and
dutiful to grant: for what is it that induces him to come for-
ward and offer up his child unto the death? Is it not the
hope of receiving it from the dead in a figure? Is it not the
desire of having it brought into the inheritance of a better
life, even an eternal? And having this desire, how can he
but rejoice to become the guardian of that better life? Not
to enter into the obligations, therefore, which the Church im-
poseth on him, would be to deny and make void the holiness
of the purpose with which he offered his child, and would con-
vert it into a deliberate act of casting off and slaying the child
of his bowels, converting the faithfullest act of Abraham, the
father of the faithful, into the most horrid act of the worship-
pers of Moloch, who offered their infants on his altar. And
here, again, I see a higher ground than any of those alluded
STANDING TOWARDS THE CHILD.
315
to above, for which the father should be preferred to every
other sponsor, in order to justify and validate and sanctify
the act of presenting the child to baptism, seeing to refuse
him now, as incompetent to the charge of his child, were to
deny the act of faith in the offering of his child. For surely
if a man hath offered his child in faith to baptism, he hath
done the highest act of Christian faith, and may be trusted
with any other. And observe, further, that it is that very act
of faith which constitutes the child admissible, for otherwise
there were no righteousness to cover it withal. On all ac-
counts, therefore, the father is pointed out as the proper
person with whom the covenant of sponsorship may be stricken
by the Church; and if the Church consenteth not to take him
as such, neither should she consent to his presenting the child,
because of whom she receiveth the act of presentation, to him
she may with safety, and ought in duty, to commit the charge
of sponsorship.
But to whomsoever committed, whether to the parent or
to another, the obligation is one and the same; an obligation
contracted with the Church, to watch over one of the children
of the Church; an obligation, through the medium of the
Church contracted with God, to train up in His nurture and
admonition one of His children, upon whom His name hath
been named; an obligation to believe, and pray, and hope,
and wait until Christ be formed in the child, the hope of
glory; an obligation, moreover, to check, to prune, to eradi-
cate, and utterly destroy every shoot of sin and wickedness
which proceedeth from the old stock of nature, the eye of
faith did in baptism behold cut down and extirpated. Now,
if in baptism the eye of faith beheld our natural man dead
and buried, what, I would ask, is there left alive unto the eye
of faith, if it be not the spiritual man? so that he who denies
a spiritual life to be present after baptism, hath only one or
other of the alternatives left him: either he must deny that
baptism means the death and burial of the body of the sins
of the flesh, which no one can who receiveth the word of God
as it is plainly written; or, if he admit this, and deny the
spiritual life, then what doth he believe to be present? no-
thing at all; and this nonentity is the other alternative.
316
OF BAPTISM.
Now, no one in his senses will say, that after baptism a child
is to be believed to be a nonentity; and no one that be-
lieveth the Scriptures will say, that its natural life is not dead
and buried. What, then, is there left to work upon, but the
faith of a spiritual life which it hath received?
I do not say
that it hath received a spiritual life; but that it is ours to
assume that it hath, to believe that it hath, and to act upon
that assumption and belief, leaving secret things, and things
not revealed, unto God. God forbid that I should prejudice
the decree of election. God forbid that I should be guilty of
the Papal error of separating the acts of the Church from, or
preferring them before, her glorified Head. God forbid that
I should bind the Spirit to an outward ordinance, or make
Him to proceed from the hands of a priest whose goings forth
are from the eternal Father, through the risen God-man.
All I undertake is to explain a revealed thing, an instituted
ordinance of the Church of Christ, for the use of the Church
of Christ. And I say again, that it is the duty of the Church,
and of the parent, to believe that there is a spiritual life in
every baptized child; and in so believing, and acting on the
belief, they are sure to carry themselves rightly towards the
election of God. And if they carry themselves in like man-
ner towards those who prove themselves not to be the elec-
tion of God, they do so by reason of the present infirmity
and deception which are in all things visible: they commit no
offence against God by so conforming themselves to His own
holy institution, wisely adapted to the infirmity of sight: they
do no injury to themselves, but, contrariwise, act upon a prin-
ciple of faith and charity, instead of acting upon a principle
of sight and judgment: and, finally, while they nourish the
election in the Church, by such an open avowal of spiritual
life in the baptized, they do no injury to the reprobacy in the
Church; but, on the other hand, are continual monitors of
what they ought to be, exposers of what they actually wit-
ness for God, and fully justifying Him in the reprobation of
those who, having light continually shining, prefer darkness
to light, their deeds being evil.
If, then, it be both so dutiful and advantageous for all the
baptized thus to carry themselves towards one another, how
STANDING TOWARDS THE CHILD. 317
much more is it so in the case of a parent towards his child,
for whom he hath entered into covenant with the Church?
His own professed faith in the promise bindeth him; his own
act of bringing the child into this new standing towards God
bindeth him; the inestimable benefit which he hath received
at the hand of the Church bindeth him; the solemn covenant
into which he entered bindeth him; and I may say, all the
yearnings of a spiritual parent over a spiritual child, all the
bowels of regenerate nature towards its regenerate offspring,
draw him to discharge the offices of a spiritual guardian and
sponsor, for which he now standeth pledged unto the great
Head of the Church. And in the fulfilment of this holy
parentage, he ought never to doubt that there is a holy seed
given in charge to him, that he may rear it up to be a
flourishing tree in the courts of the house of our God. To
doubt or to disbelieve in any one instance, is to doubt or to
disbelieve in all, and utterly to make void the sacrament of
baptism; and making this void, to make void the whole in-
stitution of the Church, of which I have no other idea than
this, that it is a representation unto faith of those very things
which are hereafter to be represented unto sight, and there-
fore symbolical, because they are looked upon by faith for a
symbol, standing to faith exactly in that relation in which an
object standeth to sense.
The parent, therefore, is never to doubt that a spiritual
substance is in his child after baptism; and he is never to
cease to pray, to hope, to speak, to act, towards his child as
one who so believeth: and whatsoever perversity, and ob-
stinacy, and malice, and wickedness, he may discern in it, he
must still hope, and pray, and speak, and act, in the same
holy spirit, because God hath nowhere said at what time of
life He shall effectually call His own elect, and the experience
of the Church commonly findeth that they are not effectually
called until they have first suffered the bondage of Egypt,
and oft also the captivity of Babylon: though we do surely
believe that the election of God are, like Jeremiah, known of
Him before they are conceived in the womb; yea, every one
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world; yet
doubt there can be none, that the Spirit doth seldom shew
318
OF BAPTISM.
Himself in the saint from his mother's womb, but rather
suffereth the sinfulness of the creature to shew itself by a
period of prodigality, or of world-service and flesh-obedience,
in order that he may afterwards wage a more strenuous and
successful warfare, by having been brought acquainted with
the enemy's camp and stratagems of war: and, therefore, con-
version ever hath been, and ever ought to be, regarded as an
important epoch in the life of saints, though by no means
the same, nor of the same importance with regeneration: for
conversion is proper to one who is already adopted into the
family of God; whereas, regeneration is that which gives him
a right thereto. The prodigal was converted when he returned
from alienation back again to his father's house. Simon
Peter was converted when he repented of the denial of his
Lord, and returned with bitterness of spirit to his fidelity.
But Simon Peter and the prodigal son were both of them
children of God before they went astray. Oh, brethren!
these subjects which I thus touch discursively as I pursue
the train of my thoughts, are worthy to be treated of in many
separate sermons; and none more so than this the true
relationship to God, in which we stand from our baptism to
our conversion; of which I will just say this in passing, that
it is a standing in the covenant and household of faith,
wherein we perform the part of disobedient and perverse
children, and experience the long-suffering patience and
yearning love of our heavenly Father. And I will add, that
to disentangle the nature of this Gordian knot of Divine love,
which our spiritualisers cut, is one chief end of all God's
dealings with the Jewish Church up to this day, whose per-
petual backslidings from God, and God's perpetual restora-
tions of them, do shadow forth the perversity of the children
of God, and His unwillingness to let them go; whose ejection
at length, and present outcast condition, doth shadow forth
the prodigal state of the children of God; whose restoration,
as it is contained in the promise, and will yet be performed
in the reality, doth shadow forth the certain conversion and
eternal perseverance of every elect child of God. And I
could say much more of the estate of a saint between his
regeneration and conversion, particularly respecting the light
STANDING TOWARDS THE CHILD. 319
which is thereby cast on God's fatherhood, the tenderness,
the unwearied tenderness, of His parental love, the yearn-
ings of His bowels over all such strayed children, the rejoic-
ings, the hundredfold rejoicings of His heart, over their
return; all which hath its emblem in the natural constitution
of a parent's heart, which loves its offspring for a long time
before it returns any love; yea, which loves it for a long
time only the more, and follows after it the more, because it
hath failed to return a parent's love. This mystery of nature,
which all observe, and which no one can on any reasonable
grounds account for, is fixed there in a parent's heart, for the
end, I believe, of shewing forth the fatherhood of God towards
His children, in the season of their prodigality and alienation;
and therefore it is, that I cannot away with those murderers
of holy doctrine who will neither allow nor hear of any
fatherly relationship between God and man till after conver-
sion, thus abolishing the sacrament of baptism, and the
doctrine of the Holy Scriptures concerning it; the relation-
ship of God to His prodigal children; the relationship of the
Church to her sponsors; the relationship of the sponsors to
the baptized children; leaving the baptized children free
from all these obligations, to be tossed like a ball into a large
country, and lost in the wilderness of the nations. But further
into this subject our time permitteth me not, at present, to
enter: God willing, I shall resume it in some of our future
discourses.
In the meantime, holy brethren, I pray you to lay these
things to heart, and to believe assuredly, that it is no High-
Church error or superstition that I am advocating, but that I
am standing for the very existence of a Church,—whether we
shall have symbolical institutions for the help of our faith, or
whether we shall have them not. Dearly beloved brethren, I
am endeavouring to restore a spiritual meaning unto the re-
lationships of the Church, to treat you as redeemed persons,
and to shew you how to entreat one another in the same kind.
It is, that we may have a substance-a spiritual substance-
under all our forms; that we may not be the hypocritical
performers of those ordinances of which we see not, and
believe not, the mystery. I say again, it is whether we shall
320
OF BAPTISM.
have a Church founded upon the doctrines, and ruled by the
institutions, of Christ; or a Church founded upon the under-
standing, and ruled by the prudence, of men;-in short,
whether the ritual and worship and sacraments of the Church
shall offer to the lips of the people an empty vessel, or a
vessel full of waters, and these the waters of the Holy Ghost.
And I, as a minister of the Holy Ghost, who believe that the
ordinance of the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery is
no vain or idle ceremony, but doth constitute a man a minister
of the Holy Ghost, have this day been standing up for one
of the great ordinances of the Spirit; which, methinks, but
for the creeds and standards of the Churches, would be swal-
lowed up in the vain, extravagant, and all-absorbing trust
which they repose in the written word. And, therefore, I do
entreat you, as believers in the Holy Ghost, to weigh well the
truths whereof I have this night discoursed; and, as you are
convinced of them by the Spirit, to lay them to heart, and to
seek the power of the Spirit to carry them into effect: for the
days are exceeding evil, and the venerable ordinances of the
Church are pecked at by the vain and idle multitude; but, by
the grace of God, they shall prove life and strength to every
one who believeth and revereth them.
HOMILY V.
THE DUTIES OF THE CHURCH AND THE ENGAGING
PARENT OR SPONSOR.
PROV. XXII. 6.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart
from it.
THE views of the doctrine of baptism which we set forth
on the last Lord's day amount to this,-That in the
mystery of that sacrament is represented as finished and
completed the whole work of human redemption, consisting
of these three parts, "death, burial, and resurrection :" the
first being the extinction of the first life of the creature; the
second, the dissolution of its substance; the third, the resti-
tution of its life and substance in a new and abiding form.
Which symbol of the complete redemption of the fallen crea-
ture being done upon any subject by the hands of the Church,
duly ordained thereto, and in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, whose power and offices are all
directed to accomplish the same, this act doth introduce him
on whom it is done into relations altogether new, both towards
God and towards the Church. Towards God, it placeth him
in the condition of one who is honoured and privileged with
all the promises which have been made since the world
began, and who, by his own act, hath declared himself to be
responsible for all the great and mighty ends for which these
promises were given; and therefore liable to all the penalties.
which are written against those who, having been so kindly
entreated of God, and solemnly engaged unto God, do yet
despise His grace, and trample His covenant under foot: and
this is the exact definition of a reprobate. To the Church,
again, this act of baptism doth change the relationship of him
VOL. II.
X
322
OF BAPTISM.
upon whom it is done, inasmuch as she must from henceforth
regard him as one upon whom, in the solemnest manner, the
work of Christ, from the beginning to the ending of it, hath
been sealed, as God hath appointed it to be sealed to any
child of Adam. In which light, if she refuse to regard any
baptized person, then she doth invalidate the ordinance alto-
gether to every person, and becometh guilty upon those awful
accounts "of changing the ordinance, and breaking the ever-
lasting covenant," upon which, as you will see in Isaiah xxiv.,
the whole world is subverted and destroyed. Which indig-
nation and vengeance of God, if the Church would avoid,
then must she stand fast by the ordinances, uphold their
eternal obligation, and, though all things should reel to and
fro like a drunken man, keep the stability of her footing upon
these foundations of Christ.
To the end of bringing back this church over which I watch,
from the tottering instability of private opinions, and from the
expedient measures of the multitude, who drift with wind and
current; after setting forth these views of the doctrine, I pro-
ceeded to shew the nature and obligation of those new rela-
tions into which all parties are brought by this solemn sacra-
ment; and had advanced so far as to shew, that the Church
is responsible unto Christ for every baptized child, and the
sponsor is responsible to the Church: and we now proceed to
shew in what way these two responsible parties should fulfil
their obligations.
The Church, as distinguished from the unbaptized world,
is a body of men living and walking by the faith of things
invisible; whereas the world liveth and walketh by the sight
of things visible. That visible state of things, which is to the
world the substance of its possessions and the materials of its
enjoyment, is to the Church the cloud of its darkness, and the
materials of its temptation. Wherefore God, perceiving how
unequal a combat the Church would have to maintain, hath,
in His great mercy, accorded unto her present weakness cer-
tain symbols of the invisible things for which she is to contend.
Which symbols addressing the sense, or rather the faith
through the sense, might help her in contending against sight.
If the battle could have been waged without these symbols,
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
323
they would never have been instituted by the appointment of
Christ; but, being instituted, I believe they cannot be dis-
pensed with. Now, this symbol of baptism having presented
unto the faith of the Church any child as dead and buried
and risen with Christ, the Church, as one who liveth by faith,
should ever look upon that child as really dead and buried
and risen, pray for him as such, speak of him as such, and act
towards him as such; and this she must do notwithstanding
the fearful evidences to the contrary which he displays: yea,
and when remonstrating against his natural propensities and
actual sins, as they are ever shewing themselves, she should,
like St Paul, ever proceed upon the principle, that he became
dead to sin when he was baptized into Christ. This is exactly
the trial of her faith, to believe that a new creature is in him,
according to the promise, notwithstanding the wickedness.
which appeareth: just as she believeth that, in the elemental
world, there is a new and sinless and immortal creature groan-
ing for redemption, notwithstanding the meanness and wicked-
ness and corruption which now pervade it. Could Abraham,
when his body was dead, and Sarah, after the deadness of
her womb, have any reasonable hope of a child? But they
believed against hope, and so became heirs of the promises.
And where is the faith of the Church, if she cannot believe in
the covenant of baptism made with a person, because that
person seems hitherto to have been barren, and at present to
be dead? or doth she think that she shall have the end of the
promise upon the instant of its being given, as if she could
trust God for a day or a year, but not for ten, or twenty, or
thirty years? or must she have sight to help out faith? then
let her look unto the emblem, which is the only help of sight
which God hath seen it meet to grant unto faith. Oh, but
she would have certain grounds upon which to believe and
hope and act, besides those given in the emblem! Then she
lacketh faith in God, and in so far forth must suffer loss.
I do not say, dear brethren, but that the Holy Spirit, when
He beginneth to work in any of the election according to grace,
will produce the fruits of righteousness, by which you shall
know, and ought to discriminate them: but I am speaking of
the period which intervenes from baptism until effectual call-
324
OF BAPTISM.
ing, and not of the period after effectual calling; of the period
from the time that Sarah received the promise until she con-
ceived the child, not of the time afterwards; for it requireth
little faith to believe then, when experience properly begin-
neth; so likewise, there is little faith, except, indeed, the faith
of perseverance, of which at present I discourse not, required.
for the sake of any one after the Holy Spirit hath begun to
bear fruit in his soul, when it becomes no longer the faith of a
promise, but the experience of the faithfulness of a promise;
not the work, but the reward, of faith, which reward, that she
may in due time reap, if so it seemeth good unto God, in all
her baptized children, I am shewing the Church how to labour
in the work of faith, while as yet there is nothing to build
upon but the promise of God, being well assured that her re-
missness during this the sowing-time of faith, is the reason
why she reapeth such a scanty harvest, and is found in such
an impoverished condition. It is the duty of the Church,
therefore, to believe most surely of every baptized child, that
in the fulness of time fixed in His own counsels, God will fulfil
His covenant engagements towards it. I say it is her part to
believe that He will, and to act out that belief: this is her
office, and the rest she must leave to God; if the covenant
should not be fulfilled to any one, there is a day when that
secret thing will be openly justified, in which day she will be
reproved if it shall appear that she hath not believed and
acted to that one as to the rest of God's saints.
I know, from the parable of the tares and the wheat, the
mystery that there are reprobates as well as elect within the
bond of the holy covenant, that it is God's will and purpose.
that it should be so; but I likewise, by the same token, do
know, that it is not given to the servants of the Sower to
separate the tares from the wheat, and that they must grow
together until the harvest. Now, I hold that it is to take
this forbidden office upon ourselves, for which we are not
qualified, if we shall go to make distinctions among the bap-
tized, and have faith for one, but not have faith for another:
it is even to judge and discriminate before the plants have
shewn themselves above the ground; or, without a figure, it
is not to believe at all, but to usurp the office of judgment,
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
325
and to make this day of faith and hope the day of judg-
ment and doom.
But if any one hesitate to grant me what I conceive to be
the first principle and chief end of the Church, that she should
have a most inviolable reliance upon the word of the covenant
for every one thereinto admitted, then I ask such a one, upon
what principle he would have us to proceed in taking care of
the soul of a child, and training it up? I take for granted
that the objector believeth the doctrine of our fallen and help-
less estate by nature, and our incapacity of originating any
spiritual life within ourselves: now, I ask such a one what he
meaneth by labouring upon such a dead stock as this? Who
would nurse a still-born child? Who thinketh of ministering
the offices of life to one that is dead? And yet you hope for
this creature that is born spiritually dead that it will live unto
God; you labour for it that it may live unto God, and you
train it up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I ask
wherefore you do this, seeing you believe the child upon
whom you bestow your pains to be dead? It is needless to
tell me that it is your duty to do so, for it never can be your
duty to expect life from the dead, unless you have a promise
of God to that effect; and what promise have you for this
child, if it be not in baptism, which you reject? Do you
direct me to some general promise of the written Word? I
ask, to whom is that promise made? There are only two
possible answers: Either to those in the covenant, or to the
election according to grace. If you say the former, then is
not baptism that which introduces to the covenant, and gives
the privilege of the promise? If you answer, the election
according to grace; then I answer, how can you use it until
you know that this child is one of that election, which in this
life you can never know, and therefore use of it have you
none?
But, lest I should become unnecessarily subtle and minute,
I return from this digression to the more profitable work of
instructing the Church of God concerning their duties to the
baptized. And of these, I place first, after faith, the duty of
instruction, which must ever be preceded by the belief that
there is in them the capacity of being instructed in spiritual
326
1
OF BAPTISM.
things. I say not that this capacity is given in baptism. The
Spirit is free to impart it to the elect of God from the very
womb; but I say, that after baptism it may not be doubted
to be in any one.
Nor do I say that it is in any but in God's
elect; but as these are not known, and cannot be known to
us, to any but God, it would have been impossible for the
Church to have served unto them any of the purposes of God,
but for this sacrament, which defines the class amongst whom
they are found. And because of the election that are found
amongst the baptized, God requireth His Church to carry her-
self towards them all, as if they were His election, and per-
mits not to any power on earth the right of discriminating
amongst them for any end but that of discipline. Now, all
discipline of the Church, even to excommunication itself,
proceedeth upon the assumption that the subjects of it are
children of God, whom Satan is seeking to delude; and even
in excommunication, as saith the apostle, the flesh is cut off,
that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. And
for the Church to ask, why she should be required to act upon
an assumption which is not the very fact, is merely to ask,
why she hath not the attribute of God to search the heart and
try the reins. For her to desire a more clear line of acting
and faculty of judging unerringly, is merely to complain
against the present dispensation of charity, and to forestall
the future dispensation of judgment. Seeing, then, that the
baptized are to be entreated of the Church exactly as if they
were all elect, we say that the first duty the Church oweth to
them is instruction, or enlightening in the privileges and con-
ditions of that covenant wherein they stand. The time from
baptism till the partaking of the Lord's supper is the period
which should be occupied in instruction, and up to that period
the children of the Church are in the condition of catechu-
mens; and for these the Church hath drawn up the Shorter
Catechism; and no one, according to the discipline of the
Church, ought to sit down at the Lord's table who is not per-
fectly instructed therein. And to this day I make trial of
their thorough knowledge and perfect understanding in that
section of the catechism which concerneth the holy sacra-
ments. Now, as parents are sponsors under the Church, each
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
327
for his baptized children, and the Church has seen it good to
put into the hands of every parent this most sound and pre-
cious form of words, I hold it to be a distinct dereliction of
duty for any parent to neglect instructing his children, the
children of the Church, in this manual, or to take upon him
to change it for another. And I most solemnly protest here
in my place against the use of catechisms which the Church
hath not authorised, be they written by whom they please;
and if in such matters you will prefer your own private judg-
ment to the judgment of the Church in the matter of your
children, then you break the vow of sponsorship. You are
guilty concerning your child, and you so far forth cast your
family out from the inheritance which the Church hath in the
favour of God. But, dear brethren, if you have done it igno-
rantly and unwittingly in these years of indifference to all
ecclesiastical order, then I pray you, now when the matter is
rightly stated to you, to give it serious thought, and reform
the abuses which have crept over us in the tract of time, and
by the heedlessness of the Church.
But, to return to the subject of instruction, if you ask me
to what objects it should be chiefly directed, I answer,—In-
struct the child to do that which the sponsor, according to
our sister Church, undertakes for the child; to renounce the
devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world,
with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires
of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them."
Respecting these the forms of wickedness as they arise in its
own heart, and are presented to it by the world, the engaging
parent is bound to instruct the child,-for how shall it be able
to renounce the evil, unless it first know the evil?-to do which
requireth a full acquaintance with the law of God, by which
all evil is discovered; and no instruction is so fit for children
as that which proceedeth by commanding and forbidding.-
Secondly, The child should be taught all the heads of the
Christian faith, and be required to believe them; I say, re-
quired to believe them, as the great principles of the Christian
Church, for the faith of which it hath been already pledged.
And if Satan should so far prevail with it as to pervert its
conscience to the disbelief of them, then is it the duty of the
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OF BAPTISM.
sponsor to submit such a case to the rulers of the Church, to
whom he is responsible, that it may be dealt with according
to their greater wisdom; and if that should fail, and the
youth, after being waited for and dealt with by all means,
should remain unbelieving, let him be cut off, first by the act
of lesser, and then of greater, excommunication: for nothing
is so unseemly as that there should be an unbeliever in com-
munion with Christ's Church.-Thirdly, The baptized person
should be instructed in all God's holy will and command-
ments, and his obligations to walk in the same all the days of
his life. And, in one word, to finish this subject of the in-
struction which a sponsor owes to his charge, let me quote
again from the most excellent baptismal service of the Church
of England :—“"Forasmuch as this child hath promised by
you his sureties to renounce the devil and all his works, to
believe in God, and to serve Him; ye must remember, that
it is your parts and duties to see that this infant be taught,
so soon as he shall be able to learn, what a solemn vow, pro-
mise, and profession he hath here made by you. And that he
may know these things the better, ye shall call upon him to
hear sermons; and chiefly ye shall provide that he may learn.
the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments,
in the vulgar tongue, and all other things which a Christian
ought to know and believe to his soul's health; and that this
child may be virtuously brought up to lead a godly and a
Christian life; remembering always, that baptism doth repre-
sent unto us our profession; which is, to follow the example
of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto Him; that,
as He died, and rose again for us, so should we, who are bap-
tized, die from sin, and rise again unto righteousness; continu-
ally mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily
proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living."
Such of you as are natives of Scotland can bear witness
how much this duty was felt by our fathers and it may be
instructive to our English brethren, to inform them, that till
within these thirty or forty years, a Sabbath school was not
known through all the bounds of the Kirk of Scotland;-every
father fulfilling this office in his house as constantly as the
minister fulfilled his office in the Church; and this in the
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
329
house of the cottager, in the house of the farmer, in the house
of the laird or esquire, all alike; and I may add, also, in the
house of the nobles. Of which diligence I will give you this
curious proof, that no head of a house liked to take a servant
into his family who was not already a communicant; thereby
signifying, that till that time it was not proper she should be
removed from under the sponsorship of her parents. And,
in cases where this religious rule was deviated from, it was
understood to be the duty of the head of the house to ex-
amine such a one along with his own children. Yea, and so
tender were our fathers wont to be upon the subject of these
baptismal obligations, that in such cases where a master was
discharging the office for which a father was responsible, it
was the custom to permit the servant to go home to his
father's house on the Sabbath evening, that his father might
thereby have an opportunity to take knowledge of his soul's
health, and deal with him as one who had come under solemn
engagement to the Church for the same. Now, while all
this husbandry of baptized children was proceeding in every
family, and under every roof of our native land, the Church
was not inactive in performing her part; but as the mother
of the whole family of families, responsible unto God for the
instruction of the children, and for the faithfulness of the
sponsors, she required the minister of every parish, with the
elder of each particular division of it, to visit every family
from house to house, and, amongst other things, to take proof
of the knowledge of the children in presence of their parents.
This being finished, and one whole year was allotted to it, the
next year was devoted to the examination of the communi-
cants themselves, including parents of both sexes, old men
and old women, for which office the Larger Catechism was
appointed by the Church to be used. On which occasion the
minister himself was expected to resolve any doubts or diffi-
culties, or questions of doctrine, that might arise. And the
year following, he began again with the visiting of the families,
and the examining of the children; and so on, in an unceasing
round, proceeded the wholesome discipline of the Church, and
the edification of the whole land;-all, all growing out of the
root of this sacrament of baptism, which you would fain have
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OF BAPTISM.
extinguished as an everlasting covenant, and brought into
the insignificance of an outward ceremony. But, as the Lord
liveth to reward His faithful ministers, and as the Head of the
Church liveth to require the obedience of all His members, I
will not cease from my duty of sharply rebuking every one
who undervalueth this holy ordinance, whose augustness our
fathers held in such esteem, that they would not administer
it privately, except in extreme necessities; and when these
occurred, they gave public notice from the pulpit on the
Lord's day preceding, mentioning both time and place, and
requiring all the brethren in the neighbourhood to assemble
there for the exercises of public worship: on which occasion
the minister delivered no short address, but a regular sermon ;
and the people assembled in no chamber of a house, but
generally in the largest barn which was to be found: and
such was the good understanding between the Church and
Secession, and the reverence paid by all classes unto this
sacrament, that I am old enough to remember my father's
granting his barn, as being one of the largest in the town, for
this end, to a most holy father of the Burgher communion, to
whom I owe a debt of gratitude of which I delight ever to
acknowledge.
Truly, dear brethren, when these things we think upon, we
may well mourn and weep, and rend our garments, and cast
dust upon our heads, and be unclean until the evening. Ah,
when I compare the silent steady working of an invisible
principle of an ever-felt obligation like that of baptism, setting
in motion the hearts and minds of a whole people, linking
into communion, and yet preserving in due subordination, the
various ranks and degrees of men, regenerating the affections
of nature, and hallowing the relationships of kindred, sweeten-
ing the bitterness of adverse conditions, sanctifying all the
offices of the Church, and displaying her as the true and liberal
mother of all her children ;-when this harmonious and effec-
tual working of the Holy Spirit, through the institutions of
Christ, I do compare with the present condition of the Church,
concerning which there is such triumphant boasting: if I
observe, first, the relaxation on the part of the rulers of the
Church, and their indifference to the spiritual charge of their
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
331
children, their ignorance of the state of families for which
they are responsible, and the abuse, I had almost said pro-
fanation, of the sacrament itself, the profaneness, the privacy,
the indecent haste of its administration; the ignorance of its
bonds and obligations, and the practical, if not open denial,
that it involveth any: if I observe, next, the discipline of
families, how little system and order, how little instruction
and discipline, how little worship, how the father hath ceased
from the priesthood of his house, and the children from the
devout honour of their father; how the mother hath ceased
from the gentle office of kindly carrying into effect the details
of a father's plans; and how the servants are kept without
the family circle which our mild and gracious discipline
bringeth into one: if I observe, again, the state of the schools,
in which these defects are intended to be supplemented, and
witness the secularity and ostentation which run through
them, insomuch that I regard the Sunday school, as it is
ordinarily conducted, to be no Sabbath work, and likely to be
of no advantage to the Church of Christ, having in truth
little or no relation to the Church, and no reference whatever
to the ordinance of baptism, as the origin out of which it
grows, or to the communion, as the end to which it aims, or
to the spiritual seed, as the material upon which it works, but
being in truth little holier than our week-day parish schools:
if next I observe the outward and visible machinery of the
present religious world, as it well nameth itself; their endless,
and often prayerless committees, their multitudinous, and
often unhallowed meetings, their hustings and hustings-like
harangues, their numerous travellers upon commission, their
flaming, and often fallacious reports, with all the hurry, haste,
and bustle of the evangelical and methodistical machinery;
can I be but grieved at the fall and declension of the Church's
glory, and the common weal? Can I be but indignant when
they call themselves better than their fathers, and dare to say
that a millennial age is beginning to dawn in those churches
which are hastening to their downfall and destruction? Can
I be but desirous to restore the spiritual meaning, and the
spiritual power of the ordinances of the Church, and especially
of this the sacrament of baptism, which I may call the pri-
332
OF BAPTISM.
mum mobile, the moving power of the whole? Brethren, you
must bear with my zeal: it is not the zeal of a fanatic or
enthusiast, but of one who has lived much with the fathers,
and is stricken in spirit with the degeneracy of the children;
of one who would fain turn the hearts of the children unto
the fathers, lest God come and smite the earth with a curse.
The end of that instruction which the sponsor, under the
watchful eye of the Church, should impart, is the fitting of
the baptized for sitting down at the Lord's table, which may
never be permitted save to those who are of sufficient know-
ledge of the faith that is within them. When they have
attained unto this degree in the Church, they are no longer
under sponsorship, but free to become sponsors or catechists
in their turn; and therefore, every parent or sponsor should
long for the time when he can thus deliver up his burden into
the hands of the Church: and the rulers of the Church should
be most ready on their part to receive the burden from the
shoulders of the sponsors, and to advance another child to the
freedom of Christ's house: yea, the elders in their several
wards should be diligent to travail with all the youth until
they persuade them to seek admission to the table of the
Lord; and when it so happeneth, as in our city congrega-
tions it doth, that the youth are found separated from those.
who have the charge over them, there seems to me only two
ways of answering the end and intention of baptism ;—the
first, by the elders and deacons dealing with their several
charges in the congregation; the other, to restore the discipline
of the primitive Church, by appointing catechists from amongst
the brethren: but these are only resources to be substituted
in those cases where the youth are, in the providence of God,
separated from their sponsors: wherever they are not, let the
discipline of the Scottish Church, which hath been described
above, proceed under the sponsor each Sabbath during the
hours of intermission from public worship.
And so much have I to say upon the matter of instruction:
and next in order I place discipline, or the exercise of autho-
rity over the child; to train it up according to the laws and
commandments of God; for, from the time that a child is
admitted into the Christian Church by baptism, it is not only
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
333
entitled to all the privileges, but subject to all the command-
ments, and amenable to all the penalties of the Christian
Church; and being given into the sponsor's hand in full and
complete charge, he is bound not only to instruct it in all
these, but likewise to enforce obedience thereto: and this
latter is what I understand by discipline. Now, brethren, you
will observe that a child or youth is placed by God under
obligations proper and peculiar to the estate of childhood and
youth, for the fulfilment of which we may never doubt that
the grace of the Holy Spirit will be granted by God: and,
proceeding upon this faith, we make no allowances for childish
folly, but by instruction endeavour to correct it; neither do
we make any abatement for childish waywardness, but by
temperate authority endeavour to restrain it. Now, a spon-
sor, who is at the same time a father, ought never to forget
his parental relationship; for the spiritual doth not annihilate
the natural, but doth quicken and regenerate it: therefore
ought the sponsor to require the obedience of the child to
himself, and to enforce his obedience to his mother, and never
to spare the rod in order to teach this first lesson of obedience.
And as the wife is represented in her husband, and bound
with him in every obligation to which he is bound, it is her
part also, being crowned with his authority, to carry into
effect this and every other duty incumbent upon him as a
sponsor. The Church ever regardeth them as one flesh, and
indivisible save by ecclesiastical divorce; and, therefore, what
she imposes upon the husband, she imposes also upon the
wife, in her place of subjection. And be assured, that in the
co-operation of the two, the work of training the souls of the
household will prosper. Now, so little were our mothers, and
their mothers before them, acquainted with the modern tact
of bringing up their children without chastisement, that I re-
member to have often seen the instrument of correction hang-
ing up in the sight of the children, to be taken down indeed
as seldom as possible, but not to be spared when necessary,
lest the child should be lost. And I believe that every one
here present who can look back with satisfaction upon a well
ordered household, can say, with the apostle Paul, “We have
had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them
334
OF BAPTISM.
reverence."
And if you would have your children to give
you reverence, you must put forth your authority in some
way or other; for of reverence, superiority is an essential
element, and without reverence a child or youth is worse than
a fool. The Church, therefore, expecteth at the hand of every
parent or sponsor the discipline of the will, as well as the
instruction of the mind, of the young Christian: at the same
time, she expecteth it to be done in the spirit of love; for all
discipline doth proceed from love, and in love is perfected:
therefore we say with the apostle, "Fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath:" "Fathers, provoke not your children to
anger, lest they be discouraged." But from this the Church
hath little to fear in these times: from forwardness and irre-
verence she hath everything to fear. Now, the ground of all
reverence, whether to mothers or to sponsors, to magistrates,
or to the king as supreme over all; whether to the members
of the Church or to its office-bearers, or to the ministers of
the Word, or to the Church in general, or to Christ her Head,
and God in Him, is ever laid, and in a great degree built up,
in the reverence of a child to its parents; for if we reverence
not our father on earth, whom we have seen, how shall we
reverence our Father in heaven, whom we have not seen? It
being so necessary, therefore, on every account, that the
parent or sponsor should take upon him this duty of obliging
by all authority of love and fear, his child to be obedient to
the commandments of God, and at the same time, being so
profitable for the growth of that reverence which ought to be
an element of every action and every thought of a child, the
sponsor placed by the Church in the plenary office of guard-
ing over that spiritual charge, must never cease from the dis-
cipline of love, however painful it may be, must never suffer
natural fondness to come before positive obligation, but
patiently persevere in exacting what is holy, as well as in
teaching what is right; trusting for the performance, as well
as for the understanding, of duty, that the grace of the Holy
Spirit will be granted. And remember, that, as it is in the
endeavour to understand that the divine faculty of under-
standing is conferred, so in the endeavour to obey, the power
of obedience is granted. Do not say, We will postpone it till
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
335
riper years, and a more favourable occasion; but say, This
child hath the promise of the Holy Spirit from its baptism,
at all times and seasons: therefore let me trust in the Lord's
covenant, and go steadily about the fulfilment of my office,
however painful.
And here I can perceive a very good use which might be
made of the separation of the sponsorship from the parent,
and which I would now mention, as a compensation for the
many disadvantages of it which I pointed out in my former
discourse it is this,-That as the chief part of a child's
obligations for a long time lieth towards its parents, who are
oft, by natural affection, betrayed into the neglect of their
office as sponsors, and indulge in their own children what
they would censure in the children of others; these sponsors
being separate from such an influence, might take knowledge
of the shortcomings and transgressions of the children towards
all, and especially towards their parents, and report the same
to the Church, if they are not able to prevail by their own
private admonitions: and, no doubt, this is the office to
which the sponsor doth solemnly engage himself, and for
which he is responsible to Christ and to the Church. And I
make no doubt that this natural infirmity of parents to
indulge and overlook the sins of their children, was
reason, amongst others, why the Church ever had recourse
to sponsors. Yet, though I have presented this apology for
the custom, I do not the less on that account disapprove of
it for the Church, though she be tender to all, ought never
to indulge the infirmities of any; and still less ought she to
make provision for a neglect of duty in any of her members,
because she believes that the grace of God is sufficient for
the weakest of them, and that His strength is perfected in
their weakness. While, therefore, like a good guardian, she
keeps a watchful eye over all her family, occupied in their
several charges, she rather rejoiceth to see any one performing
his appointed task, than desireth to interfere with foreign
help; and this the more, because the parent, in presenting his
child, doth of his own accord surrender and sacrifice parental
affection in its natural estate, that he may receive it from the
Almighty Father in a spiritual state, such as it is in His own
one
336
OF BAPTISM.
bosom towards His own Son. For I hold that parental affec-
tion in the Church is the issue and ought to bear the likeness
of parental affection in the Godhead and seeing that the
Church hath accepted this the faithful sacrifice of the father's
natural affection in the life of it, she ought not to consider it
as living any more, nor make provision for the acts of its life;
and seeing that she hath endowed the parent with a spiritual
fatherhood like unto God's, she ought in all her future dealings
with this person to regard this heavenly form of the union
between father and child, as the only one which now sub-
sisteth and therefore, instead of providing extraneous ad-
ministrators to supplement what should never be supposed to
exist, she should stir up the gift that is in his parents, by
setting out to them, in all its sublime and affecting manifesta-
tions, the way in which the Father shewed forth His affection
to His own Son when He had come into the estate of fallen
manhood; how, in order to exalt Him to be Head and Lord
of all, He did first wound Him and bruise Him and put Him
to grief, hiding the tenderness of a Father's love, and for a
while repressing the outgoings of a Father's joy: even so
ought the Church to teach all fathers to carry themselves to
their baptized children, who, though buried and raised again
in the symbol to the eye of faith, have yet a body of sin and
death present to the sense, until it be deposited in the grave ;
which body of sin and death answering to our Lord's flesh, it
is the part of every spiritual father, so constituted by the
Church, to wound and bruise and put to grief, yea, to mortify
and crucify, and put to death so oft as it shall shew any signs
of life. I do not mean to put to death in the letter, but in
the spirit; that is, whenever the fruits of the flesh shall shew
themselves in our children, it is our part, as spiritual parents,
to extinguish their appearance, and, if possible, to annihilate
the root from which they sprung.
For I consider every parent, after he hath been constituted
by the Church sponsor for his child, to be a servant of the Holy
Spirit, and His minister, for the end of bringing that little one
unto Christ. The Church, which is the temple of the Holy
Ghost, and the fulness of the body of Christ, hath gifts of
grace and power and holiness to bestow. And as Christ,
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR. 337
through her hands, doth bestow the grace of wisdom and
teaching and rule and government upon the presbyters and
deacons of the Church in ordination; and as Christ, by her
hand, doth bestow the nourishment and the communion of the
body of Christ, and the blessed covenant of His blood, upon
all the members of His body in the holy supper; even so
doth the great Head of the Church, our Christ, at once the
Anointed and the Anointing One, bestow, by the hands of
the Church, upon the responsible parent, grace to fulfil the
spiritual office with which she hath invested him, even as she
bestoweth upon the child the faculty of receiving the minis-
tration of the same; and if thereafter either parent or child
should be found failing of the grace given unto them, it is to
be charged upon them from their want of faith to believe,
and of faithfulness to ask and obtain that which is freely
given unto them of God.
Now, if any one start back at the hearing, or stagger under
the force of these things which I speak concerning the Church,
I can only say, that I have them from God's holy Word, and
may not hide it in a corner; for there it is written, that the
gifts which Christ received for men, when He ascended up
on high, He gave unto the Church, in various measures and
proportions, according to her various offices; "to some
apostles, to some prophets, to some evangelists, to some
pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
And, again, it is written of the Church, that by her "is made
known unto principalities and powers, in heavenly places,
the manifold wisdom of God." I have too much value for
the Church of the living God, which is the pillar and ground
of the truth, and too clear a perception of her denuded and
despised condition in these Protestant lands and infidel
times; and withal, I have too keen a sense of our guilt,-
above all, the guilt of the children of the Scottish Church, in
slighting and dishonouring the mother of saints, to be de-
terred from standing on my watch-tower, and proclaiming
aloud what invaluable gifts of God the Church of Christ,
since the day of Pentecost, hath been fraught with, and is
still fraught with, unto all who believe in Christ, her living
VOL. II.
Y
338
OF BAPTISM.
and glorious Head: for without faith in Christ her Head,
would I ask you to have faith in the Church? I might as
well ask you to go and worship at the footstool of the Pope,
and kiss his toe. It is the Church in Christ, and under
Christ, her Head, from whom you should expect living
waters, in the cisterns of His ordinances: it is from the
Church, the body, the temple, the servant of the Spirit, with
which she is anointed by the Anointed One, that I tell minis-
ters, bishops, presbyters, deacons, communicants, and spon-
sors of children, to expect their several endowments of grace,
for the service of their several offices. And I will tell a word
of my mind further, to those who can hear it, that when the
Church ceaseth thus to be trusted in, the Holy Ghost will
cease to be trusted in; as certainly as when Christ's man-
hood and incarnation cease to be trusted in, His Godhead
and His Christhead cease to be trusted in; for the Church is
truly the manifestation, the visibility, the variety, and mani-
fold formations of the Spirit: but enough of this to an unbe-
lieving generation.
And I now return to speak further concerning the sponsor-
ship of the Church and of the engaging parent; for I cannot
separate these two; seeing, between them, they constitute
the link of communication between Christ the Head, and this
yet incompetent member of His Church. I have shewn their
obligations to believe for the child, to instruct the child, and
to discipline the child in the way which a child of God should
go; and what further remaineth to be said, in order to the
complete exposition of this subject, than that I should advert
to the fruit which is reaped from such faithful labours?
And, first, I observe that, though all should be disap-
pointed; though the father should grieve over a prodigal,
and the Church mourn over a fruitless family, God and Christ
will never be disappointed of their glory, nor defeated of their
ends; which is, by means of the Church, to shew forth unto
all beings now existing, or hereafter to exist, the awful and
cumulative enormity of sin, and the almighty triumphings of
grace over it. Now, if to the latter God honoureth not the
faithful labours of the Church and her sponsors to be subser-
vient, then, certainly, to the former; for without such labo-
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
339
rious ministry of the servants of the Holy Ghost, the exceed-
ing sinfulness of sin would never have appeared so clear and
manifest. If the apostle saith, that by the law sin was shewn
to be exceeding sinful, by that which in itself was holy, just,
and good, then how much more is that sinfulness shewn to
superabound, by its working death through the better and
more merciful ministry of Christ and His spiritual Church;
and according as the might, and deadliness, and antichristian
spitefulness of sin is exhibited the more perfectly, so much
the more gloriously is the power of God, and of Christ, and
of the Holy Ghost glorified in triumphing over it. Now, this
is a view of her high calling which the Church should never
lose sight of, lest at any time she faint and weary in her
mind; and she should also remember, that it is the first part
of every office, before she can arrive at the second; her sow-
ing in tears, before she can reap in joy; whereof her great
Head and prototype gave her the example, by suffering
under sin, and for the exposure of sin, before He entered into
the reward of the travail of His soul. So hath the Church,
as Satan changeth his form of wickedness, first to expose the
hideousness thereof, and to suffer in that cause, before God
will give her the triumphs over it: so she proved, first against
paganism, over which she triumphed, after three centuries of
suffering; then against Popery, over which she triumphed in
the Reformation, after she had endured nine centuries of
suffering; and now she will prove it again against infidelity,
over which she will receive the victory, after she hath suffered
for a season-though I think this latter victory is not to be
achieved by means of the Gentile, but by means of the Jewish
Church. What the Church hath thus proved upon the large
scale, with respect to her works, she must also prove in the
smaller scale, in every one of her works. First, exposing the
form of sinfulness in the natural man of every child, and
thereafter, if God will, reaping the reward in the life and
triumph of the spiritual man, and therefore, though we should
see no fruit of holiness in the children, over whom we have
the charge, we should not the less labour in the work, water-
ing it the while with our tears, and remembering always, that
if, after all our painful labours, we should bear no sheaves
340
OF BAPTISM.
home to the garner, we still have not laboured in vain, nor
spent our strength for naught, having proved the barrenness
of the soil, and justifying God, in committing the thorns and
the briers, and the soil itself, to the burning flames.-Thus,
dear brethren, would I fortify your hearts against disappoint-
ment, and shew you that there is no such thing as disappoint-
ment in labouring for the Lord, but that, in due time, we shall
reap, if we faint not.
And, secondly, though I thus speak the language which
becometh the present mixture and disorder of the Church,
and, indeed, which is proper for her best estate; seeing, as
hath been said, she consisteth of tares as well as wheat;
language also, which becometh our present condition of faith
and not sight, and harmoniseth with our great fundamental
article of election in Christ Jesus before the world began:
yet is it most just to observe, in the second place, that to such
faith, instruction, and discipline, as I have set forth above, it
is that God granteth the harvest of many souls; for in
spiritual things as well as in temporal, there is a proportion
established, in the Divine purpose, between labour and fruit,
between obedience and reward: wherefore it is written, in a
certain place, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work of
faith and labour of love, which ye have shewed towards His
name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minis-
ter." I can therefore assure this church, and every engaging
parent in this church, that, according to their faith in the
sacrament of baptism, and their labour proceeding in that
faith, shall be the reward in the salvation and edification of
many souls; which labour if ye would frustrate, labour with-
out faith in the sacrament,—as, indeed, is the case with most
parents, with most catechists of Sabbath schools, and with
most ministers of churches. They labour without the ordi-
nance, not in the ordinace; they labour without the assurance
of the covenant, not in and from the assurance of the cove-
nant, and therefore they labour so much in vain. To remedy
this, and to enable you to labour in hope and in full assur-
ance, I have set forth, in your hearing, the true doctrine of
baptism, and the true standing in which it placeth us to one
another: but I have been careful all along to preserve the
DUTIES OF CHURCH AND SPONSOR.
341
great doctrine of God's sovereignty, and of our election in
Christ, as the only ground of the covenant; and seeing that
the covenant resteth upon this ground, we ought to consider
all the contents and fruits of the covenant, as likewise rested
thereon; and, therefore, though we consider our children in
covenant, and travail with them as the subjects of a divine
engagement, we should ever bear in mind, that the covenanted
Church is for the testimony of God's sovereignty, as much as
of any other of His attributes; and, therefore, in all our plead-
ings of the promises, in all our assurance of His faithfulness
to His covenant, we should bear in mind, above all other
things, that grace is free to be refused, as well as to be
granted: this being forgotten, all is marred. For if we sup-
pose God to be under compulsion; then what is it that com-
pelleth Him? for that which compelleth Him will be the true
God. Hence proceeded the root of the apostasy, who said
the Church-the ordinances administered by the Church-
compelleth or obligeth Him; and so the Church became the
infallible God: and we now say, in our Bible-mania, the
written Word obligeth Him; and so the written Word be-
cometh God. But no; neither written Word nor sacramental
ordinances oblige God; no, nor the Son that came forth from
His bosom; nor the Holy Ghost which proceedeth from the
Father and the Son. The Son was manifested, and the Holy
Ghost proclaimed: by the former the Word was revealed, and
by the latter the Church endowed; all for the end of teaching
us what the will of the Father is; of setting the will of the
Father supreme over the universe, fallen and unfallen, re-
deemed and unredeemed; and he who hath learned aright, in
the school of Christ, is taught to exalt the will of the Father
as supreme; and to expect everything which he doth expect,
and to receive everything which he doth receive, as proceed-
ing from the same. Not, therefore, to remove you from de-
pendence upon that will, which alone is independence and
liberty; not to bring you into bondage to any Church, or to
the ordinances of any Church, but by the exposition of the
Church and of its ordinances, to shew you the will of the
Father, His free and sovereign grace, that ye may trust therein;
this hath been the object and end of our discourse.
342
OF BAPTISM.
The object of faith is God, and not a word written or
spoken. The end of faith is the invisible God, and not any
visible person or visible thing; for, brethren, even Christ is
not the end of faith, but the Father which sent Him. There-
fore, I pray you, dearly beloved, by the help of Christ, the
living ladder, whose foot-whose bruised heel-is His Church
on earth; whose head is the Son of man in glory, to ascend
into the knowledge of the true God, whom to know is life
eternal. But not without that living ladder think ye to
ascend into the sublime and secret mysteries of the Father,
whom no eye hath seen nor can see; and remember that, of
that ladder, baptism is, I may say, the first step which mani-
festeth the purpose of the Godhead to regenerate the fallen
creature, and to raise it at length into the fellowship of the
exaltation of Christ.
HOMILY VI.
THE STANDING OF THE BAPTIZED IN THE CHURCH.
PSALM CIII. 17, 18.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear
him, and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his cove-
nant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
HAVING ministered, last Lord's day, both by word and
sacrament, to the consolation and strength of one por-
tion of the Church of Christ committed to my ministerial and
pastoral carefulness, I have been much pressed in spirit
during the week for the rest, who, though baptized into the
same family, and entitled to all the privileges of the house.
and family of God, do yet, for some cause or other, deny
themselves the sweetest, strongest token of their Father's
love, and abide far off from the table which He hath spread
for their spiritual refreshment in the wilderness of the present
world to whose doubts and difficulties, scruples and fears, I
would now, in the spirit of a shepherd's love and care, address
my words; earnestly praying unto the Lord that He would
enable me rightly to express, and graciously to convey unto
their souls, the most affectionate message and tender invita-
tion with which His ministers are charged towards them.
fulfilling which purpose of grace, let me first place before all
who have been baptized into the Church of Christ, in what
relation that covenant placeth them generally towards God,
and more particularly towards the sacrament of the supper.
And, secondly, let me endeavour to deal, by explanation and
argument, with the most influential of those obstacles which
Satan interposeth in the way of the baptized to lead them
from the sacrament of the supper. And, lastly, by expos-
tulation and entreaty, do my part to stir you up, in a right-
In
344
OF BAPTISM.
eous and holy spirit, to give obedience to the commandment
of the Lord.
I am therefore, according to the gift which is apportioned
unto me of the great Householder, first, to lay before you
who have been baptized into Christ, at whatever age and in
whatever communion, so it hath been one of His ordained
ministers, the true scriptural doctrine of your privileges and
obligations, and the condition generally in which you stand
towards God and His Church; that, being possessed of the
true doctrine, you may be able to judge of the resolution of
doubts, and expostulations of duty, which I am afterwards to
offer. "Know ye not," saith the apostle, "that so many of
us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his
death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life." And, again, in another epistle, he saith: "For ye
are all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ." And, again, in another epistle, he saith: "In whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation
of God, who hath raised him from the dead." From these
explanations of, or inferences made from, baptism, there can
be no doubt that, however much abused, the doctrine con-
tained in the standards of our Church, and the sister Church
of England, concerning baptism, is the true doctrine; that is,
That it is a sign and seal of engrafting into Himself, of
remission of sins by His blood, and regeneration by His
Spirit; of adoption and resurrection into everlasting life,
whereby the parties baptized are solemnly admitted into the
visible Church, and enter into an open and professed engage-
ment to be wholly and only the Lord's. Now observe, my
baptized brethren, that it is not the sign of these blessed
doctrines, but also the seal of them, stamping the privilege
and possession of them upon every one; and holding him, if
he be found wanting of these precious gifts, to be so wanting
THEIR STANDING IN THE CHURCH.
345
as one who hath squandered away his portion like the prodi-
gal son, or, for present profit, sold it, as profane Esau did his
birthright; and that he is to be blamed, not as one who hath
not known, but as one who hath known and shut his eyes
upon the light; not as one who hath not possessed the inherit-
ance of the New Testament, but hath possessed it and put
it away.
For the doctrine that the sacraments are but signs,
which hath got the sway out of the Church, and within the
Church even, hath obtained a hearing, through the miserable
ignorance of the believers, and the idolatry of the formalists,
is a doctrine upon which the Reformers of our Church thus
express themselves in the first symbol of faith which they
drew up" And thus we utterly condemn the vanity of those
that affirm sacraments to be nothing else but naked and bare
signs. No; we assuredly believe that, by baptism, we are
engrafted in Christ Jesus, to be made partakers of His justice,
whereby our sins are covered and remitted. And also, that
in the supper, rightly used, Christ Jesus is so joined with us,
that He becometh very nourishment and food to our souls;
and yet, notwithstanding the far distance of place which is
between His body, now glorified in heaven, and us, now
mortal on this earth, we most assuredly believe, that the
bread which we break is the communion of Christ's body,
and the cup which we drink is the communion of His blood."
There never hath been a doubt in the Christian Church, from
the times of the apostles to the present time-always except-
ing those who deny the Divinity of Christ, who have wandered
into all errors of doctrine-that baptism is the most solemn
act whereby a soul is introduced into the full inheritance of
Christ's purchased redemption, and made a member of the
visible Church, to live in His faith, and to walk by His faith,
and to inherit the kingdom of His faith. The Papal apos-
tasy, though it dared to add to the number of the sacraments,
and to cover them with veils of sense, durst never take the
sealing virtue out of the sacrament of baptism; nor yet the
Greek Church, nor any of the communions of the Reformed
Church: it was left to the silent sapping and mining of the
intellectual apostasy of this age to have so wasted all the
strongholds of faith and everlasting institutions of the gospel,
346
OF BAPTISM.
as to leave this sacrament in the minds of professors no more
than a shell without the kernel; a husk without the food; a
sign without anything signified; a rite, a ceremony, a form,
anything or nothing-certainly not the thing written of in
Scripture under the name of baptism.
You will not err, brethren, as the formalists of this day do
err, in supposing that the outward act of washing with water
brings with it, as of necessity, any saving virtue, or worketh,
as by magic, a cleansing of the corrupt soul; for, on the
other hand, as we have oft taught you, for a man without
faith to have to do with these sacraments is an abomination
to the Lord, and bringeth down upon his spirit some visita-
tion of God, as sure, though invisible, as that which fell upon
the profane, though otherwise exalted, king of Judah; yea,
and to his child no blessing descendeth from the dry fountain
of his father's faithless act, but rather an inheritance of
barrenness, and a visitation of wrath, according to the threat-
ening of the second commandment against idolatry; for is
there grosser idolatry within the Romish Church than that
which is taught in this land of the sacrament of baptism,-
that on that rite, discharged in due form, there is present a
virtue to regenerate the soul of the little one, and to look for
any other regeneration is but a vagary of idle and enthusi-
astic brains? But, nevertheless, though the parent who pre-
sented us at the laver of regeneration, and the priest who
washed us therein, and the people who were witnesses thereof,
had been all faithless and idolaters, and the little one made.
but a cold, unfathered, unbefriended entrance into the Church;
yet within the covenant it is now found, and being there
found, it is an heir of all the promises which are the everlast-
ing inheritance of the faithful disciples of Christ. So that I
have no hesitation in saying, it is as fully privileged to enter
in by faith into the riches of the inheritance as any other,
however more favourably conditioned, and more dutifully
introduced to the Church. There are rough inclemencies
which such a little one shall have to pass through-dis-
abilities, disadvantages, and hindrances; such as prayerless
parents, ungodly acquaintance, an untutored childhood, an
unspiritual ministry, infinite temptations of worldliness-
THEIR STANDING IN THE CHURCH.
347
accumulated upon its head in consequence, it may be, of a
long line of ungodly ancestors, or by the withdrawing of
God's candlestick from the Church, or from its being the day
of His wrath upon the country; and from a thousand other
dispensations of His righteous government, over which we
have no control. For it is a poor and shallow notion of God,
that He is the God only of individuals, and not also the God
of families, and the God of nations, and the God of genera-
tions and of ages. There is a scheme of justice and govern-
ment; there is a recompence of reward, and a recompence of
vengeance, which reacheth far and wide, both over the
Church and over the world. The Church hath her discipline
of heaven, however much she may hold discipline cheap;
and she is suspended from her ministry of grace to the world,
and her light is eclipsed, and she is stricken, smitten, and
afflicted: she is excommunicated also, and given over to
Satan to be accursed, if she forsake the testimonies of the
Lord. The milk of her breasts being dried up, her children
are left to pine and perish, and the land where she taber-
nacleth is defeated of its blessings, and scourged with every
evil. All this happeneth, and hath happened, to every Church
which hath existed in Christendom; ay, and will happen to
us, if we continue in our Laodicean condition, neither hot nor
cold, full of boasting and self-sufficiency, and golden bravery,
when there is no faith, or almost none, in the midst of us.
And what were the Church without such government?
house of all iniquity, and not the house of God; Satan's
temple, not the temple of the Holy Spirit; another prison-
house of slavery, instead of being the citadel of the free;
dark and plagued as Egypt, and not peaceful and untroubled
as Goshen.
Of this Church, with its promises, its privileges, and its
government, and of all its visitations of blessing, of affliction,
of mercy, and of wrath, we become the children by baptism,
to be blessed with its blessings, and afflicted with its afflic-
tions, and to take our fare in the same vessel with it; or, if
we do not become its denizens and citizens by baptism, I am
here who know not how or when we become its denizens and
citizens, or what reality there is in a visible Church. It is
348
OF BAPTISM.
altogether an invisible Church and a spiritual dispensation,
if baptism be taken away from these high uses which it
serveth. But baptism doth not only bring us into the visible
Church; it doth also, being accompanied with faith-without
which it is not baptism solemnised, but baptism profaned—
bring us into the invisible Church. If there is faith in the
receiving of it, it doth bring with it rich grace, both to the
parents and to the child; in which faith if the child continue
as its faculties unfold themselves, then it will grow up before
the Lord, increasing more and more in favour with God and
men; and surely the first act of interruption is never in
God's unreadiness to bestow, but in our unwillingness to
receive. And, therefore, I do exhort every parent to come
to the sacrament with no scanty faith, and to expect no
scanty blessing to himself and his little one. And I do, more-
over, exhort every one who hath been neglectful herein, even
now to exercise faith in the Redeemer and in the regenerat-
ing Spirit, both for his own sake and for the sake of those
whom he, in an unworthy manner, brings to the laver of
regeneration.
But to all those who, having been baptized, of whatever
spirit may have been the functionaries of the holy act, I have
this day undertaken to explain their common privileges,
which are all the privileges of the visible Church; amongst
which I reckon, first, the written Word of God—a treasure in
itself more to be prized than all the labours of the learned,
and all the knowledge of the skilful, and all kingdom, and all
wisdom, and all wealth, and all glory. This is the first gift
which is made to you at baptism—the Old and the New
Testament, comprised in the blood of Christ. Yours it is in
full possession; your right to it is the right of all saints.
Those who inherit heaven had no better birthright or title.
than you received at your baptism. For you, Moses writ the
law; for you, David poured forth the rich strains of his harp;
for you, the prophets were anointed with the fire of God's
altar; and for you, the apostles were baptized with the Holy
Spirit and with fire. For you, also, came the Prophet of
prophets, and the Apostle of apostles, the Shiloh, the Mes-
siah, the Sent of God; and for you have been preserved the
THEIR STANDING IN THE CHURCH.
349
gracious words which flowed from His lips. And thus, in
your hands, under your eyes, in your knowledge, and, per-
haps, in your memory, is the testimony of God since the
world began ;-the record of His acts, which are wonderful;
the records of His Word, which are sure and steadfast; the
praises of His saints, which are fearful; the discovery of His
purposes, which are holy-light, spiritual light, to the soul
sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. What say you?
Is not that a glorious endowment for memory, and for
expectation, for knowledge, for wisdom, for redemption, and
salvation; containing such insight into your inward state,
such admonitions of the outward hazard, such pledges of
help, such assurances of blessing, such soul-supporting con-
solations in adversity: is that naught? Say ye that it is
little? or say you, that it is an unspeakable gift? What,
though it condemn you, and violently accuse you, you would
rather part with houses and lands, with liberty and with life,
than part from this seed and nourishment of an immortal
life, this revelation of an inheritance that fadeth not away.
All this ye have in virtue of your baptism; it is the dowry
of the visible Church, and the expectation of the ends of the
earth.
There is next the infinite privilege of the Christian minis-
try, which, when it is what our Lord intended it to be, passeth
the former, inasmuch as it is a combination both of the word
and the Spirit; the word in the mouth, the Spirit in the soul:
and however formal and imperfect it is, so that it speak not
heresies, nor declare errors, (when it becomes the ministry of
the deceiver, not of Him whose name is Faithful and True,)
it is, perhaps, the greatest blessing which a land can be en-
dowed withal: a ministry of religion, from Sabbath to Sab-
bath, is the greatest blessing of a nation, and ought to be the
greatest care of the rulers of a nation; and the late-fledged
notion that this is, and ought to be, no care of the State, doth
strike at the root of God's government of States. For if you
have not the people cared for, in respect to religious instruc-
tion,—care for them as you please in respect to the freedom
of trade, the administration of justice, the preservation of
the peace, and the spreading of knowledge, you do but
350
OF BAPTISM.
clothe the members, fill the head, without caring for the
heart; and we all know that the members of a fool may be
swathed in purple and gold, and the head of a miscreant may
be filled with knowledge, but the soul which is cultivated by
the Christian religion must be furnished with knowledge, and
endowed with industry, for the profitable discharge of all its
occupations. Such an unwearied ministry of word and prayer
have ye continually, my beloved brethren, in the Churches of
Christ; and there is no minister of Christ who would not
welcome you to a more private and particular ministry of the
same, if you would seek it at his lips.
To us also have been the blessings of a religious education,
for few in our Church are without this unspeakable advantage.
The most of you have had the inheritance of the prayers of
godly forefathers, and, perhaps, are even now endowed with
the prayers of pious and watchful parents, wearying the Lord,
till you shall be joined in spirit to the body of His Son. You
have all the inheritance of the prayers of the Church invisible.
For the true and spiritual Church of Christ is not now of the
temper of the elder son, who grudged his prodigal brother's
liberal welcome; but we do continually pray our Father that
He would be pleased to forgive you, and touch your hearts
with the sense of His mercies, and with the shame of your
contempt of His long-suffering. And here I must speak,
likewise, of the inheritance which we have in the faith, and
patience, and prayers of those martyrs in whose blood our
Church was planted, and of those most faithful ministers who
laboured and wrestled with the Lord for this Church, which
hath been planted in the midst of us. Yea, and the odour of
our orthodox and enlarged doctrine is well pleasing to the
Lord, in this age of limited and heterodox doctrine; and our
simple primitive forms of ordinance and sacrament cannot
but be well pleasing to Him, in the midst of pomps and cere-
monies. And the sister Churches which remember us in their
prayers, as we remember them, cannot remain without an
answer in the ear of the Lord. In short, brethren, you stand,
in virtue of your connexion with the visible Church, ensphered
with a multitude of blessings, which time would fail me to
enumerate. These, all these stand inviting you, soliciting
THEIR STANDING IN THE CHURCH.
351
you, to enter into the possession of the very things; for the
written Word speaking to your natural man, to have the living
Word formed within you the hope of glory; for the ministry
of the preacher, to have the ministry of the Holy Spirit; for
the teaching of parents, to have the teaching of the Holy
One; for the mediate blessings, to have the immediate bless-
ings of the house; and for the tidings of your Father's love,
to have the very experience of His love; the communion of
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to which you
were introduced and welcomed at baptism-to which you are
ever privileged to enter by faith, and to which, without faith,
no one did ever enter.
Such is the inheritance, brethren, whereinto we are intro-
duced by the sacrament of baptism;-a spiritual heritage,
compared with which, the rights of kingdoms, or the titles of
nobility, or even royal honour and power, sink into nothing.
But these same privileges are guarded by awful sanctions,
which are all included in the word judgment to come. One
who is in covenant with God shall be judged otherwise than
one who is out of covenant with Him: we shall be judged as
prodigal children, who have lavished away our inheritance;
not as strangers, who have never possessed any: we shall be
judged as a wife, who hath been contracted and espoused
unto the Lord; not as a strange woman: we shall be judged
as those who have trampled under foot the blood of the
covenant, with which we should have been sanctified. There
is no error more fatal, than to have forgotten this the exact
standing of the baptized in the Church, and to have com-
menced the term of our responsibility as Christians from con-
version. Conversion is a most important point in our Christian
course, when we return from our prodigal state to our Father's
house but conversion is not a sacrament; it hath no visible
nor sensible form, although they oft labour to constitute it
into such. It is no sign nor seal of the covenant, that the
covenant should be looked upon as beginning then; and be-
fore it we are not as heathens. Oh that I could persuade my-
self the multitude of unconverted persons were as heathens!
my soul would be more at ease concerning them; for to the
heathen it shall be greatly more tolerable than to them. But
352
OF BAPTISM.
they are Christians, whom God hath endowed with all Chris-
tian privileges, and overlaid with all Christian sanctions. And.
let me tell you, brethren, that the history of God's dealings
with your soul, His long-suffering, His frequent calls, His
visitations of trial, His instructions and His warnings, His for-
bearance and forgiveness, before conversion, is as wonderful a
part of the divine book of our spiritual history, as His deal-
ings with us after our conversion ;-how He forbare with us,
and entreated us while yet enemies, more instructive of His
love, than how He hath entreated us while friends, reconciled
unto Him, and obedient children of the house. And let me
tell you, my beloved brethren, that the waters of repentance.
are made many times more bitter and medicinal; and the
godly sorrow, which worketh salvation, many times more
grievous; and the whole work of humiliation and contrition,
many times more heavy, when we look back upon the period
of our baptism as a period of broken and rejected vows,
neglected privileges, judgments heaped up; than when we
look back upon it merely as a blank or waste in our life, dur-
ing which we stood in no relationship whatever unto God.
It may seem to you strange, that in virtue of that which is
commonly held in no better esteem than a ceremony or rite,
the Lord should bear to you so exquisite a love, and follow
you with such inquisitive desire;—so strange was it that He
should, in like manner, entreat Abraham's seed for the faith
of their father; so strange, that He should, by His Son, open
the covenant to the idolatrous and wicked Gentiles, and give
His life for the sinful and rebellious world. Strange, passing
strange, and wonderful is it all, an unsearchable mystery of
love! But as St Paul saith of Israel, so I say of those who
have been baptized into Christ, that they are beloved for the
election's sake: for the sake of the Church are they beloved
of God, who honoureth and will honour His own ordinances,
however they may be abused; and will continue to make
them, unto the hand of faith, the storehouse and supply of
all spiritual grace. Within the temple of His Church,-sanc-
tified and separated by these holy sacraments, ministered by
an ordained priesthood,-He is to be found present, and out
of it He is not to be found as a God in covenant; for the
THEIR STANDING IN THE CHURCH.
353
Church is that for which Christ did enter into covenant, by
the sacrifice of Himself; and whosoever believeth in Christ
must be baptized; and whosoever hath been baptized into
Christ, hath been baptized into His faith. But my wicked
life, say ye, my life of unbelief! Concerning that we shall
come to speak in its place; for there is a government of
God over the Church, as over the world; but as in the world,
a man's wickedness doth not curtail the earth and heavens of
their sweet influences, nor make the fruits of the earth less
kindly, or the breezes of the air less refreshing, or the light of
the sun less plentiful, though by his wickedness he be greatly
mistuned and molested for the enjoyment of the same; so, in
the Church, the formality and faithlessness of the wicked do not.
prejudice the fruitfulness of God's grace, and the light of His
countenance, and the joy of His Spirit, and the certainty of all
His promises. These peculiar blessings of the spiritual world
continue to inhere in the Church, to abide upon her, though,
through want of faith, she may receive none of them; and the
moment she exerciseth true faith, another spring and summer
and harvest shall burst forth as at the first; even as in Pales-
tine, and the fairest countries of the world, which were once a
garden, there doth still abide all the powers of fruitfulness,
ready to burst forth so soon as industry shall arise to guide
and direct them. And as these people are visited with
poverty, and wretchedness, and barrenness of all good, for
their base and brutal apathy, and shall be held responsible
for the abuse of God's good gifts of creation; so, also, shall
the professing but unproductive Church be held responsible
for all the promises which are written in the book of God, for
a real endowment to her, if she use them not, and be not
crowned with their fruits.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, who have been baptized
into Christ, this is the sum of the doctrine concerning your
condition: That there is not a promise, blessing, or privilege
of the true and spiritual Church of Christ on earth, and of the
everlasting kingdom of heaven, which hath not been con-
stantly in your power, and continually offered to you since
you became members of the visible Church. No offices of
the Father to lead you unto Christ, no offices of the Son to
VOL. II.
Z
354
OF BAPTISM.
redeem you from all unrighteousness, no offices of the Spirit
to restore you to the image of God, no revelation of their
love, no assurance of their help, which were not made patent
and free to you that day ye were baptized in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It doth not bring with
it as by necessity the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which
cometh not save by faith, and in the proportion of our faith ;
but it is the symbol of that baptism, and the free declaration
of it: yea, it hath to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the
same relation which the written Word hath to the living Word,
which the Church on earth hath to the Church in heaven.
There is to every spiritual reality a visible and intelligible re-
presentation, which being impregnated with faith, becomes
the spiritual reality; and, until so impregnated, is only a re-
presentation, but such a representation as is devised of
Infinite Wisdom to remove all our fears, and surmount all
our objections, and open the way into the real presence;
sufficient, moreover, to save the soul, which will give reverend
heed thereto; and sufficient to condemn the soul which will
not so that, as the word is either the savour of life, or else
the savour of death, to the soul of every one who heareth it;
so is baptism, to those who receive it, either the scal of re-
generation, or the seal of condemnation, (and that Christian
condemnation,-condemnation without excuse,) according as
they exercise faith and are regenerated, or do not exercise
faith and are not regenerated.
