DISCOURSE XV. HEBREWS xii. 2. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. WHILE discoursing from these words, the last Sabbath, I attempted, my brethren, to place before you the several respects in which Jesus Christ may be considered as the Author and Finisher of our faith. From what was said, it would seem that he is entitled to this appellation for the following reasons: because he accomplished those events in the economy of God's government, which were necessary to open the way for the promulgation of the doctrines of the Cross; because he promulgated, by himself and by his Apostles, these doctrines, so glorious to God, and so interesting to man; because he alone produces faith within us, through the influences of the Holy Spirit; because he is now accomplishing, and will continue to accomplish, those events which are necessary to prepare the way for the consummation of his mediatorial work; because he continues to instruct us more fully in the doctrines of the Cross; because he con firms and invigorates our faith, by the influences of the Holy Spirit, and will finally perfect it in the unclouded vision of the heavenly world. Such are the various attitudes in which Jesus Christ presents himself to our view, as the Author and Finisher of our faith. Thus, wielding the sceptre of universal empire, and managing in its vast extent the great work of redemption; thus carrying it on to a most successful and glorious result, which will reflect the brightest lustre on the character of God, and redound to the eternal happiness of all who put their trust in him; thus opening the treasures of his Infinite wisdom and knowledge, and distributing most liberally the riches of Divine Truth, to all who will receive and use them for the relief of their spiritual wants; thus shedding down, as the choicest of his blessings, the Holy Comforter, to renew the hearts and invigorate the graces of all whom his Father hath given him; thus supporting and guiding his disciples, through this pilgrimage of tears, in the straight and narrow path which leads to the mansions of eternal rest ;-sustaining this character so sublime and so interesting, most justly is he proposed to us by the Apostle as the great Object of our faith. Wherefore, while running with patience the race that is set before us, while struggling for that crown of glory which fadeth not away, Christians are called upon by every principle of reason, by every motive of esteem, by every tie of gratitude, continually to look unto Jesus with a spirit of confidential trust, of humble docility, and of cordial dependence. These are the affections which should glow in the breast of every believer who hopes to "hold the beginning of his confidence stedfast unto the end;"-and to urge upon you, my brethren, the duty of cultivating these affections is the object of this discourse. I. First, then, it is the duty of Christians to look unto Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of their faith, with a spirit of confidential trust.—If he manages the work of redemption in all its vast and momentous extent; if from that remote moment in eternity, when he pledged himself to leave the bosom of the Father, and pour out his blood on Calvary for the remission of sin, to that glorious consummation of his mediatorial character, when, all things having been subdued unto him, he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, that God may be all in all; if during the lapse of these long and eventful ages, his hand has wielded, and shall still wield, the sceptre of the kingdom of grace, then is that kingdom safe, nor shall even the gates of hell prevail against it. Let not, then, the weakest disciple of Christ give place, for one moment, to doubt or despondency. Let him remember who that Saviour is in whom he hath trusted. the Friend of sinners. Full of compassion toward a world lying in wickedness, anxious to rescue every sincere penitent from the tremendous curse of the law, He condescended himself to feel this curse, and to drink, to its dregs, that mysterious He is cup of wrath, the very anticipation of which so agonized his soul, that his human nature almost shrunk beneath the torture, and found a temporary relief only in a sweat of blood. Yes, my brethren, the garden of Gethsemane, with its midnight scene of anguish; the hall of Pilate, with its cruel scourges, and mocking crown of thorns; the hill of Calvary, with its torturing cross and reviling persecutors; these testify with a language, forcible, honest, and affecting as the last accents of the dying, that Jesus is the Friend of sinners. Never, therefore, has he deserted, never will he desert, his mediatorial work; never has he forsaken, never will he forsake, the most timid disciple, who sincerely trusts in him. Consider then, my brethren, the love which Christ bears to all his followers: a love strong as death, which many waters cannot quench, nor floods drown and let it constrain you, by a sweet and irresistible necessity, continually to look unto him with a spirit of confidential trust. Consider too, that, as Mediator between God and man, he is invested with all dominion in heaven, and earth, and hell; and that he shall rule till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Consider, that in his Divine nature, he is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power; nay, that he is "the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." As therefore, on the one hand, what he hath done for sinners is a pledge that his love toward all who trust in him will never suffer abatement or diminution; so, on the other, what he is in his own exalted and Divine character affords the most convincing proof, that if infinite knowledge, and wisdom, and power, can secure the accomplishment of a purpose, then is the kingdom of grace safe; then shall none of Christ's true disciples perish, nor shall any pluck them out of his hand. "Be strong, therefore," my brethren, " in the Lord, and in the power of his might ;" and let the Divine majesty and dominion of Jesus, as well as the unwavering constancy of his love, lead you continually to look unto Him with a spirit of confidential trust. II. Look unto him, also, with a spirit of humble docility.If He has risen upon our benighted earth, the glorious Sun of Righteousness, with healing in his wings; if His beams alone could dispel the cheerless midnight of moral ignorance which brooded over all the Gentile world; if the rays of His truth are still necessary to illuminate the dark places of our understanding, and to pour upon the soul the refreshing light of "the knowledge of the glory of God, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ;" then ought we no longer to direct our course toward futurity by the wandering stars of human philosophy falsely so called, nor pursue, as guides in the path of duty, the deceptive meteors of our own proud and erring reason. "We have a sure word of prophecy; whereunto we do well that we take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our |