SERMONS OF CHRISTMAS EVANS. A New translation from the Welsh.INTRODUCTION. (continued 3)

To produce in his people this happy change, was the end of Messiah’s sufferings. But this was not all, for the apostle adds,—“By whose stripes ye were healed.” Divine philosophy! supernatural science! transcending all original conception of men and angels! Who could ever have dreamed of healing by his stripes, soundness by his wounds, pleasure by his pains, and life eternal by his death! We are afflicted by the old inveterate plague of sin, but there is balm in Gilead, and a Physician there. His blood alone can cure the malady, and that is infallible. All the way from Bethlehem to Calvary, he was employed in preparing his materia medica. The Gospel is the great store-house of this precious preparation. It is always full; it is always free; and the sign over its entrance is—“Able to save to the uttermost.” The Holy Spirit is continually making the application, and all who come are cured.

It is a matter of all others the most momentous, that we know our personal interest in these things. If we be not dead to sins, and alive unto righteousness—if we be not healed by the stripes of Jesus—his sufferings upon the cross, and our theoretical faith in their vicarious character and saving power, will profit us nothing. “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” There is a vast difference between sanctification and morality. A man may perform many excellent deeds, while the principle that actuates him is averse to true godliness. Happy are they, whose sins are pardoned, whose persons are justified, and whose bodies are become temples of the Holy Ghost. The Lord is their God and Father. They have passed from death unto life, and shall not come into condemnation. “There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; for the law of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

SERMON IX. THE PURIFICATION OF CONSCIENCE.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”—Heb. ix. 14.

The Hebrew Christians, to whom the apostle wrote, were well acquainted with the laws of ceremonial purification by the blood of beasts and birds, for by blood almost every thing was purified in the service of the temple. But it is only the blood of Christ that can purge the human conscience. In speaking of this purification, as presented in our text, let us notice—the object, the means, and the end.

I. The object of this purification is the conscience; which all the sacrificial blood shed, from the gate of Eden, down to the extinction of the fire on the Jewish altar, was not sufficient to purge.

What is the conscience? An inferior judge, the representative of Jehovah, holding his court in the human soul; according to whose decision we feel either confidence and joy in God, or condemnation and tormenting fear. His judicial power is graduated by the degree of moral and evangelical light which has been shed upon his palace. His knowledge of the will and the character of God is the law by which he justifies or condemns. His intelligence is the measure of his authority; and the perfection of knowledge would be the infallibility of conscience.

This faithful recorder and deputy judge is with us through all the journey of life, and will accompany us with his register over the river Jordan, whether to Abraham’s bosom or the society of the rich men in hell. While conscience keeps a record on earth, Jehovah keeps a record in heaven; and when both books shall be opened in the final judgment, there shall be found a perfect correspondence. When temptations are presented, the understanding opposes them, but the carnal mind indulges them, and there is a contest between the judgment and the will, and we hesitate which to obey, till the warning bell of conscience rings through the soul, and gives distinct notice of his awful recognition; and when we turn away recklessly from his faithful admonitions, we hear low mutterings of wrath stealing along the avenues, and the quick sound of writing-pens in the recording office, causing every denizen of the mental palace to tremble.

There is a good conscience, and an evil conscience. The work of both, however, is the same; consisting in keeping a true record of the actions of men, and passing sentence upon them according to their deserts. Conscience is called good or evil only with reference to the character of its record and its sentence. If the record is one of virtues, and the sentence one of approval, the conscience is good; if the record is one of vices, and the sentence one of condemnation, the conscience is evil.

Some have a guilty conscience; that is, a conscience that holds up to their view a black catalogue of crimes, and rings in their ears the sentence of condemnation. If you have such a conscience, you are invited to Jesus, that you may find peace to your souls. He is ever in his office, receiving all who come, and blotting out with his own blood the handwriting which is against them.

But some have a despairing conscience. They think that their crimes are too great to be forgiven. The registry of guilt, and the decree of death, hide from their eyes the mercy of God, and the merit of Christ. Their sins rise like mountains between them and heaven. But let them look away to Calvary. If their sins are a thousand times more numerous than their tears, the blood of Jesus is ten thousand times more powerful than their sins. “He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

And others have a dark and hardened conscience. They are so deceived, that they “cry peace and safety, when destruction is at the door.” They are “past feeling, having the conscience seared as with a hot iron.” They have sold themselves to work evil; to eat sin like bread, and drink iniquity like water. They have bribed or gagged the recorder and accuser within them. They will betray the just cause of the righteous, and slay the messengers of salvation, and think that they are doing God service. John the Baptist is beheaded, that Herod may keep his oath of honor. A dead fish cannot swim against the stream; but if the king’s conscience had been alive and faithful, he would have said:—“Girl, I promised to give thee thy request, even to the half of my kingdom; but thou hast requested too much; for the head of Messiah’s herald is more valuable than my whole kingdom, and all the kingdoms of the world!” But he had not the fear of God before his eyes, and the proud fool sent and beheaded the prophet in his cell.

A good conscience is a faithful conscience, a lively conscience, a peaceful conscience, a conscience void of offence toward God and man, resting in the shadow of the cross, and assured of an interest in its infinite merit. It is the victory of faith unfeigned, working by love, and purifying the heart. It is always found in the neighborhood and society of its brethren; “a broken heart, and a contrite spirit;” an intense hatred of sin, and an ardent love of holiness; a spirit of fervent prayer and supplication, and a life of scrupulous integrity and charity; and above all, an humble confidence in the mercy of God, through the mediation of Christ. These constitute the brotherhood of Christianity; and wherever they abound, a good conscience is never lacking. They are its very element and life; its food, its sunshine, and its vital air.

Conscience was a faithful recorder and judge under the law; and notwithstanding the revolution which has taken place, introducing a new constitution, and a new administration, Conscience still retains his office; and when “purged from dead works to serve the living God,” is appropriately called a good conscience.

II. The means of this purification is “the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.”

Could we take in, at a single view, all the bearings of “the blood of Christ,” as exhibited in the gospel, what an astonishing light would it cast upon the condition of man; the character of God; the nature and requirements of his law; the dreadful consequences of sin; the wondrous expiation of the cross; the reconciliation of Heaven and earth; the blessed union of the believer with God in Christ, as a just God and a Savior; and the whole scheme of our justification, sanctification, and redemption, through free, sovereign, infinite, and unspeakable grace!

There is no knowledge like the knowledge of Christ, for the excellency of which the apostle counted all things but loss. Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, in whose light we see the tops of the mountains of immortality, towering above the dense clouds which overhang the valley of death. All the wisdom which philosophers have learned from nature and providence, compared with that which is afforded by the Christian Revelation, is like the ignis fatuus compared with the sun. The knowledge of Plato, and Socrates, and all the renowned sages of antiquity, was nothing to the knowledge of the feeblest believer in “the blood of Christ.”

“The blood of Christ” is of infinite value. There is none like it flowing in human veins. It was the blood of a man, but of a man who knew no iniquity; the blood of a sinless humanity, in which dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; the blood of the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven, and a quickening spirit upon earth. It pressed through every pore of his body in the garden; and gushed from his head, his hands, his feet, and his side, upon the cross. I approach with fear and trembling, yet with humble confidence and joy. I take off my shoes, like Moses, as he draws near the burning bush; for I hear a voice coming forth from the altar, saying—“I and my Father are one; I am the true God, and eternal life.”

The expression, “the blood of Christ,” includes the whole of his obedience to the moral law, by the imputation of which we are justified; and all the sufferings of his soul and his body as our Mediator, by which an atonement is made for our sins, and a fountain opened to wash them all away. This is the spring whence rise the rivers of forgiving and sanctifying grace.

In the representation which the text gives us of this redeeming blood, are several points worthy of our special consideration:—

1. It is the blood of Christ; the appointed Substitute and Saviour of men; “the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.”

2. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself. His humanity was the only sacrifice which would answer the demands of justice, and atone for the transgressions of mankind. Therefore “he made his soul an offering for sin.”

3. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God. It was the eternal Father, whose broken law must be repaired, whose dishonored government must be vindicated, and whose flaming indignation must be turned away. The well beloved Son must meet the Father’s frown, and bear the Father’s curse for us. All the Divine attributes called for the offering; and without it, could not be reconciled to the sinner.

4. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God, without spot. This was a perfect sacrifice. The victim was without blemish or defect; the altar was complete in all its appurtenances; and the high-priest possessed every conceivable qualification for his work. Christ was at once victim, altar, and high-priest; “holy, harmless, and undefiled;” “God manifest in the flesh.” Being himself perfect God, and perfect man, and perfect Mediator between God and man, he perfects for ever all them that believe.

5. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God, without spot, through the eternal Spirit. By the eternal Spirit here, we are to understand, not the third person of the Godhead, but the second; Christ’s own Divine nature, which was co-eternal with the Father before the world was; and which, in the fulness of time, seized on humanity, sinless and immaculate humanity, and offered it body and soul, as a sacrifice for human sins. The eternal Spirit was at once the priest that offered the victim, and the altar that sanctified the offering. Without this agency, there could have been no atonement. The offering of mere humanity, however spotless, aside from the merit derived from its connection with Divinity, could not have been a sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor unto God.

6. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God, without spot, through the eternal Spirit, that he might purge your conscience. As the typical sacrifices under the law purified men from ceremonial defilement, so the real sacrifice of the Gospel saves the believer from moral pollution. Blood was the life of all the services of the tabernacle made with hands, and gave significance and utility to all the rites of the former dispensation. By blood the covenant between God and his people was sealed. By blood the officers and vessels of the sanctuary were consecrated. By blood the children of Israel were preserved in Egypt from the destroying angel. So the blood of Christ is our justification, sanctification, and redemption. All the blessings of the gospel flow to us through the blood of the Lamb. Mercy, when she writes our pardon, and when she registers our names in “the Book of Life,” dips her pen in the blood of the Lamb. And the vast company that John saw before the throne had come out of great tribulation, having “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, on the very night that the paschal lamb was slain, and its blood sprinkled upon the doorposts, as if their liberty and life were procured by its death. This typified the necessity and power of the atonement, which is the very heart of the gospel, and the spiritual life of the believer. In Egypt, however, there was a lamb slain for every family; but under the new covenant God has but one family, and one Lamb is sufficient for their salvation.

In the cleansing of the leper, several things were necessary; as running water, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, and the finger of the priest; but it was the blood that gave efficacy to the whole. So it is in the purification of the conscience. Without the shedding of blood, the leper could not be cleansed; without the shedding of blood, the conscience cannot be purged. “The blood of Christ” seals every precept, every promise, every warning, of the New Testament. “The blood of Christ” renders the Scriptures “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” “The blood of Christ” gives efficiency to the pulpit; and when “Jesus Christ and him crucified” is shut out, the virtue is wanting which heals and restores the soul. It is only through the crucifixion of Christ, that “the old man” is crucified in the believer. It is only through his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, that our dead souls are quickened, to serve God in newness of life.

Here rest our hopes. “The foundation of God standeth sure.” The bill of redemption being presented by Christ, was read by the prophets, and passed unanimously in both houses of parliament. It had its final reading in the lower house, when Messiah hung on Calvary; and passed three days afterward, when he rose from the dead. It was introduced to the upper house by the Son of God himself, who appeared before the throne “as a lamb newly slain,” and was carried by acclamation of the heavenly hosts. Then it became a law of the kingdom of heaven, and the Holy Ghost was sent down to establish it in the hearts of men. It is “the perfect law of liberty,” by which God is reconciling the world unto himself. It is “the law of the Spirit of Life,” by which he is “purging our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

III. The end of this purification is twofold:—that we may cease from dead works, and serve the living God.

1. The works of unrenewed souls are all “dead works,” can be no other than “dead works,” because the agents are “dead in trespasses and sins.” They proceed from “the carnal mind,” which “is enmity against God,” which “is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” How can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit, or a corrupt fountain send forth pure water?

But the blood of Christ is intended to “purge the conscience from dead works.” The apostle says—“Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot.” The Jews were in a state of bondage to the ceremonial law, toiling at the “dead works,” the vain and empty forms, which could never take away sin; and unjustified and unregenerate men are still captives of Satan, slaves of sin and death, tyrannized over by various evil habits and propensities, which are invincible to all things but “the blood of Christ.” He died to redeem, both from the burdens of the Mosaic ritual, and from the despotism of moral evil—to purge the conscience of both Jew and Gentile “from dead works, to serve the living God.”

2. We cannot “serve the living God,” without this preparatory purification of conscience. If our guilt is uncancelled—if the love of sin is not dethroned—the service of the knee and the lip is nothing but hypocrisy. “If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us.” Cherishing what he hates, all our offerings are an abomination to him; and we can no more stand in his holy presence than the dry stubble can stand before a flaming fire. He who has an evil conscience, flees from the face of God, as did Adam in the garden. Nothing but “the blood of Christ,” applied by the Holy Spirit, can remove the sinner’s guilty fear, and enable him to draw nigh to God in the humble confidence of acceptance through the Beloved.

The service of the living God must flow from a new principle of life in the soul. The Divine word must be the rule of our actions. The Divine will must be consulted and obeyed. We must remember that God is holy, and jealous of his honor. The consideration that he is everywhere, and sees every thing, and will bring every work into judgment, must fill us with reverence and godly fear. An ardent love for his law and his character must supplant the love of sin, and prompt to a cheerful and impartial obedience.

And let us remember that he is “the living God.” Pharaoh is dead, Herod is dead, Nero is dead; but Jehovah is “the living God,” and it is a fearful thing to have him for an enemy. Death cannot deliver from his hand. Time, and even eternity, cannot limit his holy anger. He has manifested, in a thousand instances, his hatred of sin; in the destruction of the old world, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, the drowning of Pharaoh and his host in the sea; and I tell thee, sinner, except thou repent, thou shalt likewise perish! O, think what punishment “the living God” can inflict upon his adversaries—the loss of all good—the endurance of all evil—the undying worm—the unquenchable fire—the blackness of darkness for ever!

The gods of the heathen have no life in them, and they who worship them are like unto them. But our God is “the living God,” and “the God of the living.” If you are united to him by faith in “the blood of Christ,” your souls are “quickened together with him,” and “the power which raised him from the dead shall also quicken your mortal body.”

May the Lord awaken those who are dead in trespasses and sins, and revive his work in the midst of the years, and strengthen the feeble graces of his people, and bless abundantly the labors of his servants, so that many consciences may be purged from dead works to serve the living God!

“There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

“The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day; And there may I, as vile as he, Wash all my sins away.

“Dear dying Lamb! thy precious blood Shall never lose its power, Till all the ransomed sons of God Are saved to sin no more!”

SERMON X. THE CEDAR OF GOD.

“Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and plant it upon a high mountain and eminent; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell; and all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree, and have exalted the low tree—have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it.”—Ezek. xvii. 22–24.

You perceive that our text abounds in the beautiful language of allegory. In the context is portrayed the captivity of the children of Israel, and especially the carrying away of the royal family, by the king of Babylon. Here God promises to restore them to their own land, in greater prosperity than ever; and to raise up Messiah, the Branch, out of the house of David, to be their king. All this is presented in a glowing figurative style, dressed out in all the wealth of poetic imagery, so peculiar to the orientals. Nebuchadnezzar, the great eagle—the long-winged, full-feathered, embroidered eagle—is represented as coming to Lebanon, and taking the highest branch of the tallest cedar, bearing it off as the crow bears the acorn in its beak, and planting it in the land of traffic. The Lord God, in his turn, takes the highest branch of the same cedar, and plants it on the high mountain of Israel, where it flourishes and bears fruit, and the fowls of the air dwell under the shadow of its branches.

