Chapter VIII: Introduction (7)

Five men were determined to rise early in the morning, to engage in a great work, upon which depended their future fortunes. The first was up before the morning star; and though uncertain as to the hour, immediately prepared for business. The second, when he rose, saw the star just above the horizon, and hastened to his work with animation and joy. The third slept a little too long, and awoke in great confusion and alarm; but hurrying through the day as well as he could, though with a heavy heart and many a blunder, he made out partially to redeem his delinquency. The fourth heard the cock crowing, but thought there was no need of being in a hurry, and composed himself to sleep again; and when his neighbors called him, turned in his bed, and answered—“A little more slumber;” and awaking about nine of the clock, found the day too far advanced, and abandoned his purpose in despair. The fifth, disturbed by the bustle of the others before daylight, got up and looked out of the window; and finding it as dark as it was at midnight, was very angry, called his neighbors a set of fools, and declared he would have nothing to do with the enterprise; and while all the others made themselves rich, he lived and died in deserved poverty; and some pitied him for his misfortune, and others ridiculed him for his folly. Mark the wise man, and follow his example.

The kingdom of Antichrist has of late been greatly weakened in many parts of the world. Providence is pouring the vials of wrath upon the Beast and the False Prophet. The idols and altars of Paganism fall before the advancing ark of God. The church, with its train of benevolent institutions—like the bride, with her attendant virgins, going forth to meet the royal bridegroom—proclaims the coming of the Prince of Peace. The Bible, Missionary, Sabbath-school, and Tract societies, are four heralds, running before Messiah’s chariot; rather, the four wheels of that chariot in which he rides victoriously.

The rise and progress of the British and Foreign Bible Society remind me of the stream in Ezekiel’s vision. This great river had its source in one of the mountains of Wales. In the year 1802, the Rev. Mr. Charles of Bala, an ordained minister of the established church, officiating in connection with the Calvinistic Methodists, deeply impressed with the preciousness of the Bible, and aware of the scarcity of copies throughout the principality, felt that some measures ought to be adopted to furnish it at a reduced price, and circulate it gratuitously among the poor. He wrote concerning it to his countryman, the Rev. Mr. Owen, an Episcopal clergyman in London. The subject was subsequently introduced to a circle of Christian gentlemen, who had met to transact other business. It elicited much conversation, and excited a lively interest. The Rev. Joseph Hughes, a Welshman, and Baptist minister at Battersea, near London, suggested that Wales was not the only part of the world that felt a want of the Bread of Life; and that it was desirable to awaken, if possible, a more extensive interest on the subject among Christians of every name; and stir them up to the adoption of some measure, which might lead to a general circulation of the Scriptures. The suggestion was heartily entertained, and warmly supported by the rest of the company; and its discussion led to those incipient efforts, which, in 1804, issued in the organization of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The little spring of Bala soon became a stream large enough for a man to swim in; and now it widens and deepens into a great river, on which float the merchandise of Zion, and the navies of God.

Welshmen! it is your privilege and honor, as well as your duty, to sustain this excellent institution. It is a native of Wales, born in your northern mountains. It is your own child, and you are bound to protect and support it to the extent of your ability. I call upon you as Welshmen, to aid an institution originating in Welsh philanthropy. I call upon you as Welsh Baptists, to help forward an enterprise which sprang from the heart of a Welsh Baptist minister. I appeal to you in the language of another:—

“The cause in which we are engaged is the cause of God, and must succeed. Divine goodness has inspired, divine wisdom and power will sustain it. The Bible will be carried throughout the habitable globe. Nor deserts—nor oceans—nor Alpine solitudes—nor Himalayan heights, will obstruct its progress. It will go through polar ice and equatorial fire, wherever a soul may possibly be saved. It will go on victorious, like the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, carrying every thing before it. Error and delusion must vanish as the mists of the morning before the rising splendor of the sun. The powers of darkness must recede like spectres before the bursting of the day-spring from on high. False gods and their altars must fall together in the dust. The followers of Confucius and Zoroaster will take up their cross and follow Christ. The wandering Arab will sit and sing at Messiah’s feet; and the deluded disciples of Mohammed, instead of going in painful pilgrimage to Mecca, will turn their penitent eyes to Calvary. The dark places of the earth will be enlightened, and the habitations of cruelty will become the abodes of love. Rivers will no longer roll with human blood, nor sacrificial fires be fed with human victims. Mothers will no longer destroy their innocent children, nor aged parents be immolated by their inhuman offspring. Marriage will be instituted in places where it is now unknown, and savage practices be supplanted by the virtuous institutions of the gospel. The Cannibal of New Zealand will be humanized, and the Caffre and the Hottentot clothed and in their right minds. The descendants of Abraham must be gathered from the four quarters of the earth; Jerusalem arise and shine; and the dejected Jordan roll his streams with joy. Barren climes will teem with life—dreary deserts blossom as the rose. Rivers of salvation will run down the hills, and fertilize the plains. The Saviour will ride forth in the chariot of the everlasting gospel, conquering and to conquer. Nations will fall down before him, and mountains melt at his approach. And thus nation after nation will be converted, and empire upon empire will be conquered; and Christianity will spread from clime to clime, and from pole to pole; until the final arrival of the blessed day, when the knowledge of the Lord shall literally cover the earth as the waters cover the deep—when there shall be but one people and one God—when the millennial day shall burst upon the earth, like a flood of glory from on high—when the trump of Jubilee shall sound, and countless millions of the redeemed shall sing, Hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!”