Taking the Scriptures, therefore, for our only guide of faith,
with the writings of all orthodox divines, and the symbols of
all orthodox Churches, to help our interpretation thereof, there
can be no doubt, dearly beloved brethren, that every baptized
person who now heareth me, whatever may have been the
unworthiness of his parents, or of us the administering priests,
is as much, in the eye of Christ, a member of His Church, and
free of His covenant of grace, as were the Jews of His day,
who, though they had lapsed into the uttermost formality, and
were ripe for the sickle of vengeance, and the wine-press of
wrath, were treated by Him, and entreated of Him, with all
patience and affection; their law reverenced and fulfilled;
their priests honoured in their places; their immunities pre-
THEIR STANDING IN THE CHURCH
355
served; yea, the preaching of the gospel religiously restricted
to them; and the promise which Messiah had been appointed
to fulfil, all by Messiah fulfilled; just as if the rebellious and
hard-hearted nation had been of one gracious heart and be-
lieving soul; as if they had been recapitulated into one man,
and that man the friend of God, and father of saints, the faith-
ful Abraham; insomuch, that Christ wept over that city, the
wickedest perhaps in the world, hardly excepting imperial
Rome, and certainly, considering its knowledge and privileges,
the far wickedest in the world; so that Josephus, its citizen,
hath said, that if God had not destroyed it by the Roman
sword, he thinks it would have perished, like Sodom, by fire
from heaven, or convulsive throws of the earth, to be eased of
such a vile and pestilential load; yet over the children of that
city, remembering its dearness to His Father, and its sacred
inheritance in the promises of His Father, the Saviour wept!
He sat Him down upon the brow of the overhanging hill, and
looked upon the beloved city, and wept! saying, "O Jeru-
salem, Jerusalem! thou that stonest the prophets, and killest
them that are sent unto thee; how would I have gathered
thee as a hen doth her chickens under her wings, but you
would not!" And, in like manner, ye children of the Chris-
tian Church, by baptism-however unworthy and wicked in
yourselves, and however unworthy your fathers may have
been-are beloved of Christ for His Church's sake; and for
the honour of His covenant, into which you have been brought
by the observance of His holy ordinances, He doth weep over
you with a still tenderer lamentation, saying, “Come unto
me, my children; why stand ye afar off? Come unto me, all
ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest:
take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and
lowly; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." He hath
bidden you to the wedding, and ye are unwilling to come.
But He sendeth other servants, saying, "Tell them which are
bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and
my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto
the marriage." Oh! ye know not the love and longing with
which He longeth over you, nor the welcome with which He
will receive you to the house of which ye are the children, the
356
OF BAPTISM.
beloved children; and though your course of unnatural disobe-
dience, and wicked apostasy, had been like the prodigal's, when
you return in the spirit of the prodigal, you shall receive from
Him the prodigal's welcome and blessing; the fond, the exu-
berant, and unbounded entertainment of the prodigal. And I
tell you, there shall be more joy in heaven that day you come
home into the kingdom, than over ninety and nine of those
who are resting and remaining constant to the engagement of
our Father's house. Search the books of the prophets, who
had words put into their mouths from the Lord to His ancient
people; take the most pathetic of the Lord's complaints, the
most tender of His entreaties, the most warm and earnest of
His expostulations, and the most home-felt of His appeals;
take them and apply them unto yourselves, for surely they
are to the full, and even more fully, your right than they were
of the children of the former dispensation. Hear what the
Lord saith unto you by the prophet Isaiah: "Thou hast not
called upon me, O Jacob! but thou hast been weary of me, O
Israel! yet I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgres-
sions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins."
And again, by the prophet Ezekiel : "Cast away from you all
your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed; and make
you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O
house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him
that dieth, saith the Lord God; wherefore turn and live ye.”
And again: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call
Let the wicked forsake his
ye upon him while he is near.
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him re-
turn unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For 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 higher than your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow
from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me
void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it," (Isa. lv. 6-11.) And
THEIR STANDING IN THE CHURCH.
357
again: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is
thine help," (Hos. xiii. 9.) And again: "Go and proclaim
these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou back-
sliding 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 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 mar-
ried unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of
a family, 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," (Jer. iii. 12-16.) But though these
exclamations of the prophets be very tender, they come not
up to the spirit which our Lord hath embodied in the parable
of the prodigal son, to which we have so often referred; of
the labourers in the vineyard, where the last that came was
paid as the first; of the marriage-feast, where the highways
and most promiscuous resorts were visited with inviting mes-
sengers and perhaps His words upon the cross pass all ex-
ample, when He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do."
But time would fail me to enumerate the words and acts
of God's longing over His Church: and enough surely has
been said to lead you to serious thoughtfulness and consider-
ation; and I trust, by the blessing of God, enough hath been
said to stir you up from the lethargy in which you are held,
by reason of the veil which Satan hath cast over all these
your high privileges and blessed conditions; and that with-
out delay you will be moved to meditate the Word of God
whether these things be so; and pray unto Him to deliver
you from your sins, and lead you by His Spirit into that
temple of glory and blessedness which Christ hath set open
to your souls.
HOMILY VII.
THE STANDING OF THE BAPTIZED WITH RESPECT TO THE
LORD'S SUPPER.
MATT. XXVI. 27.
Drink ye all of it.
HAVING laid before you, in the former homily, what are
the privileges of those who have been baptized into
Christ, and what the grace to which they have had continual
access, and which even now is open to every one of them, I
now proceed, as was proposed, in the second place, to deal
with some of those difficulties and objections which present
themselves in the way of their approach to the table of the
Lord. In the primitive Church baptism was called the enlight-
ening, in order to signify the natural darkness out of which
we are brought into the marvellous light of the gospel; and
therefore it is rightly administered to infants, because infancy
and youth is the season at which the light of knowledge,
either natural or spiritual, is to be introduced into the mind
for the direction of the future life: the Lord herein, as in
everything else, conforming the institutions of the gospel to
the natural condition of the mind, which is not required to act
for itself until after it hath been long placed under parents,
teachers, and guardians. Which period of instruction and
discipline being past, the pupil is released from his tutelage,
and takes upon him the offices of the man, and is regarded as
a person in the eye of law and of society. Whereupon the
light of instruction becometh the life of action, and the dis-
cipline of the will changeth into the freedom of the will; at
which entrance into self-directed life we have the sacrament
of life given in the elements of life, as at our birth and nonage
we had the sacrament of the spiritual birth: the one releasing
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
359
us from the guardians under which the other had placed us,
and presenting to us the manly food of spiritual strength;
whereas the former did but purify the soul from the unclean-
ness, and deliver it from the darkness, of its natural birth.
Yet, as the birth doth give the promise of manhood, and the
child doth contain the rudiments of the man, and is never
properly instructed or disciplined but with a view to future
self-government; so the sacrament for spiritual infancy doth
contain the rudiments of the whole spiritual life, and is often
used, both in the Scriptures and in the Standards of the
Church, as indeed we formerly quoted, to signify and contain
all the privileges of the covenant of grace. But though com-
pletely contained therein, the principle of personal and inde-
pendent life by union to Christ Jesus, is only fully and properly
revealed to us in the symbol of the Lord's supper.
Therefore it was the custom in the primitive times, before
admitting the converts to the faith and privileges of the Church
by the sacrament of baptism, to consider them as wards of
the Church, and to appoint over them catechists, who might
instruct them in various classes until they were enlightened
and thought fit to stand for themselves, and perform their
various offices as members of the Christian body. And from
this also, I doubt not, arose the custom of godfathers and
godmothers, in order that the Church might have the pledges
and securities of holy persons, that its infant members would
not be left in ignorance, but early introduced to the knowledge
of the blessings freely given to them in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Which custom our Church, in her more rigorous and severe
discipline, would not permit, but doth require this duty
solemnly at the hands of the parents, and oblige the ministers,
in their rounds of visitation, to examine and take order that
in every family it be dutifully discharged. And every Church,
without any exception, doth signify, by its provisions of dis-
cipline, that there is a period in the Christian life between
baptism and the Lord's supper, during which the disciple is
under the guardianship of the Church, and preparing by in-
struction for becoming his own master, and joined to Christ,
but in subordination and subjection; and afterwards, when he
is deemed worthy by the rulers of the Church, to be admitted
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OF BAPTISM.
to his liberty and freedom in Christ. Wherefore, at the supper
we are well said to renew the baptismal covenant, and to take
the vows upon ourselves.
Now, it will easily appear from these premises, that the bap-
tized who are not communicants, are to the communicants of
the Church not as heathen men and as publicans; but, if they
have not fallen away from the faith, are to be regarded by us
as our children in Christ Jesus, over whom we have with
tenderness and care to watch until they shall be sufficiently
enlightened and prepared for assuming to themselves a per-
sonal standing in the Church; and that as I now, in my office.
of minister, deal with them by instruction, so were it comely
and right for you, in your office of members of Christ, to deal
with your friends and brethren who are in this condition, to
come and partake of the waters of life freely. And to the
end of fulfilling my duty, and shewing you how to fulfil yours,
I shall now, as the Lord giveth me the ability, endeavour to
consider their case, and to administer to it the counsel of the
Word of God.
If those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus continue
to maintain their faith in His person, as the Son of God; in
His offices, as their own Redeemer and Mediator with God;
in His Church, as the pillar and ground of the truth, and the
minister of His grace unto the world; then are they, as we
taught in the former homily, to consider themselves as having
the title to some portion in His house; from which if they be
withheld, they withhold themselves; forasmuch as there is
nothing which another possesses, that they may not, by the
same application and diligence, possess, to the comfort, and
enriching, and salvation of their souls. But if they have re-
nounced the faith of Christ altogether, and denied Him who
bought them, holding Him for a deceiver of the earth, then I
speak not unto such; their case is indeed very hopeless; and
truly I know not whether any hope at all remaineth for such:
but for the rest, who continue as pupils and children in His
house, there is nothing which ought to prevent their becoming
free and privileged men, but these two things, ignorance and
wickedness. If they have been neglected by their parents,
and their guardians, and the Church, and when they come to
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
361
listen to the gospel ministry, find no answer of the conscience
to its spiritual exhortations; or when they read the Scriptures,
find no spiritual discernment of their meaning, nor inward
experience of their truths; and have no higher notion of reli-
gion, than to obey the natural conscience of right and wrong,
and act an honourable and upright part between man and
man, then I say not that in this state they should come unto
the table of the Lord, for they are not yet acquainted with
the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and are still in
the condition of babes, who must be fed with milk, the food
of babes, not with bread and wine, the food of full-grown
men. But they ought not to remain a day, no, not an hour,
in this condition of darkness and doubt; but address them-
selves to God, into whose name they were baptized, as to a
Father, praying that He would lead them into truth, and
guide them in righteous judgment; and they ought to apply
to the ministers of Christ, whose lips should ever keep know-
ledge, in order to be instructed with more simplicity than is
convenient in public sermons, and with more plainness than
is proper to a mixed multitude, concerning those things in
which they feel themselves to be in doubt and perplexity.
And to the end of receiving such inquirers, ministers do fix
for the people certain times at which they may instruct them.
And on such occasions you should open your heart and mind
to the minister of Christ, that he may inform you wherein the
views you entertain are right, and wherein they are wrong;
not coming to him to be excited, by eloquent or tender dis-
course, into a soft and pathetic mood, but coming to be
resolved of doubts, and instructed more perfectly in the ways
of righteousness. Ye are inexcusable, therefore, on this score,
who have a ministry of the gospel, and opportunities of
private communion with your minister, if you continue in
ignorance or uncertainty concerning the mysteries of your
salvation. Why should a man be afraid to confess his igno-
rance? If he know that he is ignorant, and seek not to have
it removed, he is worse than a fool, and there is no hope of
him; for knowledge cometh before action, and light cometh
before life; and the Word of God is revealed before the Spirit
of God.
362
OF BAPTISM.
At the same time, be careful to understand and believe,
that there is a light which is not attained but in the way of a
holy life; and that there is a discernment of the Word of God,
which is not to be had but by the teaching of the Holy Spirit;
and a knowledge of the truth, which cometh only from the
doing of the truth, according to that which is written by the
apostle John, "He that doeth the truth, shall know of the
truth, that it is of God." Whence I draw these two infer-
ences: That your ignorance of the true faith may proceed
from no want of early instruction, but from the blinds which
are cast over all spiritual knowledge by the power and pre-
sence of the carnal man within you; and in this case, the true
cause of your incapacity for the communion springing from
wickedness, which we are to treat of forthwith. But if this be
not the case, then I observe, secondly, That you are not to
withhold from the communion because your knowledge is
imperfect; or wait till the mysteries of all doctrines have
declared themselves to your souls, for this cannot be but by
progress in the actual life of godliness, for which the Lord's
table is the nourishment. At the same time I think, that no
one ought to give himself to the communion of the Church
who holdeth opinions adverse to the great fundamental doc-
trines of the Trinity and the redemption; although, even in
respect to these, we are far from requiring those clear and
determinate convictions which come only by progress in the
spiritual life: there ought to be an entire reverence for the
doctrines of the orthodox Church, and an open, teachable
disposition to be nourished up in them, according to the
teaching of the Word and the Spirit of God. And, above all,
you ought to remember continually, that for this very end ye
were baptized, that ye might be enlightened in the knowledge
of Christ; and that the Lord holdeth out no false promises,
neither maketh any fruitless covenants; and, therefore, you
may assure yourselves, that day you were baptized, the temple
of spiritual knowledge was thrown open to you, is now open
to you, into which you may enter, and pass onward and
inward, until you have possessed as much of the precious
doctrine as your vessel is able to contain. Therefore, as I
said, ye do not well to remain another day, another hour,
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
363
without the gate, as if ye were Gentiles, and not circumcised
with the circumcision of Christ.
Now, for the second disqualification,—namely, The indul-
gence of sins which are inconsistent with the discipline of the
Church of Christ on earth; and are denounced in the Word of
God, as excluding from the kingdom of heaven,—I have this
much to say: That no one ought to bring with him into the
Church of Christ any habit of body or of mind which would
justly entitle him to be challenged and rebuked while abiding
therein; and, if not amended, would justify the Church sus-
pending him or excommunicating him from her communion.
I do not now stop to make the enumeration of those immo-
ralities and unchristian tempers, having solemnly read, in
your hearing, when fencing the communion-table, several lists
of that kind, which you will find written everywhere in the
Holy Scriptures. To become members of the Church, while
either publicly or wittingly indulging in these habitual sins,
would be a great profanation of the holy communion of
Christ's body, which hath no fellowship with sin; and a
grievous offence to His little ones, of whom the very least is
defended and protected from offence by the most severe de-
nunciations; and therefore I, as a minister of the Church
catholic and universal, must for ever protest against the
shameless remissness of the Churches in this respect, and the
indiscriminate giving of the bread and wine to whosoever
approacheth the altar, or the giving of tokens to whosoever
may ask them. The ministers and overseers of the Church
who permit such prostitution are much to be blamed; and
still more to be blamed are the men, who, educated in a Chris-
tian land, dare, without repentance and the renunciation of
sins, trample under foot the holy fence which the Lord hath
placed around His fold. And again: if any one, maintaining
a fair outward character, while he is conscious of secret and
hidden offences, presumeth upon the secrecy thereof, to pre-
sent his claim to be admitted amongst those whom God seeth
always; what doth he but condemn himself of hypocrisy, and
present himself to be challenged and cast out by the Father of
our Lord, when He shall come in to behold the guests? for all
things are naked and open to Him with whom we have to do
364
OF BAPTISM.
At the same time, I am too well acquainted with human
frailty, and the warfare of flesh and spirit, within the breast
of every child of God, to set this mark too high. The best
men are worsted of their enemies: Job himself sinned with
his lips; and St Paul had a messenger of Satan to buffet him,
lest he should be exalted above measure; and Peter, James,
and Barnabas, both dissembled with their consciences and
subjected themselves to the carnal elements of the Jewish
dispensation; and they write to all the churches, as to fallible
men, and men who had fallen, and were in daily danger of
falling, through the soreness of the conflict which they had to
maintain with the devil, the world, and the flesh. Therefore,
I am far from excluding from the Church any one who is
labouring in the contest, because he hath not yet prevailed at
all points; but so that his soul is set within him to resist, by the
strength which is in Christ Jesus, I do the rather encourage
him to come to the table of the Lord, that he may be filled
with the food of strength. So that his spirit is awakened and
aroused, is stirred up and in arms against its enemies, is
wounded and grieved with its sins, and looking around for
the strength which it findeth not within itself. I do heartily
encourage such an one to maintain the conflict from the
Christian citadel, and with the armour of Christ, and within
the lines of the Christian army. Wherefore there is no better
sign of a young communicant, than that he should be humbled
under the sense of his own sinfulness and infirmity, and cry-
ing out, "What shall I do to be saved? Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?" And there is none worse,
than to deem himself worthy, or that he hath already attained,
and is already perfect.
From which remarks you will perceive, dearly beloved
brethren, that if ye have erred from the way of your Father's
house, into which you were introduced by baptism, and
lavished the goods which were given to you, or, with un-
natural hardness of heart, have despised your Father's con-
tinual overtures of kindness, and disbelieved His protestations.
of love, and set His messengers of good tidings at naught, ye
should not continue to do so any longer, adding iniquity to
iniquity, and ingratitude to ingratitude, but return with con-
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
365
vinced and sorrowful hearts to the house of your Father; and
whenever you do lift up a penitent voice, and set your face to
return, I, or any minister of Christ, am here ready to assure
you of welcome, and conduct you on your way in peace; and
having clothed you, and comforted you, and strengthened
you, to lead you into your Father's banqueting house, whose
banner over you shall be love. The penitent, the soul-
stricken, the heart-broken, the heavy-laden and oppressed,
are indeed very welcome, the most welcome, to the house of
God: over whom there will be more joy, than over ninety and
nine of those who are already standing fast in their integrity.
I would not therefore, my well-beloved brethren, have you to
stifle the motions of conviction within your soul, or to quench
the Holy Spirit; but to cry unto God for help, knowing that
ye have an Advocate with the Most High, even Christ Jesus the
righteous; who also is "an High Priest, that can be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; being tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin." Come like good children of
the Church, and open your hearts to some brother of the
Church, in whom ye have confidence, or to the elders of the
Church, or to the minister of the Church, or to some one of
the body of Christ, who can give you discreet counsel, and
lead you in the way in which you should go. But I am led
away by my sympathies, from the expository discourse which
I am striving to maintain.
It is, indeed, a very dangerous condition, in which many
permit themselves long to remain undecided, whether, having
been baptized, they shall join themselves to the body of
Christ by the sacrament of His flesh and His blood; and it
must be very provoking to that good providence of God,
which gave them this best of all inheritances, to be endowed
with all the privileges of His house; and the longer they
abide in this doubt and uncertainty, the more they do pro-
voke His Holy Spirit, and render powerless the blessed doc-
trines of the gospel, which they daily hear, and daily hear in
vain. It must be that they wax harder and harder of heart,
deafer and deafer of hearing, more and more dead and spirit-
less. If ye believed not, if ye had rejected Christ, and all the
blessings of the baptismal covenant, then I know not, as hath
366
OF BAPTISM.
been said, but your case were hopeless; and I fear it will
come to this pass with you, if you continue to be deluded by
the world, the devil, and the flesh. It cannot be but they
will work more and more out of you that light of knowledge
and life of faith which there is in you, and leave you but a
name to live; for they are blank and ignorant of God them-
selves, and they shall soon reduce to the same utter blank-
ness that human soul which embraceth them as its chief
good, or communeth with them as its closest companions.
You must grow worse and worse, or better and better; there
is no standing still. The soul will not stop its various mo-
tions, and either God or an idol must be its glory; and
whether that idol be itself or another creature, it mattereth
not; when death hath disposed of self, we know not where,
and sealed up the creature in utter darkness. I would not
treat this matter with eloquent or pathetic discourse, but use
words of truth and soberness. And I ask any father here
present what would be the effect upon his parental heart, if
the son, whom he had cherished from youth in his bosom,
and fed from day to day at his table, did, each day that he
arose, arise to neglect his duty, and forget his father's love,
and disobey his commandments, and dishonour his name,
and trample under foot all the reverend ordinances of his
house? But, say you, will it mend the matter that I trample
another, and the holiest of all, under my foot? Now, I will
condemn thee out of thine own mouth: If thou fear to
trample upon the sacrament of the supper, why shouldst
thou not fear to trample upon the sacrament of baptism,
whose inheritance we shewed in the former homily did take
in the whole scope of the Christian kingdom? And why
shouldest thou not fear to trample upon the ministry of the
word, and the solemnities of public worship, and whatever
other holy ordinance or observance appertaineth to the
Church of Christ? But if thou sayest, All these I do my
endeavour to keep, and have from my youth upwards; then
say I, Yet thou lackest one thing: turn thy back upon the
world's tent, and pitch thy tent with the host of the Lord.
I have long been convinced in my own mind, and the
conversations which I have held with young communicants.
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
367
f
have confirmed me in it, that a great deal of honest purpose,
and endeavour after a holy life cometh .to no point, from
being designed and undertaken in complete ignorance of the
only means whereby good can be effected upon earth. There
is a certain measure of righteousness (if so it may be called;
but I use the word only in accommodation to custom, for
righteousness there is none, save that which is wrought by
Christ in His people) which may be reached in the strength
of natural resolution, without any help of God, which serves
to mark the standard of heathen morality; but in a Christian
country, where sound doctrine hath long prevailed, as in ours,
that standard hath been so raised, conscience hath got such
a flood of light from the neighbourhood of Divine truth, that
I defy any one to work up to the pitch of its satisfaction.
Now there are many, both young and old, who are straining
after this impossibility—to stand straight with their own con-
science—who, if they would draw nigh to that Word which
gave their conscience such discernment, would find that it
was never in the mind of God that any man should, in him-
self, fulfil His holy law!-which is, therefore, always called
the minister of death, not of life; the accuser, not the advo-
cate; the condemnation, not the justification of men. For
which very end, I have oft taught you, it was given to drive
men to distraction, and force them to flee for another fountain
of justice, another principle of obedience, another strength,
another system of means, than those of nature. And, there-
fore, I do most solemnly entreat all who are moved to holy
living, or are wearied of the world's dissimulation, and cannot
endure that conscience should be so trampled under the foot
of sense and worldliness, to draw near to Divine instruction,
and apprehend for their consolation another and a better
way of entering into righteousness and holiness, through the
redemption of Christ and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.
It is to fight without your host, to try the battle in your own
strength. We might as well say to the flesh, Be pained no
more, as say to it, Rule me no more; and to the carnal mind,
Be careful and anxious no more, as to say to it, Envy no
more, or be no more stirred up with pride: and to the physi-
cal world, your will might as well say, Become Eden again,
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OF BAPTISM.
thou wilderness; and thou cruel, blood-thirsty tenant of the
wilderness, man-slaughtering man, become thou as Adam
was in Eden; or say unto it, Overcome me no more, O world,
with thy wiles and deceptions! and, ye men of the world,
lead me not astray into your wicked courses! If man, in his
own strength, could have done this, then that man might have
been made our mediator, and Christ had died in vain. To
give force to the human will against the law of the flesh and
the world, to condemn sin in the flesh, and to overcome the
world, required the union of the Word of the Godhead; and
to this day, the reunion of that Divine Word is as necessary
as ever in each one of us to the achievement of the same
superhuman work of stemming the stream of nature which
setteth against us. Therefore, if you think to wait until, in
your own strength, ye have pruned yourself to a certain
form of godliness, ye do utterly mistake the matter. Ye may
deceive your conscience, ye may deceive the Church, ye may
corrupt the gospel into a legal ritual; but ye shall never
bring yourself, but by the operation of the Spirit, through
faith and prayer, into any meetness for the Church on earth,
or for the kingdom of heaven.
O my brother, what waitest thou for? Not for know-
ledge; for now I tell you, that the door of knowledge is
opened to thee; and, if thou have no better, I will myself
become thy teacher. Not for entreaty: I do now entreat
thee, in the name and behalf of the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, whose child thou wast acknowledged in the Church.
What waitest thou for? Not for liberty: I give thee liberty,
as one of the messengers sent into the streets and the high-
ways, saying, "Come ye unto the feast." Wait you till you
have something of your own to offer? I tell you it is with-
out money and without price; and that no one was ever
admitted on the plea of aught which he had to give in
exchange; for the whole material world is no equivalent for
one transgression of a spirit. What, then, waitest thou for?
I earnestly entreat thee to meditate.
"For the sight of my
sins, and faith in the Redeemer, and a humble, penitent frame
of soul." Dost thou wait for this, my brother? It is well.
And whence dost thou expect it? From the world?—it is
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
369
ungodly. From the carnal mind?—it is vain-glorious. From
nature?—it is dark, dark as midnight. Where, then, is it to
be found? It is to be found in God-in the revelation which
He hath made of Himself by His Son. And what saith that
revelation? "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Of whom?
Of Him who hath it to give, even of the Father, who hath
sent forth His Son, that whoever believeth in Him might not
perish, but have everlasting life.
This, therefore, is the conclusion of the whole matter;-that
you must betake yourselves to your Father, who gave you
the full and free privilege of His gospel, by the sacrament of
baptism; to the Son, who, by the same, declared His death
to have been for your redemption; to the Holy Ghost, who,
by the same, declared His sanctification, and teaching, and
consolation, to be directed to you for good; in whose life-
giving and life-cherishing beams you have since been en-
sphered, but have loved darkness rather than light. Where-
fore, I fear that this abundant declaration of mercy and grace
will also be ineffectual; which may the Lord, in His great
mercy, forbid, making it profitable to stir up some soul now
sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
But I am only one of the many who, last Lord's day,
declared themselves to be of the Church of Christ. And will
ye not also put forth some strength for the kingdom of Christ,
my fellow-communicants? Will you not wrestle with God
in prayer, for the sake of their souls? Will you allow Satan's
ceremonious courtesies to divide you from your brother's
salvation? Will you see your sons and daughters, your bro-
thers, sisters, and near kindred, about to perish from the grace
of God, living out of communion with His Church, and put
forth no desire, no entreaty, no instruction? The Lord for-
bid! Gather yourselves, my beloved brethren, together, and
take counsel for the Church, for the prodigal children of the
Church. Encourage one another in the grace of the gospel.
Talk with one another, pray with one another, comfort and
edify one another. Ye are my helpers; ye are my eyes; ye
are my voice. And, oh, how sweet then were it to my soul to
labour in the word and in prayer, meditating my thoughts,
VOL. II.
2 A
370
OF BAPTISM.
and going myself to Christ my strength, and to the com-
munion of the Holy Spirit!
This duty which the Church-I mean the whole visible
Church-oweth to baptized children is little thought of.
Yet she is responsible, if the proper sponsor fail in his office;
for by her hands the covenant was sealed, and upon her re-
sponsibility she took such and such persons sponsors. She,
therefore, is responsible to Christ for the sponsors: and hence
one ground of domestic visitation, to see that the children are
instructed, that the duty covenanted for is fulfilled to them.
And when this is neglected by the rulers of the Church, then
cometh to supplement it the institution of religious schools,
for teaching the children of the Church what their parents do
not teach them; for otherwise the Church will suffer loss.
Therefore I regard every Sabbath-school teacher as a cate-
chist over the baptized children of the Church; and as such
I cannot conclude this discourse without a word to those of
my flock who have given themselves to this work.
In every work of Christian charity, dearly beloved brethren,
it is not enough that there should be present mere natural
good-will and benevolence to all, or natural pity and compas-
sion of the poor and the destitute-which alone may well
enough constitute a work of worldly benevolence; but inas-
much as it springs of nature, it is a work of the natural, not
of the spiritual man; a work of the world, not of the Church;
-but to constitute a work Christian, there must be at the
foundation of it a Christian principle, and it must be built up
in a Christian spirit, and intended to answer a Christian end.
And if benevolence and pity and generosity and disinterested-
ness be the best and most amiable parts of human nature,
they are the most worthy offerings upon the altar of Christ,
who hath redeemed human nature; and not being offered
unto Him, you may rest assured Satan, the lord of the
natural man, will convert them into his strongest hold
against the Lord of the spirit. And forasmuch as, for want
of a clear knowledge and apprehension of this distinction be-
tween natural philanthropy and spiritual well-doing, it hath
come to pass in the Church that, through the avenues of our
religious operations, the pernicious doctrine of works is creep-
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
371
ing in, and out of the Church morality and benevolence make
a direct head against the gospel,-I lay before you the care
of Christ's ignorant members as being the true Christian prin-
ciple and Christian end for which we ought to labour, even
more diligently than we ever have done, in the work to which
so many of this Church have addressed themselves, of in-
structing the young, of all classes and denominations, in the
principles of the doctrine of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living
God, and the Redeemer of the world. To all of you who en-
gage in instructing baptized children, these points of doctrine
which I have expounded are of the utmost necessity, though
they be fallen into great neglect; shewing you the fearful
obligations under which the children of this land are brought,
and the spiritual relation in which they stand, to the Church
of Christ, and the Church of Christ standeth unto them: out
of which relation, as I judge, doth spring the great duty of
instructing the young in Christian doctrine and duty.
And, brethren, if these be the privileges of every one bap-
tized into the Church of Christ, it is surely monstrous cruelty
that they should not be instructed therein. How shall they
ever possess their inheritance, if they never know that they
are heirs to it? How shall they ever become attached to the
Church of Christ, if they know not the blessedness of that
Goshen,—the security of that ark? And how shall they for-
sake the world, if they know not the Egyptian darkness, the
unhallowed practices, the hopeless condition, of all who dwell
therein? The rite of baptism, done upon the unconscious
babe, cannot bring that knowledge as it were by instinct or
legerdemain: nature doth not grow up into it, the world doth
not teach it, and their sponsors do neglect it most awfully;
and it is neglected, and it is clean omitted, among thousands
and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of the bap-
tized, so that I say not, go to the children, but go to the full-
grown men of the streets around, and ask them to explain
what profit or peculiar advantage they have from being mem-
bers of the Church of Christ; or what is the mystery of the
Church, for which it should be called the pillar and ground of
the truth, the holy nation, the royal priesthood, the chosen
nation and peculiar people, the temple of the Holy Ghost,
372
OF BAPTISM.
and the body of Christ; and you shall find them profoundly
ignorant, dark as midnight upon the whole matter, as if there
neither were Bible nor Christian ministry, nor holy sacra-
ments, nor any religious offices, within a day's journey of
them, within the reach of intelligence, or within the land, and,
I might almost say, in being. But, men and brethren, if the
doctrine I have taught be the doctrine of Holy Scripture, and
of all Christian Churches, reformed and not reformed, Con-
formists and Nonconformists-and I tell you it is so—is it
not a shame that we, who know what a loss these men are
suffering by their ignorance, do not speak of the responsibility
they are incurring? I say, is it not a sin, seeing the Christian
Church is one body, that any member should thus be fruit-
less, gangrenous, when a little instruction, a little exhortation,
a little prayer, and other Christian diligence, on our part,
might be blessed of God to make him lively and active and
profitable to Christ the Head, and to all the members of the
Christian body?
On these grounds, I hold it to be the duty, not of one man,
the pastor, but of every man, the members of Christ, to watch
for the interests of His house; first of all for those for whom
they are severally responsible—that is, these our children—
whom they have brought into the great inheritance, and the
equally great responsibility, of the Church of Christ; and in
those Churches which admit of sponsors besides the parents,
it is the duty of the sponsors, and indeed the very meaning of
the office, to see that those for whom they have offered them-
selves in that responsive situation be made acquainted with
the infinite privileges and awful sanctions of the Church of
Christ, that they may lay hold of the one, and flee from the
other; and of every Christian church—that is, body of Chris-
tians worshipping in one place, for truly there is but one
Church, of every Christian community, it is the bounden.
duty to see that all the baptized of their body, that all the
younger children, be reared up, and all the prodigals of the
house be brought back to their Father's love, and to their
Father's yearning bowels of compassion. And this, let me
say unto you, the catechists of my church, is your first office,
to be, under your pastor, labourers for the sake of the younger
AS IT RESPECTS THE SUPPER.
373
members of our church,-you to be instructed by him, and
the younger to be instructed by you. But we are not alone;
we are the brethren of all that are joined to Christ in the
sacrament of baptism; and if we be the brethren of all Christ's
members, then ought we to feel a brotherly tenderness towards
those who are around us, of every condition and of every
name, who are entitled to the same privileges, and amenable
to the same judgment as we are; one with us in the blessing
of believing, or in the woe of rejecting the gospel. The little
children of the poor who surround us cannot escape the pain-
ful sanctions of the covenant into which they have been
brought. When the time for judging the professing formal
Church shall come, they shall share the judgment. It did not
hinder the people of Israel from being destroyed that they
lacked knowledge, or that their priests had failed in their holy
functions: no more will it hinder them from being destroyed
that they lack knowledge. Their ignorance is the beginning
of their curse, and the beginning of their judgment. Igno-
rance is mental darkness; ignorance is mental barrenness;
ignorance is God's judgment already revealed in the mind.
Now, if these your neighbours were suffering in the fields by
blasting mildew, and in their houses by famine, would you
not feel it your duty to go forward and relieve them? If the
Lord had palsied the father of a family, if He had inflicted a
universal plague upon the children, would not nature take pity
upon them? And shall nature's bowels be more melting than
Christ's bowels? Shall the desolateness that sight beholdeth
be more grievous than the desolateness which faith beholdeth?
Shall the sufferings of a few years be more pitiable than the
sufferings of eternity? Shall the world be better and more
friendly to its denizens than the Church of Christ to her
members? If I thought, brethren of this flock, that we would
be less pitiful of the children of the Established Church, or of
the Dissenters from the Established Church, than of our own,
I, who am a minister of an Established Church, would rebuke
your evil, rather than commend your good example, before.
the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all. For, oh!
the sacrament of baptism entaileth upon all the same penal-
ties of ignorance and disobedience. Were not our fathers of
374
OF BAPTISM.
one Protestant Church? Hold we not the same doctrines?
have we not the same sacraments? Therefore, I say unto
you, go unto the hedges, and the lanes, and the by-ways, and
invite all to your feast; instruct all, edify all, that it may not
be said that, in a Christian land, with Christian neighbours,
multitudes perish without ever knowing the glad tidings of
salvation: for assuredly the judgment of God will come upon
us, if we knowingly allow of such abominations.
Wherefore, brethren, I say ye are yet under the spirit of the
world in this work which ye have undertaken, if you execute
it merely in the spirit of natural philanthropy or pity, as to
children in a state of nature, and do not carry with you all
these great truths of the Church of Christ, and act under them
in the spirit of Christian love and brotherhood towards the
strayed and prodigal, after whom the heart of the Father
longeth so affectionately, that He maketh mirth and gladness
beyond all measure when any of them returns, saying, “For
my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.”
And when any of the sheep wandereth, He goeth forth into
the wilderness, and patiently ploddeth over the weary waste,
and returneth very glad that He hath found him. And when
one of them repenteth, there is more joy in heaven than over
ninety and nine persons who need no repentance. And as
our Father in heaven is, in His longings after them, so ought
we to be; and as He is patient in His requests, so ought we to
be; and as He is joyful in His success, so ought we to be. We
ought to go forth boldly and courageously; we ought to seek
patiently; we ought to invite largely; we ought to threaten
fearfully; and, when we succeed in bringing any back to the
fold, we ought to return very cheerfully, and rejoice right
gladly. And so, being filled with the doctrine and with the
Spirit of Christ, we will not weary in our work, knowing that
to us also there remaineth a rest and a great and glorious
reward; as it is written in the prophet Daniel, "And they
who turn many from darkness into light, shall shine as the
stars in the firmament for ever and ever.
HOMILY VIII.
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE FLOWING FROM BAPTISM.
HEB. VI. I, 2.
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms.
HAV
AVING now exposed to you at length, dearly beloved
brethren, in many discourses, the true scriptural and or-
thodox doctrine concerning the sacrament of baptism, I shall,
before closing the subject, open to you the conclusions of
doctrine and practical effects which such views ought to have
upon us.
And for this end I interrupt our ordinary subject
of discourse this morning and evening, as I purpose from this
day to begin my catechetical instructions to the younger part
of my flock, in the view of the next communion. And may
the Lord enable me to set forth this subject with so much
power and persuasion of the Holy Ghost, that there shall not
be any one in all the congregation, of mature years and ripe
understanding, unmoved with a sense of the obligation which
he oweth to God, in virtue of his baptism, to come forward
and partake of the Lord's supper, for his spiritual nourish-
ment and growth in grace.
The first and most obvious conclusion of doctrine which we
derive from the sacrament of baptism is, that the Holy Ghost,
who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, is to be ex-
pected at any age of life, and by no means to be limited to
the years of reason and thought. This follows clearly from
baptism being, like circumcision, the privilege of the infants
of believing parents; of which two signs and seals of the cove-
nant of grace, circumcision was appointed to be done on the
eighth day, no doubt for some great typical end; to point
376
OF BAPTISM.
out, perhaps, that not until the eighth day of time—that is,
not till after the Sabbatism of the millennium-will the un-
cleanness of flesh be wholly taken away, the pollution of sin
wholly cut off, and cast into the lake that burneth, and the
perfectly holy estate of the creature established for ever in
unchangeable blessedness. But, however this may be, it is
enough for our present purpose, that on the eighth day-
before intelligence and reason, and the capacity of knowledge
and reflection, almost before distinct sensation, and any
human function of speech, sight, or hearing had begun to
dawn into existence, the unconscious babe was admitted to
that covenant of righteousness by faith, whereof circumcision
was the seal, and did receive “circumcision, the seal of the
righteousness which he had yet being uncircumcised." And
baptism being confined to no stage of our being, but permis-
sible at the very moment of our birth, doth carry, if it were
possible, this point to a higher degree of evidence and con-
clusiveness. Now, if Christ, by so appointing it that the seal
of the covenant should be dependent upon no condition but
the life of a human creature, and the faith of its parent or (in
his incapacity) of a sponsor, it is most clear, that all the gifts,
privileges, and immunities which the sacrament bringeth to
any one being, no less than "the remission of sins and the
receiving of the Holy Ghost," are proper to be given and war-
ranted by God to the unconscious babe; yea, to any seed of
man in which there is life. Otherwise, if the Holy Spirit were
not free to be communicated to all ages of the living human.
creature, but only after life had put forth the functions of
thought, of intelligence, of reason, the sacramental sign and
seal of His communication would not have been permitted to
be given till that function was become manifest. And those
who refuse baptism to infants, do in fact bring themselves to
this awful conclusion, that the Holy Spirit is not given, and
may not be expected, till a human being is capable of faith,
which implieth knowledge and thought and reflection, and
the other functions of reason. Now this is a great limitation
of the Holy One, and a confinement of the Redemption within
narrower limits than the Fall; which certainly sheweth itself
in the pains and diseases and deaths of infants; yea, of child-
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
377
birth, and of premature births and abortions. It goes far, as
I think also, to deprive infants of the hope of salvation, seeing
to salvation I consider the anointing with the Holy Ghost to
be as indispensable as the redemption by Christ, who, in truth,
is Christ only as He anointeth with the Holy Ghost. And
to whomsoever He is Jesus or Saviour, to that person is He
also Christ; and if you deny that He is Christ to any one, by
refusing to Him the Holy Ghost, then to that one you deny
Him to be Jesus or Saviour also. I know how obstinately
the Anabaptists deny this conclusion in words; but I main-
tain, that a tenet of doctrine, conveyed by an ordinance or
sacrament of the Church, is not to be met by a denial of
words. It is on all hands allowed, that baptism is for receiv-
ing the Holy Ghost; and if that sign and seal be not per-
mitted till a certain age, what other reason can be alleged for
the refusal but this, that this thing, signified and sealed, is
not till then to be expected; or if before this to be expected,
why before this may the sign of it not be administered?
It is not, however, to dispute, but to teach, that I have un-
dertaken this subject; and, as a teacher of righteousness, I do
instruct you all, dear brethren, that the openness of this ordi-
nance to the unconscious babe, who hath no righteousness,
nor faculty of any kind for receiving any; who can work no
work; set forth no prayer, and act no faith, but is wholly born
in sin, is the clearest demonstration in the world of the free-
ness of Divine grace, and the willingness of the Father to
bestow the Holy Spirit upon any age and upon all ages of
human life. The only thing which is preferred before this
gift is faith. If a parent have faith for himself, he may not,
without a denial of God's promise, fail to have faith for his
baptized child. And any one who hath been baptized may
not, without casting dishonour upon his father, and upon the
Church which judged his father worthy to receive the sacra-
ment for his children's sake, doubt of his full right and title
to this inheritance of the forgiveness of sins and of the Holy
Ghost. And because many children are wont to puzzle and
perplex themselves about the question, whether their parents
had faith or not; I say positively, that they take too much
upon them to go about to judge a question which hath
378
OF BAPTISM.
already been judged by the Church. Not that I infringe the
right of private judgment, which I consider a most essential
point of the protestation which we have lifted up against the
Papacy, but that I will not permit a decision to be reviewed
by private judgment which God hath not left to private judg-
ment, but fixed in the rulers of the Church. Your parent did
not himself take it upon his own private judgment to decide
whether he was worthy to have his child baptized: he left it
to the rulers of the Church, into whose hands the sacraments
are committed, to decide to whom they should be adminis-
tered. The Church decided favourably in your case, and
then the thing resteth upon the Church's responsibility. For
your part, ye may not doubt thereafter that you are freely
admitted to all which the Church hath thus to share in com-
mon among her members, be it much or be it little. The
same say I, in answer to all doubts with respect to the minis-
ter of the Church by whom it was done, who is only a minis-
ter or servant of the Church, not the Church herself; whose
gift ye received, whether it came through the hand of a dis-
honest or a true servant; seeing, as is well set forth in our
Catechism, "the sacraments are made effectual, not from any
virtue in them, or in him that doth administer them, but only
by the blessing of Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit
in them who by faith receive them." Remember that I do
not say the Holy Spirit is actually given to every baptized
person; for that dependeth upon the previous gift of faith,
which is from a higher source than the Holy Ghost, even
from the Father, and which the Father giveth to whom it
pleaseth Him;-but that the Church having judged one to
have faith, she may not refuse to judge that he hath righteous-
ness imputed to that faith which she judgeth him to have,
nor that his children have the fellowship of the same, nor
that his baptized children are declared to have righteousness
also, and the Holy Spirit. The first judgment involveth all
the following ones; and in all her acts of discipline towards
that baptized child, she ought to proceed towards him as
towards one who is in covenant with God, and a privileged
member of the Church.
This leadeth us to observe, secondly, that the work of
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
379
Christ hath an equal respect to all ages of human life, from
the first to the last moment of it. This follows directly from
the former; because, if the Holy Spirit is free to proceed from
the Father and the Son upon every age of life, the Father
and the Son must be willing to send Him; for He cometh
not without their permission and commandment. "What-
soever He shall hear, that shall He speak." "I will send you,
my Father will send you, another Comforter, even the
Holy Ghost." It follows, not only from the orthodox doctrine
of the Trinity, but also is contained in the nature of the
sacrament itself; for baptism is for the remission of sins, as
well as for the receiving of the Holy Ghost. And without
the shedding of the blood of Christ, there is no remission of
sins, nor purging of the conscience "from dead works to serve
the living God." Therefore, an interest in the death of Christ
is part of the thing which is signified and sealed to us in our
baptism. Yea, not only is this interest in Christ's death of
the substance of the grace of baptism, as well as the work of
the Holy Ghost, but it is previous thereto-as, indeed, it
ought to be in the order of the Divine idea. Because, pre-
vious to baptism, there must be a believing parent; in order
to a holy child, there must be an imputation of righteousness;
and in order to an imputation of righteousness, there must
be a righteous One to be believed on, from whom the right-
eousness may, through the channel of faith, be derived. To
take an unholy nature into covenant with the holy God,
before there had passed upon it an act of absolution pro-
ceeding from Christ, is totally subversive of the Divine idea
and revealed purpose. Such a thing would mingle heaven
and hell, reconcile God and Belial, Christ and Satan. There-
fore, previous to the striking of the covenant, there must be
a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness; and from this
opened fountain the capacity of coming into covenant must
be derived. By the cleanness thereof applied to the unclean-
ness of the creature the great eternal impossibility must have
been got over-I mean, the impossibility of God entering
into covenant with an unclean thing. Therefore, we draw
our second conclusion of doctrine, That the righteousness of
Christ is freely imputed, and the work of Christ freely im-
380
OF BAPTISM.
parted to children as to men, to infants born or unborn, in
whom is the spirit of life, and the seed of faithful parents.
Now, as the former head of doctrine was most demonstra-
tive of the irresistible and insuperable power of the Holy
Ghost to perform a work of sanctification upon the uncon-
scious babe, which passeth far above and beyond the power
of human teaching, but surpasseth not His power who gave
it a living soul,-He who gave to the material germ a living
soul being able to give the Holy Spirit to sanctify the crea-
ture thus constituted; which mysteriously connecteth at the
same dark and inaccessible fountain-head the two great
streams of life,-life natural and life spiritual, life mortal and
life immortal, making the Redemption run up as high as
the Fall,-to prevent its evil effects wherever faith is; to the
end that faith should be as large as, and a more powerful
organ than, sight;—I say, while this mystery of Divine power
is set forth in its fair and mighty proportions to our faith by
the former conclusion of doctrine, by this second conclusion
is set forth the infinite dimensions of the love and grace
which is in Christ Jesus, its unconditional freeness, its all-
sufficient fulness, its all-embracing tenderness, its unwearied
delight with the children of men. As He despised not the
virgin's womb for His own bed, and as the Holy Spirit
sanctified Him there from His conception, so are we to
understand the same Spirit, through Him proceeding, despis-
eth not the womb of any sinful woman, nor refuseth to
sanctify the fruit of her womb from its conception; and as
He despised no period of childhood, but went the full round
of opening sense and dawning reason up to manhood, in
order that He might have the knowledge and the fellow-feel-
ing of all its trials and every infirmity thereof, so is He ten-
derly attached and most closely knit to every child, to every
youth, to every man, to every son of the human race, who
have faith to receive and entertain His unlimited affections.
I say faith, because without faith we cannot have any of that
love of the Son of God, or influence of the Holy Ghost;
which comes not in wild and unpremeditated liberty, nor is
scattered abroad in wasteful diffusion, but directed according
to the purpose of Him from whom originateth both the Son
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
381
and the Spirit, even the Father, who, in Christ Jesus, electeth
unto eternal life whom it pleaseth Him to elect, from amongst
the fallen creatures; and upon them whom it is His good
pleasure to save, sendeth the love of the Son and the power
of the Holy Ghost.
And now, concerning this—the highest head of orthodox
theology, without which all the rest are most unprofitable
and deceptive-I have to observe, that the sacrament of
baptism yieldeth to us this third conclusion of doctrine, That
the election of the Father is not limited to any age of human
life, but doth include all ages, from the first imparting of the
living soul, to the last moment of its presence in the body,
immediately before it depareth to Him who gave it; that is
to say, that He electeth at any age, and at all ages of human
life, the sinners of mankind to everlasting life. For if this
were not true, and there were a time before which, or a time
after which, the election of the Father did no longer apply,
baptism would be prohibited until or after that time; for
baptism is of no meaning or effect if it include not the elec-
tion of the Father; seeing that is the first act of redemption,
whereby the Father giveth one of His chosen ones unto His
Son, who thereupon anointeth Him with the Holy Ghost.
And seeing that baptism is effectual through faith unto the
remission of sins and the receiving of the Holy Ghost, it
presupposeth the will of the Father, in which every act of the
Son and the Holy Ghost originateth, unto whose obedience
they have respect, and in whose glory, and honour, and wor-
ship they terminate; which combined and co-equal, though
subordinate presence of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that
it is the act of grace signified, and to the faithful sealed in
baptism, is sufficiently demonstrated by the name, "the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," into which we are
baptized; and without this acknowledgment of the Father's
election as a part, and the first part, of baptism, we would
fall into the most fearful conclusions, either of superstition,
if we keep to the letter of the ordinance, or of infidelity, if
we depart from the letter of the Scriptures, and interpret it
according to common sense, (that substitute for the Holy Ghost
in these enlightened times.) For without this electing love
382
OF BAPTISM.
of the Father, preceding the work of Christ and the operation
of the Holy Ghost, we would have no room for faith as the
indispensable prerequisite to baptism. Here is a baptismal
font, signifying the waters of the Holy Ghost, flowing from
the rent and smitten side of Christ, which, like the rock of
Meribah, had till then hid them all within its own bosom,
and here is an unclean child of Adam to be washed in it;
but where is the connecting power to bring the one unto the
other? The priest can take the child, and wash or dip it in
the waters; but who hath a right, or who hath the power, to
absolve the guilty substance, and fill it with the spirit of
righteousness? Who, but He who hath judged the soul
guilty, hath the power to absolve the soul from guilt? Who,
but the Father of the spirits of all flesh, having the power to
kill, and who, in virtue thereof, hath killed all Adam's race,
hath power to make alive again? And how doth He manifest
the same? He manifesteth it by bestowing faith; to which
faith Christ bestoweth righteousness; upon which righteous-
ness, imputed from Christ, the Holy Ghost proceedeth to
work salvation. Now, faith requireth knowledge; for how
can they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And
knowledge requireth understanding and the exercise of all
our creation gifts; so that here the creature cometh into
direct communication with the Creator; and the Creator
hath in His hand the account of the creature's creation gifts,
and no doubt bestows the redemption gifts of grace, with a
respect to the use which the creature hath made of the former.
And at this point, Christ comes in as the Prophet or Preacher
of His Father's will unto the creatures, opening to them the
purpose of the Father; and leaving off there in His character
of Prophet, he waiteth for the Father to bestow faith accord-
ing to His will-according to that unrevealed will of His,
which He giveth no account of, in order that every creature
may be hung up in continual suspense thereon; because this
is the true standing of the creature, to have no will of its
own, but to hang evermore suspended upon the Father's
will. Then, when the Father hath given faith according to
that purpose which He hath purposed in Himself, Christ
cometh to exert His office of Priest; because the Father's
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
383
gift of faith doth point out to Him another of the chosen
ones, and consigns that one over to His care, whom, certainly,
He will not leave, but bring out to glory. And now cometh
in the sacrament of baptism, which pertaineth not to Christ
as Prophet, but to Christ as Priest; and, therefore, it is not
merely a preaching ordinance, but a purifying ordinance;
not a sign, but a seal also. And though I have written the
first homily upon what it doth signify, as it were to break
the ground, yet the result I came to was, that it signified
certain things concerning His priestly office, which things
also it did—not only signified, but did. Be it understood,
therefore, that faith, the gift of the Father, is previous to
baptism; as the prophetic office of Christ, of which the end
is faith, is previous to the priestly office, of which the end is
holiness; and, moreover, that faith is not bestowed on any
one, but in the exercise of creation gifts, though freely and
of will bestowed; and not, as it were, in reward for this or
that occupation of them.
And thus ye have the subject completed, which standeth
thus-That to whom the Father is pleased to bestow faith,
He doth indicate His electing love; and such an one is free
to the participation of all the benefits of Christ: not free him-
self, but also his children free, on this very account, that the
election extendeth to children as well as men, because the
promise and the seal of the promise extendeth to children as
well as men. The father of a family, therefore, hath such
dignity given to him in the purpose of God, that he should
cover with his faith all the members of his household who are
yet incapable of faith; and the children, when they begin to
pass out of this included state, are not to think that they
enter upon a new probation for faith, (there is no probation
whatever now, and hath been none since Adam fell out of
that estate,) but that they have been growing up into faith,
and should make progress in it as they do in reason or in any
faculty of natural life; that it is a gift of grace, with which
they are as truly invested of God as the gift of nature; and
upon the expectancy of which they should proceed about the
works of faith as they do about the works of nature. This,
no doubt, was the end of God, to make His Church perpetual
384
OF BAPTISM.
and progressive, this is the doctrine which cometh out of bap-
tism; in the understanding and faith of which the work of
God will be most effectually promoted.
These conclusions, with respect to the purpose of God and
the offices of the Persons of the Godhead, are of an incalcu-
lable value in theology; and, though not altogether dependent
for their demonstration upon the sacrament of infant baptism,
do obtain thence a prominence and importance far beyond
that which is to be derived from any number of texts of Holy
Scripture. For those principles, and those only, which are of
the last importance, are deemed worthy of being represented
and fixed in a symbolical and sacramental ordinance. The
only other principles which have been so embodied are those
contained in the Lord's supper, which are, the nourishment
of the Church upon Christ's fleshly body, and their sealing
unto the kingdom of Christ in the day of His appearing. We
are at liberty, therefore, to conclude, that there is no more
important principle in Divine revelation than that which is
embodied in the three foregoing conclusions of doctrine,
that it is the Divine purpose to gather His Church out of all
classes, and conditions, and ages of human life. And if we
consider this conclusion we shall see how important it is:-
First, In that it gives a great and unspeakable value to a
living creature, however existent, born or unborn, setting the
gift of life infinitely above all the circumstances of life.
Secondly, In that it opens the mouth of preaching to every
living creature, baptized or unbaptized, without any limita-
tion. Forasmuch as the sacrament of initiation, and the
decree which it representeth, containeth no exception nor ex-
clusion of any kind, to the baptized we preach their privileges
in Christ, that they may possess and occupy them; to the
unbaptized we preach the wrath of God, which abideth on
them, and shall overtake them, if they repent not and believe
not the gospel of Christ. And thus, though there be a decree
of election which containeth only a portion of the creatures,
yet is the mouth of the minister of God opened to every crea-
ture under heaven, in virtue of those conclusions which we
have stated above as directly resulting from the sacrament of
infant baptism.
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
385
The fourth conclusion of doctrine is with respect to the
Church, into whose hands this holy symbol is entrusted; that
by the right use of it she may make it fully to speak forth,
and not in any way to contradict, these great fundamental
truths of the purpose of God,—that the election of the Father,
the righteousness of Christ, and the sanctification of the Holy
Ghost, are equally and alike applicable to mankind in all the
stages of their life, from the first beginning to the last ending
of it. It is from this sacrament that the Church hath her ex-
istence as a visible and ostensible communion upon the earth;
and by the right use of this sacrament it is that her existence
will be perpetuated, and from the abuse of it that she will be
subverted by the fearful judgments of God. The Church
grows out of this sacrament, in virtue of its being the seal of
a covenant entered into between God and certain of the fallen
creatures; and if it be no seal of a covenant concluded and
done, there is and there can be no Church, under obligations
distinct and different from the rest of the creatures. For how
can there be obligations beyond those which are natural to
man, without an act imposing them by the authority of God?
And what act is that, if it be not baptism, which imposeth
upon us the new obligations of Christians? Now, is it of the
nature of Christianity, I ask, to impose an obligation without
conferring a grace? Cometh the gospel or the law first in
the order of Christian truth? The gospel surely. If, then,
baptism impose Christian obligations, then, I say, baptism
must bring grace sufficient to fulfil these obligations; other-
wise it is no gospel ordinance, but a legal ordinance merely.
Whosoever, therefore, refuseth not to allow the obligation
imposed upon us by our baptism, cannot deny a grace be-
stowed therein to meet the demands; for surely, at the least,
the gospel answereth its own demands. And should any one
deny that baptism is either for the imposing of obligations or
the receiving of grace, I know not what to say to him, less
than that he denieth the very existence of the Church of
Christ as an objective outward thing, and cannot be the re-
cognised member of any Church; and is, by his own act, an
excommunicated person, with whom we have nothing more
to do, and to whom we have nothing more to say. But to all
VOL. II.
2 B
386
OF BAPTISM.
who have had any conviction of the things set forth above,
it necessarily resulteth, that the baptized are the Christian
Church, the body of men which is spoken to and written of,
beloved, and threatened, and prophesied of, in the Scriptures
of the New Testament: and if so, then are we all brought to
act together as the body of Christ, and responsible to the
Head in the several stations which He hath appointed to us.
We are responsible to Him for the use of that measure of the
Spirit which hath been dealt out to each of us; and we are
called upon to honour one another, according to the offices
which He hath appointed us severally in His house; because
the offices are of His appointment, and those who fill them
are of the selection of His providence. And because He
hath appointed subjection unto some, and rule unto others,
and subordination unto all, there necessarily ariseth the
sacred and Divine right of government in the Church, for
which gifts of the Spirit are to be expected;-in those who
govern, the gift of holy ruling; in those who are subject, the
gift of holy subjection: of which two conditions, that which
is the highest is also the lowest, because it ministereth to all;
and that which is the lowest is also the highest, because it is
ministered unto. Now, it is to be observed, that, though
there hath been different opinions of what kinds those
office-bearers in the Church are-though, in truth, there be
much less than is generally imagined among the Protestant
Churches, who agree very nearly as to the three orders of
bishops or pastors, or ministers of the word, and elders or
presbyters or priests, and deacons-these questions do not at
all affect the Divine right of government in the Church, as an
institution of Christ, which all admit; and this is all for which
I am arguing at present, as proceeding out of the covenant
of baptism: that, by virtue of its being a sealing act, there
ariseth the separate body of the Church of Christ under its
own Divine government, with which nothing may interfere,
and against which no one may rise without rebelling against
the Spirit. And thus discipline ariseth out of the same
sacrament of baptism; the baptized being regarded as of the
election of the Father of the body of Christ, and under the
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
387
guidance of the Spirit, and held responsible to the laws of
God which are written in His Word.
The fifth conclusion of doctrine which we draw from the
above premises, is with respect to parents, the mystery of
whose relation to their children is in no way taught or ex-
hibited as by this holy sacrament. The doctrine may be thus
expressed, that the parent is the medium through whom
God will convey all needful grace unto the children, during
the time of their own incapacity of faith, and in what re-
spects they continue incapable of faith, until by the Church
they be judged worthy to sit down at the table of the Lord.
It is of the substance, not to say of baptism, but of circum-
cision, and all the covenants and promises of God, that they
should be unto the father and his children. It began to be
so in the Fall, and it continueth to be so in the Redemption:
yea, and it is of the very constitution and law of our being
that it should be so; for, if otherwise, then is there a period
in the existence of every soul for which God hath made no
provision, and of which man can render no account. I mean,
from the first beginning of life in the womb until the time.
that we are capable of understanding and believing the reve-
lation of God, or hearing the preaching of the gospel-which
age, let me observe in passing, was not thought by the pri-
mitive Church to be so early as it is in these days. What are
we during that important period of existence? Souls we
have, and bodies we have; therefore we are persons. And
how stand we to God? What connexion have we with our
Maker? What purpose serve we amongst His creatures?
How are we responsible? And how are we dealt with?
When, moreover, it is remembered, that within this period
more than the half of human souls are called away from their
earthly sojourn, these questions are of a very large applica-
tion, as well as of the most deep concernment. To these
questions a Baptist can make no answer: he can neither say
the child is a believer nor an unbeliever; he can neither
make it the subject of hope nor of fear. So far as the world.
to come is concerned, that child is a nonentity, or at best an
isolated, solitary thing, without relation to God of any sort.
388
OF BAPTISM.
And what state is this for a soul to be in; an immortal, re-
sponsible soul? This barrier, which ariseth in the mind of
every person, is at once opened and set to a side, by the
fourth head of doctrine which we have derived from the sacra-
ments of baptism and circumcision; whereby it is concluded,
that the parents, through whom God hath seen it good to
bring that soul into the world, is by God regarded as verily
and truly responsible for the souls which God hath given
him, until they be capable of responsibility for themselves;
unto which reason itself gives its assent, in the laws of all
well-regulated States. And it is consistent with the very
ordinance of nature that it should be so; for if God honours
two human beings so highly, as by means of them to bring
into the world those immortal souls which He alone can
create, and which He alone doth give, is it to be wondered
that He should honour them to convey to that soul the sus-
tenance of His grace, through which alone it is capable of
existing in a healthy and happy state? No one, I suppose,
will say that the law of generation concerneth more than our
material part; the soul, surely, is not linked to the body by
a necessary law: otherwise we have one of two conclusions,———
either that it hath no separate existence after death, or that
it sleeps away the time during which the body is dissolved;
either of which conclusions all orthodox divines and sound-
minded men utterly abhor. If, then, the soul is the gift of
God, coeval and coexistent with the first pulse of life,
which God, by the ordinance of death doth again separate,
and call unto Himself, and retain apart till the resurrection of
the dead, then is it after the nature of a trust unto the
parents, of a bequest, of a great grace and honour, and may
well stand connected with future acts of grace necessary to
its well-being, with future supplies to those parents for the
rearing up of the infant for immortal life, and with vows and
pledges taken of them in token of their acknowledgment,
designed for enlightening their minds concerning their charge,
and for the assurance of their responsibility. Therefore
marvel not that God should accept the parents as sponsors
for this His gift; rather marvel if there should not be an
ordinance to that effect. This ordinance is infant baptism,
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
389
wherein is declared and taught unto the parent the whole
mystery of this little creature's immortality, and of its rela-
tionship to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But,
forasmuch as this name, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, is God's name in Christ, which is not otherwise known
but through revelation, it is necessary that he who receives
the charge of a soul in this name should believe in the record
which God hath given by His Son concerning Himself. Were
it permitted to any one without faith in revelation, it were to
give up the greatest point of theology, that this name of God
is not otherwise to be named but by faith in Jesus Christ.
But so soon as any one declareth himself able to name that
name, he is free to have his children baptized—that is, to
receive and to accept the immortal souls of his children, and
their bodies likewise, in solemn bequest from Him of whom
every creature in heaven and earth is named. But doth God
give him the life without the means of its support? Verily
not: He who giveth milk to the mother's breast, and concep-
tion to the mother's womb, will not fail to give for the im-
mortal soul the only nourishment upon which it can live,—
the grace of God in Jesus Christ. But how shall it be con-
veyed to him, seeing without faith it cannot be received?
Surely through the parents, who were counted worthy to re-
ceive this pledge of God's favour, and have been glad to take
it in the revealed name of God. For them the investment
lieth in the purpose of God, if they will seek to obtain it
through the channel of faith, and prayer, and knowledge, and
obedience, and the other fruits of faith, by which they receive
for themselves. But if this they refuse, then they are found
faithless to God, treacherous to the child, and unworthy to
be called members of the Church of Christ. Oh, what a sub-
lime dignity this giveth to the ordinance of father and child!
-the child, though outward, and another person, being still
one with the father in the counsel of God; and the father
including in himself the faith and the responsibility of his
child, until the child disengageth himself by efforts of faith.
and conscience, and is judged by the Church ripe for the
functions of separate manhood: from which time forth he is
called upon to answer for himself before her tribunals, and to
390
OF BAPTISM.
bear with an equal shoulder the burdens of the faith and
testimony of Jesus.-I have not time to open these ideas, but
they are most pregnant with practical conclusions.
The sixth conclusion of doctrine concerneth children who
die in infancy; concerning whose standing in God's sight
there is much very unwholesome discourse; some alleging
that they must needs all be saved, without considering
whither such a conclusion leadeth them. I hold this to be a
preclusion of God's electing grace from that region of human
life, which cannot anywhere be precluded without denying His
sovereign right to do with and for the creature whatsoever
it pleaseth Him. It is the spirit of universalism applied to
children: and if permitted here, here it will not stop. Besides,
they see not that if this assurance were established among
men, that children do all of a certainty go to heaven, it would
act upon many minds, yea, more or less upon all, to the pre-
judice and destruction of that care of their infancy which
needeth to be so watchful. Who would apprehend death for
their child, or guard against it so diligently, if assured that
the moment it leaves this world it is removed to a state of
blessedness? God hath more wisely covered this subject
with an impenetrable veil, which I thank no man, although I
have two infants sleeping in the dust, to remove from it. I
perceive such fatal consequences would flow from it, in sepa-
rating the religious affections from the natural affections, and
distracting the relationship of parent and child, which it is of
God's purpose, as it is of the very constitution of human
nature, to sanctify and confederate more and more. On the
other hand, and at the other extreme, there be those who
discourse on this subject as if a child were not capable of re-
ceiving the Holy Spirit, because it is deficient in reason and
conscience: as if the Holy Spirit were commensurate, not
with natural life, but with only a certain season of it. To
this I make answer, that the soul of a child, yet unpractised
in wickedness, in its first faith and first love, is a fairer and
more congenial abode, so to speak, for God's Holy Spirit,
than the soul of a man, hardened as most men are in sin;
and that it is an express limitation of the Holy One so to
discourse; that our Lord's doctrine is literally as well as
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
391
symbolically true, that we must become as little children: we
must untwist the web of wickedness, and become simple and
sincere as in the beginning. To say that the Holy Spirit
doth not take hold of childhood, is simply to say that no
child can be saved; for if there be a principle in orthodox
theology more certain than another, it is this, that the first
creation is all fallen and corrupt, and doomed to death, and
can only be saved by being anointed with the Holy Ghost
from the hands of our great High Priest. For if one fallen
creature can be saved without the communication of the
Holy Ghost, then can every fallen creature be so saved, and
Christ is dead in vain. Now, between these extremes—of
saving all, and so destroying God's sovereignty; or of saving
none, by denying the power of the Holy Ghost to act upon
the unconscious babe-we are enabled to declare the true
doctrine from the principles which have been laid down. It
hath been shewn, first, that the offices of the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, in salvation, are exhibited equally
for the unconscious babe as for the man of ripest reason: and,
therefore, no one may doubt that God doth save infants, and
may save all infants, if it so pleaseth Him, but this He hath
not revealed. He hath simply made it sure and steadfast,
that the unconscious babe is as proper a subject of salvation
as any other. We have shewn, secondly, that He regardeth
the infant, during the years of irresponsibility, as included in
the parent, not by a fiction, but by a reality, of a verity. And
being so, if the child be taken during that season of irrespon-
sibility, who is answerable to God for its life? The father
surely. And how shall the father be assured of its salvation?
By becoming assured of his own. If he hath found favour
for himself, it is with all the perilous load of his sins upon
him that he hath found such favour, and with the responsi-
bility of his unconscious children likewise, which is but a part
of his own responsibility. And though the child was taken
from him when he thought little of baptism, and little under-
stood the ministry of a Christian parent's dignity and prero-
gative before God, and have the burden lying upon his con-
science of broken vows, neglected privileges, and violated.
duties, this is only a part of that burden which Christ hath
392
OF BAPTISM.
borne for him, if so be he hath believed in Christ. This I
say, not as determining the question of the child's salvation,
which I leave wholly in the secrecy with which God hath
covered it, but as shewing how a father is to be comforted.
over his solicitude. Let him believe for himself, and find
acceptance for himself, and he findeth acceptance for those
included in himself. The child's soul is from God; and its
connexion with an earthly father doth not, as it were, ob-
literate its connexion with the Father of spirits, who will see
to His own creation, and justify Himself in His dealings with
it but for its connexion with the earthly parent, this which
I have given is, I think, the true account of the matter, That
seeing God doth regard the child, during its incapacity of
faith, as included in the father, he, the father, believing that
himself is accepted, doth therein believe also that his child,
included in him, is also accepted. And I, for my part, would
wish the doctrine to stand on no other ground. I count it a
great privilege which God hath given us parents, to believe
for our little children as for ourselves; in their life, as in our
own life; in their death, as in our own death; in their eternal
condition, as in our own eternal condition.
But the question is altered when the child begins to emerge
from the shades of ignorance and the waste of unconscious-
ness, into the knowledge of God and the conscience of good
and evil. This is a season intervening between the former
condition of irresponsibility, and the condition of full respon-
sibility, which must be otherwise discoursed of. For the
mind is capable of knowledge and righteousness long before
it is ripe for admission to the Lord's table. This is the
season of spiritual growth, during which the responsibility
becomes divided between parent and child-the one being a
help to the other's weakness; and they must walk together
before God hand in hand. The child is now to receive those
stores of faith, knowledge, and experience which God hath
stored his believing, responsible parent withal; and the
parent is to open them with what delight every creature doth
nourish its young. And those whom God taketh away in
this mean season are responsible for so much knowledge and
belief as they were capable of. The parent also is responsible
CONCLUSIONS OF DOCTRINE.
393
for the same measure. If he hath failed to feed the appetite
and fill the fountains of his offspring's strength, God will not
hold him guiltless; and if his son or daughter hath refused
to receive that which he willingly tendered and earnestly
impressed, God will not hold that child guiltless. And so
the two proceed together in an intercommunion of offices
and of responsibility, until the time come when the Church
accepteth the charge from the parent's hand, and admitteth
the youth amongst the number of the communicants of the
Church; and, from that time forth, I consider such a one to
be fully responsible for all the knowledge, faith, and duties
of a Christian, to press on to the highest perfection, and not
to rest until he is pure as our Father in heaven is pure, and
perfect as He is perfect. How important a point of duty is
it, then, for every parent to press his children, when they
have attained to a competency of knowledge, to come for-
ward to the Lord's table, and perform their vows unto the
Lord! And for those who have no parents to watch over
them, or are removed far from their care, how needful is it
to present themselves unto the ministers and elders of the
Church, that they may be well instructed in these matters,
and, being rightly informed, may come to some wise resolu-
tion upon the question! Those who are so situated in the
providence of God are truly and properly under the Church.
The parental sponsorship being invalidated by death or other-
wise, the trust reverteth to the first authority, or the Church,
who originally made it over to the parent or sponsor; and,
therefore, all such should present themselves to the Church,
as their proper mother, in order to be instructed in everything
which concerneth the holy ordinance of the Lord's supper.
To the instruction of all such as, being moved by the parents,
or by their own minds, shall come forward, I propose devot-
ing myself for a portion of each Sabbath, during the three
months which are to occur before the administration of the
holy sacrament. And to the end of stirring up the minds
of all of you, by opening to you your privilege and freedom
in Christ, I have set forth these great conclusions of doctrine,
and in the evening I shall continue the subject. Meanwhile,
I do commend these considerations most earnestly to every
394
OF BAPTISM.
one who, having been baptized, is still as it were an infant in
the Church, not having taken his vows upon himself at the
Lord's table. And now, may the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Ghost, bless all these endeavours which we make
to restore the true import and obligation of His holy ordi-
nances, and move many, yea, all, with such a lively sense of
their privilege, that no one will fail to desire it with their
whole heart. Amen and amen.
HOMILY IX.
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS FLOWING FROM BAPTISM.
ROM. VI. II-13.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of right-
eousness unto God.
THOSE who maintain that the sacrament of baptism is
nothing more than a sign demonstrative of some truth,
but not communicative of any grace, do not only contradict
the whole tenor of Scripture, and deprive themselves of all
the advantages which have been set forth in the foregoing
homilies, but likewise involve themselves in certain errors
and inconsistencies, which I would open a little before pro-
ceeding to state the practical conclusions to the Church and
the individual, which derive themselves from the doctrine of
baptism.
The first inconsistency which resulteth from the false prin-
ciple that the sacrament of baptism is but a bare sign, is with
respect to the visible Church; by which I mean, a company
of men who are professedly under the law of God and the
Headship of Christ. None will deny that there is a visible
Church. I ask of whom it consisteth? They answer, Of all
who believe in Christ. I ask, How am I to know those who
believe in Christ? What ostensible sign is there by which I
may know them? There can be no answer, but either bap-
tism or the Lord's supper. If they take the latter, and say
those only who sit down at the Lord's table are the Church
of Christ; then I ask, And why, in that case, is it that, when
a heathen is converted and professeth his faith in Christ, you
396
OF BAPTISM.
do not at once set the bread and wine of the supper before
him, instead of requiring him to be baptized? And, being
baptized, why do you take him into your arms, and call him
brother, and give him all the benefit of the discipline of the
Church? Beyond a doubt, it is manifest that no Church nor
sect in Christendom-except the Quakers, who are out of the
question in all controversies of this kind-but holdeth that
baptism is the act whereby a man declareth his faith in
Christ, and becometh a member of the visible Church, to be
dealt with after the laws and ordinances thereof. If, then,
baptism be that act which bringeth a man under the new
obligations of the Christian life, as every Church and sect
confesseth, both by word and deed, I have next to ask, Does
the Christian religion impose any duties upon a man without
conferring also grace upon him, to enable him to perform
them? Or, I might say, if I were reasoning with a divine of
any depth, Doth the Christian religion talk at all of duties
until the question of sin and guilt hath first been set at rest?
