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ignorant of the glory of his character, when these men still displayed this ignorance, as having an almost uncontrollable dominion over their faculties, we find the Redeemer, with persevering kindness, still conveying the instruction which they had sinfully rejected, and expressing the feelings of disappointment with which he viewed their unwillingness to learn.

Such was the case in the instance be

fore us. Jesus had been speaking of his future glory. He told his followers, that he and his Father were one, and yet, after all the instruction he administered,

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Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Did Christ say, I have identified my Father in all the instructions I have given you, and therefore you can expect no farther information-no farther evidence? Did he say, I have ministered to your instruction, but your ignorance still remains? Did he say, remain in your state of ignorance I leave you alone? No: But, with all the kindness peculiar to himself, as a teacher sent from God, he simply says, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?" With willingness and love he proceeds in the same kindness to unfold the mystery to Philip, who was not yet taught, -not yet enlightened, He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father."

The Redeemer's kindness is not changed. Now that he is in heaven, he retains with him all the feelings that belong to his mediatorial character. Now that he is seated on the everlasting throne, he is still ready to deliver the admonitory hint to every one of us, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?"

There are two things to which I shall direct your attention, in connection with the words I have now read, while I endeavour to apply them to your own case. I. I shall direct your attention to certain descriptions of characters to which this interrogatory may be addressed.

II. Consider the importance of an immediate and direct application of this question to the case of each of these characters.

I. Let me direct your attention To

CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF CHARACTERS TO WHOM THIS INTERROGATORY MAY BE ADDRESSED," HAVE I BEEN SO LONG TIME WITH YOU, AND YET HAST THOU NOT KNOWN ME?"

Let me address these words,

1st. To each individual who is rejecting the great salvation, if there be any such in this assembly.-The Redeemer did not come down from heaven, and assert from his own unsustained testimony, that he was the Son of God. He does not tell scepticism to turn away the understanding, and the human understanding to forget its powers of sifting the message, and to lay aside all evidence in support of the message that may be sifted.

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The Redeemer has come to lay before scepticism, grounds upon which it may come to an enlightened, as well as a right belief, that he was the Son of God. He has come to the world, and addressed to unbelief the evidence of his miracles. He has addressed to unbelief the power of his spirit to convert men to himself through a succession of many generations. He has come to the world, and laid before unbelief the triumph of his kingdom, in the face of every thing that this world could bring together against that kingdom. He has presented to unbelief a people existing like the bush without being consumed-a people that have defied the powers of persecution-a people that have defied the enmity of earth and hell combined together people that have defied the allurements of the world-a people that have lived above them, amidst all the temptation that mammon could place before them people that have resisted the father of lies, and held fast to the truth-a people that have looked for a better inheritance, and have been raised to a sacred scorn of every thing that could bring them down from a hope full of immortality-a people ready for every good word and work-a people substantiating the claims of pure principle, by an enlightened walk and conversation, becoming the gospel which they profess—a people pure in the midst of pollution a people faithful in the midst of infidelity-a people holding up a Saviour in the glory of his character, while as living epistles of his name they are known, and read of all men. when we find such a people connected with the recollections that his name must press upon us with all the Redeemer did in his own person, when he triumphed in the power of his majesty over things that waited to oppose the evidence on which he intended to rest his kingdom-when we have these objects addressed to our scepticism, Have I been so long time with you, holding up the evidence

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of my ministers, and sustaining the power of my character, by creating in sinners my own moral image, and giving them a resemblance to the character I sustain amidst the glories of the throne, "Have

I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me?" evidence has all these evidences passing before it, and still there is unbelief!