Such, brethren, is the approaching triumph of Emmanuel. The mighty angel, having found an old copy of the everlasting gospel, which the Pope had kept locked up in his bureau for many centuries, is flying in the midst of heaven, in sight of all the world. His progress is rapid as the wings of the wind, and his sweet strong voice is publishing the glad tidings to all people. But we look for greater things than these. Following, comes another mighty angel, casting a great millstone into the sea, and saying—“Thus shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and found no more at all.” Another follows, crying with a loud voice—“Babylon is fallen, is fallen!” Another descends with the key and the chain, and binds the dragon in the bottomless pit. Then appears one “like unto the Son of Man,” sitting upon a white cloud, and wearing a golden crown. He thrusts in his sharp sickle, and reaps the harvest of the earth, and gathers the wheat into his garner, the church. Again the sickle falls, and the vintage of wickedness is gathered, and cast into the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God. Then comes the voice of a great multitude, as of many waters and mighty thunderings—the blended minstrelsy of earth and heaven—ascribing salvation and dominion and glory to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.

The Prince of Darkness, with all his infernal hosts, and all his allies upon earth, is fearfully agitated, as he witnesses the preparation for the great decisive battle. “Why so much benevolence? Why so many societies? Why such extraordinary schemes and efforts?” Nothing disturbs them so much as the sight of Emmanuel’s troops, with their faces toward the field of Armageddon, led on by the Captain of their Salvation, on his white horse, with his vesture dipped in blood. They know that this is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; and the redness of his apparel, reminding them of their defeat when he bruised their heads on Calvary, shoots consternation and anguish through all their ranks; and the gates of hell tremble at the shaking of the iron rod in his hand, which shall dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. But the saints are rejoicing in his train; for they know that not one of the faithful shall perish—that not one of them shall be wounded—that each shall be more than conqueror, and all shall appear with songs of everlasting joy at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And now, my brethren, children of my heavenly Father, of every name and order, loved with the same love, redeemed with the same blood, called by the same Spirit, clothed with the same garment, fed on the same manna, engaged in the same cause—the great Missionary enterprise—as you love the Savior, as you appreciate his salvation, as you desire the introduction of his millennial kingdom, we beseech you to give us a liberal contribution!

We are now ready to receive your money for Missionary purposes; and while you are casting it into the treasury, let me remind you that your gold and your silver are beautiful birds plumed for flight, that Christian liberality is the scissors with which you may clip their wings, and a short winged bird is better than none. May we all act to-day as stewards of the Lord, in the immediate presence of our Master, before whom we must soon appear to account for the use made of our talents; and when the time of reckoning shall come, may each receive the gracious plaudit—“Well done, good and faithful servant! thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!” Amen.

SERMON VIII. THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.

“_Who_, _his own self_, _bore our sins_, _in his own body_, _on the
tree_; _that we_, _being dead to sins_, _should live unto
righteousness_; _by whose stripes ye were healed_.”—I Peter ii. 24.

WHAT great encouragement to patience and fortitude is afforded the followers of Jesus, by the apostle’s contrast of the light and transient afflictions of the present time, with the eternal weight of glory reserved for them in heaven! How forcible the argument which he draws from the approaching scenes of another world, to urge Christians in this to a life of holiness and self-denial! How vivid and terrible his picture of the dissolution of nature by the great conflagration! Imagine the heavens wrapped in dissolving flames, and the elements melting to the centre of the globe. The victorious and inextinguishable fire towers to the empyrean; the magnificent palace of creation is lost in the smoke of its own burning; and the ear is stunned, and the soul is horrified, by the crash of its final fall. “Seeing then, that all these things must be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness; looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God;” “using all diligence to make your calling and election sure;” “that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless;” that “so an abundant entrance may be ministered unto you, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!”