Is there not a justification freely, by the death of Christ,
from our sins through faith, before there is one word of
Christian duty, except the duty to believe? And, besides
that justification by free grace through faith, is there not also
a gift of the Holy Ghost to be supposed previously to the
power of fulfilling any Christian duties? To these questions,
no divine, who hath any respect to orthodox doctrine, can
answer otherwise than in the affirmative: That in the order
of the Divine purpose, and in the preaching of the gospel,
the work of justification by the blood of Christ, and the free
gift of the Holy Ghost proceeding thereupon, must be always
supposed before speaking of Christian duty, and, in speaking
of Christian duty, are actually taken for granted as present
in those whom we address. Well, then, as we have seen that
upon a baptized person all Christian Churches, and even sects,
do impose straightway the obligations of a Christian walk
and conversation, and proceed to discipline if they be con-
travened and transgressed, they must suppose that in the
baptized person there is that justification through faith and
presence of the Holy Ghost which, it is confessed, must pre-
cede the former, and prepare for the performance of Christian
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
397
duty. Otherwise, the Church is most foolish and unreason-
able in expecting that which she believeth there is not power
to perform. And if baptism impose these obligations, then
the gift of faith, upon which justification ensueth, and the
gift of the Holy Ghost, which ensueth on justification, must
be before baptism, or at baptism; otherwise, in all good doc-
trine and conscience, you expect your men to make bricks
without straw.
Furthermore, all Churches do require a profession of faith,
and do take some scrutiny of its honesty before they will
admit a catechumen to the sacrament of baptism: and not
without a true conviction, so far as man can discern, that the
faith is sincere, will they grant the privilege. Now, I ask
again, Is anything necessary to justification besides faith?
Surely not, saith every Church under heaven. And they who
hold works to be likewise necessary, do egregiously err from
the truth. If, then, faith only be needful to justification, and
you believe that a man hath faith, must you not believe also
that he hath justification? You would not grant him baptism
without a belief in his faith already possessed; and having
granted him baptism upon your assurance of his faith, can you
turn about upon him, and say, I doubt whether thou hast faith
or not? Or can you believe him to have faith, and at the
same time believe him not to be a justified person? Then
faith may be believed to be, where justification is not believed
to be! And why? doth justification depend upon something
else than faith? Is the Father's gift of faith not necessarily
connected with Christ's gift of righteousness? Then the
Father and the Son are divided in their substance, and may
be opposed to one another in their mind, and Christ is no
longer the faithful Witness; which are conclusions that no
divine will dare to entertain within his mind. Well, then, if
justification upon the imputation of Christ's righteousness
may no more be doubted, to any one who is believed to pos-
sess faith, and baptism is not given but upon our assurance of
faith possessed, we must admit we cannot, without the sub-
version of the foundation, believe but the person baptized is
already a justified person, in virtue of the faith which we be-
lieve him already to possess.
398
OF BAPTISM.
Let me proceed one step further as a questionist. You
have been forced to admit that the baptized person must be
believed to be a justified person, otherwise the baptism is a
hollow falsehood, and no holy sacrament. I ask next, If one
may believe a man to be justified for the righteousness of
Christ imputed to faith, which is the Father's gift, and at the
same time believe that the Holy Spirit may be withheld from
him? To open this question, which, from the ignorance that
prevaileth upon the subject of the Trinity, may be found
somewhat difficult, I observe that the true doctrine concern-
ing the Holy Ghost is, that He proceedeth from the Father
and from the Son in all His actings, and without them never
proceedeth anywhere. The Father shews His will in grant-
ing to the object of His election faith to believe on Christ;
and Christ sheweth the harmony of His will in granting the
righteousness of justification to His faith; upon which con-
sent of the Father and the Son, to say that the Holy Spirit
might refuse or hesitate to proceed upon and dwell in that
chosen person, were again to divide the substance of the God-
head, and to contradict the essential unity of God. It is not,
therefore, for a moment to be doubted, that faith being pre-
sent from the gift of the Father, and justification from the
righteousness of Christ, the Holy Spirit is also present for the
illumination, the information, and, in one word, the sanctifica-
tion of this subject of grace. It may not be said, that there is
any interval when the act of the two former Persons is pre-
sent, and the act of the latter is not also present. Be it so
then: and let us now proceed to the question again.
Here is
Because I have
and therefore I
Thou dost well;
a person that you are baptizing in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost. Why do you so?
a good faith he believeth with all his heart,
may not refuse him the ordinance of baptism.
and, believing that he hath this faith, whence thinkest thou
that he had it? From the Father, whose office it is to draw
souls from this darkness, deadness, ignorance, and disbelief,
to believe on the true Light which He hath sent into the world.
Thou hast well answered again. And, having such a faith,
doubtest thou whether he may have justification through the
righteousness of Christ? I may no longer doubt of that, be-
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
399
cause whom the Father pleaseth to give, Christ delighteth to
receive, and it were hideous to suppose any division between
the Father and the Son, who are united on this very matter
in the bond of the eternal covenant. Well, and now that
thou no longer mayest doubt of his being accepted in the
Beloved, and hath the act both of the Father's election, and
of Christ's justification, canst thou doubt that the Spirit will
proceed upon him, and that he is a holy person in the sight
of thee, and of all who entertain the same belief concern-
ing him? Truly, I may no longer doubt it, without dividing
the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, and denying
the most orthodox and needful doctrine of His procession,
and raising insurrection in the very bosom of the harmonious
Godhead.
Thus, brethren, have we shewn how it is impossible to
separate that view of baptism which is upheld in the standards
of all orthodox Churches, from the very ground-work of all
doctrine: that however men may reject it, it is only an effect
of their ignorance; for if they would reflect, and were capable
of any insight into truth, they must believe it as all their
fathers did. One thing more suffer me to observe, before pro-
ceeding in my discourse, that the act which declareth the
Church's belief in a man's faith, and involveth all the conse-
quences in the act, not of the minister who performeth, or of
the kirk-session who approveth it, but the act of the whole.
Church, it may be of Scotland, or of England, in which the
act is done, without being challenged or reversed by the
superior powers, who review the actings of the inferior. And,
therefore, from the time the Church hath so declared concern-
ing any one that he is a believer, and gives him the seal
thereof, he must be so accounted of, and cannot otherwise be
accounted of than as a believer, without setting up our own
private judgment against the Church, and actually becoming
dissenters or seceders from her communion. And such an
act is so desperate and daring an act of uncharitableness, that
I would advise no man to be readily guilty of it. So very
jealous are the Churches themselves upon this subject, that
they will not rebaptize any man who may desire the privileges
of them, though baptized in another communion. This is the
7
400
OF BAPTISM.
"
great act of uncharitableness whereof it is the peculiar dis-
tinction of the Baptists to be guilty. But, excepting amongst
them, it is not known in the Christian Church.-After this
reasoning, I shall now proceed to draw out some of the prac-
tical conclusions.
First, The Church, or community of the baptized, is to be
regarded as a family of God the Father, a holy priesthood,
redeemed unto God by the blood of Christ, and cleansed by
the washing of regeneration, and the purifying of the Holy
Ghost-seeing the one act of baptism doth necessarily imply
no less, and therefore it ought to bring forth the fruits of the
Spirit, and keep all the commandments and ordinances of the
gospel blameless. We may now expect, we have now a right.
to require, such a walk and conversation as becometh the
gospel of Christ, seeing we believe grace to have been vouch-
safed sufficient for our weakness. And, therefore, next to
the continual reverence of one another, as the chosen of God,
ought to be the observation of one another as the obedient
disciples of Christ. And if we discover any brother erring
from the truth, denying the faith, or walking disorderly, we
are called upon in all love and faithfulness, to warn him
against the danger of such a course. And so we will be apt
to do if we consider him to be a brother, and one with us in
the Lord Jesus; for there is no bond so close and tender and
enduring as that of the household of faith: but if we regard
him as nowise concerning us, not of our kindred, not of our
acquaintance, not of our city or nation, and far out of our
circle, we say, What have I to do with such a one? he
is nothing to me, and I am nothing to him. But if we
feel that to the baptized we are knit by the most intimate
of all relationships, the oneness of baptism, the oneness of
the Father, the oneness of the Spirit, then is there a ful-
ness of the heart, out of which to speak unto every one,
though he were the lowest menial of our house, or the
poorest drudge upon the highway. There is a fund of
charity and love, there is a divine interest of Christ, whose
name is either to be honoured or blasphemed in this mem-
ber of His body; there is a near interest of the catholic
Church and the communion of saints, which is either to be
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
401
strengthened by this her child's faith and love, or to be vexed
and grieved with his perverseness, and by his worthlessness
dishonoured in the presence of Christ her spouse. Under the
influence of such strong and abiding sentiments, every Chris-
tian is attracted to every other Christian; and the communion
of the saints becomes more than a name, and passeth into the
life of continual love, and overcometh the uncharitableness of
the world, and the diversity of rank, and nation, and kindred,
and tongue, and every other divisive and malicious affection
of the human heart. There ariseth, thereupon, a bond of
union and a various articulation of the body, which knitteth
the members of Christ into one, and thence proceedeth a cir-
culation of love which, coming out of the gracious fountain of
God's mercy in Christ, to all in covenant with Him, doth cir-
culate far and wide in acts of grace unto the furthest limits of
the Church.
To this an objection is wont to be taken of this kind; But
how can I regard such a one, whom I clearly perceive to be
under the power of the devil, the world, and the flesh, as a
member of Christ, or treat him as a brother, though he have
gone through the form of baptism? I answer, Call not bap-
tism a form any more: we have settled that question. Call
it a holy sacrament for the remission of sins and the receiving
of the Holy Ghost. But thou sayest, thy friend is utterly
without the sense of sin, or the apprehension of the Holy
Ghost. And wast not thou so also at one time? Is it so
rare a thing for a soul to be first a prodigal, under the bond-
age of Egypt or in the stronghold of Babylon? Thou know-
est little, if thou thinkest so. Go the round of thy most pious
and faithful acquaintance, and ask them if it was ever so with
them; and hear them answer with one voice, Alas! brother,
dost thou put such a question to me, who was the chief of
sinners? Ask thou, then, how they were delivered from such
a state of degradation and bondage? They will tell thee,
that it was by some kind brother or faithful minister cleaving
to them with wholesome instruction and patient perseverance.
And if thou thyself, O uncharitable questioner! and thy
friend being heretofore in the gall of bitterness and the bond
of iniquity, were brought to the knowledge of the truth by
VOL. II.
2 C
402
OF BAPTISM.
some true and faithful words uttered in love to your souls,
dost thou go about to ask what thy duty is to one or to many
who are found in the same estate, and are privileged with the
same privileges as thou wast, and need the same forgiveness
which thou hast obtained? I grant thee, that he is under
Satan's power: so wast thou heretofore; and thou wast de-
livered: so also may he be. Therefore, go not to set him at
naught or to treat him unbrotherly, lest God set thee at
naught, and harden thy heart. So true, dear brethren, is this
to which I now exhort you, that all discipline of the Church
towards the baptized proceedeth upon this principle up to
the last act of the greater excommunication. Every censure
and rebuke, public or private, proceedeth from love to the
soul of a brother, and the endeavour to reclaim him from
some temptation of Satan; every deprivation of privileges,
or temporary suspension from them, proceedeth from the
same tender regard to a brother's conscience, lest, partaking
unworthily, he might only partake the greater judgment.
And when it comes to the worst, that we are forced, by the
contumacy of any one, to cut him off with excommunication,
greater or lesser, it is still the same holy spirit of love; as
Paul teacheth concerning the man who lived in open incest :
"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered
together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction
of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus," (1 Cor. v. 4, 5;) so also our Lord, before any
member of His Church shall be reckoned a heathen man and
a publican, doth first require that the person whom he hath
offended shall go and speak to him as a brother by himself
alone, then with a mutual friend, then lay it before the
church: after which discipline of brotherly love he may be
cut off and cast out of the church. And upon this principle,
I say, all discipline proceedeth; and discipline which doth not
thus proceed is the worst of all tyranny. It is, therefore, no
new commandment that I give unto you, when I require you
to look upon each other as brethren; but the commandment
which we have had from the beginning, and which hath been
observed in all the Churches of Christ until these times; when
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
403
the total breaking up of all discipline hath brought us into the
most unholy condition of treating Christ's baptized members
as heathen men and as publicans, before even we have men-
tioned their offence to themselves privately, or treated it by
the arbitration of a friend, or sought the judgment of the
church. Every man doth now take judgment into his own
hand; and when it pleaseth him to consider any one in an
offence against sound doctrine or holy living, he doth, without
warrant of any kind, proceed at once to excommunicate him,
and to speak of such a one as of the world, who have no in-
herent relation in Christ. This is evangelical discipline: and
I will tell you what the result of it must needs be; to erect in
that body who so carry themselves, not the Christian spirit,
but the spirit of the Pharisee; for the Christian spirit is not to
judge but to exercise the discipline of love, and to be in sub-
jection to the rules which Christ hath given for His Church;
but the Pharisaical spirit is to preserve the outward profes-
sion of Christ, and give certain lesser tithes of spiritualities,
but to have another rule, by which we regulate the greater acts
of our obedience. The Pharisees, under the law, did not out-
wardly despise Moses; but to the very letter, and beyond
the letter, to the last demands of tradition, exacted a scrupu-
lous conformity. In like manner it will be found, that the
Pharisees under the gospel will not reject Christ, but will
supplant the liberty of His Church by the addition of many
spiritual impositions, under which they will form themselves
into a sect, in the bosom of His Church, zealous of their own
peculiar traditions, instead of giving themselves to walk by
the ordinances of the Church of Christ which He himself
established. Against which, brethren, I do solemnly warn
you all, and put you upon your guard against it, as the spirit
most like to the Christian spirit, and most difficult to be re-
sisted; and I charge you, upon your responsibility to the laws
and institutions of Christ, to love every baptized person as a
brother, and to teach him as a brother, with all faithfulness;
and not to take upon you the office of the Church, in dealing
with one that is contumacious, but to obey the Lord: and if
you find, as no doubt you will, much hindered and hampered
by the ruins of the dilapidated Church, why then mourn and
404
OF BAPTISM.
weep, and let the affliction of your souls, for the despoiled
glory of His Church, enter into His ears.
:
In thus loving and in thus treating one another as brethren
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you should ever bear in mind that
all are not Israel who are of Israel, that there is a reprobation
as well as an election in the Church, which is known to God,
though not unto us. But it is asked me, Are reprobates
among those who are sealed with the seal of baptism? I
answer, Yes; and for that very reason, that they were SO
sealed. The very meaning of a reprobate is one that is
rejected, from that to which another is elected; in order to
shew that everything dependeth from the will of another,
even of God and in order to shew that it dependeth upon
the will of God only, it is necessary that they should stand
in exactly the same condition; for if they stood in dif-
ferent conditions, then it were imputable to this diversity,
and not to the will of God. That the will of God, the
only uncaused cause of itself, may clearly appear to be the
only cause of the difference between the elect and the
reprobate, it is absolutely necessary that they should stand
In order to constitute,
in exactly the same condition.
therefore, an act of rejection on the part of God, we must
have the rejected one brought into the Church with the
same fulness of privilege, and promise, and grace, and good-
ness as the elected one; to the end that it may be shewn out
and seen, how far the fallen nature of man can go in with-
standing, despising, and trampling under foot the fairest,
fullest endowment and inheritance of God.-But doth not
this invalidate the ordinance of baptism, and subvert all the
doctrine above stated? Not a jot. The work of Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, as I have stated it fully out, is freely pre-
sented in baptism to the reprobate as to the elect: it is not a
false presentation to the one, and a good presentation to the
other, but a bona fide presentation unto both: and both, if
left to themselves, would reject it; would entirely and for
ever reject it; such is the obduracy of human hearts,—such
the degradation of fallen, sinful creatures. The elect do not
accept it because they have power to accept it, but because
God giveth them power to accept it: and the reprobate reject
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
405
it, because they have not that supernatural power given to
them; and because the power of a fallen nature is totally un-
equal in itself to this or any other act of obedience or duti-
fulness to God, let God solicit it never so warmly, never so
graciously. And why should there be a difference made?
Because God pleaseth it should be so; because He will shew
His will in heaven, and earth, and under the earth; because
His will should never have been contravened, and, having
been contravened, must not always be contravened, but
acknowledged, at length, everywhere; finally, because it is
the only way to redemption, recovery, and blessedness, that
we should acknowledge God's will to be over all, and in
all, and above all; which, if you have not consented unto,
then are you still in your sins, and still unconverted unto
Christ.
Be it so, then, that, in order to manifest the will of the
Father in the Church as out of the Church, there must be a
reprobation and an election mingled together therein, in such
a manner as man cannot discern the difference; for if we
could discern the difference, then to that difference would it
be imputed, instead of being imputed to the will of God, to
reveal which is the good end of the intervention. And see-
ing, moreover, that it is of His purpose, and written in all the
prophecies, that the Church is to end in a total apostasy, and
at length to consist almost entirely of reprobates, we ought
not to wonder that we find our brotherly affections scorned
and set at naught; yet ought we not on that account to dis-
continue them: we may be silent-our Lord was oft reduced
to such a case-but we must love still, with the love of a
wounded and afflicted spirit, of a groaning and grieving spirit;
yet ought we to be faithful, and to expound to such the awful
condition of a reprobate, and shew them, out of various parts
of Scripture, of what nature apostasy is, and the sin against
the Holy Ghost, and how it is utterly impossible to renew
such unto repentance, seeing they crucify the Son of God
afresh, and put Him to an open shame. This is what our
Lord doth, and what St Paul oft doth in his Epistles, and
what I believe God to be daily doing in His providence, and
at the present time more than in any former period of the
406
OF BAPTISM.
Church. It ought not, therefore, to be hidden by us from
one another, that there is such an open gulf upon the left
hand and while we are faithful to state out the perilous risk
in which every prodigal standeth of passing into a reprobate,
we should address them by all the tender mercies of God;
shewing them with what fatherly love they have been fol-
lowed by God since the hour of their baptism; with what
tender compassion of Christ, and urgency of the Holy Spirit,
and everything besides, with which the bounty and grace of
the most gracious Giver of all good hath stored up in Jesus,
for the chief of sinners: then we should pass on to shew them
what a hard heart and rebellious spirit, what a dead and
barren soul, it revealeth towards God, that, in defiance of the
whole gospel-grace held out to them, they have gone on in
their perverseness and obstinacy, trampling honour, glory,
grace, love, and every noble thing; daring power, threaten-
ing, indignation, wrath, and every awful attribute of God!
and thence prove to their satisfaction that it is not in man to
accept of any good thing from God, that he is possessed with
a most irradicable, incurable alienation from God, and cannot
cease from sin; that neither Bible, nor preaching, nor Christ,
nor heaven, nor hell, nor anything whatever can convert the
human will and bring it back again, so as to become concen-
tric with and moved by the will Divine. And what, do you
ask me, is the use of being brought to such a conclusion? I
answer, It is the perfection of all which man can do for his
brother-man, to shew him his own total impotency in himself;
and this is exactly the point at which Divine grace findeth
the sinner. Then, when the rebellious will is humbled, and
the poor creature is conscious and convinced of utter help-
lessness, he may be glad to hear of another will which is able
to overcome and subdue this will of his own. He will no
longer kick against the will of God, nor refuse to have His
salvation of free grace; now that he hath an idea of what
human depravity is, and of what Divine grace is, and of what
reprobation is, and of what election is. But while he
stumbleth at this stone there is no hope of him whatever.
And how can you ever bring a man to this pass of good
hope, if you withhold from him the knowledge of God's gra-
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
407
cious dealing with him ever since his baptism? and what
ground have you to argue with him at all? The man is a
step-son from his birth, a bastard, and no legitimate child: he
hath had a dry breast to suck, and an empty spoon hath been
held to his lips: how could he thrive? What grace hath he
had? None whatever. And will you talk to him about the per-
versity of his nature? What hath it perverted? You gave
him naught, and how could he pervert it? Is it your preach-
ing that he hath set at naught? He will tell you, because
you are not worth the hearing. Is it your love? With what
love have you loved him, treating him always as, and calling
him, a heathen man and a publican. But transfer the ques-
tion from yourself, from the preacher, from everything visible,
and shew him that, ever since his baptism, God hath been
yearning over him with love, treating him with a full cup, and
doing for him whatever He doeth for the most favoured of
men; that he hath had share and share alike with the Church,
and hath been no step-child, nor foster-child, but a true son
of the house and sharer of the inheritance which he hath re-
jected. Do act thus with him, and you put the question
upon its proper bearing, and nonplus all his retorts; unless,
indeed, he be of such a terrible mood as to retort against
God: in which case, say to him as Paul did, "Who art thou,
O man, that contendest against God?"
II. The practical conclusion with respect to individuals is,
that we should bear in mind for ourselves, that from the day
of our baptism we have been entreated with God's unceasing
grace; which, if we have till now rejected, then have we ac-
cumulated upon our heads a weight and load of guilt where-
with the heathen are not at all chargeable. I say heathen,
and not world; because, properly speaking, in a nation of
baptized persons there is no world, but a reprobate Church.
If by the term "the world" be understood a people who have
broken covenant, I object not to its use, seeing our Lord
useth it in the same sense when speaking of the Jewish
nation; but if by the term be meant that which is expressed
under the symbol of the sea-that is, the ignorant and un-
christian nations—I reject it as utterly inapplicable to any
man within the pale of the Church. For though he may be
408
OF BAPTISM.
in his moral life as bad, and even worse, and in his opinions
hardly better than a heathen man, yet is he not therefore to
be acquitted and absolved from the more heinous guilt of
having trampled under foot the Son of God, and sinned
against the light of His gospel. It is totally to deny the pro-
fitableness of a visible Church, for any one to seek out of the
Church the infinite advantages which a man holdeth thereof;
and where it is commonly done, as amongst the Dissenters
and the Evangelicals, it hath the invariable effect of ex-
tinguishing all sense of the vast benefit, and corresponding
responsibility, of being born and baptized and educated in a
Christian Church; and, to the extent of the prevalence of
such sects, it hath the effect of subverting, not only the
natural thankfulness for an established Church, but for a
visible Church altogether. And when the use and profit of
the visible Church—that is, of all ordinances, and, I may add,
the written Word itself, which is only the prophetical ordi-
nance hath been lost to the sense and the sight of man, it is
a proof that the invisible Church is about to expire, and,
without any prophetic foresight, you may pronounce, that in
a generation or two it will expire. The only thing which
preserveth the visible Church in being is the faith, that in its
ordinances all the blessings of the invisible Church are held,
as the water in a cistern, and through them conveyed to the
lips of the elect of God. And because I believe that this is a
great and fundamental truth, and that God will at no time
dispense with the ordinances in the communication of His
grace, save where they are not in existence, I know full well
that when the ordinances are set light by, or when they are
all overlooked for the single glorification of one of them, the
written book, as is the case at present, we are near to be dis-
solved and broken up by death. I do the more earnestly,
therefore, call upon every baptized person who now heareth
me, to rest assured that, in possessing the ordinances of God
from his youth, he hath possessed the continually overflowing
cistern, where is contained the waters of the gospel;-that
you have been setting at naught the love of God in Jesus
Christ, the affection of a Father to His children, which, indeed,
swalloweth up all fatherly affection in its infinite compre-
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
409
hensiveness, as the heavens include the earth and all the
planets, and all the stars which softly move therein;—that
you have been setting at naught the infinite honour of being
accounted a son of God, which is so great that the apostle
upon that name alone inferreth Christ's superiority above the
angels; and David was amazed that one of his loins should be
honoured with that high degree;-that you have been reject-
ing the infinite condescension and self-humiliation of the Son,
who descended from the incomprehensible dignity of the Only-
begotten of God from all eternity, and forewent the bound-
less blessedness of inhabiting the Father's bosom, in order to
find for you favour and forgiveness in the sight of God, which
you, for your part, have for long years been declaring your
total indifference and unwillingness to receive or partake ;-
that you have been withstanding and effectually resisting the
infinite diligence of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Scriptures,
and in all the ordinances of the Church, especially in the
preaching of the word and the administration of sacraments;
whose condescension to reason with you, to remonstrate
against your wickedness, to wait upon you soon and late, and
in every way to insinuate Himself into your nature, by all its
avenues of affection, you have withstood, and do withstand
unto this hour. O brethren! doth this make no difference in
your guiltiness? or, rather, doth it not make all the difference
which is conceivable, and constitute the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness
rather than light, their deeds being evil? Is it no aggrava-
tion of a son's crime, that he hath broken the hearts of the
tenderest parents that ever lived? Is it no aggravation of a
servant's crime, that he hath betrayed the trust and pilfered
the treasures of the worthiest master who ever breathed? of
a friend, that he hath cast off the truest friend? of a lover,
that he hath been treacherous to the faithfullest, truest lover?
of every relative offence, that it is committed against the best
and noblest, most generous and forgiving disposition in those
who are offended against? Why, dear brethren, these are
the very head and front of offences. It is not the quantity of
dust that hath changed hands, it is not the piece of matter
which hath got a new master, that makes the complaint; but
+
*
410
OF BAPTISM.
it is a rent heart, a violated trust, which crieth for vengeance.
And if this be so, as you all know well how truly it is so, I
affirm, that to have belonged to the visible Church, to have
been baptized, and to have known God in the various rela-
tions of Father, Friend, Lover, Master, Redeemer, Saviour,
and Lord, and whatever else is tender, reverend, and awful
amongst men, and yet to have rejected Him, to have turned a
deaf ear to Him, to have defrauded Him of the kindred affec-
tion and service, doth heap upon our head the accumulated
amount of the penalties which, in the statute-book, are found
written against the various violated relationships of righteous-
ness, and doth add to the amount thereof, all which poets
have truly imagined, and sentimentalists have represented in
the most romantic and incidental relationships, whereof the
statute-book taketh no cognisance. Such is the nature of
the guiltiness of a man in covenant with God: and do they
call this nothing? Is this to be lost sight of, and not spoken
of? Are men who have thus offended to be dealt with as
the ignorant and unconscious, the superstitious and idolatrous
heathen, called the world, and understood to be as if they
had never known and never despised the knowledge of God?
As the Lord liveth, while I have the privilege and the voca-
tion of dealing truth from the pulpit of a Church established
in these lands, I will never suffer such a thing to be said or
thought without the most instant and urgent appeal to the
law and the testimony of our God. To which if you give
heed, and perceive the way in which God speaketh to Israel,
is it in the way He doth to the heathen? It is as a husband,
the tenderest of husbands, doth to the wife of his bosom; as
the most loving father doth to the son of his love: "O
Ephraim! how shall I give thee up! all my bowels yearn
over thee: how shall I make thee as Admah or as Zeboim!”
"O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how oft would I have gathered
thee as a hen doth her chickens under her wings!" &c.-And
thus, by their blindness to the sacrament of baptism, and the
consequences which it involveth, have they lost the whole
effect of the revealed mind of God to the sinner, and the
manifested sinfulness of the sinner, and destroyed the very
possibility of a covenant; and they have lost all the prophecy
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
411
which beareth against the apostate Church, and indeed the
whole mystery and meaning of a Church. But I must not
insist for there comes from this fountain of infant baptism a
thousand streams, of which I have been able to follow only
one or two; but let these suffice for the present.
Such, dear brethren, is the way in which this great subject
comes home to our own souls and to the Church: and in this
way doth it prove itself to be most profitable unto holiness;
and in this way, I pray you, to use it for the edification of
one another in love. And give heed now to our application
of it; for which, indeed, I have preached these two conclud-
ing discourses of this series upon the sacrament of baptism.
You heard, in the morning, in our enumeration of conclusions
from the doctrine of baptism, how parents stand towards
their children, and how children stand towards their parents;
and now ye have heard how all the Church stand towards
one another. Well, let us bring these instructions to bear
upon this one point, of urging all the baptized, who are of
sufficient knowledge, sound in the faith, and inoffensive in
their lives, to come unto the table of the Lord, or to present
themselves for instruction in the view thereof. Let us first
state to you what is the nature of the offence which a baptized
person commits in not partaking of the Lord's supper. Tak-
ing baptism to be the true thing, and not the sign of the
thing merely, he who hath been baptized in the name of the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, doth, in so doing,
first, Refuse the only food on which his new life can be
sustained; and as life cannot be sustained without food, he
may soon expect to die. Secondly, He doth despise the
communion of the saints, in refusing to partake with them of
the common bread and common cup, and so may not expect
any share of the prayers, intercessions, blessings, and gifts
of the Church, from which he voluntarily exileth himself.
Thirdly, He dishonoureth the Church which admitted him
to the privileges of Christ, and acteth most ungratefully by
the father who took upon him the vows of responsibility for
his sake; but he will not even have his privilege, or take it
up for himself, but counteth nothing by it. Fourthly, He
dishonoureth God the Father, who hath spread this table for
412
OF BAPTISM.
him; Christ, who hath given Himself as the Paschal Lamb to
be eaten; the Holy Ghost, who doth prepare guests for the
banquet, washing them in the blood and robing them with
the righteousness of Christ; and how can he look to be
blessed when thus standing stoutly against the blessed Trinity?
Finally, He doth what he can to abolish the Church from the
earth; because, it is manifest, that if all were to follow his
example in abandoning the most holy of all the ordinances,
not only would this, but every inferior ordinance, be soon
brought into desuetude and contempt.- Such is a small
reckoning of the sins which every one committeth who ab-
staineth from the Lord's supper. It is not for me to enter
into any justification of such conduct; there is, there can be
none-any apology will only make the case worse. What,
though it be your wicked life?-then add that to the rest.
What, though it be your ignorance?-add that also. What,
though it be your having no time to think about it?—and
add that also. Thou reprobate, wilt thou justify thyself by
shewing how wicked and how obstinate thou art? If thou
art ignorant, come and be instructed; if thou art wicked,
forsake thy wickedness; if thou art such a drudge to the
world, be so no longer. These additional acts of wickedness
will certainly not justify the other.
Therefore, dear brethren, we ought to look with a tender
and pitiful eye upon those who stand aloof from this holy
ordinance, as men who labour under some strong delusion,
or who are given over to some very evil spirit; and we should
address ourselves to seek them with all diligent instruction
and earnest correction, knowing that they must stand stock
still until they be delivered from their present snare. And,
therefore, I do most solemnly entreat you, as you love one.
another, to do your part faithfully by one another, and not
to suffer brethren, for whom Christ died, to continue in such
ignorance and error. Tell them plainly how they offend
against all; shew them what precious things they make ship-
wreck of; shew them what promised blessings they lose;
rehearse to them the profit ye have had in every way since
you became joined members of Christ's Church. This office
appertaineth chiefly to the minister, and the elders, and the
PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS.
413
deacons of the flock; but it appertaineth in a measure unto
all-it is a brother's love unto a brother. Be watchful, there-
fore, for each other's soul, and let us endeavour to present
before the Church the aspect of a congregation of worship-
pers, in which every Baptized person, of sufficient knowledge,
is found continually to pay his vows to the Lord in the
sacrament of the body and blood of Christ.
HOMILY X.
JUSTIFICATION AND RECAPITULATION OF THE WHOLE DOC-
TRINE CONTAINED IN THE ABOVE HOMILIES.
ROM. IX. 31, 32.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the
law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as
it were by the works of the law.
TH
'HE ignorance which existeth upon the subject of baptism
is so great, and the tendency to an intellectual apostasy
so violent, that, although I have at every hand sought to
guard the orthodox, and I may say catholic, doctrine which
I have delivered, against being misapprehended and miscon-
strued, many will roundly assert that I have preached what
is commonly known by baptismal regeneration: whereupon
I have resolved, in the strength of God, to give this additional
discourse for the sake of my flock, who have an ear to hear
the truth, and a mind exercised to discern differences; but as
to those who come amongst us to spy out our liberty in
Christ, and to make an evil report of our doctrine, we have
no hope of ever becoming to them anything but a stumbling-
block and a rock of offence, unless the Lord should be pleased
to change the spirit in which they come, and the temper in
which they listen to the preaching of His Holy Word.
By baptismal regeneration, when that term is used for re-
proach, is meant the doctrine that the work of Christ is done
and finished in baptism, and that it is idle to speak of any-
thing else under that name. This doctrine is supposed to be
held by the Church of England, from these words in the bap-
tismal office which are pronounced by the priest over the child
after it hath been baptized :-"We yield Thee hearty thanks,
most merciful Father, that it hath pleased Thee to regenerate
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
415
this infant with Thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for Thine own
child by adoption, and to incorporate him into Thy holy
Church." I have shewn at length, in former discourses, that
this is the very language in which the apostles and the
Church, in all her creeds and confessions, have spoken of and
to the baptized: but this is not enough in these intellectual
days, which require of us to square the thing by human
understanding, and shew the usefulness of such a doctrine,
which they conceive must be very dangerous. I shall first,
therefore, defend it from the charge of baptismal regenera-
tion; and, secondly, shew what is the consequence of taking
the low ground which men, in these times, are wont to take;
and conclude with a repetition and reinforcement of the whole
doctrine.
The error of baptismal regeneration consisteth, not in hold-
ing that the true children of God are regenerated at their
baptism, and from thence should date their admission into
the household of faith, which, with all my orthodox fathers.
in the Church, I hold to be the only true doctrine, but in
holding, that every person who is baptized doth virtually
thereby become regenerate and possessed with the Holy
Spirit; or, to speak the language of theologians, that the
inward grace is so connected with, or bound to, the outward
ordinance, that whosoever receiveth the one doth necessarily
become partaker of the other. This is an error of the most
hideous kind; bringing in justification by works, or rather by
ceremonies, destroying the election of the Father, the salva-
tion of the Son, and the sanctification of the Holy Ghost, and
exalting the priest and the ceremony into the place of the
Trinity. This is exactly what the Papists have done, and
against nothing have the Protestants more sedulously
guarded; and I am sure, that I have taken, more than a
dozen times, a solemn protest against such a vile notion.
have struck at the very root of it, by shewing, that among
the baptized there is a reprobation as well as an election;
and I have endeavoured even to prevent the imputation of it,
by shewing, that faith, true faith, the gift of the Father and
the manifestation of His electing love, is necessary to the re-
ceiving of any baptismal gifts, is necessary to the receiving of
I
416
OF BAPTISM.
the ordinance itself. I have shewn, in many discourses, how
the Holy Spirit once given will never be recalled; and that
the perseverance of the saints is as sure a doctrine as the
unchangeableness of the Father's will or the sufficiency of the
Son's salvation, being nothing else than the irresistibleness of
the Holy Ghost expressed with reference to the subject of
His possession. And if the Holy Ghost is irresistible, and
there is a reprobation in the Church, how could I say that the
Holy Ghost is necessarily tied to the ordinance of baptism, or
to any ordinance whatever?
Yet, while thus we most steadfastly hold that God among
the baptized hath His own people, endowed with all grace,
and Satan hath his, entirely destitute of grace,—for we allow
of no secondary influences of the Holy Ghost,-we are not
the less steadfast in maintaining, that it appertaineth not to
us to make the distinction or division between them, which
God only maketh, nor to speak of baptism otherwise than God
speaketh of it. But because the Church is limited in her
power of discerning the efficacy of the ordinance, shall she,
therefore, strip the ordinance of all efficacy whatever, and
speak of it in a lower style than the Scriptures require her
to do? If so, she changeth the everlasting ordinance. We
must still treat the baptized as the children of God, who have
been brought into covenant with Him. If they have forgot
their privileges and their engagements altogether, the more
need have we to remind them diligently of that which God
hath not forgotten, though they may. My brethren, what
say you, if a man is forgetting the dignity of his name, and
the honour of his station, is it friendly, or even honest in you,
by silence, to acquiesce with him therein; or, by diligently
avoiding the subject, to indulge him in his wicked forgetful-
ness?
But if his Father be waiting for him with all tender-
ness of affection, and earnestly desiring his return to the path
of duty, ready to forgive, is it right of us to keep this matter
hidden from such a one? Now, dare any one, who heareth
me, declare that this is not the case with respect to any bap-
tized person? If so, with respect to what class of them, or
what individual of that class? If you cannot answer me, tell
me how you dare take upon you to speak otherwise of all and
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
417
to all than as children of the covenant, to whom God is
openly reconciled, and for whom He earnestly waiteth till he
shall be converted? Therefore, we dare not do otherwise
than use the language quoted above. It is a necessary con-
sequence of our present ignorance, and the invisibility of the
Church. It is written, that baptism is for the receiving of the
Holy Ghost; and, therefore, we will ever hold up baptism as
the ordinance in which the Holy Ghost is received by the
faithful: and having baptized any one upon the ground of
our belief in his faith, we will speak of him as one that hath
received the Holy Ghost. If he should not, then we do con-
tinually convince him of his want, and of the exceeding
danger of his estate of reprobacy. He may take it to heart,
and repent of his great wickedness: he may harden himself
the more, and be given up to believe a lie,-that he is re-
generate, when indeed he is not: what then? we cannot pre-
vent the judgment of God, and have, for our parts, fulfilled
our vocation. But even reason and common proverbs say,
that putting a man in good company is one of the best ways
to make him good; and that to give him a bad name, or to
suppose him bad, is the sure way to make him so.
No one
would say, that a society of worthy men should change the
purity and gravity of their discourse, because one or two
foolish or ignorant fellows pestered them with their presence:
but because we have got amongst us those who are ignorant
and foolish, they would have us to speak other language than
that which Christ hath taught His disciples. The Lord for-
bid : I, for one, by the grace of God, will never consent to
such an unwise, unprincipled, and rebellious course.—I have
only to say further upon this their charge against us of main-
taining baptismal regeneration, that I believe he who doth
not look to his baptism as the covenanted promise of God to
regenerate him, will be very imperfectly regenerated, if re-
generated at all.
But one may say, If the regenerate be at baptism regene-
rated, why from baptism do they not exhibit the signs of a
regenerated person? I answer, first, That the way of the
Holy Spirit is commonly to teach unto the souls their
wickedness, by leading them into temptations of various
VOL. II.
2 D
418
OF BAPTISM.
kinds which may expose it, and to train them for future ser-
vice in Christ's army, by making them acquainted with the
enemy's camp, and weapons, and stratagems of war: but He
never suffereth such a soul to commit the sin against the
Holy Ghost which cannot be pardoned; and in due time He
converts him to the way into which God from the beginning
had appointed him.-I answer, secondly, That when such a
one doth awake from the torpor and insensibility of sin, he
hath no ground to expect favour, but by acting faith upon
his baptism. God hath not judged a general promise to be
sufficient, otherwise He would not have instituted a special
covenant. I know full well, that, of late years, the greater
part of the conversions which have been made, have been
made upon the missionary principle of dealing with the people
as heathen. But of what kind have they been? with little or
no assurance, with very narrow views and exceedingly indis-
tinct apprehensions of the truth; arising from their taking
hold of loose promises, catching at everything which floateth
in the stream of God's Word, instead of resting upon the rock
of the everlasting covenant.
If any one say, But I am sure I had no faith till such and
such a period of my life; and without faith there can be no
gift of the Spirit; I answer, But art thou sure, thou boaster
in thy shame, that thy father had none, or thy mother, or the
Church which received thee as her child? And what
brought thee that faith which now thou thinkest thyself to
have? Came it to thee because thou wast a profligate and
a trampler upon the Son of God? or cometh it not to thee
because He hath a regard to His covenant and His Church
which doth faithfully administer it? Thou wouldest fain
isolate thyself, and transact thine own business with God for
thyself; wouldest thou? God will not let thee, try how thou
mayest. We do not deny that there are generally two divi-
sions in the life of the saints; the season of their prodigality
and alienation, and the season of their love and obedience to
their Father: but we hold, that the mystery of the one is as
deep a mystery of godliness as is the mystery of the other;
that the season before conversion revealeth the mystery of
our sinfulness and of God's love to the sinner, even more than
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
419
the season after conversion, which exhibits rather the mystery
of His power in subduing us to Himself. But, oh, who that
knoweth it would forego the delight of contemplating the
love of God towards him while he was yet in his sins! It is
not for any one, therefore, of God's elect children to say, that
he had not the love of God, nor the righteousness of Christ,
nor the presence of the Holy Spirit, till it became manifest to
himself or to others. This is to contradict the whole tenor of
Scripture, which representeth the elect as chosen in God even
before the foundation of the world.
So much have we to say in answer to the charge of our
connecting baptism and regeneration together as cause and
effect, or inseparable attendants. We connect faith and re-
generation together in this way; and where we believe that
there is faith, we must, to be consistent, believe that there is
regeneration: but our believing so, doth neither make the
one nor the other to be present. But as we must use some
sort of language to the baptized, and apply some sort of dis-
tinction to the members of the Church, this is the distinction.
which we find sanctioned in the Word of God; and in the use
of all orthodox Churches, and of our own Church; and there-
fore we will abide by it, God helping us.
I have not pressed the adversaries of our doctrine very
closely, as neither designing to attack nor to defend, but
peaceably to open the matter to my people; but being now,
at length, provoked by their malicious representations, I will
be at the pains to spend a few minutes upon their vain and
frivolous view of this great head of Christian doctrine, which
is much as follows:-That the Church conferreth the out-
ward sign, water-baptism, which is all that she can do, and
thereby admitteth to the outward visible Church; that the
Spirit, when it may seem good to Him, conferreth the thing
signified, generally at conversion; and then beginneth his
Christian experience; after which he may be admitted to
the Lord's table, having set forth at length the way of his
conversion and the details of his experience. This, you
will allow, is the current notion among the Christians which
pay any respect to discipline. Give ear while I sift it a
little.
420
OF BAPTISM.
I observe, first, That there is no ground from any part of
Scripture to speak thus slightingly of baptism, thus peremp-
torily to separate from it the Holy Ghost, thus to magnify
conversion into the importance of a sacrament, and thus to
date Christian experience from the time of conversion, and
thus to exclude a portion of the baptized from the table of
the Lord, instead of freely inviting them all. These are
gratuitous suppositions and mere accommodations of Chris-
tian doctrine: I say it again, they have no ground whatever
in the Word of God, or in the creed of any Church.
Secondly, If baptism be thus a mere water-washing, and
may not be connected with any inward grace, what is the use
or meaning of it as an ordinance of God's Church? It must
be only for outward form; and I have yet to find any insti-
tution of God which was appointed only for form's sake.
What advantage is it for a child to be baptized, if it only
impose obligations, without conveying any power to discharge
them? It is a burden, it is a heavy yoke, which we bind
upon the necks of our children; and I do not wonder that
parents, who are accustomed to such doctrine, should make
baptism a matter of conveniency, or feel indifferent to it
altogether. Truly, for my part, if I held such notions, I
would consider it an act of injustice to bring my child under
any such bondage, and I would openly practise adult baptism;
not out of any persuasion of that way, but out of the feeling
of the perfect unmeaningness of the other.
Observe, thirdly, What would become of any other ordi-
nance if treated in the same way? For example, of the
reading of the Word. If any one should say, that to read
God's Word was an exercise which the Spirit might bless or
not bless as it pleased Him, but upon which we had no right
to expect any blessing till after conversion, what would be
the consequence of such idle and wicked discourse? To
make the Word of God not to be read at all; or, if read, read
only as a formal custom, and with less attention than any
other book. Again, if any one should say of the preaching
of the word, that it was like any other address made by any
individual to an assembly of men, which must be judged of
by the same rules, listened to in the same spirit, and alto-
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
421
gether used in the same manner as any other argument
or oration held in other places; and that it is a most vain
and superstitious notion to think that, because a man is
ordained by a presbytery, or standeth up in a pulpit, or
readeth a text out of the Bible, his words should have any
new meaning, or his arguments any more cogency. What
were the end of such discourse? Wholly to destroy the
efficacy of preaching, which is the foolishness of God that is
wiser than the wisdom of men; to make the Christian Church
a company of sophists, critics, and censors, or a company of
spectators and observers, and perhaps even admirers, of the
intellectual performer, and to turn the poor Christian minister
into a gazing-stock, or a laughing-stock, a courter of public
favour; or, at best, a disputer against public vices, and skil-
ful user of his natural faculties for natural ends. And what
were the consequence of such a relation between minister and
people? Lukewarmness, infidelity, and death. Once more,
not to multiply particulars, treat prayer as baptism is by the
religious world treated;-tell men that prayer is a very good
thing for exciting in their minds such or such devout and
charitable emotions; but as to expecting that God should
yield any supernatural and extraordinary answer thereto,
that He should bestow His Spirit in the very act of prayer,
that He should never fail to answer a faithful prayer, and
that prayer is that which the Church in heaven offer in their
censors before God, which God delighteth to receive; that all
these are superstitious notions, which may by no rational
man be entertained. Let this discourse, I say, be maintained,
and this opinion received among any Christian people, and
what will the result be? Either to convert prayer into a
system of self-excitation, and so to nourish all manner of
self-love and self-idolatry, or else to nourish a spirit of for-
mality, and totally to destroy the very idea of a faithful
prayer, and consequently to change the everlasting ordinance
of God. But the limitation of the subject of this discourse
forbiddeth us to enter into particulars; and, therefore, we
conclude this second part of our subject by observing, in
general, that it is nothing less than wholly to pervert the
advantages, and in a short time to destroy the very being, of
422
OF BAPTISM.
a visible Church, thus to separate the forms which are pre-
sented unto the sight and fulfilled by the natural understand-
ing, from the influence and power of the Holy Ghost, and the
various graces of the spiritual man, and the various enjoy-
ments and gifts of the invisible Church. What, under heaven,
would or should move men to keep the ordinances of God,
and to worship Him, but the hope and assurance that, in so
doing, they shall enjoy the presence of His Holy Spirit?
But if you go about to persuade them that they may not, or
they will not, you do so far forth prevent them from honour-
ing these services, and defeat the end of God in their appoint-
ment. And this is not all the evil. You not only defeat the
ends of the visible Church, and in time destroy it altogether,
but you prevent the invisible or spiritual Church from flour-
ishing, and in the end destroy it also; for without faith there
can be no gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now, the visible Church,
or the ordinances of God, are all helps unto our faith, shewing
us at what time and in what manner we may expect the
grace of God; but if these helps to faith be removed away,
how shall she prosper without them? Much worse, certainly,
than with them. But if faith faileth, then this stream faileth
at its fountain, and the fruitfulness of its banks is parched.
This, alas! is the case with the Church in these times, through
her neglect and misuse of the ordinances of God; and the
end will be entire infidelity, unless the spiritual import of
these ordinances be revived. Nevertheless, I abhor the oppo-
site extreme of connecting the spiritual grace necessarily,
and tying it indissolubly to the visible ordinance; so as that
those who have performed the one may believe that therefore
they are possessed of the other; which introduced the spirit
of the Pharisee into the former dispensation, and hath per-
fected the apostasy in the latter dispensation. God forbid
that I should teach you either the one or the other of these
errors, while I endeavour to preserve the ordinances of the
Lord's appointment in their sanctity and importance.
I do now proceed to conclude this subject, by stating over
again the sum of the doctrine which we have taught.
The Church, in her prophetic office, interpreteth the sym-
bolical institutions of Christ, and doth not take upon her the
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
423
case.
office which the objectors would take upon themselves, of
sitting in judgment. Having taken proof of the baptized
person's faith-whether from himself personally, or from his
responsible parent-and being satisfied therewith, the Church
doth feel that she is not at liberty to doubt that the baptism
which she hath administered is a true baptism, done accord-
ing to the mind of its Divine Author, and may be spoken of,
as we have shewed that the apostles ever speak of that holy
ordinance, as being effectual for the washing away of sins,
and the receiving of the Holy Ghost. For her to speak other-
wise would be either lamely and imperfectly to interpret
baptism, or to insinuate that she had been guilty of a rash
and unwarrantable act in administering it in this particular
If the former, she is faithless to her prophetic calling,
which is fully and truly to interpret the ordinances and mys-
teries of religion; if the latter, she is guilty of violating the
ordinance. Now, it is not to be expected that any Church
would permit or enjoin her ministers to set forth an imperfect
or a false account of the ordinances; which were at once to
constitute an apostasy: nor would she justify her ministers in
loosely and licentiously squandering the holy ordinances upon
any one who may desire them. What, then, is left for a
Church to do, but to state out broadly and plainly to all her
members what is contained in the ordinance of Christ, and
what is therein communicated to the faithful, and to require
of her ministers, upon every celebration of it, to make the
same fully known? This is what the Church of England,
with every orthodox Church under heaven, hath done: and
to have done less would have been the greatest of dishonour
to Christ, the great Appointer; to the Holy Ghost, the great
Executor; and to the Church, the receiver of the benefit.
And I may add, that from neglecting fully to state what is
contained in the ordinances and sacraments, and ever pre-
sented there to the faithful, for the great encouragement of
their faith, and for preferring to state only so much as the
intellect of the natural man can perceive, and the natural
heart relish and desire, it cometh to pass that orthodox doc-
trines and the influences of the Holy Spirit are found at so
low an ebb amongst all those sects who exhibit no standards
424
OF BAPTISM.
of faith to which the eyes both of ministers and people might
be directed.
But while the Church, according to the practice of the
apostles, doth never speak of baptism as less than it really
ought to be, and always is, to a believer; nor of the baptized
as less than they ought to be, if they have faith; she doth not
thereby enter into the secret counsels of God, and determine
whether the person who hath received the seal of righteous-
ness by faith, be one of God's hidden ones who are chosen in
Christ, or whether he be one whom Satan hath introduced
into the fold, and to whom God permitted His most faithful
ministers unwittingly to open the door: as, for example, in
the instance of that arch-heretic Simon Magus, baptized by
Philip. I have shewn, in a former discourse, that, let disci-
pline do its best, (and it ought never to attempt less,) the
Church will ever find it impossible to discriminate and dis-
tinguish between the election and the reprobation, which are
brought into exactly the same visible, intelligible, and cognos-
cible condition, in order that the eternal difference which is to
be placed between them may be known and believed to result
simply from the will of God. For man is so indisposed to
trace things up to God, and so willing to rest in second causes,
that if anything were discoverable to the sight or intellect of
man, which could account for the difference between the elect
and the reprobate, to that the difference would be referred as
to its cause; and so God's will, as the ultimate cause of all
things, would be lost sight of by the Church, of which it is the
chief end to maintain the remembrance, and continually make.
mention thereof, in the midst of the fallen creatures. A
Church, therefore, which holdeth that a reprobation as well
as an election is at all times present amongst the baptized,
and every orthodox Church holdeth so; a Church which re-
ferreth the difference between these two classes of the fallen
creatures, as due only to the sovereign will of God; and every
Church which prefaceth and concludeth her ordinances with
prayer to God, that He would grant the Spirit therein, doth
acknowledge His sovereign will to be over all. Such a Church
must not be condemned because she speaketh out to the
baptized what manner of sacrament they have been sealed
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
425
with, and what manner of covenant they have joined them-
selves to, and what manner of persons they are ever after to
be regarded, in what language spoken of and spoken to
at all times, until they shall be removed from the number
of the faithful by some deliberate and decisive act of dis-
cipline.
When the Church, therefore, speaketh to a baptized person
as one whose sins have been remitted, and who hath received
the Holy Ghost; who hath been buried with Christ, and
raised up together with Him to a resurrection life; who also
is seated in the heavenly places, and made a partaker of the
heavenly blessings;-which language of St Paul's is still
stronger than the office of any Church;-she doth by no
means declare that all those blessed effects of Divine grace
hath been done upon him, but that the ordinance which she
hath bestowed upon him is for the communication of all
these spiritual gifts to every faithful person, and that they
cannot deny them to him, or by her language imply that he
hath them not, without expressing her conviction that he
is an unbeliever and a hypocrite; which is a conclusion she
will not come to without holding a deliberate assembly of
judgment, and coming to a solemn conclusion of discipline.
For the Church holdeth charity to be so much the breath of
her life, and judgment so much her strange work, that while
she expecteth the former from all her ministers unto all her
members, she committeth the latter to her rulers, and suffer-
eth them not to proceed thereto without the solemn convoca-
tion of themselves, in the name of the blessed Trinity, and the
earnest invocation of the Holy Spirit; only when they are
gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
in the Holy Spirit's, and with the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ, (1 Cor. v. 4.) If, then, she will not, without a solemn
adjudication of any one, believe that he is other than he pro-
fesseth himself to be, and that she hath at the time of his
baptism declared him to be, what can she, without offence
both to charity and to justice, and to consistency, do but con-
tinue in that faith, until in the regular way of rule and govern-
ment and process of discipline, she hath seen it right to
change it? To do otherwise would be to destroy the very
426
OF BAPTISM.
being of rule and government and discipline, and of every-
thing else which doth keep the Church together as a com-
munity, and fit it for holding within its rough casket, and
somewhat representing to the sight the form of that most
precious jewel of the faith, the communion of the saints, and
the Holy Catholic Church: while, upon the other hand, it
would introduce amongst the brethren a system of judging
and suspecting and censuring one another, and otherwise
engender the Pharisee spirit, which is the most widely op-
posed to the true principle of love by which Christ intended
His Church to be bound together. I know to what a hideous
state of corruption every community of baptized persons have
come, and how extraordinary it soundeth to address them as
à communion of saints: but whether is it better to make
known to them the covenants which they are breaking, and
have broken, or not to mention them at all; to speak to them
of the privileges and rights which they are trampling under
foot, or by our silence to signify that they have lost and for-
feited nothing at all. How, I would ask, hath this hideous.
enormity grown in the Church, but by the neglect of disci-
pline? And how, I ask again, is discipline to be revived,
without making known to the people whereon it proceedeth ?
And wherein doth the right of taking cognisance of any
Christian proceed, but upon the baptismal act? and accord-
ing to what rule proceedeth it, but according to the rule
of the new life, which every baptized person ought to live?
But if you forbear to teach or to preach to the baptized
that it is the rule of a new life which they are under, and
you shrink to tell them that they have power to walk in
the Holy Ghost, then how preposterous, how tyrannical and
unjust, to exercise judgment and discipline upon them ac-
cording to that rule whereof ye have studiously kept them
in ignorance! For if there be an axiom in Church affairs, it
is this: That all discipline in the rulers, which is not preceded
by doctrine in the preachers, will turn to tyranny. And, for
my part, I confess myself totally in the dark concerning the
principle upon which discipline proceedeth in those Churches
which regard baptism as merely an outward rite, and never
intended to seal the righteousness of Christ, and communicate
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
427
the regeneration of the Holy Ghost. I say it is so intended,
and so it always doth to those who have faith; and, therefore,
when I judge any one to have faith, I must likewise judge
him to be both accepted and regenerated: and when, upon
my conviction of his faith, I baptize him, that solemn act
of mine, or rather of the Church-for baptism is no one man's
act, but the act of the whole Church-doth preclude me from
using any other language to him than that of an accepted,
adopted, and regenerate person, until another act of the
Church permitteth me: yea, and if I do speak of him other-
wise, he may impugn me before the proper tribunals for dar-
ing to do so; and the Church would be justified in rebuking
me for uncharitableness and presumption. Such is a short
explanation and justification of the use of such language as
that which I quoted from the baptismal service of the Church
of England, not because it is there for I use the same every
time I baptize—but because it is the ground upon which the
objection is commonly raised.
If it be alleged against this, How many of your baptized
and regenerate people are found to live in a state of igno-
rance and wickedness, and to die in impenitence, or even in
unbelief! What, then, is regeneration, if it is to be spoken of
as having proceeded upon such as those, of whom there are
thousands in every city, and tens of thousands in every pro-
vince of Christendom? To this I answer, with St Paul, that
"their unbelief doth not make the faith of God without
effect." Reasoning upon such a principle, would Caleb and
Joshua ever have rested in the covenant which God made with
the children of Israel at Sinai for the land of Canaan, when
they alone of all the hundreds of thousands who had the same
promise, believed that God was able to accomplish it? Yet
the covenant of God abode steadfast to the two faithful wit-
nesses, notwithstanding the hundreds of thousands towards
whom it failed. And why did it fail upon them? "They
could not enter in because of unbelief." So say we, that the
baptized have no privilege without faith; but, having faith,
they have every privilege, not of an outward visible Church
merely, but of an invisible Church: which faith, we do never
pretend to bestow upon them, but do constantly declare, that
428
OF BAPTISM.
it is the gift of God. But if any one come to us, professing
to have faith, and we see no ground to doubt his profession,
we dare not refuse him the seal of the righteousness of faith,
which is baptism; nor may we refuse it to his children, dur-
ing the years of their incapacity for conceiving faith. If we
see ground of uncertainty, we may postpone and put him
under probation; but we may not peremptorily refuse any
one who seeketh, nor, without a good and sufficient cause for
doubting his sincerity, may we refuse at all. And having
consented to do the solemn act, are we to do it in part, or to
do it in whole? And having done it, are we to speak of it
as done in part, or as wholly done? I can find no authority
in the Scriptures, and surely there is none in reason, why we
should make any division in God's holy ordinance, of which
it is the character to be one and indivisible. But while this
proceedeth in full faith at the hands of the Church, and, in
consistency, she continueth to hold such language, it all pro-
ceedeth upon her faith in the man's profession and appear-
ance; which may be assumed for a deception to others, or
taken on through a deception which Satan hath wrought in
himself. But as we do not take upon us to judge the heart,
or to try the reins, which is the prerogative of God only,—and
for which, as He hath not given us the faculty, so He exacteth
not from us the responsibility, we are content, though sorry,
to be deceived, in all instances where we are deceived-con-
tent, because it is God's appointment, and sorry that men
should be found so deceitful and so deceivable. For all such
we never expected the sacrament of baptism, or indeed any
other ordinance of Christ's appointment, to work any fruit of
good, but rather much fruit of evil; because they had not
faith, and without saving faith did dare to ask for the seal of
the righteousness which is by faith. It is a point of faith with
us, that there are always such in the Church, and, therefore,
we are not disappointed, though vexed, when they make
themselves manifest; but do warn the brethren, that Satan's
chief subtlety and strength are in the Church, and we exhort
them to make their calling and election sure against all his
arts. And, moreover, we see the wisdom of God in revealing
to us this great truth, that we might always be upon our
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
429
watch-tower, and not sink down into the assurance of repose,
while we are filled with the assurance of victory. For these
two things are necessary to every great exploit: first, a great
heart to undertake it; and, secondly, a great perseverance to
accomplish it; of which we have the former in looking to our
baptism, where all might and triumph are assured to us the
better by looking to every hand of us, and seeing the enemy
everywhere active around us. It is nothing to us, therefore,
to be told that there is a great number of the baptized who
are without God and without hope in the world, dead in
trespasses and sins: we know it already, and we know the
wisdom of it, yea, the necessity of it, in the present warfare
of the Church. But when you would infer from this, that
baptism is without any effect upon them who believe, we
challenge you of that error of logic which consisteth in
changing the subject: you ought to have concluded, that it
hath no effect upon those who do not believe. The gift of
faith we never set forth as a consequence of baptism, but as
the act of the Divine will we did not baptize that they
might receive faith, but because they professed, and we be-
lieved, that they had already received faith. And how many
soever you point out to us as not having any fruits of baptism,
we do answer, Well, if it be so, (but we warn thee to beware
of uncharitableness,) it is so because they never had faith:
but for the efficacy of baptism to the faithful, the question is
not altered by these thousands in every city, and tens of
thousands in every province of Christendom, who are faithless.
Here two observations suggest themselves: the first, Of
what importance it is to set forth the sacraments in all their
awful solemnity and pregnant meaning, in all their privilege
and responsibility, that men may not rush forward in igno-
rance to partake of them, and not as mere signs commemo-
rative, or external rites and ceremonies, which any one who
believeth human nature to be corrupt, and Christ to have
died on the cross, may well enough discharge. The preachers.
who make so little discourse concerning them, and set so little
store by them, are the very men who open the door to those
thousands in every city and tens of thousands in every pro-
vince of Christendom to break through and vex the Lord:
430
OF BAPTISM.
and we who are blamed, because we hold them with apostolical
force and earnestness, are the men who endeavour to defend
the sacred passage with all the thunders of the wrath and
indignation of God.-Secondly, Those who open not the in-
exhaustible privileges bestowed in the sacraments upon be-
lievers, do not present the proper reward of faith to move
men to entreat the Father for the gift of it: neither do they
keep faith, in its distinctness, as the gift of the Father, and of
no other person in the blessed Trinity, (the Son being the
object, the Holy Spirit the operator, but the Father, and Him
only, the giver of it:) neither do they keep it separate from
all works, and prior to all forgiveness and grace, itself the
Father's grace, which includeth every other; which distinct-
ness and separation is admirably preserved by the sacrament
of baptism, which joins us to Christ, and bestows upon us the
Holy Spirit; and, therefore, proveth that all which went
before was from the Father: but by their blundering here
they blunder everywhere, confuse the personalities of the
Godhead generally, divide their substance, set forth every
one of them as God complete, and most commonly forget
that there is a Father, from whom the Son and the Spirit
proceed. They remove the great steps and progressions of
the work: first, a work done by the Father while we are yet
out of Christ, which is before baptism, the grace of accepting
Christ's sacrifice instead of us, and bestowing upon us faith to
believe upon Him whom He hath sent; then the work done
by Christ upon us, after we are joined to Him, in baptizing
us with the Holy Ghost, and rearing us up in the principles
of the new and everlasting life, and enabling us to feed upon
His body. They blunder also sadly in respect to the means.
of obtaining that faith from the Father, very often setting
forth these very sacraments as means to that end; whereas
the truth is, that if faith in Christ be not received from the
Father before our baptism, our baptism, so far from being a
mean to that end, will work unbelief and the hardening of
our hearts; and so the Lord's supper, instead of being a
mean to receive the Spirit, will, to one who hath not the
Spirit, be the most effectual hindrance thereto and why?
because to both we come with a lie in our right hand, and
RECAPITULATION OF DOCTRINE.
431
without any raiment proper for the solemnity. The proper
mean to faith is to receive Christ in His prophetic office,
coming forth to declare the Father's will, or in His ordinance
of preaching, which He hath established during His absence.
This openeth the Father's purpose to include an election in
Him, and to bring them through all perils and perplexities;
which encourageth prayer to the Father, that He would
include in them. And so faith cometh by hearing and pray-
ing; and being come, we are ripe for baptism, when we receive
Christ as our Priest, and are endowed with the Holy Ghost
to be kings and priests unto God.
And here, brethren, I conclude this testimony, which I
have lifted up amongst you, for the orthodox doctrine of the
Church concerning baptism; in the full assurance that igno-
rant and wicked tongues cannot prevent it from producing,
unto all of you who believe, the fruits of righteousness and
holiness: for, surely, a full vessel is more profitable to a
weak and sickly people than is an empty one; and it is better
to drink from the cisterns which God hath consecrated, than
to hew out others for ourselves. Oh, therefore, seek ye, dear
brethren, faith from the Father; and having it, possess your-
selves of all the treasures of Christ, which the Spirit presenteth
unto you in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's sup-
per. And we shall grow together into a communion and
fellowship of holy men, nourished up in faith unto good
works. Which may the Lord grant unto us all; and to His
name be the praise.
This now is the conclusion of the whole matter concerning
baptism, that every one, whether for himself alone, or for
those also for whom he is responsible, should believe that
God hath entered into covenant with him, in the most awful
name of the ever-blessed Trinity, and that he is a person
entered into the most solemn covenant with God; which
covenant God will not abrogate, and man cannot. This
covenant apprehendeth us as altogether sunk in sin, and
destitute through every infirmity; and, apprehending us
432
OF BAPTISM.
thus, doth, of free grace, endue us with forgiveness of sins,
and the powers of the Holy Ghost: "Repent and be bap-
tized every one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the Holy Ghost." From the celebration and
solemnisation of that holy covenant, we ought to abide under
the continual state of men forgiven-not once forgiven, but
forgiven for a continuance; seeing we sin for a continuance.
To doubt of our forgiveness at any time, or for any sin, (ex-
cept the sin against the Holy Ghost, of which I speak not,)
is to doubt, not the word merely, nor the promise merely,
but the covenant of God: which, as it is the most solemn of
all God's transactions, may not be doubted, or disbelieved, or
despised without the most aggravated sin against God, who
is very truth, without variableness or shadow of turning.
This is the very end of the covenant, to transfer the general
promise to an individual soul, and seal it upon him as his
own. The faith, therefore, of a baptized person is, that he
himself is forgiven, and anything short of this is to make
void the covenant. Secondly, From the moment of his bap-
tism, and ever onward till the separation of soul and body,
we ought to look upon our body as a pure and cleansed
substance, inhabited by the Holy Ghost, and by Him em-
powered to live the life of Christ, and keep the command-
ments of God blameless. Nothing should appear too difficult
for us, because the Holy Spirit, that dwelleth in us, is irre-
sistible. In the habitual exercise of these two continued
states of the renewed soul, peace with God, through the im-
puted righteousness of Christ, and sanctification unto all obe-
dience, through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, a baptized
person ought to live: in thus living, he believeth the word
and honoureth the act of the covenant of his God. And if,
at any time, the clouds of doubt, and the fears of infirmity
and falling away, are permitted by God to come over the
soul of a baptized person, they are to be looked upon as
temptations of Satan through the infirmity of our faith;
and the only way which I know for effectually removing
them is, to turn the eye of such a one unto God as a
covenant-keeping God, and to that covenant which He hath
made with him in the sacrament of baptism.
HOMILIES ON THE LORD'S SUPPER.
VOL. II.
2 E
HOMILY I.
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
I COR. XI. 27-29.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, un-
worthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man
examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For
he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to him-
self, not discerning the Lord's body.
We invite all, and
Now, in discoursing
THE duty of self-examination hath always been regarded
by the Church as standing next in order to the invita-
tion which we give unto all the baptized.
we add, "But let a man examine himself."
of self-examination, the first inquiry must be, whether a man
that is in Christ can discover himself to be in Christ? for if
it be an uncertain and problematical thing whether he can
discover this or no, it seems an idle thing to set him upon
the search. The second part of the subject will be to give
directions as to the best method of conducting this duty; and
the third will be to propose the proper arguments and induce-
ments for proceeding in it.
Now, for the opening of the first head, which is the ground
of the whole, being the answer or assurance of the conscience,
which a man may attain unto, I desire that you would read
and consider with me the last chapter of the Second Epistle
to the Corinthians, where this subject is specially treated of,
and which I would make the basis of this head of discourse.
The apostle Paul is stirred up with mighty zeal, in the three
chapters preceding, to defend his own authority as an apostle
of the Lord, which had been shaken in no small degree
amongst the Corinthian brethren; and in the third verse of
the thirteenth chapter, he bringeth the question of his apostle-
ship to a direct issue, saying, "Ye seek a proof of Christ
436
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
speaking in me." He then proceedeth to give them one; and
what think you that proof of Christ speaking in him is? The
proof is their own selves; and therefore he desires them (ver.
5) to examine themselves, to prove their own selves, and
see that Christ is in them: from which we would infer, that
Christ had spoken by him; for unless Christ had spoken by
him, how would Christ be found in them? Observe now,
word by word, how he constructs this argument, (ver. 3:)
Since you seek proof that Christ speaketh in me, Christ, who
to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty [giveth might] in you;
for although He was crucified out of weakness, yet He liveth
out of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but
we shall live with Him from the power of God towards you;
try yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove yourselves.
As hath been said, his object is to give them a proof that
Christ spake in him, which proof is their own selves. That
this might be a proof, it was necessary that Christ should
have been manifestly powerful in them; for if Christ had not
been powerful in them, there would have been no evidence
derived from that quarter that He had spoken by the apostles.
But that they had received into themselves the mighty power
of Christ's Spirit, enabling them to speak with tongues, and
to heal, and to interpret, and to do miracles, and whatever
else is proper to the Christian spirit, is manifest from every part
of these two epistles. For the reason, then, of recalling this
to their mind, and using their consciousness of it in his argu-
ment, he introduces the parenthesis half of the third and of
the fourth verse, asserting that Christ was not feeble towards
them, but mighty within them; referring to the powers of
the Spirit, with which they had been endowed, just as to the
Galatians he doth the same, (chap. iii. 2:) "Received ye the
Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"
and (ver. 5,) He therefore, ministering to you the Spirit, and
implanting [energising] powers in you; did he it from the
works of the law, or from the hearing of faith? In this
place he is defending the doctrine of justification by faith
only; in the place before us he is defending his apostolical
vocation under Christ; but in both places he doth it by the
same appeal unto the Spirit, the powers of the Spirit, which
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
437
had followed his preaching. Christ unto you, saith he, is not
weak, but is mighty within you. And forasmuch as they had
spoken contemptuously of his bodily presence, saying, (chap.
x. 10) "His bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemp-
tible," he taketh occasion, in this same parenthesis, to connect
his own weakness and his own power with Christ's weakness
and Christ's power; saying, (ver. 4) for although he was
crucified from weakness, yet liveth He from the might of
God; and, for we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with
Him from the might of God to you-ward. Having stated that
Christ was not weakness, but might in them, he explains that
the cross of Christ was His weakness, and that His resurrec-
tion and life is God's might. So, also, the apostle saith of
himself, that he had become weak in Christ; that is, entered
into the fellowship of His sufferings, and been made conform-
able to His death, emptied himself out, impoverished himself,
weakened himself, as Christ had done on the cross; yet, as
Christ lived mightily in the Spirit given unto His Church for
the pulling down of strongholds, so the apostle lived along
with Christ from the same might of God exercised towards
them, making out that the might of God towards them was
an effect flowing out of his personal self-inflicted weakness,
just as Christ's might in the Church was an effect flowing out
of His self-inflicted weakness in the flesh and on the cross.
