vance it; he sacrifices all to this great design; | hair starts and stiffens on my head, my blood he is "beside himself." Why? "The love freezes in my veins, my thoughts tremble and of Christ constraineth him." clash, my knees smite together, when I reflect III. Let us add a few considerations on the on these words of St. Paul, just before my impressions of the love of Jesus Christ in re-text, "We must all appear before the judg gard to "the consolations which they afford in the miseries of life, and in the agonies of death." By what unheard of secret does the Christian surmount pain? By what unheard of secret does he find pleasure in the idea of death? St. Paul informs us in the text. "The love of Christ possesseth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. If one died for all, then were all dead:" this is the source of the consolations of a dying man; this is the only rational system that men have opposed against the fears of death. All besides are vain and feeble, not to say stupid and absurd. What can be more improper to support us under the fear of death, than the presumptions, the uncertainties, the tremulous hopes of a Socrates, or a Seneca, or other pagan philosophers? What can be less likely to arm us against the fear of death, than distant consequences drawn from confused notions of the nature of the soul, such as natural religion affords? What can be less substantial than vague speculations on the benevolence of the Supreme Being? Can any thing be more extravagant, can any thing be less capable of supporting us under the fear of death, than that art which worldlings use, of avoiding the sight of it, and of stupifying the soul in tumult and noise? Let us not assume a brutal courage; let us not affect an intrepidity which we are incapable of maintaining, and which will deceive us, when the enemy comes. Poor mortal! victim of death and hell! do not say, "I am increased in goods, and have need of nothing," Rev. in. 17, while every voice around thee cries, "Thou art poor and miserable, blind and naked." Let us acknowledge our miseries. Every thing in dying terrifies me. I The pains that precede it, terrify me. shudder when I see a miserable creature burning with a fever, suffocated, tormented, enduring more on a death-bed than a criminal suffers on a scaffold or a wheel. When I see this, I say to myself, this is the state into which I must shortly come. The sacrifices to which death calls us, terrify me. I am not able, without rending my soul with insufferable grief, I am not able to look at the dismal veil that is about to cover every object of my delight. Ah! how can I bear to contemplate myself dissolving my strongest bonds, leaving my nearest relations, quitting, for ever quitting, my most tender friends, and tearing myself from my own family? The state into which death brings my body, terrifies me. I cannot, without horror, figure to myself my funeral, my coffin, my grave, my organs, to which my Creator has so closely united my soul, cold and motionless, without feeling and life. Above all, the idea of a just tribunal, before which death will place me, terrifies me. My ment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad," ver. 10. Miserable I! I, who have so often sinned against my own light; I, who have so often forgotten my Creator; I, who have so often been a scourge to my neighbour; so often a scandal to the church; wretched I! I must "; 'appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive the things done in my body, whether they be good or bad!" What an idea!— What a terrible, what a desperate idea! The impressions which an idea of the love of Christ makes upon my soul, efface those gloomy impressions which an idea of death had produced there. "The love of Christ," consoles my soul and dissipates all my fears. “If one died for all, then were all dead," is a short system against the fear of death. "Jesus Christ died for all." The pains of death terrify me no more. When I compare what Jesus Christ appoints me to suffer with what he suffered for me, my pains vanish, and seem nothing to me. Besides, how can I doubt, whether he, who had so much love as to die for me, will support me under the pains of death? Having been " tried in all points like as we are," will he not be "touched with a feeling of my infirmities," and deliver me when I am tried as he was. "Jesus Christ died for all." The sacrifices that death requires of me, terrify me no more. I am fully persuaded, God will indemnify me for all that death takes from me, and he who gave me his own Son, "will with him also freely give me all things," Rom. viii. 32. "Jesus Christ died for all." The state to which death reduces my body, terrifies me no more. Jesus Christ has sanctified my grave, and his resurrection is a pledge of mine." "Jesus Christ died for all." The tribunal before which death places me, has nothing in it to terrify me. Jesus Christ has silenced it. The blows of divine justice fell on his head, and he is the guardian of mine. Thus "the love of Christ presseth, covereth, and surroundeth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." IV. The impressions of the love of Christ on us are considerable, in regard to that universal obedience with which the tender love of a Redeemer inspires us. This is the meaning of these words, "He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." Of the characters, the motives, the pleasures, of this universal obedience, you cannot be ignorant, my brethren. They make a chief matter of all the discourses that are addressed to you; and they have been particularly the topics for some weeks past, while we were going over the history of the passion of Christ, a history that may be truly called a narration of Christ's love to you. I will therefore confine myself to one reflection. I make this reflection, in order to prevent mistakes on this disposition of mind, of which | my text speaks. Let us not imagine, that St. Paul, by exhorting us to live only to Christ, intends to