We will make a few general remarks on the character of the promise, and then pass to a more particular consideration of its import.

I. This is an evangelical promise. It relates to the coming and kingdom of Messiah. Not one of the kings of Judah since the captivity, as Boothroyd well observes, answers to the description here given. Not one of them was a cedar whose branches could afford shadow and shelter for all the fowls of heaven. But the prophecy receives its fulfilment in Christ, the desire of all nations, to whom the ends of the earth shall come for salvation.

This prophecy bears a striking resemblance in several particulars, to the parable of the mustard-seed, delivered by our Lord. The mustard-seed, said Jesus, “is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” So the delicate twig of the young and tender branch becomes a goodly cedar, and under its shadow dwell all fowl of every wing. The prophecy and the parable are alike intended to represent the growth and prosperity of Messiah’s kingdom, and the gracious protection and spiritual refreshment afforded to its subjects. Christ is the mustard plant, and cedar of God; and to him shall the gathering of the people be; and multitudes of pardoned sinners shall sit under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit shall be sweet to their taste.

This prophecy is a promise of the true, and faithful, and immutable God. It begins with—“Thus saith the Lord God, I will do thus and so;” and concludes with—“I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it.” There is no peradventure with God. His word is for ever settled in heaven, and cannot fail of its fulfilment. When he says—“I promise to pay,” there is no failure, whatever the sum. The bank of heaven cannot break. It is the oldest and best in the universe. Its capital is infinite; its credit is infallible. The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, is able to fulfil to the utmost all his engagements. He can do any thing that does not imply a contradiction, or a moral absurdity. He could take upon himself the form of a servant, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; but he can never forget or disregard his promise, any more than he can cease to exist. His nature renders both impossible. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall not pass away. Every jot and tittle shall be fulfilled. This is the consolation of the church. Here rested the patriarchs and the prophets. Here reposes the faith of the saints to the end of time. God abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself. Our text is already partially verified in the advent of Christ, and the establishment of his church; the continuous growth of the gospel kingdom indicates its progressive fulfilment; and we anticipate the time, as not far distant, when the whole earth shall be overshadowed by the branches of the cedar of God.

II. We proceed to consider, with a little more particularity, the import of this evangelical prophecy. It describes the character and mediatorial kingdom of Christ, and the blessings which he confers upon his people.

1. His character and mediatorial kingdom. “I will take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and plant it upon a high mountain and eminent; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it.”

Christ, as concerning the flesh, is of the seed of Abraham—a rod issuing from the stem of Jesse, and a branch growing out of his root. “As the new vine is found in the cluster, and one saith, destroy it not, for a blessing is in it;” so the children of Israel were spared, notwithstanding their perverseness and their backslidings, because they were the cluster from which should be expressed in due time the new wine of the kingdom—because from them was to come forth the blessing, the promised seed in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The Word that was in the beginning with God, one with God in essence and in attributes, in the fulness of time assumed our nature, and tabernacled and dwelt among us. Here is the union of God and man. Here is the great mystery of godliness—God manifest in the flesh. But I have only time now to take off my shoes, and draw near the burning bush, and gaze a moment upon this great sight.

The Father is represented as preparing a body for his Son. He goes to the quarry to seek a stone, a foundation stone for Zion. The angel said to Mary:—“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” The eternal lays hold on that nature which is hastening downward, on the flood of sin, to the gulf of death and destruction, and binds it to himself. Though made in the likeness of sinful flesh, he was holy, harmless, and undefiled. He did no iniquity, neither was guile found in his mouth. The rod out of the stem of Jesse is also Jehovah our righteousness. The child born in Bethlehem is the mighty God. The Son given to Israel is the everlasting Father. He is of the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh; but he is also the true God and eternal life. Two natures and three offices meet mysteriously in his person. He is at once the bleeding sacrifice, the sanctifying altar, the officiating priest, the prophet of Israel, and the Prince of Peace. All this was necessary, that he might become “the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.”

Hear Jehovah speaking of Messiah and his kingdom:—“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree by which he is to rule his redeemed empire.” That decree, long kept secret, was gradually announced by the prophets; but at the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, Jehovah himself proclaimed it aloud, to the astonishment of earth, the terror of hell, and the joy of heaven:—“Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Come forth from the womb of the grave, thou whose goings forth have been from of old, even from everlasting. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. I will exalt thee to the throne of the universe, and thou shalt be chief in the chariot of the gospel. Thou shalt ride through the dark places of the earth, with the lamps of eternal life suspended to thy chariot, enlightening the world. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Let no man withstand him. Let no man seek to stay his progress. Herod, Pilate, Caiaphas, stand off! clear the way! lest ye be crushed beneath the wheels of his chariot! for that which is a savor of life to some, is to others a savor of death; and if this stone shall fall upon you, it shall grind you to powder!”

Behold, here is wisdom! All other mysteries are toys in comparison with the mystery of the everlasting gospel—the union of three persons in the Godhead—the union of two natures in the Mediator—the union of believers to Christ, as the branches to the vine—the union of all the saints together in him, who is the head of the body, and the chief stone of the corner—the mighty God transfixed to the cross—the son of Mary ruling in the heaven of heavens—the rod of Jesse becoming the sceptre of universal dominion—the Branch growing out of his root, the little delicate branch which a lamb might crop for its food, terrifying and taming the serpent, the lion, the leopard, the tiger, and the wolf, and transforming into gentleness and love the wild and savage nature of all the beasts of prey upon the mountain! “And such,” old Corinthian sinners, “were some of you; but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God.” And such, my brethren, were some of you; but ye have been made a new creation in Christ Jesus; old things are passed away, and all things are become new. Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. He is one with the Father, and ye are one in him; united and interwoven, like the roots of the trees in the forest of Lebanon; so that none can injure the least disciple of Christ, without touching the apple of his eye, and grieving all his members.

2. The blessings which he confers upon his people. “It shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar, and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell; and all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree, and have exalted the low tree—have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish.”

Christ is a fruitful tree. “The tree is known by his fruit. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and every evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” This is a singular, supernatural tree. Though its top reaches to the heaven of heavens, its branches fill the universe, and bend down to the earth, laden with the precious fruits of pardon, and holiness, and eternal life. On the day of Pentecost, we see them hang so low over Jerusalem, that the very murderers of the Son of God reach and pluck and eat, and three thousand sinners feast on more than angels’ food. That was the feast of first-fruits. Never before was there such a harvest and such a festival. Angels know nothing of the delicious fruits of the tree of redemption. They know nothing of the joy of pardon, and the spirit of adoption. The bride of the Lamb alone can say:—“As the apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me also to his banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.”

These blessings are the precious effects of Christ’s mediatorial work; flowing down to all believers, like streams of living water. Come, ye famishing souls, and take, without money and without price. All things are now ready. “The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, both new and old.” Here is no scarcity. Our Elder Brother keeps a rich table in our Father’s house. Hear him proclaiming in the streets of the city, in the chief places of concourse:—“Come to the festival. There is bread enough, and to spare. My oxen and my fatlings are killed. My board is spread with the most exquisite delicacies—wine on the lees well refined, and fruits such as angels never tasted.”

Christ is a tree of protection to his people. This cedar not only beautifies the forest, but also affords shade and shelter for the fowls of the air. We have the same idea in the parable of the mustard seed:—“the birds of the air came and lodged in the branches thereof.” This is the fulfilment of the promise concerning the Shiloh:—“to him shall the gathering of the people be.” It is the drawing of sinners to Christ; and the union of believers with God.

“All fowl of every wing.” Sinners of every age and every degree—sinners of all languages, colors, and climes—sinners of all principles, customs, and habits—sinners whose crimes are of the blackest hue—sinners carrying about them the savor of the brimstone of hell—sinners deserving eternal damnation—sinners perishing for lack of knowledge—sinners pierced by the arrows of conviction—sinners ready to sink under the burden of sin—sinners overwhelmed with terror and despair—are seen flying to Christ as a cloud, and as doves to their windows—moving to the ark of mercy before the door is shut—seeking rest in the shadow of this goodly cedar!