And having thus explained to them how power in them was
not incompatible with weakness in himself, but in truth the
very consequence thereof, he then directeth their attention to
the power of God in themselves, as the proof which they
desired of Christ having spoken in him: You ask a proof
that Christ hath spoken in me; try yourselves whether you be
in the faith; prove yourselves. Know ye not your own selves,
that Jesus Christ is in me? Here ends this part of his argu-
ment. The words, "except ye be reprobates," should be, as in
most versions they are, and as they are in the most approved
editions of the original, connected with the following part of
the argument. His argument therefore is: I refer for my cre-
dentials to yourselves. Would you try me? try yourselves if
ye be in the faith; and if ye be in the faith, then am I in the
faith, for ye are the fruits of my ministry. Ye would prove
438
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
me, prove your own selves; for in yourselves—in your true
discipleship-standeth my true apostleship. Ye ask whether
Christ speaketh in me; are you ignorant whether He be
in yourselves? The same method of reasoning with these
troublesome and vexatious people-who proved how far in-
gratitude could go in Christian disciples without subverting
the grace of God in the heart, how far forbearance could
go in a Christian apostle without weakening his love-he
adopteth in the third chapter of this Epistle: Do we begin
again to commend ourselves? or have we need, like some, of
commendatory epistles to you, or from you? Our epistle
ye are, written in our hearts, known and perused of all men;
being manifested to be Christ's epistle, ministered by us, writ-
ten not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not
in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. There can
be no doubt, therefore, that in both these passages, as well as
in that of the Galatians and many others, the apostle resteth
his apostolical calling upon the knowledge of his disciples,
that they were in the faith. If, now, it were a difficult or a
doubtful matter for a disciple to know whether Christ was in
him or not, then surely the apostle would never have appealed
to a doubtful test of the truth. If the Corinthian church had
been of a like mind with the present Church, which looketh
upon a state of doubt and uncertainty with respect to the
indwelling of Christ within a man as a more frequent, ay,
and a more wholesome state of a Christian than is that of full
certainty and assurance, then, how utterly inconceivable would
it be that a wise man like Paul should over and over again refer
to this doubtful and uncommon thing, as the best and strongest
proof he could give that Christ had spoken by him? It seems
to me to put it beyond a doubt that in the Corinthian church
it was a common thing, and a constant thing, and by the
apostle taken for granted to be such, that every disciple that
was in Christ should know that Christ was in him. But this
will more clearly appear by following the train of his
argument.
The apostle having referred them to self-examination for
the proof of his apostleship, adds these words, as containing
the only possibility of its proving an uncertain and fallible
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
439
test, "except ye be reprobates." The word "reprobate" is, in the
original, a word applied to counterfeit and base coin—literally
unproved, unexamined, untried; being applied sometimes to
metals unpurified from dross, and sometimes to money that is
not sterling. Now, the argument of the apostle is, that they
would find proof of his genuineness in themselves, unless, some-
how or other, they themselves should not be genuine, whereby
it is distinctly declared that the only cause wherefore a
Christian might not be able to find the faith in himself,
might not be able to discern Christ in himself, is his own want
of genuineness; and therefore every ingenuous and true Chris-
tian may surely expect to discover the work of grace within
himself. This is the right conclusion from the apostle's words,
as they read in the original. In our version, the question, in-
stead of ending at "in you," includes the words "except ye be
reprobates;" and thereby is given a good enough sense, that
Jesus Christ was in them except they be reprobates, but not
the sense which cohereth with the apostle's argument. His
argument is, not to cast doubt upon their being in the faith,
or upon the indwelling of Christ in their souls; for he had
already said that God was might in them, and not weakness;
then there would have been no meaning nor sincerity in the
test of his apostleship to which he referred, which was, that
from their own standing in Christ they should discover his
commission from Christ. Therefore, though the collocation of
the sentence in our English Bible gives a simple meaning, yet
certainly not the meaning which the apostle's argument and
the collocation of the original require. But that which we
have given is very pertinent and very powerful, and alto-
gether coherent with the context both which precedes and
which follows. Prove, saith he, your own genuineness; take
trial of your own purity; discover if Jesus Christ be in you.
This is the proof I give of my apostleship, and this must stand
me good, unless, indeed, ye are spurious and will not bear
trial; then, indeed, Jesus Christ is not in you, ye are not in
the faith, and I must seek some other test of my apostleship.
Then he proceeds to express his hopes and his prayers: Unless
somehow ye are unproved. I hope, however, that ye know
that we are not unproved. I pray, indeed, unto God, that you
440
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
do not any evil, not that we may appear proved, but that ye
may do what is honourable, though we be as unproved. For
we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we
rejoice when we are weak, and ye are strong; and this also
we pray for, even your perfection. This noble, disinterested,
and holy conclusion of the apostle is to the intent of declaring
that his anxiety for their growth in goodness was far greater
than his anxiety to make out the genuineness of his apostle-
ship. He would rather be unattested by them than that they
should depart from what was honest in order to give him
testimony. He wanted not glory nor power unto himself, but
he wanted honour and righteousness unto them.
Such, dear brethren, is the context in which the subject of
our discourse lies involved. I have drawn it out in order,
giving to every expression its true import and its proper
weight, to the end you might see that self-examination, try-
ing our faith, and proving our standing in Christ, and Christ's
dwelling in us, is a work in which a Christian not only ought
to engage, but in which, if he do engage, he shall surely dis-
cover the certainty of his calling and election; and if he do
not be able to discover it, he ought to look upon himself as
an ungenuine, insincere, hypocritical professor, and, conclud-
ing so, turn from his hypocrisies and dissimulations, and seek
a true heart and a right spirit, that he may serve the living
God. It is no death-blow to a man to discover that he is a
hypocrite, but it is a death-blow to be a hypocrite. It is no
harm or injury to a man, but contrariwise a great good, to be
put in the way of ascertaining whether he be a dissembler or
a genuine believer; and therefore when we deduce the infer-
ence from the whole context, that every man who is not an
ungenuine, counterfeit Christian shall be able to discover
himself to be a true and faithful and sincere believer; and
that he who cannot make that discovery, who cannot ex-
amine and prove himself, and know that Jesus Christ is in
him, ought to regard himself as a spurious, insincere man, de-
ceiving and being deceived;-when this, I say, we give forth, as
the fair conclusion from the context, do not, I pray you, take
offence, because self-deception and Satanic delusion, yea, and
wilful hypocrisy, are sins which can be forgiven, and for de-
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
44 I
tecting which in us we ought to be exceeding thankful. It is
not true, then, that a man may be a Christian, and yet not
know that Christ is in him. It is not true that a man may be
in the faith, and yet not feel that he is in the faith. It is not
true that a Christian may go to the work of examining him-
self, and yet after all not find the thing which he is seeking
after. When, therefore, our Church requireth of a person be-
fore the communion to examine himself whether he be in the
faith, it meaneth not that the examination should end in un-
certainty, but that it should end in conviction, according to
the question in the Catechism, or form of examination before
the communion: To whom should this sacrament be given?
To the faithful only, who can "examine themselves," or prove
themselves. It is the same word which is used in I Cor. xi.
28: But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that
bread, and drink of the cup. This self-proof is required by
the apostle, in order to protect men from the guilt of the
Lord's body, and of the Lord's blood. Now, brethren, if this
self-proving is to end in no knowledge or conviction the one
way or the other, how can it be any protection? If a man after
self-examination is to be left in the same dubiety and uncer-
tainty as before, then what serveth it for opening and clearing
his way to the Lord's table and delivering him from blood-
guiltiness? The meaning of the apostle is, that a man should
not only be able to discern, but should actually know his
right to come unto the Lord's table, in order to be fed and
nourished in the life which he feeleth to be in him, and out
of which cometh that knowledge to discern the Lord's body,
faith to feed upon Him, repentance, love, and new obedience,
which are the five particulars required by the Church to be
ascertained. I am far from saying that such an examination
will not issue often in self-condemnation, and when it does,
there is good hope that such a one is in the way of attaining
unto self-approbation. The fear, therefore, of self-condemna-
tion ought not to paralyse the diligence of our inquest. But
note you well, that if a man go to examine himself without
the belief of finding a certainty the one way or the other,
then the inquest of such a one is effectually paralysed. For
he will say, Though I look my best, and try my best, yet I
442
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
may not find the thing I seek. But if you tell him, Thou
canst certainly, if thou be in Christ, know that thou art in
Him, then if he discover not the same, he concludes that cer-
tainly he is not yet in Him. And is the man the worse for
knowing that hitherto he hath been trusting in a falsehood?
or is it such a wonderful and such a dishonourable thing
for poor frail man to be deceived by the devil? or when he
doth discover that his profession of faith is not the possession
of faith, is he hopeless, is his case desperate? or, rather, is he
not in a more hopeful and favourable condition than before?
I do not say that this self-examination or self-trial may not
be attended with many difficulties and issue in many doubts.
The difficulties I shall attend to in a future part of this dis-
course. For the doubts with which it may be attended, and
in which it may issue, I have this to say, that whenever the
verdict is doubtful, our wisdom and our righteousness would
be to give it against ourselves. And this I say not only be-
cause no man is inclined to think too hardly of himself,-for I
believe there are doubting spirits which actually do so, though
there be not so many as those who give self an undue pre-
ponderance, but I thus advise you to give the verdict against
yourselves when the examination issues against yourselves,
because the text declares it should issue in knowledge
and conviction of our being in Christ, and not in doubt
whether we be in Him or not. And this self-persuadedness
that we are in Christ is by all Churches, and in the standards.
of all Churches set forth, as the thing to be possessed by the
saints; and therefore it is the thing which should be set be-
fore all the communicants. I know that the Church dealeth
tenderly, and none more tenderly dealeth than our own, with
those who doubt of their being in Christ, or of their due pre-
paration for the Lord's Supper, upon which the Larger Cate-
chism thus expresseth itself: "One who doubteth of his being
in Christ, or of his due preparation to the sacrament of the
Lord's supper, may have true interest in Christ, though he be
not yet assured thereof; and in God's account hath it, if he be
duly affected with the apprehension of the want of it, and un-
feignedly desires to be found in Christ, and to depart from
iniquity in which case (because promises are made, and this
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
443
sacrament is appointed for the relief even of weak and doubt-
ing Christians) he is to bewail his unbelief, and labour to have
his doubts resolved; and so doing, he may and ought to come
to the Lord's supper, that he may be further strengthened."
I think that these words are cautiously and considerately
written, and ought not to be abused, as they are too fre-
quently, into the palliation of doubt, and even the encourage-
ment of it. It describeth only a possibility, that one not
assured of his true interest in Christ may yet have it. It
does not describe a common or a probable, but a possible
case; and therefore we are at liberty to conclude, that the
common and probable state of matters contemplated by the
Church is, that a man who is standing in Christ will, upon
self-examination, discover it; which if he cannot do, then is it
a probable and very likely, though not a certain thing, that
he is not in Christ. Now, observe, secondly, that this answer
and resolve of the Church not only stateth it as a bare pos-
sibility, but likewise proceedeth to guard this limited permis-
sion from being turned into evil, by requiring that he be
duly affected with the apprehension of the want of assurance
—that is, feels it as a shortcoming, grieves over it as an
offence, and earnestly desires to be delivered from such a
state of uncertainty; which, let me say it, brethren, is far from
being the case in these days, when this state of unassured
salvation and of continual doubt is held up as the best sign
of a believer. Having thus limited the possible case, and
guarded against resting and abiding therein, the fathers of
the Church add this further, that such a one should not re-
sist the doctrine of assurance, or make light of those who de-
clare themselves to have found it, or count it an exceeding
difficult thing to find; but that he should "unfeignedly desire
to be found in Christ, and to depart from iniquity :" in which
well-limited and well-defined case, saith the Catechism, he is
to bewail his unbelief, and labour to have his doubts resolved;
and, so doing, he may and ought to come to the Lord's
supper, that he may be further strengthened. The Lord's
table is presented to such as the means under God for remov-
ing these very doubts and uncertainties. His state is called
unbelief, he is to bewail his unbelief; he is called a weak
444
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
If any
and doubting Christian, and the sacrament is for his relief.
I am sure, dearly beloved brethren, that while this question
of the Larger Catechism opens the door of the Lord's table
unto persons not yet assured, it doth in the most striking
terms discountenance such a state of the Christian.
one now should ask me, And why doth the Church, at one
and the same time, stigmatise such doubtfulness of spirit,
and yet open the table of the Lord to their approach? I
answer, that I know no other reason but this, lest a man's
judgment of himself should come to be exalted into a
ground of confidence, by being made of the Church an in-
variable prerequisite to his sitting down at the Lord's table;
lest man should be encouraged to consider himself as able by
the Holy Ghost to pronounce infallibly concerning himself,
which would be to make void the judgment of Christ. In-
fallible judgment is as truly the prerogative of Christ alone
as is infallible salvation. We may expect the gift from
Christ of infallible judgment as to our own state; but we
may not arrogate it to ourselves. And to the end that He
may let all His people know how specially and essentially it
is His own gift, He may be pleased to withhold it from some,
and at times to weaken it in all. This I take to be the rea-
son why the Church, while she so severely censureth the want
of assurance, doth yet not utterly condemn it, lest she should
clog faith in Jesus Christ, with a condition which proceedeth
from a man's own self. Just as we would say that the
agonies and tortures of an awakened conscience are not a
necessary prerequisite unto faith, are not of the essence of
faith; so we say that assurance, or a judgment passed by
ourselves upon ourselves, is not of the essence of faith. But
while this we diligently maintain, for the honour of that only
foundation which is laid in Christ, we do never doubt that
when the love and holiness of God in Christ met together are
laid out to the soul of a poor sinner, and he is entreated to
believe this, which God hath done for him, and doth believe
it, then doth he well and clearly know that he hath believed
it. If he might believe it, and yet not know that he had be-
lieved it, why would God ask him to come and be baptized?
Baptism is not a thing which a man may do at a venture, or
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
445
upon an uncertainty; but wittingly, deliberately, and out of
firm and resolved purpose. And how could a man do so if,
upon believing, he were left in darkness, doubt, and conjec-
ture whether he had believed or no? Now this certainty of
his having believed is not a thing which the unbaptized man
is to gather, or which the Church is to gather, from his life,
as these Anabaptists foolishly and ignorantly talk; for be-
hold how the apostles in every instance baptized their con-
verts the same day, and often the same hour, that they be-
lieved. From the depths of legality came forth the three
thousand who were baptized on the day of Pentecost. From
the depths of heathen darkness came forth the jailer, who
There must,
was baptized that same hour he believed.
therefore, doubtless, accompany our faith a clear knowledge
and conviction of the same. Now he that believeth hath
everlasting life; such a one, therefore, as hath believed hath
entered into everlasting life. It doth not require a train-
ing to entitle him, nor yet to prepare him, unto eternal life.
The work of the Spirit, which is the life of Christ in the
believer, is not a work antecedent to or separate from,
but coincident with, and a part of, everlasting life, being
Christ's everlasting life put forth in the believer: a part,
not a precursor, of everlasting life. The same act of faith
which receiveth Christ as our sacrifice for sin receiveth
Him as
our life and resurrection and blessedness. The
gospel is not the gospel of reconciliation merely, nor of
sanctification merely, but it is the gospel of a kingdom, the
good news of a kingdom, prepared for us, prepared for all
who will receive it,-in Christ prepared for the believer, as
surely, and more securely, than the world was prepared for
Adam. Therefore, a man who hath believed hath entered
into life, and shall never come into death. This is a sure
thing, never to be resisted or gainsaid. The gates of hell
shall never shake this truth; but observe, that it is a thing of
no small importance for a man to be able to prove himself to
be in the faith. Nay, it is absolutely required of him to ex-
amine himself whether he be in the faith, and the continual
presentation of the Lord's supper to believers doth continu-
ally require of them all diligence in the duty of self-examina-
446
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
tion.
The question now is, not whether thou believest, but
whether thou hast been quickened by the Spirit. Baptism
sealeth up our remission of sins, and openeth up the work of
the Spirit. The Lord's supper cometh with an inquiry, Hast
thou profited in the Spirit? art thou quickened with divine
life? The food which it presents is food for the everlasting
life, not for the mortal life; food spiritual, not food carnal.
The communion which it speaketh of is the communion of
the living body of Christ, the Church of the first-born, whose
names are written in heaven; therefore it is necessary that a
man examine himself whether he have that spiritual life for
which that food is prepared; whether he be of that body of
living ones; whether he be come unto the Church of the first-
born, whose names are written in heaven. Baptism sealed
unto us our faith and the remission of our sins, but the Lord's
supper sealeth unto us our life in the Holy Spirit; and there-
fore it is most necessary that we should have received that
life already, and be conscious of having received it. I say not
always be conscious of it, for there is a life before conscious-
ness of life; and our mother is conscious of our life before we
are conscious of it ourselves; and therefore the Church per-
mitteth the exception above referred to. Yet not the less, as
the general rule, which the exception but confirmeth, a man
should both be able to examine himself, and should have ex-
amined himself, and have found himself to be in Christ, before
coming to the table of the Lord. It now remaineth that we
endeavour what we can to direct this self-examination, and
then that we urge upon you by the terms of the text, to
undertake and perform this duty. Taking it therefore as a
thing certain, that the end of self-examination in view of the
Supper is to discover whether we be in Christ or not, and that
this may in almost, if not altogether, all the members of Christ
be discovered, we go about now to inquire into the right and
the wrong method of following this most important Christian
employment. It is written, (2 Cor. v. 17,) "If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; be-
hold, all things are become new." And again, "We walk by
faith, and not by sight." And again, "We look not unto things
which are seen and temporal, but unto things which are unseen
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
447
and eternal." And again, "The flesh is dead because of sin, and
the spirit is alive because of righteousness." And again, “We
have put off the old man, with his corruptions and lusts, and
have put on the new man, which is created in righteousness
and true holiness." In these and such expressions are set
forth the life of the new man, and the death of the old man;
or rather, the quickening of the new man in the bosom of
a corrupt nature, which is daily contended against, and tri-
umphed over, and put to death, and at the resurrection is
quickened with divine life. But forasmuch as the law of the
flesh continueth during our present pilgrimage opposed to the
law of the spirit, no one can acquit himself of the guilt of a
wicked nature, nor yet be unconscious of the movements of
corruption within himself, and therefore I place the chief part
of self-examination in the discovery of a renewal in the spirit
of our mind, rather than in any alteration or surceasing of the
desires of the flesh. The sinful nature with which we are on
every side surrounded is restrained by the power of a renewed
spirit, but is not changed until the regeneration, when we re-
ceive the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. That,
therefore, whereof a Christian should be chiefly importunate to
examine himself is, whether he hath been awakened from the ob-
livion of God and of Christ into the belief and the love of God
and of Christ; whether power hath been given to him, through
faith, to will and to do of God's good pleasure; whether he
hath that within him which delighteth in God, and desireth to
have no fellowship with the wicked one; whether he hath been
delivered from the spirit of fear and bondage into the spirit of
love and freedom; whether, in one word, there is within him a
controversy against himself for God; whether he feeleth the
flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit lusting against
the flesh. He who hath been thus exercised cannot be igno-
rant of it; it is not done in a corner of his heart, but is a
dispute for the throne and sceptre of his heart, and thereto
agree the words of the first Confession of our Church:
"For so soon as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus (which God's
elect children receive by true faith) taketh possession of the
heart of any man, so soon doth He regenerate and renew the
same man, so that he beginneth to hate that which before he
448
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
loved, and to love that which before he hated; and from thence
cometh that continual battle which is between the flesh and
the spirit in God's children. Still the flesh and natural man,
according to their own corruption, lusteth for things pleasant
and delectable unto itself, and grudgeth in adversity, is lifted
up in prosperity, and at every moment is prone and ready to
offend the majesty of God. And the Spirit of God, which
giveth witnessing to our spirit that we are the sons of God,
maketh us to resist fleshly pleasures, and to groan in God's
presence for deliverance from this bondage of corruption, and
finally to triumph over sin, that it reign not in our mortal
bodies. This battle hath not the carnal man, being destitute
of God's Spirit, but doth follow and obey sin with greediness,
and without repentance; even as the devil and then our lusts
do guide them on: but the sons of God, as before is said, do
fight against sin, do sob and mourn when they perceive them-
selves tempted to iniquity, and if they fall, they rise again
with earnest and unfeigned repentance; and these things they
do not by their own power, but by the power of the Lord
Jesus, without whom they were able to do nothing."-Scots
Confession, Art. xiii.
Now, it is possible that this controversy within a man, which
the Spirit of Christ stirreth up, may be mistaken for the na-
tural workings of conscience in the breast of every man; and
therefore I would endeavour to draw a distinction between the
two. The natural conscience knoweth not the grace of God,
as seemeth to me, but only His holiness and righteousness, and
therefore it worketh fear and apprehension of His righteous.
judgment, rather than faith and hope of His forgiveness and
favour. It is God's witness to our being sinners. It is that
whereunto God's law is addressed. Law is the light of con-
science, and by the law the conscience is enlightened.
the law knoweth no mercy, and therefore the conscience, how-
ever enlightened, bringeth no consolation, and in this, a work
of natural conscience may be distinguished from a work of
grace, that the former is fearful and apprehensive of evil, the
latter is joyful, and apprehensive of good; the former looks
at duty mainly, the latter looks at grace mainly; the former
looks to a righteousness which is to be wrought in us, and
But
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
449
puts this in the foremost place, the latter looks to a righteous-
ness which hath been wrought in Christ, and puts this in the
first place, and makes it of the chief importance. And because
I find the Church in these times much more concerned about
what they call practical holiness, which is certain feelings and
states of the mind, accompanied by certain actions, than they
are about that complete and finished righteousness which is
wrought in Christ for all who believe, and not only righteous-
ness, but wisdom, and sanctification, and redemption, I am
very much inclined to believe that the Church hath ceased, or
is fast ceasing, to be evangelical, and hasting to become legal.
The natural conscience doth accumulate upon itself a load of
guilt from which the blood of Christ alone can cleanse it: and
it must be cleansed from these dead works before it can serve
the living God; being cleansed from these dead works, it hath
peace, and standeth under grace, and hath boldness in hope of
the glory of God. The work of the Spirit, therefore, applying
to the conscience the blood of Christ, is a work of peace-
making and peace-giving; whereas the work of natural con-
science is a work of self-condemnation and peace-breaking.
The one ends in love, the other ends in fear; the one operates
by law, the other operates by grace; the one engenders a
fearful bondage to outward observances, the other a joyful
liberty in the obedience of God's holy commandments: and
with these lights it will not be difficult to distinguish the
working of natural conscience from the working of the Holy
Spirit. Now, I make this distinction, not as it were to under-
value the light of nature, or the testimony of the conscience
against the wickedness of our lives, but simply that this may
not be mistaken for the work of faith concerning which we are
teaching you to examine yourselves. I believe indeed that
with many, the Holy Spirit proceedeth by the method of
awakening the conscience, and presenting to it the terrors of
the law, and delivering it by the knowledge of Christ, whose
righteousness is the fulfilment of the law, not for Himself
only, but for all who believe. But while I allow this to be at
times the method of God, I will no more permit it to be called
a work of God, than I would the very sin itself of which the
soul feeleth the remorse.
God leadeth His own children
VOL. II.
2 F
450
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
through bondage and captivity of sin, from which He some-
times delivereth them in the way of remorse; but there is no
work of Christ in that remorse, which oft endeth in plunging
deeper into the guilt. The work of faith beginneth not by
looking into ourselves, but by looking outward to Christ; and
when the soul becometh conscious of God's love to her in
Christ, and of a righteousness provided for her in Him, out
of the mercy and love of God, then it is that she proceedeth
towards sanctification, and then it is that the warfare between
the spirit and the flesh commenceth,-the Spirit ever present-
ing God's love in Christ to justify the soul against those accu-
sations which conscience deriveth from the flesh. Conscience
is the great accuser; the flesh furnisheth the grounds of that
accusation. The Spirit is the great justifier, and the grounds
of His justification are all derived from the work of Christ;
and it is a continual warfare between man's way of inherent
righteousness, and God's way of imputed righteousness. The
conscience is, as it were, ever yearning for a righteousness unto
which in this life it can never attain,—a noble instinct, yet
capable of being sorely perverted. The instinct is noble, first
of all, because it furnisheth a key whereby to unlock the mys-
teries of God's holiness in the law, and a channel whereby to
convey the righteousness of Christ into the soul; wherefore it
is well called God's vicegerent over the turbulence and rebel-
liousness of man's soul, and it might be called a witness there
for Christ, the only Righteous One. A noble instinct, secondly,
because it prophesieth, predicteth of a time when the soul of
man shall be endued with a nature which is capable of in-
herent righteousness, when the righteousness of the law shall
be fulfilled in us, who walked not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. We shall yet apprehend that perfect righteousness
for which we are now apprehended in Christ.
We shall yet
stand in our own strength, but a strength derived, not from
Adam, nor from creation, but from the second Adam, the
Redeemer of creation. Therefore, this conscience in man is a
noble faculty, but not in itself capable of any sanctification or
consolation: the great peace-breaker, that will not let the
fallen rebel be at ease, but stirreth him, and stingeth him with
troubles infinite, and openeth his ear to terms of peace through
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
451
mediation of another, and to terms of hope through redemp-
tion of another. But when these Socinians, and Arminians,
and Free-willers of every name, go about to persuade the con-
science that she hath a power to deliver herself, and set on
foot a righteousness of her own,-when they represent remorse,
or repentance, as they misname it, (for repentance, in the
Scripture use of that word, is not a work of the conscience in
the unbeliever, but a gift of the Prince of life to the believer,)
to be a partial or a complete satisfaction unto God for sin,
then do they at once make void the righteousness of Christ
purchased by His death, and the inherent righteousness which
He will bestow upon us in the resurrection of the just; when,
indeed, we shall not be law-fulfillers only, but law-defenders,
and law-judges, and law-executors, governing the world by
the righteous judgment of the law. Now, the Spirit of God
doth take the righteousness of Christ, and so comfort the con-
science therewith, and so possess it with peace, and love, and
joy, that it magnifieth the Lord its Redeemer, and trusteth in
His might. The poor soul, flesh-oppressed, being told of Him
who had redeemed his soul, likewise flesh-oppressed, and who
hath obtained power unto Himself to do likewise for many, in
doing it for Himself, hath in fact done it for many,-the soul,
thus comforted, and thus reposing confidence, doth receive
the mighty power of God, whereby she mastereth, bendeth,
and restraineth the members which are upon the earth, and
waiteth with patience, yet groaneth within herself for the
day when the body also shall be redeemed.
sessed with the Spirit of Christ, the soul contendeth with
power against the devil, the world, and the flesh. When I
say the soul, it is all the same as if I said the conscience; and
thus it is that the conscience is entreated with help and with
deliverance: no new spiritual substance is created, the identity
of the person is preserved, the work is wrought in us by
means of us; we are the instruments of our own redemp-
tion; we are acted upon as intelligent creatures; God's work
of creation He doth avail Himself of in redemption; re-
demption is proved not to be an after-thought, but the stage
of a great progress towards the perfection and stability of the
creature; and, in brief, conscience, to which the law addressed
And thus pos-
452
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
itself, and by which it was understood, feeling it utterly ineffec-
tual to produce righteousness, doth give up, and suspend for
a season, the fruitless undertaking of working out an inherent
righteousness,-doth suspend it, I say, until the weakness of the
flesh shall have been removed; and then, the power of the law
being restored, the righteousness of the law shall be fulfilled
in us, who presently suspend ourselves by faith upon the
righteousness of another, and by hope look forward to a
righteousness which we shall inherit in the world to come.
All of which most orthodox and comfortable doctrine con-
cerning conscience is expressed in these words of the holy
apostle: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which 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." O thou Apostle
of the Gentiles! to thee indeed was wisdom given; thou
mightest well boast of thy many revelations; and surely thou
hadst been more than man, if thou hadst not needed a thorn
in the flesh to keep thee humble! I, who am a sinner of the
Gentiles, to whom thou wast sent, do bless God, who hath
enabled me to understand these blessed mysteries. Thou
hast taught me that the law is a very holy thing, and that the
flesh of man is a thing most unholy, utterly incapacitating the
soul from keeping the law; wherefore the law would drive the
conscience mad, if in the law there had not been a sacrifice :
unto which sacrifice we, who are called under the gospel, as
well as they called under the law, do flee from the terrors of
the law, and abide before the altar with prayers, and suppli-
cations, and confessions of sin, until our great High Priest
shall come forth from His intercession, and bring with Him
the remission of sins unto all the holy nation; whereupon we
shall stand up, in cleansed, purified flesh, clothed in white
robes, and now with joy shall we keep the law, magnify it,
and make it honourable; and having fulfilled the perfect
righteousness of His creature, and satisfied God's holy law,
we shall then come into His presence, and stand before Him,
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453
and minister for Him, according to that rank, and station, and
dignity which He may please to appoint us; and thus the end
of man's creation is attained unto. He, through a fall, and
through a redemption, hath arrived at the condition of keep-
ing God's law without spot, and without blemish, and per-
fecting righteousness, and receiving from the Father an ap-
pointment of priestly government, whenever it pleaseth Him
to give it.
Now, after these explanations, no one can be at a loss to
distinguish between the workings of natural conscience with-
out any help of faith, and the working of faith unto the re-
demption of the natural conscience. The one hath its origin
in ourselves, and its end also there; the other hath its origin
in Christ, and its end also in Him. The one looketh unto
the purification and obedience of the natural man in this
present life; the other looketh for his subjugation, and the
enforcement unto obedience in this present life, and for his
willing obedience in the age to come, and the resurrection
from among the dead. The one is an effort of the creature
to redeem himself, of the fallen creature to erect himself; the
other is the acting of faith, and love, and hope, through Jesus
Christ, towards God. Now, forasmuch as in every man who
is brought unto Christ, there must be a struggle and strife, we
consider it enough to have distinguished this from the natural
struggle between good and evil which is felt in the bosom of
every man; and having made this distinction, we ask you all
to examine yourselves, whether there hath been wrought in
you such a power to contend with the flesh, whether with the
will you do serve the law of the Spirit, though with the flesh
you do serve the law of sin, even as Paul saith of himself,
So then with the mind [or, the spirit] I myself serve the law
of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Then out of the
obedience of the law of God by the mind, there will come
forth certain fruits, which are called fruits of the Spirit, and of
which every one doth proceed out of the roots of love, and
grow in the liberty of the sons of God. They are these-
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance; and, on the other hand, the works of
the flesh, which warreth against the Spirit, are-adultery,
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OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings. The law of sin,
which the apostle saith he obeyed, inclineth to these things.
The flesh of a fallen man cannot help being under their
dominion. It is intended of God that it should be so, and
God's glory cometh of its being so; for there would be no
might in redemption, there would be no demonstration of the
Spirit of Christ in us, had we not this perverse and wicked
ever-present law and love of the flesh to overcome. There-
fore it is a vain and fruitless thing to ask Christians to exa-
mine whether they have been delivered from the conscious-
ness of this law, which must exist until the resurrection of
the body,―ay, and lust and war against the Spirit,-ay, and
ofttimes prevail against the Spirit; not, indeed, through the
weakness of the Spirit, but through the weakness of our faith
in the Spirit; but still the soul, renewed by the Spirit, doth
perceive the viciousness of these sinful motions of the flesh,
and, having confidence in God, doth repent of the same, and
receive remission, through the blood of Christ, whereby the
overladen conscience is purged anew from dead works. This
continual acting of repentance and of remission, I believe to
be one of the invariable signs and attendants of the Christian
life; and he who is not acquainted herewith is either ignorant
of the work of grace altogether, or in some great error con-
cerning the method of our sanctification, which in our Cate-
chism is thus defined:-" Sanctification is the work of God's
free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after
the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die
unto sin and to live unto righteousness." So that it is a
work of daily dying unto sin; and how this is otherwise than
by a daily repentance on account of sin, I cannot discern.
But to put this matter beyond a doubt, as the orthodox
doctrine of the Church, I recite unto you another answer to
the question in the Larger Catechism, "Whence ariseth the
imperfection of sanctification in believers?" "The imperfec-
tion of sanctification in believers ariseth from the remnants of
sin abiding in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings
of the flesh against the Spirit; whereby they are often foiled
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
455
with temptations, and fall into many sins, are hindered in all
their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect
and defiled in the sight of God." This occasional failure,
therefore, this perpetual shortcoming, ought not to be taken
as an evidence against a man's being in a state of grace;
but if attended with hasty repentance, and with the continu-
ance of faith in Jesus Christ, ought to be looked upon rather
as a sign of his being in a state of grace. For what is
repentance, but an act in which the Spirit obtaineth a tri-
umph over the flesh? If two laws or forces be contrary to
one another, that proves itself to be the stronger which pos-
sesseth and impelleth the body under their influence. Now,
here is the soul of man under two contrary laws or forces,—
the law of the flesh, and the law of the Spirit,—and repentance
being a work of the Spirit, being a state of the soul under the
dominion of the Spirit, doth surely prove that the Spirit hath
obtained the mastery in this instance and at this time, and
therefore is a sign and token of a state of grace, and not of a
state of nature. But it may be said, And what availeth re-
pentance unless it be perfected into obedience? I answer,
just what the conviction of mind availeth to the actings of the
Repentance is the cause of new obedience,—yea, is
the beginning of it,-yea, is the chief part of it, and that
without which, of new obedience there shall be none; and he
that hath heartily repented of his sins, through the know-
ledge of God's mercy in Jesus Christ, even though he were
instantly to be cut off, shall be regarded as a righteous man
in the sight of God, and shall obtain salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ. These Pharisees lay great stress upon
the outward work which man discerneth, because they have
a chief eye to the approbation of man: but the believer, to
whom God's eye is all in all, looketh rather into his heart
to see whether or no the work of renewing the will, of en-
lightening the understanding, of captivating the affections, of
sanctifying the heart, be proceeding under the power of the
Spirit of God; whether another law of love hath begun to
reveal its mighty power within him; whether light hath
sprung up in the midst of darkness, peace in the midst of
trouble, and joy in the midst of sorrow. I say not that the
man.
456
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
outward manifestations will be wanting; I say not that the
tongue will not be bridled, and the various members brought
into captivity to the spirit of godliness-surely they will ;
that which sight looketh upon will be subjected to that which
faith apprehendeth;—but it will be an unwilling subjection,
for that which sight beholdeth, which a brother can look
upon, is the same as that in which Satan sits enthroned. The
more need have we, it may be said, to come forth against it,
unto these his quarters. Be it so, but we never shall come
forth against his power until we come forth in the power and
might of a liberated redeemed soul. The soul, as hath been
said, is God's warrior against the devil, the world, and the
flesh. With and by man God subdues the enemies of God
and man.
Therefore see to it, that the soul which fighteth
is endued with the might of the Spirit of Christ, is redeemed,
is free, is bold, is brave, is armed at every point for the fiery
conflict,—and to this, the inward accomplishment of the soul,
it is that I would have one examining himself mainly to look.
If I were calling upon the Church to examine him, then it
would be to the outward rather than to the inward I would
direct her observation; but when a man is examining him-
self, I desire him to look to that larger field, of which he
himself is conscious, according to that word, "What man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which
is in him?"
The sum and substance of what we have said is this: That
the natural conscience, bearing a testimony for complete right-
eousness of body and of spirit, cannot attain unto it, because
both body and spirit are in bondage to the law of sin and
death. And Satan, when he would gall a man and drive him.
to distraction, doth enthrone himself in this conscience, and
useth its whips and scourges to mangle his peace. Then comes
the priest, whether pagan or papal, with his quietus of pen-
ances, sacrifices, purchases, and other works of expiation, and
drives a most unsanctified traffic with the fears and alarms
of the conscience-living by tears, and groans, and misery.
But not so the High Priest of our profession, who cometh to
the awakened conscience with salutations of peace, saying,
"Peace be still; God is gracious; I have redeemed thee. Thou
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
457
art safe, thou art saved. Expiation, sacrifice, purchase, re-
demption, everything which stood between thee and God, be-
hold in me ended and made away with." This is the gospel
which giveth peace; and being at peace, quiet and composed,
He gently taketh the man whom He hath delivered from a
legion of terrors, setteth him at His own feet, and teacheth
him wisdom, teacheth him how the Holy Spirit will perfect in
due time that work of completeness which conscience crieth
out for. But this is not the work of a day, nor of the present
life, but is perfected in the resurrection. Meanwhile, saith the
Lord, "Behold in me your present completeness made sure to
you, and lay hold upon it by faith and hope. The Spirit will
take of the completeness that is in me, and shew it unto you
with such power that you will feel it to be your own, in as
complete possession as if it were your own inwrought, and not
mine inwrought, because you are in me, and I in you; we are
one, and may not be separated." Faith, therefore, in Christ hath
a perfection; while out of Christ, and as we are in ourselves,
we are in everything imperfect. This is the imputation of
Christ's perfection. It is imputation, and not inherency. Sin
still dwells in me, sin still reigns in me; but yet it is not im-
puted to me because I have faith in Christ, and cleave unto Him
with a complete and undivided faith. To put any perfection
in myself as a creature, to say that my soul is holy or my body
is holy, is to take away the single honour which pertaineth unto
Christ, and to Christ alone. And thus faith worketh by love,
for such a faith of our own unworthiness and of Christ's worthi-
ness doth so exalt in our hearts the tender mercy and grace
of our God, that we are lifted up and locked in the embraces
of His love. Out of ourselves are we carried, in Him we dwell,
to Him we devote ourselves, for Him we live and move and
have our being. And thus it is, that being suspended upon the
Father, we fulfil His will against the strain of nature, against
the fallen inclinations of the creature, against the corruptions
of the flesh, against the power of the devil in us and about us,
-we do, I say, sustain the battle of the Lord, and bring forth
the fruits of righteousness. Our fears are laid, our conscience
is quieted, our selfish desire of self-sufficiency is put an end to.
The diabolical ambition (diabolical, though angel-like) of being
458
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
perfect in our present condition is put an end to: and if we
glory, we glory only in the cross of Christ; and if we glory,
we glory only in the resurrection of Christ; and if we glory,
we glory only in the perfection of Christ. Such I conceive
to be the true standing of an approved and approvable man,
and such I hope is the standing of all who purpose approach-
ing the Lord's table. Vile in their own selves, beautiful in
Christ; all-imperfect in themselves, all-perfect in Him.
Now, forasmuch as many, yea, most, understand a thing
best in its details and examples, I count it good not to con-
clude this discourse without a short exhibition of the graces
of the Holy Ghost, which flow out of such a self-humbling
and Christ-exalting condition. And for my guidance I will
take the word which is written in Gal. v. 22: "But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." The fruit of the
Spirit, which the Spirit produceth in us, through that love to
God which is begotten by faith, not in ourselves, but faith in
Christ Jesus. Now, examine yourselves, beloved, whether the
Spirit of Christ bringeth out of you these affections of the
renewed man. First, love; that is, the affection which seeketh
not its own, which desireth union to another, which desireth
union to all. Love, such as in God subsisteth; who loveth
not that any should perish, but rather that they should turn
and live; who maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and the
good, and sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust. Love,
which straineth forth from the soul, as light and heat do from
the sun and as the light and heat of the sun beateth upon
the unfruitful water as well as upon the fruitful earth, and
lieth upon the flinty rock as well as upon the fruit-bearing
tree, and guideth and warmeth the wicked as well as the
righteous; so doth love, benignantly beaming, all-insphering,
all-comforting, send itself without schism to embrace and to
bless all yet promoteth it not unholiness; it is very holy, yea,
love is very holy, and because it is holy the wicked cannot
receive it. Love embraceth the wicked, but the wicked are
not cherished by it, as light shineth in darkness, but the dark-
ness comprehendeth it not. He that loveth not, knoweth not
God. He that is wicked cannot love Him, and this is the
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
459
curse, this is the blight of wickedness, that it can neither love
nor receive love. God's love beameth into hell, it lieth upon
the foul pit, but doth only quicken, doth only aggravate the
corruption of the second death; even as the light of the sun,
shining so lovely upon the green meadows and fertile fields,
and little hills covered with sheep, doth, when it falleth upon
the stagnant pool, exhale from it corruption and poison, and
cherish in it the elements of more corruption and poison. Ah,
what a thing is love! how good, how blessed a thing! Would
we were all made perfect in love! then were we all perfect in
holiness. Next cometh joy; which well may walk in the train
of love, for where love is, there is joy: joy to be the com-
panion of God, to be the member of Christ, to have fellowship
and communion with the Father and the Son; joy to see the
salvation of God in Christ, to see that glorified which Simeon
was glad to see incarnate, which Abraham rejoiced to see afar
off. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of joy and of enjoyment, as
the evil spirit is a spirit of care, carking care, malice, remorse,
grief, trouble, and despair and misery. But the renewed man
is joyful in the Lord; the kingdom of God within us is peace
and joy in believing; and in tribulation the Holy Spirit
worketh joy, and in conflict there is the joy of victory, and
in duty there is the joy of strength, and in affliction there is
the joy of contentment, and in adversity there is the joy of
resignation, and in everything there is the joy of knowing the
Father's will and discerning the Father's hand; and evermore
the holy man rejoiceth. The Spirit worketh joy, but the flesh
worketh death. Oh that I could carry this to your experience,
and rebuke your want of joy! Oh that I could dispel morose-
ness and gloom, moody melancholy, abiding sadness! These
things are not of the Spirit, they are of the flesh. In the
world ye shall have tribulation, but in Christ ye shall have
joy. The mother is in anguish in her pains, but she rejoiceth
that a man-child is born into the world; and so we have sharp
conflicts, but out of them ever cometh joy. Take it not on my
illustration, dearly beloved; take it out of the text that the
Holy Spirit is joy, joy to be redeemed from death by Christ,
joy to be included in the chosen of the Father, joy to be in
the communion and fellowship of the saints, joy in God,
460
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Next to joy comes peace:
peace from an accusing conscience; peace from a broken law;
peace from an offended God; peace with men, even our
enemies; peace from fears of evil to come, through the know-
ledge that all things work together for good to them that
love God, and are the called according to His purpose; peace
from the fear of judgment to come, knowing that no condem-
nation awaiteth us. Well sung the angels over the Babe
of Bethlehem, "Peace on earth!" Well is His blood called.
peace-speaking, His message peace-preaching, His work peace-
making to them which are near, and to them which are afar
off! Have ye peace? have ye quiet and rest within? are the
voices of stormy passions hid? are the voices of angry quarrels
hushed? are the tumults of men's contending opinions stilled?
are ye at peace within your own bosom? bear you peace upon
your tongue? and in your hand is there the olive wand of
peace? It ought to be so, for peace is the fruit of the Spirit.
And next to peace, long-suffering; patient endurance, like
unto God's, who hath borne with the world's wickedness until
now. Wrath is a fruit of the flesh, but long-suffering is a
fruit of the Spirit. Charity suffereth long, and is kind. He
that is risen with Christ forbeareth and forgiveth much. And
when they speak evil of us, as evil-doers, by our good works
we put to silence their evil speeches. Easy to be entreated
is the wisdom that is from God; but the wisdom that is from
the earth is full of strife and contention, and every evil work.
Why do ye not rather endure, suffering wrongfully? for this is
thankworthy with God, who when He was reviled, reviled not
again, when He was threatened, threatened not, but committed
Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. Oh, I wish that we
were long-suffering with one another, of a patient mind, not
hasty, not heady, not high-minded, but adorning the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by having in us the same mind
which was also in Him. Then cometh gentleness; which is
sweetness and amiableness of spirit,-that is, not self-willed,
but giveth itself up easily to the guidance of God, and of His
holy Word, and of His providence, whatever it be; neither
fretteth at the bit with which our mouth needeth to be held
in, nor is galled by the spur with which our indolence
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
461
needeth to be prompted forward. Gentle, like a little child
in the hand of its parents; pliable, like the flax in the hand
of him that dresseth it; easy to be entreated, gentle towards
all, is the man of God; inclined by sweet disposition of the
Spirit to whatever is good. How gentle was the Lord Jesus
Christ! I would that such poverty of spirit reigned amongst
us: every one thinking of himself less highly than of an-
other; to ambition dead, to violence dead. Oh, I desire this
grace; I pray for this fruit of the Spirit to be upon us, for
it is most lovely. It judgeth not another, but it judgeth
itself; it commendeth not itself, but another it commendeth in
Christ, in Whom it boasteth and greatly rejoiceth. Examine
yourselves of this, beloved; pursue this, seek earnestly to ob-
tain it; we want it much, and to our faith God will assuredly
grant it. Then cometh goodness; which is as it were a con-
stellation and combination of excellences, but, above all,
opposed to evil and wickedness. Goodness, which is in God,
and being in God, is in the Spirit of God; goodness, which
is in every perfect work of God, which was in man, but now
in man is blemished and overlaid with the rust and earth of
wickedness; and the law also is good, and the Spirit worketh
goodness in the members of Christ. Goodness is the obedi-
ence to every good commandment of God; goodness is the
performance of the good-will of God; goodness is the right
use of every gift of God; goodness is the fruit of the Spirit
working in us to will and to do of God's good pleasure.
The Spirit of Christ moveth us to goodness, against the
The fruit of the
grain and temper and spirit of our nature.
Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Then
cometh faith; which believeth, feedeth upon, and liveth by
every word of God. Faith, whose object is Christ; faith,
which heareth Christ's word, which longeth to see His face,
and which doth indeed see His face in the word; faith,
which eateth His flesh and drinketh His blood, and maketh.
us one with Him, as He is one with the Father. Faith doth
not want sense; it fighteth against sense. It wanteth promise,
and that sufficeth it. Faith, which ever heareth and ever
greedily devoureth the word, which acteth by meditating and
remembering the past, by acting the present, by realising and
462
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
hoping in the future. Faith, the great witness against things
seen and temporal, which resteth upon, and rejoiceth in,
things not seen and eternal. Faith hath nothing to do with
sensation, with frames and feelings, which belong to the
fleshly man; faith riseth out of self, as hath been said, and
rejoiceth in Christ. Above all, faith rejoiceth against doubt,
as love rejoiceth against fear; and as perfect love casteth out
fear, so perfect faith casteth out doubt. A doubting Chris-
tian is not a believing one. I do not say he hath not faith,
but his faith is weak. Faith fighteth against works, and yet
it is the parent of all good works. It seeth no works out of
Christ, and good works in us it seeth only by seeing us to be
in Christ. Faith hath ever reference to another; it believeth
another, and having believed another, it is perfected. The
fruit cometh under another name, the general name of good-
ness, but it is all consequent upon faith. And, finally, faith is
the gift of God, and a great grace of the Spirit it is to believe
all things. And besides these, there be only two others
enumerated as the fruit of the Spirit; which are meekness and
temperance. Now of meekness; the meek are of those whom
our Lord blesseth: "Blessed are the meek; for they shall in-
herit the earth." And such are those who fret not because of
evil-doers, neither are envious against the workers of iniquity;
who, though they mourn over wickedness, do not sorrow with-
out hope, neither in darkness make their moan, but know
God to be present in all things; and so they are comforted.
A meek man is full of trust in the Lord, and he committeth
his way unto the Lord, in Him also he trusteth. A wilful
man would have everything his own way, but a meek man is
contented that all things are ordered of the Lord. He sub-
mitteth his will and surrendereth his interest to the will of
God, and the interest of Christ. These three-long-suffer-
ing, gentleness, and meekness-are chief fruits of faith in
God. They have an eye ever to the overruling providence of
God. Moses was very meek, and Job was very patient, and
Daniel was very wise, and Noah was very righteous. I
would the Lord would bestow on us the like gifts, for we lack
them greatly. They came all out of Christ's fulness, and
faith is the channel through which they flow to us. I desire
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463
greatly, brethren, that we might make progress in the wisdom
which cometh from above, which is first pure, peaceable, easy
to be entreated, full of mercy and of good fruits, without par-
tiality, and without hypocrisy. While I am inditing these
things, I am examining myself; and while I preach them, I
hope you are likewise examining yourselves. If you fall
short in meekness, and I know not but that it is the short-
coming to which men agitated with worldly cares are most
liable, then, I tell you, go to the fountain, and fill your
pitchers, and drink, yea, drink abundantly. Christ is that
fountain, faith is the pitcher, and the hand which holdeth it,
and the lip which drinketh it. Go to Christ by faith, and see
your meekness in Him. There it is, bless God for it; and in
honouring Christ and blessing God, ye come to partake of
it. Oh, it is not the workings of a child that breatheth in it
the faculty of reason; but it is God that implanteth it and
bringeth it to full-grown stature. And so it is not working,
chafing our own cold bosom with our colder hand, agitating
our too-much troubled conscience; it is not self-discipline,-no,
but it is worship of the good in Christ, and the faith that it is
in Him for us: this it is which moveth God to enkindle the
life in us; and, as it is enkindled, maketh us more to know
and more to acknowledge that the fuel of the fire is from
Christ. And now, lastly, cometh temperance;-not in mat-
ters of eating, and of drinking, and sleeping, and other fleshly
appetites, but restrictive moderation in all things; a careful
measurement of ourselves by the standard of God in Christ,
by the Word of God applied in the Spirit. God himself
limiteth Himself, and every son of God must limit himself.
Not losing himself in diffuse speculation, nor wasting himself
in idle undertakings, nor wandering in boundless imaginings,
nor declining from the laws and ordinances of life, into a wild
luxury of wilfulness; but measuring, bounding, and content-
ing himself with his condition: if a servant, to be in obedi-
ence; if a child, to be under authority; if a parent, to be
mindful of a parent's duty; if wealthy, to be ready to com-
municate; if poor, to be willing and thankful to receive help;
if unlearned, not to despise learning; if weak, not to despise
them that are strong; and so on through all degrees. This is
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OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
temperance, or, as it is restraint and government, to keep
within the bounds which God hath prescribed to us by our
creation, by our calling, by our condition, by our station in
the Church. It is a grace, a very great grace; and I desire
nothing more for myself and for my flock, than that they
might be enriched with it. Your time, dearly beloved, doth
not permit me to enlarge on these things, nor is there need to
do so; with those who seek the Spirit, and who have the
Spirit, enough hath been said to stir up and somewhat to
guide self-examination. Now, I call upon you to prove
your own selves; try whether you be in the faith or not. If
these things be in you and abound, ye shall not be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Add these things to your faith, and you shall
make progress in the knowledge of Christ. Attempt to do
without these things, set them to a side, undervalue them, and
you shall become purblind, unable to discern things afar off,
and forgetting that you have been purged from your former
sins.
We come now to the third head, which will shew the awful
sanction with which this duty of self-examination is bound
upon us.
If men had a right estimate of the holiness of the
sacrament of the Lord's supper, I may say there would be
no occasion for handling this part of our subject at all. Their
reverence for the ordinance would be sufficient to protect it
against all rash intrusion; and their fear of the consequences
would supply their want of reverence, where that was really
wanted. There needeth no formal instruction to inform a
loyal people of the honour bestowed upon them in being
permitted to appear before their king. The sentiment of
loyalty within their breast teaches them of itself, that by
every means they should prepare themselves not to dishonour
the royal presence into which they are permitted to come.
But custom hath made the table of the Lord to be common,
and we have forgotten the solemn sanctions with which it is
fenced around. Let me, therefore, endeavour to open to you
what is implied in these words: "Whosoever shall eat this
bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord;" and in these
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
465
other words, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eat-
eth and drinketh damnation [judgment] to himself, not dis-
cerning the Lord's body;" and in these other words, "For
this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and
many sleep." First, then, what is meant by these words-
"Whoso eateth and drinketh unworthily shall be guilty of
the body and blood of the Lord?" By many this is inter-
preted as if it were merely, guilty of some offence against the
body and blood of the Lord. But this gives no satisfaction
to the mind; which immediately inquires, And what kind of
offence is he guilty of? Now, I think that the words of the
apostle are intended to declare the nature of the offence, just
in the same manner as the expression, "guilty of theft," "guilty
of manslaughter," or as it is in Mark iii. 29, "He that shall
blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness,
but is guilty of eternal judgment;" and as in James ii. 10,
"Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, is guilty of all;" that is, of all the laws or command-
ments. What, then, is the precise amount of that guilt which
is expressed in the words, "guilty of the body and blood of
the Lord?" It seems to me that it is parallel with what is
expressed in the other words, "eateth and drinketh judgment
to himself." And of that which is signified by these words,
we have an exposition in the next verse: "Therefore many
are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep;" and then
it is added, "For if we discerned ourselves, we would not be
judged; and being judged, we are chastised by the Lord,
that we may not be condemned with the world." This whole
passage I consider to be one of no small difficulty, and to be
understood it must be interpreted as a whole. Here is a guilt
-the guilt of the body and blood of the Lord; here is a
judgment upon that guilt, shewing itself in weakness, sickli-
ness, and death; but these are not the amount of the judg-
ment, but only, as it were, a chastening of the Lord, to the
end we may not be condemned with the world; all which
signifies to me, that in the Church there is a discipline of
God, dependent upon the worthy or the unworthy receiving
of the Lord's supper; and this a discipline specially appli-
cable to the body, consisting in the infliction of weakness, and
VOL. II.
2 G
466
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
I cannot
sickliness, and even death. Few think of this, yet nothing is
more distinctly asserted than that it is so.
And what pro-
portion, it may be asked, is there between bodily afflictions.
and unworthy partaking of the Lord's supper?
answer this question otherwise than by saying, that I believe
the elements, especially the bread of the Lord's supper, when
partaken in faith, doth reach its efficacy unto the bodies of
the saints, not by any physical or sensual alteration thereof,
for the flesh of the greatest saint is as wicked as the flesh of
the greatest sinner; and, even if it were allowed that a sub-
stantial change could be produced, there is no substance to
produce it withal, unless we were to hold the papal abomina-
tion, that the bread and wine are by consecration transub-
stantiated into the muscular flesh and circulating blood of the
Lord. But though we abhor all such sensual explanations,
we believe the revealed truth, nevertheless, that the worthy
receiver is endowed with health and strength of body, and
preservation from sudden death, and, haply, length of days
itself; while the unworthy receiver is, according to the text,
visited with weakness, and sickness, and premature disease.
Believe this who can, I believe it upon the authority of the
apostle; and shall even encourage myself, and the Church of
Christ, to expect, not only spiritual strength, but likewise the
restraining of bodily disease, and the postponing of death
itself. And why should it be a hard matter to believe this?
Did not the body of our blessed Lord, while it abode on earth,
extend its energies to the bodies, as well as to the souls, of
men? Did He not bear our sicknesses and our diseases, as
well as our sins? (Matt. viii. 17;) and, bearing our sins, did He
not bear the cause of all sickness and of all disease. And if
such was the virtue of that body which He offered whole and
entire upon the cross, should its virtue be anything diminished
by His having entered into His glory, and received power
to communicate of the same gifts unto as many as believe?
For my part, I have no difficulty whatever in believing this;
and though I had, I would believe it not the less, when I find
it vouched for by an apostle of the Lord. It is needful to
guard this great and salutary truth, that Christ is Chief Phy-
sician of body as well as soul; that the Lord's supper is health
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
467
to the body as well as soul; and that good health and long
life are objects of faith to one who comes to the table of the
Lord, as well as sanctification and resurrection, and changing
into the substance of Christ's glorious body, and an eternal
inheritance as kings and priests in the redeemed world; this
salutary doctrine of the application of the Lord's supper to
the body as well as to the soul, it is necessary, I say, to guard
against that fanatical abuse which would thence infer, that
when diseases do come, they are not to be treated with the
proper remedies of the physician, but healed by an act of
faith, without any means whatever. That faith in Christ, the
Chief Physician, ought to be uppermost, both in the mind of
the sick person and of the physician who attendeth him, there
can be no doubt; that when any one is sick, he should send
for the elders of the Church, and avail himself of the promise
made to them in visiting the sick; yea, and though our
Church, to prevent superstition, doth not favour it, yet can I
see good reason why, a little congregation being assembled
in the sick man's room, the sacrament of the Lord's supper
may be administered as a means of bodily health, as well as
a means of spiritual edification; yet all these things are not to
prevent, but rather to encourage the more, the use of all means.
For what are these but means and ordinances of grace? In
using these spiritual remedies, you are using means; and
therefore all those pious methods of entreating the sick which
God hath appointed in His Word, are, in truth and verity,
God's way of sustaining the doctrine of the use of means;
and he who will not use means for the remedy of nature's
ailments, will soon fall away from the use of the means of
grace. The truth is, that the world, with every plant, and
every animal, and every inanimate substance, is as truly the
work of Christ, the Word, as is the written Word itself; and
the frame of man's natural body is, as a creature of God, made
not to depend upon, but to rule over, and to possess, and to
enjoy, and to be benefited by all these things. The varieties
of meat and drink, the varieties of cordials and medicines,
which the world containeth, are the wealth and possession of
the body; and whoso casts them away rejects God's gifts, is
presumptuous, is puffed up in his own mind, is weak, is in
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OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
danger of falling. In using these remedies, however, we
should always use them as gifts of God through Christ; and
with faith, with adoration, and worship of Him who hath
created all things, ought we to receive them, and ought the
Christian physician to give them; which faith in the Feeder
and in the Healer we express in those ordinances of the
Church, the visitation of the sick, and the use of the Lord's
supper. This error of neglecting the use of means in the remedy
of diseases is attended sometimes with another, of a more
ruinous and fearful kind; which is, to derive from this passage
some sort of an assurance that, if the Corinthians had rightly
partaken this ordinance, they would not have died, and that,
therefore, if we do the same, we shall not die. Now, I be-
lieve that those in the Corinthian church, referred to in these
words, "For this cause some of you sleep," would not have
been so visited with premature death had they not profaned
the ordinance. But is this to say that they would have lived
for ever? The apostle says that the great Bishop had visited
the Corinthian church, as He threatened the church in Thya-
tira, saying, "I will kill her children with death." But because
He had visited them with death for their sins, is it to be con-
cluded that, if they had not sinned, they should never have
died? The like silliness of interpretation would draw out of
such words of the Lord as these, (John vi. 49, 50,) "Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This
is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die," the doctrine that one who truly
eateth in the supper shall never taste of natural death. But
what saith the Lord in the same discourse, not once, but four
times over? "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." So
that not dying is perfectly consistent with being raised up at
the last day. But how can we be raised up, unless the body
first descend into the grave? The not dying, therefore, the
eternal life which we have in Christ, is not the perpetuity of
this body of sin and death, but the perpetuity of that living
union which we have unto Himself; because He lives, we live
also. Now, as in the fifth commandment there was a promise
of long life to those who honoured their father and their
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
469
mother, so in the Lord's supper is there an assurance of health
and life unto those who worthily partake thereof. And if
you will reflect a little upon the peculiar nature of this ordi-
nance, you will see the reasonableness of such an outward
sanction as I am now explaining. It is an ordinance for life,
for the nourishment of that life which we receive in baptism;
we come as regenerate persons who have been intrusted with
a new life, to nourish it up in godliness. We may nourish it,
or we may neglect it. It may come to perfection in our
hands, or it may die in our hands, according as we rightly use
the table laid out for its nourishment. If we use the table of
the Lord wisely, temperately, faithfully, our spiritual life will
grow apace; if, on the other hand, we neglect the table of
the Lord, or use it intemperately or unfaithfully, then we may
starve our life, and die through weakness, or by surfeit bring
on disease, and die through plethoric fulness. If, now, the
perfection or the destruction of the spiritual life be depend-
ent upon the right or the wrong use of this holy table, then
ought we to expect some outward visible indication of those
realities which are in it. Such outward manifestation was
given in the Corinthian church, by weakness, sickness, and
death; and such, I believe, will continue to be given in
every church. Now, this is one reason for which every com-
municant should examine himself of his worthiness to sit
down at the table of the Lord; for these ailments and mortal
sickness of the Corinthian church are expressly said to have
come from their not discerning the Lord's body; that is, not
perceiving the Lord's body as present under the elemental
signs. They ate of it as of a common meal; and instead of
feeding them, like a common meal, it turned into starvation
and poison. Their ignorance not only made the ordinance
of none effect, but absolutely made it of evil effects and I
believe the same with respect to the ordinance of baptism,
when it is not discerned as containing the regeneration; and
of the ordinance of preaching, when it is not discerned as
containing faith; and of the ordinance of laying on of hands,
when it is not discerned as containing power; and I may say
of every other ordinance, that the stupid ignorance of the
partaker doth change its property, and make it of the very
470
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
opposite effect to that which it hath unto them who rightly
partake thereof. But while this we undoubtingly declare, as
a consequence of stupid ignorance in the matter of the supper,
and in the manner of Christ's presence therein, (for there be
many who, like Queen Elizabeth, consider it a matter of nice
and subtle speculation, and many are not ashamed to profess
their total ignorance thereof,) that if a person will come igno-
rantly, they must come unworthily, and eat judgments to
themselves, you are not to suppose that these bodily inflic-
tions are the whole of the guilt contracted by unworthy com-
municating; for they are called (ver. 32) a chastisement of
the Lord, to the end we may not be condemned with the
world; which chastisement, if we be exercised withal, then
will we guard against the like offence in time to come, wisely
instructing ourselves, and reverently conducting ourselves,
whenever we approach to the table of the Lord. But if, upon
the other hand, we should not be rightly exercised with the
chastisements of the Lord, but continue to profane the holy
ordinance, ignorantly approaching and heedlessly partaking
of it, then the question ariseth, And what guilt is incurred?
The answer is, The guilt of the body and blood of the Lord.
And if I be called upon to explain words so awful, I will do
it by referring to the only passage of Scripture which is
parallel to this, and an awful passage it is, (Heb. x. 29;) but for
the sake of the connexion, you may read from ver. 26: "For
if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indigna-
tion, which shall consume the transgressors." This I take to
be the judgment of which one that unworthily partakes
maketh himself guilty, and in the verses following are con-
tained the nature of the offence: "He that despised Moses'
law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of
God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite
unto the Spirit of grace?" Now, it seems to me that being
guilty of the body and blood of Christ, is the same with
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471
treading under foot the Son of God, and counting the blood
of the covenant a common thing. For is not the cup called
"the blood of the testament" or covenant, and is not the bread
called "the body of the Lord?" If, now, as I believe, the guilt
and the judgment be the same in these two places, then we
are at no loss to explain of what an awful kind they are. For
in this passage of the Hebrews, it is without doubt the sin
against the Holy Ghost which is committed,—that sin, to
wit, for which there remaineth no more sacrifice; that sin of
apostasy which can be committed only by those who have
come to the knowledge of the truth; that sin which is espe-
cially designated wilful, because it is an act of the will, the will
made conscious of God's Spirit, yet deliberately resisting that
influence, or, as it is in the text, doing despite to the Spirit of
grace. Now, concerning the nature of this sin, which is
called being "guilty of the body and blood of Christ," I have
one or two things to express. First, That it is a sin proper
to an enlightened man, and which every enlightened man is
capable of committing. To understand this, it must be re-
membered that election, and regeneration, and the efficacy of
the Spirit, are all done upon a being possessed of a will, and
done consistently with the constitution of a will, as hath been
already said in this discourse. The human soul is the instru-
ment with which itself, the body, and the world are redeemed.
The will in the renewed man doth not cease to be a will
because now it is free, whereas formerly it was in bondage.
It is not driven by the necessity of an almighty influence,
but it is released from its bondage, and put into the condition
of choosing the good which is promised in Christ, and reject-
ing the evil which is seen in the world, and, by preferring
God, the soul doth glorify God. Such is the condition and
standing of a renewed will. But most manifest it is that the
same will which, being redeemed, doth prefer God, might like-
wise prefer evil. If it be said No, then every redeemed will
must be under the necessity of preferring God; which were to
yield God no honour. If, then, a redeemed will possessed by
the Spirit may prefer the devil in the world to the Spirit of
Christ, shewing God in the ordinances of the Church when
it doth so, it committeth the wilful sin. It sins, not under
472
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
bondage, but willingly; being redeemed from the bondage,
and having proved the liberty, it nevertheless preferreth the
bondage, saying to the evil, “ Be thou my good." This I take
to be the sin of apostasy; this I take to be the sin against
the Holy Ghost; and for such sin there can remain no sacri-
fice, either in this life or that which is to come. It is the
fearful alternative upon the one side into which the enlight-
ened are brought; and the joyful and blessed alternative upon
the other side is, that of the first resurrection, and the king-
dom and the glory of the Lord. Paul seems to have felt him-
self to be standing between these two most awful alternatives
when he said, (I Cor. ix. 27,) "Lest that by any means, when
I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway,"
that is, a counterfeit or spurious person, or, as it is translated
in 2 Cor. xiii. 5, a reprobate. In the Epistle to the Philippians,
again, the substance of the following remarkable passage
seems to me to prove that he still rested in some fear or
apprehension of the possibility of the awful alternative:
"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable
unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the re-
surrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may
apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus." This was written some six or seven years
after the former, and indicates some considerable dubiety in
the apostle's mind whether he had attained unto the high
calling of Christ; which I conceive to be the calling up from
the grave of certain ones to meet Him in the air, and to reign
with Him on the earth. But some three years after this
again, when he wrote his last epistle, he was delivered from
all doubt, (2 Tim. iv. 6,) "For I am now ready to be offered,
and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith :
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
473
:
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing." I believe that the apostle felt himself placed in
that very alternative, between reigning with Christ and apos-
tasy from Him, in which he placed the Hebrews so frequently,
and in which, I believe, every one enlightened by the Spirit
is placed. This is a deep mystery, and it is not given to
every one to discourse aright thereof; nor do I mean to say
that what I have set down is the very truth, yet do I believe
it is substantially true, and, if I mistake not, it is the very
condition in which I feel myself to be placed. For when
God enlighteneth a man concerning the first resurrection,
and the glory which follows, that man, if he press not for-
ward to the mark of this high calling, must fall back into the
sin of apostasy, and commit the unpardonable sin against the
Holy Ghost. Now, forasmuch as the table of the Lord doth
contain the mystery of His advent and kingdom, and is the
pledge and seal of the resurrection body, and the inheritance
of the new testament, I do certainly conclude that those
who, being enlightened therein, do yet profane the ordinance,
are guilty of the body and blood of Christ, in the same sense
as those spoken of in the Hebrews, who trample under foot the
Son of God, and count the blood of the testimony with which
they were sanctified a common thing, and do despite unto
the Spirit of God. While I thus interpret the expressions
eating and drinking judgment," being "guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord," you will not mistake me, as if I meant
that every one who profaned this ordinance had committed
the sin against the Holy Ghost. They may have done it
ignorantly, or in unbelief of the great mysteries which it
containeth; and in such a case, like these Corinthians, they
will be visited with chastisements, that they may not be con-
demned with the world. But if upon coming to know that
the bread broken in the supper is the body of Christ broken
for us, and that the wine partaken in the supper is the blood
of the new testament shed for the remission of sins, any
should have the hardihood, without examining themselves, to
come and partake of it, as if it were a common thing; then
verily they do shew themselves to be hardened in the last
((
474
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
degree, and to be in that state of apostasy out of which it is
the apostle's desire to preserve them. For, certainly, of all
the ordinances and sacraments of our religion, the Lord's
supper is the most pregnant with the Holy Ghost-where,
we may say, He delighteth to dwell. And the man who con-
sciously doth despite unto this holy ordinance, doth, in the
most glaring way, do despite unto the Holy Ghost; and it
may be said of that man, that it is impossible to renew him
again unto repentance, for he hath vilified the Son of God
afresh, and put Him to an open shame.
This great truth, which I have argued out concerning the
Lord's supper, holdeth likewise with respect to every other
ordinance of the Church of Christ, and the ordinance of the
Church itself; for all of these are vessels for containing the
Holy Ghost, vehicles and channels of communication be-
tween Christ, who possesseth the Holy Ghost, and every one
of Christ's members upon the earth. The Holy Ghost, unto
those who have these ordinances, cometh not otherwise than
through these ordinances. To deny, then, that there is any
virtue given unto these ordinances, is, in effect, not only to
reject the Son of man, who instituted them, but likewise the
Holy Ghost, who worketh through them; to call these ordi-
nances mere signs, teaching signs, is therefore the high road
to apostasy; and flatly to deny that there is any grace com-
municated in them is, it seems to me, apostasy consummate.
To think, for example, that preaching is no more than a man's
account of his own opinions and method of maintaining them,
and that the Spirit is not in the ordinance of a preached
gospel to work faith therein, but that this faith is some after
work, which the individual, by prayer and other means, ob-
taineth for himself; to say and believe that baptism is but a
water ordinance, in which no spiritual grace of regeneration is
present, and that this is to be wrought out afterwards without
an ordinance, by some work of prayer in the individual; and,
after the like manner, to unspiritualise the various ordinances
of the Church, which Christ hath instituted, and to treat them
as common things,-this is, as I conceive, the sin against the
Holy Ghost, which shall never be forgiven in this world or in
that which is to come. I do not mean that every ignorant
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
475
person who taketh this abominable and horrible doctrine from
his favourite spiritual guide is guilty of this sin. He may be
doing it in ignorance and unbelief; he may not have been
enlightened, and his spiritual guide may be in darkness—
there is yet hope of them both. They have committed a
great sin, but it may be forgiven. But after they have been
once enlightened in the spiritual fulness which every ordi-
nance containeth, and, being enlightened, have come and par-
taken thereof, and tasted the good gift of God and the powers
of the world to come, and then thereafter fallen away, to look
upon them, or act towards them as common things, and come
unto them without any self-examination,—they do, I make
bold to say, commit a sin which cannot be forgiven, and they
shall never be renewed to repentance. These, now, are awful
words, but they represent the certain conviction of my soul,
and they mark out the condition in which I feel myself to
stand, and which I believe to be the standing of many in my
flock to wit, that, enlightened as we now are in the mysteries.
of the sacraments, there is no middle course between the full
assurance of hope unto the end, and irremediable, irrecover-
able apostasy; and of this most awful truth I warn all the
beloved brethren who have entered along with me into these
the mysteries of the Church, that if we fall back, we fall back
for ever. There remaineth no second repentance, no second
renewal for us. We know the good, and if now we should
elect the evil, then we shall be exhibited before this genera-
tion as direful examples of apostates; and it shall be again
seen to what fearful lengths of heresy and wickedness apos-
tates can go. But, as the apostle writeth to the Hebrews,
"I hope better things of you, brethren, and things becoming
salvation, though I thus speak." But the time is coming that
will try us all, and therefore I am urgent. I feel also that, in
setting forth these truths unto the Church, concerning the
mystery of the sacraments, I am putting those who read and
hear into the fearful predicament of either receiving or reject-
ing the great and mighty power of God. If they receive and
are enlightened, then I feel again that they are brought into
a high standing, and one of great trial, and from which the
fall is irremediable destruction. But are we therefore dis-
476
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
couraged in our work of faith and labour of love? No,
verily; God is faithful, who hath promised, and His promise
He hath confirmed with an oath, "that by two immutable.
things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might
have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us.” "Stand therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace; and above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked [one.] And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Now, then, having thus explained the responsibility which
is incurred, the guilt which is contracted by the unworthy,
the judgments which they eat and drink unto themselves, the
chastisements which they receive in the body, and the fearful
consummation of apostasy to which they draw onward, I
have little to add with respect to the uses and ends of self-
examination, for this will now speak for itself. To preserve
against these catastrophes, to protest against these unspeak-
able wickednesses, this is the first aim and use of self-examina-
tion; which therefore directeth itself to the discernment of our
faith in the presence of the body of Christ in the ordinance.
