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THE CHRISTIAN'S FELLOWSHIP IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

REV. J. MITCHELL, D.D.

BROUGHTON CHAPEL, EDINBURGH, SEPTEMBER 7, 1834.

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus."-2 CORINTHIANS, iv. 10.

THE Connexion between the words of the text and the solemnities of the Sacramental Service in which we have been so lately engaged, is extremely obvious: and it is hardly less evident that they have reference to the state of the thoughts, the feelings, and the activities of the Christian, which comprehend summarily the peculiarities of the divine life in the soul of man.

In looking at the context you will perceive, that in a considerable manner the language of our text has respect to something that was peculiar to the Apostle and his brethren in these times. He tell us himself, elsewhere, that he bare in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus; alluding, most probably, to those vestiges of stripes and stonings which remained about him. He tells us in this passage, that he and they were always delivered to death for the sake of Christ: and he may refer immediately to those exhibitions of suffering, and to that readiness to die, which the Apostles in early times felt, and which is too manifest to be overlooked. They trod sometimes in a path of blood; at all times in the way of suffering; and they were called continually to face death, to be ready to meet their last end, which they were led constantly to expect. And under this they had peculiar support and divine aid. "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus."

Yet we shall, in all probability, circumscribe far too much the spirit and purport of our text, if we refer entirely to those external sufferings, and to that preparation for death, which were peculiar to these times, and which the Apostle was called to endure and to exercise. It should seem unquestionably referable to a certain state of heart and mind, and to a certain course of service and of life, which belong peculiarly to the champions of the cross, to the advocates of Christianity, to believers in the great facts of the Gospel. In this general view we apprehend it is applicable to us; and in this light we propose to illustrate its bearing on your temper and your life, after the holy communion. How then, do you ask, do we bear about daily the dying of the Lord Jesus? We reply, in the first place, We should do so by cherishing faith in a crucified Saviour. Faith, you know, is the master-principle in the heart of the Christian ; having a great influence over, exciting and modifying every thought, word, action, and feeling. The death of Christ the Son of God is the most wonderful

of all facts indeed, it is so wonderful, that you never could have anticipated nor sought it; and we should not be warranted to believe it unless it were authenticated to us by divine testimony. But it is not only the most wonderful, but it is the most interesting of all events. It is the foundation of all that is dear to man; it is the ground of our pardon and our peace, of our hope and joy, of our present acceptance, and of our eternal salvation. It is the most interesting of all the facts that are recorded, not only in human narrative, but in the Book of God itself—not only in the history of our world, but, we may venture to say, in the annals of the universe itself. Nor is it only the most wonderful, and the most interesting, it is also the most influential of all facts. It spreads itself through the whole revelation and economy of God, and pervades the moral and spiritual government of the Most High. Accordingly you meet with it everywhere in the Word of the Living God: it is testified of by the law and by the prophets, by the evangelists and by the Apostles: it is the substance of the types, and the sum of the promises: it is the great accomplishment of the prophecies, and the glory of the oracles of heaven: it is that which fills the soul of the saint, and elevates his mind in glory; it is that which renders every thing to him delightful and hopeful. You cannot wonder, then, that his faith should rest especially upon this great fact, and that he should cherish it. It is in the Book of God, the first, if not in point of order, yet of importance. "I delivered to you," says the Apostle, "first of all, how that Christ died for our sins, and that afterwards he rose again according to the Scriptures."

To cherish faith in this fact, then, is doubtless the first duty of man, and ought to be our great care. It is our hope, our privilege, our comfort, our joy. So the Apostle felt, and spake, and acted. He says, "I am crucified with Christ, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himse for me." Thus, by cherishing faith in this great fact, we become partakers of the fellowship of the Gospel; thus we have the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ.

