Part 10

That the people of old were but partially awake and alive to the great change required to be wrought in them, from sin to righteousness, from the love of evil to the love of good, from a “bondage unto the elements of the world” to the glorious liberty of the children of God, is too fully proved from the complaints of patriarchs and prophets and holy men of every determination. The sound of the gospel, thank God, has now gone forth into all lands, and brought “life and immortality to light;” it has awakened many nations, who lay fast bound in the slumbers of spiritual death; but whether it has vitally and savingly awakened a greater proportion of those, to whom the glad tidings have been revealed, is a matter of reasonable doubt. At least, if we compare what man is by nature, with what he may be and ought to be by divine grace, it must appear, from the life and conduct of the great majority in the christian world, that they have by no means attained that renovation of spirit and principle and character, which can entitle them to the appellation of new creatures.

Of how many may it be said, (and their own consciences will bear witness to the truth of the accusation,) that their thoughts are ordinarily flowing in much the same channel, their passions yielding to the same excitements, and their pursuits directed to the same end, as they would have been, had the pure doctrines and precepts of Christ never been promulgated. Vast numbers, in the visible Church of Christ, who profess some regard for religion, instead of raising their affections to the standard of the gospel, are seeking to _bring down_ the immoveable standard of the gospel to _them_: and greater numbers still, of reckless men, bestow not so much as a thought upon that spiritual change, which is absolutely essential to the christian character. For what is the religion of thousands amongst us?—merely, if I may so call it, that traditionary acquaintance with divine things, which is acquired in infancy; that outward assent to evangelical truths, which was handed down to them by their forefathers; a cold respect for the shadow, without any concern for the substance: they are content to observe the forms of religion, because they have been accustomed so to do, and their neighbours do the same; and to attend to what are called the decencies of life, because they would otherwise be disreputable; to crimes and to holiness strangers perhaps alike; satisfied to do no worse, than they see the multitudes around them doing; and resting their claim to God’s favour on a few moral pretensions, or even on the absence of scandalous immorality; probably looking for exemption from the penalties of the divine law, because their transgressions have never been such, as to expose them to the scourge of the law of man.

This, however deplorable, is a true description of no inconsiderable portion of our christian land; to none of _us_, we may hope, is the description strictly applicable; but it is too probable, that there are many amongst us, who partake more or less of the character here delineated; who practically regard the christian religion as a system to be accommodated to their dispositions and habits and pursuits of life, and not as demanding a total alteration in their views and tempers and motives of action. Though their thoughts are directed to objects, far above those of “the heathen who know not God” and though their morality, upon the whole, be of a higher order and a purer cast, yet are their affections willingly led captive by the ensnaring vanities and engrossing interests of this lower world: heaven is the object of their settled creed, but it is not the main purpose to which their endeavours are anxiously and daily directed; in balancing between this or that pursuit, their thoughts are intent only upon providing for “the meat that perisheth,” without any enquiry or concern, how they may best provide for “that which endureth unto eternal life.” {218} And the morality, on which they so complacently rest, has frequently no connexion whatever with the christian faith; referable rather to philosophy than the gospel, to “the praise of men than the praise of God.” Hence it follows, that their moral obedience is lamentably defective; extending only to the performance of those duties, which least oppose their inclination or their temporal advantage; while even such duties are but imperfectly discharged. Their self-government is wretchedly defective; the controul of their thoughts, the mastery over their passions, the command over their tongue, are attainments which they seldom bind it upon their conscience to acquire. And though they be turned from idols to worship the living and the true God, the fruit of their service, as well as the irregularity of it, affords but too clear a proof, that they “worship him not in spirit and in truth.” However improved, in their moral character, by their acquaintance with the christian religion, they cannot possibly have imbibed its spirit; nor have arrived at that happy change of the natural man, which can be denominated by a new creation. They are working out, or rather seeking to work out, their salvation on maxims of human expediency, and in accommodation to human interests; not with “fear and trembling,” lest they should lose the inestimable prize; they are not evincing, that it is “God that worketh in them both to will and to do.” {220}

I have thus enlarged, on the presents occasion, upon the enormous deficiencies of christian character, because it is of great importance for us to understand, what is not accordant with the principles of the gospel, as well as what is: it is of vital consequence, that we should be thoroughly aware of the insufficiency of that spirit and view, of those maxims and motives of those habits and observances, which pass current for religion in the world.