We examine ourselves of our knowledge to discern the Lord's
body, for he who cannot discern the real though spiritual pre-
sence of Christ's body in this ordinance, must be liable to
abuse it. Indeed, not to discern the Lord's body is, accord-
ing to the apostle, the ground of all the mischief and mis-
carriage. They eat and drink judgment to themselves, not
discerning the Lord's body. Without such a discernment
there can never be any reverence for, faith in, or profit from,
the ordinance. You cannot make men reverence a sha-
dow, or a symbol, or a sign, till they know the substance,
the sacredness, and the sufficiency of the thing signified;
and if you say the substance, and the sacredness, and the
sufficiency of the thing signified is not there contained, how
can you ask of men to put any reverence or faith upon
it? They ofttimes make a jest of, and even minister rebuke
unto the Reformers, for their violent controversies upon the
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
477
kind and nature of the presence of the body of Christ
in the supper.
But this is the root of the matter, and
he who hath not much inquired into this, will, almost to
a certainty, be found ignorant of, and unprofited by the
ordinance. The holy apostle, and, after his example, the
Church of which we are members, requireth of us, first of all,
to examine ourselves of our knowledge to discern the Lord's
body; for, coming unworthily, we eat and drink judgment to
ourselves. The next end of self-examination is to discern
our right to partake of Christ, which standeth not in this or
that degree of attainment, but singly and simply in our faith
in God, through Jesus Christ. If we believe in God, that
He hath loved us, and given His Son to save us, to feed and
nourish our souls, we may come and be fed and nourished.
But if of this we doubt, it is the greatest of profanations.
Therefore, it is said that we should examine ourselves,
secondly, of our faith to feed upon Him; that is, our belief
that God has given Him to be fed upon, and that we may
feed upon Him. Another end of self-examination is, that we
may discover that our faith hath not been a vain and fruitless
one; that it hath not been without works, which is dead; that
it hath not turned to apostasy, which is twice dead; that it
hath been attended with godly sorrow and genuine repent-
ance for sin; that it hath turned our hearts towards God,
from ourselves, from the vain and wicked world: and, there-
fore, we are required to examine ourselves of our repentance.
And because the Lord's supper is the communion of His
body, wherein we have fellowship one with another, and all
with Christ, we are required to examine ourselves also of our
love, because faith without charity profiteth nothing: our love
to God, who hath first loved us; our love to Christ, who hath so
loved us as to give His life for our sake; our love to the breth-
ren; our love to all men. And because repentance and faith,
without the obedience of good works, do prove themselves to
be but a deception, we are to examine ourselves next of our
new obedience,—that is, obedience springing from the new
principle of love, and not from the old principle of fear.
There can be no doubt that, according as our self-examination
in these great heads of Christian life is proceeded in, so will
478
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
be our holy exercise of soul, and our most comfortable edifi-
cation at the table of the Lord. But these five heads of the
Christian experience-knowledge, faith, repentance, love, and
new obedience—are so large and fruitful, that I know not in
what way
I can better stir up the graces and the desires of
the faithful, or instruct the simplicity of the ignorant, or
better prepare the way of this holy mystery, than by discours-
ing on them, and shewing how much they are excited by the
near prospect, and how fitly they prepare for the profitable
partaking, thereof.
Suffice it, in this homily, to have shewn, first, the duty of
self-examination to be proceeded in at all times, but never to
be neglected before coming to the table of the Lord; to have
encouraged all who are in Christ to undertake this duty, by
the good hope, yea, and almost certainty of discovering that
they are in Christ, and Christ in them the hope of glory; to
have exhibited at large the fearful consequences of neglecting
this most solemn duty: and, after what I have said, I do trust
that every one who hath heard will solemnly undertake this
duty, being encouraged therein, yea, and forced thereto, and
terrified out of the neglect of it, by all these solemn truths.
This, therefore, dear brethren, I would give you, as the sum
and substance of what I have said on self-examination:
Every baptized person amongst you is answerable for a spiri-
tual and eternal life. He that doth not believe this doth
neither know what baptism means, nor hath he realised the
benefits of his baptism. He hath not even comprehended
them; and such a one, who knoweth not of a new life pledged
to his faith, and believeth not in a regeneration, cannot use
the Lord's supper as it ought to be used. But those who see
that baptism is God's covenant for a new life, and who believe
that they have such a life in Christ, are in a state of belief
which enableth them to eat the supper; and if they come not
to the supper, they do voluntarily suffer that new life to die
for want of nourishment. And I believe that there are many,
very many, who, through abstinence from the Lord's supper,
abide in continual weakness and continual peril of death. In
which course they justify themselves by these two considera-
tions: the first, that they feel within them such unworthy
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
479
thoughts, dispositions, and passions, and are led astray by the
natural man into such evil acts, as make them afraid to draw
near so holy a table.
But while I am the last to encourage
wilful sinners, and perverse, malicious persons, to approach
unto the table of the Lord, I ask of those who are endeavour-
ing to contend with the flesh, How ever they can expect to
prevail, otherwise than through the holiness and power which
Christ put forth upon His own body, and by which He pre-
sented it for ever blameless? and if so be that it is only by
Christ's holiness of body, communicated unto, and partaken
of by, us, that we are to attain unto such purity and power
as we yearn for, then I ask next, Where is this participation
of Christ's body to be received save at the table of the Lord?
To suppose that otherwise than by this table, to suppose that
anterior to the use of this table, we can obtain power over the
body, power over the natural man, with all his corruptions
and lusts, is to make the table void, to make it unnecessary
to the Christian warfare, to make the Christian victory inde-
pendent of its help. Be therefore advised, dear brethren, who
believe in Christ the regeneration and the life, and who are
seeking perfection through the ministry of the Spirit of Christ,
who are conscious of indwelling sin, and grieved by reason of
it; be persuaded, I say, not to avoid this table, as if it were.
spread for unfallen angels or perfect men, but to apply your-
selves to it, as a weak and hungry man doth to food for the
sake of strength, as a sick man doth to medicine for the sake
of health. It is for the Church militant, that giveth and that
taketh blows, that is oppressed by the enemy and sometimes
overcome,—for the Church militant, growing daily in grace,
in strength, in wisdom,-that this table is spread; whereof I
wish you, with a good understanding of its uses, to come and
partake with a true desire of profiting thereby, in the enjoy-
ment of peace, and in the ways of holiness. Now, the second
consideration with which some are pressed and prevented
from coming to the table, is their worldliness, their much
occupation in, and battle with, this world's affairs; and oft
have I heard the neglect of the Lord's table excused by the
consideration of being distracted with worldly cares, and pre-
vented by worldly occupations. But what meaneth this? Do
480
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
they mean, as I was once told by foolish and impertinent
young men, that in order to fill offices in the Church it was
necessary to have nothing to do with business, and to be
retired from the world? Do they mean, I say, that in order
to sit down at the Lord's table, a man must first have made
his fortune, and taken his degrees, as a monk or a hermit?
Idle, foolish puritanism! The Lord's supper is for the very
end of enabling men to combat with the world, and to over-
come it. Whence hath the world its mighty power? Is it
not from its possessions,-its houses, and lands, and honours,
and friendships, and other ties? But how expect ye ever to
overcome these, but through the knowledge and the faith of
an inheritance in the heavens, wherein, as kings and priests,
ye shall dwell and reign for evermore? And where have you
the assurance of this but in the cup of the Lord's supper,
which is the pledge of the new testament of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by which He bequeaths to you a share of His inherit-
ance, of His kingdom, of His throne, and of His glory? It
is the entering in of this better hope which casteth out the
power of things seen over the soul. It is the assurance of
this glorious possession, noble prerogative, and highest pre-
ferment, which enables the soul to cope with and over-
come the allurements of avarice, ambition, honour, and
the like; which enableth her to reject this world and its
kingdoms, for the hope of the world to come and its king-
dom. But where is this firm assurance and glorious hope to
be attained, save in the cup of the Lord's supper? And he
who thinks to conquer the world without the use of that cup,
doth in truth make void the cup, as much as he who thinketh
to overcome the body without the use of that bread. There-
fore, setting aside these two excuses, I call upon all men who
believe in the regeneration and life which they have in Jesus
Christ, and desire through that life to make an effectual
debate with the flesh and the world,-all such I entreat to
come to this table, in a serious purpose of serving and glori-
fying God, with that strength which we seek, and believe that
we shall receive. It is not our weakness, nor yet is it our im-
perfection, that disqualifies us for the table of the Lord; nay,
but it is our coming thither with a careless indifference or
ON SELF-EXAMINATION.
481
with a presumptuous boldness. To come in a state of
unawakened and insensible nature, is to err exceedingly; for
it is not a life-quickening but a life-feeding ordinance,-not
for conversion but for edification. Men must know of the
life they have in Christ, and be persuaded of it, before they
come hither. They must be desirous to do His will in all
things, yet conscious of the need of strength to do the same,
and not doubting but they will receive it,-looking to God as
to a father, and looking to His table as to a father's table.
So coming, I say, with love and with unity, with faith and
with confidence, with conscious infirmity yet desire of perfec-
tion; who is he that will let you, who is he that will dis-
appoint you? Come, then, I pray you, with a good heart and
with a right mind, that your souls may be filled with the
abundance of the goodness and the grace of God.
VOL. II.
2 II
HOMILY II.
THE THING WHICH IS SIGNIFIED IN THE LORD'S SUPPER.
I COR. XI. 23-25.
bread: and when he had
this is my body which is
After the same manner also
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord
Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took
given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat:
broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament
in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
LUKE XXII. 19, 20.
And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying,
This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in
my blood, which is shed for you.
THE passage which we have read from the Corinthians
consisteth of two parts: first, the narrative of the institu-
tion; and, secondly, the apostle's conclusions therefrom for the
instruction of those to whom he wrote. In this discourse we
shall confine ourselves to the former of these, and endeavour
to explain the several parts of this service, following no plan
but the order of the parts, and bending our discourse to no
object but the edification of those whose purpose it may be to
present themselves at the Lord's table.
The institution of the ordinance of the supper, of which we
have accounts given us by the first three evangelists, was in
this wise. On the night of the passover, when all the 'Jews
from Judah and Israel, and the regions round about, assembled
in Jerusalem, and sat down together in small companies to
eat the paschal lamb, in commemoration of their deliverance
from the house of bondage, Jesus, who had come up to the
city of Zion with the intent of offering up the great passover
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
483
for the sins of men, was not the less careful of the observance
which He was about to supersede by the sacrifice of Himself.
He called two of His disciples, and said unto them, "Go ye
into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher
of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say
ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is
the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the passover with my dis-
ciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished
and prepared; there make ready for us. And his disciples
went forth, and found as he had said unto them; and they
made ready the passover. And in the evening he cometh with
the twelve. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the
twelve apostles with him." While they ate of the lamb dressed
with bitter herbs, and drank of the wine which was partaken
therewith, He gave them to know that it was the last time
He should partake of it upon earth; and said, "With desire I
have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer."
Likewise, during the paschal supper He held with them that
sorrowful discourse, recorded by all the evangelists, concern-
ing the traitor Judas, who dipped with Him in the dish; and
stirred up their minds with zeal and love, and every strong
attachment. And, the more to touch their souls with evi-
dences of His great love and condescension, He arose, and hav-
ing poured water into a basin, and girded Himself with a towel,
the Son of God, who took upon Himself the form of a servant,
went round the table, and, one after another, washed and wiped
His disciples' feet. By which forebodings of His approaching
end, and lamentation over him that should be the cause of it,
and condescending kindness to them all, having filled their
minds with sorrowful solemnity, and wound them up with expec-
tation of His oft-predicted death, He straightway proceeded
to institute this holy ordinance, whose emblems and words
were in harmony with the deep emotions which must have
occupied their breasts. For in the Saviour's ministry of salva-
tion there is nothing more remarkable than the suitableness of
the word to the action, the propriety of time and place to both,
and the harmony of all with the feelings of those who were ad-
dressed; and which arose from His soul's being attuned by the
deep relations of truth, unbroken in its perception, undisturbed
484
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
in its emotions, rich in feeling and harmony, responsive to every
secret association of nature, whereof He was the Creator, and
acquainted with every deep and secret movement of the
human soul, to whose mysterious sympathies He was always
ready, in His great grace, to accord whatever He had to say or
do. In this sweet and harmonious spirit, having touched the
souls of His apostles by these various notes of warning, He
proceeded to the institution of this holy service. He took
bread, and gave thanks, and blessed it, which was the sign of
a new and distinct service from that in which they had been
engaged, and brake it, and gave unto them; and while their
minds, already moved with the mysterous meaning of all that
had been said and done during the supper, burned for an
explanation of this solemn commencement, He said, "This is
my body which is given [or broken] for you: this do in
remembrance of me. And he took the cup, and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my
blood of the new testament, [or, this is the new testament in
my blood,] which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
Such was the institution of the holy ordinance whereof we
have taken in hand to explain the meaning, according to the
principle formerly laid down, that every ordinance which is
set forth by signs should explain itself by help of the ordinary
signification of the signs and of the words pronounced over
them. Following this rule of interpreting, with the elements
in our hands, and the words in our mouths, we remark, with
respect to the signs, that, as the element used in the sacrament
of baptism is the emblem of purity, and the action of washing
or dipping therein is the sign of purification; so bread and
wine, the elements used in the sacrament of the supper, are
the emblems of strength and cheerfulness, and the action of
eating and drinking is the sign of sustenance and nourishment.
Bread is the staff of life; and wine cheereth the heart of man.
Also, to sit around the table of any one, and be permitted to
eat of his bread and drink of the wine which he hath mingled,
is, on his part, a sign of hospitality and friendship, and on ours
a pledge of faithfulness and truth. Which sentiment that our
Saviour felt keenly is manifest from what He said of Judas:
"He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily,
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
485
verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." "Be-
hold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the
table." "One of you which eateth with me shall betray me."
In which expressions it is manifest that He felt the criminality
to be aggravated by the breach of that good faith which is signi-
fied in eating and drinking with a man at his table. Thus are
these two things, therefore, the very face and outward show of
this ordinance: first, a pledge of friendship and faithfulness to
Him around whose table we are seated; and, secondly, that we
are come thither for the sake of sustenance and refreshment.
So much is discernible by the eye from the visible emblems
and actions of the ordinance, which being taken along with
what is gathered by the ear from the words that are appointed
to be spoken, giveth its whole meaning and significance. Now
the words spoken over the communion have a twofold inten-
tion: the first, spoken over the emblems to tell what they
signify and shadow forth, "This is my body, which is broken
for you; this is the new testament in my blood;" the
second, spoken to the people who partake them, "This do in
remembrance of me. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in
remembrance of me." These two parts of the declaration
require to be considered apart.
When the Lord Jesus presented the bread to His disciples,
He said, "Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you;"
or, as it is in Luke, "This is my body which is given for you.'
Upon this the Romanists have founded their doctrine of
transubstantiation, that the bread is no sooner blessed than it
changeth its nature, and from being bread becometh the real
body of Christ, in which, not in a spiritual manner unto faith,
but in a visible manner unto sense, He is present, and entereth
into union with all who partake thereof. And hence, upon
the exaltation of what they call the host or victim, they require
reverence to be done by all present upon their bended knees,
and understand the mass as a renewed sacrifice of Christ;—
doctrines, for the denial of which the best blood of England
was shed, and upon the denial of which the Church of Eng-
land may be said to have been built. Now, this doctrine of
the Papal Church is not of ancient date,—going back no further
than to a few centuries before the Reformation, begotten in
486
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
the brain of a subtle friar, and by the orders of friars pro-
pagated over the Church; which, in its adoption, condemned
not only the primitive times before a papacy was heard of,
but also the first and best age of that usurpation, during which
such a notion concerning the communion was never broached.
They infer, in like manner, from the language used over the
other element, that the wine, upon being consecrated, becometh
transubstantiated into the blood of Christ, and, as the blood
of the Redeemer, enters into and incorporates with the sub-
stance of every one who partaketh thereof.
The chief end for which this doctrine was so sternly and
bloodily maintained by the Church of Rome was to raise the
clergy to a super-eminent place above the power and autho-
rity of princes, seeing that into their hands had been conveyed
the power, as they blasphemously express it, of creating God
the Creator of all, and offering up the same God before the
face of God the Father, for the redemption and salvation of
the whole world. Its effects upon the people are as debasing
as the purpose of it was blasphemously ambitious in the
priesthood: for they are taught to look upon a wafer, and
believe it to be God the Creator of all; they are taught to
partake of a wafer, and believe that they have entered into
union with Christ, and are cleansed from their sins. By which
all inquiry into the spirit and meaning of things is put an
end to; all searching into the manner of the spirit they are
of is disannulled; repentance and a holy life are made void;
and that trust in outward forms, so fatal to religion and
morality, is not only sanctioned, but is sustained and kept
up by the delusion, that there lieth in the form whatever
virtue lay in the crucifixion of Christ for the sins of men.
Whatever is awful and overwhelming to the spirit in the
death of Christ, whatever is consoling to poor sinners in the
cross of Christ, they transfer to a rite and ceremony which the
priest daily performeth; and the people, thinking they eat
and drink of the body and blood of Christ, with which so
much holiness and virtue is associated, are stimulated with
earnestness to procure it, and then with false confidence, when
they have obtained it.
The whole fabric of this delusion resteth upon a literal, or
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
487
rather sensual, interpretation of the words, "This is my body,
"This is my blood;" and is to be overthrown by discovering
in the habitual discourse of our Saviour the same expression,
used not in a literal, but in a figurative sense. Such an ex-
ample we have in the 6th chapter of John, to which I request
attention, as not only resolving this question, but as proving
the best commentary which is to be found in Scripture upon
the words of the communion. The people required a sign
from heaven, such as their fathers had received in the manna
of the desert, as it is written, "He gave them bread from
heaven to eat.” To which Jesus replied, "The bread of God
is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto
the world. I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me
shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst." "The Jews then murmured at him, because he said,
I am the bread that came down from heaven." To which,
among other gracious things that He said, He replied thus, “I
am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any
man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread
which I give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, say-
ing, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then
Jesus said unto them, 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. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is
drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my
blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." Such was the dis-
course our Lord held with the Jews in the synagogue at
Capernaum, in allusion, doubtless, to this sacrament; very
similar in its mysteriousness to that which he held with
Nicodemus in allusion to the sacrament of baptism, "Except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God." And as Nicodemus took offence
at this declaration of the first sacrament, and said, “Can a
man enter into his mother's womb, and be born the second
time?" so the Jews, and even many of His own disciples,
took like offence at this declaration of the second, and said,
488
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
“This is a hard saying: who can hear it?" And in precisely
the same style in which He retorted upon Nicodemus, "If I
have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall
ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" He retorted
upon His disciples, who could not hear this saying concerning
eating His flesh and drinking His blood, saying, "Doth this
offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man
ascend up where he was before?" Then, having rebuked
them for the slowness of their apprehension, He addeth the
explanation of the mystery in these words, "It is the spirit
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that
I speak, they are spirit, and they are life." The flesh con-
cerning which I speak, and ye take offence, profiteth nothing:
it is the Spirit within me which quickeneth your spirits. "The
words that I speak they are spirit, and they are life." In this
way doth He resolve His own figurative language, by telling
them that, in its literal sense, being understood of His flesh
and blood, it profiteth nothing; but in its spiritual sense,
being understood of His words or doctrines, it quickened, it
was Spirit and it was life. So, also, he resolved it to Nico-
demus, by saying, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The reason
why He put the truth in this symbolical form to the Jews
was, doubtless, because they required a sign similar to the
manna in the wilderness, which He told them they had in His
own person, which was the bread that came down from heaven.
But to us it serves the more important purpose of ascertain-
ing what it is which He hath embodied to all ages under the
symbols of bread and wine, or of His body and blood. For if
He hath spoken so unequivocally and so repeatedly of His
flesh and blood as meaning the spirit of His doctrine, then
in that sense He must be understood when, under these em-
blems of body and blood, He handeth down some mysterious
significance to His disciples in all future ages.
This manner of speaking under material emblems con-
cerning the spiritual life and nourishment which existed in
His doctrine is not confined to the discourse held with Nico-
demus and with the Jews in the synagogue of Capernaum.
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
489
But whenever occasion served, He used the same figurative
manner of speech. To the woman of Samaria, He said,
"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but
whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be a
well of water springing up into everlasting life." Again: "In
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Of this
allegorical language the evangelist hath given us this inter-
pretation in the next verse, saying, “But this spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for
the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was
not yet glorified." It is also used in the Old Testament in
several places. Thus Wisdom saith unto the simple and
those who want understanding, "Come, eat of my bread, and
drink of the wine which I have mingled." And again, Isaiah:
((
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
fatness." In which passage wine and bread are made to
produce fatness in the soul. And the apostles, following the
phraseology of their Master, have used this language in all
their epistles: "Know ye not that your bodies are the mem-
bers of Christ?" "For we are members of his body, of his
flesh, and of his bones." "So we, being many, are one body
in Christ." From all which examples it is manifestly the use
and wont of Scripture, as well as the practice of our Lord,
interpreted by Himself, to use these words, "This is my
body," and "This is my blood," never in a literal but a figur-
ative sense; and, as such, it is to be understood in the words
of explanation pronounced on the elements of bread and
wine.
But the earnestness and heat of this controversy hath
490
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
somewhat, I think, withdrawn the minds of the Protestant
Churches from the true spirit of the expository sentences
which are pronounced over the bread and wine used in the
communion. Christ did not say merely, "This is my body,"
but "This is my body broken [or given] for you." Now in the
latter clause the feeling and endearment of the sentence lieth:
"This is my body broken for you;" "This is my body given
up for you." He referreth to His death, and giveth them to
know for whom He died: "For you who sit around the table,
and for those who shall follow in your footsteps, and become
my disciples, I have been born, and afflicted with sorrow,
bruised, buffeted, spit on, and crowned with thorns, nailed to
the accursed tree, pierced with the spear of the uncircum-
cised, poured out unto death, and brought to the dust of the
grave." But, higher still: "This is my body broken for you;"
or, according to a frequent idiom of the Greek tongue, “This
is the breaking of my body for you." "As I now break this
bread, and divide it among you all, which ye partake in
common, and, partaking, become nourished by a common
good, which heretofore was whole, but now is diffused over
you; so this my body is to be broken up and to be divided
piecemeal, as it were, amongst my disciples, who are thus to
constitute my body upon the earth, and to be united in one,
as the many members of one body are united in one." Hence
the apostle Paul never faileth to call the Church the body of
Christ; and from this, as if it were no figure, but a reality, he
enforceth all his lessons of charity, which is the bond of per-
fectness. And speaking of the same ordinance, he saith,
“The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the
body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one
body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." This,
therefore, I conceive to be the high theology of the sign, and
the words pronounced on it: that the bread denoteth the
body of Christ; the breaking of it denoteth the change
which took place in His body at death, which, from being one
individual upon the earth, was broken into the form of many
individuals, that is, of His true and faithful disciples; and
that we who are truly of Him are to regard ourselves as in
Him, and representing Him. His body, therefore, is still
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
491
with us in the Holy Catholic Church; and every time this
bread is broke, it doth recall to us the change which passed
by death upon the body of Christ. That from being a visible
shape it should become the unity or community of all the
saints which are upon the earth, this seemeth mysterious.
It is so; but religion without mystery is as absurd as know-
ledge without mystery. And there is as much mystery in
the principles of our knowledge as in the principles of our
faith; which, by the grace of God, we shall demonstrate at
large when once the holy season of the communion is past.
And now that we have arisen out of the region of the
visible and intelligible, which sight and understanding pos-
sess, into the region of the unseen, which faith alone can
enter into and discourse of, we ask your ear a little longer,
the circumcised ear of your heart, while we open a little
further insight into the mystery of the bread.
By nature all mankind hold of one fallen man, even Adam:
of whose substance, with all its attributes of sin, depravity,
and misery, we are by natural generation partakers, both of
body and spirit; for whatever notion may be held concerning
the invisible spirit which God communicates to each man,
there can be no doubt, from the time that it is ours, it is full
of alienation, rebellion, and disobedience, under the law of the
flesh, the partner, yea, and the mover of all its wickedness.
This state of sin and infirmity which is derived to us all was
not the original constitution or nature of the human sub-
stance, but one which it was free, under the temptation of
Satan, to assume, for the manifestation of God's greater glory
in the work of recovering it and reconstructing it in infallible
and perfect blessedness. And this derivation of a sinful sub-
stance unto all his posterity is what the divines mean by
original sin; which if any one deny, then must he hold the
notion that we are born as Adam was created, in the posses-
sion of all his creation powers, and, like him, are tempted to
sin by the power of evil from without, and the infirmity
which is within us. This is the Pelagian, which is now
palmed upon the people for Arminian doctrine, and neces-
sarily leads to three consequences:-1st, A power in man to do
good as well as to do evil, to resist temptation or to yield to
492
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
it. 2dly, The power to do without supernatural help; for if we
may stand of ourselves, then we may not need another's hand
to hold us up. 3dly, The conclusion that we are in a state of
probation, as Adam was. And then what is the gospel? It
can only be a thing to call in or not according as we need it:
something which those who give way need, but those who give
not way need not. But if it be confessed that all give way, as
Adam did, then how is it with them? Why, just as it was
with Adam; they have done an evil work, and must pay the
forfeit of it. And what is that forfeit? Some inward dis-
agreeable feeling, some painful sense of the loss of virtue-
And how is our peace to be restored? By regret, and
repentance, and reparation. But will God accept of this?
Yes, certainly, because He is merciful. And how know ye
that? Christ hath come to declare it. And so Christ be-
comes the great indulger of man's licentiousness. Such is
the sum and substance of Pelagian and Arminian doctrine;
such is the consequence of denying the doctrine of original
sin, which we all believe, and proceed upon as the basis of
all doctrine and the ground of the gospel-a part of it, and
yet the foundation upon which it rests.
Well, then, believing the total depravity and entire help-
lessness of this visible estate of manhood, by virtue of its
connexion with and laying hold upon Adam, our great head,
we desire to know the hope which remaineth for creatures
whose power of good, whose very power of life, hath thus
departed from them. What shall we lay hold upon in order
to lift us out of this fearful pit and miry clay, into which we
have sunk, and in which our feet are holden fast? There is
nothing which we can lay hold of for that great end of
redemption and resurrection but the risen body of Christ: as
it is written, "If Christ be not risen, then are we still in our
sins." It is nothing that Christ was crucified and laid in the
unless He be also risen: for to die is the very consum-
grave,
mation of our lives and demonstration of our helplessness, in
which every one that shareth doth so far forth demonstrate
his taking part with the rest of the fallen creatures. But if
such a one as hath been born and lived and died like other
fallen creatures, have likewise arisen from the dead and liveth
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
493
for ever; then, indeed, there is a door of hope opened to every
poor, mortal, corruptible creature who holdeth the same
nature. On the other hand, again, there would have been no
ground of hope if He had not died, but been translated like
Enoch and Elijah; because in that case it would not have
been made manifest that He was bone of our bone, and flesh
of our flesh, partaker in all respects of the substance of fallen
manhood. He might have been an angel who had but taken
human form and appearance in order to accomplish some
errand and message of God, as the damnable Arian heresy
feigneth. But being proved to be very man and partaker
with man in his doleful condition, by His having borne it
first and last, and all its sorrows and infirmities, and having
risen incorruptible from the tomb, and entered into an eternal
life and infinite power, all eyes and all hearts of mortal kind
ought to be turned unto the risen body of Christ, as the great
demonstration of the possibility and of the fact of redemption
and resurrection from this our low and lost estate.
For what hope is there else? The rest of mankind, all the
children of Adam, lie mouldering in the dust: the worm hath
fed upon them, and corruption hath devoured them. There
is no memory of them, and their name is perished. They had
no power against death while they lived, and when they came
to die they were fain to yield themselves, and the grave
closed her mouth upon them, and they are not. To look for
help from them is utterly vain; they need a helper more than
we, for we are still in the narrow strait and isthmus of life,
but they are swallowed up in the gulf. But here is one Man
who, his life long, prevailed against sickness and death; who
said that He had power to lay down His life, and that He had
power to take it up again; who entered into the house of
death, and spoiled the strong man of the house, contending
with him for His own body, and overcoming him, for it saw
not corruption. There it lay, the seed of the regenerated
world, and death and Satan sought to destroy it for ever; but
it endured all their malignant power, and arose in glory and in
strength into the possession of an eternal life at the right
hand of the throne of God; whence the risen Man shall come
again to judge the world in the last day.
494
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
If, therefore, the children of Adam are ever to be helped
out of their present evil plight of sin and death, it must be
through the power and prevalency of that Son of Adam who
is now in the heavens, far above death and sin, and all princi-
palities, and powers, and dominions, and every name that is
named both in this world and in that which is to come. Here
the resurrection of Christ is the tomb-stone of His divinity,
whereby He was declared to be the Son of God with power:
it is also the strong point of the gospel, to the preaching of
which the preaching of the cross is but preparatory, to shew
forth His true manhood, His being truly in the estate as well
as in the stead of fallen manhood, in preparation for the
shewing forth His resurrection, which is the proof that now
fallen manhood hath been exalted from its lowly bed into
the condition of risen and immortal manhood, and in that
condition will take its superior place of primogeniture above
all other beings, upon the right hand of the throne of God.
These things being so, what have we in the supper but this
risen body of Christ, this headship of risen manhood, unto
which the eyes of all fallen creatures should be directed, and
the hands of all creatures sinking, drowning in death should
be stretched out, and to which the supplications of all that
fell with Adam should be lifted up? This our risen and glori-
fied substance we have presented to us in the symbol of the
supper; which, presenting us with bread, doth say, "This is my
body broken for you," and presenting us with wine doth say,
"This is the blood of the new covenant, which was shed for you;
drink ye all of it." Christ doth as it were let down His body
in this sacred symbol from its regal dignity to the capacity of
the present weakness of man, and present it under a figure
to all who have believed upon Him, and have their hopes
directed upwards to that pole-star of the night, in order that
their faith therein may be strengthened, and that they may
receive a pledge that they shall be partakers thereof. He
doth not present His very body, which is in the heavens, far
removed from mortal sight; He doth not convert wine and
bread into His glorious body, for that is to go quite beyond
the mystery of which the end is in the day of the resurrection,
-to transubstantiate then the fallen substance of the believer
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
495
into the true substance of Christ; but not to transubstantiate
bread and wine into that most glorious substance. He doth
not consubstantiate His body and blood with the elements
of bread and wine; which dogma of obdurate Luther, left
to teach us not to trust in man, hath indeed no touch of the
mystery at all, which transubstantiation hath, though out of
all time and out of all subject. For there is a time when
there shall be a transubstantiation, and there is a subject
upon which it shall be. The subject which shall be transub-
stantiated into Christ's real body is the substance of fallen
manhood in the believer; and the time at which it shall be
done is at the resurrection of the just, before the setting up of
the millennial kingdom, in which they are to reign as kings
and priests upon the earth. But that baked bread and fer-
mented wine were to be transubstantiated into the real body
of Christ, now or at any time, is a beastly sensual folly, which
was never heard of amongst Christians till that mother of
abominations made every holy thing abominable. But that
anything is at any time to be consubstantiated with the body
of Christ, as poor obstinate Luther, to punish his obstinacy,
was permitted to hold with fierce contention against the
Reformed Churches, is an idea for which there is no foun-
dation anywhere. We, indeed, who believe and receive this
pledge of the supper in true faith, shall be consubstantiated
with Christ; but that taketh not place through the conjunc-
tion of any other substance with His glorious substance, but
through the changing of the substance of fallen manhood into
the new state of the risen manhood, by the same change in
the day of our resurrection which passed upon Christ in the
day of His resurrection. But as to making this transubstan-
tiation upon bread and wine, and making it now by the power
of priestly consecration,-which is never to be made but by the
power of the voice of Christ extended upon His sleeping saints
in the renewal of the Church,-it is a monstrous figment,
which should be hunted out of the earth with the fire of the
Holy Spirit, and the sword of the preached word of Christ.
To the eye of faith, and to the handling of faith, and
to the receiving of faith, there is indeed that present tran-
substantiation of which they ignorantly and foolishly say
496
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
that it is made unto the sense. Faith doth, indeed, behold,
and handle, and eat, and feed upon the risen body of Christ,
although invisible to the sense, and incomprehensible to the
understanding of the sense; and we believe that Christ is
truly and really present in the holy sacrament unto every
believer, and is there and then partaken of in a high and
spiritual sense, with which sight and reason have nothing to
do, but which is accomplished wholly by the Spirit through
faith. And that faith.may ascend as by a ladder unto the
. exaltation of Christ's body, He doth let down, from His high
and holy place, this symbol from time to time unto His
Church, to the very end that they may know and most
assuredly believe that His absence, the absence of His body,
divideth Him not from their care, neither divideth Him from
their presence, but that, according to His promise, He is with
us always;—with us, not by bodily or visible presence in
bread and wine, for in that case there were no need for Him
so graciously to comfort His saints under His absence by
this sacrament, if so be that He was present in a wafer, which
could be kept in the corner of a chest, and produced upon all
occasions ;-oh, you miserable, wretched deceivers of ignorant
souls! if yon paltry wafer which you lay up and parade
about with you, be the body of Christ, what need hath the
Church to be comforted with this sacrament over His absence?
for ye say He is present, and this sacrament is constituted
till He come again to be present;-I say, in order to comfort.
those who believe on Him, with His very and true presence
in them, and their union unto Him through faith, He doth
continually present this sacrament of the supper, wherein, by
sensible signs, His death is shewed forth, and thereby His
having truly partaken of man's substance in its fallen estate;
for that is the great use and end of His death, to demonstrate
that He was truly in the state of the fallen, sinful creature:
and not only is this shewed forth, but the worthy partakers
thereof are, not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by
faith, made partakers of His body and blood, to their spiritual
nourishment and growth in grace; or, to use the words of
our Reformers, as expressed in the 21st Article, which is
entitled, "Of the Sacraments:"
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
497
"We utterly condemn the vanity of those that affirm sacra-
ments to be nothing else but naked and bare signs; no, we
assuredly believe that in the supper, rightly used, Christ Jesus
is so joined with us, that He becometh very nourishment and
food to our souls: not that we imagine any transubstantiation
of bread into Christ's natural body, and of wine into His
natural blood, as the Papists have perniciously taught, and
damnably believed; but this union and conjunction, which
we have with the body and blood of Christ Jesus, in the right
use of the sacraments, wrought by operation of the Holy
Ghost, who by true faith carrieth us above all things that are
visible, carnal, and earthly, and maketh us to feed upon the
body and blood of Christ Jesus, which was once broken and
shed for us, which now is in heaven, and appeareth in the
presence of His Father for us: and yet, notwithstanding the
far distance of place which is between His body now glorified
in heaven, and us now mortal on this earth; yet we most
assuredly believe, that the bread which we break is the com-
munion of Christ's body, and the cup which we bless is the
communion of His blood. So that we confess, and undoubt-
edly believe, that the faithful, in the right use of the Lord's
table, do so eat the body and drink the blood of the Lord.
Jesus, that He remaineth in them, and they in Him; yea,
they are so made flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bones,
that as the eternal Godhead hath given to the flesh of Christ
Jesus (which of its own nature was mortal and corruptible)
life and immortality; so doth Christ Jesus His flesh and blood,
eaten and drunken by us, give unto us the same prerogatives.
Which albeit we confess are neither given unto us at this
time only; neither yet by the proper power and virtue of the
sacraments only; yet we affirm that the faithful, in the right
use of the Lord's table, have such conjunction with Christ
Jesus as the natural man cannot apprehend; yea, and further
we affirm, that albeit the faithful, oppressed by negligence
and manly infirmity, do not profit so much as they would in
the very instant action of the supper, yet shall it bring fruit
forth as lively seed sown in good ground; for the Holy Spirit,
which can never be divided from the right institution of the
Lord Jesus, will not frustrate the faithful of the fruit of that
VOL. II.
2 I
498
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
mystical action; but all these, we say, come of true faith,
which apprehendeth Christ Jesus, who only maketh His sac-
raments effectual unto us. And, therefore, whosoever slander-
eth us, that we affirm and believe sacraments to be naked
and bare signs, do injury unto us, and speak against the
manifest truth. But this liberally and frankly we confess,
that we make a distinction between Christ Jesus in His eter-
nal substance, and between the elements in the sacramental
signs; so that we will neither worship the signs, in place of
that which is signified by them; neither yet do we despise
and interpret them as unprofitable and vain, but do use them.
with all reverence, examining ourselves diligently before that
we so do; because we are assured by the mouth of the
apostle, that such as 'eat of that bread, and drink of that
cup, unworthily, are guilty of the body and blood of Christ
Jesus.""
The one idea, therefore, which is contained in the bread of
the supper is this, "that our faith layeth hold of the risen
body of Christ, and feedeth on it." As by nature we all lay
hold of the fallen body of Adam, and grow into its sin, death,
and corruption; so by faith we all lay hold upon the risen
body of Christ, and hope, yea, are assured, that we shall arise
unto the honour, and glory, and immortality thereof. This
we do not in the sacrament merely, but always; for it is the
only object for a fallen creature to look unto-the subject of
all preaching, the object of all believing. In the sacrament
we receive the seal and the pledge of that holy union which
we already have through faith before sitting down at the
sacramental table, or partaking of the sacramental elements.
And every one who proposeth himself to the Church, in order
to receive this seal and pledge at her hands, doth in that
proposal of himself make honest declaration of his belief that
he is united to Christ already, and desireth to make profes-
sion thereof, and to receive the confirmation thereof in the
holy supper. So that as baptism is the seal of the righteous-
ness which we have by faith while yet unbaptized, so is the
supper of the Lord the seal of the union which we have with
the risen body of Christ while yet unsealed with the seal of
the sacrament. Baptism is, therefore, the seal of righteous-
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
499
ness imputed to us; the supper is the seal of a union unto
Christ, wrought in us since our baptism. Imputation is from
an outward source, which is separate from the sinner; union
is the oneness of these two heretofore separate. And this is
the difference between the two sacraments, and the higher,
nobler, diviner character of the latter, that it represents, and
seals, and declareth a union to be wrought, which in baptism
was declared not to be yet wrought. But besides this idea
or doctrine of union with our risen Head which the supper
sheweth forth, there is another idea, of nourishment derived
from our Head in virtue of that union, whereby we are en-
abled to live His life in the flesh, to die His death, and to
partake in His resurrection. For as bread and wine are the
nourishment of strength in the body, and without some such
nourishment of an outward substance the body would decline
and die, so is it signified that the risen body of Christ is
that outward object of which the life of every regenerated
creature is nourished, and without which it would utterly
decline and die. Inasmuch that as if there had been no
Adam, there would have been no creatures in Adam's sinful
likeness; so had there been no risen son of Adam, no Christ,
there would have been no creatures of the fallen stock
graffed into the risen stock, partakers of its righteousness,
its wisdom, its sufferings, and holy obedience, its hopeful
death, and most glorious resurrection. Natural generation
bindeth the link with the first and fallen Adam; faith bindeth
the link with the second and risen Adam; and as we all are
children of the former by nature, so likewise are all believers
children of the latter by faith. Of which two mysteries I
know not whether is the more wonderful: that I, and all of
you, living here some six thousand years from the creation,
should be possessed of the substance, and fulfilling the evil
condition of a being who hath for that very long tract of time
ceased to be a visible being; or, that I and all of you be-
lievers should be partakers of the substance, and fulfilling the
blessed condition of another Being who hath ceased to be a
visible being for a much shorter space. Indeed, I think the
body of Christ to be the less mystery of the two, because we
know He is exalted God over all, and hath all power in
500
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
heaven and earth. Whereas Adam died in weakness and
became a prey to worms, Christ's body rose in power, and
ever liveth to declare and to execute the mighty power of
God. Nor is it to me more mysterious that my spiritual life
should be fed and sustained upon the body of Christ, now in
glory, as its outward nourishment, than that my natural life
should be fed and sustained upon bread and wine, and the
other fruits of the ground. There is a further mystery here
which riseth upon my view, but which I do not now under-
take to discover until I have better apprehended it; which is,
in what sense Christ's risen body shall be the nourishment of
the life of His saints in their risen estate, as the bread and
wine is the nourishment of our bodies in their fallen estate.
I perceive this much, and have oft declared it, that as all be-
lievers hold their resurrection hope of Christ's risen body, so
do all the inferior creatures of the earth hold their resurrection
hope from the resurrection of the saints: for as they fell with
man, their master, so with man, their master, shall they arise
again. So that Christ's body is in truth the hope of the resur-
rection of all visible things which fell with man: out of whom
He is forming unto Himself first a spouse in the elect, and then
a numerous progeny in the days of His kingdom; and out of
all, a church of risen creatures, and a redeemed habitation of
risen creatures upon the earth, with whom, in the ages to
come, to carry on, as I take it, the government of the uni-
verse. Now, in what relation this Church of the first-born
and general assembly of all the children shall stand to the
purchased and possessed inheritance of the earth, and its
various races of creatures, and its various productions, is to
me a mystery upon which I dare not say anything, but which
I do see some shadow of in the choice of bread and wine, and
the use of eating, in the sacrament of the supper.
Let it suffice that we have opened to you the great doc-
trine of the mystery, which is the headship of Christ, and
the membership of all believers; and the nourishment of the
whole body proceeding from and through the head;-the
great end of the mystery, which is the transubstantiation of
the fallen manhood of all believers into the new manhood of
Christ in the day of their resurrection, and their holding
ITS SIGNIFICATION.
501
thereof for ever, as verily and really as all mankind do now
hold of the fallen substance of Adam-so that we shall say,
"I am of Christ the God-man," as naturally as we can say, “I
am of Adam, our first parent;" and we shall shew forth and be
patterns of the nature of Christ, the visible Godhead, unto all
angels and spirits which set their eyes upon us, and hold
converse with us, as we are now exemplars of fallen man.
To keep up the memory of which high and holy distinction of
mankind, and that the Church might not lapse and decline
away into low conceptions of herself through a voluntary
humility, is the very object and end of this sacrament,-the
most precious jewel and the most fragrant mystery which the
Church hath in all her storehouses.
HOMILY III.
THE INVITATION, ADMONITION, AND ARGUMENT FOR ALL
BAPTIZED PERSONS TO COME UNTO THE TABLE OF THE
LORD.
MATTHEW XXVI. 27.
Drink ye all of it.
HAVING now before us, dearly beloved brethren, the near
prospect of the administration of the sacrament of the
Lord's supper in this place, I desire, by the grace of God,
to discharge two duties unto all who statedly attend here
the ministration of divine ordinances: the first, to point out
the obligation which resteth upon every baptized person to
partake of the supper of the Lord, and the sin which is con-
tracted by every one who neglects the same; the second is
to point out the privilege of partaking worthily, and the peril
of unworthily partaking this holy sacrament: and these two
offices of the ministry I now solemnly desire to discharge,
with the view, not only of testifying to the truth as it is in
Jesus, but also of leading you into all truth.
In virtue of your baptism, as we have already taught, you
are brought from the standing of nature into the standing
of grace, and are no longer, before God and His Church,
abiding in the flesh, but abiding in the Spirit; no longer
carnal, but spiritual. It doth not alter this your spiritual
standing before God and the Church, that you have been led
astray by the temptations of Satan, the desires of the flesh,
and the attractions of the world, and that you are still suffer-
ing under their grievous oppression, which hath been the case
with almost every member of God's Church now advanced
into glory. It is the common, and I may say universal
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED. 503
method of God, in bringing His elect ones unto glory, to
shew them their own sinfulness and weakness, by suffering
almost every sin to have the dominion over them. For it is
the sad and sorrowful reality, that we are not otherwise able
to be convinced of our own vileness, and our own weakness,
than by the experience of the same. Pride and self-suffi-
ciency are so bound up in our fallen nature, that we do ever
incline to please and flatter ourselves with the conceit of our
own freedom from, and superiority to those transgressions of
the divine law which we have not been proved to be guilty
of. Therefore, God's discipline with His chosen ones most
commonly proceedeth by suffering them for a while to abide
in the same evil conditions in which the world around them
abideth. But they are not less His elect ones while thus op-
pressed by the devil, than after they have been delivered from
his oppression; for God knoweth His own from the beginning,
and in every stage of their earthly being His purpose accord-
ing to election is working in them. Go not, therefore, ye who
are sitting with the scorner, and walking astray in the counsel
of the ungodly, to say, "I am far from Christ, and have no part
in Him, and need not to trouble myself with His ordinances,
for it is vain, seeing they belong not to wicked persons like me.”
Go not to say, ye Sabbath-breakers, if any such hear me, ye
worldly, covetous, luxurious, and vain, “I have no part in this
matter;" for such were some of us, who are now washed and
purified by the Spirit. Go not, ye prayerless, thoughtless,
heedless, to say, "As for us, we make no profession, and would
not add hypocrisy to our other sins; therefore let us refrain
from the table of the Lord, and not stain its holiness with our
pollutions:"for be it known unto you, all ye unawakened, un-
converted men, that, to the end of teaching you not to despair,
not to doubt, but to believe and be saved, I stand here from
Sabbath to Sabbath, ministering the words of the gospel of
Christ. And now hear what I declare to you, that it is
Satan's arch-deception thus to have persuaded you that you
are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to
the covenants of promise. All your sins are nothing, when
compared with this sin of not believing the grace of God
manifested unto all men in Jesus Christ, and the work of the
504
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Spirit manifested unto you by your admission into the Church.
The sins which you have committed, and under the dominion
of which you still abide, are indeed rendered the more heinous
by being committed in your persons, who are members of
Christ's Church, and by your standing therein should be holy
as He is holy. The sins which ye have done since your
baptism are sins done against light, the light that is in the
Church; and done against covenant,-the covenant of God to
wash away your pollution, yea, to kill and bury the flesh,
-the covenant of God to give you the Spirit, and raise you
unto newness of life. The sins which you have done since
your baptism, all the sin which is committed in the Church,
is a vexing and grieving of the Holy Ghost, with whom you
have been sealed. It is a sinning against the risen, glorified
Son, who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost; and for this sin of
the Church it is that the risen, glorified Christ shall come
against her with overwhelming judgments. I do not wish to
extenuate your sinfulness. God forbid when I do not the
less declare it unto you, that this sinfulness doth not by any
means hide you from the love of the Father unto His own
chosen ones, seeing that all His chosen ones have been
guilty of the same, and, notwithstanding, been forgiven of
God, and gathered unto the Church in glory. There is
nothing in your sinfulness which is not common to the sinful-
ness of all. We are bone of each other's bone, flesh of each
other's flesh; God hath fashioned our hearts alike. Every one
hearing me this day, every member of the Church on earth,
and every inhabitant of the new Jerusalem above, may say,
and ought to say, "In me, that is, in my flesh, in my natural
man, dwelleth no good thing." My sin, brethren, before God,
is not counted by the number of my ostensible transgressions.
and innumerable frailties, but by my inheriting and possess-
ing a fallen nature, along with the rest of the brethren. Every
sin is in me, and I am chargeable with every sin, thought or
not thought, acted or not acted. The infant who thinketh,
who willeth not, is chargeable as I am chargeable. Our
complete, thorough, and radical sinfulness, is a matter of
faith, and not of experience. Experience, alas! it likewise is,
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
505
but by experience is not to be measured, though thereby we
become conscious of it. But far more blessed is he that
believeth than he that waiteth for the experience. He that
believeth his total sinfulness will not need to be convinced
that he must seek righteousness elsewhere; but will flee at
once to the Son for imputed righteousness, and to the Holy
Ghost for the empowering him to possess and perform the
same. But he that believeth no further than he hath proved
by experience, or by conscience hath felt, is in a case to be led
astray again and again into new paths of wickedness, and to
be deluded by Satan; ay, and until he can receive original
sin as a great doctrine of faith, which doctrine, if ye uncon-
verted men will now believe, as it is shewn to you in your
baptism, then, from this time forth, ye may be at once de-
livered from the experimental demonstration of your sinful-
ness. But until you do so believe, God hath, I may say, no
other way permitted to Him to convince you of the same,
save by suffering you to fall more and more egregiously; and
I believe that this your present sinful condition, over which
you make your moan, and which hideth grace and hope from
your eyes, is in very truth caused by nothing else than your
uncertainty and doubt concerning the total depravity and
incurable infirmity of human nature in its best estate. Take
my counsel, therefore, I pray you, and be intreated, for your
soul's sake, to believe this great article of faith, and to act
accordingly, by seeking a righteousness which is not in you,
nor in the Church, but in the great Head of the Church, by
whom it is dispensed through the ordinances of the Church
to all the faithful. And know assuredly, that it is no proof
whatever of your being out of Christ, and out of the Father's
election, that you have been found in sin, and are still under
sin's dominion. Therefore go not to stand afar off from the
subject of this discourse, or from the desire of God's holy
ordinance, but give me good heed while I shew you, in the
second place, the sinfulness and the peril of abiding in your
present state of listlessness, indifference, neglect, and perhaps
contempt of this holy ordinance. And this I sum up in one
head: that you do in a manner excommunicate yourselves
506
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
from the Christian Church, by refusing in your own act to
confirm the action of your parents by which you became a
member of Christ's Church in the sacrament of baptism; and
while you continue so, you stand in great peril of that apos-
tasy which cannot be renewed unto repentance. I do not
say that you are able by any act of your own will, or by the
neglect of any ordinance, to undo and, as it were, make void.
the act of your parents in your baptism. It is possible for a
man in his sober senses to take away the life which he hath
received from his parents by an act of violence done upon
himself, but this he cannot do without rising up against God,
and against nature, and against the laws of human society,
and committing the most heinous, the most enormous of
crimes: wherefore, in all well-regulated countries, his lifeless
body, all that remaineth of him, is disgraced from Christian
burial to the common highway and the most public resort
thereof, ignominiously cast into the earth, and thrust through
with a stake. Even so, a man may, it is true, deprive himself
of that new life which the faith and piety of his parents
sought and obtained from the Church in the sacrament of
baptism, but this he cannot do without committing a crime
which shall neither be pardoned in this world nor in that which
is to come; for thereby he doth rise up against the life, not of
nature, but of the Holy Spirit, and he doth offend, not against
the venerable laws of human well-being, but against the most
holy ordinances of the Church of Christ, doing his part to
make void that which God hath purposed and set forth in
His Son, for the stability and support of all the creation.
Seeing, therefore, this act of spiritual suicide to be of such
hideous guilt, I would indeed be very guarded in saying that
any of you have committed it, while I am bold to say that
every one of us may commit it; and in so far forth as you
refuse by any act of your own to confirm this act of your
parents, you do, so far as man can witness, dishonour and dis-
allow that gravest and solemnest act of baptism, and you
stand in peril every day of falling into that fearful apostasy
or act of self-destruction whereof I have represented the
terrors above. Far be it from me to say that any one who
heareth me hath been guilty of this violent act of spiritual
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
507
self-destruction; for then there were no hope of such a one,
it being impossible to renew such apostates unto repentance.
Still further from me be it to say that by not coming to the
Lord's table you do commit this act. Nay, I believe that all
ordinances may be neglected, and are neglected, that the
recommendations and injunction of the Church may be set
at naught, and the act of excommunication be inflicted in its
heaviest form upon the stout-hearted rebel, and yet this act
of immediate self-destruction not be committed. In which
judgment I am borne out both by the instance mentioned in
the Corinthians, which excommunicates to the end of saving
the soul, and restores again to the end that the excommuni-
cated person may not be swallowed up with too much sorrow;
and I have also the support of the excommunication service
in all orthodox Churches, which is not unto the death and
reprobation, but unto the recovery and restoration, of the
diseased member of Christ. Nevertheless, though the neglect
of the ordinance of the Lord's supper, and of all ordinances
whatever, be no evidence that a baptized man is cut out of
Christ, and thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast into
the fire and burned; yet it is possible, I would have you to be
assured, for every baptized man to commit this great sin
against the Holy Ghost, after which there remaineth nothing
but a fearful looking for of fiery judgment to consume the
transgressor. Nor am I willing too nicely to define this most
fearful act of the human will, lest any timorous and doubting
soul might haply seize upon my imperfect definition, to its
own distress, and even haply to despair. I do simply leave
it there, in its undefined form given by the Lord and His
apostles, assuring every baptized man that he can commit it,
and pointing out to him the way which leadeth to that fearful
precipice and direful abyss of spiritual life. And assuredly,
brethren, the way is first to stand still in our progress, and
then to go backwards, and finally to fall away. The holy
apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, rebuketh them for
having so long stood still; and because he knew that this was
the beginning of apostasy, he, for his part, resolved that he
would not stand still in his instruction of them, but would go.
on steadily unto perfection. Then he addeth as his reason,
508
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
that it was impossible to renew again to repentance those
who were once enlightened, and had tasted the heavenly gift,
and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and tasted the
good word of God, and been make partakers of the world to
come, if they should fall away. Now, dearly beloved brethren,
ye who stand aloof from this holy ordinance because of your
confessed unfruitfulness in the Spirit, do thereby declare that
you are from year to year standing still, and not going for-
ward, and therefore you are in the case of those whom the
apostle warneth of the peril of apostasy. It is true you do
not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, you reve-
rently attend the ordinances of public worship, and haply you
express your faith in Christ by bringing your children to the
font of baptism; but, behold! by your own confession the
word preached doth not savingly profit your souls. The
prayers offered up to the Majesty on high are not accepted
nor answered unto your necessity, and the vows of sponsor-
ship you discharge not, you cannot discharge, while, accord-
ing to your confession, you are living in a state which may
not permit you to approach the table of the Lord. Is not
your case, then, exactly the same with that of the Hebrews,
which the apostle illustrates by the following emblem ?-
"For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft
upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it
is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which bear-
eth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing;
whose end is to be burned." Even like such an unfruitful
field are those who, sitting under my ministry, or the ministry
of any orthodox preacher of the saving truth, do yet, time
after time, as the table of the Lord is spread for nourishing
the children, withdraw themselves from the same, because
they are not bringing forth fruits meet for repentance, but are
still abiding in their sins. The word, the precious seed of the
word, is ever being sown upon them; the dews, the softening
dews of the Spirit, are ever descending around them and upon
them; the labour of the great Husbandman is ever pruning,
and dressing, and digging around them, and He looketh that
they should bring forth unto Him good grapes: but, lo! they
are fruitless, or yield only the sour grapes of a degenerate
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
509
vine. For whom what can be said, what can be done, but,
after having faithfully warned them of the peril of the un-
pardonable sin, to gently intreat them with good hope and
tender love, saying unto them, with the blessed apostle, "But,
beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things
which accompany salvation, though we thus speak?"
I have likened the apostasy from Christ, which precludeth
all hope of repentance, unto the act of suicide, which a man
committeth against his own natural life, because I believe that
every baptized person is brought into responsibility for a new
life. Now, I cannot help making an observation which is
suggested to my mind by this comparison. It is well known
to you that in inquests holden upon suicides, the great point
to be ascertained is whether the act had been committed in a
sound or an insane state of his mind-the latter being justly
accounted no crime, the former a great one. This confirms
by a solemn practice what most of you may have observed
or read of, that when men fall into a state of insanity, they
are very liable to do the act of suicide; as, indeed, I have per-
sonally known in the case of two of the most holy and
benevolent men; and this action, being done in the absence
of reason, is not looked upon as a crime for which they are
responsible to the laws of men or of God. Now, it hath been
affirmed to me by the most competent witnesses, that there
is nothing which so much prepares the way for insanity as
indulgence of parents to the wilfulness of their children. I
remember to have been told by a physician who had the
charge of the asylum of the most populous county in the
empire, that nine out of ten of all the cases were cases of per-
sons who had been indulged and spoiled in their childhood.
Whether the disorder seated in the constitution led to this
wilfulness, or whether the wilfulness of the child produced
the madness of the man, he took not upon him to say; but
he did solemnly assure me that the fact was as I have stated
it above. Taking it, therefore, to be so, I have to observe
that it casts much light upon the mysterious act of apostasy
or spiritual suicide; shewing us, first, that the madness which
leadeth thereto doth begin in the resistance of the authority
and rejection of the love of our parents. And whom baptism
510
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
doth constitute our parent the ordinance itself declareth: “I
baptize thee in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost." Being thus brought into the family of
the Father, we testify the first beginnings of that spiritual
malady which endeth in apostasy by rejecting the love
and refusing the commands of our Father which is in heaven.
And what is His love, and what is His commandment?
Is not His love the giving of His Son to be crucified for
us?
"God so loved the world, that he gave his only-be-
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life." And what is His command-
ment? Is it not to honour the Son, even as we honour the
Father? And how do we honour the Son but by keeping
His commandments? And is it not His dying commandment,
"Do this in remembrance of me?" In His death upon the
cross, the love of the Godhead shone most gloriously. In
the holy supper, commemorative of His death, the command-
ment of Christ is as it were centred and fixed. And methinks
it is the last act of wilfulness in the children to set at nought
this meat, which hath been prepared at so much cost, and is
fraught with so much benefit and blessedness. It is as if a
child should refuse the wholesome bread for which his father's
brow hath sweat, and which his mother's hand hath carefully
prepared. And truly as wise parents in such a case of fro-
wardness are wont to act, by setting aside the despised meat,
and suffering the little recreant to prove the pains of hunger,
and come to his senses again, and then to present before him
that which he had rejected; so doth the Church, your mother,
patiently and lovingly put forward, from time to time, the
manna from heaven, angels' food, the flesh and blood of Christ,
which with so much cost the Father prepared, and serveth
the Church withal, for the nourishment of His house. This
meat, I say, which is meat indeed, and this drink which is
drink indeed, we do set forth to you again and again; which
if you again and again reject, it will come to pass that the
nourishment of life, the only nourishment of spiritual life, being
by you refused, starvation, death by starvation, will ensue; which
will not be the less wilful self-murder, because there hath been.
no other act of the will, no absolute voluntary renunciation of,
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
511
and blasphemy against, the Holy Ghost. And thus truly it is
that multitudes pass into eternity guilty of the unpardonable
sin of apostasy, who have never, by any actual renunciation,
but by the neglect of the means and ordinances of life, brought
themselves to that hideous perdition. But wherever an act
of wilful apostasy doth supervene upon the neglect of ordi-
nances, it can, like the suicidal act, most frequently be traced
back to the rejection of our heavenly Father's affection, and
the refusal of His commandment to bear testimony to the
death and resurrection of His Son for our reconciliation and
justification. Therefore, dearly beloved, I give you timeous
warning to beware of standing aloof from the holy family of
Christ's Church; for these are times in which that wilful act
of renouncing Christ is not rare, but very frequent, amongst
us.
Leaves never drop faster from the tree in autumn than
men do now fall away from the Church; denying the spiritual
substance of baptism, refusing the authority of the Church,
proudly setting at nought all the ordinances of God, and
finally denying Christ and the Holy Ghost to be persons of
the Godhead. Is it rare for men brought up in the bosom of
the Church to fall away to infidelity? The question ought
rather to be put the other way: Is it rare for young men
brought up in the bosom of the Church to abide by their
mother, and to remember the holy name by which they are
called? Yes, this is rare, this is very rare, for it is confirmed
unto me by the testimony, not of tens, but of hundreds, now
hearing me, most sponsible members of this church, that in
their workshops and places of business, the scoffers at the
name of Christ far outnumber the believers therein, and oft,
yea, most frequently, they stand alone, like Lot testifying in
Sodom. Now, therefore, is not a time for men to straggle
away from the banner which God hath uplifted amongst us;
when, on every side, not single soldiers but whole companies.
are cut off. Now is a time for every man to stand to his
arms, and encompass the banner of the Lord. And as when
our brave countrymen were set upon at unawares in their march
through the deep fields of standing corn, which covered the
enemy from their view, they did on the instant betake them-
selves to their military discipline, and close their squares on
512
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
every side, and so preserve their lives and their arms; we ought,
in these times, when apostasy, under covert of toleration,
liberality, charity, and every fair disguise, cometh on from every
region of our fellowship, to betake ourselves to our ecclesiasti-
cal discipline, and be assured that thus we shall live in honour,
or die with the benediction of our Captain. I do pray you,
dearly beloved, by the bonds of our mutual love, that ye
withstand not these our most urgent intreaties, but give good
heed to the peril of apostasy and perdition, which doth stare,
as it were, in the face all who make light of it, or neglect the
holy sacrament of the Lord's supper because of their alleged
unworthiness to partake thereof. Oh, even now, put away
your sins! See your sins buried in baptism; and not your
sins only, but the very substance of sin-the flesh, the body
of sin. Act faith upon your baptism, I say. Do it even now.
See yourselves therein not only dead to sin, but raised to
righteousness; born again of water and of the Spirit. Oh, go
not to disbelieve God's holy covenant; for remember that they
could not enter into the rest who disbelieved. Wait not for
a season and a time until you shall have experienced such
convictions of sin and such fruits of righteousness as you
fancy may justify you, or entitle you to approach the holy
table. Nay, calculate not on time, for our times are in His
hand; and time is not an element necessary to the acts of
God, nor yet to the actings of our own spirit. Faith doth not
require time to germinate and bring forth justification. Justi-
fication is not a work, but it is an act of God. Believe, I say,
in the covenant of baptism, which expresseth original sin
buried, together with all actual sins which proceed from it,
which expresseth new life, regeneration, together with all the
fruits of the Spirit. Act faith herein, I say, and come to the
Lord's table, freely and fully privileged. Oh, my brethren, it
is not to put a bar that we ministers make so much previous
instruction, and that the Church appoints so much previous.
preparation. Still less is it to beget the most fatal pharisaical
error, that a certain measure of attainment and advancement
in the divine life is necessary. It is not to search you with
the dim candle of our discernment. It is not to try you in
any scales of our own construction.
It is not to sist you
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
513
until you can read off from your changed mind this and that
experience. Oh no; far be these things from an orthodox
catholic Church: they savour of schism and of sect. Ours is
quite another; we meet our intending communicants and the
youth of our flock, in order to instruct them in the excellence
of this holy sacrament, and to stir them up with zeal unto the
desire for the same; and this we shall endeavour to do for
the whole congregation this very day, postponing to this
higher object our ordinary instructions, and endeavouring
what in us lies to bring it to pass that no one of the flock
should be without the nourishment of these green pastures,
and the refreshment of these quiet waters. Meanwhile, we do
most earnestly entreat you to lay to heart the matter of this
discourse, wherein we have endeavoured to remove obstacles
out of the way, to expose the peril of standing afar off, and
to encourage you to draw near to the table of the Lord.
We come now to consider, in the second place, the ob-
stacles which arise before the minds of baptized persons, to
be removed from the way of the Lord's table, and shall en-
deavour, by the help of God, to present unto all the baptized
that grace of the Spirit of God, and those benefits to the soul
of the believer, which should induce us, with one consent, to
draw near and partake of this holy ordinance; a duty of the
holy ministry which is at all times incumbent upon the
preachers of the word, but then most especially incumbent,
when the Lord's supper is about to be administered, and,
above all, in times like these, when the privilege and the duty
of communicating are alike forgotten or neglected by the
great multitude of those who belong to the Christian Church:
for, if we were to compare the numbers of those who partake
this holy ordinance with the numbers who partake it not, we
should find a most lamentable defection, calling loudly for
the strenuous endeavours of those who are stewards of the
mysteries to recall the attention of the Church to this most
precious and much-neglected ordinance. In setting forth the
value of any ordinance, we conceive the duty of a Christian
minister to be, first of all, simply and sincerely to state the
place which it holdeth in the institutions of the great Head
of the Church, without any respect whatever to the misrepre-
VOL. II.
2 K
514
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
sentations and misapprehensions of men, that the truth may
speak for itself, and the ordinance be commended upon the
ground of its own worth. Baptism, then, is for the manifes-
tation of a new life, which is born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The
written and preached Word is for the information, and en-
lightening, and edification of this new life of the Holy Ghost.
As the new-born child is cherished with the love, and
nourished by the milk of its mother, so ought the infants
and children of the Church to be nourished with divine in-
struction, and to receive the sincere milk of the word from
the Church, the mother Church, that they may grow thereby.
And as the infant is not fed with bread and wine, and the
other nourishments of full-grown manhood, but extracteth
the milky juices thereof from the breast of its mother, so may
not the infants and children of the Church be nourished upon
the same strong food which the Church herself partaketh in
the supper of the Lord, but with the milky extract of the
same, dropping from the lips of a Christian father and a
Christian mother—of the hundred fathers and the hundred
mothers which Christ hath promised to His people in this
world, when He promised to them life eternal in the world to
come. And every full-grown man in the Church of Christ
should feel that he is a father, to instil wisdom, and every
full-grown woman that she is a mother, to drop affection and
loving-kindness, upon all the children of the Church of Christ.
We who are ministers of the gospel unto the Church, and the
highest, most learned, and most profound instructors of the
Church, ought chiefly to attend unto the nourishment and
the growth of those who are fathers and mothers in Israel,
while we press it upon them, and refuse not ourselves to shew
them the example, of breaking down the bread unto the
children, and giving them their food in due season. Such is
the nurture and admonition of the Lord, in which the bap-
tized infants should grow up to the stature of full men in
Jesus Christ. But as children do but for a short time depend
upon their mother's breast, and as youth is not always to be
dieted by the rules of the nursery, but doth in good time arrive
at that stage when the sense becometh exercised to discern
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
515
both good and evil; so in the Church the time is anxiously
expected when every one of her members shall desire the
food of full-grown men, which is communicated in the ele-
ments of bread and wine at the table of the Lord.
The table of the Lord doth, therefore, fix an epoch in the
life of every Christian, at which he may step out from the
guardianship of others, and become responsible for himself.
Now the Church, which, as hath been said, is not, like the
world, under the conditions of time and place, doth not fix
any number of years at which this spiritual majority may or
ought to be taken up; but simply requireth that the baptized
should be of such maturity of knowledge as to be able to
examine themselves, lest, coming unworthily, they should eat
and drink judgment to themselves. And the office which the
rulers of the Church fulfil, as the stewards of the mysteries
of Christ, is merely to have a care that no one ignorant or
deficient as respecteth knowledge, that no one blamable and
offensive as respecteth life, should with a veil over his eyes,
and with his unrepented sins upon his head, sit down to
debase by superstition, or to profane by wickedness, this the
sanctuary of the Church of God. But it is, as hath been said,
our constant desire and entreaty unto all to come and partake
of the waters of life freely. And I do now, as the consecrated
and ordained minister of this Church, present unto all who
are wont to worship and hear with us, the most cordial invita-
tion, and the most pressing entreaty, to come unto the table
of the Lord, and to eat and drink abundantly of that which
the Lord hath prepared. And to the end of encouraging and
enticing them, I do present the following most grave con-
siderations.
First, In this holy sacrament you have set forth to you the
elements of spiritual life, the body and blood of Christ.
Hitherto you have held of Christ through the intermedium
of another. You might not hitherto approach unto Him but
through those who hold over you the sponsorship under the
Church; nay, and if you did, you might not expect the bless-
ing, save through whom the Church hath appointed over
your childhood. Whether we may, or whether we may not,
reverence the persons whom the Church hath taken as our
516
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
sponsors, Christ will reverence them; and acteth in such wise
as not to deal with us but by their intervention, or, if they
should neglect their office, by the intervention of some others
whom he may please to use. But for the substance of the
inferiority it remaineth the same, in order to be a continual
inducement for us to seek the standing of full-grown men, of
free men in His Church. If the great Head of the Church
were to put no difference in His communication with the bap-
tized and the communicants, then would there be no differ-
ence to induce the baptized to sit down at His table, and the
spiritual administration within the veil would not answer to
the visible administration without the veil. I say it, there-
fore, because I believe it, that one who standeth apart from
the supper of the Lord never shall have the personal and
close communion with the great Head which is enjoyed by
him that seeketh the same in the observance of the holy
ordinance. If I understand anything of the Lord's supper, it
presenteth unto the faithful a full measure of the manhood
of Christ. When it is said over the bread, "This is my body,'
and when we in faith do receive the bread, I understand that
the Spirit communicateth unto us the perfect and complete
communion of the body of Christ; that is to say, the Spirit
proceeding from Christ doth, without intervention of another
person, communicate unto the believer, directly and immedi-
ately, the full participation of humanity redeemed by Christ.
say not of Christ's personal body, but of humanity cast in
that very mould, instinct with that very Spirit, and heir of
that very holiness, beauty, and glory. We receive from Christ,
by His Spirit, the complete and perfect likeness of His man-
hood, just as truly and verily as we receive from Adam the
complete and perfect likeness of his sinful manhood. As a
child differeth from a man in his understanding, his inde-
pendence, his power, so doth the gift in baptism from that
communicated in the supper of the Lord. All the arts of the
world cannot convert a child into a man, so that he should
become an intelligent administrator of his affairs, a husband,
or a father; so I believe no arts of instruction can convert a
baptized person into a full-grown man; which degree I believe
to be attainable only by the faithful use of the ordinance of
I
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
517
the supper,
For ordinances are not barren things without
fruit, neither are they idle things without usefulness; He
that appointed them will take good care that His appoint-
ment be not nugatory and vain. If, therefore, you desire
to have the Holy Spirit operating in you all the functions
of a perfect man,-understanding to fathom the Scriptures,
wisdom to guide your affairs with discretion, courage to en-
counter the enemies of the Church, skill to command her
forces, discretion to conduct her councils, love to be a father
or mother in Israel, honour to fulfil her offices, together with
all other qualifications for being an active member of the
Christian Church,-then must you seek for those gifts at the
table of the Lord. In every other ordinance there interven-
eth between you and the Head of the Church another per-
son,-in baptism, both your father and the minister; in
preaching, the preacher; but in the Lord's supper there in-
terveneth no one. It is the nearest approach unto the great
Head of the Church. Every Christian transacteth for him-
self with his living and risen Head. It is a personal act,
which every man in his own free-will and agency acteth for
himself; and therein consisteth its special power of character-
ising Christian manhood. Now, before leaving this our first
inducement to the Lord's supper, let me observe, that so
much was this idea of childhood and manhood connected
with baptism and the Lord's supper in the primitive Church,
that the whole discipline of the Church towards the baptized.
was but an expression of this one idea. The baptized were
placed under the catechising and supervision of others-aye,
and until they were judged to be of sufficient maturity to sit
down at the Lord's table; whereupon they ceased from that
restraint and supervision, and were ripe for taking upon them
the offices of catechists, of deacons, of elders, of pastors, in
their turn. And I may observe that this likewise is the dis-
cipline of the Reformed Churches. Of our Church, as is well
known to you, it is as constant a provision to have a parish
school as a parish church; the one for the instruction of the
children, the other for the instruction of the men in the oracles.
of God and the offices of the Church. Schooling is now looked.
upon as a thing apart from religion. At the Reformation it
518
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
was not so, nor is it so in any of the institutions which grew
out of the Reformation. In the Church of England, also, all
schools and seminaries of learning were but nurseries of the
Church; and, in both Churches, the parochial ministers are
required to take as diligent an oversight of the children as of
the full-grown men. These things are neglected in practice,
they are even forgotten in principle; but to one acquainted
with their origin and principles, they do all but shadow forth
the great idea expressed above, of the difference between the
grace communicated by baptism and the grace communicated
by the holy supper. I do call upon you, therefore, beloved
brethren, by all the dearest and noblest desires of liberty, by
all the holy and heavenly ambitions of the new man, by all
the propensities which make a youth aspire to the station and
function of a man,-I call upon you also by the wants and
necessities of the Church, her need of brave soldiers, her need.
of wise counsellors, her need of eloquent advocates,—I call
upon you by the distresses of the Church of Christ, her schisms
needing to be healed, her losses needing to be repaired, her
unproductive wastes needing to be cultivated, her active
occupations needing to be extended, by whatever it is praise-
worthy for a youth to aspire to, by whatever is dutiful in a
redeemed child of God, and by whatever is tenderly affec-
tionate to the members of Christ,—I do call upon and entreat
you, young men, not to abide any longer in your tutelage, in
your ignorance, in your weakness, but to come to the table
of the Lord, and, in receiving the nourishment, to receive the
strength, might, wisdom, and activity of full-grown men.