Christ is the sure defence of his church. A thousand times has she been assailed by her enemies. The princes of the earth have set themselves in array against her, and hell has opened upon her all its batteries. But the Rock of Ages has ever been her strong fortress and high tower. He will never refuse to shelter her from her adversaries. In the time of trouble, he shall hide her in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide her. When the heavens are dark and angry, she flies, like the affrighted dove, to the thick branches of the “Goodly Cedar.” There she is safe from the windy storm and tempest. There she may rest in confidence, till these calamities be overpast. The tree of her protection can never be riven by the lightning, nor broken by the blast.

Christ is the source of life and beauty to all the trees in the garden of God. Jehovah determined to teach “the trees of the forest” a new lesson. Let the princes of this world hear it, and the proud philosophers of Greece and Rome. “I have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree—have dried up the green tree, and made the dry tree to flourish.” Many things have occurred, in the providence of God, which might illustrate these metaphors; such as the bringing of Pharaoh down to the bottom of the sea, that Israel might be exalted to sing the song of Moses; and the drying up of the pride and pomp of Haman, that Mordecai might flourish in honor and esteem. But for the most transcendent accomplishment of the prophecy, we must go to Calvary. There is the high tree brought down to the dust of death, that the low tree might be exalted to life eternal; the green tree dried up by the fires of Divine wrath, that the dry tree might flourish in the favor of God for ever.

To this, particularly, our blessed Redeemer seems to refer, in his address to the daughters of Jerusalem, as they follow him, weeping, to the place of crucifixion. “Weep not for me,” saith he. “There is a mystery in all this, which you cannot now comprehend. Like Joseph, I have been sold by my brethren; but like Joseph, I will be a blessing to all my Father’s house. I am carrying this cross to Calvary that I may be crucified upon it between two thieves; but when the lid of the mystical ark shall be lifted, then shall ye see that it is to save sinners I give my back to the smiters, and my life for a sacrifice. Weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children; for if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? I am the green tree to-day; and behold, I am consumed that you may flourish. I am the high tree, and am prostrated that you may be exalted.”

The fire-brands of Jerusalem had wellnigh kindled to a flame of themselves, amid the tumult of the people, when they cried out—“Away with him! Crucify him! His blood be on us, and on our children!” O wonder of mercy! that they were not seized and consumed at once by fire from heaven! But he whom they crucify prays for them, and they are spared. Hear his intercession:—“Father, forgive them! Save these sinners, ready for the fire. On me, on me alone, be the fierceness of thy indignation. I am ready to drink the cup which thou hast mingled. I am willing to fall beneath the stroke of thy angry justice. I come to suffer for the guilty. Bind me in their stead, lay me upon the altar, and send down fire to consume the sacrifice!”

It was done. I heard a great voice from heaven:—“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd! Kindle the flame! Let off the artillery!” Night suddenly enveloped the earth. Nature trembled around me. I heard the rending of the rocks. I looked, and lo! the stroke had fallen upon the high tree, and the green tree was all on fire! While I gazed, I heard a voice, mournful, but strangely sweet:—“My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me? My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. One may tell all my bones. Dogs have compassed me about; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me. They stare at me; they gape upon me with their mouths; they pierce my hands and my feet. Deliver my soul from the lions; my darling from the power of the dogs!”

“It is finished!” O with what majestic sweetness fell that voice upon my soul! Instantly the clouds were scattered. I looked, and saw, with unspeakable wonder, millions of the low trees shooting up, and millions of the dry trees putting forth leaves and fruit. Then I took my harp, and sang this song:—“Worthy is the Lamb! for he was humbled that we might be exalted; he was wounded that we might be healed; he was robbed that we might be enriched; he was slain that we might live!”

Then I saw the beam of a great scale; one end descending to the abyss, borne down by the power of the atonement; the other ascending to the heaven of heavens, and lifting up the prisoners of the tomb. Wonderful scheme! Christ condemned for our justification; forsaken of his Father, that we might enjoy his fellowship; passing under the curse of the law, to bear it away from the believer forever! This is the great scale of redemption. As one end of the beam falls under the load of our sins, which were laid on Christ; the other rises, bearing the basket of mercy, full of pardons, and blessings, and hopes. “He who knew no sin was made sin for us”—that is his end of the beam; “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”—this is ours. “Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor”—there goes his end down; “that we, through his poverty, might be rich”—here comes ours up.

O sinners! ye withered and fallen trees, fuel for the everlasting burning, ready to ignite at the first spark of vengeance! O ye faithless souls! self-ruined and self-condemned! enemies in your hearts by wicked works! we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God! He has found out a plan for your salvation—to raise up the low tree by humbling the high, and save the dry tree from the fire by burning up the green. He is able to put, at the same time, a crown of glory on the head of the law, and a crown of mercy on the head of the sinner. One of those hands which were nailed to the cross blotted out the fiery handwriting of Sinai, while the other opened the prison-doors of the captives. From the mysterious depths of Messiah’s sufferings flows the river of the water of life. Eternal light rises from the gloom of Gethsemane. Satan planted the tree of death on the grave of the first Adam, and sought to plant it also on the grave of the second; but how terrible was his disappointment and despair, when he found that the wrong seed had been deposited there, and was springing up unto everlasting life! Come! fly to the shelter of this tree, and dwell in the shadow of its branches, and eat of its fruit, and live!

To conclude:—Is not the conversion of sinners an object dear to the hearts of the saints? God alone can do the work. He can say to the north, give up; and to the south, keep not back. He can bring his sons from afar, and his daughters from the ends of the earth. Our Shiloh has an attractive power, and to him shall the gathering of the people be. Pray, my brethren, pray earnestly, that the God of all grace may find them out, and gather them from the forest, and fish them up from the sea, and bring them home as the shepherd brings the stray lambs to the fold. God alone can catch these “fowl of every wing.” They fly away from us. To our grief, they often fly far away, when we think them almost in our hands; and then the most talented and holy ministers cannot overtake them. But the Lord is swifter than they. His arrows will reach them and bring them from their lofty flight to the earth. Then he will heal their wounds, and tame their wild nature, and give them rest beneath the branches of the “Goodly Cedar.”

SERMON XI. THE PRINCE OF SALVATION.

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”—Heb. ii. 10.

“And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”—Heb. v. 9.

I have put these passages together because of their similarity. In discussing the doctrine which they contain—the doctrine of salvation through the mediatorial work of Christ, I purpose to consider—First, His relation to believers, as the author, captain, or prince of their salvation; Secondly, His perfect qualification, through meritorious sufferings, to sustain that relation; and Thirdly, The character of those who are interested in him as a Saviour.

I. Christ is the prince of our salvation. He is the great ante-type of Moses, Joshua, Samson, and David. Their deeds of pious valor faintly foreshadowed the glorious achievements of the Captain of our salvation.

He is a prince in our nature. The Lord from heaven became the second Adam, the seed of the woman, the offspring of David. Divinity and humanity were mysteriously united in his person. The Word that was in the beginning was made flesh, and tabernacled among us. God is now nearer to his people than ever. The Lamb’s bride is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. As the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he himself took part of the same. By taking human nature into union with himself, he has imparted to believers a new and divine life.

Our Prince has conquered our adversaries. His name is Michael, the power of God. He is the mighty prince that stood up on behalf of his people, and bruised Satan under their feet. He has cast out the strong man, and his goods. He has demolished the kingdom of darkness, spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly. He has proved to earth and heaven that the devil is a usurper, and has no claim whatever to the title, “God of this world,” and “Prince of this world.” When Christ was crucified, hell quaked to its centre. Then he obtained liberty for the captives, and the opening of the prisons to them that are bound. His victory is our manumission from the slavery of sin and death; and if the Son make us free, we are free indeed.