2ndly. To those who have merely adopted the forms of the SAVIOUR's kingdom, without having any share in its spiritual and renovating power.-The Redeemer came not into the world to undergo the sufferings of the cross, to instruct in the principles of his everlasting gospel, to defend his Father's character, while he received the guilty, and admitted them into the enjoyment of holy fellowship with himself, merely for the purpose of laying down a certain mould into which the christian community might be formally cast, till the fleeting possessions of earth should be transformed into the realities of heaven. The Redeemer came for a more exalted purpose. And when we find the men of mere form, dead in trespasses and sins, though outwardly conforming to the ordinances of the gospel of Christ, need we wonder if the Redeemer be supposed to turn round and look at their dead formality: No incense ascending with their praise, no devotedness of life, no sweetness in the savour of his name, no unction from on high, no spiritual influence extended to those around, no combining principle uniting them together as living stones in the common building, a habitation of God through the Spirit. To the different members of this formal and lifeless mass, need we wonder if the Redeemer looks down and says, "Have I been so long time with you," in the preaching of the life and power of the gospel, " and yet have you not known me?" Do you verily suppose that I took unto me my great power to reign, for the purpose of taking the presidency of such a lifeless collection of immortal beings as these? Was it for these that I bled, that I suffered, that I died? Was it for the purpose of recolouring to such a powerless profession as this, that I travailed in the greatness of my strength, and became mighty to save? Was it not for the purpose of removing this, and giving an energy that could quicken together with me those that were afar off by nature, that I laid down my life, and became mediator between

God and man? Therefore, to those who are living without the power of that godliness that I have pursued, I must say, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?"

3rd. To those who are found neither sceptics, nor merely formulists; who not only make a profession of the gospel, not only observe the ordinances of the gospel, but have really a certain measure of feeling, a certain measure of mental power, connected with all these observances.-Now, of all those descriptions of character with whom we can have anything to do, this is the most unmanageable and the most insensible. If we speak of want of power to the formalist, he feels self-condemned at our appeals; he feels that he has not the power. He is perfectly alive to the appeal which you make to his conscience, when you tell him he is dead amidst the quickening ordinances and animating principles of the gospel of Christ. You have reached him; and though for a season he may make no practical response to your appeal, the Spirit of God may make it the wisdom and the power of God to his salvation. When you come to the sceptic, you can address his unbelief. You can adduce evidence, and bring it to bear upon his case, and perhaps produce conviction. But when you come to a man whose sentiments accord with the truth of revelation, who has a general regard for the ordinances of christianity, you have come into contact with a mind that has power about it-with a mind that possesses energy-with a mind that has some measure of enjoyment-with a mind whose taste has been touched-with a mind which feels no appeal to be made to it as to the ordinances of religion, because it observes them-with a mind that feels no conviction when the evidences of revelation are urged home, because it acknowledges them. Yet this mind has not the vital power of godliness. It has risen above scepticism; nay, higher still: it has been raised above formality; it breathes an air that frees it from the accusation of conscience. It attends to the things of God. It happens to be connected with a considerable degree of animation, perhaps arising from constitution. It feels that every thing applied to the indifferent, the dead, lifeless, soulless, powerless profession of others, belongs not to it, therefore it is not the man. You cannot in this case, say Thou art the man ;" and expect the reply, "I have

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sinned against the Lord." this question is put to such, let me remind them, that notwithstanding all this energy, notwithstanding all this vigour of character connected with the profession of the gospel of Christ, there may wanting the indwelling of the Messiah, by faith, as the hope of glory. There are some characters who, under any circumstances and any dispensation, will be found to carry a considerable degree of life and power with them. There are some characters never found walking in a dead, lifeless kind of formality. Were they pagans, they must be ardent pagans. Were they Mohammedans, they must be ready instruments to assist it, by the means with which it was extended, the fire and the sword. If they belonged to infidels, they would be active disciples, and would be up and doing. Are they individuals connected with the state?-they will be found to move the cabinet, if admitted into it, and perhaps the world. In short, in whatever province they may find employment, the ardour and fire of their characters will throw around them all the indications that there is a living spirit. Now, if this is ascertained to be the case, and it is a fact that cannot be denied, if we reflect for one moment upon what we know of human nature,-then it may be, that the profession of the gospel may be added to this constitutional ardour, and that without the regenerating power of the grace of God. But, we would say, was it merely for the purpose of exciting some unnatural enthusiasm in the mind, giving to it that species of ardour which may be possessed in perfect separation from the holiness which becometh those that draw near to God; was it merely to give this quickening influence, was it merely to clothe with this ardour a people professing the gospel of Christ, that the Redeemer came into the world? Let me notice, that as the Lord Jesus Christ is a perfect pattern, to which all his people must be conformed, the gospel is intended, not to create this ardour, but to sanctify and subdue it. About the Redeemer we discover a subdued, yet exalted majesty of character, We follow him as angels would, to admire his subdued majesty; while we, in the gospel, tread the path that he has walked. See him among his friends: we find his language subdued, his feelings subdued. If we except a single case, in which he drove the money-changers out

of the temple, which he did with a majesty becoming his character, we do not find any instance of the ardour, by which man in his imperfection is so often distinguished, displayed by the Redeemer. If, then, we discover this ardour of character unsubdued in any, we can say, "Have I been so long time with you," and have you no more of that character which it behoves you to cultivate than this? Have you not reason to come into contact with the holy elements of the gospel?