The second consideration by which the Lord's supper
presseth itself upon all the baptized is, for the remission of
sins, according to that word pronounced over the cup, "This
is the new testament in my blood shed for the remission of
sins." Baptism is for the remission of sins, and, as hath been
said, for the death and burial of the sinful flesh. But, not-
withstanding this seal which we receive of death unto sin and
life unto righteousness, we do, through want of faith in that
holy covenant, fall into divers sins, which are vexations of the
Holy Spirit; for after baptism we stand no longer in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. Of these sins, also, we have the forgive-
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
519
ness in Jesus Christ through faith, and the consciousness of
indwelling sin is our continual argument unto repentance and
unto faith in the atonement of Jesus. But as the unbaptized,
through believing in Christ, and through that faith having
remission, do nevertheless long for the seal thereof in the
baptismal covenant; even so the baptized person, though he
believeth to be forgiven for the sins done in the spirit, as for
the sins done in the flesh, doth nevertheless desire to have
the seal thereof; which is given him in the sacrament, whereof
the cup doth convey the seal of the new testament for the
remission of sins. Those, therefore, who are burdened with
their sins, instead of being deterred from coming to this holy
table, ought the rather upon that account to be moved thereto,
that this burden may be removed from their shoulders, for
Christ is exalted a Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance
and remission of sins unto Israel. He, the great Head of the
Church, doth within the vail evermore present unto the Father
His own sacrifice with His own flesh and blood, and doth ever
give the seal thereof unto His Church without the vail, in the
sacrament of the Lord's supper. And every one who is con-
scious of sin ought, with grief and sorrow of heart, to repent
of the same, and so, coming to the table of the Lord, receive
remission. Be assured that the great High Priest, the Prince
and the Saviour on high, will grant first repentance and then
remission of sin to every believer, by this holy ordinance.
Now, out of this second idea, or doctrine, of the supper, arise
some of the most constant and holy customs of the Church.
For example, the Sabbath, as it is called, of preparation,
immediately before the administration of the supper; on
which day the minister is required to exhort the people to self-
examination and forsaking of all known sins, to the forgiving
of all offences, and the healing of all divisions; after which a
day is set apart for solemn fasting and humiliation on account
of the sins which exist in the midst of the flock. And in the
apostasy, through whose disguises the forms of the primitive
Church are easily to be discerned by the skilful, this point
of doctrine is expressed in discipline, by their being required,
oftener, I believe, than once, to go unto confession and to re-
ceive absolution before partaking of the sacrament, all prov-
520
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
ing that remission of sins is considered by the Church to be of
the essence of this ordinance. I have further to observe, that
the apostle, when contemplating Christ at the passover, doth
represent the Church as purged from the old leaven of malice
and of wickedness: "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed
for us therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with.
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." There is, there-
fore, in every administration of the supper, a solemn pledge
given unto the faithful that their sins are forgiven; and, there-
fore, that day ought to be to them a day of joy and gladness,
a feast, and a good day; and, like the Jews upon the fall of
Haman, and the issuing of the king's decree for their release
from death, the Church should have light, and gladness, and
joy, and honour. Out of this most valuable doctrine of the
holy supper hath arisen the abomination of the mass, wherein
the priest pretendeth to offer up the true body of Christ, and
to make atonement for the sins of all who receive the same.
Most pernicious blasphemy, yet revealing to me a great
mystery of godliness beneath the mystery of iniquity. The
mystery of godliness is, that every time we administer the
supper, Christ is visibly set forth crucified in the midst of us;
and that every one who in true faith partaketh doth indeed
receive the remission of his sins; and therefore right wisely
hath our Church appointed a solemn service of thanksgiving
on the day following the holy action. Wherefore, well beloved,
I do entreat as many of you as groan and are burdened under
the sense of your sins, to examine and prove yourselves in the
sight of Almighty God; to confess and mourn over all your
sins, as being done against light and against the Spirit; and
to pray unto Christ, the Prince and the Saviour, for repent-
ance and remission: then to come unto the holy table, and
receive the most comfortable sacrament of His body and
blood, in seal and in testimony that the burden is removed
from off your shoulders; after which you may go on your
way rejoicing, giving honour and glory unto the Father
through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The third and last consideration by which the Lord's
supper commendeth itself unto all the baptized in Christ
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
521
Jesus, is for the continual nourishment of that new life which
baptism bringeth unto light. I consider baptism in the
economy of the Church to be the generation of a new life,
which seeks its nourishment from the great head and fountain
of life, that is, Jesus Christ, our risen Head. This life is
quickened by the seed of the word which liveth and abideth
for ever. And being quickened through the Holy Ghost ac-
companying the word, it receiveth strength and nourishment
upon the body of Christ, just as the child in the womb is
nourished upon the body of its mother; and if separated
from that body by any evil accident, it becometh an abor-
tion, and never arriveth unto the birth, which is the resurrec-
tion of the saints. Like as, therefore, the unborn child hath
its being, hath the continuance of its being, only through
union to, and nourishment derived from, the body of its
mother; like as the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide
in the vine, and continue to derive its nourishment through
the root and stem of the vine, and falleth into decay, fruitless-
ness, and corruption from the time that it is separated by any
accident; like as any member of the body cannot subsist
alone, but doth straightway, when separated from the living
body, perish, and corrupt, and return unto its dust ;-even so
a baptized person who is brought into the communion of
Christ's body, and, as it is written in our Catechism, graffed
into Christ, cannot subsist alone, but hath his being only
from the life which was manifested in Christ; and he may
not expect otherwise to live, for the Holy Spirit is not given
to generate and support a life independent on or out of
Christ, but to bring the creature which hath not life, but
death in itself, into communion with Him who alone hath
life in Himself. The operation of the Holy Ghost is not an
independent acting of an independent person unto independ-
ence of being, but is the acting of a person who hath subor-
dinated himself unto Christ, to the very end of bringing so
many of the creatures as the Father hath given unto Christ
out of that state of natural independence, in which, by reason
of sin, we fancy ourselves to be, or rather really are; and
to reconstitute them, to reconstitute all the election in Jesus
Christ, even as branches are taken out of the wild olive, and
•
522
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
graffed into the good olive, which is the Root out of Jesse, the
Branch of renown, the true Vine, in whom and upon whom
all the fruitful branches do grow, flourish, and bear fruit.
Now, dearly beloved brethren, to express this union to Christ,
this our oneness with Him, this our growth upon Him, this
our life by Him, the holy supper is on very purpose insti-
tuted and preserved in the Christian Church. And the Holy
Spirit, which the faithful have given to them in their baptism,
doth, no doubt, without any exception, testify unto every
man who hath been quickened by Him, that his life is not a
life inhering in himself, or proper to himself, but a life wholly
contained and invested in the risen God-man, and from Him
propagated unto as many as the Father pleaseth to bestow
upon Him; and therefore the Holy Ghost doth testify unto
the Father and the Son. And when an ordinance is thus
constituted in the Church, to the very end of signifying this
union and dependence of life, the Holy Spirit will never fail
to induce the child of Jesus to come unto this ordinance, in
order to receive from the Father his nourishment, through
the Son, by that channel of conveyance which the Son, ever
obedient unto the Father, hath Himself instituted in the
Church until He come again. And you may rest assured,
my brethren, that if you have no urging and impulses of the
heart towards this blessed ordinance, it is so either because.
you are not yet enlivened by the Spirit, or because you
understand not the ordinance aright. If you are not en-
livened by the Spirit, it ariseth from your not exercising faith
upon the covenant sealed by God with you in baptism to
give you the Holy Spirit. And all that I can do is to assure
you of God's faithfulness to His covenant, and entreat you to
believe therein, and pray continually of God to quicken you
with His living Spirit, the living Spirit of Christ. But if it
be ignorance of the ordinance, then have I this day done for
you a minister's part, and do again explain to you that it is an
ordinance for receiving spiritual food, in order to support a
spiritual life. What bread and wine, entering by the mouth,
and eaten, and passing into the body, do for the sustenance
of the natural life, that same office doth the Lord's supper,
spiritually received, for the nourishment of the spiritual life.
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
523
The great Head of the Church, who in baptism communi-
cateth the Spirit to generate the life, doth in the Lord's
supper communicate the Spirit to feed and nourish the life;
and without this ordinance I believe He will not communi-
cate nourishment unto the Church. I, the minister, neglect-
ing it, or not faithfully receiving it, shall cease from my
knowledge and utterance of the truth. We, elders, not re-
ceiving it in faith, shall cease from our love, care, and com-
fort of the flock. We, deacons, not receiving it, shall cease
from our faith in God's providence over His house, from our
care of the poor and the orphans, from our watchfulness over
the Church's outward wealth. We, parents, not receiving the
supper in faith, shall cease from our sacred sponsorship over
the children of the Church. We, members of every name,
who sit down at the table of the Lord, not partaking thereof
in faith, shall surely fail to be nursing fathers, nursing
mothers, tender brothers, tender sisters, kind and gentle
friends, charitable nurses of the flock of Christ. And the
whole body of the Church shall grow famished, sickly, pallid,
diseased, vile, and corrupt, communicating from itself nothing
but loathsomeness, poison, and death; even as hath come
to pass in the places where this holy ordinance is converted
into the most concentred superstition,—a very focus of hell-
ish error and abomination. Now, I ask you to tell me, what
such a mother, all diseased and defiled, can from her bosom
yield unto her baptized children but disease, leanness, death?
So completely doth baptism, the preaching of the word,
prayer, praise, watchfulness, faith, hope, and charity, depend
for their fulness and efficiency upon the holy sacrament of
the Lord's supper, which is to the family of the Lord exactly
what it names itself to be, the table of the Lord, the bounti-
ful board from which the household are all fed, and without
which the household pines and dies. Oh, let the thing speak
for itself. What can a table, decently spread, encompassed
with the baptized only, served by the ministers, elders, and
deacons of the Church only, who being the greatest are yet
those that do serve, on which table bread called Christ's body,
and wine called Christ's blood,-what, I say, can this mean
but this, that this spiritual family, this united brotherhood,
524
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
this body corporate, is nourished and sustained by the power
and virtue which God the Father hath given unto His own
crucified and now risen Son? Truly he that runneth may read
what is meant by the table of the Lord. A wayfaring man,
though a fool, will not err therein. Like every other work of
God and institution of Christ, it speaketh for itself, and need-
eth no interpreter. Would that men would look at it with
simplicity, and interpret it with simple honesty! Then should
they not err nor be easily led astray by the subtleties of the
deceiver. Add to this the constant doctrine of ordinances,
that no one despising the ordinance may expect to receive
the work of the Holy Ghost therein exhibited. And how
important, how unspeakably important, doth this holy ordi-
nance become,-so important as bread is unto life, so impor-
tant as a well-supplied table is to the life and activity of the
household. Where were the father's sinewy strength, and
where the mother's nourishing bosom, where the children's
healthful happy hours, where the servants' patient toil, if the
bread and the oil and the water of the house were drained?
It is because the Church is stored, the poor widowed
Church's barrel is not, nor her cruse of oil, run out,—that the
Church ceaseth not to bear children, to rear children, to pre-
sent children perfect unto her living Lord.
Now then, beloved brethren, ye have heard in this day's
ministrations a large discourse upon this precious ordinance,
intended to remove all obstacles out of the way, to shew the
peril of apostasy, of self-destruction, and utter perdition in
which they stand who keep aloof from the same, and to open.
and explain the manifold great and precious advantages
which come of the right administration and reception there-
of. Take this as my offering of love and faithfulness unto all
the baptized who have not yet partaken of the Lord's sup-
per, and especially to such of them as the Lord hath brought
to sit under my ministry. Suffer, I pray you, the word
of exhortation, remembering that all Scripture is with me,
and preaching, "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and
for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may
be perfected, thoroughly furnished unto every good work."
What I have done in my ministerial capacity, let us, the
INVITATION TO THE BAPTIZED.
525
elders of the Church, do in our pastoral capacity,-let all
the deacons and members of the Church do in their personal
capacity, entreating, remonstrating, patiently instructing all
the baptized who are arrived at sufficient maturity of under-
standing, to give heed to these most concerning truths, and
to be zealous for the ordinances of the Lord. Then shall the
Lord, the great Head of the Church, when He beholdeth in
us such endeavour to do Him honour, come near to us with
the sweet influences of His Spirit, send forth among us the
sweet fruits of righteousness, make us the mother of many
children, and the nurse of more: we shall live in His sight,
we shall prosper in His favour, we shall advance in strength,
we shall increase in number, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against us.
Our sons shall be as plants grown up in
their youth; our daughters as corner-stones, polished after
the similitude of a palace; our garners shall be full, affording
all manner of store: our sheep shall bring forth thousands
and ten thousands in our streets: our oxen shall be strong
to labour; there shall be no breaking in, nor going out; there
shall be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people
that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God
is the Lord!
HOMILY IV.
THE INVISIBLE GRACE SIGNIFIED AND CONVEYED TO THE
FAITHFUL IN THE RECEIVING OF THE BREAD.
LUKE XXII. 19.
This is my body which is given [broken] for you.
TO the understanding of this text, it is necessary that we
should seek in the Holy Scriptures what is understood.
by the body of Christ, and what is the special virtue of its
being offered for us. And to the end of ascertaining these
points, no passage of Scripture occurs to me as more pro-
fitable than the tenth chapter of St Paul's Epistle to the
Hebrews, where the subject of Christ's body and the offering
of it is thus treated of:-Ver. 5, "Wherefore when he cometh
into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt-offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said
I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me)
to do thy will, O God." From these words, which the Holy
Spirit putteth into Christ's mouth upon the eve of His coming.
into the world, we learn that His body is that human nature
which was prepared for Him by the Holy Ghost; not merely
the body, but the body in a living state—that is, the soul and
the body united in one. To prepare this body is represented
as the work of God, and to take it, as the work of Christ, to
the end of His coming into the world, or becoming manifest
unto the creatures in a creature-form. This body, therefore,
or His human nature, is a new thing, prepared on purpose by
God the Father, through the efficiency of the Holy Ghost-is,
in short, the substance of manhood possessed and up-borne by
the Holy Ghost. Now, observe how both the Spirit of God
in the holy psalmist and in the holy apostle doth set this
body—the taking of it, and the offering of it-in opposition to
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
527
all manner of sacrifices and offerings for sin made under the
law. You have heard the quotation from the psalm, hear
the apostle's reasoning thereupon:-Ver. 8, "Above when he
said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which
are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish
the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Not, there-
fore, unto atonement for sin, yea, not even unto the pleasure
or acceptance of God, were the sacrifices offered under the
law; but only unto the keeping up the memory of sin, and the
faith of a body most precious, which was about to be prepared
for an offering, did they avail; by which body, prepared by
the Holy Ghost of sinful materials, when the Son had ap-
prehended and taken loving hold of the former types and
shadows of it, which God had no pleasure in, and which
were taken away, in order that His good pleasure and
satisfaction might shine forth in this offering of the body
of Jesus Christ, which He had prepared for Himself;-by
which body His Son was enabled to become a servant,
and the Father was able to lay upon Him and perform in
Him whatever His pleasure was, and so to get His mind
expressed in the sight and hearing of all creatures, and this
is meant by these words, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God." By the divided personalities of the Godhead, now
manifested in separation, the Godhead is able, through its
own device and energy, to make plain its own being and
its own attributes; and this is the prodigious virtue of the
Son's taking a body, that the Godhead, being thereby mani-
fested as three distinct personalities, might bring its own
secret purposes into light. None but the Son could do the
Father's will, which He had from all eternity done, but in the
incomprehensible mystery of the Godhead only; but which
He is now to do by means of a body in the visible regions of
knowledge, and comprehension, and feeling, within the limited
sphere of word and reason. 'Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God" these words contain the end for which the body was
prepared and taken. He who was the Word to reveal the
528
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
will now becometh a body to do the will: "The Word was
made flesh." But in order that the Word might become
likewise the doer of the work, He must have in Himself the
virtue of the Holy Ghost also, through whom alone any part
of the divine will is acted and done; and accordingly Christ's.
body is the Holy Ghost's containing vessel or reared temple;
-a temple far more august than the work of creation,
which fell under the bondage of sin, over which Christ's body
triumphed gloriously. Unto this work of the Holy Ghost,
created not out of nothing as heretofore, but created out of
the fallen thing by the Holy Ghost, did Christ join Himself,
that having in Himself both the word and the effect of God's
will, He might for ever perform the same to all eternity, in the
sight, knowledge, feeling, and experience of all things created
and made. It is not a mere active or passive obedience in
the days of His flesh to which the words, "Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God," have their proper reference and application,
but unto the entire counsel and purpose of the secret God-
head, which Christ in His body, and by the Spirit resident
there, shall perform, and cause to be performed, by all created
beings and existent things in the universe of God and the
eternity of ages to come. But, amidst the infinite variety
and the stupendous magnitude of actings upon actings which
arise before the comprehensive and contemplative spirit,
through the amphitheatre of creation and the endless vista
of ages, there is one act in that body performed which the
apostle singleth out as the means of our sanctification, in
these words, "By the which will we are sanctified, through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all;" which act
is, no doubt, that very same to which the words of the text
have reference when it is said, "This is my body given [or,
offered] for you." This act, whatever it is and whatever is
its virtue, concerning which we hasten to inquire, is, like all
the rest, a performance of the will of God; because it is said,
"By the which will we are sanctified, through" this act, "the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once." And I have no
doubt in my own mind, that one, and perhaps the principal
end of the agony in the garden, where Christ is manifested in
torture and in weakness, through the access of His torture, to
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
529
((
this very
end of proving that in this act of offering His body
there was such an abhorrency to His personal inclination, that
He did, as it were, cleave unto it with such an excessive love,
that He did part from it with such pangs and struggles of
reluctancy, as nothing could have overcome but His know-
ledge that it was the will of His Father. And to put it
beyond all doubt that the offering of His body was a part of
the Father's purpose, hardly less important than the taking
of it at first, He is made three times to declare so with an
agony of acquiescence in that stern decree and sore com-
mandment. Now, if we inquire what mighty efficacy there
was in this act of offering the body, whereto the word of con-
secration in the communion steadfastly looketh, it is answered.
by the text before us, we are sanctified thereby ;" and more
fully is it declared in ver. 14 of the preceding chapter: "How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your con-
science from dead works to serve the living God?" Now,
with respect to the question how this act of Christ's offering
His body upon the cross should take away our sins, though
I have discoursed much and thought more, I am chiefly com-
forted by simply believing, upon God's declaration that it is
so, and that it was His will it should be so; and I hope that
the more firmly I am enabled to rest upon the cross of Christ
for the forgiveness of sins, the more will God open to me this
great mystery, and help me to teach you how it should be so,
that the offering of Christ should purge our conscience from
dead works to serve the living God. No doubt it was the
perfect holiness of the offering, His offering Himself without
spot, which gave to the offering its value. This is taught in
all the sacrifices under the law, and especially in the paschal
lamb. And wherein consisted the value of His spotless
holiness? In this, as it seemeth to me, that He did the
Father's will in all things on this side the grave: the Father
at length obtained in manhood the end for which manhood
was created, the end, to wit, of fulfilling His will in the
region of reason and of body joined together. This, doubtless,
is in itself a great accomplishment, not to be undervalued
because it occupied so brief a period, and was performed
VOL. II.
2 L
530
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
in so narrow a space. For brief as was the period, it
was enough for all combinations of sin against the Holy
One; and narrow as was the space, it was compass large
enough for the encounter of all the powers of darkness
visible, and darkness invisible. Oh, flesh itself was space
enough,—existence in flesh, however momentary, was dura-
tion long enough, for this great controversy. How short time
suffices for bringing sin, and death, and all our woe! It is
not the time employed in the work, nor is it the amount of
the work suffered or done, but it is the act itself of taking
the body, and in it doing God's most holy will, which doth
constitute its unspeakable worth. But I have not told all
when I have said that He brought a holy, spotless offering to
the accursed tree. There is more than this in these deep and
solemn words, John x. 17: "Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father." These
words do raise into a prominent place of merit this one act
of giving His life for the sheep, for which He declared the
Father loved Him, as it passed all other acts of obedience,
and took for itself an unrivalled place in the Father's estima-
tion. No one will persuade me that the secret of this deep
thing lieth merely in the sufferings and pangs of death; and,
I confess, I can rather tell where it doth not lie, than where
it doth lie; but my ignorance is no prejudice to the unerring
Word of God, which I undoubtingly do believe. However, I
do perceive, from this my text, that the secret lieth some-
where in this fact, that no power could take His life from
Him, and that He himself had the power both to give it up
and to resume it again. Yet, nevertheless, He was willing, at
the Father's commandment, to do this great thing. Now, in
reflecting much upon this subject, it looks to me to be best
explained thus: that the Son and the Holy Spirit together
did put forth their fullest energy of manifested and proceed-
ing Godhead upon this living body, which the one informed
with all His powers of vitality, and unto which the other
joined Himself with all the strength of His cleaving love; the
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
531
life was manifested in it,—it held, I may say, the strength of
all life in itself. Thus the Son, with all the manifested power
of Godhead, embraced it round; the Holy Ghost, with all the
powers of indwelling Godhead, informed it throughout; and
in giving this thing up to death at the Father's command-
ment, did demonstrate this grand truth, that the fondest love
of the Godhead, manifested in the person of the Son, and the
strongest energy of the Godhead, communicated in the person
of the Holy Ghost, both concentrated to keep this body in
life, were yet at all times, and in all things, and to all extre-
mities, only serving the commandment of the Father. In
other words, by giving that precious object of their mutual
labour of love and life unto death, they shewed that all crea-
tion, even in its regenerated state, should be willing, ever
willing, to go back unto death, if the Father commanded so.
But by the issue of that death unto glorious resurrection and.
everlasting fulness of glory, it was proved that such perfect
obsequiousness of the Word-informed and Spirit-possessed
creature would always issue in the creature's own infallible
exaltation. Oh, I do see at length the mystery of Christ's
death and love-it is the abolition of sin, and the assurance
of sanctified obedience for ever! Well might the Father
make Him ever after the great trustee of the creature's obe-
dience, when He had surrendered up His own body. Into
whose hands could He commit the accomplishment of His
electing purpose, but into the hands of this One, who had
not shrunk from yielding unto Him His own elected and
sanctified body? By that offering, He did in deed and in
truth perfect for ever all them that are sanctified. "Though
he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he
suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Such was
the virtue of the offering of that body which is given unto us
in the supper.
Take now further into consideration what
that commandment of the Father was, for which this subjec-
tion and submission of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost was
made. As the giving up of life, their own proper work, this
commandment was no other than the commandment of His
holiness, that the soul that sinneth should die. Death is the
532
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
wages of nothing but sin,-death is the grand sign of God's
hatred of sin. This commandment, therefore, which gives law,
and form, and punishment to the fallen world, Christ con-
sented unto, not in the article of dying merely, but in the
article of living in a body composed of fallen elements; but
death was the seal and sufficient testimony of that great act
of His obedience, that He did not shrink from the lowest
abyss of creation, in order to prove His Father's holiness in
creation. In this act of the manifest Godhead and the
indwelling Godhead, surrendering that which they had won
from the power and curse of sin, and giving it up to death
because of its sinful origin,-in this act, God's holiness and
hatred of sin was more illustrated than it could be by the
ruin and destruction of all creation; for it is not the creatures,
but the Creator, not the life-holding creature, but the life-
giving Spirit, who make the offering unto the Father's holi-
ness of this living body, in which they had set their strength,
and by which they had achieved their victory over all sin.
In Christ's death, therefore, in the offering of His body, the
end of permitting sin in the world was finally attained. This
end is to shew the nature of God unto the creature, by shew-
ing the nature of the creature unto itself; to shew the holi-
ness of God, by shewing the unholiness of the creature; to
shew the grace of God, by shewing the undeserving of the
creature. These, and every other end intended by the fall,
were all accomplished to the uttermost in the act of Christ
and of the Holy Ghost, yielding unto the death that body
unto which they had joined the strongest love and mightiest
effort of the manifested and indwelling Godhead. And thus
Christ's offering cometh to be an offering for the
world, or, in the abstract, an offering for sin.
henceforth the Father, having effected the purpose intended
by a fall, doth proceed to effect the purpose of resurrection
from the dead,-the purpose of election from amongst the
creatures, and regeneration of as many as He pleaseth to
ordain unto everlasting life. And here beginneth the second
part of our discourse-to wit, the communication or imparta-
tion unto others of that holy humanity, of that body which
was prepared for Christ. And this is indeed the substance of
sin of the
And from
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533
the thing acted in the supper, which is Christ's giving His
offered body for the nourishment of His Church. To this
part of the Father's purpose, Christ maketh frequent reference
during the days of His flesh; as, for example, "When the
Son of man is lifted up, he shall draw all men unto him."
But still more remarkable are these words, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit." Let us then proceed to inquire into this great subject
of the communication or impartation unto the elect of Christ's
body. The expression, "Christ's body," hath in Scripture
a twofold application: the one unto His personal human
substance, which was born of the virgin, crucified upon the
cross, and raised from the dead, and is passed into the
heavens; the other unto His Church, which is in Him, and
of Him, and not out of Him, but made one with Him, of the
same substance of redeemed humanity; so much and entirely
one with Him, as He is by His divine substance one with
the Father: "The Church, which is his body." "That they
all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they all may be one in us." "For we are members of
his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." "For the edifying
[or, building up] of the body of Christ." "Even as Christ is
the head of the church; and he is the Saviour of the body."
These passages, which are according to the tenor of all
Scripture, do shew us that God's elect are brought into such
union with the Head, as to be of the same substance with
Him, or rather of the same substance with that which was
offered on the cross; for Christ is not any longer in that
body which He offered, but in that body changed by the
resurrection. Christ now subsisteth in a glorified body, hav-
ing offered upon the cross the body of His humility. Now,
in the supper, it is the body offered, not the body raised,
which we receive: or, in other words, we receive that power
of the Holy Ghost which enabled Him to subsist without sin
in flesh and blood; and thereby we are mystically united to
Him. He, however, is not mystically united to His glorious
body, but hypostatically united to it,—that is, subsisting with
it in one person. In like manner, He was personally united
534
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
to His body of flesh and blood, united to it in a manner
in which He is not, and cannot be, united to any person or
thing. This, though it may seem to you somewhat a subtle.
matter, is nevertheless one of the greatest importance in the
whole scheme of divine truth. To enter into which, you must
understand that by all sound divines there are distinguished
these three unions: first, the union of the three Persons in the
one substance of the Godhead, which is called the divine
unity; secondly, the union of the second Person to manhood,
which is called the hypostatical union; and, thirdly, the union
of believers unto Christ, wrought by the Holy Spirit, which is
called the mystical union. Now, if you confound the two
former, you bring the manhood of Christ into the Godhead;
and if you confound the two latter, you bring believers to be
equal unto Christ Himself, and so confound the distinction
between the Head and the members; and, finally, if you con-
found all three, you make no distinction between God and
the creature, and so destroy all worship, rule, and govern-
ment, all providence, and all grace. If, then, as the Papists
say, it is the flesh which Christ is invested withal that is here
present and that we partake, then, indeed, I who have par-
taken it am one with the Godhead, by the same mode of
union with which Christ's human nature is one with the divine
nature, and there is no longer a difference between Christ's
person and my person, and I may apply to myself or to the
Church all the attributes, names, and works which the Holy
Ghost, in the Scriptures, giveth unto Christ,—a hideous con-
clusion, which hath verily realised itself in the apostasy, by
their claiming infallibility, lordship, merit, forgiveness of sins,
intercession, and all other mediatorial offices which pertain to
Christ, and to Him alone. I do not argue against transub-
stantiation upon the common ground of its contradicting the
sense, because this is to give the sense too great a say in the
matter; nor yet upon the ground of Christ's body being
essentially local and limited to one place, because I know
not well the properties of matter in the resurrection form;
but I argue against it upon a higher and surer ground than
either, when I say that I cannot be included in His personal
body, without losing my personality in His personality, and
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535
being covered with the very honour and glory with which the
God-man is invested. Observe, also, I am not speaking of
the manner of the presence, whether corporal or spiritual,
which we will come to speak of in due time, but of the thing
which is present under the name of Christ's body: for pre-
sent something must be besides bread, seeing we are to
examine ourselves of our knowledge to discern the Lord's
body. Having, then, set at nought the papal idea that it
is Christ's personal substance which is present, there only
remaineth the other idea, namely, that it is His mystical
substance which is present, that is, the substance of which
His body the Church is composed. Now, let us examine
this idea a little, and make it clear, which will be best done
by looking upon it in the type, which type is Adam. Out of
Adam hath proceeded the substance of all mankind; yet
Adam is a distinct person from all his descendants, as they
are distinct persons from one another. And what is it that
constitutes this distinct personality? What but the act of
God breathing into each one of us the breath of life, whereby
we become living souls? This God doth in the person of the
Holy Ghost; for all life is an effect of the Holy Ghost. It
is not the word spoken unto our first parents, "Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth;" but the Spirit of God
working in that word, and blessing the obedience of that
commandment. For it is that same breathing of God into
our nostrils which constituted Adam a living soul, that con-
stitutes us likewise living souls. Our personality is not given
to us by Adam, but by God; and, therefore, we are respon-
sible to God for all the actings of our personal will. But our
substance is derived from Adam: we are of one substance
with him, though different persons. Now, from this turn to
the Antitype which it was all intended to shadow forth.
Here is Christ the second Adam-a person such as none was
ever, nor ever shall, nor ever can be; being no other than the
second Person of the Godhead-the Word made flesh. He,
according to the Father's purpose, was appointed to be the
father of a spiritual seed-the father of the eternal; ay,
He received power to beget sons unto God. "As the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life
536
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
in himself," who quickeneth with eternal life whom He willeth;
for He willeth as the Father willeth, and as the Father and the
Son will, the Spirit effecteth. Now, according to this purpose
of the eternal Godhead, the Spirit from Christ proceeding doth
quicken a new life in God's elect ones. And as life is opposite
to death, He doth quicken the life by mortifying the death,—
that is to say, the substance of life, which we receive from
Christ, doth act against and overcome the substance of death,
which we receive from a fallen creation; which is a creation in
death subsisting, yet not the second death, but the first death,
over which Christ hath obtained power, and which, by the
resurrection, He will wholly receive,-not in part receive, but
wholly receive;-one part to the resurrection of life, another
part to the resurrection of judgment, which judgment is unto
life, or unto the second and eternal death. Those living ones,
therefore, whom Christ begetteth out of the creatures dead in
Adam, He begetteth by an impartation of that substance
which He now enjoyeth in the state of redemption and immor-
tality. But the substance which He communicates is not His
own personality, His own self, but the Holy Ghost proceeding
from Himself. The Holy Ghost is now His to give-the Holy
Ghost doth now dwell in Him; and that which proceedeth
from Him is the Holy Ghost. Therefore, beyond, and apart
from His own person, Christ is only known and felt through
the operation of the Holy Ghost. Christ, therefore, is in the
elect only in the substance of the person of the Holy Ghost.
The Son is not personally united to the elect; but the Holy
Ghost personally doth dwell in them, as He also dwelleth in
the body of Christ. It is the energy of the Son which claspeth
unto and for ever embosometh in Himself the human nature;
but it is the energy of the Holy Ghost which joineth, and, I
may say, claspeth the elect unto the human nature of Christ.
The Son doth not proceed from Christ, but formeth Christ by
enfolding the humanity. The Son's is an act of love, dwelling,
and resting, and rejoicing over human nature. He doth not
Himself go forth; but He sendeth forth His human nature,
the Holy Ghost, of whose substance His human nature is, as
it were, the containing vessel, from which the Spirit proceedeth
at the will of the Son, which is also the will of the Father, into
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537
and upon the elected people of God, who thereupon become
members of Christ's body, and being taken together become
the body of Christ. And when thus explained, you will, I
think, have little difficulty in discerning the body of Christ in
the bread and wine of the supper. We are of Christ's bodily
substance as we are of Adam's bodily substance; and yet we
are different persons from Christ, though consubstantial with
His body. We are consubstantial with His body, not merely
by our common holding of Adam, which is true of all men,
but by a common operation of the Holy Ghost, which is dis-
tinct from His operation to create or to generate, and is His
operation to create and generate anew. The energy of the
Godhead put forth in creating Adam, is a different thing from
the energy of the Godhead put forth in creating Christ; and
the energy of the Godhead put forth in generating from Adam,
is different from the energy of the Godhead in regenerating
from Christ. The former is the energy of giving existence to
the creature, the next is the energy of giving salvation to the
creature; the one an energy unto a fall, the other an energy
unto infallibility. There is no greater mystery, however,
though there be a higher effect, in the one energy than in the
other. And, as every one sees his unity of substance with
Adam, and feels his distinctity of person from another man,
so ought we to believe that every regenerated man is of the
substance of Christ, though distinct from Him, and far
beneath Him in respect of personal attributes and powers.
So much for the distinctness of Christ from His body the
Church, which, I think, the papal idea, that Christ's personal
substance is given to us in the supper, doth subvert. Seeing,
then, from what hath been said above, Christ's personal sub-
stance cannot be extended beyond Himself, and that He doth
not include us, as it were, within the limits of Himself, and
cast the mantle of His body over us; seeing, also, that it is by
the Holy Ghost proceeding from Him that all redemption
and regeneration is accomplished, the question, what is meant
by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, is not of difficult
solution, but doth signify our being made partakers of that
special work of the Holy Ghost, which was exercised in sanc-
tifying, and redeeming, and raising from the dead Christ's
538
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
very flesh. That Christ's flesh should not have fallen into
the same sinfulness, and remained under the same corruption
under which all flesh of Adam, save Christ's own, fell and
remaineth, is due to a power of the Holy Ghost, which then,
for the first time, was put forth. How to designate this action
of the Holy Ghost, or rather this finished work of the Holy
Ghost, we know not, save by saying that it produced Christ's
flesh and blood. As we would designate the work of the
Holy Ghost in creation, by saying that from it flesh and blood
of man arose out of dust, out of nothing, with all the thought,
purpose, and work which flesh and blood is capable of; so say
we that the second forthputting of Holy-Ghost energy brought
out of fallen flesh and blood the flesh and blood of Christ,
which prevailed over death and the grave, and sin and hell,
and is capable of the seat at the right hand of God, and the
superintendency of all created things, visible and invisible.
That is, flesh and blood of Christ, which, coming out of fallen
humanity, is capable of wrestling with sin and condemning it,
of going to death and overcoming it, of rising unto immor-
tality, shewing forth the glory of God, and bearing and uphold-
ing the sceptre of all creation. As flesh and blood is the
word to describe briefly the region of the will and power of
man, so flesh and blood of Christ is the word to describe
briefly the region of the holy will and mighty power of Christ.
And when Christ is said to impart to us His flesh and blood,
and we are said to receive the same, it is verily and truly
declared that we receive that energy of the Holy Ghost which
put itself forth in His holy life and in His resurrection from
the dead; and we are assured through faith of a holy action
in us, to the effect of bringing us out of our corruption and
infirmity to the inheritance of His holiness and power. When
I say that I partake of Adam's flesh, I do not mean that I am
a morsel, as it were, of his very body; and yet I am truly of
his flesh and of his bone; but I have upon me that same
created word, and in me that same law of being, which Adam
was the first to exhibit. So, when the Church is said to be
Christ's body, it is signified that every one member of the
Church hath that same holy law of creature being, and is
destined to the same offices in creation, unto which Christ's
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
539
3
flesh and blood first attained; of the same species, as they
say, nothing differing save in this, that one portion of the
redeemed creature hath been brought into personal union
with the Son of God. Such, we conceive to be the right
explanation of our partaking His flesh and blood.
Now, observe further, before leaving this subject, that the
energy of the Holy Ghost put forth upon Christ, though one,
had three manifestations: the first, from His conception until
His baptism, during which He was placed under the law, and
kept the law, and answered the faith of those worthies under
the law who had looked forward to Him as about to keep it;
the second, from His baptism until His resurrection, during
which He was not under the law, but under the Spirit, and
fulfilled such a holiness of grace, and not of debt, as we, under
the gospel, are called on to fulfil; the third manifestation of
the Holy Ghost's energy in the Christ, was in raising Him
from the dead, and setting Him in the heavenly places, far
above all principality, and power, and dominion, and every
name that is named both in this world and in that which is
to come. These, I say, were three manifestations of the same
energy of the Holy Ghost, to sanctify the substance of the
creature, rising higher and higher above each other, but all
agreeing in this, that it is an energy of regeneration and not
of creation. Now, this same energy Christ is exalted to im-
part to the election of God; but it is no longer imparted in
the legal manifestation, because we are not debtors to the law,
that which is debtor to the law being buried in baptism,
but it is imparted first to work in us the life of Christ, con-
formity to His life and death, and, in His good time, conformity
also to His resurrection. So that the end of the Spirit in this
present life is to produce in His Church the redeemed flesh
and blood of Christ, and in due time the resurrection glory of
Christ. With respect to the question, therefore, whether we
are made partakers of His passive or impassive, of His mor-
tal or immortal body, we answer, of neither, so far as His
personal substance is concerned; but so far as consubstantia-
tion is concerned, we are partakers at present of His holy flesh
and blood in the state before its death, to pass at the resur-
rection into the state in which His body now is. In as much
540
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
as the origin of the gift is concerned, it proceedeth from
Christ in His immortal state. He had not the power to beget
sons unto God by the impartation of the Spirit until He
ascended up on high. It is, therefore, in the power of the
risen God-man, and as the great Head of the Church, that He
doth feed us with His flesh and blood. He sits at the head
of His table, in His present glory, and He distributes His
gifts with the bounty, and precision, and assurance of the
great God our Saviour. But that which He doth bestow at
present is power to live the life which He lived from His
baptism to His death, with assurance of being raised from the
dead in the glory of His resurrection.
We do now, therefore, receive His redeemed yet mortal
flesh and blood, to the end of receiving hereafter His im-
mortal body. Or, to speak more correctly, being of the natu-
ral substance of fallen manhood, doomed unto death, as He
was doomed, the Spirit, given unto us to redeem our flesh
and blood, as His flesh and blood was redeemed, doth not
remove from off our head the curse of death, but in comfort
thereof assureth us of victory over death in the resurrection.
These ideas expressed above do certainly contain the truth
of the connexion between Christ's body and the believer.
They are not given as an exposition of the words, "This is
my body," so much as an exposition of the thing which these
words point at. And now, when we understand what thing
it is which the Church partaketh from Christ, we shall not
find much difficulty in understanding the symbol by which
that thing is signified to all, and sealed to the believer. And
what is that symbol? A loaf of bread, homogeneous, or of
one substance throughout, is placed upon the table, around
which the members of Christ's Church are seated. This loaf
of bread, the blessed Lord, by the hand of His minister,
breaketh into parts, and bestoweth a part upon each of His
members seated around the table, saying, during the action,
"This is my body broken for you," or given for you. Take
this action and these words, together with the action of all the
Church eating all the parts of that loaf, and what have you
represented to your meditative mind? The loaf was once
one undivided lump; by the Lord himself it is divided into
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
541
as many portions as there are disciples; and these portions
are eaten by these disciples, and consubstantiated with their
bodies, so that what was once one lump is now become living
substance of many living men. This one lump, Christ calleth
"my body, broken and given for you." Take this the name
which He imposeth upon the bread, and what then doth the
action amount to? It amounteth to this: that Christ's body
given for us, once an undivided substance, hath been broken
into as many parts as there be members of His Church; and
being by them eaten, is now in living union with their living
persons; or, in other words, that which hath before lived
in one person now liveth in many persons, that which
once was the body of Christ hath now passed to be the
nourishment and sustenance of His Church, and in them is a
living and life-giving substance. Now then, let us reflect a
little upon this action, and draw it into comparison with what
hath been said above concerning the mode of communication
of substance from Christ to His members. Christ calleth the
loaf or lump of bread His body, given for us. Now, what
was it that was given for us? Not, certainly, the immortal
and glorious body in which He now subsisteth, for that He
never will part with, but abide in for ever and for ever. If
not the immortal body, then the mortal body of flesh and
blood, in which He did tabernacle upon earth. This indeed
was given for us. That form of subsisting He hath given up,
-He hath changed it for one more glorious. But it was not
after the manner of a bargain, gainful to Himself, that He
gave up His life in flesh and blood subsisting, for a life in
glorious immortality subsisting. Nay, He cheerfully, lovingly,
and most meritoriously gave His life for the sins of the world,
as it is written in that most memorable discourse, John vi.
51: "And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will
give for the life of the world." He gave His life into His
Father's hands, because His Father wished it for the manifes-
tation of His grace in the remission of the sins of sinful flesh.
He gave it, indeed, believing that His Father would not leave
His soul in hell, nor suffer His Holy One to see corruption.
And His Father, satisfied with the sufficiency of His Son's
act in giving His life, loved the Son of man, and raised Him
542
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
In
from the dead, according as it is written, John x. 17, "There-
fore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again." The thing, therefore, which was
given for us was His subsistence in flesh and blood. He
took it sinful, He offered it sinless; and He bequeathed the
redeemed thing unto His Church. The Godhead, when the
fulness of the time was come, came forth together to operate
in the fallen sinful substance of flesh and blood. And having
perfected and completed the work of redeeming it through
incarnation of the Son, it was offered upon the cross, and
laid in the grave, but passed not into the heavens until the
Father had invested and irradiated it with the mantle, with
the being of His own good pleasure and glory. For though
my Lord now subsisteth in a body, and though that body be
numerically the same body in which He lived on earth and died,
-be, atom for atom, the virgin's substance transfigured and
transmuted by resurrection-energy of the Holy Ghost,—yet
would be slow to say that He subsisteth now in flesh.
flesh, changed indeed, He doth subsist; but what changed
flesh may be, or may be capable of, passeth all my under-
standing; and, therefore, I would be slow to name it by the
word flesh, of which such things as these be said in Scripture:
"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower
of grass." And again: "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh." And again: "In me, that
is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." If these be the
attributes of flesh, I am loath to call Christ's glorified body by
the name of flesh, though, as hath been said, it be numerically,
and atom for atom, the very substance of the virgin. And
this I am still the more reluctant to do, when the apostle,
treating of this very subject, taketh the following broad dis-
tinction: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual
body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."
True it is that Christ, after His resurrection, during the forty
days that He abode with His disciples, said unto them,
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see
me have."
But this was spoken before He ascended up
into glory and was clothed with His glorious body concerning
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
543
which I am now taking the distinction. Besides, He was
only addressing the outward senses of His apostles, to con-
vince them that He was a body, a substantial body, and not
a merely assumed shape. Nor have I any hesitation to call
Christ's risen body flesh, provided it be understood to be
flesh transfigured and transmuted by the resurrection-energy
of the Holy Ghost that is signified; just in like manner as
I have no hesitation to call my own flesh, or the flesh of other
men, by the name of dust, from which, by the putting forth
of the creative energy of the Holy Ghost, it did arise. But
when I witness the difference between inanimate, inorganic
particles of idle dust, and the soul-animated body of man,
instinct with every sense, informed with reason, various
thoughts, and directed by reason's high and sovereign power;
when I further reflect how much more excellent and suffi-
cient is the resurrection-work of God than His creation-work,
I am filled with amazement and astonishment at the change
which must have passed upon the body of Christ,—at the
wide difference between His subsistence in flesh and blood
and His subsistence in glorified humanity. But to return
again to the very words with which He defineth the body,
given under the element of bread. He calleth it, "my body
given for you," "my body broken for you;" which two things
can in no wise be predicated of His risen, but only of His
fleshly body. Be it then on these accounts believed that the
thing which is under the species or element of bread contained
is the subsistence of Christ in flesh and blood, which is no
longer a thing in being, a thing that was, but no longer is in
union with the person of the eternal Son, and the question is,
What hath become of it? where is it gone? and the an-
swer is, It is given for His people; it is broken in pieces
among His people. It still abideth on the earth, in the
divided members of Jesus Christ. It hath passed from being
one lump to be many fragments, which form the nourishment
and the subsistence of all believers. Now, some may think
that this bringeth us back to transubstantiation, or to con-
substantiation; but those who deem so have only to reflect
upon what was set forth in the former head of discourse. So
far as Christ's fleshly substance personally united to His
544
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
divine is concerned, we have nothing to do or to say, except
that it cleaveth to Him still; and being changed, atom for
atom, and transmuted into incorruptible and immortal sub-
stance, it passed into the heavens. Of this, I say, we
neither are, nor can be partakers.
It neither is, nor can
be joined to any person but the person of the Son of
God. It neither is, nor can be anywhere beyond the limits.
of the body of the God-man. It is transubstantiated into
nothing. It is consubstantiated with nothing whatever in
heaven or on earth, but abideth in its own hypostatical union
with the person of the Son of God. But that putting forth
of divine power which did redeem the flesh and blood of
Christ from the power of sin, and present it on the cross,
holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, did not
end there; because it thereupon wrought the mightier work
of raising Him from the dead: for if it ended there, then
there doth sanctification and redemption of fallen manhood
likewise end, which, however, we know well is continued in
the Church until now, and will continue until He come again.
That working of the Holy Ghost in the flesh of Christ, where-
by it was sanctified and became His body,-for without the
Holy Ghost, Christ had had no body,—that mighty working
which created Christ's body of the virgin's substance, and
wrought in Him to uphold it against sin and corruption,
and make it victorious over them, ceased indeed for Christ's
behoof when He passed into glory, beyond the reach of in-
firmity and temptation; and it became His to bequeath in
His risen estate, as it had been His to receive in His incar-
nate estate. He had that energy of the Spirit unto the
redemption of flesh and blood while He abode on earth, in
virtue of His faith upon, and exact obedience of, the Father;
but when He ascended up on high He inherited it, in rightful
reward of the work which He had wrought; and possessing
it in Himself, He doth put it forth to work in His Church, in
the Father's elected ones, to produce that same redeemed
flesh and blood, sin-conquering, Father-obeying, which He
first exhibited and first possessed. As His immortal body
is His mortal body, atom for atom, transmuted and trans-
figured by a greater measure of the Spirit's re-creating power;
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
545
so hath He now the privilege, and faculty, and right in Him-
self to bid the Spirit go and put forth upon elect persons in
flesh and blood of sin, and deliver them from the power of
sin, and enable them to be flesh and blood of Adam no longer,
but flesh and blood of Christ, of the second Adam; and so
enable them, in flesh and blood, to overcome sin, and to please
the Father. This is eating of His flesh and drinking of His
blood, that we should receive another action of the Holy
Ghost than creation, which is regeneration and renewal in the
image of God; which action of the Spirit, being put forth
first in Christ's flesh and blood, did give it that power, holi-
ness, and righteousness which is recorded in His life. And,
therefore, we are said to partake of His flesh and blood-to
partake of His body, given and broken for us.
Now, though this exposition of the matter will appear to
the Church in these times, which liveth mostly by sight of
the natural understanding, to be very mystical, they will be,
perhaps, not a little surprised when I inform them, that it is
not only not sufficient for the Papists, nor for the Lutherans,
nor yet for the Calvinists themselves; for what saith Calvin?
"Those, therefore, give me as little satisfaction who indeed
allow that we have some fellowship with Jesus Christ; but
when they shew us wherein this fellowship consists, they de-
clare that it is in the participation of His Spirit only, without
making any mention of His flesh and blood; as if these
words of our Lord, 'My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed,' 'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you,' with many more.
relating to this subject, were spoken to no purpose." Now, I
say that it is the participation of the Spirit only; but unto
what end? Unto the end of creating in me flesh and blood
of Christ, of changing me from unholy flesh and blood of
Adam into holy flesh and blood of Christ. What constituted
the body of Christ different from mine, but that the Spirit
was present in it under another law and ordinance of the
Godhead than He is present in the fallen nature? Flesh and
blood of man is made out of nothing, and is nothing but the
Godhead putting forth its power according to its will. There
is no substance of matter in itself as old as God, eternally
VOL. II.
2 M
546
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
co-existent with God, or in God; for God is a Spirit. Flesh
and blood, therefore, which is matter's royal form, is no more
than a word of the Godhead, effected by the Spirit, and con-
tinued from generation to generation; because the word of
God liveth and endureth for ever, because what God doeth
once, He doeth for ever. And what is flesh and blood of
Christ, but the same nothing, subsisting under another and a
higher word of God, under another and a higher efficiency of
the Spirit? It is not that God, by the incarnation of His Son,
giveth unto matter of creation an existence which it had not
before; but that He advanceth it unto a degree and dignity
which it had not before, but which from the beginning He
purposed that it should have. And what signifieth He by
the propagation of flesh and blood, under this new law sub-
sisting, unto other persons besides His Son, but that the same
new working of the Spirit was to reveal itself in the substance
of their persons also; that is, of as many as the Father had
chosen unto His celestial degree? So that Calvin's difficulty,
as expressed above, ariseth from inexact ideas of the Spirit's
work, which he vaguely apprehendeth as some influence
short of the work of changing our flesh and blood into those
of Christ; whereas this is the only work of the Spirit in the
Church which I know of. He never worketh short of this,-
He never worketh anything but this, to change us from un-
holy flesh and blood of Adam into holy flesh and blood of
Christ. But this is a mystery so little understood, and so
necessary to the understanding of everything besides, that I
count it worthy to be opened a little more largely.
It seemeth to me, after weighing this controversy much
upon all sides, that the real cause of the confusion and dis-
putation would be removed, if men could be delivered from
certain vague and incorrect ideas of the Spirit's work in our
salvation, which many view as a sort of help and assistance
derived from above, in order to enable us to believe upon
Christ and obey His commandments. But the truth is, that
the work of the Holy Spirit, in the regeneration of a fallen
man, is not merely to help his faculties already existing, but
to possess them all, and to expel from them the power of sin
and Satan, and to renew the whole man after the image of
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
547
God, in righteousness and true holiness. It is not a partial,
but a complete work: the delivering of humanity from the
fall into the redeemed state. This you may observe in bap-
tism, where the old man, the flesh of Adam, is buried, and,
consequently, in the divine economy, can have no more
existence. These would, therefore, remain a nonentity, un-
less the Spirit created a completely new man. Baptism doth
not partially destroy the flesh, but completely; the Spirit,
therefore, does not partially renew the flesh, but completely.
We may not speak of the old man as living after baptism;
or, if we do so, we ought thereon to ground an accusation of
a broken covenant through deficiency of our faith. In the
eye of God, and in the word of God, we are buried with Christ
in baptism, our old man crucified with Him, the body of sin
destroyed, that we should henceforth not serve sin; and if so,
the work of the Spirit must be unto the generation, the quick-
ening, the forming of a new man, complete in all human
functions and faculties: otherwise, we were only parts of men,
which is a solecism not to be found in the renewed creatures
of God. The work of the Spirit, therefore, is not to help the
natural man, and lift him up a little towards the elevation of
God, but to take possession of, to inhabit, or, as the word in
the original, "to take up house in," the creature, and to put
to death all his fallen propensities, to crucify the flesh with
its corruptions and lusts, and to keep them in a state of sup-
pression, binding the rebel to the horns of the altar, and
offering him up there, all our life long, a willing sacrifice;
to accomplish, in fact, that death and burial of the flesh which
is signified and sealed unto us in our baptism; and, while this
work is doing, and as it proceedeth, to quicken the new man,
and to fill the soul and the body with holy desires after God's
glory and Christ's service; and enabling us, as we had yielded
our members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto
iniquity, even so now we may yield our members servants to
righteousness unto holiness. This doctrine of the Holy Spirit's
work is taught continually by our Lord and the holy apostles;
is fixed in the very words," new generation,” “new man,”
)) (C new
birth,"
""child of the Spirit," "sons of God," "newness of life,”
new creation;" and it is made the groundwork of all right-
((
548
SUPPER.
OF THE LORD'S LORD
eousness, as in this passage, (Rom. vi. 11-13:) "Reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God." It is a vain thing,
therefore, and greatly to be discouraged, and to be treated as
highly dishonourable to the Spirit, and derogatory from the
completeness of Christian life, to speak of His common and
His peculiar gifts-His common gifts unto all men, and His
peculiar gifts unto God's saved ones. There is, indeed, a
work of the Spirit common unto all, which is the work of our
creation. That we are not inanimate dust, that we are men,
capable of all the functions of living souls, is due unto the
sustenance of God's Spirit. Thou takest away their breath,
they die and return to their dust; Thou sendest forth Thy
Spirit, they are created. For this work of the Spirit in our
creation, we are all responsible unto God. And herein lieth
our sin, that though created by Christ, and upheld by the
Spirit, for the service of God the Father, we yield ourselves to
be the servants of sin. And from this complete and radical
corruption we cannot be delivered otherwise than as Christ's
human nature was delivered by the virtue of the incarna-
tion of the Word, and the baptism of the Spirit. By virtue of
which two Divine Persons, co-operating in their proper modes,
the created man, which hath become the fallen man, doth
become the redeemed man, in all the three cases, a complete
man, and a perfect man. It is true, the redeemed man is not
yet manifested in his glory and his might; but he is spoken
of as such in Scripture, as sinless, and perfect, and without
blame, before God, in love; and we are called upon to look
unto this, and to believe the Spirit to be irresistible and in-
fallible in His production of this perfect and holy man: "Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ," (Eph. iv. 13.) "To the end.
he may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
549
God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
with all his saints," (1 Thess. iii. 13.) "That he might pre-
sent it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and
without blemish," (Eph. v. 27.) Therefore the true Scripture
idea, with respect to the work of the Spirit, is, that He de-
stroys one man, to create in us another man; that He de-
stroys the flesh-and-blood propensities of Adam, to create
the flesh-and-blood propensities of Christ. He undoes all
that the fall hath wrought in us, by doing all that the God-
head did in the body of Christ. The Father by giving His
Son to be united unto fallen manhood, and the Son by giv-
ing Himself and uniting Himself therewith, and these two,
the Father and the Son, by sending the Holy Spirit into the
virgin's substance, with which the Son united Himself, it was
brought to pass that a body, sinful in its substance, was made.
perfectly holy in all its acts, passions, and operations. By
the same divine co-operation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
continueth to come to pass that unholy manhood, sinful,
fallen manhood, should, in God's elect ones, be changed and
converted into holy, harmless, undefiled manhood, confirmed
not now to the similitude of Adam's body, but to the simili-
tude of Christ's body. For the Father, with what free choice
He chose the virgin's substance to be first changed and con-
verted into redeemed manhood, doth still choose whom it
pleaseth Him, sinners like the virgin, sinners in and with
Adam, for the purpose of shewing forth His regenerating
power upon them. Then the Son, receiving the Father's
mind, and hastening to obey it, doth accept of such a one,
and fix His love upon him-love like unto that with which
He loved the human nature, unto which he wedded Himself
for ever. And forth He sendeth the Holy Ghost, bearing
with Him the good-will and harmonious consent of the
Father and the Son, who doth forthwith take up His abode
in the chosen one, and make him partaker of the redeemed
flesh and blood of Christ,-doth work in him "according to
the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ.
when he raised him from the dead," (Eph. i. 20.) Now, be-
sides this, I know of no work of the Spirit, except His work
!
550
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
in creation, which is not now under consideration. Short of
this impartation of the body of Christ, I know of no influences
of the Holy Ghost. I belief in no half measures, no co-
operation between nature and grace, no mere helping of us
to do this and to do that duty. I know only of the Holy
Ghost the generator, the quickener, the informer of a new
man in the likeness of Christ, flesh of His flesh, and bone of
His bone. And therefore when I say that in the Lord's
supper we do receive nothing corporal nor carnal, but the
Spirit only, I fall not short of the mark, as Calvin allegeth,
but am fully up to the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ. And I do truly and really say, that in so partaking
the Spirit, we do partake the flesh and blood of Christ. As
by generation we receive that work of the Spirit which sup-
porteth flesh and blood of Adam; so by regeneration we re-
ceive the higher work of the Spirit, which supporteth flesh
and blood of Christ. And thus, brethren, have you the com-
plete exposition, according to my ability, of the gift commu-
nicated unto the faithful, through the element of bread, in
the ordinance of the supper, even the nourishment of a per-
fect and complete manhood, formed according to the likeness.
of Christ's body, and capable of the imitation and performance
of Christ's life; and not only so, but having itself the capa-
city and the destination of an eternal and ever-glorious life
through the resurrection. I pray you, therefore, as many of
you as would understand doctrine, as would attain unto
holiness, as would possess the same mind as is in Jesus
Christ, that you would come unto His table, which is so soon
to be spread amongst us, and would receive the pledge, the
seal, the sum of that perfect and complete manhood, that ye
may be holy, as He is holy, and perfect, as He is perfect,
in all manner of conversation.
Before concluding this subject, allow me to impress upon
your minds, dearly beloved brethren, what an unspeakable
value there is in the holy sacrament, which, to the believer,
doth impart such a gift as we have described above. Christ's
holy humanity, in flesh and blood subsisting; not a partial
holiness, but a complete holiness; not a partial strength, but
a complete strength; the gift not of this and of that grace,
THE INVISIBLE GRACE.
551
but the gift of all grace, to complete the new man created in
righteousness and true holiness; the gift of the Holy Spirit,
not unto this or unto that attainment in knowledge, or in
virtue, but unto the attainment of a complete man, of the
stature of the fulness of Christ. You receive the regenera-
tion, you receive the edification, you receive the salvation, of
the body of Christ,-of that body in its holiness, and in its
power against sin and the devil,—of that body after it had
been offered, and attained unto the very good-will of the
Father; and so do you attain unto that same good-will
when, by faith, you partake of the fellowship of Christ's
broken body. I pray you, therefore, to be stirred up with
desire and with earnestness to long for the participation of
this His body, and at all times to exercise such lively faith
thereon, as shall bring you into the possession of the gift;
but, above all times, then, when at the table of the Lord, you
shall have the symbols of it presented before you, and the
assurance of it dressed out by an ordinance of the Lord's
own appointment.
WE
HOMILY V.
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
LUKE XXII. 20.
This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
E now come to unfold the second part of the sacrament
of the supper, which is contained under the symbol
of the cup. The words of the text, which were spoken by the
Lord over the cup, are reported by Matthew and Mark with
some little variation. By the former, "This is my blood of
the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins;" and by the latter, "This is my blood of the new testa-
ment, which is shed for many." But by St Paul, in the 11th
chapter of First Corinthians, it is reported in the words of
Luke, "This cup is the new testament in my blood." These
four accounts of our Lord's words, spoken on that memorable
occasion, do agree together in these three particulars: first,
that the thing conveyed in the cup is the new testament; and,
secondly, that this new testament was purchased by the blood
of Christ; and, thirdly, that it is conveyed to us by drinking of
the cup. And to these three particulars, Matthew and Luke
add two more, likewise of much importance, which are-first,
that the wine is His blood unto the eye and lip of faith,
in what sense the bread is His body; that the new-testa-
ment right and title are not only conveyed in the cup of
wine, but that faith is to look upon that wine as the blood
of Christ. Secondly, it is added by these evangelists, that
this blood was shed for many, for the remission of sins.
These five particulars do contain the great and most precious
privilege of partaking of this cup, and they all depend upon
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
553
the right interpretation of that which is contained under the
name of the new testament. For the right understanding
and interpretation of that which is implied in the expression,
the "new testament,” we must study together what is written
thereof in the 7th, 8th, and 9th chapters of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, beginning with the 15th verse of the 9th chapter,
where the two testaments are set in opposition, the one to the
other, and may be studied in the way of contrast: “And for
this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that
were under the first testament, they which are called might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
What the first
testament here spoken of is, we are sufficiently assured in
the 18th verse: 'Whereupon neither the first testament was
dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he took the
blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool,
and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people,
saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath
enjoined unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both
the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And
almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and
without shedding of blood is no remission." This passage
doth sufficiently determine the first or old testament to be
that book of the law and ordinance of the ministry which
Moses received from God upon the top of Sinai, and which
he read in the hearing of the people, and confirmed with
them by a solemn sacrifice, as you have it all recorded in the
24th chapter of the Book of Exodus. This first testament
bequeathed unto the Jewish people, and unto them alone, a
gift of the Holy Land, from the Red Sea even unto the sea of
the Philistines, and from the Dead Sea unto the river; and
assured it unto them against all their enemies, in quiet and
safe possession, provided, and upon condition, that they kept
the laws, and the ordinances, and the judgments, which are
written in the 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d chapters of the same
Book of Exodus. Of this testament, Moses was the medi-
ator, according as we have it declared in the Epistle to the
Galatians, chap. iii. 19: "Wherefore then serveth the law? It
554
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
was added because of transgressions, till the seed should
come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained
by angels in the hand of a mediator." Here, then, have
you that old testament, and that mediator; into contrast
with which, the new testament, and Christ, its mediator, are
drawn in the 7th, 8th, and 9th chapters of the Epistle to the
Hebrews. Now, observe, by recurring to the 15th verse of the
9th chapter, wherein this contrast is placed, and what was the
need of a new testament. It is there said that, under the first
testament, there were transgressions unredeemed; to wit, the
transgressions of the ten commandments, and those other
laws, on condition of keeping which the first testament was
bequeathed. These laws were broken by all who were under
that testament, even by those who had been called by the
special grace of God. For that law, God, when He gave it,
did well know that no man could keep, but doth daily break
it, in thought, word, and deed. And wherefore, then, did He
place them under such a law? Because He must ever express
His own holiness for His own part, and for theirs He would
shew them their transgressions, that they might take refuge
in the promise given freely without law unto Abraham, and
look forward to the great atonement which was to be made
by Christ for all sin. But being placed under that testament
with a law, by breaking that law they became excluded from
the bequest of the promised land, and so are found at this day
deprived of it because of their transgression. This I speak
of the whole nation; but in the passage before us the apostle
is speaking only of them which are called, or, as it is in the
original, which have been called, that is, the chosen ones
of God; as it is written, (Rom. viii. 30:) "Whom he did pre-
destinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them
he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also
glorified." These called ones under the first testimony had
transgressed against the law of that testimony, even as all
the rest; but through the effectual calling of God, they had
grace to look forward to the great Redeemer who was to
come, and so they were justified by their hope from all things
from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.
And so, when Christ came, and in His death had offered the
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
555
sacrifice for their transgressions, they were loosed from the
bondage of God's broken law, and so were at liberty to
receive, not the inheritance of Canaan in their lifetime, which
their transgressions had forfeited, but the eternal inheritance
which had been promised unto Abraham, and unto all the
heirs of Abraham's faith; and therefore it is said, "might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance," in which expres-
sion, both the word "promise," and the word "eternal," distin-
guish the inheritance procured by means of Christ's death,
from the inheritance contained in the first testament, which was
not given under promise, but given under stipulation of law,
to the very end that the condition being broken, the posses-
sion of it might be taken away-might be temporal, and not
eternal. And I may add, in passing, that when the children.
of Israel shall hold their land by an eternal tenure, it shall be
held under the tenure of the promise made to Abraham, and
not the testament given to Moses. Now, before they can
arrive at the tenure of Abraham's promise, they must be
delivered from the transgressions done under the first testa-
ment; for God's law is perfect and holy, and when He hath
put a people under it, they must keep it or they must die, or,
not keeping it, they must be redeemed by Christ; and there-
fore I conclude, that whatever storms of wars the unconverted
tribes shall yet raise with the Gentiles around that troublous
stone of Jerusalem, they shall never come to sit down in peace,
and dwell in it in safety for ever,-shall never receive it for an
eternal inheritance according to all the prophets, until they
shall have believed upon the death of Jesus Christ, whereby
the sins done under the first testament may be remitted to
them, and so they may arrive at the better standing of the
promise of faith given unto Abraham. That land can never
be held otherwise than in right of that seed in whose behalf
Abraham received the promise of it. This is explicitly taught
in these words of the Epistle to the Galatians, chap. iii. 18, 19:
"If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but
God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth
the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed
should come to whom the promise was made."
Now, then, observe, how from the above true and faithful
556
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
account of the first testament, and especially from these last
words quoted from Galatians, Christ becometh the mediator
of a new testament. If the first testament, or the law given
to Moses, was given for the end of shewing forth transgres-
sions,—that is, of shewing forth God's holiness in visiting
His Church with the judgments which, from the beginning,
He had purposed in Himself,-then, when Christ came, and
by His death had shewn the sinfulness of the flesh and the
holiness of God, by that demonstration which God had pur-
posed to set up for ever, and of which all former demonstra-
tions, such as the fall of man and the law, were only the pre-
parations and the shadows; then there remained no room.
for them any more, for who desireth the shadow who pos-
sesseth the reality? which reality, God and man having at-
tained unto in Christ's death, the first testament was removed
out of the way, or, in truth, Christ having fulfilled the condi-
tions of it in all respects, claimed it as His own of the Father,
and, having obtained it in full right to Himself, He nailed it
to His cross and crucified it there. Likewise all those called
ones who, under this sore bondage and penalty of law, had
lost all personal right to the land, and held only in the right
of that Seed upon whom they believed, being now honoured
and acknowledged by Him, whom they, by their faith and
hope, had already honoured, He becometh their surety for
the possession of the promised inheritance; and not theirs
only, but the surety of all who had rested upon the promise
thereof as given to Abraham. And because it was the pur-
pose of God to take out a people from the Gentiles for His
name, and not at once to possess the saints of the inheritance,
it became necessary that the intervening time should be
occupied by some instrument of God in Christ, and that the
Gentiles in gathering should have some assurance made unto
them of their full participation in the inheritance promised
unto the Father, that is to say, the covenant made with
Abraham, for an inheritance unto him and to his seed, must
undergo a change in its form, though it remain the same as
to its substance. The form which it had, as given unto
Abraham, was that of a sovereign grant and unconditional
promise, without any requirement whatever from him, save
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
557
faith upon the Seed which was to come. But now that the
Seed is come, and hath purchased the inheritance, and pos-
sessed it in full right, it would be want of acknowledgment to
His work and title were it still to stand as an unconditional
gift of God. There was a condition in it from the beginning,
but not of man's performance, but to be performed by the
eternal Son of God; under the knowledge of which, God the
Father promised the inheritance to all who should believe
upon His Son. But now that His Son is come, and by
incarnation and death hath performed the condition of the
everlasting covenant between the Father and the Son, He
entereth into full right and title unto the whole inheritance,
and from henceforth, as His own possession, He must be re-
presented as disposing of it. That which formerly proceeded
from God the Father, must now proceed from Christ; that
which formerly was given in the view of conditions to be
performed, must now be given as the reward of the perform-
ance of the same,—that is, from being a covenant of promise,
it turneth to be a testament of bequests. But it is the same
thing, and the very same thing, which is given in the one case
and in the other. The inheritance promised unto Abraham,
the blessing promised unto Abraham, are the very same
which are promised unto us, according as it is written, (Gal.
iii. 13, 14:) “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith."
Now, God foreseeing that after His Son was come, the
covenant would change its form into that of a testament, and
that all the Gentiles would be called under this testamentary
form of His grace, did, when giving the Mosaical economy to
be a type and shadow of the good things to come, cast it into
the testamentary form,-the death of Christ, the testator,
being prefigured in the death of animals, and the inheritance
of the saints being prefigured in the promised land, and the
believing seed of Abraham being prefigured in the natural
seed of Abraham: and so it is called the first testament by
reflection from the second testament; but, properly speak-
ing, there is only one testament and the prefiguration of it.
558
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Now, forasmuch as the figure or shadow is only for a time
until the reality come, and was intended by God at that time
to be removed, the promises were all made under conditions.
to be performed by those to whom they were given, that
upon the failure of the performance, the former testimony
might be removed without prejudice to, but rather with
honour of, the truth and the faithfulness of God. Now, this
is the key to all that is said about the first testament in
these three chapters of the Hebrews; as, for example, (chap.
vii. 22:) "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better tes-
timony." And, again, (chap. viii. 6:) "By how much also he
is the mediator of a better testimony, which was established
upon better promises; for if that first testament had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second." Better promises means promises without conditions,
promises of free grace without a law; a better testament,
because it is everlasting, and not temporary like the former;
the only testament which is unto salvation, the former testa-
ment being unto condemnation: not but that even under it
there was salvation, but a salvation which flowed not from
it but from the covenant made with Abraham, which was
fettered with no law. The former testament, so far from
bringing salvation, did bring an obligation which no one but
Christ could perform, and, in the absence of its performance,
did bring a condemnation and a prevention from the inherit-
ance which none but Christ could remove. And as I have
said above, had Christ not died for the sins of the saints
under the former testament, not one of them, no, not Moses
himself, nor David, nor Daniel, could have come into the pos-
session with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And this is the
meaning of the 15th verse of the 9th chapter: "And for this
cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that
were under the first testament, they which are called might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
Such we conceive to be sound doctrine concerning the new
testament. And now let us inquire further concerning the
substance of the gift therein bequeathed. This I think to be
expressed in the passage last quoted by the words "eternal
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
559
inheritance," and the word with which it is connected. The
promise of eternal inheritance doth shew that it hath been
promised unto those who were under the first testament, but
could not be attained by them until Christ had atoned for
their sins done against the law. Now, while this passage
proves that the eternal inheritance was present by promise
under the law, the passage quoted above from the Epistle to
the Galatians, (chap. iii. 18,) “For if the inheritance be under
the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abra-
ham by promise," doth prove that it was present also by pro-
mise unto Abraham. Therefore we see from these two passages
that the inheritance which we have from Christ, by testament
bequeathed, is the same which was given to Abraham by
promise. Now, what was it that was given unto Abraham
for an inheritance? Read with me in the 17th chapter of
Genesis, at the 7th verse: “And I will establish my covenant
between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their genera-
tion for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and
to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the
land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be
their God." Such is the form in which the covenant of an
everlasting inheritance was given unto Abraham and unto
his seed; which seed, be it observed, is distinctly declared at
this same time to be not one nation, but many nations, for, in
the act of making this covenant, God changed his name from
Abram to Abraham: Ver. 4, " As for me, behold, my covenant
is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy
name shall be Abraham, [that is, father of a great multitude;]
for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will
make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee,
and kings shall come out of thee." In this passage it is that
the apostle perceiveth the Gentiles to be included: Gal. iii. 8,
"The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they
which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." This
passage shews us also that our blessing passeth not the bless-
1
560
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
ing of Abraham, but that we are introduced into the fellow-
ship thereof; as, indeed, we are more fully instructed in the
IIth of the Romans, in these words addressed to the Gentile
Church: Ver. 17, "And if some of the branches be broken
off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among
them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive tree; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast,
thou bearest not the root, but the root thee." That is, we
Gentiles support not Abraham and the Jews, but they us; or
rather Christ supporteth us both with an equal hand, they
having the preference in respect of time, we in respect of the
clearness of the revelation. Be it so, then, that the inheritance
promised unto Abraham is the same which is bequeathed
unto us, we go on to examine what more is said concerning
it in the Holy Scriptures; and we find in the 37th Psalm that
the inheritance is extended unto the whole earth, which, in-
deed, is covertly contained in the original covenant made to
Abraham: Ver. 9, 18, 29, "Those that wait upon the Lord, they
shall inherit the earth. . . . The Lord knoweth the days of
the upright, and their inheritance shall be for ever. The
righteous shall inherit the land, [the earth,] and dwell therein
for ever." And again: Ver. 34, "Wait on the Lord, and keep
his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land, [or, the
earth.]" This remarkable song is addressed to those who do
not fret themselves because of evil-doers, who cease from
anger and forsake wrath, or, in one word, unto the meek.