In the second place, we bear about always the dying of the Lord Jesus, by a continual remembrance of this great event. That which we believe most assuredly, which we revolve often, in which we feel the deepest interest, and to which we give the highest place, will be best remembered by us: and the death of Christ possessing all those requisites, with a good man, will impress itself deeply on his mind, and heart, and memory. We are, besides, so formed that facts affect the best minds more than fiction, because these facts realize our ideas, and give a body and evidence to our conceptions. Now, as nothing can be more true than the death of the Son of God, so nothing will be more delightfully remembered and deeply cherished than recollections of the death of Christ. The saints of God love to think about them, love to cherish the hope arising from them and to help them in this great exercise is the most obvious design of the Sacrament of our Lord's Supper: for, you know, it is a commemorative ordinance, and in it Christ is eminently set forth to our view, so that the senses minister to the confirmation of our faith. To remind his hearers of this great event, and to excite their faith in him, is the grand purpose of every minister of the Gospel. He may say, as Peter said, "I will endeavour that, during my

life and after my decease, you may have these things always in remembrance." And says Paul, in his first epistle to this very Church, "I declare unto you the death of the Lord Jesus, which, if ye keep in memory what I delivered to you, you shall be saved by him, and you shall rejoice in it, and through it, in hope of the glory of God."

Now, the death of Christ thus authenticated, and thus rendered interesting, fixes itself upon the mind and heart of the true Christian, and mingles itself with his best views it touches his best feelings; it engages his best thoughts, and activities, and aspirations. Nor can we wonder at this. If we forget Jesus who died for us, whom and what, I pray you, shall we rationally and religiously remember? If we forget this great event, which is surrounded by so many attractions, and involves so many interests of the highest order, what facts and what events ought to please and can profit us? All other facts are defective, and without an interest in this, will become at last but as childish trifles, as worldly frivolities, as vain imaginations, as foolish expectations. Ought we not, then, to say, will not every right minded man be disposed to say, as David said concerning Jerusalem, "If I forget thee, O Jesus, let skill part from my right hand; let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I forget thee, O Jesus?"

In the third place, we bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, by a progressive improvement of this great event. The decease of our Lord is set forth to us in the Word of God, and in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, not merely for contemplation, but for admiring interest; not only for curious inquiry, but for deep meditation and practical improvement. It is this that is the life of man, and it is this that is the glory of God: and nothing can be well done, nothing can be spiritually enjoyed, without an interest in the decease of Christ. His death promotes all our interests; on it our every thing depends: our acceptance with God, our pardon, our peace, our hepe, our comfort, our holiness, our eternal salvation, all spring from him, and all rest upon him. You may remember such declarations in the writings of our holy Apostle; "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God in our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." "He suffered without the gate, that he night sanctify the people with his own blood." Through him " we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Now, a good man is anxious to improve this death for all the purposes for which it was appointed of God, and endured by Christ. Others may gaze upon the cross; he glories in it: others may cast a passing glance upon the Divine Sufferer; he hangs upon the cross, he lives by the cross: he is ever casting his eye upon Him who for his sake endured the cross, despised the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high: he is ever looking to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world: he derives all the supplies of the divine life from this great and delightful object; according to the sublime language of our Lord himself in the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to John: "Verily, verily," said the Saviour, in his own mystic, yet very intelligible language-" Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you, whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him

up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me."

Fourthly, we ought to bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, by imbibing more and more of his Spirit. There are many persons who have neither spirit nor life for readings or discussions concerning this glorious event. It is possible, indeed, that they may submit with patience, or hear with a little pleasure, discourses concerning the outworks of Christianity, and even discussions concerning the death of Christ, provided these are conducted with taste, set off in happy phrases, and delivered in a graceful manner: but let the preacher strike home, let him speak of the peculiarities of religion, let him detect and expose the workings of the human heart, let him speak of the atrocious wickedness and corruption of humanity, let him rise to the peculiarities of experimental godliness and vital religion, and the person is offended; perhaps becomes disgusted.