Three offices meet in the Author of our salvation; the prophetic, the priestly, and the regal. He wears three crowns upon his head; a crown of gold, a crown of silver, and a crown of precious stones. He “shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and shall be a priest upon his throne, and the covenant of peace shall be between them both.” This prophecy is fulfilled in Messiah’s mediatorial relations. The house was purified, the altar was consecrated, on the morning of his resurrection. This is the Prince of life, who was dead, and is alive for evermore, and hath the keys of hell and of death. That he might sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered without the gate; and by suffering, he opened a way for believers into the holiest of all; and lo! his people are standing before the mercy-seat within the vail, and worshipping in open sight of the glory of God that dwelleth between the cherubim. If God smelled “a savor of rest” in the sacrifice of Noah, much more in the sacrifice of his beloved Son, in whom he is ever well pleased. His sinless soul and body were offered once for all upon the cross. “He bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” The Father proclaims the demands of his law fully answered, and invites sinners to come and rest in the Beloved. This is he of whom it was said—“A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” This is the Author and Captain of our salvation.

II. Let us consider how he is qualified for that relation—made perfect through sufferings.

His sufferings were necessary to constitute him a complete Saviour. “Without the shedding of blood is no remission;” the blood of Jesus is “a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness.” It was threatened—“In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;” but Christ, by dying in our stead, delivered us from the sentence.

In order that he might bear our sins, it was necessary for him to assume our nature. The Priest must have somewhat to offer as a sacrifice. Divinity could not suffer and die. “A body hast thou prepared for me.” The Son of God took that body as his own, and offered it to the Father upon the cross. The blood which he shed was his own blood; the life which he laid down was his own life; the soul which he poured out unto death was his own soul. Moses saw an emblem of this mystery in Mount Horeb—a bush burning with fire, yet unconsumed. “Our God is a consuming fire,” dwelling in a tabernacle of clay. The human nature, though slain, is not consumed. On the third day the bush is found still flourishing and fruitful.

It was necessary that the precept of the law should be obeyed, and the penalty of the law endured, in the very nature of its violater. Christ answered the demands of both tables on behalf of his people, in the purity of his life, and the merit of his obedience unto death. He displayed all the fruits of holiness. He loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He paid our debt, a debt which he never contracted; he endured our curse, a curse which he never deserved. He took the cup of the wine of wrath out of our hand, and drained its very dregs upon the cross. In hell, every one drinks his own cup, and can never exhaust its contents; but behold, on Calvary, one man drains the cup of millions, and cries—“It is finished!” Not a drop is left, not a particle of any of its ingredients, for his people. God hath condemned and punished sin in the human nature of Christ, and all who believe are justified freely by his blood.

But the author of our salvation is God as well as man. The Divinity often shone out through the humanity, controlling the elements, quickening the tenants of the tomb, and compelling the very devils to obey him. Had he been less than “God manifest in the flesh,” he must have been incompetent to the work of redemption. The Divine nature was necessary to sustain the human nature under its immense burden of sufferings, and render those sufferings sufficiently meritorious to atone for the transgressions of mankind. Christ endured more of the Divine displeasure “from the sixth to the ninth hour,” than all the vessels of wrath could endure to all eternity; [185] and but for the union of the two natures in his person, he could not have borne his unparalleled woes. But while the man suffered, the God sustained. While the God-man offered up his humanity, his Divinity was the altar that sanctified the gift, and rendered it a sacrifice of sweet smelling savor to the Father. It was man that died upon the cross, but it was man in mysterious union with God, so that the two natures constituted but one person, and the dignity of the Godhead gave infinite value to the tears and sweat and blood of the manhood. No wonder that the cross of Christ is the admiration of men and angels; and—“worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” the ultimate theme of earth and heaven!

“And being made perfect.” In the twentieth chapter of Exodus, we read of “the ram of consecration”—the ram of perfection in the original, or full ram, as the word full signifies complete, mature, perfect. The two rams mentioned in that chapter represent the atonement and intercession of Christ. He is our full, complete, or perfect sacrifice. “In him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead;” and he has the hand of a man to bestow blessings upon his brethren. “Of his fulness have all we received, and grace upon grace.” Our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are all in the Son of man. Aaron never entered the holy place with empty hands, and our great High-priest hath gone into the celestial sanctuary, bearing with him his own most precious blood, wherewith to sprinkle the mercy-seat, and make it approachable to man. Thus suffering on earth, and pleading the merit of his suffering in heaven, “he becomes the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.”

III. This leads us to our third topic. The character of those who are interested in him as a Saviour—“all them that obey him.”

To obey is to submit to authority—to do what is commanded. What is the command of God the Father? That ye should believe on the name of his Son. What is the command of Christ, the Captain of our salvation? “Ye believe in God; believe also in me.” It is said that he is precious to them that believe, but unbelievers are disobedient. They are all a disaffected and rebellious army, who will not obey their Captain. They have made God a liar, and are condemned for their unbelief. The Father saith—“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry!” but they reply—“Away with him! away with him! we will not have him to reign over us!”

Is this your character? You are commanded to “behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” Have you obeyed? What are you doing? Are you determined to rebel? Will you risk the consequences of disobedience? O, you are reading the book of election, are you? You are looking for your names in the book of election; but lo! you find them written in the book of damnation, under the article—“He that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him!” What shall be done in such a case? Obey the Captain of your salvation. Do ye not hear him, as he rides along the ranks, proclaiming—“To-day, if ye will hear my voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation! Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live!” Obey, obey this gracious exhortation. Come, with your petitions for pardon. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Behold a door of hope opening for you in the blood of atonement. There is forgiveness and sanctification for all that believe. Does your sense of guilt overwhelm you with gloomy fears, and plunge you in despair? Do you tremble at the thought of the multitude and enormity of your crimes? Cry aloud, with all your hearts—“God be merciful to me a sinner!” Remember that your Prince “is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him.” Hear him calling you—“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest! Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light!” Who, then, would not obey thee, blessed Jesus?

“Had I, dear Lord, a thousand hearts, I’d give them all to thee; A thousand tongues, they all should join The grateful harmony!”

We have a remarkable instance of faith and obedience in Abraham. There was no natural probability, there was no apparent possibility of the fulfilment of the promise; but Abraham believed, rested on the naked word of God, and went to mount Moriah to offer up his only son. Here was the triumph of faith, and it is recorded for our encouragement. Did the patriarch firmly believe the promise—“In Isaac shall thy seed be called?” Yes verily, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Did the patriarch believe, on the strength of that promise, that God would not permit him to offer up his only son? No, verily; but he was determined to obey God, and leave the event with him, well assured that God would fulfil his word, though it should require the miracle of Isaac’s resurrection. Thus your faith must soar above nature, and lay hold on the righteousness of Christ, which justifieth the ungodly. When you believe with all your heart, God will smile upon you, and calm your troubled soul, and hush the raging storms of a guilty conscience, for the sake of the satisfaction which he received in the obedience of Christ, as the substitute and surety of his people. This is the Urim and Thummim—light and perfection—of the gospel, beaming upon us through the twelve stars—the apostles of the Lamb, pacifying the conscience, and answering the important question—“What shall I do to be saved?” I feel within me a sea of corruption, but I know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.

Faith and obedience are inseparable, and the former is dead without the latter. They wrought together in Abel, and therefore he offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. They wrought together in Noah, and led him to prepare an ark to the saving of his house. Abraham not only believed that God would give him and his seed the land of Canaan; but he set forth at the Divine command, not knowing whither he went. Moses not only believed that God would deliver Israel out of Egypt; but, in obedience to his command, he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” Thus, true faith always leads to obedience. It is a living principle, by which the soul is quickened from the death of sin to a new life of holiness. It is the means through which, by the Holy Ghost, we are created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. It works by love, and love is always the great motive to obedience. It gives us large and clear views of the love of God in Christ; then “we love him because he first loved us;” and “this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” Thus, by faith, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts,” leading us to a holy life. Such is the connection between faith and obedience, and the necessity of one to the other.

