To "pray in the Holy Ghost," to "walk in the Spirit," and "live in the Spirit," are not peculiar to any order of men, or any age of the Church: they are duties enjoined on all1 and if we serve our God with the fidelity that becomes us, these things will characterize our whole lives, whilst they will preeminently appear on the Sabbath-day.] : That we may not think lightly of this privilege, let me proceed to state, II. The special call we have to seek it I To illustrate this, I would observe, 1. Our necessities require it— [By our intercourse with the world, we are, to a certain degree, clogged and fettered, so that we cannot run our race with the steadiness that we could wish. But, on the Sabbathday, all "these weights are laid aside," and our garments being girt about us, we make our way with augmented rapidity'. If may be permitted to use so familiar an expression, we are going down, like a clock, throughout the week; and need to be wound up on the Sabbath-day, for further exertions in the service of our God. And who has ever truly sanctified his Sabbaths, without being able to attest, that they have been made effectual for this blessed end? Like Elijah, we have a long journey before us; and we eat richly of the provision which God has made for us. But God sets a second feast before us and we rise and eat again; and are thus strengthened for exertions, which would have far surpassed our natural strength*. Yes, a second ordinance has been the means of completing that, which the first had only begun. Indeed, God often so peculiarly adapts the provisions of his house to our peculiar necessities, that it seems as if the minister had been informed of our particular case, and had been addressing himself to us alone. And here I may put it to the conscience of every individual amongst us, and ask him, Whether he has not actually found that he has suffered loss in his soul, when he has neglected to improve a Sabbath, and spent it in vain pursuits? Nay, I may further ask, Whether a very great portion of the enormities committed, amongst those who call themselves Christians, may not, in a great measure, be traced to a neglect of the Sabbath-day? I may justly say then, that "the Sabbath was made for man'," even for the supplying of our spiritual necessities; and that those necessities loudly call upon us to sanctify that day unto the Lord.] h Jude, ver. 20. Gal. v. 25. i Heb. xii. 1. 1 Mark ii. 27. 2. The ordinances are unprofitable to us without it [Whence is it that so many attend upon divine ordinances from year to year, and never derive any saving benefit from them? It is because they do not ever seek to be in the Spirit on the Lord's-day. When they wake in the morning, they have no distinct consciousness, that it is a day to be consecrated wholly to the Lord. When they rise, they do not earnestly implore help from God, to enable them to improve their time aright, and to sanctify to them the ordinances of his grace. When they come up to the house of God, they do not endeavour to get their minds duly impressed with a sense of the importance of the work in which they are engaged. When hearing the blessed word of God, they do not receive it as the word of God himself to their souls: nor, when his seed has been sown in their hearts, do they go and harrow it in by prayer. They attend on the duties of the Sabbath as a form; and never call themselves to an account at the close of the day, how they have improved it, or what blessing they have obtained, or whether they are one jot nearer to heaven. Is it to be wondered at that these persons never make any advance in religion? What kind of a crop would the husbandman have, if he were equally careless about his agricultural pursuits? Here, then, is the true reason why the most faithful ministers labour, as it respects the greater part of their hearers, in vain. A person who has attained to the age of forty-two has had no less than six entire years of Sabbaths. What might not such an one have attained, if he had improved them for the end for which they were given? what knowledge of divine truth, what enjoyment of the Divine presence, and what meetness for the heavenly inheritance? Yet are there many who have made no more advance in any of these things, than if no such opportunities had ever been afforded them. I charge you, brethren, that, whatever guilt you may have contracted by your abuse of past Sabbaths, you begin this day to improve them for your eternal good, that they may not rise up in judgment against you, to your everlasting confusion.] 3. The Sabbath thus improved, will be a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath to our souls [There is a rest remaining for the people of God. And, O! what a rest will that be!-an entire rest of the soul in God! a total absence of every disquieting thought! a complete enjoyment of the Divine presence, and a perfect exercise of all our faculties in His service! In proportion as we spend the Lord's day aright, this is our frame in this life and our Sabbaths on earth are a preparation for, and a prelude to, our VOL. XXI. eternal rest. Say, brethren, is it not desirable to enjoy, thus, what I may call a heaven upon earth? Do not grudge the labour or the self-denial that are necessary for the attainment of this state. Richly will the fruit repay the culture, and the recompence reward the toil experienced in the pursuit of it. See on a dying bed those who have employed their Sabbaths according to the will of God: will you find no difference between them and the careless votaries of pleasure? And, follow the two to the bar of judgment; and will you find no great distinction between them there? I say then, to every one