4thly. To those who are really the people of GOD, I would say—

(1.) The REDEEMER has a right to the sovereign dominion over all your affections, and he came for the express purpose of asserting and maintaining this dominion.

Has he been so long time with you, instructing you in this great truth, through the medium of all his ordinances, and through the medium of his word, and yet in this instance have you not known him? The Redeemer came that he might call the world his own. He came to set up an empire of his own. He intended to put down all rivalship in the claim that he was to urge on the affection of sinners. He came to save sinners, over whom he intended to reign. He intended to put down the world, and all the claims of the world. He intended to give a decided inferiority to the place which every thing earthly should hold in the affections of those whom he came to ransom. He intended to lift his own sceptre to an elevation that would allure the world around, and convince the unregenerate that his people had been with Himself. Now, if the Redeemer came to give himself for the accomplishment of these purposes-if he lives that we might live also if he has been instructing you ever since he taught you to escape from the wrath to come,-if this is the instruction he administers on every returning sabbath, and every time you open his sacred volume, may we not ask you, "Have I been so long time with you, end yet hast thou not known me?" Is it not a fact-(and I now address myself to the most exalted in this assembly, in point of spiritual attainments; I feel that I am now free from speaking to some individuals, who, perhaps, may not be present, -to some individuals, who, perhaps, may not apply the question to themselves: I speak now generally to those who conceive that they have tasted

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that the Lord is gracious, and I pursue the interrogative) that you do not know him? Is it not a fact, that the world has still too lofty an ascendancy? Is it not a fact, that its connexions press too frequently upon the memory? Is it not a fact, that there is naturally too easy a recurrence to the things of the world, after the Redeemer has pressed upon you the greatest claims he can urge upon your regard? Is it not a fact, that there is too ready a yielding to the influence of temporal things, even when you have been elevated to the highest vantage ground that revelation can supply, from which to view the allurements of eternal objects? not a fact, that while the Redeemer proclaims himself as your Lord, and commands from you the requirement, that as he died for you, it is your duty to live, not unto yourselves, but unto Him that died and rose again,—is it not a fact, that while the Redeemer presses upon you this just and this holy return, there is still a neutralizing of its effect, by the world disputing with him the throne of your moral power? Has the Redeemer been so long time with you, teaching you the value of eternal things, and you are yet so powerless and feeble? If the Saviour had supreme dominion over your affections-if this supremacy of spiritual government were preserved through the whole of your commercial pursuits-if it were found in the church-if it were found in the world-if it were found in the family-if it were found in private meditation-if this dominion were always ready to put in its claim, the moment the necessary business of the world had been discharged, if it formed your mental habits—if it impressed them more with that spiritual discipline which tends to growth in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ-if, in some object held dear by you, some object that has drawn every power of your mind that could be attracted, the gospel itself were constantly developing more of its glory, and if it were met by new discoveries, by fresh attachment to the discoveries it had thus developed-if the whole mind were given to the spiritual power thus communicated, in the midst of which the spirit held dominion, giving direction to every movement, till it brought the people to the stature of a perfect man, when they should be ready to wing their way from the enjoyments of earth to the glories of heaven,-if we saw this diffused

through the church, from the old to the young, as an instrument through which God would act by his own almighty grace; and if we saw one generation of the church after another brought to this state of submission, we should then cease to put the question, "Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me?" in the measure of his claims upon your regard. While we know this is not the case-while it is quite useless to attempt to think it is the case-while no argument, however ingenious, can convince any mind that there is a spiritual ascendancy of the Redeemer over his people, we have no right to turn away from the question, when it is proposed to us-Has the Redeemer been so long time with you, bringing eternal objects to tell you that these claims must be submitted to, and yet have you not known him? Let me refer

(2.) To the people of God in connection with this question, as they may be found when subjects of temporal adversity.