And now, brethren, let us trust in the Captain of our salvation. In the ages before his advent, many sons were brought to glory through faith in his future sufferings. In the fulness of time, he visited our world; assumed our nature; atoned for our transgressions; and, ascending to the right hand of the Father, as our representative and intercessor, “became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.”

“O Captain of salvation! make Thy power and glory known, Till clouds of willing captives come, And worship at thy throne!”

SERMON XII. FINISHED REDEMPTION

“It is finished.”—John xix. 30.

This exclamation derives all its importance from the magnitude of the work alluded to, and the glorious character of the agent. The work is the redemption of the world; the agent is God manifest in the flesh. He who finished the creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, is laying the foundation of a new creation on Calvary. Four thousand years he has been giving notice of his intention to mankind; more than thirty years he has been personally upon earth, preparing the material; and now he lays the chief corner stone in Zion, exclaiming—“It is finished.”

We will first consider the special import of the exclamation, and then offer a few remarks of a more general character.

I. “It is finished.” This saying of the Son of God is a very striking one; and, uttered, as it was, while he hung in dying agonies upon the cross, cannot fail to make a strong impression upon the mind. It is natural for us to inquire—“What does it mean? To what does the glorious victim refer?” A complete answer to the question would develope the whole scheme of redemption. We can only glance at a few leading ideas.

The sufferings of Christ are ended. Never again shall he be persecuted from city to city, as an impostor and servant of Satan. Never again shall he say—“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” Never again shall he agonize in Gethsemane, and sweat great drops of blood. Never again shall he be derided by the rabble, and insulted by men in power. Never again shall he be crowned with thorns, lacerated by the scourge, and nailed to the accursed tree. Never again shall he cry out, in the anguish of his soul, and the baptism of blood—“My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me!”

The predictions of his death are fulfilled. The prophets had spoken of his crucifixion many hundred years before his birth. They foresaw the Governor who was to come forth from Bethlehem. They knew the babe in the manger, as he whose goings forth are of old, even from everlasting. They drew an accurate chart of his travels, from the manger to the cross, and from the cross to the throne. All these things must be fulfilled. Jesus knew the necessity, and seemed anxious that every jot and tittle should receive an exact accomplishment. His whole life was a fulfilment of prophecy. On every path he walked, on every house he entered, on every city he visited, and especially on the mysterious phenomena which accompanied his crucifixion, it was written—“that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”

The great sacrifice for sin is accomplished. For this purpose Christ came into the world. He is our appointed high-priest, the elect of the Father, and the desire of nations. He alone who was in the bosom of the Father, could offer a sacrifice of sufficient merit to atone for human transgression. But it was necessary also that he should have somewhat to offer. Therefore a body was prepared for him. He assumed the seed of Abraham, and suffered in the flesh. This was a sacrifice of infinite value, being sanctified by the altar of Divinity on which it was offered. All the ceremonial sacrifices could not obtain the bond from the hand of the creditor. They were only acknowledgments of the debt. But Jesus, by one offering, paid the whole, took up the bond—the handwriting that was against us, and nailed it to his cross; and when driving the last nail, he cried—“It is finished!”

The satisfaction of Divine justice is completed. The violated law must be vindicated; the deserved penalty must be endured; if not by the sinner himself, yet by the sinner’s substitute. This was the great undertaking of the Son of God. He “bore our sins”—that is, the punishment of our sins—“in his own body on the tree.” He was “made a curse for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” There was no other way by which the honor of God and the dignity of his law could be sustained, and therefore “the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all.” He “died unto sin once;” not merely for sin, enduring its punishment in our stead; but also “unto sin,” abolishing its power, and putting it away. Therefore it is said, he “made an end of sin”—destroyed its condemning and tormenting power on behalf of all them that believe. His sufferings were equal to the claims of justice; and his dying cry was the voice of Justice himself proclaiming the satisfaction. Here, then, may the dying thief, and the persecutor of the holy, lay down their load of guilt and wo at the foot of the cross.

The new and living way to God is consecrated. A vail has hitherto concealed the holy of holies. None but the high-priest has seen the ark of the covenant, and the glory of God resting upon the mercy-seat between the cherubim. He alone might enter, and he but once a year, and then with fear and trembling, and the sprinkling of atoning blood, after the most careful purification, and sacrifice for himself and the people. But our great High-priest has made an end of sacrifice by the one offering of himself. He has filled his hands with his own blood, and entered into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for us. The sweet incense which he offers fills the temple, and the merit of his sacrifice remains the same through all time, superseding all other offering for ever. Therefore we are exhorted to come boldly to the throne of grace. The tunnel under the Thames could not be completed on account of an accident which greatly damaged the work, without a new subscription for raising money; but Jesus found infinite riches in himself, sufficient for the completion of a new way to the Father—a living way through the valley of the shadow of death to “the city of the Great King.”

The conquest of the powers of darkness is achieved. When their hour was come, the Prince and his hosts were on the alert to accomplish the destruction of the Son of God. They assailed him with peculiar temptations, and leveled against him their heaviest artillery. They instigated one disciple to betray him and another to deny him. They fired the rage of the multitude against him, so that the same tongues that lately sung—“Hosanna to the Son of David!” now shouted—“Crucify him! Crucify him!” They filled the priests and scribes with envy, that they might accuse him without a cause; and inspired Pilate with an accursed ambition, that he might condemn him without a fault. They seared the conscience of the false witnesses, that they might charge the Just One with the most flagrant crimes; and cauterized the hearts of the Roman soldiers, that they might mock him in his sufferings, and nail him to the cross. Having succeeded so far in their hellish plot, they doubtless deemed their victory certain. I see them crowding around the cross, waiting impatiently to witness his last breath, ready to shout with infernal triumph to the depths of hell, till the brazen walls should send back their echoes to the gates of the heavenly city. But hark! the dying Saviour exclaims—“It is finished!” and the great dragon and his host retreat, howling, from the cross. The Prince of our salvation turned back all their artillery upon themselves, and their own stratagems become their ruin. The old serpent seized Messiah’s heel, but Messiah stamped upon the serpent’s head. The dying cry of Jesus shook the dominions of death, so that the bodies of many that slept arose; and rang through all the depths of hell, the knell of its departed power. Thus the Prince of this world was foiled in his schemes, and disappointed in his hopes; like the men of Gaza, when they locked up Samson at night, thinking to kill him in the morning; but awoke to find that he was gone, with the gates of the city upon his shoulders. When the Philistines caught Samson, and brought him to their temple, to make sport for them, they never dreamed of the disaster in which it would result—never dreamed that their triumph over the poor blind captive would be the occasion of their destruction. Suffer me, said he, to lean on the two pillars. Then he bowed himself, and died with his enemies. So Christ on Calvary, while the powers of darkness exulted over their victim, seized the main pillars of sin and death, and brought down the temple of Satan upon its occupants; but on the morning of the third day, he left them all in the ruins, where they shall remain for ever, and commenced his journey home to his Father’s house.

II. So much concerning the import of our Saviour’s exclamation. Such was the work which he finished upon the cross. We add a few remarks of a more general character.

The sufferings of Christ were vicarious. He died, not for his own sins, but for ours. He humbled himself, that we might be exalted. He became poor, that we might be made rich. He was wounded, that we might be healed. He drained the cup of wrath, that we might drink the waters of salvation. He died the shameful and excruciating death of the cross, that we might live and reign with him for ever.

“Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to have entered into his glory?” This “ought” is the ought of mercy and of covenant engagement. He must discharge the obligation which he had voluntarily assumed. He must finish the work which he had graciously begun. There was no other Saviour—no other being in the universe willing to undertake the work; or, if any willing to undertake, none able to accomplish it. The salvation of one human soul would have been too mighty an achievement for Gabriel—for all the angels in heaven. Had not “the Only Begotten of the Father” become our surety, we must have lain for ever under the wrath of God, amid “weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” None but the Lion of the tribe of Judah could break the seals of that mysterious book. None but “God manifest in the flesh” could deliver us from the second death.