Such, substantially, is the argument. But the apostle employs another; the Christian’s obligation to imitate Christ, suffering for him as he suffered for us, with the same fortitude and resignation, though not to the same extent, nor for the same purpose. It is in this connection he uses the language of the text:—“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” We are to suffer for Christ as his disciples and confessors; he suffered for us as our substitute, our atoning sacrifice and Saviour. Let us attend, first, to this description of his sufferings; and then to the end for which he endured them.

I. The text describes Christ in his vicarious sufferings, as _bearing our sins_; bearing our sins, _his own self_; bearing our sins, his own self, _in his own body_; and bearing our sins, his own self, in his own body, _on the tree_,

1. _He bore our sins_. To get a correct understanding of this expression, we must turn to the record of the ordinance to which it alludes, which is as follows:—“And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat, and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat; and shall send him away, by the hand of a fit man, into the wilderness; and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.” But this part of the ceremony was preceded by another, of very solemn import. A goat was selected for a sin-offering. He was brought before the Lord, and Aaron put his hands upon him, and devoted him to death. He was slain, and his blood was sprinkled upon the altar and the mercy-seat. Then the sins of the children of Israel were laid upon the head of the other goat, and he was led forth, and sent away into the wilderness, to return no more. Both these goats represented Christ; who, as our Savior, answers to both; at once, suffering for our sins, and bearing them away into the land of forgetfulness.

Three things were found continually in the temple; fire, and blood, and sweet incense. The fire denoted the wrath of God against sin; the blood prefigured the sacrificial sufferings of Christ; and the sweet incense typified his intercession at the right hand of the Father, on the ground of his vicarious death upon the cross. The goat of the sin-offering was bound and slain; and then burnt up, with the fat thereof, upon the altar. So Christ was crucified for us without the gates of Jerusalem; and his humanity was consumed by the fire of God’s holy indignation against sin, on the altar of his Divinity; while from that altar ascended a column of the sweetest incense to the heaven of heavens—“Father, forgive them!” In hell also there is fire, where sinners suffer upon the altars of eternal justice. Every sacrifice is salted with fire, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. But the black and sulphurous smoke of the bottomless pit is not a sweet smelling savor unto God, like the fumes of the sacrifice once offered on Calvary—a sacrifice which satisfied the claim of Heaven, and expiated the offence of earth.

The form of expression used in our text is one which frequently occurs in the Old Testament, and signifies the enduring of punishment. Of the impenitent sinner it is said, “He shall bear his iniquity”—that is, he shall endure the just punishment of his sins. He shall carry the burden alone, and for ever sink beneath the load, and mercy shall never come to his relief. Christ’s bearing our sins, then, signifies his enduring, the punishment in our stead. Glory to God, that every poor trembling sinner may cast his burden upon one who is able to sustain it, who has already sustained it in his stead! The law passed the guilty, and arrested the guiltless. Jesus willingly gave himself up as the victim, saying—“I am he; if ye seek me, let these go their way.” His sufferings constitute the sea, in which are buried for ever the sins of his people; sins of the greatest magnitude; sins of the deepest dye. The Father, who turned his back upon the sufferings of his Son, hath said—“I will cast all thy sins behind my back, into the depth of the sea.” This is the abyss, in which they are swallowed up, and seen no more.

2. He bore our sins, _his own self_. God and man were parties at variance. There was but one who could stand between them as mediator, and he gave himself a substitute and sacrifice for the sinner. Uniting in his person the two natures, human and Divine, he was fully qualified for his work; and by once offering himself, he satisfied the demands of the insulted law, and “became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.” He offered up himself, without the aid of another; and it was his own blessed person that he threw between you and the destroying angel, between you and the mortal plague of sin, between you and the unquenchable fires of hell.

None but Moses, the mediator, could penetrate the thick darkness in which, as in a pavilion, God dwelt, upon the mount of terror; and none but Aaron, the high-priest, dared enter the holy of holies, and he only once a year, on the great day of atonement, with trembling steps, and sacrificial blood. So Jesus, the mediator of a better covenant, and high-priest of the true sanctuary, the sum and substance of all the types and shadows of the old dispensation, when, in the garden of Gethsemane, he approached the black and terrible cloud, where God revealed the terrors of his justice, and the fierceness of his wrath, said to his disciples:—“Tarry ye here, while I go yonder. Ye cannot go; the place is too dreadful. I will go alone.” Alone he went; and as he drew near the furnace, his countenance was marvellously altered, his heart melted in the midst of his bowels, and the very substance of his life pressed through the pores of his skin. All the visible fire which flamed on the summit of Sinai, now breaks forth anew on Calvary; and though unseen by man, envelopes in its burning the soul and the body of our glorious Substitute. Behold him rushing between you and the flames, shielding you, and quenching the flames in his blood!

