SERMONS OF CHRISTMAS EVANS. A New translation from the Welsh.INTRODUCTION. (continued 2)

“Fly abroad, thou mighty gospel! Win and conquer! never cease!”

Lift up thy voice with strength, and proclaim to Greece and Rome, and to all the ends of the earth, as well as to the cities of Judah, that the Son of Mary is the God of Israel, “God manifest in the flesh,” “God blessed forever!” “The man Christ Jesus” is “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;” “in whom also we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

II. But this leads us to our second topic: “And one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” The two doctrines, you perceive, are intimately related to each other. “One God”—“One Mediator.” As we have but “one God,” we need but “one Mediator.” As that Mediator is himself God, the merit of his mediation is sufficient for the salvation of all them that believe.

The office of a Mediator supposes two parties at variance, between whom he interposes to produce a reconciliation. It is thus “between God and man.” God gave man a law, “holy, and just, and good;” man revolted, and “there is wrath.” Reconciliation is impossible, without the intervention of a mediator. Let us look at the parties engaged in this dreadful controversy.

On one side we see Jehovah, possessed of infinite perfections, and clothed with uncreated excellence and glory. He is self-existent, independent and eternal. Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Almightiness are his. He is great in wisdom, full of goodness, slow to anger, and ready to pardon. His love is ineffable, and “his mercy endureth for ever.” He is “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.” These perfections are the pearls and diamonds in his crown. “With him also is terrible majesty.” Life and joy are in his smile, but the angel of destruction waits upon his frown. One beam of his love can raise thousands of men to heaven: one glance of his anger, sink myriads of angels to hell. “He sitteth upon the circles of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.” “All nations before him are as nothing; they are counted less than nothing and vanity.” “He doeth according to his will among the children of men, and ruleth the armies of heaven.” “At his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” O what majesty and power belong unto the Lord our God!

With this imperfect view, contrast the impotence and insignificance of sinful man. What is he? A being of yesterday, “whose breath is in his nostrils,” and “whose foundation is in the dust.” A frail, helpless, perishing thing; dependent upon God, the Creator, for all his comforts, for life itself. What is man? A fool; an alien from all good; an embodiment of all evil. His understanding is dark; his will perverse; his affections carnal. His “throat is an open sepulchre;” swallowing up “whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely, or of good report;” emitting a pestilential vapor, which withers every green herb, and sweet flower, and delicious fruit, of honor to God, and happiness to man. “The poison of asps is under his tongue;” an inflaming poison, affecting all the members, and “setting on fire the whole course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.” “His heart is fully set in him to do evil;” “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” He is an enemy to his Maker; a rebel against Jehovah; a blank—nay, worse—a blot in God’s creation; dead to every virtue, dead to every thing but sin; lost to every gracious purpose of his being; a withered branch, fit only to be plucked off, and cast into the fire; stubble, ready for the burning. “Let him alone!” said Reason. “Cut him down!” cried Justice. “I hate the workers of iniquity!” added Holiness. “He or I must perish!” exclaimed Truth. “Spare him! Spare him! Spare him!” pleaded weeping Mercy. And Wisdom came forth, leading the Son of God, and said: “I have found a ransom! Behold the Mediator!” And all the attributes met and embraced at the manger, and kissed each other at the cross!

It was man’s place, as the offender, to seek a reconciliation. God was under no obligation. But, alas! man had neither the means nor the inclination. What could be done? Hear, O ye heavens! and be astonished! Listen, O earth! and wonder and adore! While man was far from God, an enemy in his heart by wicked works, rushing on in determined hostility to his Maker’s government, and there was no sacrifice found for his sin, and no disposition in him to seek a sacrifice, God sought within himself the adequate and only means of pardon and peace. He found in his own bosom the Lamb for the altar; exhibited him to Israel in the predictions and promises of the Old Testament; and in the fulness of time, sent him forth to expiate sin, by the offering of himself, once for all. “For the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.”

God provided a Mediator. Why? Did he fear that the deserved ruin of the human race would dethrone eternal Justice? No. Eternal Justice would have been honored as much in their destruction as in their salvation. The law would have been as fully vindicated in the infliction of its penalty upon the transgressor, as in the reparation of its breach by a vicarious atonement. The glory of the Divine government would have been untarnished, as when the rebel angels were cast down from heaven, and locked up in everlasting darkness. This wondrous provision was not the result of necessity, but the prompting of Infinite Love. Divine Mercy sought to remove the barrier interposed by Divine Justice. The sinner cannot be pardoned, till his Great Substitute has met the demands of the law. There must be a full satisfaction and settlement of its claims, as the only ground on which the rebel can be acquitted.

Love is the “Alpha and Omega” of redemption, the love of God to man. Read it in the journey of the Mediator from heaven to earth! Read it in his pilgrimage through the land of sorrow! Behold him “nailed to the shameful tree!” See the blood and water gushing from his side! Hear the sound of the water-spouts, as the floods of wrath rollover him! Then ask the reason. The answer is: “God is love.” “He is not willing that any should perish.” It seemed good in his sight to save his rebel children, whatever it might cost him. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” “Herein is love, not that we loved God”—no; we hated him; we were his sworn, inveterate foes; “but that he loved us”—loved us while we were yet enemies—loved us with an ineffable love; “and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Wonderful must be the qualifications of such a Mediator. He fills with his own merit the gap between two worlds. He bows the heavens, and lifts up the earth to meet them. He takes hold of God and man, and brings them together in himself. He reconciles the rebel and the law, glorifies the Father by humbling himself, and his cross becomes our life, and his tomb the birthplace of our immortality.

England and Wales could not be united till the son of the king of England was born in Wales, and became Prince of Wales. The English regarded him as heir to the throne of England; while the Welsh claimed him as their brother, a native of their own country, born in the castle of Caernarvon. Behold “the well beloved”—“the only begotten of the Father,” “heir of all things,” “Lord of lords, and King of kings,” born “in Bethlehem of Judea;” “the Son of God—the Son of man;” partaking of both natures, and representing both parties in the great controversy. He is “the Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father;” yet he is our near kinsman—bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. In his person, heaven and earth are joined; by his blood, God and man are reconciled. Heaven is his throne, for God is his father; earth is his principality, for it is the land of his nativity. In him angels recognise their King, and men behold their brother.

I gaze on the cross, and methinks I hear the victim say: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and beside me there is none else. I opened a way for my people of old, by dividing the waters, to the Canaan of Promise; I am now preparing a path for believers, through the red sea of my blood, to the inheritance in heaven. I gave the law amid fire and smoke on Sinai, and thundered forth my curse upon its violater; I am here on Calvary, to honor that violated law, and remove that curse from its violater by taking it upon myself. Behold my hands, my feet, my side! This blood, O men! is your sacrifice. I will expiate your sin by my sufferings. I will magnify the law, and make it honorable. And though in your nature I hang on this tree to-day, I will revive, and live for ever, to make intercession for the transgressors, and save to the uttermost all that come unto God by me!”

The mediatorial office of “the man Christ Jesus” consists of two parts, sacrifice and intercession. They are equally important, and mutually dependent. Without sacrifice, there is no ground of intercession; without intercession, there is no benefit in sacrifice. The former renders the latter influential with God; the latter renders the former available to man. The one removes the obstacles to reconciliation, the other brings the adverse parties together.

The first part of the mediatorial office is sacrifice. In order to understand this aright, we must have correct views of God, of man, and of sin. We must consider God as the lawgiver and governor of the universe, eternally hostile to all iniquity, and determined to sustain his just administration. We must consider man as a guilty and polluted creature, a rebel in arms against his Maker, a prisoner under sentence and deserving punishment. We must consider sin as an inexcusable omission of duty, and a flagrant transgression of the law, under circumstances of peculiar aggravation. The debt must be paid, or the sinner must perish. An atonement must be made, of merit equal to the turpitude of our crimes. The stain which we have cast upon the law, must be washed out by blood of infinite preciousness. This is the work of our Mediator. He “gave himself a ransom for all.” He made a perfect satisfaction for our sins. “He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” It is not by blood of bulls and goats, slain on Jewish altars, but by a nobler and costlier sacrifice—the paschal “Lamb of God,” that heaven and earth are reconciled—God and man united.