We cannot put on the new man, unless we put off the old; and we cannot put off the old, unless we thoroughly understand in what it consists. The work is too commonly supposed much easier and much less comprehensive, than it really is: many vicious habits may be corrected, without any essential or fundamental alteration of character. A man may become weary of the pursuits, disgusted with the follies, worn and sated with the profligacies of life; he may find his circumstances impoverished, his reputation impaired, his worldly interest obstructed: and such considerations as these may generate a purpose of moral reform. Or the sinner may feel himself oppressed with the increasing weight of years; infirmities are coming fast upon him; and his conscience, in many a whisper of fear, tells him that something should be done, some preparation made, for the world to which he is hastening, for the account which he will speedily be called to render. The idea of dying with those depravities, to which he has clinged through life, is awful and insupportable. The more flagrant of them are accordingly corrected; and the rest, which are less startling and disquieting, are undisturbedly retained. In all this there is no change of principle, no vital alteration: the old man continues; less hideous in features and outward appearance, but the very same in reality. With this partial renovation the mind is satisfied; the conscience is becalmed; the sinner dies.

Through the “deceivableness of unrighteousness,” through the wiles of Satan and the evil propensity of our own hearts, we are always in danger of being too easily content with our spiritual condition; we look too much to the outward and visible form, and too little within; to little to the habitual principle, the constraining motive, the cast of character: and it is in this, that the difference between the old and the new man, in the christian world essentially consists. Suffer me to point out again a few of the broad lines of distinction. The old man, whatever of religion he may profess, lives principally for himself and the world; he may think of religion, and speak of it, and pray for it with the lips, but it has no dwelling place in his heart, is not the business of his life. However observable, in many respects, his moral deportment may be, his character is seldom consistent. From some evil pursuits he abstains, in others he wilfully and constantly indulges; some evil passions are kept in creditable order, others are let loose; some duties he professedly performs, and others he professedly omits. And nothing is done with a true christian motive, or christian view; nothing from a sense of absolute and uncompromising obedience to the will of God. Nor is it surprising, that there should be such deficiencies and inconsistencies in his character; he has no principle or means, by which he can possibly walk uprightly with his God. He does not “believe with the heart unto righteousness;” he does not seek, nor desire, to “live in the spirit and walk in the spirit;” there is no life in his devotion, no sincerity in his prayer: he “asks not faithfully” for repentance and holiness, and they cannot be “effectually received.” He is not disposed to bring his understanding and heart into subjection to the divine will. He studies not that holy word, which ministers the principle of a divine life, and the spirit of obedience to the soul. He lives for earth and not for heaven. He is too proud to be taught the humiliating doctrines of revelation; too full of himself, to bow implicitly to his Redeemer. In a word, nature is his book and not the Bible; the world is his teacher and not the Spirit of God; earthly and not spiritual subjects are the delight of his heart; he walks not “by faith, but by sight.”

The new man is the reverse of all this; he humbles himself, as a sinner, at the foot of the cross, under a deep sense of his own guilt and the divine mercy; desirous only to be reconciled and saved; he constantly studies the mysteries God’s word, with a submissive understanding and an obedient heart; he rests his only hope on the merit of a Redeemer, whose promises and whose law he receives with all his mind and soul and strength; he prays “without ceasing” for the Holy Spirit, is directed by His teaching, supported by His power, and comforted by His heavenly illumination. Doubtless he must live _in_ the world, and _by_ the world, as well as other people; but he does not live _for_ the world; his heart is not there, his delight is not there; he is a redeemed pilgrim, journeying in a far country, returning to his Father’s house; and his heart is musing on the “many mansions” there, and full of the inspiring influential hope, that one of them is prepared for him.

