others upon him, he was not spared.sciousness of my presence to a living consciousness of the contrariety of your nature to my nature; depart into a state of being in which every fibre of your composition will be infinitely sensible of music, and every moment of your existence infinitely discordant:-this is hell. But blessed be the Lord our GoD, the manifestation of his glory in Jesus is connected with a far different result; for it is the Father's glory that shines forth, and that shines forth (as I have already touched upon) in an attitude of encouragement-an attitude of merciful invitation. All the most awful attributes of the Almighty are manifested in Christ Jesus, but they are manifested with tender love towards mankind — as the bow in the clouds, the arrow from which shoots away from the earth; instead of striking the deserving culprit, it strikes another that he may go free. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ, then, that a manifestation is made of the glory of the law-giver; and it is only as we see something of the glory of the law-giver, and appreciate his character, that we shall acknowledge the law to be holy, and just, and good, and that we see, in its true nature, the vileness of sin-" for sin is the transgression of the law:" and according to our views of the law, must ever be found our views of sin. It is the love of GOD that is peculiarly manifested in his Son-"in this was manifested the love of GOD, that he gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins?" sin the transgression of the law;-for our sins. He gave his Son to be made sin for us-instead of us. I know it has been said, that that means instead of us" in the passage I have quoted. It is remarkable and curious, that the same expression is used in the preceding verse, where it is said, we preach for, or instead of Christ: 66 66 But the manifestation of the glory of the law-giver, unless accompanied with this aspect of encouragement towards the transgressor, would not meet man's purpose; it would not be suitable to his case. Suppose, for a moment, that such a manifestation was made of the glory of GoD to men as would make them conscious of their departure from him, and leave them under that consciousness, what would this be to do for him? It would be to identify their condition with that of the fallen angels; it would be to deprive them of the screen of flesh behind which they now hide themselves. And, in point of fact, this is what will be done with the unbelievers at the last day; the sentence to them is-" Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Depart, from where? From that covering of flesh in which you have shrouded yourself, to a conscious presence of GOD;-depart from those leaves in the garden behind which you have been hiding yourself;-depart to a living con- as our substitute; it was not as our we are ambassadors for Christ, as though GOD did beseech you by us,” we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to GOD”—in Christ's stead ; it is the same word; and then "he made him to be sin for us," in our stead, "that we might be made the righteousness of GOD in him;" not in his stead. Mark the combination-the substitution and union; substitution on his part for us, and union on our part in him. He was made sin for us, that we might be made righteousness in him. The substitution is carried on down to the time of the death for sin; and in the resurrection the union commences, and we are made righteousness in him as our head; he hath been made sin for us, was mony; that he might lay that powerourful finger upon the chosen strings of he GOD, and make them vibrate again into the music which is in the Heavens, head he was made sin for us, it as our substitute. It is as head that he is risen, not that is dead. Here GoD presents himself to us in a winning aspect, GOD was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them ;" and he hath committed unto men the ministry of reconciliation; so that this invitation of his might be prolonged from generation to generation, and proclaimed to every creature-"Go preach the gospel to every creature." Here, then, is a discovery of the pardon of sin combined with the discovery of the sin itself; so that in the very same object presented to us in the Gospel, we behold the glory of GoD, which gives us a discovery of our departure from him; and we behold the love of GOD, which gives us an encouragement to return to him. Both these are exhibited in Christ; the glory of GoD exhibited, that we may see the vileness of leaving him; and the love of GOD exhibited, that we may see the encouragement to come back to him. But here it must be observed, that although this manifestation of GoD's glory and God's love in the person of his dear Son be most suitable to the accomplishment of the end in view, as regards fallen man. Yet that in itself it is not sufficient; left to itself it does not accomplish the work. It is no disparagement to an instrument to say that, however suitable in itself, it needs a powerful agent to put it in operation; and it has pleased GOD to give such an instrument upon the earth. The proclamation of his glory and of his love in Christ, which is written in this book, may be read alas, and despised, and read and despised again. It is most suitable for this purpose; so suitable that the men who read it and despise it are without excuse yet so deep-rooted These are the two things, then, is the enmity, so enamoured are men which man requires in the first place, to the discord, that they will not come in order to win him out of this dis- to look at the Son, or to believe in the cordant state of sin, back into the pardon of the Son; they will not come