dissuade us from living for the benefit of our fellow creatures. On the contrary, I have already recommended that sense of the words which some commentators give; "the love of Christ constraineth us," that is, say some, the love of Christ unites us in bonds of love to one another; and I have already shown, that if this could not be proved to be the precise meaning of St. Paul in the text, it is, however, a very just notion in itself, and a doctrine taught by the apostle in express words in other places. But what I have not yet remarked is this. In the opinion of some interpreters there is a close connection between the words of my text, "the love of Christ constraineth us," and the preceding words, "whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." According to this notion, St. Paul having described the two parts of devotion, or if you will, the two kinds of Christian devotion, unites both in this general expression, "live unto Christ." The one is the devotion of the closet, the other that of society. Closet devotion is expressed in the words," whether we be beside ourselves, It is to God." This is expressive of the effusions of a soul, who, having excluded the world, and being alone with his God, unfolds a heart penetrated with love to him. "Whether we be sober, it is for your cause, for the love of Christ uniteth us," signifies the state of a soul, who, having quitted the closet, having returned to his natural course of thought, and having entered into the society in which God has appointed him to live, makes the happiness of his neighbour his principal occupation. I say of this interpretation, as I said of a former, I am not sure that it contains precisely the meaning of St. Paul in the text: but it contains an idea very just in itself, and which the apostle, as well as all other inspired writers, has expressed elsewhere. Would you then perform this necessary duty, agreeably to this sense of the text? Would they "who live, not live to themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again?" Let your devotion have two parts. Let your life be divided into two sorts of devotion, the devotion of the closet, and the devotion of society. Practise private devotion, be beside yourselves unto God. Believer! Is it right for thee to indemnify thyself by an immediate communion with thy God for the violence that is done to thine affection, when thou art obliged, either wholly to lose sight of him, or to see him only through mediums, which conceal a part of his beauty? Well then, enter into thy closet, shut thy door against the world, flee from society, and forget it, give thyself up to the delights which holy souls feel when they absorb themselves in God. Beseech him, after the example of inspired men in their private interviews with him, to manifest himself to you in a more intimate manner. Say to him, as they said, "O Lord, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. It is good for me to draw near to God. Whom have I in heaven but thee? there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee," Exod. xxxiii. 18; Ps. lxxxiii. 28. 25. But, after thou hast performed the devotion of the closet, practise the devotion of society. After thou hast been beside thyself to God, be sober to thy neighbour. Let love unite thee to the rest of mankind. Visit the prisoner; relieve the sick; guide the doubtful; assist him who stands in need of your credit. Distrust a piety that it is not ingenious at rendering thee useful to society. St. Paul somewhere says, "All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This proposition seems hyperbolical. Some expositors have thought it justifiable, by supposing that the apostle speaks here only of the second table of the law. Their supposition is unnecessary. In some respects all virtues are comprised in this command, "thou shalt love thy neighbour." To love our neighbour, we must be humble. When we have lofty notions of ourselves, it is impossible to pay that attention to a neighbour which his merit demands. To love our neighbour we must be patient. When the first obstacle discourages us, or when the least opposition inflames our tempers; it is impossible to enter into those details which love for a neighbour requires. In order to discharge the duty of loving a neighbour, we must be moderate in our pleasures. When we are devoted to pleasure, it is impossible to endure those disagreeables, which love to a neighbour demands. Above all, to love a neighbour, we must love God. Remember the saying of St. John, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar," 1 John iv. 20. For what is love? Is it not that sympathy which forms between two intelligent beings a conformity of ideas and sentiment? And how can we flatter ourselves, that we have a conformity of ideas with a God of love, who has communicated to his creatures a conformity of sentiments and ideas, if we withhold our affection from his creatures, and live only to ourselves? "He then, who saith, I love God, and hateth his brother, is a liar." If thou dost not love him, thou art (permit me to say it,) thou art a visionary, a fanatic. Who is a visionary? who is a fanatic? He is a man who creates fanciful ideas of God. He is a man who frames an arbitrary morality. He is a man, who, under pretence of living to God, forgets what he owes to his fellow creatures. And this is exactly the character of the man, whose closet devotion makes him neglect social religion. Ah! hadst thou just notions of God, thou wouldst know, that "God is love;" and hadst thou just notions of morality, thou wouldst know, that it is impossible for God, who is love, to prescribe any other love to us, than that which is the essence of all moral duties. All these ideas, my brethren, would require much enlargement: but time fails. I shall not scruple so much the closing of this subject today, without considering it in every point of view, as I should do in our ordinary exercises. I descend from this pulpit to conduct you to the table of the