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But a good man will ever be anxious to drink deep into the spirit of the dying Saviour. And what was this spirit? It was a spirit of holy love; for "he loved us with an everlasting love," and thence “ gave himself for us." It was a spirit of holy submission to the divine appointment: Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God:" and he well knew all that that involved. It was a spirit of determined decision in his great work: yet he exclaimed, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" It was a spirit of holy purity. He was the Lamb of God, "without blemish and without spot." His judge pronounced him faultless: the Centurion who guarded his cross confessed that he was "a righteous man," that he was "the Son of God." It was a spirit of invincible faith. "My God, my God," he cried, claiming an interest in him when the waters overwhelmed his soul. It was a spirit of entire resignation to God amid the agonies of death and the prospect of dying "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Now a good man bears about the dying of the Lord Jesus by seeking to drink continually into the spirit of the crucified Saviour, by imbibing it, by breathing it, by exemplifying it more and more. He desires to be actuated, like Christ, by a spirit of holy love, of sacred submission, of determined decision, of spotless purity, of invincible faith, and of entire resignation. On his death-bed he would say, putting forth his soul, breathing his pure aspirings after his God, “Into thy hands I commend my spirit. Into thy hands I commit myself, O thou Jehovah, God of truth: thou hast redeemed me."

In the fifth place, we shall not bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, unless through grace, we attempt a practical illustration of that great decease, of its character and of its power. That it was the sole, or even the chief end of Christ's appearing in our world to set before us a perfect example of all goodness and piety, as some have contended, we do not believe, and are far from affirming; on the contrary, we are expressly told that he came to die for our sins; and we are informed by Christ himself, that he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. But although it was not the only, or even the main, end of his coming in the flesh to exhibit a sublime example of perfect morality, yet doubtless he came to present

to us a pattern of all goodness, and all godliness. Hence we are told that he hath "set us an example that we should follow his steps." And hence the Apostle Paul says, that he gave himself that we should imitate him, aud "walk in love, as he also loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savou!." "Forasmuch," says the Apostle Peter, "as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God."

Now, it should be the object of the Christian, to exemplify continually this practical influence; he should endeavour to live under the power of the cross; and to show that the death of Christ is to him the wisdom and the power of God. And cherishing faith in Christ, and living in him, he will exemplify the influence of his cross; he will live and he will die as a Christian. It was the grand design of the death of Christ, practically considered in its ultimate influence on the Christian in this world, to make him like his Blessed Lord; and every good man will wish to be transformed more and more into every trait of the temper, and every characteristic of the conduct, of the Saviour; beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, he will desire to be changed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Lord the Spirit: he will go from one degree of holiness to another, from one measure of conformity to another, until the likeness between him and Christ be perfected in glory. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He who is our life shall appear, we also shall appear with him in glory; we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

In the last place, we should bear about continually the dying of the Lord Jesus by a frequent solemn commemoration of him. This, as you know, was the manner of the Apostles and of Christians in the primitive times; they observed frequently the Lord's Supper. And every good man will delight to follow their example, and to show forth, as often as may be, the death of Christ until he come again. Nor can anything be more reasonable. The sacred institution has lost nothing of its ancient and simple dignity-nothing of its tender interest or its imperishable obligation: it is now just as simple, as significant, as solemn, as delightful, as refreshing, as consolatory, as edifying, and as improving, as ever it was. There is no ordinance of the New Testament on which God has smiled more frequently. If a child of God has been brought nearer to his Heavenly Father, it has been usually at the Lord's table; and at such a time as this he has been indeed brought into God's banquetting house, and the banner of love has been spread over him. Unquestionably the Lord's Supper, duly celebrated, is the most striking image that we have of the state and the service of the upper world. "I appoint to you," says our Saviour, referring to this circumstance" I appoint to you a kingdom, as my Father has appointed me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom."

Surrounded, then, as the Lord's Supper is, with attractions the most powerful and persuasive, enforced by recommendations so high, what ought to be so influential? Every true child of God will delight to observe it; and it is doubtless not well with the person who either slights this duty, or declines Think you that man can be a Christian whose soul

positively to observe it.