SERMON XXXVIII.

CHRISTIANITY ADAPTED TO MAN'S MORAL WANTS.

1 TIMOTHY I. 15.

CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS.

THERE is in the character and circumstances of man, much that seems to claim compassion for him. To a superficial observer, there are not a few irregularities, which seem to forbid an unshaken confidence in the wisdom and benevolence with which human affairs are arranged. But, if this confidence in God, as a being of infinite perfections, and as the righteous moral governor of the universe, is broken down, the mind, which is thus left to itself, becomes at once the wretched victim of a heartless atheism. To him who is estranged from God, what is the fair world which he inhabits; what his sorrows and his joys; what his sad musings with regard to the closing scene of life, and that land of darkness which lies beyond? Such a man, possessing all the principles and affections common to human nature, must be liable to all its trials and dangers. He must feel the struggles of passion; temptations must assault him; and conscience must upbraid him, when he yields to them. The conflict he must meet, the guilt he must endure, and yet feel the weakness of a single arm opposed to every form of assault from a numerous host.

Building only on the earth, having nothing above or beyond it to which he can look with confidence or hope, he must feel the pains of earthly disappointment, experience the anguish of a suffering body, be tossed about by the storms of life, behold the unrelenting grasp of death fix upon the objects of his tenderest love, be drawn by his very nature towards a higher power, and yet perceive nothing of the divinity, to which his affections may cling and gain a temporary repose. Through the whole course of his life, there must at times come over him a desertion of mind, a restless longing for something higher and better than he enjoys, an intimate feeling wrought into his very soul, that man was created for more enduring and nobler happiness than earth can give. These indistinct visions he cannot scatter, he cannot grasp. As the ebbings of life's tide become more and more perceptible, they disturb him more and more. He cannot look to the mighty transition before him with the full conviction, which he would give worlds to enjoy, that there is nothing beyond death. But to him there comes no hope with the excursions of his imagination. He cannot lay himself down in the silent grave, and confidently anticipate an undisturbed slumber there. There is an indistinct foresight of something beyond, and it comes to him combined with the consciousness of guilt, and with the fear of punishment. How wretched then is man!

But we check the thought. He is not thus deserted. God has not forgotten to be gracious. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The mission is worthy of a God of mercy. Let it then be our present purpose to strengthen our faith in Christianity, and to bring this religion home to our hearts, by contemplating it in its adaptation to the moral wants of man.

The scripture, which is selected for the theme of this discourse, is not, as we believe, inappropriate. It represents the great object for which Christ appeared among

men to have been the salvation of sinners. What then is salvation? It is deliverance from evil, and the consequent bestowment of happiness. Deliverance from danger is accompanied by the joy of safety. Deliverance from sickness is succeeded by the animation of health, and deliverance from death by the happiness of continued existence. That, which is emphatically denominated salvation in the gospel, is deliverance from all evil, from sin, sorrow and death; the being furnished with every spiritual grace, and received to eternal bliss in heaven. It is this salvation which Jesus came into the world to offer to mankind. But as the full miseries of sin are brought upon the guilty by often repeated acts, and by moral exercises which are opposed to a perfect rule of conduct; as the wretched offender often sinks step by step into the pit which is opening to swallow him up; so he who is saved is delivered from one evil after another, strengthened gradually in the graces of the gospel, improved in character day by day, and rendered more and more capable of enjoyment as his tastes and desires become more holy. The process of refinement goes on, till the curtain falls which separates from mortal view the holy of holies, and then the full joys and glories of heaven burst upon his enraptured vision. This is salvation. But in the progress upward, many a field is to be won, and the soul is to be cheered in its struggles by some imperfect earnest of the final triumph. Each victory is to constitute one link in the bright chain of salvation, which is to connect the soul with the throne of God. All the rays of light and joy, which come in to animate and comfort the earthly pilgrim, are to unite, and, as they all ultimately blend together, are to form the sun of the heavenly existence. Salvation then is not one single act of the soul, or one single gift of God. It is not faith alone, or repentance, or hope, or obedience; nor is it the offer of pardon, or of assistance, or of life eternal. It is struggle after struggle, victory upon victory, a constant

moral progress which terminates not, till repentance brings forth its perfect fruits, till all sin is abhorred, till the soul is filled with pure affections, till the path of obedience becomes altogether cheerful, and the future is all bright with the hope of immortality.

If such be the process by which sinners are saved, then the subject of the present discourse, as it has been announced, may be illustrated and enforced in the spirit of our text. If Jesus came into the world to save sinners, he brought into the world a system of religion suited to their moral necessities. If such be the religion of the gospel, its claims address themselves at once to the wants, and to the hearts of men. I now ask your attention, while I endeavor to prove to you, that such is the character of the religion, which it is alike my duty and my privilege to ad

vocate.

Before, however, entering particularly upon the principal subject of this discourse, I would in the first place offer a single remark on the manner in which the instructions of Christ are transmitted to us. Perhaps, to the superficial and careless reader, there are few books which seem to urge a weaker claim upon their attention than the New Testament. Yet to such a reader, if a person of taste and feeling, there will be a charm in the pure spirit, in the benevolent sentiments, in the touching incidents, in the unearthly devotion to virtue and to God, which pervade this volume. But then to him, if uninterested in the great purpose for which Christ came into the world, if unconcerned for the salvation of his soul, there will appear such an entire absence of the ordinary arts of dressing up a story, and setting forth moral lessons, such apparent mingling of contradictory qualities, the little with the great, such a blending of the peculiarities of a single age people with lessons of religion designed for all ages and men, that he will be very apt to turn away from the book, as the Jews did from Jesus himself, as having no form or comeli

and

ness. But it is this very unartificial structure of the record, which not only saves it from the imputation of being the work of human ingenuity, but which peculiarly adapts it to the use of all men, whatever their degree of mental refinement. The authors of the narrative evidently had no theory of their own to interweave with the story which they undertook to relate, or to support by the religious instructions which they registered as from the lips of Jesus. The facts, which they record, are the great outlines of their faith, and the instructions, which are connected with them, are conveyed in the simplest forms. They go into no subtle speculations or minute details. Truths are taught on the authority of a divine teacher, and principles are laid down applicable to all the circumstances in which men are called to act. These instructions are rendered more interesting by their intimate connexion with time and place, with individual characters, and with the actual life of Jesus. Here then is a mode of transmitting instruction, which, if not without its difficulties, presents much fewer difficulties than would have accompanied any other mode. A few simple truths are laid down, and a few simple principles inculcated. Through' the whole, God and a future life are kept perpetually in view. These truths and principles are placed in a variety of lights. They are set forth so as to administer nourishment to the humblest mind; and they open to trains of thought, which may give full scope to the mightiest human intellect. Here then is a mode of communicating instruction suited to the very purposes of a divine revelation; that is, adapted to guide and comfort not one class of men alone, but all men. The fact corresponds with the design. Men of every gradation of intellect, from the lowest to the highest, have acknowledged Christ, and have been savingly blest by his influence. That little volume, which is looked upon by many with indifference or contempt, has by its simple and artless instructions guided