Lord, on which lie the symbols of that love of which we have been speaking, and they will exhort you in language more forcible than mine to reduce all the doctrine of this day to practice. We have been preaching to you fervour, zeal, transports of divine love; attend to those symbols, they preach these virtues to you in words more powerful than ours. Say to your selves, when you approach the holy table: it was on the evening that preceded the terrible day of my Redeemer's infinite sufferings, that he appointed this commemorative supper. This bread is a memorial of his body, which was bruised for my sins on the cross. The wine is a memorial of that blood which so plentifully flowed from his wounds to ransom me from my sins. In remembering this love is there any ice that will not thaw? Is there any marble that will not break? will not love the most vehement, animate and inflame you? We have been preaching that the love of Jesus Christ ought to animate you. Hear the voice of these symbols, they preach this truth to you in language more powerful than ours. There is not to-day among you an old man so infirm; nor a poor man so mean; nor a citizen so unknown to his fellow-citizens, that he may not approach the holy table, and receive from sovereign wisdom the mysterious repast. But ministers of the gospel, we have been saying, ought more than other men to be animated with the love of Christ. My dear colleagues in the work of the Lord, hear these symbols; they preach to you in language more powerful than ours. What a glory has God put upon us in choosing to commit to us such a ministry of reconciliation! What an honour to be called to preach such a gospel! What an honour to be appointed dispensers of these rich favours, which God to-day bestows on this assembly! But at the same time, what love ought the love of God to us excite in our hearts! The heart of a minister of the gospel should be an altar on which divine fire should burn with unquenchable flame. We have been preaching to you that the love of Christ will become to you an inexhaustible source of consolation in the distresses of life, and in the agonies of death. Hear these symbols; they preach these truths to you in language more forcible than ours. Hear them; they say to you in the name of God, "Fear not, thou worm Jacob! When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt," Isa. xli. 14. We have been preaching to you a universal obedience to the will of God. Hear these symbols; they preach this truth to you in language more forcible than ours. And what exceptions would you make in your obedience to a Saviour, who does for you what you are going to see, to hear, and to experience? What can you refuse to a Saviour, who gave you his blood and his life; to a Saviour, who, on his throne, where he is receiving the adorations of angels and seraphim, thinks of your bodies, your souls, your salvation; and who still wishes to hold the most tender and intimate communion with you? My dear brethren, I hope so many exhortaVOL. 1.-38 tions will not be addressed to you in vain. I hope we shall not be ministers of vengeance among you to-day. You are not going, I trust, by receiving sacramental bread and wine at our hands to-day, to eat and drink your own condemnation. I hope the windows of heaven will be opened to-day, and benedictions from above poured out on this assembly. The angels, I trust, are waiting to rejoice in your conversion. May Jesus Christ testify his approbation of your love to him by shedding abroad rich effusions of his love among you! May this communion be remembered with pleasure when you come to die, and may the pleasing recollection of it felicitate you through all eternity! O thou " Mighty one of Israel!" O Jesus, our hope and joy, hear and ratify our prayers! Amen. To him, as to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory for ever. Amen. SERMON XXXV. THE LIFE OF FAITH. HABAKKUK ii. 4. The just shall live by his Faith. THE words of our text, which open to us a wide field of reflections, may be taken in two senses. The first may be called a moral sense, and the last a theological sense. The first regards the circumstances of the Jews, when the prophet Habakkuk delivered this prophecy; and the last respects that great object, on which believers have fixed their eyes in all ages of the church. Habakkuk (for I enter into the matter immediately, in order to have full time to discuss the subject,) began to prophecy before the destruction of Jerusalem by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and he was raised up to announce the progress of that scourge, or, as another prophet calls him, that "hammer of the whole earth," Jer. 1. 23. Habakkuk, astonished, and, in a manner, offended at his own predictions, derives strength from the attributes of God to support himself under this trial, and expresses himself in this manner; "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy one? We shall not die, O Lord! thou hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God! thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil," chap. i. 12, 13. The prophet goes farther. Not content with vague ideas on a subject so interesting, he entreats God to give him some particular knowledge by revelation of the destiny of a tyrant, who boasted of insulting God, pillaging his temple, and carrying his people into captivity: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me." The Rabbies give a very singular exposition of the words, "I will stand upon my watch," and they translate them, "I will confine myself in a circle." The prophet, say they, drew a circle, and made a solemn vow, that he would not go out of it till God had unfolded those dark dispensations to him, which seemed so injurious to his perfections. This was almost like the famous consul, who, being sent by the Roman senate to Antiochus, made a circle round that prince, and said to him, "either you shall accept the conditions of peace which I offer you, before you go out of this circle, or in the name of the senate I will declare war against you.