fidelity. Thus, in all ages and dispensations, man has been the bearer of mercy to his fellow-man. This is stamped with new and peculiar authority under the Gospel: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel," &c. And it was by simple obedience to this express command that the world was converted to Christ. Preaching, or evangelizing, was, and is the pioneer of God's truth: the Sacraments are not for conversion but for the converted. Who will venture to say a word against God's ordinance of preaching, or attempt to depreciate it into a mere human exercise? It is well to exalt the blessed Sacraments of the Church; they are invaluable, they are divine-but why should one divine ordinance be put in competition with another? He that said "Do this in remembrance of me," said also, "Go and preach," &c. He who purifies and sanctifies and strengthens his people with his holy sacraments edifies and guides them by the preaching of his everlasting Gospel. By this alone the ancient world was converted-by this chiefly, thousands of the heathen in modern times have been brought to a Saviour by this Papal Rome was shaken to its centre three centuries ago by this sinners are still changed from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God:-depreciate a Gospel ministry, silence the faithful Herald, or thrust him into a corner and dishonour his office, and you quench the light of Israel—and induce again the dark mists of superstition and ignorance, which have always overhung the christian world whenever ritual observances have been exalted above God's word written and preached. (c) This is also an ordinance of love and compassion. Sinners can proclaim the message of mercy to their fellow-sinners, as angels never can. Those bright ones never fell; they never experienced the pang of conscious guilt; weakness, and weariness, and care, and vexation, and sorrow, never impeded their flight; they never felt the need of a Saviour, nor was he slain for them; they cannot taste his love, nor wash themselves in his blood, nor clothe themselves in his righteousness, nor say he died for us. But we are men of like passions with yourselves, companions in the same afflictions, exposed to the same temptations—and, having found the efficacy of salvation ourselves, we can proclaim its excellency from experience. Nay, the ministers of God have sorrows and joys of a peculiar kind appointed them, that they may be able perfectly to sympathise with others: "to weep with them that weep, and to rejoice with them that do rejoice." (Rom. xii. 15): see also 2 Cor. i. 3-7. But see, 2. The grand design of all preaching :-it is to proclaim Jesus! (a) This is deducible from what has gone before. If the Scrip tures are to be the substance of our preaching, and Christ be the grand subject of the Scriptures, it is obvious that he must also be the great topic of our preaching. Thus, not Philip only, but all the Apostles and Evangelists "taught and preached Jesus Christ." (Acts v. 42.) 'They determined to know nothing else but Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Cor. ii. 2.) Wherever they went, amongst Jews or Gentiles, "Jesus and the resurrection" was their topic. 66 (b) All true and faithful descendants of the Apostles have ever done the same. In vain our boasted lineal descent and succession, if we do not preach the same doctrine, or if we preach that "with reserve," which Apostles proclaimed freely, openly, and without limitation. They who substitute a mere moral essay, or learned disquisition, or the reveries of some fictitious saint, for the preaching of the Gospel, may be expected to undervalue the ordinance of God-for they do not understand it, and have changed it into the mere conceits of man. They have deprived Samson of his seven locks: obscure or keep back the person, work, offices, and glories of the Lord Jesus Christ, and preaching is indeed a feeble and powerless instrument. As Christ in the Scriptures imparts to them their ability to save, so it is Christ alone in the preached word which gives it life and salvation : without him preaching is but " sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." (c) But how is Christ to be thus systematically preached? Is his name to be introduced into every sentence? Though this is not what we mean, yet St. Paul himself often does this from an overflowing heart, as in 1 Cor. i. Christ must be in the mind and heart of the preacher, whatever subject he may be handling. Do I expound the law of God? it is to convince of sin and lead men to Christ. Would I shew God's hatred against sin? it shall be in the sufferings of Christ. Do I inculcate morals? it shall be by the example of Christ. Would I turn sinners to repentance? it shall be by the love of Christ! Is heaven described? it is to depart and be with Christ! Or hell? it is to be without him! "Depart ye cursed." Thus Christ is at once the centre from which all doctrines and duties radiate, and the object to which they all point. When Christ is thus diffused through every department of instruction, "our Gospel will come not in word only, but also in power," &c. (1 Thess. v.) This and this alone is converting preaching; and this is the ordinance of God. 1. Brethren, you have this word written and preached! Do you read it? Do you hear it with reverence, with humility, and affection? Are