And our Lord, amongst the beatitudes, doth, in one word,
express the substance of the psalm: Matt. v. 5, "Blessed are
the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." The apostle
Paul gives to our inheritance a still wider range, even the
whole creation, in the 8th chapter of the Romans: Ver. 17,
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed [not in, but] unto us." Then follows
what this glorious inheritance is: Ver. 19, "For the earnest
expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of
the sons of God.
•
For the creation was made subject to
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
561
•
But if we hope for that we
vanity, not willingly," &c.
see not, then do we with patience wait for it,"—that is, "the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." This passage
includeth the redemption of the body in our inheritance, and
bequeaths to us in the redeemed body the lordship of creation
in its redeemed state. Now, that no doubt may remain upon
this our inheritance, co-inheritance with Christ, I ask your fur-
ther attention to the 11th chapter of the Hebrews, where both
the universality of the inheritance and our participation of it
along with Christ are fully stated. The apostle, in the 4th
verse of the Ist chapter, having declared that Christ is in
His generation so much better than the angels, as He hath
by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they,—
that is, the name of Son,-doth, in the 5th verse of the 2d
chapter, declare what that inheritance is, in these words:
"Unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world
[in the original, "the habitable or inhabited world"] to come,
whereof we speak." Then quoting in the following verses the
8th Psalm, which putteth all whatever, visible or invisible,
under Christ, he argueth that the brethren also, the many
sons whom He was bringing into glory, should be altogether
one with Him in that future habitable world which He is to
inherit; nay, he goes so far as to make His suffering of death
and humiliation for a while beneath the angels to be for this
very end of delivering us from the bondage of corruption,
and bringing us into the fellowship of His glory. Besides
this I will direct your attention to one other passage only,
where this our inheritance is declared to be now in the
heavens, but ready to be manifested in the last times: 1 Pet.
i. 4, “God hath begotten us to an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven.
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein
ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that per-
isheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise
and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." In
this passage two things are added concerning our inheritance:
VOL. II.
2 N
562
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
the first, that it is at present in the heavens, which meaneth
not among the stars or in the empty space, but in the in-
visible condition in which Christ is, and the spirits of just
men made perfect, and the angelic hosts, being truly those
new heavens and that new earth, and especially that new
Jerusalem, the metropolis of both, which cometh out of the
heavens from our God. The second thing added by this pas-
sage of Scripture is, that it is to be revealed, or made manifest,
in the last time, which is also declared to be the time of the
revelation of Jesus Christ. So that this passage being taken
along with that quoted above from the Romans, we have
these three contemporaneous revelations or manifestations:
Ist, The manifestation of Christ; 2d, The manifestation of the
sons of God; 3d, The manifestation of the eternal inheritance,
which is the habitable world to come-Christ the heir, we
the joint-heirs, and the redeemed creature the inheritance.
Now, be it observed that a testament, a last will or testament,
is, in all languages, and in all nations, and hath been in all
ages, a deed or instrument whereby one person conveys unto
others the right to his inheritance or possession. When it is
an inheritance properly so called,—such, for example, as in
the land of Israel, whose laws and ordinances form the basis
and ground of the New Testament language and New Testa-
ment ideas, then the inheritance, or heirship, descended in
the direct line, from father to son, in the first-born. This
forms the key to a good deal of scriptural language: for
example, the first verses of the Hebrews; where the Son, in
right of His generation as Son, is said to be appointed heir
of all things, and to have inherited a better name than the
angels; that is, the name of Son, in right of which He is heir.
Moreover, into this name and degree of sons all the elect
ones of the Father are taken by adoption. The Father
adopteth us in virtue of Christ's righteousness, for He cannot
adopt an unholy person; and whom the Father hath adopted
through imputation of Christ's righteousness, Christ doth
baptize with the Holy Ghost, which is not the inheritance,
but the earnest of the inheritance, until the redemption of the
purchased possession, (Eph. i. 14;) which is not the adop-
tion completed, but the seal of the adoption, according as it
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP. 563
is written, Rom. viii. 23, "Ourselves also, which have the
first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within our-
selves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body." And having thus received from the Son "the Spirit
of adoption, we are able to cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children
of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ." Thus we come at a fellowship in the in-
heritance which Christ hath purchased unto Himself, through
the free grace of the Father adopting us, through the baptism
of Christ sealing us with the Holy Ghost; but, as hath been
said, we have not yet received the inheritance, because Christ
himself hath not yet received it, as the apostle declareth,
Heb. ii. 8: "But now we see not yet all things put under
him." How then do we hold it? We hold it by a testa-
mentary grant; Christ hath bequeathed it unto us. But unto
whom hath He bequeathed it, and how doth He signify this
His bequest? He hath bequeathed it unto all the Father's
election, whom He hath baptized with the Holy Ghost; and
He doth signify and seal it openly by the cup in the supper
of the Lord. This cup is the new testament, this cup is
the blood of the new testament,-that is to say, this cup is
that blood with which the new testament was purchased ;
that new testament including under it our redemption, the
redemption of our body, and the redemption of the inherit-
ance;-being redeemed not with corruptible things, such as
silver and gold, but with the blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. The apostle's discern-
ment findeth in this language another force; which is, that
it points out to us the death of the Testator, which mak-
eth His testament irreversible: "For where a testament is,
there must also of necessity be [added] the death of the
testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead:
otherwise it is of no force at all while the testator liveth." So
that in drinking the blood of the Testator, we do, in fact,
receive the assurace that this second testament shall never be
reversed as that former one was; that there shall be no third
testament; that there shall be no codicil appended to this
second testament; that we receive in the cup the full fellow-
564
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
ship of that inheritance of all things, which Christ hath
purchased for Himself, in full possession, and which He
bequeaths to those that overcome, according as it is writ-
ten, Rev. xxi. 7: "He that overcometh shall inherit all
things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."
Observe, then, what we have made out under this first
head: that the new testament referreth directly to the in-
heritance of Canaan, promised unto Abraham,-of all the
earth, covertly promised unto him, and openly to the pro-
phets,—to all things created and made, purchased by Christ.
The inheritance is the object of the testament; but that
inheritance includes a redeemed body to possess, as well
as a redeemed world to be possessed. The seal of this
testament is given in the cup. And to whom is it given?
Unto all those who have been sealed with the Holy Ghost,
born again of water and the Spirit. Therefore, with lively
faith lay hold upon the cup which containeth such a regal
dowry, such a princely inheritance. With eager faith, lay
hold upon the cup; and, in tasting that wine which rejoiceth
the heart of God and man, think of the eternal joy and
blessedness unto which you are adopted as the kings and
priests of God. Think of the time when your Lord shall
drink the wine of joy new with you in His Father's kingdom;
and be no more,—after ye have been thus sealed to an eternal
and universal inheritance of creation, and of creation's various
productions,—set upon the things of this present evil world.
O brethren, having these treasures in the heavens, and hav-
ing the assurance that they shall in due time be manifested,
set not your affections upon earthly things, but upon the
things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right
hand of God. And having in this cup, moreover, the as-
surance of a redeemed body, capable of possessing and of
enjoying all these things, be not taken or captivated with
the present enjoyments or recreations of the sense. Regard
the flesh as buried, and bethink yourselves evermore of its
redemption about to come. When pleasure presents itself
at every inlet of the soul, remember that ye have drunk of
this cup, which, for fading pleasure, hath insured you of
eternal blessedness-blessedness, brethren, unto the body;
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
565
yea, unto the body, for which let our very flesh cry out,
as in a parched land wherein there is no water. From
the cross of this holy life, upon which the quivering limbs
of the lustful flesh are extended, lift up your cry unto God,
and wait patiently for Him; for you shall be redeemed from
the grave, your flesh shall arise immortal and incorrupt-
ible, and the world shall be redeemed for a fit possession
and inheritance unto your holy flesh, unto your redeemed
body. And then, in happy society, free from the reality, free
from the suspicion, free from the possibility of evil accident,
of evil intermixture, shall we enjoy that jubilee which hath
no apprehension of change, of satiety, or of termination.
Thus blessed shall we be in the city of our God, in the new
Jerusalem which cometh down from heaven; and we shall
walk by the rivers of His pleasures with great contentment;
and that world which was to us for a wilderness, shall be made
to us for a garden more blessed than Eden. Oh, by such
thoughts and meditations as these, dearly beloved, let this
cup, which sealeth to you this inheritance, be exceedingly
precious! Drink ye all of it; drink, oh, drink abundantly, O
beloved! "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let
him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst
come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely."
Having thus explained what the new testament is, we
come now to explain the important addition contained in
these words, "in my blood," or, in other words, to shew forth
and estimate the purchase and price of this new testament,
which being well and rightly opened to us by the great Pro-
phet and Counsellor of His Church, will add much to our
esteem and love of this most precious token, the cup of the
communion. The inheritance contained in, and bequeathed.
by, the new testament unto the adopted sons of God doth,
as we have seen, include all things created and made. These
things, according to the fore-ordained purpose of God, were
every one brought under the bondage of sin and corruption,
as we see them and feel them at this day to be; and through
the corruption of the flesh and the fall of the world, the spirit
of man, which by God is given to constitute a living soul,
566
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
doth come into a fearful bondage of the flesh and of the
world, in which it struggleth ineffectually, but cannot redeem
itself, nor by any means obtain redemption. The earth said,
It is not in me; and the sea, or the abyss, answered, It is not
in me.
But destruction and death said, We have heard the
rumour thereof with our ears, because the rumour of that
redemption was older than destruction and death, or rather
death and destruction had the precedency in time, but not in
effect. They were in being, they came into being, as soon as
Adam fell; but they took not effect until they had heard
the rumour of the redemption: before they drew their sword
against God's fair creature, or touched him with their ruthless
fingers, their ear was poisoned with the rumour of that
wisdom and way of understanding which should destroy
them both, and the might of their right hand was paralysed
with the knowledge of their own death and destruction in the
fulness of the time. Between the fall and the first stroke of
death, came that rumour of death swallowed up in victory,
of death cast into the lake of fire, in these words: "The
seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent."
Therefore, the soul that came from God to be thus under the
bondage of a fallen creation, was never left without a witness,
was always treated by its Creator as a prisoner whom He
loved, as a wife whom He fondly loved, and whom He would
yet redeem from her thraldom. The love of the Son of God
unto the soul of man was before the foundations of the world
were laid, His delights were with her even from everlasting.
A woful thing, a very sorrowful thing it was, that the soul
which He loved from the depths of eternity should come
forth to be thus oppressed; but it was the same sorrowful
thing unto which He had devoted Himself in the fulness of
the time: and, therefore, if the all-sufficient One, the eternally-
begotten Son, was to undertake such a perilous voyage into
the unredeemed creation, be clothed upon with its poverty,
and weakness, and wickedness, and upbear its weight and
load of rushing ruin, and pillar it up again in stable infalli-
bility and glorious majesty,-then why should the created soul
mourn that she should undergo the same passage, through
infirmity and imprisonment, unto glory, and liberty, and
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
567
strength? And thus are we sent, creatures of His hand, souls
immortal and indestructible, into tabernacles of clay, whose
foundations are in the dust, and which are crushed before the
moth, to bear, through imparted strength of Christ, the rushing
ruin of the world, that we may afterwards inherit with Christ
its fixed stability for ever and ever. This bondage of the
will or spirit of man is beautifully expressed by the ancient
fable of Prometheus, as it is set forth in the Greek tragedian;
who representeth this man, that had stolen or obtained, as it
were, not in a full, but in a sort of insecure and fraudulent
possession, the ethereal fire. This man, who, no doubt, is
Adam, having in him a soul that once was free, but after-
wards became bound, the ancients did represent as bound
upon a rock, and his vitals continually torn by the harpies,
which are the evil birds that would have taken the pieces
of Abraham's offering, the spirits of evil which torment us
with wicked thoughts, and vex the soul continually; and the
ancients pictured the mystery thus: that aye as the heaven-
born man lay stretched upon his rock impotent and tor-
mented, the gods-children of terror and Satan, that is, of the
earth and time, even the fallen powers of the natural world
-came to him and entreated him to their captivity and to
their inheritance; which is Satan tempting Christ with all
the powers of this world. But aye the impotent and suffer-
ing man refused their bribes contemptuously, preferring to
possess a will, though thus oppressed, preferring the con-
sciousness of a will oppressed, unto all the glory and all the
power which are to be found in the fallen heaven and in the
fallen earth. Such is the true mystery set forth by the most
famous of the Greek tragic poets, picturing out to the very
life the condition of the human soul, of a reasonable soul, of
a will enduring the bondage of all the creation, and groaning
within itself, waiting for the redemption of the body, and
meanwhile saved by hope, and in the strength of that hope
preferring its bondage to all the power and liberty which is
contained within the bounds of creation under its present
laws.
Now, that new testament which was purchased by the blood
of Christ, combineth, as we have seen, the redemption of the
568
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
soul out of this bondage of the body and the fallen creation
into the liberty, the glorious liberty, of the raised body and
the redeemed creation. The question, therefore, which ariseth
is, how the blood of Christ should accomplish this great
emancipation, and secure to us this great inheritance. By
the blood of Christ, is to be understood the life of Christ;
and by His blood shed, is to be understood His life offered
up. For, from the beginning, even from the time when the
hope of redemption was given unto the first man, it was sig-
nified by the institution of sacrifices, that a life was required
to accomplish the great redemption, and that a life in due
time would be given. This condition of the redemption was
continually indicated by the reconstitution of sacrifices at
different times: even until the Redeemer came, God was
never approached but under the sanction and protection of
blood. Everything under the law was purified with blood,
and without shedding of blood there was no remission. Now,
observe how the apostle reasons in the 9th chapter of the
Hebrews upon these ordinances: Ver. 23, "It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should
be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these." And what these better
sacrifices are, whereby the heavenly things are sanctified, is
declared in such passages as these: "Neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us,"
(ver. 12;) and, "But now once, in the end of the world, hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second
time without sin unto salvation," (ver. 26, 28.) It was, there-
fore, the sacrifice of Himself, the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot unto God,
the blood presented to us in the cup, as being shed for the
remission of sins,—this it was which sanctifieth the heavenly
things themselves; whereof the tabernacle and service of
Moses were but the patterns. Now, what are these heavenly
things which needed sanctification of the better sacrifice of
Christ? They are the good things to come, the greater and
more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, whereof He is
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
569
the High Priest, and into which He entered to purify them
by the blood of His own sacrifice, as the high priest entered
once a year into the most holy place to purify it. Now, of
what were the things in the most holy place the patterns?
The Shechinah, or glory between the cherubim, was the pat-
tern of Christ's own body, from which the glory and the word
of the Godhead shall for ever shine and speak forth. The
cherubim, between and upon whom the glory sat enthroned,
are the Church in its golden purity, inheriting all dominion
over the earth, both clean, as the bullock, and unclean, as the
lion, and over the heavens, in which the eagle possesseth the
supremacy. This Church, kings and priests, is standing on
the mercy-seat, the monument of God's grace; and this same
mercy-seat covereth the ark of the covenant, wherein the law
lay enclosed, symbol of righteous government; and the rod
that budded, symbol of royal priesthood; and the pot of
manna, symbol of immortal, incorruptible nourishment, de-
rived from an incorruptible state of the all-producing earth.
These were the things in the most holy place which the high
priest purified once a year, and these are the things in the
heavens whereof they are the patterns-even Christ's own
body, the Church of the first-born, the elements of earth and
air, and all which abideth in and passeth through the same.
These are the things which the sacrifice of Christ availeth to
sanctify; and they are now sanctified in the word and act of
God, and do only wait His good pleasure to come forth and
be manifested, when the High Priest himself shall come forth
and be manifested. Then shall the body of Christ, which
heretofore was in the form and likeness of sinful flesh, be
manifested in the form and likeness of sinless flesh; and the
Church over which He is High Priest, the holy temple, built
up of living stones, shall be manifested in its beauty unto all
men; and the habitable world to come, sun, moon, and stars,
and habitable earth, shall come forth in their new and peren-
nial glory. These are the heavenly things which could not
be purified by a less costly sacrifice than the blood of Christ,
being the inheritance of the saints, bequeathed unto them by
the new testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Now the deep question ariseth upon us again, How should
570
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
the blood of Christ avail unto the sanctification and eternal
redemption of the flesh, and of the world which was made for
flesh? We have seen how the bondage lieth most heavy upon
the human soul. We have seen, also, how, from the beginning
until the coming of Christ, redemption through blood was
foretold. And now the third and greatest question ariseth,
How should that blood purchase redemption from that bond-
age? Let us consider the terms of this question. By blood
is understood life: "The life thereof is the blood thereof." By
blood shed, is understood life taken away. And when it is said
over the cup, "This is the new testament in my blood, shed," it
is signified that the new testament, the redemption of the body,
and the redemption of the inheritance, are obtained by the
purchase of the death of Christ. As it is written, "Redeemed,
not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with
the blood of Christ, as of a lamb slain without blemish and
without spot." Now Christ, inasmuch as He is God, can
never die, can never change, but is the same yesterday, to-
day, and for ever. Inasmuch as He is man, however, having
taken to Himself a body, He can die; and it is, therefore,
through the offering of the life of His body that He hath put
away sin, as it is written, "By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Christ once." Now, then,
the question becomes, Doth the offering of that body on the
tree make an end of sin in the creation of God? I answer,
not because it changed God's mind towards the creation, but
because it allowed His mind to open and to unfold its ever-
lasting and unchangeable purpose. The purpose of God from
the beginning was to bring the creation into that state of
perfect holiness and infallible blessedness, unto which it is
about to arrive through the purification of the blood of Christ.
The purposed method of accomplishing this was, from the
beginning likewise, that very method which hath come to
pass: to wit, by His Son's taking a body, and offering it upon
the cross.
Wherefore He is called "the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world." And if so that the end of God
was a faultless and infallible creation, and the method of God
the offering of the body of His Son, then all things must work
together under the Divine government unto the attainment
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
571
The creation of all things in
of this end by this very means.
the heavens and in the earth, and of Adam, lord of this earth,
the palace of the universe, was not inharmonious, but harmo-
nious with the method of Christ being put to death. Adam
was created not sinful, not mortal, in the view and purpose
of his becoming both sinful and mortal, to the end that
Christ, when He came, might die; and, in dying, quicken all
already dead, or yet to die. The fall of Adam was the bring-
ing of all creation under death, to the end that Christ, when
He became a creature, might also be under death. Death,
therefore, had its perfect and consummate work in Christ;
and if so, then also sin, for death is only the wages of sin.
In Christ, therefore, behold and see the sin of creation con-
centrated, and the power of death likewise concentrated.
Put, therefore, Adam, and the fall, and Moses, and the sacri-
fices, and the law, and the sin of all men, and all men, out of
the question, and look simply at Christ made sin for us, made
a curse, made flesh and blood in order to die. Look at Him,
for the whole mystery of the question is wrapped up in Him.
Suppose nothing in creation but Himself; suppose yourself
an angel looking down upon this creature, and the question
will be greatly simplified. Here are, then, in Christ, the Son
of God, the soul and the sinful creation. In His flesh, the
sinfulness, the devilishness of all creation, its mortality, its
corruption, its alienation, its misery, its poverty, its wretched-
ness, all inhere and inhabit. And into this concentrated power
of a fallen world cometh the soul. Such a soul as our souls,
a reasonable soul, cometh with power of the Holy Ghost to
quicken this germ of sin. And thus far the formation of
Christ's body differeth nothing from the formation of Adam,
save in this, that Adam's substance was not sinful, but Christ's
was sinful; for in quickening Adam, a soul possessed with.
power of the Holy Spirit to quicken came to his body. Or
look at it in Eve: a soul came with Holy-Spirit power,
and took of Adam's flesh, substance, which it enlivened,
and Eve was a living soul. So a soul with Holy-Spirit
power came and took of Mary substance of Christ's body,
and quickened it, and Christ was a living soul. Each being
the same creation-act, with this only difference that the
572
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
one was an act upon a creation unfallen and sinless, the other
upon a creation fallen and full of sin. To this human nature,
thus creation-wise composed, the eternal Son unites Himself,
and imposeth upon it the honour of His own personality;
that is, through it He acteth, in it He is seen, through it He
looketh, by it He speaketh. And thus the strength of God,
in the person of His Son, and the strength of sin, and the
strength of death, and the strength of corruption, and, in one
word, the strength of creation fallen and sinful, sun, moon,
and stars, and fallen angels,-in one word, the strength of
Satan,―come into diametrical opposition, direct controversy,
closest strife, who shall win that soul-whether the Son of
God shall prevail to redeem it, or Satan and his powers,
visible and invisible, shall prevail to bind it. One sin, and
all is over; one rebellious wish of that soul, and all is lost:
Satan hath made good his usurpation, and the soul, reason,
the human will, is bound for ever. But, otherwise, let every
wish, and every thought, and every act of that soul be har-
monious with God, and averse from evil, and the soul is re-
deemed for ever. This is the nature of the work which Christ
wrought in the flesh, and in which He prevailed. The igno-
rant and foolish men who will not hear of the sinfulness of
His flesh, but will put some difference of some kind or other
-whether understood by themselves or not understood, God
knows—between His flesh and ours, do merely make redemp-
tion void, and Christ's work void, for fear they should defile
Him by the wicked thing which He laid hold on to prove His
strength and holiness to be greater than its weakness and
wickedness. When God had thus proved, in the person of His
Son, that He was the almighty and the all-holy One, and that
the devil was but a tool of His, and the creation but a lump of
clay in the potter's hand, and the soul of man His own chosen
vessel, reason His own temple, for the Godhead to inherit,
to inhabit, to illuminate, to inform,-what further did He with
His Christ but proceed, through Him, to execute the original
device and purpose of an infallible and glorious creation, by
the method which He had purposed within Himself of taking
the life of His Son? Not the life of the soul; nay, for the soul,
always immortal, is now, above all measure, glorified to be
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
573
the Life-giver, the Life of life; but to give unto that soul,
now redeemed, a worthy tent wherein to abide, to change the
state of the body, and to glorify it, and with it to change and
glorify the body's dependent materialism, which is, the earth
its footstool, the air its breath, the light its element of vision,
the world its domain. These, the Father had purposed
should become infallible, sinless. And now that His Son is
cut off by death, without a spot, perfectly holy, the Father can
have His will accomplished without offence unto His holiness;
and Christ's body may pass into the infallible state. If Adam
could have come by death without sinning, Adam might have
passed into the infallible state; but this could not be, there-
fore Adam and all creatures lay in the corrupt state until
One should come who could die though He had not sinned.
And why die? what the importance of death in the purpose
of God? Vast importance-all important. And why so?
That creation might be proved to itself to be nothing but
dust; that the future rulers of creation, the destined lords.
of the universe, might, by dying, know that the soul in itself
hath no power to give life, or preserve life when given, and,
knowing this, might be able to govern all, and to teach all, in
whom is life, from whom is breath, and all things. This is
the importance of death, and, therefore, death must supervene
upon the creation before resurrection supervenes; fallibility
must be proved before infallibility be given, This was the
purpose, this the commandment of the Father; and, there-
fore, Christ died. But Christ, being sinless, died not for His
own sin, but for His Father's glory, in the putting away of
all sin. His death is the great act of grace unto the creation,
as the fall was the great act of holiness unto the creation.
And what grace, say you, in putting the guiltless One to
death? The guiltless One was willing to go to death, for
His Father's great ends. Learn thou to be likewise willing.
Demonstration of the Father's grace, I say, by putting away
sin and fallibility from the creation altogether, and com-
municating to it sinlessness and infallibility. Askest thou,
How, and where? In the resurrection of that body which,
as I told thee, was the concentrated infirmity, mortality,
and sinfulness of creation. In changing this, the Father
574
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
changed all, for
worse than this.
nothing in its essence or substance is
And if the Father sheweth His power
in changing this, it is law to all the rest. All the rest
may look for this change unto infallibility and blessedness
through the grace and the power of God; and if all receive
it not, the not receiving of it ariseth out of some other
thing posterior in the purpose of God. I say posterior, not
in time, but in purpose. Hell, and those who shall inhabit
it for ever, form another mystery, having its origin in the
pre-supposition of this universal grace and power of God. It
is the manifestation, not of a power resident in the devil, or
in the flesh, or in creation, or in death, or in corruption, which
have all been vanquished and are effete, and, I may say,
annihilated, by the grace and power of God; but it is the
manifestation of a power resident in the soul itself, and de-
monstrative of the terrible grandeur of its being, by the
terrible potency which it hath within itself of setting at
naught not only creation-power, as the angels did, but re-
demption and resurrection powers. The very great capacities
of that form of being which God was to take for His own
created substance must be proved; and it is proved by its
power to set itself up against God and its own salvation,
when all the angelic wickednesses and all the material
wickednesses have been put, as we may say, out of the con-
troversy, and God's own Son and Spirit superadded on the
side of its salvation. But this our rejection of Christ is a
subject of such great depth, and the everlasting consequences
are of such an awful kind, that I cannot do more in this place
than merely to look at them as I have done, and pass on to
the further consideration of the redemption by the blood of
Christ. The thing which is redeemed is the soul of man, and
the bondage from which it is redeemed is the bondage of a
fallen and sinful body, with which the world, depending from
it, hath likewise become fallen and sinful. The way in which
it is redeemed from this bondage of a sinful nature is by
Christ taking upon Him that very nature, in that very state
of sinfulness, and triumphing over and against all its evil
conditions; and having brought it into a holy state, so offer-
ing it unto His Father, to do with it according to His mind,
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
575
who doth require of His Son to pour out its life, and leave it
in the Father's hand, to do with it according to His will.
And the Father, taking the redeemed thing, which not only
hath not sinned, but hath prevailed against all sin, doth make.
it the seed of a redeemed world, doth prevent it from seeing
corruption, doth raise it from the dead, incorruptible and im-
mortal, doth place it at His own right hand, united unto the
Divinity for ever; and doth constitute the redeemed soul,
quickening the redeemed body of Christ, the great second
nature of His eternal Son, in which His person may
gloriously appear, and through which His will may be
effectively acted in all, and upon all. Jesus, the redeemed
One, becometh the Redeemer in virtue of His most pre-
cious death, the great price which purchased the inheri-
tance. And in virtue of His resurrection, installation, and
investiture with immortality and incorruption at God's right
hand, He doth become the Administrator of that universal
estate which He hath purchased by His death, the Dis-
penser of resurrection gifts,-the Mediator between the Father
and His elect ones, receiving gifts for men, and bestowing
them upon men, - the great Baptist and Sealer with the
Holy Ghost, the great Head of God's elect in heaven and
on earth, giving unto some apostles, unto some prophets, unto
some evangelists, unto some pastors and teachers, for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ, the great Intercessor and
Advocate with the Father, interceding for the sins which are
continually committed, repented of, and confessed by His
Church on earth, and advocating in the court of the eternal
Father the various petitions, prayers, and intercessions which
His Church in flesh is continually making unto the God.
and Father of her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In one
word, being now the great Head of the Church, and being
yet about to be the great effecter, as He hath been the great
purchaser, of the universal redemption, He it is through
whom the Father shall put down all rule, and authority, and
power; He it is, and no other, who shall in person come
to effect that great redemption of the Church whereto we
look with outstretched necks, and for which we pray with
576
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
uplifted hands,—to break the bonds of wicked kings and raging
peoples, to become terrible unto the kings of the earth,
to rule them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel. And to this it is that the apostle Paul
looketh as the time at which all Israel shall be saved, as it is
written in the prophet Isaiah: "And the Redeemer shall
come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in
Jacob, saith the Lord." This is the great breaking of bonds,
opening of prison doors, and setting of captives free, unto
which the prophets constantly looked; when the yoke of the
Assyrians shall be broken, and the two-leaved gates of Baby-
lon shall be thrown wide open; when also the groaning crea-
ture shall be redeemed from its bondage of corruption, and
the dust, the sacred dust of His saints, shall arise incorrup-
tible, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and He
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. But still there shall
be bondsmen and bondage likewise, even those who hereto-
fore possessed the wicked and usurped dominion,—Satan and
his angels in the bottomless pit, and the bodies of the wicked
in the loathsome grave, whom haply, whose vile and polluted
dust haply, the purified earth shall have ejected from her
bosom into that place of the carcases of wicked men, whereto
such frequent allusion is made in the holy prophets. Slaves
and bondsmen indeed there shall be during the season of the
millennial kingdom, wherein the enemies of Christ shall be
made His footstool, and under His feet the head of the ser-
pent shall lie bruised in the dust. This great effecting of the
redemption, which we believe in, is a different mystery from
the purchasing of the redemption, in which we also believe:
the former is the acting of faith prospectively, the latter is the
acting of faith retrospectively. The one, even the purchase,
we have received; the other, even the effecting of the redemp-
tion, we believe to receive at the coming of the Lord to judge
the quick, to raise the saints, and to deliver the earth and the
air from Satan's bondage. Therefore it is that the coming of
the Redeemer is fixed by the apostle at the time when the
fulness of the Gentiles have come in, and all Israel are about
to be saved; therefore it is that he saith in another place,
THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
577
that "we groan within ourselves, even we which have the first-
fruits of the Spirit, waiting for the redemption of the body."
And in another place: "After that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest.
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession." And in another place: "Grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemp-
tion."
VOL. II.
20
HOMILY VI.
THE INVISIBLE GRACE SIGNIFIED AND CONVEYED TO THE
FAITHFUL IN THE RECEIVING OF THE CUP.
MATT. XXVI. 27, 28.
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all
of it: for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for
the remission of sins.
IN
N a former homily upon the signification of the Lord's
supper, we explained the meaning of the words, “This
is the new testament in my blood;" shewing at large how
that which to Abraham was given as a free promise, became.
in the time of Moses burdened with conditions of a law, and
that a law which no mere man in this life is able to keep: to
the end that when the man Christ Jesus should come and
fulfil all righteousness, He might in His own right claim the
inheritance from which all the rest under the Old Testament
were prevented by their sins; and, receiving it, might shew
forth His love unto the elect ones of the Father by freely
bestowing upon them, without any condition, the fellowship
of the inheritance which He had purchased. Without repeat-
ing anything which we have already said upon this subject,
we now proceed to unfold the spiritual grace which is con-
veyed unto the faithful under the symbol of the cup of wine;
for every sacrament, besides the outward sign, containeth an
inward and invisible grace. Over the cup these words are
pronounced, "This is the blood of the new testament." Two
questions arise hereupon: first, What is meant by the blood
of the new testament? and, secondly, What is meant by its
being in the cup? Now, with respect to the first of these
questions, upon which the second turns, we have much to say,
derived chiefly from the Epistle to the Hebrews.
When
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CUP.
579
Moses had received from God the substance of the old testa-
ment, he came down from the mount, intrusted by God, on
His behalf, to confirm it with the people. The people had
entreated to be spoken with through a mediator, and for that
office had made choice of Moses. God accepted Moses, and
intrusted him with all the words of the testament. But be-
fore the people could be made possessors of it, so as to call
it their own, and claim under it, it was necessary that victims
should be slain, in the blood of which the solemn pact was
stricken between God and them, as it is written, (Heb. ix. 19:)
"For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people
according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats,
with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both
the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the
testament which God hath enjoined unto you." From this
is derived the word, "This is the blood of the new testa-
ment," or, "This is the new testament in my blood," spoken
over the cup; which signifies, that the testament which Christ
hath obtained for us is valid only in His blood; that though,
by His perfect obedience to the law, He became rightful
heir of all bequeathed in the old testament, upon the condi-
tion of perfect obedience, we, who were disobedient, could
not attain unto the fellowship thereof otherwise than by His
death; that as the old testament which Moses had received
on the mount became extended to the people through the
sprinkling of blood, both upon the book which contained it,
and upon the people who received it, so the new testament,
which for Himself, without a death, Christ by perfect right-
eousness had obtained, is obtained for others only by the
purification of His blood passing upon that which containeth
the testament, and upon those who receive it. Now, what is
it that containeth the testament, as the book which Moses.
sprinkled contained the old testament? that is to say, what
is the thing sprinkled with blood? and who are the people
sprinkled with blood of the sacrifice of Christ? The thing
sprinkled with blood of the sacrifice of Christ is contained in
these words, (Heb. ix. 23:) "It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacri-
580
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
+
fices than these." These heavenly things, then, whatever
they be, are the things purified by the blood of Christ. And
what are these heavenly things? Not certainly the angels,
or the archangels, nor the sun, moon, and stars, but that king-
dom and inheritance which is now reserved in the heavens,
and which is to be manifested in the last times for us,-that
new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven,-those
things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,
which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath the
heart of man conceived;-the inheritance of this world, in
its regenerated or heavenly form, which was promised unto
Abraham, and the inhabitation of the New Jerusalem, until
the earth itself be delivered from the bondage of corruption
and death. And how did the blood of Christ purify these?
The blood of Christ did not make any alteration on God's
original purpose, that creation should at length come to a
glorious and immortal state, but it was the great mean to that
end. And how was the death of Christ the mean towards
the regeneration of the world? Because, in His death, God's
hatred to a sinful creation was amply, sufficiently, and is for
ever sufficiently, demonstrated. God shewed, by putting His
own Son to death, that holiness is beyond everything in the
Divine mind. Christ had called that body His own, He had
embraced it in His person, He had taken it into union with
His divine nature for ever. No union, then, no love, no fel-
lowship, is there like that between the two natures of Christ,
which one personality for ever embraceth; and surely no love
nor unity is there like that between the Father and the Son,
which, being embraced in the infinity and eternity of the
Divine Being, no creature is able to discourse of. Yet both
these fastest concentrations of love were suspended in the
death of Christ. His person parted with a portion of itself;
and the Father struck off this separated part, all because it
was a portion of the sinful creation; wherein, I say, the holi-
ness of God had a supreme exaltation beyond all conception
and utterance. His hatred, His inalienable hatred, towards
the sin-possessed creature, is likewise most wonderfully
exemplified. If anything could have preserved sinful flesh
from suffering and dying, surely its having been taken into the
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CUP. 581
person of the eternal Son would have prevailed to do so;
which, not being permitted, it is proved beyond all contra-
diction that God loves nothing so well as His own holiness.
After this, all minor inflictions are, as it were, of no import;
and therefore God, having told out the sum total of His
hatred to a sinful creation, and placed His holiness beyond
all imputation or infringement, He doth straightway proceed
to His ulterior purpose of bringing from the womb of the
fallen creation the heavenly thing; beginning the work upon
that very body of Christ which had exhibited and borne the
weight of His wrath and indignation against the fallen, earthly
things. The first of the heavenly things, then, which are
purged with better sacrifices is the body of Christ itself; which,
had it not died for sin,-had it not exhausted the indignation
upon sin,—had it not borne the penalty of all sin,—would
never, no, never, have risen again: but because He brought
in eternal redemption to the creature, He therefore obtained
eternal life to Himself—that is, His body-and to the crea-
·tures. Hell is another mystery, which holdeth of a deeper
root than the fall. The evil of the fall accumulated and
accumulated, until it spent itself and exhausted itself in slay-
ing Christ, in whom all are made alive. And thus it is that
the blood of Christ, or the death of Christ, cleanseth the
material creation which hath no consciousness,—that is, our
bodies, and the fallen earth, and fallen heavens,-by opening
the way for God to carry His purpose into effect, without
any, the least, sacrifice of His holiness. It was as much an
original purpose of God that man should rise from the dead
and the world be regenerate, as it was that man should fall
and the world be degenerate. But when sin had brought in
the one, the other could not be brought in until the founda-
tion-stone of it should be laid in perfect holiness. The sinful
world in passing away must leave behind it a stone of memo-
rial; and upon this stone of memorial, as a basis, must the
regenerate world be built. That stone of memorial is the
body of Christ, which was dead, and is alive again. Christ
will ever be remembered as Him that was born out of death.
He is the child of the resurrection, the first-born from the
dead. "I have been dead," is written upon His forehead;
582
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
and that writing is the emblazonry of God's holiness. "I
was dead, and God is most holy;" and, forasmuch as He is
the basis of the new creation, and its supporting Head, it doth,
as it were, lie between these two extremes, whereon are
written, "God is holy, God is holy." And this is the mean-
ing of the heavenly things being purged with better sacrifices
than these.
And now we come to examine how the blood of Christ,
that is, His death, should be made available, not only to the
restitution of all things, but likewise to the purging of the
soul or conscience of man from the defilement of sin.
"This
is the new testament in my blood, shed for the remission of
the sins of many." It is true of the soul as of every other
creature, that God, from the beginning, did purpose that it
should be regenerate and holy, as surely as that it should
fall; the very end of election being that it might be holy
and blameless before Him in love; and forasmuch as the
soul had sinned, and was indeed the origin of the sin, it was
as necessary to its regeneration and blessedness that the death
of Christ should intervene, as in the case of every other crea-
ture: God's holiness must be justified, before His grace can
appear unto the sinful. The death of Christ, therefore, hath
as much to do with the redemption of the soul, as with the
redemption of the inheritance of the soul. For though
Christ's soul never sinned, it was by the same laws and
affinities united unto His flesh as in the case of any other
man, and therefore was conscious to all approaches and
assaults of evil, and therefore it was made liable to death,
which had been pronounced upon every living soul. The
soul of Christ, therefore, suffered the pains of death, together
with all other pains, though it could not be holden thereby; and
thus upon the righteous soul of Christ was the wrath of God
against sin visited, as well as against His body; and there-
fore the death of Christ is the act of Godhead, with which
the indignation against sin is accomplished, and after which
the grace unto the sinner may be extended. There is a
divine order in these things which cannot be broken. In the
divine purpose, there is a harmony which is of the very
essence of God; and whosoever would expect good before
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CUP. 583
knowing and believing in the cross of Christ, must be for
ever defeated. Being then that the death of Christ is the
resurrection of creation, and maketh the preaching of a resur-
rection possible, it remaineth to examine how the conscience
is purged from dead works by the blood of Christ, in order
to serve the living God. The conscience, or soul of man, is
accessible only by knowledge. Material blood hath no con-
gruity with the conscience whatsoever, neither can any action
or event, or purpose of God whatever be available for any
effect whatever upon the conscience otherwise than by the
knowledge of the same. When it is said, therefore, that the
Holy Ghost applieth unto the conscience the blood of Christ,
it is meant that the Holy Ghost maketh the conscience ac-
quainted with that knowledge of God which is made known
to men by the shedding of the blood of Christ. The ques-
tion therefore is, and what point so important and influential
concerning the knowledge of God is therein communicated?
These two-the holiness and the grace of God. His holiness,
in the way which hath been explained above; His grace, in
that He should have freely given His Son to such an igno-
minious and dishonourable condition. Why did He so
afflict and humble His Son, and why did His Son so please
to be humbled and afflicted? Because God loved the world,
and wished that we should not perish, but have everlasting
life. The knowledge of such love and such holiness met
together is that by which the Holy Ghost worketh in the
conscience. The applying of the blood of Christ to the con-
science, in order to satisfy it, is nothing more than the Holy
Ghost carrying home to the soul first the sense of God's
love manifest in the death of Christ, to put her fears to flight,
and then the sense of God's holiness, likewise manifest therein,
to put to death her sin; and he who seeth not the love of God
to sinners, and the hatred of God against a sinful condition, in
the death of Christ, may talk what he pleaseth concerning
the cross, and the blood of the cross, and the atonement
made upon the cross, but he talketh empty words which
signify nothing, either to the profit of him that speaketh,
or to the profit of him that heareth. But whoso dis-
cerneth the love of God unto the soul of man, and the
584
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
hatred of God against its sinful condition, met together in the
death of Christ, the same doth possess the benefit of that
death, which is peace with God and introduction into the
standing of grace; and the continual presence in the soul of
that sense of peace towards God and sense of hatred towards
sin, is the evident proof that the blood of Christ is effectually
purging it from dead works to serve the living God.
And this much have I to say with respect both to the
application of the blood to the things bequeathed by the
new testament, and to the persons to whom it is bequeathed.
But, to explain this matter clearly and fully, I must refer
particularly to, and regularly explain, a passage in Hebrews,
chap. ix. 14, 15, which is the best commentary upon these
words, "This is the new testament in my blood, shed for the
remission of sins." The apostle had stated in the 9th verse,
that the gifts and sacrifices under the law could not make
him that did the service thereof perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience, but only as pertaining to the flesh; and here
saith ver. 13: "The blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the
purifying of the flesh." Now, what this may mean I cannot
well say, nor is it very material to our argument that it
should be fully understood; but according to the best of
my judgment it is, that the law, and the revelation made
under the law, were really addressed only to the fleshly,
that is, to the natural man; and that the spiritual man was
not in being until Christ became the quickening Spirit, and
gave the Spirit to bring men into the condition of new
creatures, or a new creation. Those under the law were
merely natural men, who understood not the things which
God hath revealed unto us by the Spirit; yet they lived
by faith, that is to say, those of them that were effectually
called lived by faith, but it was the faith of bare precepts,
under which they were in a state of bondage. These pre-
cepts, accompanied with promises, were, when violated,
visited with certain judgments which they were required
to observe. These judgments were either sacrificial or bap-
tismal, in blood or in washings. The Jew who rightly ob-
served these judgments, upon his breach of God's statutes,
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CUP. 585
having always a view unto the great Sacrifice that was to
come, was justified by his faith in God and in the coming
One, which faith was counted to him for righteousness; for
in the blood of a bullock or of a goat there was no more
fitness to cleanse the sin of a natural man which is born of
the flesh than of the spiritual man which is born of the Spirit.
They had their effect only in virtue of the faith whereof they
were signs and tokens: all blood being a token of Christ's
blood, and all water of purification a token of the Spirit's
purification. Now, the apostle having expressly declared
that the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an
heifer, did sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, doth from
that, as a given thing, go on to argue the greater and higher
purification of which the blood of Christ was capable. But
first he must shew how the blood of Christ, fountain of all
purification, doth acquire its own purity, and this he doth in
these words: "Who by the eternal Spirit offered himself with-
out spot unto God;" in which it is asserted, first, that Christ
came to His cross without a fault, without an imperfection,
without blemish, and without spot; secondly, that this spot-
lessness He perfected in Himself by means of, through virtue,
power, and operation of, the Holy Ghost. Not, therefore, by
any difference of His flesh and blood; not, therefore, by any
supralapsarian immortality and incorruption in His flesh and
blood; not, therefore, by any Adamic purity: but by that
cleansing, by that sanctification of the Holy Ghost, by that
new and better generation, which, beginning in the beginning
of His human being, continued actively to preserve Him pure
and holy against all the affections and attributes of flesh,
against all the liability of the soul to be influenced thereby,
against all the load of a fallen creation which lies upon a
human will, did the Holy Spirit effectually sustain Christ,
and, though brought to every brink, and every extremity, did
effectually sanctify Him; and thus using the Holy Spirit in
preference to the fallen world, preferring God through faith to`
the world through sense apprehended, He did offer Himself
faultless upon the cross. The Lamb taken out from the
flock to be a sacrifice was bone of their bone and flesh of
their flesh; only He needed to be faultless. So Christ was
586
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
very man-bone of the bone and flesh of the flesh of the
brethren whom He would redeem; only He, of them all, was
faultless. Here, then, is the holy fountain opened in the house
of David for sin and for uncleanness. Here, then, is blood of
a perfect man; and as the blood of a sinful man corrupted.
many, so this blood of a perfect Man shall sanctify many.
Now, the language of blood-purging is still figurative lan-
guage, and we must strip it of the legal figure before we can
bring it into contact with the spiritual mind.
There is yet one word which remaineth to be explained be-
fore we can say that we have completely expressed the benefit
of the cup; which is the word "many,"-"shed for the remission
of the sins of many,"-of which we have the most perfect expo-
sition in the 2d chapter of the Romans. Of this there can be
no dispute amongst orthodox Christians, that those who shall
inherit the benefit, are not all, no, nor yet many, but few, ac-
cording to the word of the Lord, "many are called, but few
chosen." The only question is, whether the expression “many,”
used in the text," shed for the remission of the sins of many,"
-be used to the exclusion of the rest, or be simply used to
denote that the sacrifice He offered should shed its influence
beyond His own Person, unto many persons; whether, in
truth, by this expression, the propitiation which He made be
confined unto a part or extended unto all mankind. For the
ascertaining of this point, let us examine together the 5th
chapter of the Romans, at the 15th verse: "If by the offence
[or, forfeiture] of one many be dead, much more the grace of
God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many." In this passage the word "many"
is not used to the exclusion of some, but merely for the inclu-
sion of several, because he had asserted in the 12th verse that
death had passed upon all, and, therefore, we should naturally
infer, that the "many" in the latter clause is likewise merely
used for the inclusion of several, and not for exclusion of any.
But this natural inference is put beyond a doubt by the con-
clusion of the argument in ver. 18: "Therefore as by the
offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life." The "many," therefore, of
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CUP. 587
the 15th verse is now written "all" in the 18th verse; but to
put this beyond all doubt, the 19th verse again reverteth to
the use of "many:" "For as by one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous." There can be no doubt, therefore, that in
this passage of the Romans the word "many" is used, not for
exclusion of part of mankind, but for the inclusion of a num-
ber, without any specification as to the extent; yea, with the
understanding that it extendeth unto all, for the "all" and the
"many" are interchanged at pleasure. Now, with the same
liberty would I use the word "many" in the text, understand-
ing it to mean simply "many," without either asserting or deny-
ing anything with respect to the "all." I do not think that our
Lord goes further in these words, "shed for the remission of
the sins of many," than merely to assert that His sacrifice
was applicable to others besides Himself. When I say be-
sides Himself, I mean, not that Christ had any sin of His
own, original or actual, but that, having taken flesh and blood
with the brethren, He behoved, like the brethren, to die, and,
by dying, did attain unto the resurrection. I say, His resur-
rection and His glory were the consequence and the reward
of His death. Now, He meaneth to say that this reward was
not for Himself alone, but for many; that "he was exalted a
Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins
unto many;" that however many it might please the Father to
give unto Him, there was in His death an offering presented
for them all; that, therefore, there needed no other offering for
sin-that this one offering had for ever "perfected all them
that are sanctified." The Lord's supper was intended to be a
social ordinance, at which many were to sit down together; and
therefore it was a very appropriate and, one may say, neces-
sary addition to say, that His blood was shed "for the remis-
sion of the sins of many." However much, therefore, I value
the doctrine of particular election, and I consider it by far
the most valuable point of Christian doctrine,-I do not think
it is stated here in the word "many," but otherwise do think
that here it would have been altogether out of place; for
these words were intended to be spoken to believers and not
to unbelievers, to elect persons and not to reprobate, to the
588
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
•
Church and not to the world. And though our Lord doubt-
less contemplated the mixture of reprobate and elect in His
Church, and therefore requireth a man to examine himself
before coming to His table; yet is it not to be believed that,
in the words of institution, intended for the nourishment and
confirmation of His people, there should be introduced one
word which should occasion doubt or dismay within their
minds. But whatever may be thought of this, I stand to my
conviction, that the word "many" in this place, as in the 5th
of the Romans, is used inclusively of several, and not ex-
clusively of any,-to signify merely that this was the one sacri-
fice for all His Church, that this was the only sacrifice that
ever should be made for the remission of sin. And so much
have we to say of the benefit contained in the cup; and we
now come to speak of the manner in which it is therein con-
tained.
•
HOMILY VII.
THE LORD'S SUPPER AS A COMMEMORATIVE ACT.
1 Cor. XI., 25, 26.
This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this
bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
IN
N the preceding homilies we have opened, at length, the
desires, exercises, and resolutions of the soul which are
proper to be entertained in the view of the holy sacrament;
and we have likewise set forth the substance of the sacrament
itself, and the meaning of the action in all its parts, together
with the doctrines couched under the elements and the words
of consecration; and now it doth remain to us to recompose
the parts, and, regarding it as one great whole and complete
action, to consider what be the chief aspects which it beareth
unto the Church, and under which the Church should speak
and reflect upon it. These, judging from the use and wont of
the Church in times past and at present, are the four follow-
ing:-First, As a great open commemoration and confession
of Christ's death. Second, A solemn sacrament, or oath of
fealty and service, into which we enter with the Lord. Third,
An act of close communion, wherein the members of the
Church do most charitably embrace and unite as one. Fourth,
An act of thanksgiving, so singular in its kind, and exalted in
its degree, as to have obtained for it in the primitive Church
the common name of the Eucharist, or thanksgiving. These
four views of Commemoration, Sacrament, Communion, and
Eucharist, have been so universally sanctioned by the Church,
and, as we shall see, so fully warranted by Scripture, that we
greatly prefer to open what remains of the subject under this
method, rather than to adopt any other of our own.
Let us,
then, in this discourse, contemplate the Lord's Supper under
the aspect of a commemorative act, according as it is declared
590
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
to be, in the words of our text, "For as often as ye eat this
bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till
he come."
The view of the Lord's Supper as a commemorative rite
grows out of its character as a sign, and hath nothing to do
with its higher character as a seal and a pledge: and in these
times, in which the base and heretical doctrine, that the sacra-
ments are but naked and bare signs, hath obtained such
alarming influence, this idea of mere commemoration hath
obtained a corresponding popularity; and many be the elo-
quent and pathetic appeals with which the Church is solicited
to remember the dying love of her Lord; and many be the
comparisons drawn from persons famous in the annals of men,
whose names are borne down to distant ages in the hearts of
their admirers, and the monuments of their country. Many,
also, be the well-meant endeavours of good men, but insuffi-
cient divines, to point out the circumstances of His death,
and the benefits thereby derived unto men, in all the charms
of poetical imagery, and with all the power of eloquent dis-
course; to which well-meant labours of the ministry it is far
from my purpose to object, if they were not put forth as the
whole service of the Lord's table, whereas, they ought to be
but lively pictures to the memory, to the feelings, and to the
understanding of men, in order to awaken them to the higher
discourse which grows out of the higher aspect of the sacra-
ment as a seal, and as a pledge. But wherever the doctrine
of the sacrament as a sign is presented as a whole, these
appeals do only serve, in a somewhat higher kind, the purposes
which are attained in other churches by altar-pieces and cere-
monial pomps. Yet, seeing that commemoration is, indeed,
no mean part of the holy action, it is at all times both con-
venient and dutiful to set forth in order the substance and the
circumstance also of that event which is commemorated. Let
us, therefore, with due reverence, and with exact tradition,
deliver unto you the amount of our Lord's sufferings and
death.
The ever-memorable passion of our Lord began, as seemeth
to me, from the time at which the Greeks were brought to
Him by Philip. Then, and by that sign, He appears to have
THE COMMEMORATIVE ACT.
591.
known that His hour was come; for instantly He said, upon
hearing thereof from the mouths of Andrew and Philip, "The
hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified," (John
xii. 23;) and again: Ver. 27, "Now is my soul troubled;
and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but
for this cause came I unto this hour;" and again: Ver. 31,
"Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of
this world be cast out." These expressions, together with the
whole strain of the discourse then pronounced unto the people,
shew me that a new crisis in the history of His life did then
begin; which I take to be the crisis of His passion. Perhaps
He knew by some admonition of His Father, that when the
Greeks, or Gentiles, should be brought to Him, His ministry,
His peculiar ministry to the Jews, was come to its close. And
to this conclusion not only do the words quoted and the
general tenor of the discourse well agree, but likewise the
action with which He closed it: "These things spake Jesus,
and departed, and did hide himself from them." The same
day on which this happened, He had entered with triumphal
state into the city of Jerusalem; and the day before, Mary the
sister of Lazarus, had anointed Him with ointment of spike-
nard, very costly, upon which Jesus made this remark: "Let
her alone; against the day of my burying hath she kept this."
Now this happened six days before the passover; and, there-
fore, the day following, on which He entered Jerusalem tri-
umphantly and received the Greeks with such mournful
presentiments, was five days before the passover, being the
very day on which the lamb was required to be set apart;
and as the Jews reckoned their day from evening until even-
ing, it was on the same day that Mary anointed Him unto
His burial; whereby is signified and clearly shewn out, that
as the sacrifice, the Lamb of God, our passover, she did anoint
Him. Now, from the time the lamb was separated from the
flock, its life was forfeited, and, had it been a conscious thing,
the sufferings of its death did commence; which falleth in with
our conclusion stated above, that His passion began from the
day the Greeks were brought to Him. Now, be it carefully
observed and wondered at, that as the lamb had to be taken
unto the priests, and certified of them to be without fault, so
592
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Christ, from the evening that Mary anointed Him, had one
ordeal after another to pass through; and every one of His
examiners were fain to attest Him as without fault and
blameless. First, in the morning, the people, as He entered
the city-the people of the country, and the villages, and the
city also, even all who had known Him best, an innumerable
multitude-shouted hosanna to Him as the Son of David,
and blessed Him as coming in the name of the Lord. The
like testimony were His greatest enemies, the chief priests,
forced to give, when, after suborning many false witnesses,
they could establish nothing against Him; and were fain to
condemn Him upon His own declaration, that He was the
Christ, the Son of God. The same testimony, that He was a
Lamb without blemish and without spot, gave Pilate forth
when, having washed his hands before the multitude, he said,
"I am innocent of the blood of this just man." And, verily, be-
cause accusation was laid against Him that he had stirred up
the people in Galilee as well as in Jewry, He was sent to
Herod, the chief governor of Galilee; of whose examination
Pilate thus speaketh: "Behold, I, having examined him before
you, have found no fault in this man touching those things
whereof ye accuse him: no, nor yet Herod; for I sent you to
him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him."
The same testimony to His innocency was enforced from
Judas the traitor, who, in the agony of his remorse, hanged
himself. The same testimony also was enforced from the
Roman centurion, who, having seen all the accidents of His
crucifixion, His bearing of Himself in the agony of death,
under the torments of His persecutors, did say, “Certainly this
was a righteous man." Thus was He carried about and about
to receive the attestation of priests and people, of Jew and
Gentile, and thus was He declared, with one voice, to be a
Lamb without blemish and without spot, fit to be sacrificed
for the sin of the world. Now then, believing Him to be
innocent and without guile by the common confession of all
men, I ask you next to look at the indignities and cruelties
which He received under their eyes, from their hands, and by
their permission; and, in the light of His innocency, behold the
darkness, the blackness of their depravity. Judas, His most
THE COMMEMORATIVE ACT.
593
trusted apostle, over whose avarice and dishonesty, though
He knew them well, He had cast a veil in the presence of the
rest, hoping that His tender affection and gentle rebuke would
have won him out of the devil's hands,-this one of the twelve
men whom He had chosen, to honour them with His private
confidence and with apostolical dignity, did betray Him, and
he did it with a kiss of love. "Betrayest thou the Son of
man with a kiss?" These words shew how His tender and
delicate soul felt even the manner of the treacherous act; and
how He felt the act itself is still better evinced by that trouble
of soul with which He is said, at the supper, to have broken
the matter to the twelve. The base following of the traitor,
the armed midnight rabble, who went to take Him, seems
also to have grieved the perfect dignity and harmless inno-
cency of His spirit. "Be ye come out, as against a thief, with
swords and staves?" were His words unto the chief priests and
captains of the temple. "When I was daily with you in the
temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is
your hour, and the power of darkness." Behold Him now led
in the cold and damp night unto the high priest's hall, and
there submitting to the inquisition of His deadly enemies and
the false accusations of their suborned hirelings; and when this
midnight conclave of Satan's synagogue could find no charge
that would fasten upon Him, see them condemning Him to
death, because of the adjuration of the high priest He had
told them who and what manner of person He was. "Then
did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote
him with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us,
thou Christ, who is he that smote thee." And, while suffering
the injustice of the chief men of His nation, the indignities of
the meanest and most cruel, behold Him also deserted and
denied three times within hearing of His ear, at last within
sight of His eye, by Peter, on whom He had put such frequent
honour. From this scene of perverted judgment, base cruelty,
and universal desertion, see Him led unto the governor bound,
and accused of perverting the nation and raising sedition
against the king. After one hearing, the governor, finding no
fault in Him, but yet fearing the phalanx of iniquity that was
combined against Him, is glad, in order to escape from his
VOL. II.
2 P
594
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
conscience on the one hand, and his policy on the other, to
send Him unto Herod, who had slain the Baptist in cold
blood, and had longed to see Jesus, that, like Samson, He
might, with His miraculous power, minister amusement to his
court, before whom, when the Son of God stood in dignified
silence, answering him never a word, Herod, with his men of
war, set Him at nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him
in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate, who, having
attested His innocence again, as hath been said, and having
put Him in the balance with Barabbas, a murderer and a
raiser of sedition, they preferred the life of Barabbas, the mur-
derer and raiser of sedition, to the life of Christ, crying like
demons, "Crucify Him, crucify Him;" and Pilate, the represen-
tative of Rome, the empress of the world, gave sentence that
it should be as they required: "And he released unto them
him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom
they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will." And
how they exercised their barbarous will upon the innocent
man, you well do know. How they took Him into the com-
mon hall, and gathered unto them the whole band of soldiers,
and made Him the subject of the rude mockeries of a mili-
tary guard-room. How they stripped Him, and put on Him
a scarlet robe, and when they had platted a crown of thorns
they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand, and
they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews," and they spat upon Him, and took the
rod, and smote Him on the head. And after that they had
mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His
own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him; and
so He went forth from that city gate, cast out, despised, and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
out of that city over which He had sat and wept, and spoken
words of tenderness, which proved His love to be of the
deepest: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how
often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye
would not!" And that this superabundant and overflow-
ing love suffereth no abatement from the complicated and
THE COMMEMORATIVE ACT
595
((
wearisome cruelty to which He had been subjected, from the
awful scene of a cursed death unto which He was proceeding,
is sweetly betokened in those words which He spake unto
the tender-hearted women who followed Him without the
city to the place of skulls: "Weep not for me, O daughters
of Jerusalem, but weep for yourselves and for your children;
for behold the days are coming in the which they shall say,
Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and
the paps that never gave suck." And when they were come
to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified
Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the
other on the left. And still He bare with the meekness of a
lamb led to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so He opened not His mouth,-He opened not His
mouth to speak that word unto His Father which would have
called down upon the instant twelve legions of angels to con-
sume the transgressors; He opened not His mouth unto His
Father, save to pray that they might be forgiven, saying,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And they parted His raiment, and cast lots upon His vesture;
and the people stood beholding, and the rulers also with them
derided Him, saying, "He saved others, let him save himself
if he be Christ, the chosen of God." And the soldiers also
mocked Him, coming to Him and offering vinegar, and say-
ing, “If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself;" and
one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him,
saying, "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the
other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Dost not thou fear
God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?" And he
said unto Jesus, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into
thy kingdom." And Jesus said unto him, "Verily I say unto
thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." What truth
so striking, what evidence so strong, that when lifted up upon
the cross, and made a curse, it was for us, for sinners, for the
forgiveness of sinners, that He was thus accursed, from one
of whom, and that one of the greatest sinners, He could not
receive a prayer without answering it in peace! Such, dear
friends, was the outward combination of cruelty and wicked-
ness which He endured unto the death; but who shall tell, or
""
596
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
what language can express, the inward anguish and agony of
soul which He underwent during this season of His passion,
from the time the Greeks came unto Him until the time that
He bowed the head, and gave up the ghost! It was not the
fear of princes, or of the sons of men, in whose presence you
see He stood unmoved, in the dignity and in the strength of
innocence; it was not the cruelty, the mockings, the scourg-
ings, the torments which men could perpetrate upon His
body; it was not the desertion and denial of His friends,
which wrung from Him in the garden those shuddering
petitions, pressing from His veins those drops of blood
which fell from Him like drops of sweat upon the ground,
which covered His soul with the darkness of midnight, and
hid from His spirit the light of the countenance of His
Father. The scene of the garden, and the more awful scene
of the cross, when He exclaimed, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?" are not to be explained by the
wisdom, nor to be understood by the experience, of man.
There never was sorrow like unto His sorrow.
It passed all
bounds of utterance, it passed all bounds of comprehension;
and I seek not to lay it open, because I cannot. In the
midst of such a sorrowful season, unexampled in the annals
of creation, what was it that engaged the Sufferer's heart,
and upon whom was it that He thought? To whom spake
He words of comfort? "Let not your hearts be troubled; ye
believe in God, believe also in me." For whom interceded
He with His Father? To whom promised He the Comforter?
For whom did His Spirit vent itself in long-drawn discourse
of peace, and joy, and blessedness? in long and fervent
prayer for unity, sanctification, preservation, and glory? For
you, believers, for all who should believe in Him through the
preaching of His apostles. "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. And the glory that
thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know
THE COMMEMORATIVE ACT.
597
that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold
my glory, which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me
before the foundation of the world. 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." What words so sweet, what thoughts so excellent,
what blessings so precious, what love so divine! For the
memory of this love, shewn forth at such a moment, for the
commemoration of such a scene for ever in the Church, was
the sacrament of the supper instituted by our blessed Lord;
and for the shewing forth of this love in death, stronger
than death, stronger than agony and anguish, let the Lord's
supper be observed and sanctified for ever. Now, then, that
ye have heard the narrative of the event commemorated, let
us proceed, in the next place, to consider and reflect upon
the reasons for which this ordinance is specially set apart for
the commemoration of this event.
Our blessed Lord and Saviour, upon giving the bread into
the hands of His disciples, added these words of exhortation,
"This do in remembrance of me." And so likewise spake
He when He presented them with the cup; and the holy
apostle, not content, as it were, with this double injunction of
the Lord, doth, in the words of our text, repeat it the third
time in the form of a declaration, making, however, an im-
portant addition by these words, "until He come." No
doubt, therefore, can remain but that the commemoration of
Christ's death, and the lively remembrance of Him in our
hearts, are in some way or other most dutiful and becoming
in every one who eateth of this bread and drinketh of this
cup. Let us now endeavour to discover the reason why it
should be so. The chief reasons wherefore our Lord did
prefer to connect His memory with this, rather than any other
ordinance of His Church, are, as it seems to me, because, first,
it containeth the great fact that He took unto Himself a
body; and, secondly, His great act of love in giving it for
598
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
His Church. Every one wisheth to be remembered by that
which is peculiar and proper to himself; and if there be many
such peculiarities, by that which is most excellent amongst
them all. Now, herein doth Christ stand distinguished from
all men—that He was the fulness of the Godhead in a body;
not merely a living soul, but the living God, united to a soul
and body. This was the divine act of love, that the Son of
God should be willing to take a body,—an act also necessary
to retrieve the ruin, and found the stability of creation for
ever; whereupon God could effect His purpose of communi-
cating infallible blessedness unto the creatures whom He had
made, and is about to make. For straightway upon this con-
descension of the Son, He, by the Holy Ghost, prepared a
body for His condescending Son, and through the perils of
this mortal estate, and the passage of death itself, He, even
the Father, acting by the Holy Ghost, did bring that body
into the estate of infallible creation which He had purposed
in Himself to do through the one and only means whereby
it was possible to test the willingness of His Son to unite
Himself to it. From the overshadowing of the virgin by the
Highest, until the resurrection, God was preparing the body
which, under covenant, He had promised for His Son; and
His Son, acting in it, and personally embracing it, did, in the
state of its humiliation, make atonement for the sin of the
world, and dispossess the devil of all which he had gained by
the fall. This act, therefore, of Christ, whereby He took a
body which was to be offered, being entirely an act of grace
for us undertaken and done, He doth desire to be remem-
bered by during the season of His absence. And because
the supper doth specially set out the giving of His body and
the shedding of His blood for us, He doth most appropriately
select that ordinance as the monument of His great act in
time past, by which He would be remembered in the season
of His absence, and until He shall come again. The thing,
therefore, of which we make continual commemoration in the
Christian Church is, that the eternal Son of God did take
upon Him our human nature, our body, "and being found in
the likeness of sinful flesh, did condemn sin in the flesh, and
by death destroy him that had the power of death." In the
THE COMMEMORATIVE ACT.
599
Jewish Church there was a continual remembrance of sin
made from year to year; but in the Christian Church there
is a continual remembrance of sin for ever remitted by Christ's
sacrifice of Himself. In the Jewish Church there was a re-
membrance continually made of one to come who should die
for the sins of the people; in the Christian Church there is
a continual remembrance made that Messiah hath come, and
by His death brought in a universal righteousness: so that
with us that is perfected which with them was hoped for.
Whenever, therefore, a Christian church doth seat itself around
the table of the Lord, and keep this high solemnity, it doth
shew forth in the sight of the world that great act of God
and of Christ, of which this world was the theatre, but the
whole universe the deeply-interested beholders.
We lift up
unto the world the ensign of its salvation, plucked from
the hand of the devil by the mighty power of Immanuel,
God with us, that ensign which, while it is all stained with
His blood, yea, rolled in His blood, is surrounded with the
glorious trophies of a redeemed world. We lift up unto
perishing sinners that emblem of health and life eternal, unto
which their eye being turned, their souls shall live. "For as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in
him might not perish, but have everlasting life." Whenever
this sacrament of the body of Christ is celebrated, we do give
note of remembrance unto all men that He is the bread of
life which came down from heaven, which giveth life unto
the world; and we do sound the trumpet unto all the tribes
of Israel sojourning in the wilderness, calling them forth from
their tents, even every living man, and entreating them to
gather nourishment for their souls. And so might I go over
all the forms and similitudes for expressing the inestimable
benefit of Christ's death, and shew you how they are worthily
commemorated in this holy act, wherein His body is ex-
hibited and His death represented: the one to commem-
orate His incarnation, the other to commemorate the remis-
sion of sins which is thence derived unto us. But after
the large exposition which hath been given above of this
most pregnant mystery, I need not go into such detail, but
600
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
in one word recapitulate the whole by saying, that whatever
of good procured by the offered body and shed blood of
Christ, whatever of precious inheritance bequeathed by Him
in the new testament,-whatever of present earnest and first-
fruits is conferred upon us by the Holy Ghost in this present
life, or the amount and value thereof, is solemnly given by the
Church unto the merit, the only merit of Christ's taking to
Himself a body, and offering it upon the accursed tree. But
no memorial of what Christ hath done would be sufficient to
represent what He, the living One, is doing still, and is yet to
do, no memorial of His death were faultless, unless it con-
tained likewise a memorial of His abiding and eternal life;
for by His death He brought life and immortality to light.
No grateful acknowledgments of His presence heretofore in
a body upon this earth were sufficient, unless it contained the
assurance that He was to be present in that body upon the
earth again. Therefore, when the Lord instituted this supper,
He added to it these words: "For I shall not henceforth
drink of this fruit of the vine, until I drink it new with you
in my Father's kingdom." And the apostle, following His
example, doth add words of the same import, when he saith,
Ye do shew forth the Lord's death until he come." Here,
then, is the important addition which preventeth all error
and incompleteness from attaching themselves unto the ordi-
nance of the supper, seeing that by these words is made
known unto the Church the great truth, that Christ, though
dead, is still alive-though absent, is still purposed after a
season to be present with us again upon this earth in His
body, which shall be such a body as can drink the fruit
of the vine; and further, it is signified that with us with the
apostles who first observed, and with us who have since con-
tinued to observe, this ordinance-He will eat and drink in
His Father's kingdom, for which we continually pray in these
words, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven." This bringeth us to consider-
"(
In the second place, the limitation of time, and the presenti-
ment of a glorious change, which is put and given by this
ordinance in these words, " until I come." Remembrance is
proper only of a thing past, or of a person absent; and
THE COMMEMORATIVE ACT.
601
when that person returneth again, we no longer think of re-
membering, but of enjoying Him. So when Christ shall
come again, as He always promised He would do, there will
be no need of keeping up the remembrance of Him as one
that was present, but now is absent, for, behold, He is present
with His Church again. But it may be asked, And will the
Church likewise cease thenceforth to make memory of that
death by which He accomplished eternal redemption for her
and for the world? The language of the apostle doth, I
think, rather incline one to believe so: "As often as ye eat
this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's
death until he come." This seemeth to me to bear that when
He comes we will have to shew forth His death no longer;
that the ordinance shall then have done its office, and with
all other things shall be changed at the coming of the Lord.
Not that the act of Christ's death shall ever be obliterated or
obscured from the annals of creation, but shall grow more
and more bright and glorious unto eternal ages, being, in
truth, the groundwork and support of the redeemed world.
Doth not the work of creation grow in glory by every revolv-
ing year, which, as it revolveth, doth obey the commandment
of the Creator then given forth, and the law then laid down for
every creature? Even so shall redemption, which was begun
by Christ's taking a body and offering it upon the cross, only
acquire new glory at the coming of the Lord to redeem the
body, and to redeem the purchased possession, and to establish.
the kingdom. Let it not be thought, therefore, that the death
of Christ shall ever cease to be the burden of eternal thanks-
giving, as we know it to be the cause for which the Father
shall heap upon Him fresh tokens of His love, as it is written,
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I give my life
for the sheep." Nevertheless, I do firmly believe that against
the day of the Lord's coming this ordinance shall cease from
its present form. For behold how each one of its parts shall
then be accomplished! The Church, which is the broken
body of Christ, shall then have been completed, and be no
longer broken, but gathered into one. As it is written, (Ps. 1.
5,) "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have
made a covenant with me by sacrifice." Then shall the angels
602
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
have gathered together the elect from the four winds of
heaven, when the Lord cometh with all His saints, to be glori-
fied in them that have believed. Then also shall they have
received the thing which was pledged to them in the bread,
being raised in the likeness of His glorious body. Then also
shall the Church have received the complete remission of sins,
when corruption shall have been cast out of their body and
their souls alike, and death, which is the wages of sin, shall
have been spoiled. Then also shall the inheritance bequeathed
in the new testament to Abraham and his seed, heirs of
the world, have come to its proper possessors, the adopted
sons of God,—even at the blowing of the seventh trumpet,
when "the kingdoms of this world are become the king-
doms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and the time of the dead,
that they should be judged, [that is, justified,] and that thou
shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to
the saints, and them that feared thy name, small and great.”
