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IV. HE SHALL EVENTUALLY MAKE HIMSELF KNOWN TO ALL NATIONS, NOT ONLY AS THE DESIRABLE OBJECT, BUT AS THE ONLY DESIRABLE OBJECT. He shall come. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance."2" He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him." 3 Indeed I request you, my young friends, to commit the whole of this Psalm to memory; it is a glorious description of the Messiah and his kingdom. Have we welcomed Jesus, and are we desirous to know whether he is our desire? All persons will be convinced very soon that He is truly and supremely desirable. What proof, it may be asked, have I, that I have welcomed Jesus? I answer,—by possessing an increasing desire to know more of him. Can you sympathize in the language of the Psalmist, who well knew the privilege

Hab. il. 14.

2 Psalm ii. 8.

3 Ibid. lxxii. 8-11.

and enjoyment of communion with God? "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.” 1

The twenty-seventh Psalm contains a proof of the existence and vigor of grace in the soul; a perpetual impatience to know more of Jesus; “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." My brethren, what says conscience to these things? Are we daily living in the habit of seeing the king in his beauty? Or has a listlessness and deadness to this knowledge characterized our souls? But admitting the worst, he who once visited you with his quickening power, can again awaken you out of your spiritual sloth and slumber. When you see a brother thus draw back from Jesus, do not strike him away to a greater distance; approach him in love; labor hard and fervently, pray that you yourselves may be more and more devoted, and be divested, as much as possible, of your own spirit and filled with Christ's. There is indeed a peculiar pleasure in living upon the fulness of Jesus: and there is also, alas! a peculiar pain in seeing any one of our friends, losing that sense of the presence of Jesus, which they once knew.

1 Psalm xlii 1.

Morning, January 27, 1822.

SERMON XXIV.

MAN WITHOUT, AND WITH A SAVIOUR.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.—GAL. II. 20.

No one was more zealous in explaining the truth of God, than the Apostle Paul. No one felt more an attack upon the truth, from whatever quarter that attack might proceed; whether from those who rejected the gospel altogether, from those who, rejecting the justification by faith, rested in part, or entirely upon their own merits; or from those who, adopting the doctrine of justification by faith, abused it by turning the grace of God into licentiousness, and disgraced their profession by their lives. Some Judaizing Christians, among the Galatians, had been endeavouring to subvert the minds of those whom the Apostle addressed, from the simplicity which was in Christ, by inculcating the doctrine of justification by works. The Apostle knew the religion

of Christ must stand or fall, just as the doctrine of justification by faith is received and adhered to, or rejected or abused. Many since the days of the Apostle have corrupted the word of truth; nay, thousands, in our time, of those who profess themselves Christians, have no more real religion than Jews and Heathens. You ask how I prove this? Because the doctrine of justification by faith alone is rejected by them; because this doctrine, which is so adapted to man's wants, and which brings so much glory to God, is disregarded. What says the Apostle in the verse preceding the text, "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." Here is divinity. It is impossible to live unto God, without giving up every idea of being justified by anything we can do of our own. They who think this doctrine opposed to Christian morality, entirely mistake the nature of true religion: Christian morality cannot be raised upon any other foundation. The Apostle then proceeds with the text, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." I would consider in these words,

IN

I. WHAT MAN IS, WITHOUT A SAVIOUR, or

OTHER WORDS, WITHOUT A SACRIFICE FOR HIS SINS.

II. WHAT MAN IS, WHO WILFULLY REJECTS THE SAVIOUR.

III. WHAT HE IS, WHO ACCEPTS THE SAVIOUR, AND LIVES UPON HIM.

FICE.

I. THE STATE OF MAN WITHOUT A SACRIMan's state after the fall was not only dreadful, but must so have remained, had not Christ come to save him. It was dreadful, indeed, under a holy command to obey, exposed to the holy curse, under the dominion of sin, and, at the same time, bringing down the accumulated vengeance of the curse for his disobedience; this was the natural state of fallen man. It is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them."1 They are left without excuse, and, living and dying in a state of sin, must perish for ever. I have, more than once, of late, alluded to a false charity, which is sometimes indulged respecting those who do not embrace, or have not the gospel. It is asked, What then will become of the Heathen?—and many shrink from the consideration of this question. Let us not be afraid to consider it. It is one of importance, and should awaken in us a more active zeal, and more

1 Gal. iii. 10.

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