gifts of God. For, with the prophets they bore witness that if we "draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to us!"* and that "whosoever believeth in Christ, doth receive the forgiveness of sins; yea, that by him all who believe are justified from all things." Thus we see it is clearly revealed and expressly declared in the gospel, that because of what Christ hath done and suffered, the moment we truly believe on him, (viz. with a penitent and loving heart,) “ God is merciful to our unrighteousness, and our sins and iniquities he remembers no more." He treats us as though we had never offended, accepts us through the Beloved into the number of his children, and we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, even the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 7. This leads me to speak of another principal blessing of the gospel, concerning which also we are informed in the former chapter, where, ver. 7, the apostle calls the law the ministration of death, and (ver. 8.) the gospel the ministration of the Spirit. He calls the law the ministration of death, not only because it condemned wilful transgressors to temporal death, and condemns us all to the second death; but also because in consequence of our violation of it we are deprived of union with God, in which our spiritual life as much consists, as our natural life in the union of soul and body. Our sins have separated between us and our Gon; we are alienated from the life of God, and of consequence are spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and sins. 8. To illustrate this a little. No sooner has the soul left the body than natural life is at an end. The body has no longer any sensibility of pleasure or pain. It has no longer any sensation: it has eyes, but sees not, ears, but hears not. It has no longer any power; it cannot move, or act, or make resistance, but may be dragged hither and thither at will. It is helpless, tends to putrefaction, and is only fit to be removed out of the sight of the living, to whom it is now become loathsome and abominable.-In like manner, no sooner has God left the soul than spiritual life is at an end. The soul has no longer any sensibility of sin, its evil nature and dreadful tendency, any conscious grief when overtaken by it, or joy when preserved from it. It has no longer (if I may so speak) any spiritual sensation: it sees not by faith him that is invisible, hears not the voice of Christ, nor feels the powers of the world to come. In other words, it has no saving knowledge in divine things; GOD, and the things of God, are concealed from it It has no longer any power; it cannot move one step heavenward, † Acts xiii. 39. Gal. iii. 14. * James iv. 8. perform any thing properly good, nor resist and conquer temptation; but the devil, the world, and the flesh, drag it hither and thither, at pleasure and uncontrolled. It is helpless, corrupted by sin, filthy and polluted, and only fit to be removed out of the sight (as it were) of an holy GoD, to whom it is now become abominable, and buried in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. 9. In this condition the moral law leaves mankind. Considered in itself as a covenant of works, it points us to no remedy, but rather pronounces us incurable, and our case desperate. Not so the gospel; it is a ministration of the Spirit. It informs us of, and offers to the Holy Spirit of, God, whose office it is to restore our souls to spiritual life, and heal all the diseases which by sin we have contracted. Therein we are told that when Christ" ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, he received gifts for men, even for the rebellious; that the Lord God might dwell among them ;"* that in him "all fulness dwells, and that out of his fulness we may receive grace for grace." Therein we are informed of the "saving grace of God appearing to all men," and of" the true light enlightening every man that cometh into the world." And we are assured, if we do not quench this light and reject this grace, it shall be imparted more and more, to guide, renew, and comfort us. For in the gospel Christ offers "to baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with fire;" to "live in us, that we may live also ;" to "quicken us, and raise us up, and make us sit together with himself in heavenly places." He promises, if we will come to him and drink, out of our belly," (figuratively speaking)" shall flow rivers of living water;"§ such abundance of spiritual life shall we possess, that it shall overflow (as it were) for the quickening and refreshment of others; yea, he assures us, (if we ask) he "will give us living water, and that water shall be in us a well of water springing up to life eternal." Now "all this he speaks of the Spirit which they who believe on him do receive," that Spirit which is offered in the gospel, and which, accompanying its truths when delivered, renders them the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 10. By this Spirit we are again united to God, and put in possession of spiritual life. Our eyes are opened, and we see the dreadful situation we are in by nature and practice; we discover the ruin that hangs over our guilty heads, and threatens to bury us * Psal. Ixviii. 18. Eph. iv. 8. ↑ John i. 16. § John vii. 37, 38. Tit. ii. 11. John iv. 10, 14. John i. 9. these things, and give ourselves wholly to them, that our profiting may appear unto all." In fine," Let us take heed to ourselves, and to our doctrine," and continue so to do, for in this way, shall save both ourselves, and those that hear us.' 66 we SERMON II. ←← ON THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT BEING PROPERLY ACQUAINTED WITH IT. PREACHED AT THE NEW CHAPEL, IN LOWGATE, HULL, DEC. 30, 1787. "But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." 1. A MOMENT'S reflection upon the preceding verses, with which this passage of Scripture is closely connected, will cast much light upon it, and assist us to understand its purport. The apostle, in the foregoing chapter, having drawn a comparison between the gospel and the law, the Christian and Mosaic economy, and shown the superiority of the former to the latter, proceeds, in the beginning of this chapter, to speak of the conduct of himself and his fellowapostles, who were entrusted with the dispensation of this gospel. 2. Seeing then (says he) we have received this ministry, a ministry so superior to that wherewith Moses was entrusted, more excellent in its nature, and more beneficial in its effects, transforming all who receive it into the image of God; as we have obtained mercy to be accounted faithful, as God has in mercy accepted us as his servants in the gospel, and supported us in our work; we faint not, are not discouraged, do not desist from the glorious enterprise : But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, whatever a person has need to hide or be ashamed of; not walking in craftiness, not making use of guile, fraud, or low cunning, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, nor corrupting it with impure mix tures of our own, (as vintners sometimes mix their wines with baser liquors,) not adding to it, diminishing from it, nor striving to accommodate it to the taste of our hearers, but by manifestation of the truth, by speaking the whole truth clearly and plainly, commending ourselves to every man's conscience, appealing to the consciences of sinners for the truth of what we say, or rather addressing ourselves to their consciences, aiming principally to convince and awaken these; and all this in the sight of God, knowing he is a witness to our behaviour in his work, and will shortly call us to give an account, and therefore desiring to approve ourselves to him. 3. But if, notwithstanding the excellency of the doctrine we teach, and the plain, clear, and powerful manner in which we deliver ourselves, our gospel also (for so it should be translated,) aş well as the law, be hid, (xexaλvevov, veiled or concealed, as the face of Moses by the veil, to which he alludes) "it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them." The Jews in general were ignorant of the law, and their ignorance was attended with the most fatal consequences; yet still they might have been saved by becoming acquainted with the gospel; but if they were strangers to the gospel also, there was no remedy for them, but they were lost without hope of recovery. The same is affirmed concerning all mankind in general, as well as the Jews in particular. If any child of man, to whom the gospel is plainly and powerfully preached, (for what have we to do to judge those to whom it is not preached?) still remain ignorant of its nature, disobedient to its commands, and unexperienced in its privileges and blessings, the apostle pronounces in the most express terms that he is lost, lost now, and in the way to be lost for ever. 4. Surely then it highly concerns us, to whom this gospel is preached, thoroughly to understand it and experience its efficacy, and to be well assured that we do so: Surely if we are wise, we shall not rest in an uncertainty here, shall not satisfy ourselves with any thing short of a clear assurance that we are savingly acquainted with the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.-Now with a view to assist you in this important matter, I beg your candid and serious attention while I inquire into I. The nature and design of the gospel. |