3. He bore our sins, his own self, _in his own body_. Atonement was made for the sins of Israel by the blood of slaughtered beasts. But “the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified only to the purifying of the flesh.” The blood of Christ alone has power to “purge the conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.” It was his own body, that our blessed Redeemer offered as a sacrifice for our sins, a sacrifice of a sweet savor unto God. The Divine person bore the punishment of sins in human nature. “It was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.” We hear the Son saying to the Father:—“Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. I see that the services of the altar are of no avail, and are passing away. In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. At this moment, the great cause of difference between heaven and earth remains untaken away. The bills are all uncancelled. The handwriting in the book of the law, and in the book of conscience, continues in full force unto this day. But lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I delight to honor its claims, while I save its violaters. I will obey, even unto the death of the cross, and expiate human transgression by my meritorious sufferings. Then, as first begotten from the dead, will I declare the decree which thou didst read to me before the foundation of the world—‘Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Because I have bruised thee, and put thee to grief, thou shalt see thy seed, and prolong thy days; and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in thy hand. Because thou hast borne the sins of many, thou shall justify many. Because thou hast been numbered with the transgressors, and made intercession for them, thou shalt see of the travail of thy soul, and be satisfied. Because thou hast made thy soul an offering for sin, pouring it out unto death, I will divide thee a portion with the great, and thou shalt divide the spoil with the strong. I will make thee king in Zion, and thou shalt reign for ever and ever!’”

The sufferings of the Son are accomplished, and the promise of the Father is receiving its fulfilment. The law of the Spirit of Life hath gone forth; and sinners, with songs of salvation, are crowding to the cross!

4. He bore our sins, his own self, in his own body, _on the tree_. In Deut. xxi. 22, 23, we find that death by hanging on a tree was deemed an accursed death. Paul refers to this passage in the third chapter of his epistle to the Galatians:—“As it is written; cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” By consenting to crucifixion, Christ was “made a curse for us.” What shame and ignominy did he endure in our behalf! See him arrayed in royal purple, the reed of scorn in his hand, the crown of thorns upon his head, and the cross of infamy upon his back. He grows faint beneath his burden. His murderers, fearing lest his woes should pass endurance before their cruel thirst for his blood could be satiated, compel Simon of Cyrene to carry one end of the cross. Thus they move on to the summit of Calvary. They lay the tree upon the ground, and stretch the Son of God upon it, and nail his hands and his feet to the wood. It is reared on high, with its bleeding victim; and there he hangs, before the gazing world, and the wondering heavens; suffering the most excruciating death ever invented, the most shameful in the sight of man, the most accursed in the sight of God. All the springs of consolation are sealed to the glorious sufferer; and he finds not a single drop of comfort in his great extremity. True, the fountains of the deep are broken up, and the windows of heaven are opened; but not to supply him with drink who saith—“I thirst!” From below burst forth upon him the streams of hellish rage, a fiery deluge from the mouth of the dragon; while from above Divine Justice pours down a cataract of wrath, overwhelming his soul with agony, and baptizing his body with blood. This is the baptism which he anticipated in talking with his disciples:—“I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Let us pause a moment to contemplate this baptism. It was the anguish of his soul, wringing the blood from his person, till the crimson dew stood thick upon his brow, and rolled down in great drops to the ground. The sufferings of his soul constituted the soul of his sufferings. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” It was not the taunt of the rabble, the derision of the governors, nor the cruelly lacerating scourge, that Jesus dreaded in the garden, and deprecated in that mysterious agony. Nor was it the thorns, the nails, the tree, or the spear. It was the burden, O man! of thy guilt; the flaming curse of the law; the felt displeasure of the Father against sin. When the martyrs suffered death for Jesus’ sake, they rejoiced in the midst of the fire, for the Son of man was there to sustain them; but when Christ suffered, the Just for the unjust, he felt the hidings of his Father’s face, and cried after him through the blackening heavens—“My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me!”

In the Bible we read of two very remarkable trees; “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden,” and the tree of redemption high planted on “the place of skulls.” Milton has made the former the theme of his majestic song, which he opens with the following strain:—

“Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our wo,
With loss of Eden, * * * * *
* * * * * sing, Heavenly Muse!”

But let me extol that mysterious tree of life on Golgotha, by which,—

—“One Greater Man
Restores us, and regains the blissful seat!”