The second part of the mediatorial office is intercession. It was through the High-priest, the typical mediator, that God communicated with Israel, and Israel communicated with God; it is through “the man Christ Jesus,” the real Mediator, that God speaks to the world, and receives the prayers of his people. Having “borne the sins of many,” he “maketh intercession for the transgressors.” “He hath entered into heaven himself, there to appear in the presence of God for us.” He has gone into the holy of holies, with “the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel.” “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “Through him we both”—that is, both Jews and Gentiles—“have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” He holds in his hand the golden censer, and offers much incense before the throne. It is this that perfumes our prayers, and renders them acceptable to God. He pleaded for his murderers when he hung upon the cross, and now he pleads in heaven for those who crucify him afresh. And what is the ground of his plea? Not the merit of our works, but the merit of his own sufferings. Not the infinitude of the Father’s mercy, but the sufficiency of his own sacrifice. This is the sure foundation of a sinner’s hope. If Satan suggests that his crimes are too great to be forgiven, he may reply: “The man Christ Jesus” is my advocate, the advocate of “the chief of sinners;

And should I die with mercy sought, When I his grace have tried, I sure should die—delightful thought!— Where sinner never died!”

“One Mediator.” There is no choice. You must accept of him, or remain unreconciled, and be cast into hell. Israel found but one path through the Red Sea; the church shall never find more than one way to the heavenly Canaan. It is only by faith in the “One Mediator,” that you can obtain the favor of the “One God.” He is the elect and beloved of the Father, the appointed medium of man’s approach, the designated channel of God’s communication. “Neither is there salvation in any other.” No other has been provided. No other is suited to our necessities. O sinner! come through this “new and living way!” Christ invites your confidence.

“Venture on him; venture freely; Let no other trust intrude! None but Jesus, none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good.”

These glorious truths, we cannot read too often, or meditate too much. They represent to us the great evil of sin, the infinite mercy of God, the inflexible character of the law, and the incalculable preciousness of the gospel. Such is the Father’s estimate of the Mediator, that he will be reconciled to sinners only through his blood. He is well pleased with his Son, and well pleased with all who seek him through his Son, and nothing is more offensive to him than the rejection of his Son. May these remarks preserve you from despair under a sense of your guilt and wretchedness; drive you from all false refuges to the cross, with a penitent and grateful heart; induce you to trust; not in your own strength, or wisdom, or righteousness, but in the adorable name of Jesus; to live a life of faith in him, of love towards him, and of patient waiting for his mercy unto eternal salvation!

If you are already partakers of these blessings, how transcendent is your privilege! “Ye are come unto mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God, the judge of all; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Follow the Captain of your salvation. Cleave to him in the fire and the flood. Turn not aside to the lying vanities of the world, lest you drink the cup of its eternal sorrows. Remember that those who suffer with the crucified shall reign with the glorified; that such as are faithful unto death shall receive the crown of life. Be careful to “keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.” Endure unto the end, and ye shall be saved.

“Now the God of peace, that brought again 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 our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever.” Amen.

SERMON VI. THE LIVING REDEEMER.

“Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”—Job xix. 23–27.

It is the common opinion of learned divines, that Job was an ancient prince in some part of Arabia, known in his day by the name of Uz. His three friends also—“Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite”—were neighboring princes. In their visit of condolence, they were accompanied by Elihu, who seems to have been a young man of extraordinary intelligence and virtue. The occasion of this visit was the apparent judgments of God upon the patriarch. They held a long controversy with him, in which they insisted that his unparalleled calamities and sufferings proved him the chief of hypocrites. Job as strenuously maintained his innocence and integrity, and argued that his providential afflictions were intended only for the proof and the improvement of his piety; and that when this purpose should be accomplished, he would come forth as gold purified from the furnace. God, answering out of the whirlwind, settled the dispute, deciding in favor of his servant Job; his three friends were required to offer sacrifice for their faults, and Job must pray for their forgiveness. Then the wheel of fortune turned in his favor, and he was restored to his former prosperity.

Job and his friends evidently had a clear understanding of the evil of sin, the wickedness of hypocrisy, the importance of the fear of God, and the doctrine of an allwise superintending providence; and knew how to approach Jehovah through sacrifice, in anticipation of the promised Messiah.

We shall offer a few general remarks on Job’s faith in a living Redeemer, as expressed in our text.

I. Our minds are struck with wonder and pleasure, in beholding the patriarchs and prophets of ancient times, moved by the Spirit of God, searching diligently for the person and grace of the Messiah; like miners, opening an entrance to a precious treasure, which is to redeem them and their brethren from bondage.

Job has no reference here to any temporal deliverer, nor to any other than the Messiah himself. He evidently saw what he needed, when he was speaking of the Daysman, the Umpire, one that might argue and settle the case between him and his Maker, one that might lay his hand alike on God and man. With the eye of faith, he saw the Messiah, setting one foot on the continent of eternity, and the other on the sea of human misery, and lifting up his hand and saying—“Time and eternity are mine! I am God, and beside me there is no Saviour!” Elihu also speaks of the same person, under the name of “a messenger,” “an interpreter,” “one of a thousand,” that might commune with both God and man, concerning atonement, and justifying righteousness, and deliverance from the pit of eternal destruction.

The promise of a Redeemer descended from Eden like a precious ark, containing, for all mankind, the bread of life, and the unsearchable riches of Divine grace. It was conveyed from the house of Adam to the house of Seth, from the house of Seth to the house of Noah, from the house of Noah to the house of Abraham, and thence down through successive generations to the time of Messiah’s advent. The patriarchs, before their departure, received from this ark invaluable spiritual blessings, and a passport to the everlasting city; but the ark itself they left behind for the benefit of their posterity, who found therein the balm of life, and died in the faith of a Saviour to come, according to the promise.

Job’s living Redeemer is none other than the promised “Seed,” that should “bruise the serpent’s head”—Jacob’s “Lion,” “stooping down” to the “new tomb hewn out of a rock,” aiming at the King of Terrors, and on the third morning leaping and “rushing upon the prey,” and becoming the plague of death, and the destruction of the grave—the “Jehovah-jireh” of Abraham—the “I Am,” who appeared to Moses in the burning bush—the “Wonderful,” the “Councillor,” the “Child-born,” and “the Everlasting Father,” predicted by Isaiah—Jeremiah’s “Jehovah our Righteousness”—the “Branch” and “Fountain” of Zachariah—the “Shepherd and Stone of Israel”—the “Shiloh,” to whom should be “the gathering of the people”—the “Governor,” who should “come out of Bethlehem”—Malachi’s “Sun of Righteousness”—Paul’s “Captain of our Salvation,” “bringing many sons to glory;” opening a tunnel under the river of his own sufferings, and the seas of human guilt and wo, through which his redeemed might go home to their Father’s house—Peter’s “Prince of Life,” “slain and hung on a tree”—John’s “Word,” that “was in the beginning with God, and was God;” but “was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”

II. The word here rendered Redeemer, is Goel in the original; and in the book of Ruth, is translated kinsman, one who has a right to redeem. The Redeemer is our near kinsman; for “he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

An individual in this country returned from India so rich that he conferred upon all his relatives an independent fortune. To us also a brother was born against the day of adversity, who is able to enrich us all with eternal riches. You know not what hardships your brother endured in the East, while gathering the wealth you now enjoy; but we know that our brother, “though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.”

When Naomi returned from the land of Moab, Elimelech, her husband, was dead, and the inheritance greatly involved in debt. According to the law of the tribes, the nearest kinsman of the deceased debtor was obliged to marry the widow, and redeem the inheritance, so as to retain it in the same tribe. The purchaser was sought in the land of Bethlehem. One was found, sufficiently rich, but unwilling. He preferred to take off his own shoes, before the elders, at the gate of the city, rather than stand in the shoes of his deceased brother. It was done, however, by another, of the name of Boaz. But who will stand in the place of sinners, who have forfeited all claim to the heavenly inheritance, and deserve eternal damnation? Let heaven and earth meet in council, and see who is able and willing to “redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him.” Earth replies—“There is no such person here.” All the angels around the throne answer—“There is none in the celestial city.” Search the streets of Jerusalem; go to the garden of Gethsemane; inquire on the hill of Calvary. Who is willing to die for sinners to-day? There is the tree. There is the executioner, with hammer and nails. Who will offer himself a sacrifice there, for the redemption of man? None but Jesus. None but Jesus was able; none but Jesus was willing. “Here am I,” said he; “if ye seek me, let these go their way.” And without the gates of Jerusalem, he honored the law, spoiled principalities, and redeemed his people. He suffered the curse in the sinner’s stead, and swallowed up all its plagues in himself. As your representative, he endured all the agony and ignominy you justly deserved. [132] And when you by faith lay hold of his atonement, you shall be made the righteousness of God in him—shall be dealt with, not according to your deserts, but according to his merit and his mercy. He was humbled that you might be exalted, impoverished that you might be enriched, bound that you might be released, punished that you might be spared, condemned that you might be acquitted, wounded that you might be healed, cursed that you might be blessed, and slain that you might live for ever.