harmony of law, that he should again to Jesus that they might have life; love the presence of the Lawgiver- they love discord rather than harmothat he should again delight in the ny-they love darkness rather than consciousness of dependence upon light, because their deeds are evil. another-that he should again take And except this instrument, all-suitpleasure in the sovereignty that dis-able as it is, be put into the hands of poses of him- and that he should an efficient agent-an agent which shall bridle the passions-an agent which shall bring down the high thoughts, and bring them into captivity to GOD,-except they be brought by the mighty power of grace, they will reject the proclamation of grace -except they be raised from the dead by the mighty energy of the Holy Ghost, they will trample the Son of GOD under their feet. Con version is no matter of moral suasion; in thy sight," not merely the outward act, but he adds-" Behold I was shapen in iniquity." It is not merely an outward act, against the letter of the statute; it is a state of being in contrariety to the character of the lawgiver. O what a difference there is here; the mere transgression of the letter of the statute threatened with a penalty connected with that transgression of the letter of the statute still-this is inadequate; we will not speak against it, but only that it is inadequate. It does not reach the case; it reaches but the moral outside; it reaches but the pharisaical exterior: and to take the law to go no higher than the ten precepts of Moses; and transgression, to go no deeper, than the outward disregard of these precepts; this is to make a pharisee. But to take the law to mean those eternal principles of right and wrong, which are coeval and coessential with the Godhead, which are a part and parcel of the law of creation itself, and to make trans conversion is no matter of moral influence, even from the cross; though it be accomplished by the instrumentality of such instruments, yet not by the moral power of it, but by the gracious use of it made by the Holy Spirit; and that according to the chosen purpose of the Father who hath chosen his people out of mankind before the world was. My brethren, we must not hide this truth; it is, I grieve to say, too much hidthat Almighty GoD, our glorious Father, hath chosen a people out of mankind, in whom he would overbear the resistance that all men make to the Gospel, in whom his love would be triumphant; so that while there is a manifestation of love to all men, which ought to win all, they will not come; and GOD, not to be outdone by their wickedness, has determined, that some shall come, and all that he hath given to Jesus shall come to him, and him that cometh to him he will in no wise cast out. Election is the superabundance of God's love, de-gression signify a state of being in termining that redemption shall not be in vain. contrariety to those principles; this brings living beings, and not dead statues before us. We bring a being, a conscious immortal being in contrariety to the Eternal Author of his being; and when he finds that to be so, and can say "O my God, behold I have not only done this evil, but I have found out I am altogether contrary to thee-I have found out I am shapen in iniquity, and I have found that corruption is my very element, and that holiness is thine, and that thou requirest truth in the inward parts; in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom." Now, when, by the power of the Eternal Spirit these things are made effectual upon a man-the discovery of sin, and the discovery of the pardon of sin in Christ; then, my brethren, what follows?—The next point is hatred of sin;-the man is made in love with the law; he is made in love with a manifested GOD: in proportion as his love of the law springs up and increases, his hatred of sin springs up and increases too, "for sin is the transgression of the law." Then he comes to feel the value and beauty of such language as he meets with in the-where shall I look for the cure? Not word of God; then, for example, the language of David in the fifty-first Psalm, becomes dear to a man; he not only can then say "Against thee have I sinned, and done this evil, in the correction of the outward act, leaving the inward poison still; but in the cleansing of the thoughts of the heart, in the cleansing of the instinctive risings of the soul: wisdom in the inward part. And what is wisdom? It is another name for law -it is another name for love-it is another name for harmony-it is another name for GOD. Thou wilt bring me back into the region where happiness dwells, in the inward parts, and I shall walk in them. Behold, Lord, before I discovered this, "I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee, and I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." This is the appropriate effect produced by the discovery of sin, and the discovery of the pardon of sin, when they are made to bear upon the character by the power of the Holy Ghost. And, then, what follows? Then, if the Christian were at once removed from this state of things, and brought into the immediate presence of GOD (where he would be when he has got the desire to go, and his heart panteth for the living GOD, as the heart panteth for the water brooks) then, indeed, if he were immediately removed, there would remain no more to be told to you, but to describe the process up so far; and the next step would be, to go to Him with whom we all long to be. But this is not the case; GoD leaves us here, after all this is done for us and what does he leave us here for?—and what are we called to?