* God yielded to the desire of his servant; he informed him of the dreadful vicissitudes which Nebuchadnezzar should experience; and of the return of the Jews into their own country: but at the same time he assured him, that these events were at a considerable distance, that no man could rejoice in them except he looked forward into futurity, but that faith in the accomplishment of these promised blessings would support believers under that deluge of calamities which was coming on the church. "The vision is yet for an appointed time. At the end it shall speak and shall not lie." If the Lord seem to you to defer the accomplishment of his promises too long, wait for it with all the deference, which finite creatures owe to the Supreme Intelligence that governs the world. He, you will find, "will not tarry" beyond his appointed time. "The soul, which is lifted up," that is to say, the man who would fix a time for God to crush tyrants, "is not upright," but wanders after his own speculations: but the "just shall live by his faith." This is what I call the moral sense of the text, relative to the peculiar circumstances of the Jews in, the time of the prophet, and in this sense St. Paul applies my text to the circumstances of the Hebrews, who were called to endure many afflictions in this life, and to defer the enjoyment of their reward till the next. "Ye have need of patience (says the apostle,) that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith," Heb. x. 36-38. But these words also have a theological meaning, which regards those great objects on which believers have fixed their eyes in all ages of the church. This is the sense which St. Paul gives the words in his Epistle to the Romans. "The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith," chap. i. 17. In the same sense he uses the passage in the Epistle to the Galatians, "That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident; for the just shall live by faith," chap. iii. 11. In this sense I intend to consider the text now, and to apply all the time allotted for this discourse to this view of it. In order to develope the subject, I will do three things. I. I will explain the terms of this proposition, "the just shall live by faith." II. Prove the truth of it. III. Endeavour to remove the difficulties which may attend the subject to some of you. I. Let us explain the terms of this proposition, "the just shall live by his faith." In order to understand the subject we must inquire who is the just, what is the life, and what the faith, of which the prophet, or rather St. Paul after the prophet, speaks. M. Popilius Læna a Antiochus Epiphanes dans Vellei Paero. Hist. Rom. I. i. Who is this just or righteous man? To form a clear notion of this, it is necessary, with St. Paul, to distinguish two sorts of righteousness, a righteousness according to the law, and a righteousness according to faith. By righteousness after the law, I understand that which man wishes to derive from his own personal ability. By the righteousness of faith, I understand that which man derives from a principle foreign from himself. A man who is just, or to speak more precisely, a man who pretends to be just according to this first righteousness, consents to be examined and judged according to the utmost rigour of the law. He desires the justice of God to discover any thing in him that deserves punishment; and he has the audacity to put himself on such a trial as justice pronounces in these words of the law, "If a man do these things, he shall live in them," Lev. xviii. 5. He, on the contrary, who is just according to the righteousness of faith, acknowledges himself guilty of many and great sins, which deserve the most rigorous punishment: but he does not give himself up to that despair, into which the idea of his criminality would naturally hurry him; he is not afraid of those punishments, which, he owns, he deserves; he hopes to live, because he expects God will deal with him, not according to what he is in himself, but according to his relation to Jesus Christ. That these are the ideas which must be affixed to the term just, is evident from these words of St. Paul; "I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him;" remark these words, "not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith," Phil. iii. 8, 9. This passage sufficiently shows the sense in which the term just is to be taken, and this term needs no farther elucidation. The second also is easily explained. The just shall live, that is to say, although divine justice had condemned him to eternal death, yet he shall be freed from it; and although he had rendered himself unworthy of eternal felicity, yet he shall enjoy it. This is so plain, that it is needless to enlarge on this term. We intend to insist most on that term which is the most difficult, the third term, faith, I mean, The just shall live by his faith." 66 To have faith, or to believe, is an expression so vague in itself, and taken in so many different senses in Scripture, that we cannot take too much care in determining its precise meaning. Faith is sometimes a disposition common to the righteous and the wicked; sometimes it is the distinguished character of a Christian, and of Christianity; sometimes it is put for the virtue of Abraham, who was called the "father of the faithful," Rom. iv. 11, by excellence; and sometimes it stands for the credence of devils, and the terrors that agitate them in hell are ascribed to it. The variety of this signification arises from this consideration; faith is a disposition of mind, that changes its nature according to the various objects which are proposed to it. If the object presented to faith be a particular object, | quire, and whatever sacrifices we may be obligfaith is a particular disposition; and if the ob-ed to make to possess them. This desire, we ject be general, faith is a general virtue. If think, constitutes the essence