III. Job’s faith anticipated a Living Redeemer. “I know that my Redeemer liveth”—is the Living One—he that has life, underived and independent, in himself—the agent and source of all life in the universe, who will at last quicken the dead.

The first woman was called Eve—that is, Life—because she was the mother of all living—the mother of him who is the life of the world. This was fulfilled four thousand years afterward in one of her daughters, a virgin, who brought forth a son, whose name is Jesus, Emmanuel, the Living God, the true God, and eternal Life. He is the Lord of life, and the life of all that believe. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” With the flame of one candle you may light many others, and the light of all is the same. Christ is the source whence all his people derive their light, the great central luminary of his church. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

When the prophet stood in the valley of dry bones and prophesied, there was a wonderful agitation, and the bones came together, and formed themselves into skeletons, and sinews and flesh covered them, and each form was enclosed with a skin; but they were still dead, and it was not till the breath of God blew upon them, and kindled the flame of life within them, that they “stood up an exceeding great army.” So Christ is the resurrection and life alike of the soul and of the body. “He that believeth on him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” He is the bread and the water of life. “He that cometh unto him, shall never hunger; and he that believeth on him, shall never thirst.” “He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son, hath not life.” “We are dead; and our life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.”

IV. The Living Redeemer of Job was to appear in this world. “He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”

A woman who is travelling, and has no money to bear her expenses, obtains credit on her husband’s account, who afterward passes that way, and discharges the obligation. So ancient saints went home to glory on credit: and in the fulness of time, Christ came and paid their debt; not by installments, but all at once; and the virtue of his own offering went up to the gate of Eden, and down to the end of the world. As on both sides of the altar of burnt-offering, were pipes, conveying the blood into the basins, till they were full; so the great altar on Calvary communicates with past generations, and generations yet to come; and the saving merit of the one sacrifice runs back to Abel and to Adam, and forward to the last believer.

Whom do I see in the garden yonder, in such agony of soul, prostrate in prayer, and sweating great drops of blood? Job’s Living Redeemer. Why is his heart thus wrung with anguish? Is there a dark register of sins in his conscience, like the fiery handwriting of God upon the wall? No, he has not a single crime to confess. He has done no iniquity, neither is guile found in his mouth. Why then does he suffer? He is bearing our griefs, carrying our sorrows, and receiving the chastisement of our peace. Behold him on the mountain, “wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.” “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” “Who shall declare his generation?” Who shall give us his pedigree, his history, his character? Will none of the angels of heaven make the air of Calvary ring with the sufferer’s name? Behold! the darkened sun and quaking earth proclaim him God! Hark! he speaks—“I am the true God, and eternal life. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning of the Creator’s way, or ever the earth was. When there was no depths, nor fountains of water; before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the deep; when he established the clouds above; when he strengthened the foundations of the deep; when he gave the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when he established the foundations of the earth; then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men; and therefore I am here, hanging on the cross to-day!”

V. Job’s Living Redeemer was to deliver him from the power of death.

Job anticipated the coming of “the last enemy,” who should give his flesh to be food for worms. The Sabeans had taken away the oxen and the asses, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword. The fire had fallen from heaven, and burnt up the sheep and the shepherds. The Chaldeans had robbed him of his camels, and murdered his domestics. The whirlwind had killed his sons and his daughters in the house of their feasting. His body was covered with putrid ulcers, from head to foot. His best friends turned against him, and even his wife tempted him to “curse God and die.” But amid all his calamities, he saw another enemy, ready to assail his body, and drag it away to the tomb, and reduce it to dust and ashes. At the same time, his faith beheld the Messiah swallowing up death in victory. He saw the Son of Mary in the house of Jairus, where the lion had just slain his victim; and on the street of Nain, where he was taking the prey to his den; and at the grave in Bethany, where he was banqueting with worms in the joy of victory. Death could not stand before the Prince of Life. The spoiler yielded up his spoil. Christ sailed on the open channel like a man of war, delivering the hapless captives of the great pirate Death, to the astonishment and joy of the people, from Samaria to the borders of Tyre and Sidon. But on a certain day, ever to be remembered, as he drew near the ramparts of Sinai, all its batteries were opened upon him. He stood in the fire all night, and fought till he sweat great drops of blood. He threw himself between his friends and the fort, and sustained the shock of its heaviest artillery, which played upon him without intermission, especially the old cannon of Eden—“Dying thou shalt die”—until three o’clock in the afternoon of the next day, when he received a shot in the heart, and, crying, “It is finished!” gave up the ghost. The whole creation trembled when he fell, and was swallowed up in the horrible abyss. But on the morning of the third day, the earth was seized with new spasms, and he that was dead came forth to be the life of his people; and the cable of faith, the anchor of hope, and the sails of love, ascended with him from the deep, never to go down again. He is alive for evermore, and has the keys of hell and of death.

VI. Job speaks of the period of Messiah’s advent, under the term of “the latter day.” This may refer, either to the end of the Jewish dispensation, or to the end of the world.

Christ has already once appeared on earth, fulfilled the types and shadows, made an end of sins, and brought in everlasting righteousness; “and to them that look for him, he shall appear the second time, without a sin-offering, unto salvation.” “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them as the shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats.” Then shall God have finished his work in mount Zion, and the trumpets of the gospel shall cease to sound, and the great net shall be taken up from the sea, and the laborers in the vineyard shall receive their wages, and the tares shall be cast into the unquenchable fire.

Wonderful shall be the glory and the terror of that day; “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 obey not the gospel; 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 in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.” What a glorious army shall attend him down the sky—myriads of his saints, and all the celestial powers and principalities! “Fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.” His throne shall be “like a fiery flame, and his wheels like a burning furnace.” He “shall descend with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God.” The sound of the trumpet on Sinai was long and loud, and “exceeding terrible;” but how much more powerful shall be the voice of “the last trumpet,” penetrating the cold ear of death, and awaking into immortality the dust of the grave! Then the Messiah shall not appear “as a root out of dry ground;” but shall stand forth before heaven and earth “in the glory of the Father, and of his holy angels;” in addition to the glory of his own person as God-man, and the glory of his work as Mediator. Before him, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up;” and death and hell shall deliver up their dead; and all men shall stand and receive their sentence from him who was an infant in Bethlehem—“a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”—condemned by Pilate, mocked by the multitude, and nailed upon the cross. This is Job’s living Redeemer, the resurrection and life of all who believe.

VII. Our text contains Job’s confession of faith. It is brief, but very comprehensive, and may be called an epitome of the gospel. Here we have the Divinity and the humanity of Christ, his work of redemption, his victory over death and hell, his second advent, and the resurrection of the dead.

The Athenians mocked when they heard of the resurrection of the dead; and the Sadducees greatly erred on this subject, “not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God,” and many of the Corinthians imbibed the same poison of unbelief. But the patriarch of Uz thought it not “a thing incredible that God should raise the dead.” He firmly believed the doctrine, and gave it a prominent place in his confession. He knew that God is able to watch and preserve the dust of his saints; has his eye upon every particle, throughout all the periods of time; and through the Divine Mediator, “will raise it up at the last day.” This doctrine was to him a great consolation in his unparalleled afflictions. “Though my skin,” says he, “is a tissue of disease and corruption—yea, though my body sink into the earth, and be eaten up of the worms, and my very reins be consumed within me—yet in my flesh, in this same body, reorganized, reanimated, and made immortal from the tomb, I shall see God—shall see him for myself, with these self-same eyes.”