“Sing, Heavenly Muse,” of Jesus and his cross! Sing of the wormwood and the gall, of the strife and the triumph of Calvary! Let us compare these two trees. By the former, “the first Adam” transgressed, and entailed ruin upon his posterity; by the latter, “the second Adam” “became obedient unto death,” and “brought life and immortality to light.” By a forbidden approach to the one, the chain of the covenant was broken, Paradise forfeited, God’s image and favor lost, the league with hell signed, and sealed, and ratified, and the whole earth converted into a province of the Prince of Darkness, and delivered up to the despotism of Sin and Death; but four thousand years afterward, the Son of God took his stand on the other, wrestled gloriously with the tyrant usurpers, dethroned Satan, condemned and abolished Sin, swallowed up Death in victory, disannulled the league of earth with hell, restored to believers the favor and image of God, reopened the gates of the forfeited Eden to the exiles, and established a new and everlasting covenant of grace. The blood of Jesus cancelled the debt of man, and quenched the wrath of God; and from all them that obey him, it will ultimately wash away all the stains of sin, and all the dust of death. This is the newly consecrated way into the holy of holies; this is eternal life! “Sing, Heavenly Muse,” once more!

“We too with him are dead,
And shall with him arise:
The cross on which he bows his head
Shall lift us to the skies!”

Thus, the Son of God, “his own self, bore our sins, in his own body, on the tree.” The burden beneath which he fainted was our burden, and would have sunk us to perdition. It was for us he suffered and died. Though our iniquities were laid on him, they were yet our iniquities. He endured the punishment in our stead. He stood between us and the uplifted arm of Justice; and the sword which would have cleft our souls asunder, was sheathed in Emmanuel’s heart. His righteousness, imputed to us, and appropriated by faith, is “the righteousness of God, which is unto all and upon all them that believe,” covering their sins, and rendering them “accepted in the Beloved.”

Can we pass by mount Calvary, and gaze upon that wondrous sight, and still remain unmoved? Have we no tears of gratitude and love? Pause we not to wonder and adore? O the depth of the riches! the riches of his wisdom! the riches of his grace!

II. Having thus spoken of Christ’s vicarious sufferings, let us notice a little more particularly the end for which he endured them. “That we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.”

This death unto sin, and this new life unto righteousness, denote the sanctification of the soul “by the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” The “spiritually minded” man is made, through the grace of God, a “partaker of the Divine nature.” He has received a new principle, whereby his lusts and corruptions are mortified, crucified, and slain. The right hand that offended is cut off; the right eye that offended is plucked out. He delights in the law of God; he feels a strong desire, and makes strenuous efforts, to conform himself, in heart and life, to its holy requirements. Made free from the dominion and condemning power of sin, he still needs, however, the aid of the Holy Spirit, to crucify the old man; to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world; to die to sins, and live unto righteousness. In the court of heaven, he is justified by the righteousness of Christ; but before men, he is justified by his own righteousness. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Be as a candle, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, enlightening all around you. Paul to the Ephesians says that Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. Let us, therefore cleanse ourselves from all filthiness—from all manner of pollution—of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. For it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy; holy in all manner of conversation; holy in all stations, relations, and conditions of life—as husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants; and this always, and in all places—at home and abroad, in private and in public, in prosperity and adversity. Our conversation should be such as becometh the nature and requirements of the gospel of Christ. Forgetting the things that are behind, we should be ever pressing forward towards those things that are before—not as though we had already attained, either were already perfect; but making perfection our mark; for we know not yet what we shall be, but one thing we do know—that when he shall appear, we shall be like him! Then, and not till then, shall we be satisfied, when we awake in his likeness. We must be conformed to the image of God’s Son in this world, otherwise we cannot have the enjoyment of him in the world to come. We must have the spirit of Christ, to love righteousness, and to hate iniquity. We must imitate his example in zeal and activity, doing our Father’s work while the day lasts. Die to sin, we must. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Put off the old man with all his deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Abstain from those fleshy lusts that war against the soul; always keeping in mind, that they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. To die to sin, implies a perfect hatred of it, deep sorrow and contrition on account of it, and a constant desire and effort to forsake it. We should conscientiously use all the means of grace, and depend entirely upon the grace of God, as that by which alone we can obtain a victory—final and complete,—over all our enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. Good reason have you to pray without ceasing, that you may be made strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. You must put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Your loins must be girt about with truth. The breast-plate of righteousness you must wear. Your heart must be protected by the shield of faith, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Forget not the helmet of salvation, nor the sword of the Spirit, nor to write often to the King—directing to the care of Jesus, that your petitions may not fail—“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” As ye formerly yielded your members servants to uncleanness, even so now yield your members servants of righteousness unto holiness. Live unto righteousness. Yield yourselves up unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Conform to his revealed will, and keep an eye single to his glory in the performance of every duty.