Such holy principles are continually manifested by a determination of purpose, a decisiveness of character, a devoted spirit of uniform obedience to the revealed will of God. As the conscience bears witness, so does the life: “the tree is known by its fruit;” all evil affections are resolutely mortified, all sinful pleasures and pursuits utterly abandoned. The sincere Christian, the new man, has an earnest desire and care upon his soul, to be “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” {226a} For this blessing he daily prays; in this work he daily advances: “loving the Lord God with all his heart,” and “loving his neighbour as himself,” he is of all men the most inclined, as he is assuredly the most bound, to “live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.” {226b}

These remarks suggest the necessity of further admonition on this head. Many persons have been led to entertain enthusiastic notions on the subject of the new man, the new creation, the new birth. They have supposed it principally to consist in certain inward experiences or feelings, which they have been enabled to trace to some particular event or period: the Holy Spirit, as they believe, then beginning, for the first time, to work upon their understandings and hearts; and thus leaving an indelible impression, the seal of their redemption, the earnest of their certain acceptance with God. Far are we from denying, that such sudden conversions may and do take place: still farther from denying that, whether sudden or gradual, a change from the old to the new man is attributable to the aid of a divine energy and power. It is, properly speaking, a new creation; the imparting of a new nature: and cannot be effected without the hand of the original Creator: without the operation of that Spirit, which “moved upon the face of the waters,” which “breathed into the nostrils the breath of life, so that man became a living soul.” {227a} Our Liturgy has correctly and fully embodied the testimony of scripture, on this as on other points: we are taught to pray, that God will “_create_ in us new and contrite hearts.” This blessing must proceed from that Holy Spirit, who still in His ordinary dispensations, as formerly in His miraculous gifts, “divides unto every man severally as He will;” {227b} not as it were capriciously, but according to His own infinite wisdom and goodness, as He judges expedient to the case of each individual. But this divine grace is not communicated for the mere purpose of producing a glowing affection, a familiar experience, an enraptured view of spiritual things: nor can any inward feelings alone prove that such grace has been administered at all: the proof must be manifested, in the way pointed out by the text: the new man “is created, after God, in _righteousness and true holiness_.” A holy character and a righteous life are the proper and indispensable evidences of such a change; a faithful walking with God, a sober self-government, an upright dealing with all mankind.

I counsel you, my brethren, in the language of truth and the spirit of affection, to be content with no other evidence: equally far be you removed from that carnal profession of the gospel, which despises or neglects the mighty change required of every sincere believer; and from those fanciful notions of spiritual experience, which leave the heart and the character arrayed in the spotted garment of sin: both in the one case and the other, you will be “grieving the spirit,” and “quenching the spirit.” In your principles and life, as well as in your views and affections and desires, “let old things pass away, and all things become new;” {229a} “put off the old man with the deceitful lusts,” and thus let the new man be put on. “Abhor that which is evil: cleave to that which is good.” {229b} This is the method ordained of God, by which we are to “work out our salvation;” this our plain, this our necessary duty. Pray we fervently, strive we diligently, that we may be thus effectually turned from sin to holiness, “from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God.” {229c}

SERMON XIII. THE WEDDING GARMENT.

MATT. xxii. 2.

_The kingdom of heaven is like unto certain king which made a marriage for his son_.

IT is my intention, in this discourse, to explain the several particulars of the parable before us; which may be regarded, in the _first_ place, as descriptive of the dispensation of the gospel to the people of Israel and the world at large; and, in the _second_ place, as instructing us in that peculiar fitness necessary to all, who shall be admitted to enjoy the privileges and happiness of the kingdom of God.

The state of the gospel, our Saviour informs us, may be compared to the conduct of a king at the marriage of his son; or rather, as the meaning is, at the marriage _feast_ which he gave on that occasion: the circumstances which might, in that case, be supposed to occur, aptly represent a variety of particulars belonging to the gospel dispensation.