Yes, brethren; the souls and bodies of all the human race shall be reunited; and with our own eyes, we shall see the judge of quick and dead, with his fan in his hand, thoroughly purging his floor, gathering the wheat into his garner, and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. In that day, the tares and the wheat shall be for ever separated, and there shall be no more foolish virgins among the wise. “For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that we may receive the things done in the body, according to that we have done, whether it be good or evil.”

How vast the difference between Messiah’s first and second advents! When he “tabernacled and dwelt among us,” he appeared “in the form of a servant;” but when he shall come again, he shall come as a judge, and “sit upon the throne of his glory;” and “all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” “For the Son of man shall send forth his angels; and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall he weeping and gnashing of teeth; then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

VIII. I call your attention to one other topic suggested by the text—the confidence with which Job speaks of his interest in the living Redeemer. “For I know that my Redeemer liveth.” It was not a mere conjecture. There was no doubt in the case. The patriarch had reached the assurance of faith; and so perfectly satisfied was he of the fact, that he expressed an intense desire that his words might be recorded on the most durable materials, that they might be read by generations to come.

How may we acquire the same confidence? What is the evidence of our interest in Job’s living Redeemer? The nature and effects of the change which has taken place in our hearts. You that “were sometime darkness, are now light in the Lord;” have been “called out of darkness into his marvellous light;” and can say—“One thing I know, that whereas I was once blind, now I see.” “The carnal mind is enmity against God;” but those that are born of the Spirit love God; and love and hatred are not so much alike, that you cannot tell by which principle you are governed. While the strong man armed kept the palace, his goods were in peace; but when a stronger than he came and cast him out, there was a warfare commenced between the old man and the new. You were formerly dead in trespasses and sins; but are now alive to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. You were once destitute of faith in the Redeemer; but now you believe in him, and rely upon his righteousness alone, as the ground of your acceptance and salvation. How can you experience such a transformation, and know nothing of the matter? As well might the sick, when Christ healed them—as well might the blind, when Christ opened their eyes—as well might the dead, when Christ raised them to second life from the bed, the bier, or the grave—have been ignorant of the mighty change.

In the word of God, we have the testimony of many who had obtained the assurance of faith. “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand upon the earth at the latter day”—was the testimony of Job. “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, and the horn of my salvation, in whom I will trust”—was the testimony of David. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness”—was the testimony of Isaiah. “I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”—was the testimony of the apostle Paul. “We know that we are of God; we know that we have passed from death unto life; we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”—was the testimony of John, “the beloved disciple.”

“These things,” saith the apostle, “have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye might know that ye have eternal life.” This is the design of God, in revealing his will to the church. We may—we should know that we have eternal life. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.” But this assurance of faith is not a mere imagination of the brain. It is not founded on a vague notion of your being one of the elect, without any other evidence. It is not founded on a voice from heaven, bidding you be of good cheer, and go in peace, because your sins are forgiven you. It is founded on the fruits of the Spirit, and the testimony of Divine Revelation. True believers are “created anew in Christ Jesus, unto good works;” evincing the reality of their love to God by keeping his commandments.

Let us, therefore, give all diligence to make our calling and election sure. Let us examine ourselves, whether we are in the faith. Let us compare our religion with the precepts of the Bible, and the example of ancient saints. But as our hearts are so wicked and deceitful, let us not trust them, but pray to God for the aid of his Holy Spirit, in this important work of self-examination. Behold “the Sweet Singer of Israel,” praying—“Search me, O God, and try me; prove me, and know my heart.” The Holy Spirit has given you a rule by which you are to examine yourselves; and he works in you a conformity to that rule, and bears witness with your spirits that you are the children of God. In proportion to his operation upon the heart, will be the assurance of faith; and in proportion to the assurance of faith, will be your spiritual comfort and joy. The Lord grant us that “faith which worketh by love, and purifieth the heart!”

Are you stript of property, bereft of children, afflicted in body, forsaken of friends, persecuted and insulted by relatives? Think of Job, and of Job’s living Redeemer! Imitate the patriarch’s patience and confidence amid all the troubles and conflicts of life! Go your way until the end; for ye shall rest, and stand in your several lots at last!

SERMON VII. MESSIAH’S KINGDOM.

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.”—Dan. ii. 44, 45.

In these words we have a prophetic description of the kingdom of Christ, as the fifth empire that should arise after the date of this prophecy. The wonderful image which so troubled the king of Babylon in his dream, and occasioned him so much solicitude when he awoke, denoted four of the great empires of the world. The head of gold represented the Babylonian empire; the breasts and arms of silver, the Medo-Persian empire; the belly and thighs of brass, the Grecian empire, under Alexander the Great; the legs and feet of iron, the Roman empire in its strength and glory; and the ten toes of mingled iron and clay, the same empire in its divided and enfeebled state. The last circumstance was intended to denote the same thing as the ten horns on the head of the Beast in the book of Revelation. As iron is firm and strong, and able to bruise and break all materials of a softer quality; so the Roman empire once crushed beneath its power all other kingdoms, and dictated laws to the world. As the beast with iron teeth trampled and rent to pieces all that came in its way; so the Roman tyrant, like a lion among the lambs of the flock, tore and devoured the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus.

The kingdom of Christ is represented under the figure of “a stone cut out of the mountain without hands:” that is, without human agency—without any wisdom or power of man, but by the Spirit of God; smiting the feet of the image, and shattering it into fragments; then becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth. In the history of Christianity we have the counterpart of the emblem. Messiah appeared in the form of a servant; born of a poor virgin, in the despised town of Bethlehem; lived a life of poverty, persecution, and various sorrow, from the manger to the tree; died the most painful and ignominious of deaths, even the accursed death of the cross; but rose from the dead on the predicted morning, the morning of the third day; commissioned his apostles, the fishermen of Galilee, to “go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;” ascended on high, and sent down the Holy Spirit, the promised Comforter, to give energy and efficacy to the word, to prove its divinity, and convince and save mankind. The apostles immediately commenced their work; persevered in the divine employment; were prospered by the power of God; and the stone, rolling forth from Mount Zion, and raising a dust which darkened the very heavens, smote the feet and legs of the image, until it shook, and the earth trembled around it; and that stone is still rolling on, and shall crush and demolish the image, and grind it to powder, and scatter it to the winds of heaven; and shall increase, till it becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth for ever.

In speaking of the accomplishment of this prophecy, we will notice—its certainty, its attendant glory, and the nearness of its approach.

I. The certainty of the accomplishment of this prophecy is founded, first, on the Father’s promise to the Son, made on the express condition of his pouring out his soul unto death. “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring forth the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.” Christ’s universal dominion is the promised reward of his sufferings, and the Father speaks as if he intended to raise his wages. “Thus saith the Lord; It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light of the gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.” “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Such is the promise. All nations shall come and worship before him. All that the Father hath given shall come unto him, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

The certainty of Messiah’s universal dominion is founded, secondly, on his perfect qualification to accomplish the work which the Father hath given him to do. “No one knoweth the Father,” in all the perfection of his nature, all the wisdom of his counsels, and all the immutability of his purposes, “but the Son; and no one knoweth the Son, but the Father,” as he alone is of the same essence, and exhibits the same attributes. Christ is “God manifest in the flesh;” “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of his person.” None but a divine person could give, and none but a divine person could receive, such a privilege as is here promised. None but a divine person could be competent to the eternal redemption of countless millions of the human race. Christ “is the true God, and Eternal Life”—“the Faithful Witness, the First Begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth”—“the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last”—“the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star”—“Over all, God, blessed for ever.” These are Messiah’s titles, which evince his equality to the work which he has undertaken—the salvation of the world, and the subjugation of all things unto himself. He is able, not only to set up his kingdom, but also to establish it for ever. It shall never be destroyed, nor left to other people; but shall break in pieces and destroy all other kingdoms, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.

Take courage, ye fearful saints! Your king is the Almighty God. He shall conquer all your enemies. The victory of Calvary is the pledge and earnest of his universal dominion. You shall soon be more than conquerors, through him that hath loved you, and given himself for you. He is able to protect you against the combined powers of earth and hell. Omniscient, he is well acquainted with all the plots of his enemies; Almighty, he can at any moment frustrate them. The prince of darkness, with all his hosts, cannot impede the progress of his kingdom. In all their councils, he is present, hearing their deliberations and discovering their malice. He overturns their schemes, or employs them for the accomplishment of his own gracious purposes. “His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure.” Too wise to err, and too powerful to be overcome, he marches in the van of battle, and will never forsake his soldiers. The very sight of his helmet and his plume is victory to his followers, and death to his foes.