To produce in his people this happy change, was the end of Messiah’s sufferings. But this was not all, for the apostle adds,—“By whose stripes ye were healed.” Divine philosophy! supernatural science! transcending all original conception of men and angels! Who could ever have dreamed of healing by his stripes, soundness by his wounds, pleasure by his pains, and life eternal by his death! We are afflicted by the old inveterate plague of sin, but there is balm in Gilead, and a Physician there. His blood alone can cure the malady, and that is infallible. All the way from Bethlehem to Calvary, he was employed in preparing his materia medica. The Gospel is the great store-house of this precious preparation. It is always full; it is always free; and the sign over its entrance is—“Able to save to the uttermost.” The Holy Spirit is continually making the application, and all who come are cured.

It is a matter of all others the most momentous, that we know our personal interest in these things. If we be not dead to sins, and alive unto righteousness—if we be not healed by the stripes of Jesus—his sufferings upon the cross, and our theoretical faith in their vicarious character and saving power, will profit us nothing. “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” There is a vast difference between sanctification and morality. A man may perform many excellent deeds, while the principle that actuates him is averse to true godliness. Happy are they, whose sins are pardoned, whose persons are justified, and whose bodies are become temples of the Holy Ghost. The Lord is their God and Father. They have passed from death unto life, and shall not come into condemnation. “There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; for the law of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

SERMON IX. THE PURIFICATION OF CONSCIENCE.

“_How much more shall the blood of Christ_, _who_, _through the
eternal Spirit_, _offered himself without spot to God_, _purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God_?”—Heb. ix. 14.

THE Hebrew Christians, to whom the apostle wrote, were well acquainted with the laws of ceremonial purification by the blood of beasts and birds, for by blood almost every thing was purified in the service of the temple. But it is only the blood of Christ that can purge the human conscience. In speaking of this purification, as presented in our text, let us notice—_the object_, _the means_, and _the end_.

I. The object of this purification is the conscience; which all the sacrificial blood shed, from the gate of Eden, down to the extinction of the fire on the Jewish altar, was not sufficient to purge.

_What is the conscience_? An inferior judge, the representative of Jehovah, holding his court in the human soul; according to whose decision we feel either confidence and joy in God, or condemnation and tormenting fear. His judicial power is graduated by the degree of moral and evangelical light which has been shed upon his palace. His knowledge of the will and the character of God is the law by which he justifies or condemns. His intelligence is the measure of his authority; and the perfection of knowledge would be the infallibility of conscience.

This faithful recorder and deputy judge is with us through all the journey of life, and will accompany us with his register over the river Jordan, whether to Abraham’s bosom or the society of the rich men in hell. While conscience keeps a record on earth, Jehovah keeps a record in heaven; and when both books shall be opened in the final judgment, there shall be found a perfect correspondence. When temptations are presented, the understanding opposes them, but the carnal mind indulges them, and there is a contest between the judgment and the will, and we hesitate which to obey, till the warning bell of conscience rings through the soul, and gives distinct notice of his awful recognition; and when we turn away recklessly from his faithful admonitions, we hear low mutterings of wrath stealing along the avenues, and the quick sound of writing-pens in the recording office, causing every denizen of the mental palace to tremble.

There is _a good conscience_, _and an evil conscience_. The work of both, however, is the same; consisting in keeping a true record of the actions of men, and passing sentence upon them according to their deserts. Conscience is called good or evil only with reference to the character of its record and its sentence. If the record is one of virtues, and the sentence one of approval, the conscience is good; if the record is one of vices, and the sentence one of condemnation, the conscience is evil.

Some have a _guilty conscience_; that is, a conscience that holds up to their view a black catalogue of crimes, and rings in their ears the sentence of condemnation. If you have such a conscience, you are invited to Jesus, that you may find peace to your souls. He is ever in his office, receiving all who come, and blotting out with his own blood the handwriting which is against them.