of faith. we believe a past event, we are said to have faith, for "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God," Heb. xi. 3. If we believe a future event, we are said to have faith, for "faith is the sub-thus) to his mind, to his heart, and to his constance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," ver. 1. When the woman of Canaan believed that Jesus Christ would grant her petition, she was said to have faith: "O woman, great is thy faith," Matt. xv. 28. In a similar case, our Lord says, "I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel," chap. viii. 10. When the disciples believed, that they should work miracles in virtue of the name of Jesus Christ, it was called a having of faith, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall obey you," chap. xvii. 20. In a word, every act of the mind acquiescing in a revealed truth is called faith in the style of Scripture. But, among these different notions, there is one which is particular, there is a faith to which Scripture ascribes extraordinary praise. Saving faith, the faith that Jesus Christ requires of all Christians, and of which it is said, through faith are ye saved," Eph. ii. 8; and elsewhere, "whosoever believeth shall have everlasting life," John iii. 16, this is the faith of which the text speaks, and of the nature of which we are now inquiring. To comprehend this, we must trace the question to its principle, and examine what is the object of this faith. The great and principal object, which is presented to the faith that justifies, without doubt is Jesus Christ as dying and offering himself to the justice of his Father. On this account St. Paul says to the Corinthians, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified," 1 Epist. ii. 2. Faith contemplates the objects that are displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ, and persuades the Christian, that there is no other way of obtaining salvation, or, to use the language of Scripture, that "there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," Acts iv. 12. It inspires him with a sincere desire of lodging under the shadow of his cross, or, to speak in plain Scripture language without a figure, of being "found in him, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law: but that, which is through the faith of Christ." This is a general vague account of the nature of faith. The true believer inquires with the strictest scrutiny what God requires of him, and he finds three principal articles. Jesus Christ, he perceives, is proposed (if you allow me to speak duct. Faith receives Jesus Christ in all these respects; in regard to the mind, to regulate its ideas by the decisions of Jesus Christ alone; in regard to the heart, to embrace that felicity only, which Jesus Christ proposes to its hope; in regard to the conduct, to make the laws of Jesus Christ the only rules of action. Faith, then, is that disposition of soul, which receives Jesus Christ wholly, as a teacher, a promiser, a legislator. Faith will enable us to admit the most incomprehensible truths, the most abstruse doctrines, the most profound mysteries, if Jesus Christ reveal them. Faith will engage us to wish for that kind of felicity which is the most opposite to the desires of flesh and blood, if Jesus Christ promise it.Faith will inspire us with resolution to break the strongest ties, to mortify the most eager desires, if Jesus Christ commanded us to do so. This, in our opinion, is the only true notion of saving faith. The terms of the proposition being thus explained, we will go on to explain the whole proposition, "the just shall live by his faith." All depends on one distinction, which we shall do well to understand, and retain. There are two kinds, or causes of justification. The first is the fundamental or meritorious cause; the second is the instrumental cause. We call that the fundamental cause of our justification, which requires, merits, and lays the foundation of our justification and salvation. By the instrumental cause, we mean those acts which it has pleased God to prescribe to us, in order to our participation of this acquired salvation, and without which "Christ becomes of no effect to us," according to the language of Scripture, Gal. v. 4. The fundamental cause of our justification is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. It is Jesus Christ independently of our faith and love. If Jesus Christ had not died, our faith, our repentance, and all our efforts to be saved, would have been in vain, "for other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ," I Cor. iii. 11. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," Acts iv. 14. Verily, if any thing could conciliate God to men, ye excruciating agonies of my Saviour! thou perfect satisfacBut as this notion of faith is vague, it is sub- tion! thou bloody death! sacrifice proposed to ject to all the inconveniences of vague ideas; man immediately after his fall! ye only, only it is equivocal and open to illusion. We are ye, could produce this great effect! Accursed, not saved by wishing to be saved; nor are we accursed be he who preaches another gospel! justified because we barely desire to be justified." God forbid that I should glory save in the We must, therefore, distinguish two sorts of desires to share the benefits of the death of Christ. There is a desire unconnected with all the acts, which God has been pleased to But when we inquire how we are justified, require of us, of this we are not speaking.- we do not inquire the meritorious cause of salThere is also another kind of desire to share vation; we suppose salvation already merited; the benefits of the death of Christ, a desire but we ask, what is essential to our participathat animates us with a determination to par- tion of it? To this we reply, faith, faith alone, ticinate these benefits, whatever God may re-but such a faith however, as we have describ cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world," Gal. vi. 14. |