Courage, ye friends of Zion! “Lift up your hearts and rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh.” Take the whole armor of God; quit you like men; be strong; for the decisive conflict is at hand. Behold your General, clothed with a garment white as snow, girt about the loins with a golden girdle, his feet as fine brass burning in a furnace, his countenance as the sun shining in his strength, his eyes as a flame of fire, his voice as the sound of many waters, a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth, seven stars in his right hand, and at his girdle the keys of death and hell. This is the Captain of your salvation, of whom the Evangelical Prophet inquires—“Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?” This is Emmanuel; mighty to conquer, and mighty to save. Who can stand before the glory of his power? Who can hinder the universal triumph of his cause? The government shall be upon his shoulder, and he shall reign for ever and ever.

What has been said is deemed sufficient to show the certainty of Messiah’s universal empire. The promises of the Father to the Son are so many drafts of immense amount, upon the bank of heaven, which will be paid without discount at the appointed time; and the character of Christ is a sufficient guarantee that he will carry forward to its completion the work which he has begun. Having secured a title to the kingdom by his sufferings, he shall certainly come, and take possession, and reign for ever. The gospel is a lever, whose fulcrum is the Rock of Ages, and it shall yet lift our fallen world to heaven. Balaam knew that his curses could not injure Israel, whom Jehovah had blessed. The kingdom of Messiah is mightier than Moab. The people beloved of the Lord shall prosper in spite of their enemies—as gardens by the rivers, and willows by the water-courses. “There shall be a handful of corn,” not a sackful, only so much as the sower may hold in his hand—not on the bank of the Nile, nor in the valley of the Jordan, but “on the top of the mountain”—the wild, high, rocky, uncultivated mountain; “the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon,” and the wind shall carry the seed to the uttermost parts of the earth, and young Lebanons shall grow up everywhere, and even the barren rocks and sands of Arabia shall become as the garden of God. It was but a handful of the seed of the kingdom, which Peter cast abroad on the day of Pentecost; it was but a handful he sowed in the house of Cornelius, the captain of the Italian band; but it soon spread throughout Judea, and even to the isles of the sea, so that nothing was more manifest or more abundant than its fruit. But the prevalence of Christ’s millennial kingdom shall be still more rapid and glorious; and “from the rising to the setting of the sun, his name shall be great among the Gentiles.”

Already the church is singing—“Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou Most Mighty; and in thy majesty, ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness. Thine arrows are sharp in the hearts of the king’s enemies, whereby the people fall under thee.” The song has reached the ear of the Prince of Darkness, and he “hath come in great wrath” to the battle, “for he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” He knows that “the Desire of nations” is come; and that his kingdom, already begun, shall be established for ever, and extend from sea to sea, till the knowledge of his glory and the victories of his grace shall cover the earth. He sees the Stone rolling against the idols of India, and Africa, and the islands of the sea, and feels his kingdom shake beneath its progress. He sees the Bramins, the Karens, the worshippers of Juggernaut and the Ganges, plucked as brands out of the burning. He trembles to anticipate the announcement—“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ!” He beholds the mighty angel, with the keys of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, descending from heaven, to bind him in his prison. He hates the church, with her various benevolent enterprises; for he sees in them the artillery of Heaven, playing upon his fortresses of infidelity, and idolatry, and vice—the enginery of God, setting up a kingdom which shall consume all others, and stand for ever. “The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof is sure.”

II. We call your attention to the glory of Messiah’s universal reign. It includes three things; the victory obtained, the blessings bestowed, and the duration of the kingdom. Let us consider them distinctly.

First. The victory obtained. Here we behold the “stone cut out of the mountain,” rolling down the steep, rushing and leaping toward the great image, and smiting and breaking its feet of iron and clay, so that it falls like Dagon before the ark. And still the Stone, instinct with the power of God, and increasing in size and velocity, keeps rolling to and fro, bounding and rebounding, till it grinds the fallen image to powder, and scatters it as the dust of the summer thrashing-floor. It is endued with perpetual motion; keeping up a constant action and reaction, crushing whatever opposes its progress, and growing to such a magnitude as shall shortly fill the whole earth. This is the salt of Galilee, seasoning the nations—the leaven of Jerusalem, spreading through the world. This is the victorious reign of Christ, from the Tiber to the Thames, from the Euphrates to the Ganges, from Britain to Japan, from sea to sea, and from pole to pole. This glorious conquest is to be obtained by “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;” in connection with the vast machinery of Divine Providence, all the wheels of which are under the direction of Jesus the Christ. It is a victory over Satan, by bruising his head; a victory over sin, by destroying its power; a victory over death, by swallowing it up for ever. Emmanuel has already successfully engaged all these foes; and having routed them on Calvary eighteen hundred years ago, he still pursues their flight; and shall not turn again, till he has trampled “the last enemy” under his feet.

Satan is the prince and the god of this world. In the management of his affairs, he employs a policy similar to that of the Sultan of Constantinople, who sets up many pashas or governors under him, as the Pasha of Egypt, the Pasha of Aleppo, the Pasha of Damascus, all possessing the same despotic spirit, and carrying out the same tyrannical measures. The devil has established a great number of pashas throughout his dominion. Three of them are described by the Revelator, as unclean spirits, like frogs; one of them issuing from the mouth of Satan himself, representing undisguised Paganism; another from the mouth of the Beast, representing a persecuting civil power; the third from the mouth of the False Prophet, representing abominable and damnable heresies. But these shall all be conquered; these, and every other enemy of Messiah upon earth. Jewish impenitence and unbelief, which, for a period of eighteen centuries, has ruled with an absolute sceptre the lineal descendants of Abraham, shall be overcome. Mohammedism, the “king of fierce countenance, understanding dark sentences,” that has reigned over so large a portion of the world, practicing and prospering, deceiving millions of souls, and destroying the holy people, shall be broken without hand, and his kingdom shall come to naught. The drunken harlot of Rome, riding on her scarlet beast, that is, a cruel and persecuting civil government, and making all nations drink of the wine of her fornication, shall be obliged to drink the wine of the wrath of Almighty God; and all the saints shall clap their hands at her overthrow, and shout hallelujah to the Captain of their salvation. And all those Protestant pashas of Satan, who would undermine the gospel by denying its peculiar and fundamental doctrines—such as the Divinity of Christ, the merit of his sacrifice, the excellency of his offices, the personality and work of the Holy Spirit—and even the existence of his own infernal majesty, shall be destroyed by the brightness of Emmanuel’s coming, when he shall appear in the glory of his millennial kingdom. Then shall the song of the heavenly host break once more upon the ear of Zion—“Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee!” And “the Gentiles shall come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising.” “Her sons shall come from far, and her daughters shall be nursed at her side.” “The glory of the Lord shall be displayed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

Secondly. The blessings bestowed. Christ “hath ascended on high, and received gifts for men; yea for the rebellious also, that God may dwell among them.” The celestial reservoir is full; and the golden pipes are laid, for conveying the waters of life to every soul of man; and the time shall yet come, when all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. The gospel salvation shall be an ocean, spreading over the whole earth; and there shall be no more ebbing and flowing of the waters, but a continual full tide from shore to shore. The Chinese, the Hottentot, and the American Indian, shall be as thoroughly instructed in Divine things as the Welshman; and the Welshman shall be seven times more intelligent than now. And this universally prevalent knowledge of Christ shall be, not merely nominal and theoretical, but experimental and practical. It shall be a “faith unfeigned,” “of the operation of God,” “working by love, and purifying the heart.” The light of the gospel shall be “as the sun shining in his strength,” scattering all clouds from the face of the world, and the moon and the stars shall be lost in its effulgence. Living waters shall flow out from the spiritual Jerusalem in summer and winter; neither frozen by the cold, nor evaporated by the heat. Like the deluge of Noah, they shall cover the mountains; but they shall save, and not destroy, all whom they shall overwhelm. “In that day, there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one;” and he “shall be king over all the earth.” The cause of Christ shall be pre-eminent in the estimation of mankind. The duties and interests of Christianity shall constitute no secondary concern. “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.”