But some have a _despairing conscience_. They think that their crimes are too great to be forgiven. The registry of guilt, and the decree of death, hide from their eyes the mercy of God, and the merit of Christ. Their sins rise like mountains between them and heaven. But let them look away to Calvary. If their sins are a thousand times more numerous than their tears, the blood of Jesus is ten thousand times more powerful than their sins. “He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

And others have a _dark and hardened conscience_. They are so deceived, that they “cry peace and safety, when destruction is at the door.” They are “past feeling, having the conscience seared as with a hot iron.” They have sold themselves to work evil; to eat sin like bread, and drink iniquity like water. They have bribed or gagged the recorder and accuser within them. They will betray the just cause of the righteous, and slay the messengers of salvation, and think that they are doing God service. John the Baptist is beheaded, that Herod may keep his oath of honor. A dead fish cannot swim against the stream; but if the king’s conscience had been alive and faithful, he would have said:—“Girl, I promised to give thee thy request, even to the half of my kingdom; but thou hast requested too much; for the head of Messiah’s herald is more valuable than my whole kingdom, and all the kingdoms of the world!” But he had not the fear of God before his eyes, and the proud fool sent and beheaded the prophet in his cell.

A _good conscience_ is a faithful conscience, a lively conscience, a peaceful conscience, a conscience void of offence toward God and man, resting in the shadow of the cross, and assured of an interest in its infinite merit. It is the victory of faith unfeigned, working by love, and purifying the heart. It is always found in the neighborhood and society of its brethren; “a broken heart, and a contrite spirit;” an intense hatred of sin, and an ardent love of holiness; a spirit of fervent prayer and supplication, and a life of scrupulous integrity and charity; and above all, an humble confidence in the mercy of God, through the mediation of Christ. These constitute the brotherhood of Christianity; and wherever they abound, a good conscience is never lacking. They are its very element and life; its food, its sunshine, and its vital air.

Conscience was a faithful recorder and judge under the law; and notwithstanding the revolution which has taken place, introducing a new constitution, and a new administration, Conscience still retains his office; and when “purged from dead works to serve the living God,” is appropriately called a _good conscience_.

II. The means of this purification is “the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.”

Could we take in, at a single view, all the bearings of “the blood of Christ,” as exhibited in the gospel, what an astonishing light would it cast upon the condition of man; the character of God; the nature and requirements of his law; the dreadful consequences of sin; the wondrous expiation of the cross; the reconciliation of Heaven and earth; the blessed union of the believer with God in Christ, as a just God and a Savior; and the whole scheme of our justification, sanctification, and redemption, through free, sovereign, infinite, and unspeakable grace!

There is no knowledge like the knowledge of Christ, for the excellency of which the apostle counted all things but loss. Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, in whose light we see the tops of the mountains of immortality, towering above the dense clouds which overhang the valley of death. All the wisdom which philosophers have learned from nature and providence, compared with that which is afforded by the Christian Revelation, is like the ignis fatuus compared with the sun. The knowledge of Plato, and Socrates, and all the renowned sages of antiquity, was nothing to the knowledge of the feeblest believer in “the blood of Christ.”

“The blood of Christ” is of infinite value. There is none like it flowing in human veins. It was the blood of a man, but of a man who knew no iniquity; the blood of a sinless humanity, in which dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; the blood of the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven, and a quickening spirit upon earth. It pressed through every pore of his body in the garden; and gushed from his head, his hands, his feet, and his side, upon the cross. I approach with fear and trembling, yet with humble confidence and joy. I take off my shoes, like Moses, as he draws near the burning bush; for I hear a voice coming forth from the altar, saying—“I and my Father are one; I am the true God, and eternal life.”

The expression, “the blood of Christ,” includes the whole of his obedience to the moral law, by the imputation of which we are justified; and all the sufferings of his soul and his body as our Mediator, by which an atonement is made for our sins, and a fountain opened to wash them all away. This is the spring whence rise the rivers of forgiving and sanctifying grace.

In the representation which the text gives us of this redeeming blood, are several points worthy of our special consideration:—

1. It is _the blood of Christ_; the appointed Substitute and Saviour of men; “the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.”

2. It is the blood of Christ, _who offered himself_. His humanity was the only sacrifice which would answer the demands of justice, and atone for the transgressions of mankind. Therefore “he made his soul an offering for sin.”

3. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself _to God_. It was the eternal Father, whose broken law must be repaired, whose dishonored government must be vindicated, and whose flaming indignation must be turned away. The well beloved Son must meet the Father’s frown, and bear the Father’s curse for us. All the Divine attributes called for the offering; and without it, could not be reconciled to the sinner.

4. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God, _without spot_. This was a perfect sacrifice. The victim was without blemish or defect; the altar was complete in all its appurtenances; and the high-priest possessed every conceivable qualification for his work. Christ was at once victim, altar, and high-priest; “holy, harmless, and undefiled;” “God manifest in the flesh.” Being himself perfect God, and perfect man, and perfect Mediator between God and man, he perfects for ever all them that believe.

5. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God, without spot, _through the eternal Spirit_. By the eternal Spirit here, we are to understand, not the third person of the Godhead, but the second; Christ’s own Divine nature, which was co-eternal with the Father before the world was; and which, in the fulness of time, seized on humanity, sinless and immaculate humanity, and offered it body and soul, as a sacrifice for human sins. The eternal Spirit was at once the priest that offered the victim, and the altar that sanctified the offering. Without this agency, there could have been no atonement. The offering of mere humanity, however spotless, aside from the merit derived from its connection with Divinity, could not have been a sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor unto God.

6. It is the blood of Christ, who offered himself to God, without spot, through the eternal Spirit, _that he might purge your conscience_. As the typical sacrifices under the law purified men from ceremonial defilement, so the real sacrifice of the Gospel saves the believer from moral pollution. Blood was the life of all the services of the tabernacle made with hands, and gave significance and utility to all the rites of the former dispensation. By blood the covenant between God and his people was sealed. By blood the officers and vessels of the sanctuary were consecrated. By blood the children of Israel were preserved in Egypt from the destroying angel. So the blood of Christ is our justification, sanctification, and redemption. All the blessings of the gospel flow to us through the blood of the Lamb. Mercy, when she writes our pardon, and when she registers our names in “the Book of Life,” dips her pen in the blood of the Lamb. And the vast company that John saw before the throne had come out of great tribulation, having “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, on the very night that the paschal lamb was slain, and its blood sprinkled upon the doorposts, as if their liberty and life were procured by its death. This typified the necessity and power of the atonement, which is the very heart of the gospel, and the spiritual life of the believer. In Egypt, however, there was a lamb slain for every family; but under the new covenant God has but one family, and one Lamb is sufficient for their salvation.

In the cleansing of the leper, several things were necessary; as running water, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, and the finger of the priest; but it was the blood that gave efficacy to the whole. So it is in the purification of the conscience. Without the shedding of blood, the leper could not be cleansed; without the shedding of blood, the conscience cannot be purged. “The blood of Christ” seals every precept, every promise, every warning, of the New Testament. “The blood of Christ” renders the Scriptures “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” “The blood of Christ” gives efficiency to the pulpit; and when “Jesus Christ and him crucified” is shut out, the virtue is wanting which heals and restores the soul. It is only through the crucifixion of Christ, that “the old man” is crucified in the believer. It is only through his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, that our dead souls are quickened, to serve God in newness of life.

Here rest our hopes. “The foundation of God standeth sure.” The bill of redemption being presented by Christ, was read by the prophets, and passed unanimously in both houses of parliament. It had its final reading in the lower house, when Messiah hung on Calvary; and passed three days afterward, when he rose from the dead. It was introduced to the upper house by the Son of God himself, who appeared before the throne “as a lamb newly slain,” and was carried by acclamation of the heavenly hosts. Then it became a law of the kingdom of heaven, and the Holy Ghost was sent down to establish it in the hearts of men. It is “the perfect law of liberty,” by which God is reconciling the world unto himself. It is “the law of the Spirit of Life,” by which he is “purging our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

III. The end of this purification is twofold:—that we may cease from dead works, and serve the living God.

1. The works of unrenewed souls are all “dead works,” can be no other than “dead works,” because the agents are “dead in trespasses and sins.” They proceed from “the carnal mind,” which “is enmity against God,” which “is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” How can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit, or a corrupt fountain send forth pure water?

But the blood of Christ is intended to “purge the conscience from dead works.” The apostle says—“Ye are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot.” The Jews were in a state of bondage to the ceremonial law, toiling at the “dead works,” the vain and empty forms, which could never take away sin; and unjustified and unregenerate men are still captives of Satan, slaves of sin and death, tyrannized over by various evil habits and propensities, which are invincible to all things but “the blood of Christ.” He died to redeem, both from the burdens of the Mosaic ritual, and from the despotism of moral evil—to purge the conscience of both Jew and Gentile “from dead works, to serve the living God.”

2. We cannot “serve the living God,” without this preparatory purification of conscience. If our guilt is uncancelled—if the love of sin is not dethroned—the service of the knee and the lip is nothing but hypocrisy. “If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us.” Cherishing what he hates, all our offerings are an abomination to him; and we can no more stand in his holy presence than the dry stubble can stand before a flaming fire. He who has an evil conscience, flees from the face of God, as did Adam in the garden. Nothing but “the blood of Christ,” applied by the Holy Spirit, can remove the sinner’s guilty fear, and enable him to draw nigh to God in the humble confidence of acceptance through the Beloved.