you seeking Christ in his appointed ordinances as the Eunuch sought him? Can you discern him in his word and hear him in his Gospel? Has he called you, awakened you, drawn you away from sin and worldliness, and filled you with his love? How terrible will be your guilt, if, possessing such advantages, you do not profit by them! Oh! may the means of grace never be to you the means of condemnation! What! shall God write a book, and will ye not read it? Shall God utter his voice, and will ye not hear it? God forbid! "he that hath ears to hear let him hear." 2. Christian brethren, cling to your distinctive protestant privileges; viz. God's holy word, both written and preached. These are our great defences against superstition and priestcraft: let us shew our value for them not only by earnestly contending for them, and boldly, though meekly, resisting any encroachment upon them, but also by diligently availing ourselves of them for our own spiritual edification : "so shall we be mighty in the Scriptures," not "as children tossed to and fro by every blast of vain doctrine," but rooted and grounded in the love of the truth, and built up into Christ Jesus in all things. "Stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." XXV. THE ETERNITY OF GOD THE SON. Revelation i. part of ver. 8. which is, and which was, and which is to come, the ALMIGHTY. SUBLIME description of the past, present, and future glories of MESSIAH! That He is the great One thus described, can be denied by none who receive this book as the Revelation of God. Jesus Christ is the antecedent : "who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," (ver. 5); "who cometh with clouds, whom every eye shall see," &c. (ver. 7); and who here displays his own glory: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty!" The same who presented himself to St. John in the glorious vision which follows: "the Alpha and Omega," (ver. 11,) but "like unto the Son of Man," (ver. 13); and who distinctly reveals himself" I am the first and the last-I am he that liveth, and was dead"—" the living one"-the self-existing one-yet one who had been dead-" and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." The self-same description of omnipotence and eternity is here repeatedly applied to Him who alone had died and lived again-even Christ-which is applied to God Almighty in ver. 4! It is not surprising that the unhappy and deceived Socinians are driven to deny the inspiration of this book! May the Eternal Spirit fill our minds with adequate conceptions of the deity and glory of Christ, while we attempt to follow the bold sketch of his everlasting existence, thus drawn by the pen of inspiration! Contemplate God our Saviour I. AS HE WAS: II. As HE IS : III. AS HE IS TO COME! I. AS HE WAS! 1. HE WAS-in the bosom of the Father from all eternity : -Before this fair world was called into being-" in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John i. 1.) "Unto the SoN he saith, Thy throne, O GOD, is for ever and ever." (Heb. i. 8.) There was "a glory which he had with the Father before the world was! (John xvii. 5.) Unknown as yet as the "Son of Man," he was adored and worshipped as heaven's brightest One. 2. HE WAS a little helpless babe, born in a stable, cradled in a manger : -Shorn of his glorious beams, the emblem of weakness and dependance, he hangs upon his mother's breast: omnipotence assumes the garb of impotency-how wonderful! Incarnate Deity! "God manifest in the flesh!"-" He is made a little lower than the angels," &c. (Psalm viii. 5.) 66 3. HE WAS " a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:" -What "contradiction of sinners against himself” did he endure ! "He had not where to lay his head"-a houseless stranger in his own world-despised, rejected, falsely accused, yet condemned, insulted, cruelly entreated, crucified, slain he was a stiffened corpse, and he was laid in the cold grave "obedient unto death:" "he died and was buried." And why? Because "He became a curse for us;" "his soul was made an offering for sin:" "he bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Hence the "bloody sweat," the cross and pas 66 sion : 5. HE WAS-again on earth forty days. (Acts i. 3.) He rose, as he promised, from the dead on the third day: he appeared to many; and went in and out among them forty days, proving that he was the same who was crucified, and now was alive for evermore-until, as he talked with his disciples, "he was taken up into heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight.' II. HE IS ! HIS PRESENT STATE AND CIRCUMSTANCES. 1. HE IS glorified,— -still in human form-"like unto the Son of Man," 2. HE IS the head of his Church : -His present glory is for her benefit: he possesses all things for her: "He is head over all things to his church," (Ephes. i. 22; iv. 15, 16.) "He is the fulness of him that filleth all in all;" "that out of his fulness, all we might receive," &c. "and be filled with all the fulness of God!" (Ephes. iii. 19; iv. 13; Col. i. 19.) He is the fountain whence all streams flow down to his Church. The Holy Spirit more especially—“ I will send him unto you," said he, (John xv. 26; xvi. 7.) All this is the fruit of his intercession: "I will pray the Father," &c. (John xiv. 16.) "He lives to intercede," (Heb. vii. 25.) Our perpetual "advocate," (1 John ii. 1.) |