Part 12

To bring men to this state, that He may delight in them, that they may glorify Him in all things, is the purpose and aim of GOD’S great scheme of salvation; and, to forward that scheme, is, and has been, the object of all His dealings with men of all times (when they have not been judgments of wrath, because mercy was refused), whether they have been encouragements or remonstrances, pleadings or rebukes, blessings or chastisements, the promulgations of moral laws, the laying on or taking off of positive or ceremonial commandments. None of these things could in themselves have made men what GOD willed them to be, loving children of a loving Father; yet they had, or were designed to have, their effect in bringing them back little by little to a right mind, and a right life. But being used by a wise and discerning GOD, though their object was always uniform, the use of them has varied, one being employed in this case, another in that, according to the state of those on whom they were to operate. Thus Adam, fresh from the hand of GOD, full of knowledge and intelligence, and holiness and love, was left, it would appear—but with one commandment, the test of his integrity—to worship and glorify GOD as his own heart and mind dictated; while the Jews, coming out of Egypt, sunk in ignorance, given to idolatry, perverse in will and affections, were dealt with as babes, albut without mind and without heart. To them it was necessary to declare, that there was but one GOD, to command them to worship Him, to prescribe every particular of the worship, to bid them not blaspheme Him, to hedge them in by numerous restrictions, to write down every item of their duty, to encourage their obedience by immediate rewards, to check their transgressions by instant punishments! They were treated, in fact, just as wise and fond parents treat little children: their minds taught by pictures—brazen serpents, pillars of light and fire, gorgeous tabernacles, sacrifices of bulls, and goats, and lambs, burnings of incense, and the like—and their hearts and lives trained by a course of discipline suited to their comprehension, and a system of rewards and punishments which they could appreciate. These things were means to an end. They impressed upon the Jews, that reverence and obedience were due to GOD. They taught them to look to Him for reward and punishment, to love and fear Him. But like the arbitrary discipline we use with children, and the toys which we give or take away from them according to their conduct, they were to be set aside (as far as they were childish) so soon as more intelligent and better influences could be employed, and the children be taught to use their minds and hearts, in exercising reverence, and love, and fear, not in little observances and restrictions, not in mere literal compliance with some particular expressed laws, but according to the principle of love which would devote itself entirely, and which uses all its powers to find out what is devotion, and to practice it.

Thus, I say, the Jews were dealt with from Moses to CHRIST, and then men were bidden to put away childish things—the Spirit being given to raise them above childishness—and henceforth to render enlarged, enlightened, loving service to GOD. They were not released from reverence and submission: very few commandments hitherto observed were repealed, save those that were typical and ceremonial, and which, of course, gave way to the antitype and to the new ritual of Christianity; but henceforth, they were told, GOD would not be pleased with mere literal obedience: Do what you did before, but do it in the spirit, and carry it farther, and search about to see whether your own hearts and minds cannot regulate your lives in things not prescribed.

Indeed, all this had been told them before, as the quotation of the lawyer from Deuteronomy alone would suffice to show; but it was not so strictly required of them as it is of us, because allowance was made for their childish want of spiritual comprehension, and because the perfection of obedience was postponed till the full strength was given to render it, as well as the enlightened mind to understand it.

In Gospel times the law is spiritualised, the observance of the commandments is extended beyond the outward life, to the very thoughts and desires. To covet is to steal, to lust is to commit adultery, to hate is to murder! Hence, while in one sense, our obedience is easier, because we render it under the influence of enlightened minds and kindled feelings, of love and gratitude—whereas, the Jew was perpetually crossing and driving himself to keep a law which had no other recommendation to him than that its observance preserved him from immediate chastisement—in other respects, our obedience is not only more imperatively necessary, because our privileges and responsibilities are greater, but it must be more precise, because any wilful deviation from it—in us who are of a mature and enlightened age—will surely indicate an unloving heart; and he that has no love has no spiritual life!

This, after all, is the distinction between the good works of the Jew and those of the Christian; not that the former sought salvation on account of them, while the latter makes them but the tribute of praise and love for salvation—for the Jew believed that he was saved by ordinances, not by works—but that the Jew’s was the enforced obedience of slavish fear, while the Christian’s is the spontaneous expression of filial love. If the Christian were perfect in moral perception, he would be a law to himself, and would need but little of a written law; but not being thus perfect, he finds his greatest help to glorify GOD, in the studying and following of the Mosaic laws, which are samples and specimens furnished by GOD, of acceptable works, and which, moreover, are a standard whereby he may measure, not so much how near, as how far he is, from doing the whole will of GOD.