amongst you, Fulfil your duties to the world, with zeal and diligence, on the six days that are allotted you, though not without a careful waiting upon God; for you may be "not slothful in business, and yet fervent in spirit, serving the Lord:" but, on the Sabbath, live exclusively for God, and seek to be wholly "in the Spirit on the Lord's-day."] And now suffer, I pray you, a word of EXHORTA TION O! [Consider, brethren, how many Sabbaths you have lost; and not one of them can ever be recalled. Consider, too, how few may yet remain to you. It is possible that, to some one here present, this very Sabbath may be the last. what bitter regret will arise in your minds, if you are called into eternity before the interests of your immortal souls have been secured! Do not delay this necessary work: do not arm death with terrors so appalling, as those must be which you will have to encounter in a dying hour, on a retrospect of your past advantages, and in the prospect of your future doom. Reflect, rather, how glorious your prospects will be on the borders of eternity, if now you give yourselves up wholly to your God; and how "abundant an entrance will then be ministered unto you into the everlasting kingdom of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." I would that you would all set that day before you; and then I should have but little occasion to press upon you a due improvement of the Lord's day. But, I readily acknowledge, you cannot do this of yourselves. Yet you are not thereby justified: for the Spirit of God should assuredly be poured out upon you, if you would seek his influences; and through his mighty agency you should be raised to holy contemplations and to heavenly delights. May a Pentecostal effusion of that blessed Spirit be now experienced amongst you, and your present delight in God be a pledge and foretaste of your eternal blessedness!] me. MMCCCCLXXIX. ST. JOHN'S VISION. Rev. i. 12-17. And I turned to see the voice that spake with And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And IN order to obtain the Divine blessing, it is necessary that we should wait upon God in all the ordinances of his appointment. Yet God has not so restricted his favours, but that we may expect the communication of them to our souls wherever we be, provided our neglect of his instituted means proceed from imperious necessity, and not from an indifference to his commands. St. John was banished to the Isle of Patmos, where he had no opportunity of assembling with the Church of Christ, and of sanctifying the Sabbath in the way to which he had been accustomed. But he sought the Lord in secret, and was in the Spirit," that is, in a holy heavenly frame, "on the Lord's day:" and what was wanting to him in respect of external advantages, was abundantly compensated by an extraordinary vision of his Lord and Saviour. 66 We will, I. Illustrate this vision In doing this, it will be proper to notice, 1. The person who appeared to him [This, though said to be "like unto the Son of man," was not a created angel, but the Son of man himself, even that Jesus, "who had been dead, but was living again, and was alive for evermore." This glorious person appeared to John in a manner suited to the characters and circumstances of the different Churches; and in the epistles, written to them, reference is continually made to this description of him. He is here described in his situation, habit, appearance, voice, and attitude. 1. In his situation.-There was in the temple a golden candlestick with seven lamps, to which it was the priest's office to attend. This candlestick, which on account of the number of the lamps is considered as seven, represented the seven Churches of Proconsular Asia: and "the Son of man standing in the midst of them," denoted, that he inspected the state of Churches and individuals, to observe how their light shone, to replenish them occasionally with fresh supplies of his Spirit, and, by seasonable trials in a way of providence or of grace, to trim them, as it were, whensoever their dimness called for his special interposition. 2. In his habit. The garments which he wore were such as were appointed for the high-priest: and by this clothing he intimated, that, though he was in glory, he still executed the priestly office, presenting his blood before the mercy-seat, and ever living to make intercession for his people." He would have it known to the Church that he is " a Priest upon his throned" 3. In his appearance.-This was august beyond all expression or conception. His hoary" head," denoting both his majesty and wisdom, marked him out as "the Ancient of days." His fiery "eyes" evinced, that he searched the heart and tried the reins, and penetrated the inmost recesses of the soul. His "feet" of fine and burning brass intimated, that, as all his steps were holy, so was his procedure firm and irresistible. His " countenance," shining as the meridian sun, displayed his excellency and glory, and his worthiness of universal love. 4. In his voice. This, which was terrible, like the roaring of the tempestuous ocean, shewed, that, however his words had formerly been disregarded, it became all to attend to them with the deepest humility. 5. In his attitude.-He "held in his hand seven stars," (which represented the ministers of the seven Churches',) and thereby intimated, that all ministers were under his direction and controul, and that they ought to shine for the good of men without regarding their menaces or assaults, since under his protection they could not but be safe. At the same time, emitting "from his mouth a sharp two-edged sword," he a ver. 18. c Exod. xxviii. 4. b Exod. xxv. 31, 32. f ver. 20. |