-and what is the Christian exhortation throughout the scripture addressed to the people of GOD, who have discovered the glory of GOD, and discovered the pardon of sin in their hearts, and found hatred of sin in their hearts? What is the next step? You are exhorted, my brethren, to the mortification of sin. This is the work we should be engaged in who have got a taste for the harmony of Heaven. But we have got the remainders of discord; and what should we be engaged in? Using all the means which God has supplied us with, until we shall be thoroughly retuned, so that not one jar of discord shall be about us, against God's sovereignty, or in opposition to GOD's revealed will: the mortification of sin. The necessity continues for such an exercise as this, because I say, there remains discord. If not, why is it that we groan in this tabernacle, being burdened, if this tabernacle can be holy? If, in the case of the Apostle it was made holy, why did he groan in it, being burdened? If, in the case of the Apostle it was made holy, why should he say, that not only the creation groans, and travails in pain together, but even we, that have the first fruits of the Spirit-" even we ourselves do groan within ourselves,"-waiting for something still? What are we waiting for? We are waiting for the last stroke, that shall put an end to our discord for ever-to our sin for ever, and that will bring us to the region of law for ever; we are waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body; for we have a body of sin and death still, the fruitful inlet to discord—the fruitful inlet to temptation-the fruitful conductor of temptation to the mind-the fruitful medium of communication between the mind and the outward world, which is yet under the curse, which is the devil's mark, who is the GOD of this world; and our senses are continually communicating with this world, and continually carrying up various thoughts and affections and desires to our renewed minds; so that the holiness of the flesh is continually ministering temptation to the renewed mind. And though the mind be renewed, yet because the flesh is weak, and because the flesh lusteth against the spirit, you cannot do the things that you would. GOD has made you willing in the day of his power; but you cannot do as you would because your body is not | must, though it be with a beating redeemed; you are waiting for the redemption of your body. My brethren, beware, (I say it with affection, I say it with earnestness), beware of the opinion that your body can be made holy in this world: it is to ensnare you, that you should be off your guard; for in proportion as you think the flesh becomes friendly, in the same proportion you will relax your watchfulness against it; and if you relax your watchfulness against it, rest assured it will deceive you. I recollect hearing some Irish gentlemen speak of the condition they were in with regard to their domestic servants in the year ninety-eight-that the organization of the lower order of the people with the Catholic priests was so complete that the gentry could not trust their servants; they could not get Protestant servants, and therefore had Catholic servants, and were obliged to lock them up at night. I say treat your body as a suspected servant; do not trust it; lock it up; confine it: if you trust it at all it will deceive you; it is a traitor under your roof; take heed to it. "If ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." But if the body become holy, why should the holy thing be mortified? The Apostle Paul kept down his body, and brought it into subjection; he says it was his practice so to do, lest that, when he had preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away. We would speak, my dear brethren, with all charity towards all men; and we would speak with affection, mingled with charity towards those who are brethren in the Lord; but we must not be mistaken, we must not be ensnared into the use of this charity or affection toward error. While we feel unaffected tenderness of feeling and affection for the persons ensnared by error, we heart, though it be with a wounded spirit, we must earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. And that faith is this, that while, with our minds renewed by the Spirit of GOD, we do love the law of GOD, yet, with the flesh, the law of sin; that is, the mind is retuned into the harmony of law, but the body is still in discord, in the transgression of the law, which is sin. And when we would do good in the renewed mind, evil is present with us; for we would love GoD altogether, and we would if we could accomplish it, never sin again; but we find another law in our members, warring against the law of our minds, and bringing us, poor unhappy creatures, into captivity, alas, to sin to the law of sin, that is in our members. Hence our groaning; hence our burden; hence our cries for deliverance; hence our longing for the coming of the Lord; hence our real anxiety to grow and advance from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord; hence our labour to mortify the body; hence our anxiety and constant effort to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; hence our eagerness to contemplate the truth, more and more as it is revealed in Jesus; because sanctification is by the truth, and because, that in contemplating that truth-in looking at the glory of GoD in Christ-in looking at the cross of Christ, we do, as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Yes, my brethren, the necessity for this process of mortification of sin continues. But here it is said surely the exhortation and commandment is to perfection; it is to be perfect, as our Father who is in heaven is perfect-it is to be holy as Christ is holy and would : |