Now, if that for which God impledgeth Himself unto the
Church in the supper shall have then been all accomplished ;
and if He, whose death is there commemorated, shall then be
manifested as the great and only Lord of life; and He, whose
absence from His Church on earth is there commemorated,
shall then with all His Church be present upon the earth to
reign in it for ever and ever,-how could this ordinance in its
present form subsist any longer? What new form of com-
memoration the work of Christ in flesh shall take, or whether
it shall by any ordinance be commemorated, I have no
authority from Holy Scripture, and therefore attempt not
any resolution of the question; and yet methinks that the
resolution of the question is contained in those last chapters.
of Ezekiel, which set forth the worship of the Jews after the
rebuilding of their city and temple. But in the new Jerusa-
lem that came down from heaven, which is the dwelling-
place of the saints, there can be no ordinance but the ordi-
nance of a continual obedience and service unto God and the
Lamb, for the apostolic seer saw no temple there. The city
is the temple, whereof the saints are the lively stones. The
saints are the commemoration, in their holy bodies, in their
union with Christ, in their righteous government of all things;
THE COMMEMORATIVE ACT.
603
they are the very thing which in the supper is commem-
orated as Christ was the end of the law and all its ordi-
nances, so is the new Jerusalem the end of the Church and all
its ordinances. As circumcision passed away when Christ
was cut off in the flesh, or rather, I should say, when Christ
had fulfilled the law, and been baptized of John into a new
condition of subsisting; and as the eating of the paschal lamb
passed away when Christ our passover was sacrificed for us;
so reckon I that baptism shall pass away when the Church
shall arise in its spiritual body, which baptism signifieth and
pledgeth; and the Lord's supper shall pass away when the
Church shall be one in bodily substance with Christ, and have
received the co-heirship of His inheritance. But whether or
not amongst those who still subsist in flesh upon the earth,
under the supremacy of the Jewish nation and metropolitan
authority of the re-edified Jerusalem, there may not be insti-
tuted ordinances of a more advanced kind, which may be
proper to their dispensations, and what these ordinances are
to be, I take not upon me to decide.
By these explanations, therefore, dear brethren, you will
perceive how, while the Lord's supper is an ordinance for
calling to remembrance, it is likewise an ordinance for excit-
ing unto hope and desire; because if it look backward to the
former coming of Christ, it doth likewise look forward to His
coming again; because if it make mention of what He did
and what He suffered, it maketh mention of what He is to do,
to enjoy, and to communicate unto all His people. Therefore,
it is not to be partaken of without that faith which the apostle
defineth to be the substance of things not seen and the evi-
dence of things hoped for. Because, as he doth in the glorious
celebration of faith speak of it both as that by which we
understand the worlds to have been made by the word of
God, and things that are not seen to have been made of
things which do appear; and likewise as that which looketh
forward to the inheritance and better resurrection to come;
so in the supper do we need this realiser of things past and
of things future, inasmuch as we have in the supper a symbol
which bringeth together into one both the things which Christ
hath done for us who believe and which He is to do, inasmuch.
604
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
as the Lord's supper holdeth of the former advent by remem-
brance, of the latter advent by hope. I would, indeed, that
communicants had been in all ages of the Church as mindful
of the latter as they have been of the former. I would that
the mouth of the Church, which is her minister, had been as
diligent to deliver the Spirit's witness in the Scriptures and in
the primitive traditions of the Church, as it hath been diligent
to declare His testimony of the latter. I would that the faith
of the Church had been carried prospectively forward to the
glory which is to be revealed, as it hath been retrospectively
to the sufferings which have been endured. Then, indeed, the
high, holy, and most wise purpose of the Lord to connect His
two advents into one great ordinance of strength and nour-
ishment would not have been lost and defeated as it hath
been, and the Church would not have been found as now it
is—one part of it worshipping an impostor and his imposture
as Christ and His kingdom, the other worshipping a kingdom
and a king of their own imagining and of their own bringing
to pass.
But seeing it hath pleased God to deliver us, be-
loved brethren, from this fearful mutilation of His holy ordi-
nance, I do trust we shall be found ever walking together in
the beauty and freedom of strength, trusting in the death of
Christ, testifying unto His resurrection, and waiting for His
coming in the clouds of heaven to take possession of His
kingdom. And now, to the end that you may be awakened
to a right, worthy, and sufficient act of remembrance, I shall
do my endeavour, as was proposed, in the third place, to stir
up your pure mind by way of remembrance, shewing to you
some of the most excellent acts and worthy causes for which
He should be remembered of all His people.
HOMILY VIII.
THE SUBSTANCE OF THE DOCTRINE CONTAINED IN THE
LORD'S SUPPER.
JOHN VI. 40-54.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the
The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread
which came down from heaven, &c., &c.
last day.
IT hath often been argued, in opposition to the Papists, who
lay so much stress upon this discourse of the Lord, con-
cerning the eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood,
that it hath no reference to the sacrament of the Lord's supper
whatever which is true, inasmuch as the magnet may not be
said to have reference to the needle; for as the needle point-
eth to the magnet, so doth the Lord's supper point unto the
substance of this discourse. As baptism referreth to the dis-
course delivered unto Nicodemus concerning regeneration, so
the Lord's supper referreth to this discourse concerning faith.
Every visible ordinance hath its reality in some great spiri-
tual truth, whereof it is the continual monument, and, as it
were, the express effigy; and every visible ordinance hath its
sacredness and value, in being unto the believer ever filled
to overflowing with the nourishment of that grace whereof it
is also the outward expression. Now, as baptism hath for its
spiritual object the great work of regeneration, or the new
birth, unto which it doth continually direct the faith and hope
of man, generated under the curse of sin and death, even so
doth the supper of the Lord, both with visible index and
with audible voice, direct the attention of mortal men to that
source and nourishment of immortal life, which is to be found
only in the body of Christ, and to be received only by faith.
606
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Concerning which object in the invisible,-now, indeed, in the
invisible, but then in the visible world,—and concerning which
principle of faith, our Lord holdeth this discourse with the
men of Capernaum; and, therefore, the Protestants argue
rightly when they say it concerneth not the supper, because
it concerneth that which the supper concerneth;-but they
argue very foolishly, if they would therefore say that it is not
to be applied in exposition of the supper: it is, in fact, the
only true exposition of the mystery of the supper, which it
explaineth in the true spiritual sense, by explaining that act
of the spirit-living faith whereof eating and drinking are the
proper expressions; and that spiritual subject, the flesh and
blood of Christ, whereof bread and wine are the proper
sensible expressions. If you were to ask a man to discourse
to you of magnetism, and he should bring a compass into
your presence, and make a few experiments upon it with a
magnet, and say, "There you have the nature of magnetism
explained," he would do exactly what the Papists do when
they would satisfy an inquirer by explaining this discourse
by their abominable tenet of transubstantiation. The lan-
guage indeed of transubstantiation we find in this discourse,
because, as we shall see, no other language is able to express
the facts of that which is to be explained; but when these
facts are expressed by the language, "eating my flesh, and
drinking my blood," the cause, or principle, or divine opera-
tion of faith, is no more explained than would the science of
magnetism, by saying that a steel bar pointed continually to
the north pole of the magnet. As the falling of an apple
unto the earth drew the attention of our great philosopher to
the law of gravitation, and enabled him to resolve a thousand
and ten thousand disjointed problems in the system of the
world; and as the continual turning of the needle to the
north drew men's attention to the subject of magnetism,
which promises to embrace electricity also, and, perhaps,
other branches of science; so exactly did our Lord, by fixing
the ordinance of the Lord's supper in the Church as a stand-
ing ordinance, seek to direct the attention of men to this dis-
course, that they might find therein the great principle of the
THE DOCTRINE.
607
origin and continuance of spiritual life explained. Being well
assured, therefore, that in this discourse of our Lord is con-
tained the true mystery of faith, and that the eating Christ's
body and drinking His blood in the communion, is but the
description of the great evidence of this faith, as we say the
falling of a stone is the great fact and evidence of the law of
gravitation, we shall shew that this sermon of our Lord hath
no other object than to explain the nature of faith; and we
shall, from the Lord's own words, examine what is the proper
object of this faith.
That faith is the subject of this sermon will appear suffi-
ciently from a short examination of its parts. He had fed
the multitude of five thousand upon five barley loaves and
two small fishes, whereupon they said, "This is of a truth that
prophet that should come into the world;" and being minded
to take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed
again into a mountain Himself alone, and passed over to
the other side of the sea, whither they having crowded after
Him, He said unto them, "Ye seek me, not because ye saw
the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were
filled. Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for that
meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son
of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father
sealed." In these words is contained the whole substance of
the discourse, for here is the meat enduring unto everlasting
life, which He afterwards declareth (ver. 51) to be Himself.
Next, it is to be given to them, not now, but hereafter :
"which the Son of man shall give unto you." That is, as is
explained in ver. 51, His flesh, which should be offered, or
given, for the life of the world; and He addeth, "for him
hath God the Father sealed;" that is, as He himself explain-
eth it, "whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the
world;" which I understand to be spoken of Him as the
Lamb set apart to this very end of taking away the sin of
the world, and being the nourishment of His Church,-the
body prepared for Him by the Father, whose sacrifice was to
bring all sacrifice to an end, as it is written, "My substance
was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curi-
608
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
ously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did
see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them," (Ps. cxxxix.) This,
the opening of His discourse, doth therefore set the meat
of His holy and sanctified body in opposition to the loaves
and fishes for which the people would fain have followed Him,
and He calleth upon them to work for that better meat, just
as He said unto the Samaritan woman, "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, . . . which shall be in thee a well of
water springing up into everlasting life." And again, as He
saith of Himself, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent
me, and to finish his work." Having proposed to them this
food of everlasting life, His body about to be offered, which
would in like manner nourish in them the disposition to do
His Father's will, and make them messengers of God sent unto
the world, as He into the world had been sent; He calls.
upon them to labour or to work for this meat, and not for the
meat which perisheth: unto which His exhortation and re-
quest they did promptly answer, thinking that He would
propose to them some enterprise of royal state worthy of the
triumphant and powerful Messiah, whom they believed to be
before them, saying, "What shall we do that we might work
the works of God?" He had called upon them to work for
the meat of everlasting life, and they ask Him how they
should go about it. Here, then, is the very knot to be untied.
The discourse, on all hands, is allowed to be a discourse con-
cerning nothing else but the eating of His flesh and blood;
for when He opened it by calling upon them to labour, they
asked Him how. And what answer maketh He? Ver. 29:
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of
God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Here,
then, is a categorical declaration that faith is the work of
God, whereby they should obtain the meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. Faith, therefore, is that which layeth
hold upon, and obtaineth, and possesseth, and eateth, and
drinketh the meat which the Son of man hath given. It
THE DOCTRINE.
609
is called a work, to liken and parallel it to that labour of
the body and the mind, by which man procureth the meat
that perisheth, to signify that it must be ever doing, and
is never done withal. For as it hath come to pass, by
reason of the ground which God hath cursed, that not
without labour will the earth yield food, there being no
where any sabbatical and jubilee year wherein it produceth
of itself; so must the bread of immortal life be attained unto
by a diligence and toil of faith, called here the work of
God, and by St Paul the work of faith; which proceedeth
by the labour of love, as he saith in another place: "Faith
worketh by love;" and which ever fighteth a battle and
achieveth the victory, as is said in another place, "This
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith;"
and which, finally, is the very use of that meat, even to
strengthen us for the work, and make us mighty for the
battle, according to the word of our Lord already quoted,
"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
his work." Therefore is faith called a work, because it
obtaineth meat by diligent and fervent meditation of the
truth, apprehension of the promise, performance of the com-
mandment, and upstirring of all the soul's faculties, and
moving of all the body's forces, under the main strength of
God's Spirit inhabiting and empowering us to this very thing,
that we may lay hold on Christ, and feed upon Him, and do
the will of His Father which is in heaven. But we have not
yet come to that part of our subject which treats of faith,
what it is in him that hath it, but only shewing that it is the
subject of our Lord's discourse in the passage before us, and
that it is the hand which layeth hold, the mouth which eateth,
and the life which rejoiceth, in that divine meat. In further
proof of which position, observe with me what is written at
the 35th verse: "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread
of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that
believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That
ye also have seen me, and believed not." These words occur in
our Lord's discourse, after He had corrected them in their
misapplication of that passage of Scripture, “He gave them
bread from heaven to eat," which they would have to be
VOL. II.
2 Q
610
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
spoken of the manna, but our Lord to be spoken of Himself;
because the manna was no bread from heaven having virtue
of immortal life, but only common nourishment of this mortal
estate. Wherefore, also, that corruptible manna, before it was
laid up in the ark of the covenant before the Lord, in the
most holy place, which is the figure of heaven, had first to be
inclosed in a golden pot before it could receive its virtue of
incorruption, to signify that no flesh should be able to nourish
immortal life until it should first be inclosed and encompassed
with the divine nature, by which it should attain incorruption,
and the presentation in God's presence, and the faculty of
coming down from heaven again in the substance of the Holy
Ghost, and giving life unto the world. By the magnificence
of these our Lord's words, being mightily attracted, over-
powered, and borne along, they said, "Lord, evermore give
us this bread;" even as the woman of Samaria said, "Sir,
give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to
draw." In reply to which their unconscious assent and im-
patient request, heedless of the mystery of His words and
fascinated by the beauty of them, He replied, "I am the
bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and
he that believeth on me shall never thirst." In which words
I see the second proof that faith is the subject of our Lord's
discourse in the passage before us.
self, the man speaking unto them, to be the very bread of
life, the very bread of God come down from heaven to give
life unto the world, He asserteth that every one who came to
Him should never hunger, consequently, should have eaten
that meat; and every one who believed on Him should never
thirst, consequently, should have drunk that drink. The act
of coming to Him, therefore, is the same with the act of eat-
ing Him, because it issueth in a man hungering no more; and
the act of believing on Him is the same with the act of drink-
ing His blood, because it issueth in thirsting no more.
For having avowed Him-
Now, with respect to these two expressions, "coming to
Him," and "believing on Him," the former hath special refer-
ence to Him as an object present upon the earth, and the latter
hath a larger and wider reference to Him, not only as present,
but also as absent for a while to be present for ever; but that
THE DOCTRINE.
611
the expressions are one in substance, and that "coming to Him
is for those then present as strong an expression as that of
"believing on Him" is to us, we have put beyond a doubt in the
37th verse: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to
me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
We have it, therefore, beyond a doubt that there is no more
mystery in the expressions used afterwards, such as "eating my
flesh," and "drinking my blood," than there is in the expres-
sions, “coming unto me," and "believing on me,” because the
two mysteries issue in the same result, which is a life that
needeth no sustenance nor repair, that is, an immortal life.
We shall see in the sequel why it is that the expression is
changed from "coming and believing" into "eating and drink-
ing;" but for the present we rest in the conclusion, that the
expressions are used to signify the same mystery. But that
this point might be more strongly confirmed, He referreth
them in the verse following to a former declaration which He
had made, concerning their unbelief, (verse 36): "But I said
unto you, That ye also have seen me and do not believe,"
referring no doubt to the words with which He began His
discourse: "Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles ;"
that is to say, not out of any belief produced by His works.
which they had seen; for they had challenged Him: "What
sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee;"
in reply to which He says, "And ye also have seen me and
do not believe;" Me, the sealed One of God; Me, God's own
gift; Me, the bread of life; Me, the thing signified by every
sign of God; even Me have ye seen and believed not. For,
brethren, we greatly err in signaling out particular works
of Christ, and particular words of Christ, as specially demon-
strative of His divinity; which resteth upon the completeness
of His wisdom, and power, and holiness, upon Himself the
sanctified Man, separate from all men, though yet the
Brother of all. To see Him, to hear Him, was evidence
enough to Nathanael, and ought to have been evidence
enough to every guileless Israelite; and that which hindered
them from coming unto Him was their having been given up
by the Father, in consequence of their misuse and neglect of
Moses and the prophets, as He Himself declareth (ver. 65):
612
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
"Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me,
except it were given unto him of my Father." To see Him,
therefore, ought to have been a sufficient satisfaction of faith,
as He said unto Thomas: "Thomas, because thou hast seen
me, thou hast believed me;" and to believe without seeing
Him, as we do, is a great blessedness, as in the same place
He declareth: "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed." To which agree the words of 1 Peter i. 8:
"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now we
see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory." This sight of Him they had had, and yet
believed not; which shews us, as I said, that belief is the
great subject concerning which the Lord holdeth this dis-
course. But that this may still more clearly appear, we
draw your attention to the 40th verse, where the declara-
tion is made more explicitly still. To this He draweth on
by the following connexion of thought-Having declared
to them that they were not believers, He proceedeth to
explain how it came to pass that they believed not; referring
them to a higher and remoter origin of unbelief than they
dreamed of in those times, than is commonly dreamed of in
the times in which we live,—even to that origin of causes and
fountain-head of all effects-the will of the invisible Father,
the absolute will of the Godhead, as distinct from, and stand-
ing above, the manifestation of the same which is made in
Jesus Christ. These are His words:-All whatsoever the
Father giveth me [unto me] shall come: and him that cometh
unto me I will not cast out. Because I have come down out
of heaven, not that I may do this will of mine, but the will
of him that sent me. This now is the will of him that sent
me, that all whatsoever he hath given to me I shall not lose
of it, but shall raise it again in the last day. For this is the
will of him that sent me, that every man whatever beholding
the Son, and believing into him, should have eternal life, and
him will I raise in the last day. Here Christ referreth back
as always, unto His Father, as the mainspring, and moving
power, and succeeder of the work of salvation; and Himself,
He doth present as receiving His Father's chosen and elected
ones after the nature of a gift, and preserving them from
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613
being cast out into the outward darkness, unto which the
fallen creature must of itself, and by the decree of God, come
at length. And He further representeth that He had come
down from heaven, and put Himself into the conditions of a
creature, with a creature will, not for the end of doing that
will of the creature, but for the end of still doing the will of
the invisible Godhead; in which you may recognise the
obedient Son, the Man of Faith, the Prophet of Truth. Now,
saith He, seeing I may not, and purpose not, to set up any
will of mine own, but faithfully and truly to preach my Fa-
ther's will in the great congregation-by the which will, saith
the apostle, we are sanctified-hear ye, saith the Son, what
is the Father's will which hath sent me ;-it is this, That of
all whatsoever He hath given me I shall lose nothing at all
by its being cast into the second death, but shall raise it up
again in the last day. But lest they should hereupon draw
off from Him, as an incapable and insufficient Saviour, and
think to find the way unto the Father's mighty grace by some
other means-to link the invisible Godhead with the visible
Godhead, as well as to advance it above it—and to shew,
that while the invisible essence was to be looked at through
the visible manifestation, it could not otherwise be known,
He further giveth them to wit concerning that absolute and
abysmal will in these words: "For this is the will of him
that sent me, that every one whosoever beholdeth the Son,
and into him believeth, should have life eternal, and him will
I raise up in the last day." Whereby He doth not mean to
gainsay what He hath said concerning the absoluteness of
God's will in the matter, but to declare and reveal another
fact with respect to that absolute decree; which is, that
eternal life was appointed unto those who saw the Son, and
believed into Him;-which is to say, that besides and beyond
this category of sight, or of faith, there was no other which
contained one particle of the substance that was to be raised
up in the last day, but that of this category of faith not a
jot should perish. And what, then, we may ask, in passing,
is this last day's resurrection, wherein all the given quantity,
and all the believing substance, and not a jot more, shall be
raised up? It cannot be that resurrection of good, bad, and
614
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
indifferent, of all that have ever lived and died, whereof the
sleepy Church now dreameth. Far, far otherwise. It must
be that first resurrection spoken of in the Apocalypse, wherein
every one that hath a part is blessed and holy, on whom the
second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God
and of Christ, and they shall reign with Him a thousand years.
It must be that resurrection unto life which it is the object of
our Lord's discourse, recorded in the preceding chapter, to
distinguish and define from the resurrection unto condemna-
tion; wherein, after having set forth eternal life as the reward
of hearing and believing, and that the dead should hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear should live,—and
to this having added the other mystery counterpart to this,
that God had given Him authority to execute judgment also,
He breaks out into these words, (chap. v. 28:) "Marvel not at
this for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have
done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment." And who will
go to tell me that the righteous rise to a resurrection of judg-
ment, of whom it is said, (Rom. v. I :) "There is therefore now
no judgment to those that are in Christ Jesus ;" and to whom
it is said, (Heb. ix. 28,) that not unto judgment, but in direct
contradistinction thereto, without charge of sin, He appear-
eth? And who shall tell me that the wicked rise to a resur-
rection of life, when they are adjudged unto the second death?
How opposite, therefore, to all correct interpretation, how
opposite to all correct ideas, is it to place these two resurrec-
tions as one mystery of God's work, and to include them
under the same category, and to bring them into the same
time, seeing they are thus separated by contradistinction of
words and things, and do in truth form the two opposite
poles of almighty power: whereof the first is His great con-
centrative power to redeem, and eternally quicken the fallen
and dead creatures; the other, His concentrative power to
destroy but not annihilate, to endow with immortal capacity
of enduring the second death!
Forasmuch, then, as it is solemnly by the Lord declared to
be the will of the invisible Father, in whom is hidden the
THE DOCTRINE.
615
incommunicable Godhead, that every one who seeth and be-
lieveth upon Christ, who is the manifested Godhead, should
inherit the resurrection of life and immortality,-which is the
last, the greatest, and the best gift which God hath to bestow
upon the creature, we may not add, unto the faith that
came by sight, and now cometh by hearing, anything more,
signified under the expression, "eating and drinking;" because
there is not anything more to be bestowed, for which some
higher qualification or attainment of God should be required.
Faith, therefore, beyond a doubt, is the ultimate thing con-
cerning which our Lord discourseth; and that word ought,
being properly interpreted, to contain under it all which is
afterwards expressed by eating His flesh and drinking His
blood. Let us now advance another step in the examination
of this discourse. The Jews, it is said, murmured at Him,
because He said, "I am the bread which came down from
heaven." And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph, of whom we know the father and the mother? How
then saith this person, I have come down from heaven?" If,
indeed, Jesus had been a mere man, as they supposed, the
son of Joseph, as was reputed, their objection would have
been a sufficient one; for how could He claim to be de-
scended from the heavens, more than another man? Unto
whom Jesus replied, by repeating what He had already
said: 'Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come
to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
and I will raise him up at the last day;" as if He had
said: Do not take it amiss that I have thus spoken, for
otherwise I cannot speak, because it is as I have declared
unto you. Neither grieve yourselves with yourselves, as if
the power lay with you to come; nor be vexed with me, as
if the power lay with me to draw you, but of a verity believe
that there is an unseen power which must co-operate with its
visible expression, a will besides and beyond the Word, which
I am, another Person, from whom I have mine origin, yet
approachable only through me, with whom I am one, and yet
am not He. To this Person, who worketh in me, and who is
seen in me, make your petition, and in Him place your de-
pendence, instead of murmuring as now you do. For if you
616
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
doubt the word which I have declared unto you, and will not
believe me, whom to believe is life eternal, then believe ye
Moses and the prophets, in whom is it not written, “And
they shall be all taught of God?" Every man, therefore, that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.
And now we see the appropriateness of the language which
He continually useth of Himself as the person seen, because
He was the person spoken of in all the prophets. Hitherto
they had heard of Him, but now they saw Him; and as John's
privilege of laying his hand upon His head gave him pre-
eminence above the prophets who had all told of Him, so the
prerogative of that generation above the generations past was
to see Him, of whom their fathers had but heard. And yet,
because it is not the method of God to cast away His words
like pearls unto swine, but to make them more precious
than the gold of Ophir, Jesus declareth that those who had
not heard the testimony of Moses and the prophets, neither
listened to the teaching of God, who had spoken at sundry
times and in divers manners by the prophets unto their
fathers, either would or could come unto Him to recognise in
Him the Messiah foretold and shadowed forth in the former
messages of God, which is an awful warning unto you who
will not give heed to what is taught in all the Scripture con-
cerning His second coming in power and glory. Ye dream
on, ye laugh scornfully, ye shoot out the lip and mock at our
folly, and the folly of those who hunt what in your ignorance
and superciliousness you are pleased to call a fable; look
here for your correction, and take warning by what you see
and hear of a people whom God had taught by prophets
commissioned from Himself, who had the keeping of the
Scriptures, and were even more faithful than the faithfulest
of us can boast of, and yet, behold! when He cometh, they
can neither recognise nor receive Him, because Satan, the
subverter Satan, whose eye prophetic scanneth the forms of
coming things, had taken them as he is now taking you with
a false conception of, and endeavour after, that millennial age,
where He, and He alone, is able to bring in the beauty and
the blessedness by casting Satan out. But they were too
THE DOCTRINE.
617
wise to be contented with the Scriptures, and did cleave to the
traditions of the elders; and so they failed and were broken
upon Him, who was appointed to be a stone of stumbling,
before He became the Shepherd and the Stone of Israel.
Unto whom the Lord, having made this quotation from their
prophets, doth straightway, lest they should suppose these
prophets had any priority over Him in dignity as they had in
time, add these words assertive of His own singular preroga-
tive: Not that any one hath seen the Father, save he which
is with God, or beside God, he hath seen the Father." Being
parallel with that other declaration, "No man hath seen God
at any time; the only begotton Son, which is in the bosom
of the Father, he hath declared him ;" and with that other
declaration of our evangelist, "Of his fulness have all we
received, and grace for grace; for the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." This His un-
rivalled dignity of inhabiting the bosom of the Father and
dwelling with Him in the bosom of invisible and inacces-
sible glory before the world was, having asserted to Him-
self, to the rebuking of the prophets and Moses into their
own level as the forerunners of His Majesty, He doth, in His
most solemn mood, asseverate the truth so oft repeated to
them from the beginning of His discourse, which is the truth
we mention as the great burden of the whole sermon,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof,
and not die. I am the living bread which came down from
heaven if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give
for the life of the world." In these words again, belief is with
the Lord's most earnest manner declared to be the means
unto everlasting life; bread, indeed, He is, of that life from
heaven descended, but faith is that in us which layeth hold
upon the bread, and eateth it and turneth it unto life. But
there is added here, besides, another idea, which is, that the
bread is His flesh, to be given for the life of the world. This
This is the bread
618
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
referreth to His body, His fleshly body, bone of my bone,
and flesh of my flesh-that body which He took when God
willed not sacrifices nor offering; and this flesh, declareth
He, He will give for the life of the world. Both, as seemeth
unto me, for an atonement, to take away its sin, accord-
ing to that word, "This is the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world;" and likewise for a nourish-
ment, and sustenance, and source of strength of life to that
world which was dead in trespasses and sins.
I think cer-
tainly that the transition which is now made in this divine
discourse from bread unto flesh, ariseth from the idea of a
sacrifice, which He now presenteth to their consideration. It
refers to the custom of eating the flesh of sacrifices after the
feasts proper to God had been offered by the priests upon the
altar; and likewise, in particular, and perhaps entirely, to
those sacrifices, by which life was redeemed, as, for example,
the paschal lamb, whose blood stricken upon the door-posts
redeemed the life of the first-born in the house, whose flesh
also nourished them all. I think, therefore, that at this point
of the discourse the idea of sacrifice begins to be introduced.
Still, however, this eating His flesh by us is no more than
that act of faith which makes Him one with us and us one
with Him, because at the beginning of this passage it is
said, "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." True
saving faith doth eat the flesh of Christ, which is the
bread of life, the manna that came down from heaven, and
giveth life unto the world. There is still another idea, as I
think, contained in these words, "The bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
Christ's flesh is no longer in existence, because He arose
into heaven, not as flesh and blood, which cannot inherit
the kingdom of heaven, but in that body proper to a
spirit with which the dead shall rise, and which, in the fif-
teenth chapter of first Corinthians, Paul doth, by so many
contrasts, set in opposition to this natural body, which falleth
into the earth. If, then, Christ's fleshly body be now trans-
formed into that glory which it put on in the mount of
transfiguration, where is His flesh and where is His blood?
THE DOCTRINE.
619
It is given, resigned, delivered up, for the life of the world.
When the Son of God, the eternal person in the blessed
Trinity, had taken a body of flesh and blood, according to the
conditions of the fallen creature; when He had made this a
part of Himself, and preserved it free from sin, holy and
blameless, He could likewise have preserved it from death by
that eternal life which was first manifested in Him; as it is
written, "For the life was manifested, and we have seen it,
and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which
was with the Father, and which was manifested unto us." He
whose voice shall quicken the dead, could have preserved His
body from the power of death. It was a great act of humilia-
tion to come into creature form at all, and a greater act of
humility was it to take upon Him the form of the fallen
creature; but a third, and still greater act of voluntary hu-
mility it was, to give up His life, which no one taketh from
Him. This was the act contemplated in the eternal counsel,
and revealed to us under that word, "The Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world." Surely His death was a part of the
eternal purpose and covenant between the Father and the
Son, from which lowest point of humiliation His exaltation
was to begin. And wherefore was this act of slaying the
Lamb of God a part of the eternal purpose? It was a part
of the eternal purpose, for the end of shewing the creature
that it had no life in itself; that existence which it hath ante-
rior to the manifestation of its life in Christ, must be proved
not to be very life by the act of dying, and in that state of
disproved life it must receive life from the Son of God by the
regeneration and resurrection of the Holy Ghost. Now, Christ's
coming into death and giving up His fleshly body, was the
completion of that purpose of God, which death had from the
beginning foreshadowed, and it accomplished the great humi-
liation of the creature, by which it becometh separate from the
Creator. This death, as it came not into the world without a
purpose of God, so neither did it come without a cause in the
creature, which is the disobedience of the commandment of
God, which is sin; for sin is well defined to be any want of
conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
Death,
620
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
therefore, is in time the monument of sin; and the second
death shall be the monument of it through eternity. If, then,
through sin in the creature death came, how can resurrection
from death come otherwise than by taking away the guilt of
sin? Christ, therefore, in whom the resurrection was mani-
fested, as well as the life, must take away that guilt of sin
from as many as are raised from the dead. For as it is writ-
ten, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the
law." Under the law, therefore, came He, that He might
keep the law, and be proved sinless, the holy and the righteous
One; and under death came He, that He might be proved to
be not only life in the living, but also life from the dead-that
He might be proved not only a quickener of life in mortal
flesh, but a quickener of life in the hollow tomb. Wherefore
He is called the resurrection and the life. But seeing that
Christ shall quicken with immortal life those only who have
done good, and shall raise unto the second death all the rest,
all who have done evil, why is it said, in the passage before us,
that he giveth his flesh for the life of the world? and in other
passages, as, for example, "Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world;" whereas, in other passages,
again, He saith, on the contrary, "I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me out of the world." To
understand this seeming contradiction, you must recollect that
man being the head of the world, in his death the world died.
The creatures together with one fall came under the power
of death, so that the world is subsisting in a state of death.
Now when Christ, the true man, arose from the dead, He
drew up with Him, though not at that instant, yet in the ful-
ness of time to be accomplished, every one in his own order,
yet with Him truly and virtually arose first they that are
Christ's at His coming to the earth, when the earth shall be
delivered from Satan, but not from death; and during the
millennium He shall reign, and His living saints in their im-
mortal glory, having visible bodies, over the kingdom of flesh
and blood, upon the earth, until the time cometh, in the fulness
of the Divine purpose, for the destruction of death itself, at
which time the resurrection unto judgment shall proceed, and
THE DOCTRINE.
621
the wicked be cast out into the outer darkness of the second
death; and the kingdom, now delivered from death, and de-
livered from wickedness, as it had been delivered from Satan
and his angels, shall be delivered up, blooming in the beauty
and standing in the strength of immortal life, unto the Father;
and then shall this word be accomplished, that He hath given
His flesh for the life of the world; seeing that the world,
now living in immortal life, and for ever to abide therein, hath
received the same from the act by which Christ gave His
flesh upon the cross a sacrifice for us. When in other places
He saith, "I pray not for the world," He means the unregene-
rate part of the world, which the Father hath not contemplated
in His purpose of resurrection unto life, but doomed to be
cast out into the waste of the second death. Now, though I
have said thus much concerning Christ's sacrifice of Himself
for us, the most fruitful idea in this passage is not yet ex-
hausted, which concerneth the eating of His flesh. But as
the Jews proposed this to Him as a distinct question, we had
better follow onwards the verses, as they lie in order. Ver.
52: "The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying,
How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said
unto them, 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. For my
flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." Now,
dearly beloved brethren, ye have heard how I said above, that
the flesh of Christ and His blood were in existence no more;
but that His human nature is passed into that immortal form
which flesh and blood cannot possess, though out of flesh and
blood it ariseth by the power of the resurrection, even as flesh
and blood is dust in itself, and unto dust returneth; but yet,
being builded up into its present form by the creative power
of God, doth become the fit abode for the immortal soul, and
a proper instrument whereby the living soul may inherit,
know, and possess all things;-so from the body of Christ, as it
lay in the tomb under death and liable to corruption, though
not to corrupt, as in life it was liable to sin, though it sinned
622
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
not, did arise that eternal and immortal form of risen glory,
wherein the Godhead, as in a spacious temple, shall shew forth
its beauty, its majesty, its power, and, in one word, its will unto
all creatures whatsoever. If, then, the flesh and blood of Christ.
have been so transfigured and transformed in their elemental
principles, though not numerically changed, what meaneth
He in this passage by such solemn asseveration: "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son
of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life within your-
selves;" for how can we eat that which hath no more a
being? There are two questions here necessary to be
separated from one another, whereof the first is, what is
this flesh, that we might eat it? and what is meant by
the eating of it? His flesh and His blood are His true body,
not in its present but in its former state-during the days of
His flesh. Of that body, now no longer existent, He saith,
Verily, verily, we must eat in order to have life in ourselves.
Well might the Jews say, "This is a hard word, who can hear
it?"
It is a hard word. I feel it to be a hard word, whether
in the hearing or in the expounding of it, and I do not won-
der at the Papists falling into their error of transubstantia-
tion, by which they affirm that the priest doth first make the
bread and wine into flesh and blood, before the people can
have flesh and blood of Christ to eat and to drink. For,
certes, there is no flesh and blood of Christ in being; and if it
is to be eaten, it must first be. That the consecration by the
priest, therefore, of the elements should turn them into flesh
and blood, is a necessary preliminary unto the eating of them
by the people. If eating, therefore, be literal, eating then the
bread and wine must be literal flesh and blood; and how it is
to become so, I see no better way than by the consecration
of the priest. But if that which we have proved by the ex-
amination of this discourse from the beginning be true, to
wit, that eating and drinking is all along synonymous with
believing, and a form of speech used to express some very
high mystery of faith, then are we delivered from the dilemma
of the Papists, which reduceth them to the making the flesh
and blood of Christ before they can eat it. But yet, as there
is something very startling indeed in this express and oft-
THE DOCTRINE.
623
•
repeated language of Christ, I crave your patience to pause
with me a little longer, while I fortify the position that I have
been building up, concerning the identity of the act of faith
with the act of eating, by an examination given by our Lord
Himself of this hard word in the 63d and 64th verses: "It is
the spirit that quickeneth [that maketh alive]; the flesh pro-
fiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you are spirit, and
are life.
But there are some of you that believe not.
Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me,
except it were given unto him of my Father." This word
was spoken unto His disciples, to reassure their minds, which
had been skaken, and were quivering in doubt;—and unto
what amounteth the explanation? It amounteth unto this:
that the flesh had in it no profit nor value of life, but the
Spirit which inhabiteth the flesh, that is, the Holy Ghost,
which came unto His body, and was the cause of its quicken-
ing in the womb, and continued to be the informing principle
of its life. My flesh therefore, saith He, that which ye see
and handle, is of no avail to give ye life; therefore think
not, O ye most faithless men, that by eating this flesh I mean
you to attain unto life; but know that by reason of the Holy
Ghost who lodgeth in this flesh of mine, and will not separate
Himself from thence for ever, is the life quickened, and to Him
who now is mine, and from me, and by me, proceedeth forth,
do you direct your faith, and hear the words that I speak by
the Holy Spirit with which I am anointed, to preach glad
tidings unto you, for these words of mine are spirit and they
are life.
Therefore it is that Christ is called a life-giving
spirit, in contradistinction to Adam, who was but a living
soul. And doth, then, all this earnestness and repeated asse-
veration about eating His flesh and drinking His blood
amount to no more than this-that we are to hear His
words and believe them? Is this all? Ay, this is all; and
how great an all it is will appear when we come to consider
what faith is, of which I will say at present that the only
definition which I can find capable of expressing it is, that it
eats the flesh and drinks the blood of the Lord. This is
regenerating faith to take us out of the body of Adam, in
which we are by nature, and join us unto the body of Christ.
624
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
This is living faith, that we draw near unto Christ; that we
close with Him; that we lay hold upon Him, as the child
upon its mother's breast, and draw nourishment from His liv-
ing body. And what is that nourishment? It is the Holy
Ghost; He is the life in the state of procession now flowing
out from the Head into the members, who during the days of
Christ's flesh was in Him in a state of fixation, like the
waters in the rock before it was smitten by the rod of Moses.
And what is the consequence unto us of thus drawing forth
by faith, or of Christ deriving unto us, by grace, the flowing
stream of the Holy Ghost? The consequence unto us is
this, that the flesh and blood of our human nature becometh
changed into the flesh and blood of Christ's human nature; for
whereas we heretofore were all corrupt, unclean, and de-
filed, and unto every good work reprobate, we do become,
through the power of the Holy Ghost dwelling in our flesh,
holy, blameless, heavenly-minded, members of Christ, and
sons of God. And our flesh, which heretofore lusted after
worldly and wicked desires, doth now long for God, as the
hart panteth in the wilderness for the water-brooks.
"Our
very flesh and heart cry out for the living God." "Our
flesh longeth as in a dry parched land where there be no
waters." I say, that there is another law propagated by
the Spirit throughout the flesh of man, upon which, no
doubt, there still lieth the bondage of corruption, and the
curse of death; but yet, not the less truly is it in a sanc-
tified state, because it is obnoxious to all temptation. Nay,
let me tell you, that this is our fellowship with Christ, that
this is Christ's fellowship with us. Were we delivered from
the pressure of sin in the flesh, we would have no fellow-
ship with Him who overcame sin in the flesh. Were we
delivered from the controversy which the Spirit causeth in
the flesh, against the powers of darkness and of death, we
would have no fellowship with Him, who therefore was
brought under the power of death that He might over-
come him that had the power of death. It is of His flesh
and blood subsistence that we partake, not of His resurrec-
tion subsistence; and to that flesh and blood subsistence an
outward openness unto, and contact with, the powers of
THE DOCTRINE.
625
wickedness, is as necessary as an inward presence of, and in-
dwelling and empowering of, the Holy Ghost, to overcome
and preserve us holy, against all the corrupt, and corrupting,
and oppressing powers of the fallen world. Therefore, when
a man in flesh and blood hath received the Holy Ghost, pro-
ceeding from Christ, he is brought-his flesh and blood are
brought, his body is brought-into the self-same condition of
existence in which Christ's human subsistence was, in which
His flesh and blood was, from the time that it was quickened
in the virgin's womb by the Holy Ghost, until the time that
it was transformed in the tomb by the Holy Ghost, out of
the state of flesh and blood into the state of immortal glory
in the which it now subsisteth. So that verily, verily, in deed
and in truth, there is no other way of expressing the effect
and consequence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost but by
saying, that it giveth us to partake of a new substance or
subsistence, which is not the substance or subsistence of the
fallen Adam, as by generation transmitted; which is not the
substance or subsistence of the second Adam, by resurrection
communicated; but is the subsistence intermediate between
these two, which the Holy Ghost gave unto the body of
Christ, found in the virgin, as to her it had been transmitted
from Adam, enabling and empowering it to live that holy
life, and to fulfil those offices of power and holiness, and
utter those words of grace and truth which Christ in the days
of His flesh, and He alone, ever did and ever uttered. Now,
that same Holy Spirit findeth in each one of us a living sub-
stance of the fallen Adam, which cannot cease from sin; and
He doth quicken it, by regeneration, with life divine, and
doth enable it to subsist as Christ subsisteth; to war against.
Satan, to overcome sin, and to do good, and to love God, and
to keep His commandments, and not to sin. This, I say, is
partaking of Christ's flesh and blood; this is being one with
Him, as He is one with the Father; this is to have the
Spirit; this is to be regenerated; this is to have the spirit of
adoption; this is to be an heir of God and a joint-heir with
Christ. And there is no language which is able, with so
much beauty, and with so little ambiguity, to express it all,
as that which is so often used, as "eating his flesh and drink-
VOL. II.
2 R
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OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
2
ing his blood;" where you have only to guard against the
error of literally eating that which never could be literally
eaten, unless it had been eaten alive or during the hours it
was in the tomb, being never afterwards in existence as a
thing, but commemorated as a former state of a thing now
existing in a different state. This error, I say, being guarded
against, and nothing but Satan's incredible ability could, by
the doctrine of transubstantiation, have perpetuated this
literal interpretation of the men of Capernaum, and you have
it at once, the whole work of the Spirit expressed in the
words, “eating my flesh and drinking my blood." That is
translating you from flesh and blood of Adam to flesh and
blood of Christ.
In order to open this a little more distinctly and fully, you
must keep a good reckoning and account of the difference
between Christ's state of humiliation and His state of exalta-
tion, as they are set forth in the Shorter Catechism, whereof
the humiliation is the state of continual oppression; the other,
the state of triumph and of continual victory,-of which
oppressions now triumphed over by Christ, of which captivi-
ties now led captive by Him, flesh and blood was one of the
three chief. To be in flesh was a part of the humiliation of
Christ, and in flesh to be holy was a chief part of His mighty
work. Christ shewed a constitution of flesh and blood, per-
fectly holy, perfectly harmless, perfectly obedient unto God,—
a thing which never had been exhibited in existence before;
and this He did exhibit through the fulness of the Holy
Ghost, which abode in His manhood;-and this fulness of
the Holy Ghost He received of the Father, in virtue of that
great act of devotedness to His Father's glory by which He
joined His eternal divinity to the fallen substance of man-
hood. Now, this holy subsistence of flesh and blood which
Christ brought into being, and which is no longer in being in
the united state of one individual person, He hath broken up
into pieces and bequeathed to all His true disciples, that they,
partaking of the same, may grow into the same likeness of
His humility, enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, and
fulfil all the good will and pleasure of God. This I hold to
be the true idea of Christ's broken body; and it is an idea
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627
both simple in itself and analogous with the constitution of
human nature: for you see the counterpart of it in the first
Adam, who became a sinful substance, and, in a sinful sub-
stance, disobedient to God, and full of sin, before he became
the parent of children. These brought the sinful substance
of flesh and blood into existence by the fall, and there they
stood, having it all included in themselves; but soon, by birth
of children, was it broken, violently broken, into parts; and
in parts it now continueth. We are, though individual per-
sons, but parts of that sinful substance which was all included
in Adam. And this is the only true account of human na-
ture: that it is a system of sinful flesh, once united in one
person, but now broken into many parts, that it might be the
inheritance of many persons. Now, with this fact before our
eyes, and this the only visible account of the fact of our fallen
nature,—which also, by generation of children, is continually
kept before our eyes, whereby the sinful substance of the
parents is taken into parts, to become the inheritance of many
persons in their children,—I say, with this before our eyes,
let us consider the idea which hath been given above of Christ's
broken flesh, and see if it be not the very counterpart thereof.
Christ, the second Adam, having accomplished the redemp-
tion of that sinful substance of human nature which Adam
had introduced, and by union of the Godhead therewith,
and consequent full possession of the Holy Ghost, having pre-
vailed to drag it out of the miry clay and the fearful pit into
which God's word had doomed it, having constituted it a
righteous substance, the habitation of light, life, and holiness,
which before had been the habitation of darkness, sin, and
death,—He held the righteous, holy thing wrapped up in
Himself, yet unbroken, yet undivided into parts. Inhabited
only by one person, and that the person of the Son of God,
who, having created the creature in its first estate, had thus
redeemed the creature into its second estate, and stood in it,
and to it, eternally united,—having made it of Himself to be,
and no longer out of Himself to be,-which is the great dis-
tinction between the creature's creation estate and the crea-
ture's regeneration estate: that, in the former, it is out of the
Creator and the Creator out of it; but, in the latter, it is taken
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OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Sra
into the Creator, and the Creator eternally united with it;-
this mystery, I say, of redeeming the fallen system of flesh
and blood, and presenting it pure and spotless unto the Fa-
ther, Christ having prevailed to accomplish, He stood the
very counterpart of Adam and Eve after they had fallen, and
before the conception of children-Christ, the antitype; Adam,
the type-Adam, the producer of the sinful thing; Christ, the
bringer up again of that sinful thing into a holy estate.
And now, shall the correspondency of the type and the anti-
type end here, and go on no further? If Adam, being the
container of the sinful substance, did, as it were, fall into
pieces innumerable, each of whom became, as it were, a part
of his broken body, inheriting and conveying unto all pos-
terity the very fellowship thereof, shall not Christ likewise,
when about to lay off flesh and blood, and ascend into another
estate with which flesh and blood hath no fellowship, divide
that holy substance of flesh and blood, which He was, amongst
His children by regeneration of faith? that they partaking
thereof, may be the manifest election of God, as the rest were
the manifest reprobation of God; so that they, by partaking
of that Holy Spirit in manhood which enabled Him from the
mother's womb to sanctify the sinful vessel of His humanity,
and present it without sin, may be able in like manner to
sanctify the sinful vessel of their own humanity, and be in
due time presented blameless in the presence of the Father.
When, therefore, the loaf is set forth in the holy supper, one
lump, and it is said over it, "This is my body," what doth it,
what can it signify, but that faith should therein discern that
holy substance of flesh and blood which Christ was before His
ascension, but which He is no more, and which hath no more
an objective reality to sight, but is in truth a remembered and
commemorated thing,-is, in truth, a thing that was, and is
no longer, existent in an individual, undivided form,-there-
fore an object to the memory of sight, even as Adam is in his
individual capacity;—but as truly an object of presence in the
faithful in its divided state, as is the substance of Adam in its
divided state-yea, I may say is the only object of presence
in the inward man of faith, even as the substance of Adam is
the only thing present in the outward man of nature and of
THE DOCTRINE.
629
sense? Though the bread, therefore, in the communion be
properly and rightly presented first as one unbroken loaf, to
signify to the memory of faith that this broken substance of
holiness, now present in all the election, was once present
only in the chosen and holy One, and thus maketh the or-
dinance commemorative, (which, indeed, I may observe, in
passing, is lost in the sister Church, by presenting the bread
already broken into pieces, and in the apostasy by presenting
it in wafer,) it doth, while it remains in that unbroken state,
serve only for commemoration; but straightway, when it is
broken, it serveth as an object, as I may say, to the present
sense of faith; for Christ's holy subsistency in flesh and blood
is as much present in His members as Adam's wicked sub-
sistency of flesh and blood is present in all mankind; and
when we do eat a part of the broken bread, we do by faith
eat a part of the broken body of Christ, and so become of
His flesh and of His bone. Faith, therefore, discerneth in the
broken bread the subsistency of His flesh and blood in a
broken state, until He shall come again, as really and truly
as faith discerned in the son of Mary the same holy sub-
sistency in an individual and undivided state. I say faith in
both cases, for sense truly had nothing to do in either. Peter
did not say,
"Thou art the Son of God," by any act of flesh
and blood, nor by reflecting upon the miracles and words
which he saw and heard, although, no doubt, these had a
certain influence upon him; but our Lord expressly declared
that flesh and blood had not revealed it unto him, but His
Father, which is in heaven. To the eye of sense He was
truly man, a lowly man, a broken-hearted man, a man of sor-
rows and acquainted with grief; but to the eye of faith He
was the Son of God, "which is, and which was, and which is
to come," the Almighty. Even so He hath presented the
substance of His broken body to faith under the larger sym-
bol of bread and wine, in which sense discerneth but bread
and wine, but in which faith discerneth the broken body and
shed blood of Christ. It is not His personal subsistency,
otherwise the Papists were justified in worshipping the sacra-
ment. His personal subsistency is now in the risen man,
heretofore it was in the man of sorrows; but Christ is no
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OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
longer personally subsistent in the Church, but subsistent in
it by the Holy Spirit, which dwells in His manhood. He is
personally subsistent in the son of Mary, now in the estate.
of glory, God and man in two natures and one person for
ever; but He is not personally subsistent in any one of the
members of His Church, nor in all the members put together,
otherwise the saints and the Church were proper objects of
worship. The union with Christ, which we eat and drink into
in the holy supper, is not a union of personality such as
existeth between the seed of Mary and the Son of God, but
a union of the sameness of substance with His manhood,
though not the sameness of substance with His Godhead.
As He and the Father are one substance in the Godhead, yet
different persons, so are believers and Christ one substance in
the holy manhood, though different persons. And as the
unity of the substance of the Father and the Son in the God-
head is maintained and carried on by the intercommunion,
or, as the old divines called it, the vinculum of the Holy
Ghost, so is the union of substance between the manhood of
Christ and that of all His members preserved through the
operation and circulation of the Holy Spirit descending from
the head to the utmost extremity of the body, and preserving
through the whole the communion of saints. Now, if Christ
is not in such a way present in any of His members or in His
Church corporate as that He should be made an object of
worship, how much less is He present in the broken bread,
which doth but represent to sense the sign of that member-
ship of His Church-is He present in such a manner as to be
worshipped? And if faith, discerning His true presence in the
membership of His Church, doth not worship His Church, or
use its intercession, or set value upon its merits, how much
less ought faith, though discerning the presence of Christ's
broken body in the bread, to bow down and worship the same?
And wherefore? Because He is personally present neither
in the one nor in the other, but in the son of Mary alone, with
whom He is consubstantiated two natures in one person for
ever and for ever. Faith discerning His presence in the son
of Mary, did rightly bow down and worship Him, because the
Godhead was wholly present therein; but faith, discerning
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631
His presence in the bread and wine, or in His Church, may
not worship Him, because the person of His Godhead is not
present therein, but the nature of His manhood, as informed.
by the Holy Ghost. If any one ask here, And why may we
not worship that which the Holy Ghost inhabiteth? I answer,
that this honour is reserved only for the Son of man, because
He is also the Son of God, whom we should honour even as
we honour the Father; and this honour hath the Holy Spirit
dwelling in Christ, which He hath not dwelling in a member
of Christ, because in the member of Christ He is, as it were,
subservient to Christ, even as Christ in human nature was
subservient to the Father, though in the undivided substance
of the Trinity neither Christ nor the Holy Spirit be under
any obligation of service. But into this subject it is not pro-
per that we should enter further, seeing our present object is
not at large to open the Lord's supper, but to shew wherefore
the language of eating His flesh and blood should be used
to denote the true nature of faith. Yet neither is this a
digression which we have made into the subject of the supper,
which, as we said at the beginning of our discourse, is like the
needle which pointeth to the magnet, because it is of itself a
part of the great magnetic substance, or brought under the
power of magnetic influence;—so wisely doth the Lord's sup-
per continually point to this the true act of saving faith, which
appropriates the very subsistence of Christ unto ourselves, or
eats His flesh and blood. Nor is the Lord's supper a mere
index pointing thereto, and suggesting continually this the
true acting of faith, but it is like the needle, a part of the
same—that is to say, in the Lord's supper that faith is acted,
and then specially acted; acted with all the special advan-
tages of a visible ordinance; acted also with special promises
made unto the faithful, to meet them there, as it were, upon
the holy mount; to feed them there, as it were, with the
fallen manna from heaven; to refresh them there as when the
water flowed from the rock; to entertain them there as when
Moses and the elders eat and drank in the holy mount, and
saw God, and were preserved. Oh! there is little danger
now-a-days of making the sacrament superstitiously sacred;
that door, I think, is closed for ever upon the Protestant
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OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Church. But, ah! what danger presseth on every side, lest,
from converting the sacrament into a commemorative rite, we
should altogether make shipwreck of the true character and
meaning of faith as an act of the Holy Ghost in us, in our
flesh and blood, kindred with that act of the Holy Ghost in
Christ's flesh and blood, whereby the will or soul of man is
redeemed from the main oppression of sin and death, and left
free to obey God, to love Him, to delight in Him, and to
fulfil all His pleasure;-which openeth the avenue into a most
beautiful field of discourse concerning the condition of the
soul from the time it is joined unto the body until the time
that it is redeemed from the power of the body of sin and
death by the Holy Ghost. But into this subject I shall not
be tempted, however much disposed and inclined, to enter
thereon; but that you may see in a few words, and, as it were,
with a glance round the whole subject of faith, which we have
undertaken to teach, I will crave your good heed to this
which I am about to say, still further, before leaving this first
head of matter, which is, in a word, to shew you why the ex-
pression "eating and drinking" and not the expression "hear-
ing and reading" is so much insisted upon in this discourse
concerning faith, which, however, will better appear after
reading the words which still remain of this divine discourse.
Ver. 56-58, "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. This is that bread which came
down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and
are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."
Now, brethren, if our Lord had, by a mere figure of speech,
excited this tumult in His audience, He would certainly soon
have allayed it by explaining their misapprehension of His
meaning. If He meant merely that they should receive His
word like the words of any other prophet or messenger
from God, eat His words as the prophet Ezekiel eat the roll
from God-if the whole mystery of His language amounted
only to this, (which I ask your pardon for even supposing,
and I do it only because it is in fact the supposition which
they take up who believe the sacraments to be but naked
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633
and bare signs, and who would say, "This is the sign or
symbol of my body," instead of saying, “This is my body);"-
I say, if the Lord had perceived that the Jews were misunder-
standing Him in taking up His words to signify a literal
eating of faith, and not a mere hearing, He would instantly
have set them right; so far from which, He doth repeat and
confirm, with a twofold asseveration, the very words which
He had spoke. Jesus, therefore, said to them, "Verily,
verily, I say to you, if ye eat not the flesh of the Son of
man, and drink not his blood, ye have not life in yourselves.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life, and I will raise him up in the last day; for my flesh truly
is meat, and my blood truly is drink. He that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood, remaineth in me, and I in him.
According as the living Father sent me, and I live by the
Father; also, whoso eateth me, that same person shall also
live by me.
This is that bread which descendeth out of
heaven, not according as your fathers eat manna and
died, he eating this bread shall live for ever." In the whole
compass of the Holy Scriptures, perhaps in the whole com-
pass of recorded speech, there is not such a strong reiteration
and earnest enforcement of one truth, and that the same of
which the first mention had set the audience into a tumult of
contention; the one truth, to wit, that nothing less than
eating and drinking His flesh and blood would ensure eternal
life, and the resurrection thereto in the day of the Lord.
There is added upon the foundation of this truth two forms
or variations of the same: the first, that this act of eating
His flesh and drinking His blood did constitute a permanent
and abiding union unto Himself, and not only so, but a per-
manent union and an abiding of Him in us; we in Him,
and He in us. The second variation of the same truth is,
that this life, thus constituted between us and Christ by the
act of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, is life in the
highest form-yea, is the very life of life; being no other
than that which subsisteth between the Father of life and
His own eternal Son. Which expressions, I doubt not, bring
to your mind those parallel expressions in the last prayer of
the Lord; which, observe, are made not to flow from eating
634
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
and drinking, but from faith, which, as we have all along main-
tained in our discourse, is the act-the spiritual act-whose
approximating, appropriating, uniting, and possessing power,
the Lord laboureth so hard to express by the act of eating
His flesh and drinking His blood. The passage I refer to is
in John xvii. 20-23: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which 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.
I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in
one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me,
and has loved them, as thou hast loved me." This passage
in the intercessory prayer, being compared with that passage
in the discourse of eating His flesh and blood, doth sufficiently
shew that they contain and express the same most intimate,
most abiding of all unions, the union of Christ and believers,
which hath no similitude nor equivalent in creation, but is of
the same kind, and degree, and subsistence, which existeth
between the Father and Christ Himself. The Lord, being
desirous to put forth unto the men of Capernaum the whole
power of this great doctrine of union between the person of
Christ and the person of the believer, doth find no other
language by which to express it but that which he useth, to
wit, the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood;
being as much as to say, that the believer through faith doth
enter into the substance and subsistence of Christ, and dwell
therein, endued with all its strength, and pervaded with all
its life, and furnished with all its powers, and graces, and
beauties, and perfections, and, in a word, as entirely one and
the same with it, as our bodies would be one and the same
with His body, if we were actually (monstrous supposition.
which the Papists have sanctified!) to eat His flesh and
drink His blood. The great object of the discourse, and
it is an object of surpassing moment, is to teach His dis-
ciples of what nature, power, and faculty is that which he
calleth faith, and which the Father alone can give. That
it is of such a potency to discern, appropriate, and assimi-
And the glory which thou gavest me
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635
late Christ unto us, and us unto Christ, as is the eating of
nature to discern, appropriate, and assimilate the food unto
itself; so that of two things, the food and the living body,
one thing after eating should be composed. The like power,
saith Christ, hath faith to take hold of the body of Christ,
which now is another thing from the believer, and to make it
one thing with the believer, and the believer one with it.
In these remarks, which we were led into by the quota-
tions from John, I have a little interrupted the regular pro-
gress, and anticipated the conclusion of our discourse. Let
us return then again to the 6th of John, at the 59th verse,
where we left off:-These things spake he in the synagogue,
when teaching in Capernaum. Many therefore of his dis-
ciples who heard, said, Hard is this word, who can hear it?
Jesus, however, knowing in himself that his disciples mur-
mured concerning the same, said to them, Doth this scan-
dalise you? Were you then to see the Son of man ascending
to where he was before; the Spirit is that which maketh the
life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words which I speak to
you are spirit and are life. But of you there are some who
do not believe. The words which He had spoken were of
so corporeal, and, I may say, material a sense, that the
wonder is not that some should have taken them literally,
and do yet take them literally to mean an eating and drink-
ing by the sense of a material flesh and blood, but the wonder
is, upon the other hand, that all should not have taken up
this interpretation of them. We wonder not that the error of
transubstantiation, all absurd as it is, should have come into
the Church, when we read this discourse, and consider the
language of the Lord's supper: "This is my body, and this
is my blood." But we do wonder that any man of common
honesty, having such words in the communion, and such
an interpretation of these words in this discourse, should
dare to say that there is not any real presence of the body
and blood of Christ in the supper, or any real eating and
drinking of the same by the faith of every believer; that it is
a mere memorial of His death. Oh, I cannot express my
abhorrence and detestation of such an ignominious, shameful
deprivation of this holy mystery, which the Lord hath so de-
636
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
fended; and I say it again, I would rather, many times, be
guilty with those who ignorantly believe transubstantiation,
interpreting our Lord's words to the sense to which He
never spake, instead of interpreting them to faith, to which
He always spake, than with those who contradict both the
letter and the spirit, and speak neither to sense nor to faith,
but to a mere acknowledgment of a fact which no well-in-
formed man ever dreamt of doubting, that the Lord Jesus.
Christ was crucified upon Mount Calvary. If the Lord had
meant merely that He was to die, and that His death was to
be kept in remembrance, what were there so astounding in
this to the ears of man, as that they should call it a hard
word which no one could hear? and what were the meaning
of wrapping it up in language which seemed constructed on
very purpose to be offensive to the ear and common sense of
man?
If that, indeed, were His meaning merely, His words
were ill-chosen words; and His disciples did well to be
offended. But if, as hath been said, He would express an
assimilating and uniting power of faith, such as there is no
other language for expressing but the language of eating and
drinking; and if the only object of that faith be His human
substance, what other way was there to express the nature,
the virtue, and the effects of that act of faith upon His human
subsistence, but by eating His flesh and drinking His blood?
No discourse of the eye with the objects of vision will express
this consubstantiating act of faith; for when the object of
sight hath been perused, yea, and devoured by the sight, it
continueth an outward and separate object still; and when
the ear hath listened to the sound of the human voice, or of
any instrument of music, the object which caused the same
continueth outward still. Nor is there any other act or func-
tion of human life which bringeth its object into consubstan-
tiation with it, but this one of eating and of drinking; where-
fore, I say, there is not any language capable of expressing
that uniting act of faith but this which the Lord employeth.
Not that the use of seeing and of hearing is thereby excluded
from the mystery of faith, but that they are only lower and
preparatory parts of the mystery. For Christ took a body
which was beheld by the sight of His disciples; and He
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637
uttered words which were heard by the hearing of the ear;
but the sight of His body and of all the works which it did, the
hearing of His voice and of all the words which it spake, did
only prepare the way for that saving act of faith which taketh
the substance of His humanity and appropriateth it to our-
selves: so that He shall dwell in us, and we in Him; and as
He was seen, we shall be seen; and as He spake, we shall
also speak. While He is merely beheld, He is but outward;
while He is merely heard, He is but outward; and how can
He then be represented as becoming inward, but by being
eaten, and by being drunk? In like manner, I reckon that
all which is recorded of His life, from the cradle unto Cal-
vary, yea, and of all the miracles which He did, is but
answerable to that beholding of His person which is proper to
the eye. This is what they call historical evidence; which, I
say, though it may be preparatory to the faith of consubstan-
tiation, hath in itself no part thereof, being only a well-meant
endeavour to recall the certainty of the Lord's incarnation
and abode upon the earth. Answerable also to the faith of
the ear, is the hearing of the voice of the preacher of the
gospel, which, again, is also preparatory to, but is not itself,
the consubstantiating act of faith. Most necessary is it,
therefore, and of the last importance, that in addition to the
written word, which is, as it were, the portraiture of Christ's
visible living substance, set forth in promise, in type, in law,
in history, and every other form by which the wisdom of God.
could prepare the expectation, and retain the remembrance,
of that life which occupied but three short years and a half;
and in addition to a living ministry, and a system of visible
ordinances, which do, as it were, continue the voice of the
Saviour to all ages, and make it heard over all countries ;
and which, taken at the best and highest estimate of it, can
only approach to, and never surpass, the very living voice of
Christ,—I say, it is most necessary that, in addition to these
two subjects for the eye and ear of faith to peruse, there
should be a third and far more important subject for the eat-
ing and drinking of faith, which may continually keep before
the Church that function of faith, so much higher than the
function of sight and hearing, to wit, the function of taking
638
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
hold of Christ Himself, and consubstantiating Him with our-
selves. Now, this third and highest office is served to the
believer by the sacrament of the Lord's supper; whose dis-
tinctive peculiarity is this, that passing beyond the written
word, which addresseth Christ's person to the eye of faith,
and passing beyond the preached word, which addresseth
Christ's voice to the ear of faith, it doth present the body and
blood of Christ, that is, the very human subsistence of
Christ, unto the mouth of faith, to be, by eating and drinking,
consubstantiated with the life of faith, and to impart unto the
inward man of faith those very self-same properties, and qua-
lities, and thoughts, and acts, and words, and sufferings, and
rejoicings, which belong unto Christ as He is the Son of man.
Take away this mystery from the sacrament of the supper,
and you take away the doctrine of union from the Church.
Take away the real presence unto faith of Christ's body and
blood from the communion, and you take away from faith
the hope, the power, yea, the very idea of realising any such
union with Christ, as Christ hath with the Father; and the
saving faith of Christ is reduced to what indeed it hath be-
come, the mere vision of the intellect, the mere approval of
the evidence of written or spoken testimony; and from
henceforth, amen to the communion of the saints; amen to
the unity of the Church, which I endeavour, however rudely,
to represent that holy communion; amen, also, to the in-
dwelling of the Holy Ghost, to the headship of the Son, and
to the faith-bestowing prerogative of the Father.
Our fathers, at the Reformation, found this doctrine of the
real presence of Christ in the sacrament depraved by the
priesthood of Rome by the most damnable adjunct of tran-
substantiation, and consecrated, debased, into the ground of
all idolatry, the adoration of the mass; compared with the
capital enormity of which, all image-worship, picture-worship,
relic-worship, yea, and idol-worship, is but as a small offence;
and finding it so, it was a great act of faith and discrimina-
tion in our fathers, or rather, I should say, a great work of
God's Holy Spirit, that they were able to separate the holy
substance from the most unholy intermixture, and preserve it
free from all sensual interpretation. But in these times the
THE DOCTRINE.
639
state of things is wholly changed: the real presence is con-
founded with transubstantiation; the highest prerogative of
faith, to feed upon the body of Christ always, and to discern the
same in the bread and wine of the supper, is denied, or most
imperfectly declared; and, in consequence thereof, the whole
fruitfulness of faith, to dwell in Christ, and to bring Christ to
dwell in us, to suffer with Christ, to rise with Christ, to par-
take with Him in heavenly blessings, and sit with Him in
heavenly places,—this, this, the true character, and, I may say,
very definition of saving faith, is now lost, or imperfectly
uttered in the Churches. And, therefore, it becometh neces-
sary that we restore unto the sacrament what our fathers
never took away from it, and assert that Christ's body and
blood is really and truly present therein, and really and truly
handled, partaken, and appropriated by every believer, so as
that they dwell in Him, and He in them, even as the Father
dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in the Father. And corre-
sponding to these three spheres of faith, the faith of sight,
the faith of hearing, and the faith which incorporates, or, I
may say, the faith of eating and drinking,-there are in the
holy supper three acts done: first, The eye of faith looks
upon the elements when they have been consecrated, and
beholdeth in them Christ evidently set forth crucified in the
midst of us, His body broken, His blood shed for us; second-
ly, Faith opens her ear, and hears the Son of God saying
unto His disciples, "Take, eat; this is my body given for
you." "This is the blood of the new covenant; drink ye all
of it." "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." Hearing these words from the lips of the Lord, our
faith no longer doubteth, but eagerly desireth this food, say-
ing, “Lord, evermore give us this bread." But this is not all:
there is a third and higher act of faith which layeth hold upon
that body, and eateth and drinketh its flesh and blood, and
incorporates with itself that which it had delighted to behold
and receiveth into itself-that which the Lord had promised.
640
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
This is an essential part of saving faith—its appropriating act
which constitutes the oneness between Christ and His mem-
bers; and therefore it is not at one particular time, but at all
times, to be done-seeing, I hold, that there is no saving
faith without this incorporating and appropriating act; and
to shew forth this, as an essential part of saving faith, is the
very end of the supper, and to maintain this doctrine for
ever, that no faith on Christ is worthy of that name which
doth not consubstantiate Him with us, and us with Him.
This is the very end of that discourse which we have opened,
to the attainment of which end the doctrine of the real pre-
sence of Christ's body and blood, in the sacrament of the
supper, unto faith, is as necessary as the doctrine of the
Spirit's presence, in the sacrament of baptism, is necessary to
the doctrine of regeneration. And, therefore, because we
would have you, dear brethren, to enter fully into the mystery
of faith, have we been at pains to explain this doctrine of the
real presence with so much care, and to defend it with equal
diligence from the superstition of the Papists upon the one
hand, and the derision of the intellectuals on the other. And
now may the Lord bless what hath been said, and to His
name be the praise and the glory.
It is not enough to say, in answer to the great doctrine of
the real presence of Christ's body unto faith in the supper,
that faith realiseth Christ as everywhere present; for, though
it be true that in His divine nature He is omnipotent, yet is
He not so in His human nature; or His body and blood with
which, and with which only, this sacrament hath to do, and
this human nature which was crucified for us, and which is
now divided into parts, and delivered for the nourishment of
His Church, is a substance which is nowhere present but in
the consecrated elements of the Lord's Supper. His glorious
body is, indeed, far removed in the heavens, at the right hand
of God, but His humbled, bruised, and broken body abideth
still with the Church, and is to the Church presented, and
by the Church received, in the sacrament of the supper; so
that by faith feeding thereon, and being incorporated there-
with, we do perform the same offices in the world which,
THE DOCTRINE.
641
during His flesh, He performed. I mean to say, that it is
not the glorious subsistence of Christ's body, now in the
heavens, but it is the humiliated subsistence of His body,
while on the earth, into the fellowship of which we eat and
drink. And this, I say again, is not to sight subsisting any-
where, but to faith presented in the supper of the Lord; and
nowhere but there only, where it is presented, can faith realise
its presence.
Now, if any one refuse to acknowledge the real presence
of the humbled humanity of Christ in the holy supper, I ask
him, And what then is present? There can only remain
bread and wine. And what to do with faith hath bread and
wine? If it be said, Christ's words are also present; I an-
swer, that the ear doth not incorporate sound, or the material
of sound; and though Christ's words be truly spirit and life,
yet is it not by the hearing of them, but by the believing of
them, that they become so. And how shall you mark this
most important distinction between a belief which incor-
porates, and a belief which doth but hear the outward voice?
Besides, it is to the full as great a mystery that the Holy
Spirit should inhabit a voice, as that He should inhabit bread
and wine; and it is to the full as great a mystery that, by
the sense of hearing, the Holy Ghost should make access to
our souls, as by the sense of eating. But the truth is, there
is no proportion whatever between the sensible and the
spiritual, except inasmuch as the sensible doth, in its kind,
symbolise the spiritual, in its kind; which kinds, however, are
totally diverse from one another. Now, I say that the action
of eating and drinking, which is the proper action of the
supper, and not the action of hearing, which is not proper to
it, but rather proper to the ordinance of preaching, is the
only action of the senses which doth, or can, convey to the
understanding of man the act of the Spirit; which, being
endued by faith from God, doth receive the humanity of
Christ, as it was heretofore sacrificed on Calvary, and incor-
porate it into the same substance with ourselves, to the end
of our fulfilling the same functions of the Holy Spirit which
He fulfilled during the days of His flesh.
VOL. II.
2 S
642
OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.
The end, therefore, dear brethren, of the whole matter, and
the object for which I have preached this discourse, is to
instruct you that the act of faith, which you are this day to
do or to witness done, is the constant and perpetual act of
faith by which a Christian lives. The believer lives evermore
upon the body and blood of Christ; and the believer is,
therefore, ever ready to sit down at the table of the Lord,
just as a hungry man is ever ready for food. The food also
is ever present unto faith, whether the believer be at the
table of the Lord or not. So that where the ordinance can-
not be had, little loss is sustained to the true believer. But
where the ordinance can be had, a true believer both denies
the Lord, and denies himself, in abstaining from it. He denies
the Lord, inasmuch as he neither obeys His commandment,
nor commemorates His death, nor continues the mystery
thereof for the profit of generations yet unborn, nor draws
near to the open fountain of Divine life. He denies himself,
inasmuch as having hungered, and food having been pro-
vided for him, he will not draw near to partake the same.
There is no fasting ordinance for faith, which is never in
Faith hath a continual
repletion, but always in leanness.
hunger and thirst, and seizeth with avidity upon every table
which is spread for the children in the wilderness. Come,
therefore, hither, O ye hungered people: come, therefore,
hither, O ye thirsty people. The Spirit and the bride say,
Come; and let every one that is athirst say, Come; and par-
take the waters of life freely. This is the only table on
This table
which the elements of eternal life are set forth.
is the only assurance of food on this side the grave, as bap-
tism is the only assurance of life. Come, then, and revive
the pledge of life eternal, until ye are privileged to sit down
at that table which shall never be drawn.
END OF VOL. II.
NAN 3 1922
Ballantyne & Company, Printers, Edinburgh.
:
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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