Among the blessings of this happy period, shall be that of a universal and everlasting peace. There shall be no more contention and bloodshed upon earth. “Nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The arsenals shall empty their contents into the foundries and blacksmith-shops, and the weapons of war shall be converted into scythes and plowshares. O, glorious day! when heaven shall be seen upon earth, and earth itself shall seem like heaven! Behold the ferocious wolf dwelling with the gentle lamb; the furious leopard lying down with the innocent kid; the cow and the bear feeding in the same pasture; the infant leading the lion by the mane, and playing upon the den of the adder and the asp; and no disposition to hurt or destroy. These are the scriptural emblems of that blessed peace. Holiness and happiness, more united than David and Jonathan, more inseparable than Ruth and Naomi, hand in hand, two heavenly twins, shall go singing over the world. All envy and jealousy and hostility, whether of nations, of churches, or of individuals, shall perish before Messiah’s kingdom, as perished the image in the vision before that wondrous stone.

Thirdly. The duration of the kingdom. This is the crowning circumstance of its glory. It “shall not be destroyed, nor left to other people.” Its enemies, however numerous and mighty, cannot overthrow it; and it “shall stand for ever.” Where now are the illustrious empires of Babylon, and Persia, and Greece, and Rome? Where are the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, the Alexanders, the Cæsars, the Napoleons, whose voice terrified nations, and whose tread shook the world? Where—with all their power and splendor, their iron sceptres and golden crowns? Gone; mouldering in the dust; and their magnificence nourishes the worm. They are utterly demolished, and shall rise no more. But the King of Zion liveth through all time, and is himself “the Father of Eternity,” “the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last.” “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and of his dominion there shall be no end.”

III. Let us consider the nearness of its approach. The language of prophecy, viewed in connection with the signs of the times, will lead us to the conclusion that it is nigh at hand, even at the door.

Many learned divines are of opinion that Popery and Mohammedism, the Antichrists of the east and the west, must fall about the year 1866. This notion is founded on the following words: “From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and threescore days—Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” [148] Different writers on the prophecies, however, differ in opinion concerning the times of their fulfilment. All these speculations are very uncertain, if not utterly unprofitable. What matters it, if our watches do not exactly agree? We all know that the night is far spent, and the day is at hand, and the magnitude and importance of our duty requires prompt and earnest attention.

Five men were determined to rise early in the morning, to engage in a great work, upon which depended their future fortunes. The first was up before the morning star; and though uncertain as to the hour, immediately prepared for business. The second, when he rose, saw the star just above the horizon, and hastened to his work with animation and joy. The third slept a little too long, and awoke in great confusion and alarm; but hurrying through the day as well as he could, though with a heavy heart and many a blunder, he made out partially to redeem his delinquency. The fourth heard the cock crowing, but thought there was no need of being in a hurry, and composed himself to sleep again; and when his neighbors called him, turned in his bed, and answered—“A little more slumber;” and awaking about nine of the clock, found the day too far advanced, and abandoned his purpose in despair. The fifth, disturbed by the bustle of the others before daylight, got up and looked out of the window; and finding it as dark as it was at midnight, was very angry, called his neighbors a set of fools, and declared he would have nothing to do with the enterprise; and while all the others made themselves rich, he lived and died in deserved poverty; and some pitied him for his misfortune, and others ridiculed him for his folly. Mark the wise man, and follow his example.

The kingdom of Antichrist has of late been greatly weakened in many parts of the world. Providence is pouring the vials of wrath upon the Beast and the False Prophet. The idols and altars of Paganism fall before the advancing ark of God. The church, with its train of benevolent institutions—like the bride, with her attendant virgins, going forth to meet the royal bridegroom—proclaims the coming of the Prince of Peace. The Bible, Missionary, Sabbath-school, and Tract societies, are four heralds, running before Messiah’s chariot; rather, the four wheels of that chariot in which he rides victoriously.

The rise and progress of the British and Foreign Bible Society remind me of the stream in Ezekiel’s vision. This great river had its source in one of the mountains of Wales. In the year 1802, the Rev. Mr. Charles of Bala, an ordained minister of the established church, officiating in connection with the Calvinistic Methodists, deeply impressed with the preciousness of the Bible, and aware of the scarcity of copies throughout the principality, felt that some measures ought to be adopted to furnish it at a reduced price, and circulate it gratuitously among the poor. He wrote concerning it to his countryman, the Rev. Mr. Owen, an Episcopal clergyman in London. The subject was subsequently introduced to a circle of Christian gentlemen, who had met to transact other business. It elicited much conversation, and excited a lively interest. The Rev. Joseph Hughes, a Welshman, and Baptist minister at Battersea, near London, suggested that Wales was not the only part of the world that felt a want of the Bread of Life; and that it was desirable to awaken, if possible, a more extensive interest on the subject among Christians of every name; and stir them up to the adoption of some measure, which might lead to a general circulation of the Scriptures. The suggestion was heartily entertained, and warmly supported by the rest of the company; and its discussion led to those incipient efforts, which, in 1804, issued in the organization of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The little spring of Bala soon became a stream large enough for a man to swim in; and now it widens and deepens into a great river, on which float the merchandise of Zion, and the navies of God.

Welshmen! it is your privilege and honor, as well as your duty, to sustain this excellent institution. It is a native of Wales, born in your northern mountains. It is your own child, and you are bound to protect and support it to the extent of your ability. I call upon you as Welshmen, to aid an institution originating in Welsh philanthropy. I call upon you as Welsh Baptists, to help forward an enterprise which sprang from the heart of a Welsh Baptist minister. I appeal to you in the language of another:—

“The cause in which we are engaged is the cause of God, and must succeed. Divine goodness has inspired, divine wisdom and power will sustain it. The Bible will be carried throughout the habitable globe. Nor deserts—nor oceans—nor Alpine solitudes—nor Himalayan heights, will obstruct its progress. It will go through polar ice and equatorial fire, wherever a soul may possibly be saved. It will go on victorious, like the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, carrying every thing before it. Error and delusion must vanish as the mists of the morning before the rising splendor of the sun. The powers of darkness must recede like spectres before the bursting of the day-spring from on high. False gods and their altars must fall together in the dust. The followers of Confucius and Zoroaster will take up their cross and follow Christ. The wandering Arab will sit and sing at Messiah’s feet; and the deluded disciples of Mohammed, instead of going in painful pilgrimage to Mecca, will turn their penitent eyes to Calvary. The dark places of the earth will be enlightened, and the habitations of cruelty will become the abodes of love. Rivers will no longer roll with human blood, nor sacrificial fires be fed with human victims. Mothers will no longer destroy their innocent children, nor aged parents be immolated by their inhuman offspring. Marriage will be instituted in places where it is now unknown, and savage practices be supplanted by the virtuous institutions of the gospel. The Cannibal of New Zealand will be humanized, and the Caffre and the Hottentot clothed and in their right minds. The descendants of Abraham must be gathered from the four quarters of the earth; Jerusalem arise and shine; and the dejected Jordan roll his streams with joy. Barren climes will teem with life—dreary deserts blossom as the rose. Rivers of salvation will run down the hills, and fertilize the plains. The Saviour will ride forth in the chariot of the everlasting gospel, conquering and to conquer. Nations will fall down before him, and mountains melt at his approach. And thus nation after nation will be converted, and empire upon empire will be conquered; and Christianity will spread from clime to clime, and from pole to pole; until the final arrival of the blessed day, when the knowledge of the Lord shall literally cover the earth as the waters cover the deep—when there shall be but one people and one God—when the millennial day shall burst upon the earth, like a flood of glory from on high—when the trump of Jubilee shall sound, and countless millions of the redeemed shall sing, Hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!”

Such, brethren, is the approaching triumph of Emmanuel. The mighty angel, having found an old copy of the everlasting gospel, which the Pope had kept locked up in his bureau for many centuries, is flying in the midst of heaven, in sight of all the world. His progress is rapid as the wings of the wind, and his sweet strong voice is publishing the glad tidings to all people. But we look for greater things than these. Following, comes another mighty angel, casting a great millstone into the sea, and saying—“Thus shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and found no more at all.” Another follows, crying with a loud voice—“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!” Another descends with the key and the chain, and binds the dragon in the bottomless pit. Then appears one “like unto the Son of Man,” sitting upon a white cloud, and wearing a golden crown. He thrusts in his sharp sickle, and reaps the harvest of the earth, and gathers the wheat into his garner, the church. Again the sickle falls, and the vintage of wickedness is gathered, and cast into the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God. Then comes the voice of a great multitude, as of many waters and mighty thunderings—the blended minstrelsy of earth and heaven—ascribing salvation and dominion and glory to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.