When we find the people of God in the enjoyment of prosperity, we find them all the day having their spirits high. The hours of former darkness have passed away, their sky is clear, and their horizon bids fair for continued prosperity. But when all becomes again night, and the black shadows that were supposed to have passed by for ever have returned; when prosperity has given place to adversity, and we find them yielding and giving way, can we not then come with the question, Have I been so long time with you, and have you not known me?" Do you suppose that the Redeemer, who gave himself as the greatest evidence of his love, has deserted you merely because he brought this visitation home to your case? Has he removed any object from which you derived much of your comfort, merely for the purpose of grieving you for his own pleasure? Has he come down from his Father's throne, and been accursed at his footstool, on your behalf, and has he long taken the reigns of universal government, and received all judgment into his hands from the Father, for the mere purpose of bringing to bear upon your person, a sore visitation, that would produce nothing for your good? Does he delight in the midst of so much enjoyment himself, and so much power and authority, that he creates a black cloud over the interests of his people, and declares himself an object

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of dread, from which the spirit must necessarily recoil, whilst he has nothing in his keeping, to benefit those that are objects of it? We may say to the man mourning in temporal distress, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?" Do you not know that he presides over this incident in your history? Do you not know that he is alive to all the feelings by which you are exercised in your progress? Do you not know that your eye is less upon your family, less upon its interests, less upon the advancement of its real weal, than the eye of your Redeemer ? Do you not know that your feelings, in connection with every thing that is associated with your real welfare, are but as "the morning cloud and the early dew," compared with the regard that your Redeemer cherishes for every hair of your head? Do you not know, that since he gave himself for you, he is ready to give you all things? Do you know that he gave himself up to the death for you? And do you suppose that he withholds the smile of his countenance and delights in sufferings? Do you suppose that he does not connect with your adversity, the eternity to which you are approaching? Do you suppose this forms no part of the purposes of his kindness? think this is nothing in the chain of universal government? Do you suppose that this is an isolated circumstance? Do you suppose that this is not a link in the chain with which he connects all the believers' welfare? Are you to regard this as an event standing aloof from every thing that tends to the promotion of his glory? Has he been so long time with you, and do you prove by this view of your case, that you have not known him?

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(3.) Let me refer to those who perhaps may be under SPIRITUAL adversity.

The question contained in the text will apply most fully to those who are labouring under spiritual darkness, or under spiritual distress. Let me, however, remind such, that I do not intend to tell them that God sent spiritual darkness for the purpose of trying them. No! spiritual darkness is the fruit of our own transgressions. "YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOD." Now this is a standing and eternal principle in the government of the church of God, and should never be forgotten as such. "Your iniquities have separated between

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you and your God." Regarding, therefore, every measure of spiritual adversity as arising from the sin of the individual, (I say not some open glaring failing in his history, but every movement of the mind away from God, may be regarded as having a decided effect upon the spiritual interests of man,) let me apply the question to such a case as this. The sinner is mourning before God. His prayers are powerless, because he has employed his affections on other objects, and he withdraws them from the fervour of supplication. The sinner finds his prayers powerless. He cannot bring his mind to meditate upon the truths of God; he perhaps makes a ready turn to the world, and finds his conscience smiting him while he turns to it; he is endeavouring to bring all the powers and energies of his character to dwell upon the everlasting covenant, yet there is a want of power about these exercises; he finds less of profit day after day; he, perhaps may, while he forgets his helplessness, enter, with all his feelings, into the affairs of the world, and he perhaps can, in his desire for business, display all his usual tact in his commercial speculations; or, if he is a man of learning, he is as able to scrutinize all the objects that come within his grasp as a literary character; but when he returns to the things of God, his darkness again comes with him. He looks to the right hand, but God is not there. He looks to his left hand, but God is not there. He looks behind him, but he cannot perceive him before him, but he is invisible. His faith can descry no testimony which can relieve him. All his former strength has departed. He is the son of weakness. He complains of his darkness, yet the complaint is useless. He is not heard. There is no reply to his petition. In these circumstances, he is found walking in darkness, and having no light. Instead of saying, be satisfied with this view, it is the dispensation of God, it is only a token of his favourwe would rather apply the question,

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Have I been so long time with you," instructing you in works of grace and kindness, "yet hast thou not known me?" You are not straightened in him, you are straightened in your own bowels. There is nothing connected with Christ, or with his great salvation, that would encourage your continuance in your present state. The instruction which we

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