Before, however, we enter upon the parable, it may be remarked, that spiritual blessings are frequently set forth in the holy scriptures, under allusions to feasting and refreshment. Thus Solomon of old: “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.” {231} And thus the prophet Isaiah, in describing the state of the gospel: “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” {232a} And thus our blessed Lord Himself: “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me, that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom.” {232b}

1. Let us now proceed with the parable: “He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding (feast); and they would not come.” This probably alludes to the first period of the promulgation of the gospel; under the preaching of John the Baptist and of the earliest disciples; the former endeavouring to prepare the hearts of men for the kingdom and coming of Christ; and the latter proclaiming His glorious arrival, preaching the truth of His gospel, and confirming the word by a display of miraculous power. But the Jews had been a carnal people, “holding the truth in unrighteousness;” and they refused to give ear to those holy instructions, which called upon them to “lay the axe to the root of all sin,” and to “bring forth fruits meet for repentance.” {233a} This it was that prevented them, not only from a cordial acceptance of the gospel, but even from a fair examination and inquiry; they would not listen to such doctrine; their heart was decided against it: to this it was owing, these carnal habits and views, that when their Messiah came, they were not ready to receive Him in the way which He required. Ready enough were they to admit Him in their own way; agreeably to their own notions and desires, as an earthly conqueror, as the dispenser of temporal blessings and rewards; but not as the abolisher of sin; not as a preacher of righteousness; not as a herald, announcing to them the necessity of holiness in this world, and the inheritance of glory in the world to come. Not all His amazing miracles, not all His fulfilment of their own prophecies, not all the power of His word, could convince their understandings; because they had “an evil heart of unbelief:” {233b} and therefore, notwithstanding His awful warnings, His earnest and affectionate invitations, “they would not come” unto Him, that they might find rest unto their souls.

Here we behold, as in a glass, the real ground of every rejection of the Saviour in every age; it is not because men deny His excellency, or His power, or His mercy, or the greatness of His kingdom: it is because they “love this present evil world,” and the “god of this world hath blinded their minds,” {234a} through the deceitfulness of sin. Even though eternal salvation is offered them, and they do not disbelieve it; still, awful to think! the Saviour is rejected for perishable interests and sensual indulgences. “He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand?” {234b} Men walk on in darkness because they love it; and they “love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” {234c}

2. But the Jews were not yet cast off, without further admonition and entreaty. “Again He sent forth other servants, saying, tell them who are bidden, behold I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage” feast. But “they made light of it,” and offered a variety of groundless excuses. This may chiefly refer to the fuller manifestation of the gospel, after the resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord; for the parable, as we shall more clearly perceive in the sequel, is partly of a prophetic nature; and intended to represent to the Jews their persevering spirit of obstinacy, and the punishment which would ensue; that some of them at least, when the fulness of the time should come, might be struck with the force of this predictive representation, and be converted to the “truth as it is in Jesus.”

Every thing requisite for the sumptuous feast was liberally provided: in the days of the apostles, abundant indeed was the confirmation of the truth and doctrines of the gospel; bright the manifestation of heavenly glory, that was shed abroad upon it. Then were strikingly fulfilled the words of their prophet Joel; “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh—also upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.” {236} Accordingly the gifts of the Holy Ghost—were openly poured forth, and mighty were the deeds done and the words spoken by His servants, under the operation of His marvellous power: the old dispensation was fully brought to bear upon the new: it was shewn how the character of Jesus corresponded, in His birth and life and death and resurrection and ascension, as well as in His offices of Priest and Mediator and King, with various prophecies and types exhibited in the ancient scriptures. The benefits and blessings of the christian dispensation were more particularly and largely set forth: the feast was fully displayed before them, in all its rich and magnificent abundance. Many were then induced to enter into the guest chamber, and partake of the heavenly repast; but many more, the Jewish nation at large, made light of it, and went their way. And not only so: not only was the invitation unheeded and despised; but the remnant, that is, some who were not content with disobeying the call, “took his servants, and entreated them spitefully and slew them;” persecuted the disciples even unto death.

3. We now come to a part of the parable, which must of necessity receive a prophetic interpretation: “When the King heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city.” This plainly points out the Roman armies ravaging Judea, destroying Jerusalem, and putting the inhabitants to the sword; an event, which did not take place till many years after. Neither, in truth, is there mention made, in the gospel history, of the Jews having slain any of the disciples, whilst their Lord was with them. They were murderers of the Son of God, and of many of His apostles and disciples after Him; thus “filling up the measure of their iniquity,” and drawing down upon themselves, and their nation at large, the most tremendous visitation of divine wrath, ever inflicted in this world upon a rebellious people.