The dying cry of Jesus indicates the dignity of his nature, and the power of life that was in him to the last. All men die of weakness—of inability to resist death—die because they can live no longer. But this was not the case with the Son of God. He speaks of laying down his life as his own voluntary act;—“No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” He “poured out his soul unto death”—did not wait for it to be torn from him—did not hang languishing upon the cross, till life “ebbed out by slow degrees;” but poured it out freely, suddenly, and unexpectedly. As soon as the work was done for which he came into the world, he cried—“It is finished!” “bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” Then the sun was darkened, the earth quaked, the rocks rent, the graves opened, and the centurion said—“Truly, this man was the Son of God!” He cried with a loud voice, to show that he was still unconquered by pain, mighty even upon the cross. He bowed his head that death might seize him. He was naturally far above the reach of death, his Divine nature being self-existent and eternal, and his human nature entitled to immortality by its immaculate holiness; yet “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”—“He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

We may regard his last exclamation, also, as an expression of his joy, at having accomplished the great “travail of his soul,” in the work of our redemption. It was the work which the Father had given him, and which he had covenanted to do. It lay heavy upon his heart; and O, how was he straitened till it was accomplished! His “soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;” “and his sweat as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground.” But upon the cross, he saw of the travail of his soul, and was satisfied. He saw that his sacrifice was accepted, and the object of his agony secured—that death would not be able to detain him in the grave, nor hell to defeat the purposes of his grace—that the gates of the eternal city would soon open to receive him as a conqueror, and myriads of exultant angels shout him to his throne; whither he would be followed by his redeemed, with songs of everlasting joy. He saw, and he was satisfied; and, not waiting for the morning of the third day, but already confident of victory, he uttered this note of triumph, and died.

And if we may suppose them to have understood its import, what a source of consolation must it have been to his sorrowing disciples! The sword had pierced through Mary’s heart, according to the prediction of old Simeon over the infant Jesus. Her affections had bled at the agony of her supernatural Son, and her wounded faith had wellnigh perished at his cross. And how must all his followers have felt, standing afar off, and beholding their supposed Redeemer suffering as a malefactor! How must all their hopes have died within them, as they gazed on the accursed tree! The tragedy was mysterious, and they deemed their enemies victorious. Jesus is treading the winepress in Bozrah, and the earth is shaking, and the rocks are rending, and the luminaries of heaven are expiring, and all the powers of nature are fainting, in sympathy with his mighty agony. Now he is lost in the fire and smoke of battle, and the dread artillery of justice is heard thundering through the thick darkness, and shouts of victory rise from the troops of hell, and who shall foretell the issue of the combat, or the fate of the Champion? But lo! he cometh forth from the cloud of battle, with blood upon his garments! He is wounded, but he hath the tread and the aspect of a conqueror. He waves his crimsoned sword, and cries—“It is finished!” Courage, ye weepers at the cross! Courage, ye tremblers standing afar off! The Prince of your salvation is victor, and this bulletin of the war shall cheer myriads of believers in the house of their pilgrimage, and the achievement which it announces shall constitute an everlasting theme of praise!

“It is finished!” The word smote on the walls of the celestial city, and thrilled the hosts of heaven with ecstasy unspeakable. How must “the spirits of just men made perfect” have leaped with joy, to hear that the Captain of their salvation was victorious over all his enemies, and that the work he had engaged to do for them and their brethren was completed! and with what wonder and delight must the holy angels have witnessed the triumph of him, whom they were commanded to worship, over the powers of darkness! It was the commencement of a new era in heaven, and never before had its happy denizens seen so much of God.

“It is finished!” Go, ye heralds of salvation, into all the world, and proclaim the joyful tidings! Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and publish to all men, that the work of the cross is finished—that the great Mediator, “made perfect through sufferings,” has become “the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him”—“is of God made unto us, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption!” Go, teach the degraded Pagan, the deluded Mohammedan, and the superstitious Papist, that the finished work of Jesus is the only way of acceptance with God! Go, tell the polished scholar, the profound philosopher, and the vaunting moralist, that the doctrine of Christ crucified is the only knowledge that can save the soul! Go, say to the proud skeptic, the bold blasphemer, and the polluted libertine, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!” Preach it to the gasping sinner upon his death-bed, and the sullen murderer in his cell! Let it ring in every human ear, and thrill in every human heart, till the gladness of earth shall be the counterpart of heaven!

SERMON XIII. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS.

“He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”—Matt. xxviii. 6.

The celebrated Jonathan Edwards of America begins his History of Redemption with an account of the Lord’s visit to Adam and Eve at the cool of the day in Eden. All the wonderful works of God toward the children of men, since the seed of the woman was promised to bruise the serpent’s head, are to be considered as so many parts of the same great machinery of providence, whose wheels, like those of Ezekiel’s vision, all move in majestic harmony, though their thousand revolutions may seem to us discordant and confused. The chief design of all the Divine manifestations recorded in the Old Testament was to prepare the way for the Redeemer’s appearance upon earth. Jehovah often suffered his people to be in great distress and perplexity; he lengthened the chain of Satan and his angels, allowed a partial success of their infernal schemes, and permitted them to prevail for a season against his people, and pride themselves in their power and their skill, in order to make their defeat the more signal, and gather more glory to himself from their final overthrow. During the engagement, the victory often seemed to be on the side of the enemy; but when the smoke of battle cleared away, the pillar of God was seen upon the camp of Israel. If his people are besieged between Pi-hahiroth and Baal-zephon, he raises the siege by dividing the sea, and making a highway through the deep, while the waters rise up in a solid wall on the right and the left, and roll back in ruin on the pursuing foe. If an army comes to arrest Elisha on Carmel, the mountain is covered with celestial warriors, and the surrounding heavens teem with horsemen and chariots of fire, and the enemy are smitten with blindness, and taken captive by the prophet. If Goliath of Gath confronts the camp of Israel with his challenge, roaring like a lion, till the valley resounds with his voice, a little shepherd-boy goes forth with his sling, and the vaunting blasphemer is smitten to the ground, and slain with his own sword. If the worshippers of the true God are cast into the fiery furnace, or the den of lions, to show the power and gratify the pride of an infamous tyrant, there is one among them “like unto the Son of Man,” and the violence of the fire is quenched, and the mouths of the lions are stopped.

But when Messiah was slain and buried, the enemies of God boasted more than ever in their crafty and malicious schemes. This was the great decisive engagement between Heaven and hell. The enemy imagined “the Captain of our salvation” vanquished and destroyed. But his fall was no defeat. He yielded to the powers of darkness apparently, that he might triumph over them openly. He suffered himself to be taken prisoner by death, that he might seize the tyrant on his throne, demolish his empire, and deliver his captives. And if none of his friends on earth had courage to proclaim his resurrection, a preacher descended from heaven to announce the joyful fact:—“He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

Wonderful message, and wonderful messenger! On the morning of the third day after his crucifixion, Jesus revived in his tomb, and the sound of the earthquake reached the heaven of heavens, and a mighty angel, swifter than the light, descended straight to the new grave in Joseph’s garden, calling on no one for the key, instantly rolled away the stone from the door, and sat upon it, and made it his pulpit, from which he preached to the women the doctrine of our Lord’s resurrection.

Let us consider, first, the testimony by which this fact is sustained, and secondly, the fact itself, as the sure basis of Christianity.

I. It appears from the record of the evangelist Luke, that the women were much perplexed at finding the stone rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre, and the body of Jesus gone. Then they were saluted by two angels in shining apparel, who said;—“Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spake unto you while he was yet in Galilee, saying—The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words.”

Here is the testimony of two credible witnesses, a sufficient number to attest the truth of our Lord’s resurrection; who testified to nothing but what they had personally witnessed, and knew to be fact; and delivered their testimony in simple and unambiguous language, that could not well be misunderstood.