The Prince of Darkness, with all his infernal hosts, and all his allies upon earth, is fearfully agitated, as he witnesses the preparation for the great decisive battle. “Why so much benevolence? Why so many societies? Why such extraordinary schemes and efforts?” Nothing disturbs them so much as the sight of Emmanuel’s troops, with their faces toward the field of Armageddon, led on by the Captain of their Salvation, on his white horse, with his vesture dipped in blood. They know that this is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; and the redness of his apparel, reminding them of their defeat when he bruised their heads on Calvary, shoots consternation and anguish through all their ranks; and the gates of hell tremble at the shaking of the iron rod in his hand, which shall dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. But the saints are rejoicing in his train; for they know that not one of the faithful shall perish—that not one of them shall be wounded—that each shall be more than conqueror, and all shall appear with songs of everlasting joy at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And now, my brethren, children of my heavenly Father, of every name and order, loved with the same love, redeemed with the same blood, called by the same Spirit, clothed with the same garment, fed on the same manna, engaged in the same cause—the great Missionary enterprise—as you love the Savior, as you appreciate his salvation, as you desire the introduction of his millennial kingdom, we beseech you to give us a liberal contribution!

We are now ready to receive your money for Missionary purposes; and while you are casting it into the treasury, let me remind you that your gold and your silver are beautiful birds plumed for flight, that Christian liberality is the scissors with which you may clip their wings, and a short winged bird is better than none. May we all act to-day as stewards of the Lord, in the immediate presence of our Master, before whom we must soon appear to account for the use made of our talents; and when the time of reckoning shall come, may each receive the gracious plaudit—“Well done, good and faithful servant! thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” Amen.

SERMON VIII. THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.

“Who, his own self, bore our sins, in his own body, on the tree; that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.”—I Peter ii. 24.

What great encouragement to patience and fortitude is afforded the followers of Jesus, by the apostle’s contrast of the light and transient afflictions of the present time, with the eternal weight of glory reserved for them in heaven! How forcible the argument which he draws from the approaching scenes of another world, to urge Christians in this to a life of holiness and self-denial! How vivid and terrible his picture of the dissolution of nature by the great conflagration! Imagine the heavens wrapped in dissolving flames, and the elements melting to the centre of the globe. The victorious and inextinguishable fire towers to the empyrean; the magnificent palace of creation is lost in the smoke of its own burning; and the ear is stunned, and the soul is horrified, by the crash of its final fall. “Seeing then, that all these things must be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness; looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God;” “using all diligence to make your calling and election sure;” “that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless;” that “so an abundant entrance may be ministered unto you, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!”

Such, substantially, is the argument. But the apostle employs another; the Christian’s obligation to imitate Christ, suffering for him as he suffered for us, with the same fortitude and resignation, though not to the same extent, nor for the same purpose. It is in this connection he uses the language of the text:—“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” We are to suffer for Christ as his disciples and confessors; he suffered for us as our substitute, our atoning sacrifice and Saviour. Let us attend, first, to this description of his sufferings; and then to the end for which he endured them.

I. The text describes Christ in his vicarious sufferings, as bearing our sins; bearing our sins, his own self; bearing our sins, his own self, in his own body; and bearing our sins, his own self, in his own body, on the tree,

1. He bore our sins. To get a correct understanding of this expression, we must turn to the record of the ordinance to which it alludes, which is as follows:—“And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat, and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and shall send him away, by the hand of a fit man, into the wilderness; and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” But this part of the ceremony was preceded by another, of very solemn import. A goat was selected for a sin-offering. He was brought before the Lord, and Aaron put his hands upon him, and devoted him to death. He was slain, and his blood was sprinkled upon the altar and the mercy-seat. Then the sins of the children of Israel were laid upon the head of the other goat, and he was led forth, and sent away into the wilderness, to return no more. Both these goats represented Christ; who, as our Savior, answers to both; at once, suffering for our sins, and bearing them away into the land of forgetfulness.

Three things were found continually in the temple; fire, and blood, and sweet incense. The fire denoted the wrath of God against sin; the blood prefigured the sacrificial sufferings of Christ; and the sweet incense typified his intercession at the right hand of the Father, on the ground of his vicarious death upon the cross. The goat of the sin-offering was bound and slain; and then burnt up, with the fat thereof, upon the altar. So Christ was crucified for us without the gates of Jerusalem; and his humanity was consumed by the fire of God’s holy indignation against sin, on the altar of his Divinity; while from that altar ascended a column of the sweetest incense to the heaven of heavens—“Father, forgive them!” In hell also there is fire, where sinners suffer upon the altars of eternal justice. Every sacrifice is salted with fire, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. But the black and sulphurous smoke of the bottomless pit is not a sweet smelling savor unto God, like the fumes of the sacrifice once offered on Calvary—a sacrifice which satisfied the claim of Heaven, and expiated the offence of earth.

The form of expression used in our text is one which frequently occurs in the Old Testament, and signifies the enduring of punishment. Of the impenitent sinner it is said, “He shall bear his iniquity”—that is, he shall endure the just punishment of his sins. He shall carry the burden alone, and for ever sink beneath the load, and mercy shall never come to his relief. Christ’s bearing our sins, then, signifies his enduring, the punishment in our stead. Glory to God, that every poor trembling sinner may cast his burden upon one who is able to sustain it, who has already sustained it in his stead! The law passed the guilty, and arrested the guiltless. Jesus willingly gave himself up as the victim, saying—“I am he; if ye seek me, let these go their way.” His sufferings constitute the sea, in which are buried for ever the sins of his people; sins of the greatest magnitude; sins of the deepest dye. The Father, who turned his back upon the sufferings of his Son, hath said—“I will cast all thy sins behind my back, into the depth of the sea.” This is the abyss, in which they are swallowed up, and seen no more.

2. He bore our sins, his own self. God and man were parties at variance. There was but one who could stand between them as mediator, and he gave himself a substitute and sacrifice for the sinner. Uniting in his person the two natures, human and Divine, he was fully qualified for his work; and by once offering himself, he satisfied the demands of the insulted law, and “became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.” He offered up himself, without the aid of another; and it was his own blessed person that he threw between you and the destroying angel, between you and the mortal plague of sin, between you and the unquenchable fires of hell.

None but Moses, the mediator, could penetrate the thick darkness in which, as in a pavilion, God dwelt, upon the mount of terror; and none but Aaron, the high-priest, dared enter the holy of holies, and he only once a year, on the great day of atonement, with trembling steps, and sacrificial blood. So Jesus, the mediator of a better covenant, and high-priest of the true sanctuary, the sum and substance of all the types and shadows of the old dispensation, when, in the garden of Gethsemane, he approached the black and terrible cloud, where God revealed the terrors of his justice, and the fierceness of his wrath, said to his disciples:—“Tarry ye here, while I go yonder. Ye cannot go; the place is too dreadful. I will go alone.” Alone he went; and as he drew near the furnace, his countenance was marvellously altered, his heart melted in the midst of his bowels, and the very substance of his life pressed through the pores of his skin. All the visible fire which flamed on the summit of Sinai, now breaks forth anew on Calvary; and though unseen by man, envelopes in its burning the soul and the body of our glorious Substitute. Behold him rushing between you and the flames, shielding you, and quenching the flames in his blood!

3. He bore our sins, his own self, in his own body. Atonement was made for the sins of Israel by the blood of slaughtered beasts. But “the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified only to the purifying of the flesh.” The blood of Christ alone has power to “purge the conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.” It was his own body, that our blessed Redeemer offered as a sacrifice for our sins, a sacrifice of a sweet savor unto God. The Divine person bore the punishment of sins in human nature. “It was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.” We hear the Son saying to the Father:—“Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. I see that the services of the altar are of no avail, and are passing away. In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. At this moment, the great cause of difference between heaven and earth remains untaken away. The bills are all uncancelled. The handwriting in the book of the law, and in the book of conscience, continues in full force unto this day. But lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I delight to honor its claims, while I save its violaters. I will obey, even unto the death of the cross, and expiate human transgression by my meritorious sufferings. Then, as first begotten from the dead, will I declare the decree which thou didst read to me before the foundation of the world—‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Because I have bruised thee, and put thee to grief, thou shalt see thy seed, and prolong thy days; and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in thy hand. Because thou hast borne the sins of many, thou shall justify many. Because thou hast been numbered with the transgressors, and made intercession for them, thou shalt see of the travail of thy soul, and be satisfied. Because thou hast made thy soul an offering for sin, pouring it out unto death, I will divide thee a portion with the great, and thou shalt divide the spoil with the strong. I will make thee king in Zion, and thou shalt reign for ever and ever!’”

