IV. IN the fourth and last place, Let us keep SERM. our eyes ever fixed on that important period, which is alluded to in the text, as the conclusion of all Let both grow together until the harvest. The great spiritual year is to be closed by a harvest, when the householder is to gather the wheat into his barn; when, at the end of the world, the final distinction of men and characters is to take place. The confused mixture of good and evil, which now prevails, is only a temporary dispensation of Providence, accommodated to man's fallen and imperfect state. Let it not tempt us, for a moment, to distrust the reality, of the divine government; or to entertain the remotest suspicion that moral good and evil are to be on the same terms for ever. The frailties of our nature fitted us for no more at present than the enjoyment of a very mixed and imperfect society. But when our nature, purified and refined, shall become ripe for higher advancement, then shall the spirits of the just, disengaged from any poluted mixture, undisturbed by sin or by sinners, be united in one divine assembly, and SERM. and rejoice for ever in the presence of him IV. who made them. Looking forward to this glorious issue with stedfast faith, let no cross appearances ever discomfit our hopes, or lead us to suspect that we have been serving God in vain. If we continue faithful to the death, we may rest assured, that in due time we shall receive the crown of life. SERMON V. On the RELIEF which the GOSPEL AF- [Preached at the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.] MATTH. xi. 28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. THE V. HE life of man on earth is doomed SARM. to be clouded with various evils. Throughout all ranks the afflicted form a considerable proportion of the human race: and even they who have a title to be called prosperous, are always, in some periods of their life, obliged to drink from the cup of bitterness. The Christian religion is particularly entitled to our regaril, by accommo dating V. SERM dating itself, with great tenderness, to this distressed condition of mankind. It is not to be considered as merely an authoritative system of precepts. Important precepts it indeed delivers for the wise and proper regulations of life. But the same voice which enjoins our duty, utters the words of consolation. The gospel deserves to be held as a dispensation of relief to mankind under both the temporal and spiritual distresses of their state. This amiable and compassionate spirit of our religion conspicuously appears in the character of its great Author. It shone in all its actions while he lived on earth. It breathed in all his discourses; and, in the words of the text, is expressed with much energy. In the preceding verse, he had given a high account of his own person and dignity. All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. But lest any of his hearers should be discouraged by this mysterious representation of his greatness, he instantly tempers it ! with the most gracious benignity; declar- SERM. ing, in the text, the merciful intention of his mission to the world, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and 1 will give you rest. THE first thing which claims our attention in these words is, what we are to understand by coming unto Christ. This is a phrase which has often given occasion to controversy. By theological writers it has been involved in much needless mystery, while the meaning is in itself plain and easy. The very metaphor that is here used serves to explain it. In the ancient world, disciples flocked round their different teachers, and attended them wherever they went; in order both to testify their attachment, and to imbibe more fully the doctrine of their masters. Coming unto Christ, therefore, is the same with resorting to him as our declared Master; acknowledging ourselves his disciples, believers in his doctrine, and followers of his precepts. As Christ is made known to us under the character both of a Teacher and a Saviour, our coming to him imports not G only VOL. IV. |