While the women went to inform the disciples of what they had seen and heard, “behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.” And what was done? What can be the testimony of these enemies of Christ concerning his resurrection? That “an angel, whose countenance was like lightning, and his garments white as snow, descended from heaven, and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat upon it;” which so terrified them that they “became as dead men.”

To confirm these testimonies, our blessed Lord himself “appeared unto many after his resurrection, who were witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews, and at Jerusalem; and how he was slain, and hanged on a tree; and how God raised him up the third day, and showed him openly; not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of God; even to the disciples, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead; whom he commanded to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he who is ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead”—“to whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs; being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

Here we may observe, that he appeared to those who knew him best, and gave them satisfactory and incontestible evidence of his resurrection. And he appeared, not only to the apostles, but to more than five hundred brethren at once. We have an account of his appearing at ten or eleven different times. On these occasions, he conversed with his disciples, reminded them of what he had said to them before his crucifixion, showed them his hands and his feet, and besought them to touch arid examine his person, and satisfy themselves as to his identity. So that they had ample opportunity, and every facility that could be desired, for ascertaining whether he was indeed Jesus of Nazareth, their master, who was lately crucified before their eyes.

It was therefore with great power that the apostles bore witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And the Holy Spirit corroborated their testimony. Our faith in this distinctive doctrine of Christianity rests on a Divine foundation. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.” “And the apostles went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord also working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” In a few weeks after the resurrection of their Master, their testimony concerning it was received and firmly believed by many thousands, not in some distant and desert part of the world, but in Jerusalem, where he had been crucified.

How nobly the apostle Peter reasoned on this subject when he said:—“Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know; him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”

Such was the evidence of our Lord’s resurrection, that among those who were living at the time, and even those of them who so strenuously opposed the gospel, it appears to have been scarcely doubted. Pilate, in a letter to Tiberius, the Roman emperor, said, that Jesus, being raised from the dead, was believed by many to be God; whereupon the Roman Senate expressed no doubt of his resurrection, but debated the question of receiving him as one of the gods of Rome; which, however, was overruled by Divine Providence, for the honor of Christianity; for he who is higher than heaven, and the heaven of heavens, was not to be ranked with dumb idols upon earth.

II. Let us now consider the fact of our Lord’s resurrection, and its bearing upon the great truths of our holy religion.

This most transcendent of miracles is sometimes attributed to the agency of the Father; who, as the Lawgiver, had arrested and imprisoned in the grave the sinner’s Surety, manifesting at once his benevolence and his holiness; but by liberating the prisoner, proclaimed that the debt was cancelled, and the claims of the law satisfied. It is sometimes attributed to the Son himself; who had power both to lay down his life, and to take it again; and the merit of whose sacrifice entitled him to the honor of thus asserting his dominion over death, on behalf of his people. And sometimes it is attributed to the Holy Spirit, as in the following words of the apostle:—“He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.”

The resurrection of Christ is clear and incontestible proof of his Divinity.

He had declared himself equal with God the Father, and one with him in nature and in glory. He had told the people that he would prove the truth of this declaration, by rising from the grave three days after his death. And when the morning of the third day began to dawn upon the sepulchre, lo! there was an earthquake, and the dead body arose, triumphant over the power of corruption.

This was the most stupendous miracle ever exhibited on earth, and its language is:—“Behold, ye persecuting Jews and murdering Romans, the proof of my Godhead! Behold, Caiaphas, Herod, Pilate, the power and glory of your victim! I am he that liveth, and was dead; and lo! I am alive for evermore! I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star! Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God, and besides me there is none else!”

Our Lord’s resurrection affords incontrovertible evidence of the truth of Christianity.

Pilate wrote the title of Christ in three languages on the cross; and many have written excellent and unanswerable things, on the truth of the Christian Scriptures, and the reality of the Christian religion; but the best argument that has ever been written on the subject, was written by the invisible hand of the Eternal Power, in the rocks of our Saviour’s sepulchre. This confounds the skeptic, settles the controversy, and affords an ample and sure foundation for all them that believe.

If any one asks whether Christianity is from heaven or of men, we point him to the “tomb hewn out of the rock,” and say—“There is your answer! Jesus was crucified, and laid in that cave; but on the morning of the third day, it was found empty; our Master had risen and gone forth from the grave victorious.”

This is the pillar that supports the whole fabric of our religion; and he who attempts to pull it down, like Samson, pulls down ruin upon himself. “If Christ is not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, ye are yet in your sins;” but if the fact is clearly proved, then Christianity is unquestionably true, and its disciples are safe.

This is the ground on which the apostle stood, and asserted the divinity of his faith:—“Moreover, I testify unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you; which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain; for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.”

The resurrection of Jesus is the most stupendous manifestation of the power of God, and the pledge of eternal life to his people.

The apostle calls it “the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.” This is a river overflowing its banks—an idea too large for language. Let us look at it a moment.

Where do we find “the exceeding greatness of his power?” In the creation of the world? in the Seven Stars and Orion? in the strength of Behemoth and Leviathan? No! In the deluge? in the fiery destruction of Sodom? in the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host? in hurling Nebuchadnezzar like Lucifer from the political firmament? No! It is the power which he wrought in Christ. When? When he healed the sick? when he raised the dead? when he cast out devils? when he blasted the fruitless fig-tree? when he walked upon the waters of the Galilee? No! It was “when he raised him from the dead.” Then the Father placed the sceptre in the hand of the Son, “and set him above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church.”

This is the source of our spiritual life. The same power that raised the dead body of our Lord from the grave, quickens the soul of the believer from the death in trespasses and sins. His riven tomb is a fountain of living waters; whereof if a man drink, he shall never die. His raised and glorified body is the sun, whence streams eternal light upon our spirits; the light of life, that never can be quenched.

Nor here does the influence of his resurrection end. He who raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies. His resurrection is the pledge and the pattern of ours. “Because he liveth we shall live also.” “He shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” We hear him speaking in the prophet:—“Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead.”

How divinely does the apostle speak of the resurrection-body of the saints! “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written—Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God, that giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ever since the fall in Eden, man is born to die. He lives to die. He eats and drinks, sleeps and wakes, to die. Death, like a dark steel-clad warrior, stands ever before us; and his gigantic shadow comes continually between us and happiness. But Christ hath “abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” He was born in Bethlehem, that he might die on Calvary. He was made under the law, that he might bear the direst penalty of the law. He lived thirty-three years, sinless among sinners, that he might offer himself a sin-offering for sinners upon the cross. Thus he “became obedient unto death,” that he might destroy the power of death; and on the third morning, a mighty angel, rolling away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, makes the very door of Death’s castle the throne whence he proclaims “the resurrection and the life.”

The Hero of our salvation travelled into Death’s dominion, took possession of the whole territory on our behalf, and returning laden with spoils, ascended to the heaven of heavens. He went to the palace, seized the tyrant, and wrested away his sceptre. He descended into the prison-house, knocked off the fetters of the captives; and when he came up again, left the door of every cell open, that they might follow him. He has gone over into our promised inheritance, and his glory illuminates the mountains of immortality; and through the telescope which he has bequeathed us, we “see the land that is very far off.”

I recollect reading in the writings of Flavel this sentiment—that the souls in paradise wait with intense desire for the reanimation of their dead bodies, that they may be united to them in bliss for ever. O, what rapture there shall be among the saints, when those frail vessels, from which they escaped with such a struggle, as they foundered in the gulf of death, shall come floating in, with the spring-tide of the resurrection, to the harbor of immortality! How glorious the reunion, when the seeds of affliction and death are left behind in the tomb! Jacob no longer lame, nor Moses slow of speech, nor Lazarus covered with sores, nor Paul troubled with a thorn in the flesh!

“It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” The glory of the body of Christ is far above our present conception. When he was transfigured on Tabor, his face shone like the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. This is the pattern shown to his people in the mount. This is the model after which the bodies of believers shall be fashioned in the resurrection. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.”