The sufferings of the Son are accomplished, and the promise of the Father is receiving its fulfilment. The law of the Spirit of Life hath gone forth; and sinners, with songs of salvation, are crowding to the cross!

4. He bore our sins, his own self, in his own body, on the tree. In Deut. xxi. 22, 23, we find that death by hanging on a tree was deemed an accursed death. Paul refers to this passage in the third chapter of his epistle to the Galatians:—“As it is written; cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” By consenting to crucifixion, Christ was “made a curse for us.” What shame and ignominy did he endure in our behalf! See him arrayed in royal purple, the reed of scorn in his hand, the crown of thorns upon his head, and the cross of infamy upon his back. He grows faint beneath his burden. His murderers, fearing lest his woes should pass endurance before their cruel thirst for his blood could be satiated, compel Simon of Cyrene to carry one end of the cross. Thus they move on to the summit of Calvary. They lay the tree upon the ground, and stretch the Son of God upon it, and nail his hands and his feet to the wood. It is reared on high, with its bleeding victim; and there he hangs, before the gazing world, and the wondering heavens; suffering the most excruciating death ever invented, the most shameful in the sight of man, the most accursed in the sight of God. All the springs of consolation are sealed to the glorious sufferer; and he finds not a single drop of comfort in his great extremity. True, the fountains of the deep are broken up, and the windows of heaven are opened; but not to supply him with drink who saith—“I thirst!” From below burst forth upon him the streams of hellish rage, a fiery deluge from the mouth of the dragon; while from above Divine Justice pours down a cataract of wrath, overwhelming his soul with agony, and baptizing his body with blood. This is the baptism which he anticipated in talking with his disciples:—“I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Let us pause a moment to contemplate this baptism. It was the anguish of his soul, wringing the blood from his person, till the crimson dew stood thick upon his brow, and rolled down in great drops to the ground. The sufferings of his soul constituted the soul of his sufferings. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” It was not the taunt of the rabble, the derision of the governors, nor the cruelly lacerating scourge, that Jesus dreaded in the garden, and deprecated in that mysterious agony. Nor was it the thorns, the nails, the tree, or the spear. It was the burden, O man! of thy guilt; the flaming curse of the law; the felt displeasure of the Father against sin. When the martyrs suffered death for Jesus’ sake, they rejoiced in the midst of the fire, for the Son of man was there to sustain them; but when Christ suffered, the Just for the unjust, he felt the hidings of his Father’s face, and cried after him through the blackening heavens—“My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me!”

In the Bible we read of two very remarkable trees; “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden,” and the tree of redemption high planted on “the place of skulls.” Milton has made the former the theme of his majestic song, which he opens with the following strain:—

“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our wo, With loss of Eden, * * * * * * * * * * sing, Heavenly Muse!”

But let me extol that mysterious tree of life on Golgotha, by which,—

—“One Greater Man Restores us, and regains the blissful seat!”

“Sing, Heavenly Muse,” of Jesus and his cross! Sing of the wormwood and the gall, of the strife and the triumph of Calvary! Let us compare these two trees. By the former, “the first Adam” transgressed, and entailed ruin upon his posterity; by the latter, “the second Adam” “became obedient unto death,” and “brought life and immortality to light.” By a forbidden approach to the one, the chain of the covenant was broken, Paradise forfeited, God’s image and favor lost, the league with hell signed, and sealed, and ratified, and the whole earth converted into a province of the Prince of Darkness, and delivered up to the despotism of Sin and Death; but four thousand years afterward, the Son of God took his stand on the other, wrestled gloriously with the tyrant usurpers, dethroned Satan, condemned and abolished Sin, swallowed up Death in victory, disannulled the league of earth with hell, restored to believers the favor and image of God, reopened the gates of the forfeited Eden to the exiles, and established a new and everlasting covenant of grace. The blood of Jesus cancelled the debt of man, and quenched the wrath of God; and from all them that obey him, it will ultimately wash away all the stains of sin, and all the dust of death. This is the newly consecrated way into the holy of holies; this is eternal life! “Sing, Heavenly Muse,” once more!

“We too with him are dead, And shall with him arise: The cross on which he bows his head Shall lift us to the skies!”

Thus, the Son of God, “his own self, bore our sins, in his own body, on the tree.” The burden beneath which he fainted was our burden, and would have sunk us to perdition. It was for us he suffered and died. Though our iniquities were laid on him, they were yet our iniquities. He endured the punishment in our stead. He stood between us and the uplifted arm of Justice; and the sword which would have cleft our souls asunder, was sheathed in Emmanuel’s heart. His righteousness, imputed to us, and appropriated by faith, is “the righteousness of God, which is unto all and upon all them that believe,” covering their sins, and rendering them “accepted in the Beloved.”

Can we pass by mount Calvary, and gaze upon that wondrous sight, and still remain unmoved? Have we no tears of gratitude and love? Pause we not to wonder and adore? O the depth of the riches! the riches of his wisdom! the riches of his grace!

II. Having thus spoken of Christ’s vicarious sufferings, let us notice a little more particularly the end for which he endured them. “That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.”

This death unto sin, and this new life unto righteousness, denote the sanctification of the soul “by the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” The “spiritually minded” man is made, through the grace of God, a “partaker of the Divine nature.” He has received a new principle, whereby his lusts and corruptions are mortified, crucified, and slain. The right hand that offended is cut off; the right eye that offended is plucked out. He delights in the law of God; he feels a strong desire, and makes strenuous efforts, to conform himself, in heart and life, to its holy requirements. Made free from the dominion and condemning power of sin, he still needs, however, the aid of the Holy Spirit, to crucify the old man; to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world; to die to sins, and live unto righteousness. In the court of heaven, he is justified by the righteousness of Christ; but before men, he is justified by his own righteousness. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Be as a candle, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, enlightening all around you. Paul to the Ephesians says that Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. Let us, therefore cleanse ourselves from all filthiness—from all manner of pollution—of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. For it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy; holy in all manner of conversation; holy in all stations, relations, and conditions of life—as husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants; and this always, and in all places—at home and abroad, in private and in public, in prosperity and adversity. Our conversation should be such as becometh the nature and requirements of the gospel of Christ. Forgetting the things that are behind, we should be ever pressing forward towards those things that are before—not as though we had already attained, either were already perfect; but making perfection our mark; for we know not yet what we shall be, but one thing we do know—that when he shall appear, we shall be like him! Then, and not till then, shall we be satisfied, when we awake in his likeness. We must be conformed to the image of God’s Son in this world, otherwise we cannot have the enjoyment of him in the world to come. We must have the spirit of Christ, to love righteousness, and to hate iniquity. We must imitate his example in zeal and activity, doing our Father’s work while the day lasts. Die to sin, we must. “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.” Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Put off the old man with all his deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Abstain from those fleshy lusts that war against the soul; always keeping in mind, that they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. To die to sin, implies a perfect hatred of it, deep sorrow and contrition on account of it, and a constant desire and effort to forsake it. We should conscientiously use all the means of grace, and depend entirely upon the grace of God, as that by which alone we can obtain a victory—final and complete,—over all our enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. Good reason have you to pray without ceasing, that you may be made strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. You must put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Your loins must be girt about with truth. The breast-plate of righteousness you must wear. Your heart must be protected by the shield of faith, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Forget not the helmet of salvation, nor the sword of the Spirit, nor to write often to the King—directing to the care of Jesus, that your petitions may not fail—“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” As ye formerly yielded your members servants to uncleanness, even so now yield your members servants of righteousness unto holiness. Live unto righteousness. Yield yourselves up unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Conform to his revealed will, and keep an eye single to his glory in the performance of every duty.