This purpose, then, the law serves to Christians: it points out the ways in which love should exercise itself; and so, by confronting the negligent or transgressing, proves to them the absence or the imperfection of their love. The Christian is not free from the observance of one jot or one tittle of it, though he is no longer under the law, but under grace; but even if he has kept it all, he is not necessarily accepted: he has not rendered service pleasing to GOD, if his will is not better than his power, his heart larger than his deeds! This the lawyer knew theoretically; and yet, against his knowledge, he sinned. When asked what the law required him to do, he answered rightly, that the law required, above and beyond particular deeds, an impelling principle of love for GOD, and, for His sake, for man also. But then, when his answer was commended, we are told that he, willing to justify himself (which means, either to excuse himself for past imperfection, or to attain presently unto the condition of the just, without becoming all that was required of him) demanded, “And who is my neighbour?” showing thereby, how much his heart was behind his mind; betraying the fact, that while he professed entire devotion to GOD, he was really trying to find out with how stinted and formal an obedience, he could win and keep his favour.

In review of this history, let me suggest to you, in very few words, some important truths.

“What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” is a momentous question for each of you to ask of GOD, through His revealed word. For the inheritance never shall be yours, unless you observe the conditions upon which it was promised; and one of those conditions (a most important one), is, that you should pursue constantly a course of righteousness, both to glorify GOD by prescribed service, and to acquire by spiritual exercise the necessary character for heaven, without which none can enter it.

To do righteousness—not simply to feel, or think, or speak righteously—is what is plainly enjoined upon you. Still, you must remember that you are not to propose to yourselves, as the approved course, the observance only of particular laws, the confining of religion to special times, and places, and objects, and deeds; the mere walking in a clearly marked out path, as though hands, and feet, and ears, and lips, without heart or mind, could work out salvation; as though, too, it were not practicable or desirable, that you should offer unto GOD any free-will service, something besides what He has asked you to do! Above all, having come to understand, that while the fruit of religion is in the life, the germ of it is in the heart; that without faith, and hope, and love, it is impossible to please GOD; that the law to you is spiritualised; that you are brought out of the bondage of servants into the glorious liberty of sons; that not the mere letter of the law, but the spirit of it is to be your guide; that outward deeds are not of themselves acceptable to GOD, but only as signs of enlightened hearty feeling—things done in faith and love; that worship in the temple is nothing, unless you worship out of the temple likewise; that bowing the knee, and praising with the lips, are an abomination, unless the spirit, too, is bowed and the soul upraised; that bodily sacrifice alone is no sacrifice, that it needs the broken and contrite heart, and the devoted spirit—while understanding, I say, all this, and rejoicing in the reasonable, heart-sprung, spiritual service of the Christian, beware lest you separate what GOD has joined, or substitute free-will for commanded service, using your liberty otherwise than as servants of GOD; carrying out, as you suppose, the spirit of the law wholly in your own way, instead of keeping, while you spiritualise the letter of the law. “The time is come when, neither in Jerusalem nor in this mountain, shall ye worship the Father,” does not mean that appointed places of worship shall not be resorted to, but that, besides, GOD shall be worshipped everywhere. A yearly celebration of the Passover is no longer necessary; but a continual feast is substituted for it. GOD seeks now to be worshipped in spirit and truth—that is, not without the body, but in addition to the body, with the spirit. The letter by itself killeth, because it is formal, and leaves the noblest powers and feelings of man unengaged for GOD; but the letter, as the carrying out of the Spirit, is still so imperative, so vital, that he who does not observe it foregoes the promise, “This do, and thou shalt live!”

SERMON XIV. PRESENT SALVATION.

II. CORINTHIANS, VI., 2.

_Behold_, _now is the day of salvation_.

ST. PAUL, having just quoted a prophecy of Isaiah, which relates to an accepted time and a day of salvation, in the text declares the fulfilment of that prophecy: “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.” That which was then promised, is now performed; that which was formerly but anticipated, and only embraced by faith, while yet afar off, is now realised and brought near. But the prophecy itself was mentioned by the Apostle, to enforce an entreaty, “We then as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of GOD in vain. For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee.” It is evident, then, that St. Paul would impress upon the Corinthians that men are in danger of receiving the grace of GOD in vain, of not benefitting by all the merciful and bountiful provision made through CHRIST for their redemption, and justification, and sanctification, by not recognising that this is the day of salvation, and so, not looking and preparing for, and receiving a present salvation.

Salvation is, as you know, the result—possible in all cases; certain, wherever the conditions are observed—of redemption by CHRIST. In its perfection, it is absolute freedom from the guilt, the taint, and the power of sin, and complete, effectual, and abiding holiness of heart and life. It belongs not to our proposed subject to consider at any length the destruction from which this is a salvation, nor the manner in which it was wrought out for lost sinners by CHRIST, nor the blessedness of its perfect possession and fruition, which can only be had in heaven. We have rather to do with what is present, than with the past and the future. We inquire not now, What has CHRIST done, or, What shall we reach by and by, but, What ought we to do now? What have we, or may we have now? In what respects, to what extent, is salvation a thing of the present?

First, then, it is present in the offer to bestow it, and the exhortations and influences to lay hold on it. When CHRIST rose victorious from the tomb, having paid the ransom for all the prisoners of the law, and purchased the right and power of being their Saviour, He did not immediately make all the men of His time actual partakers of the privileges, nor did He provide that all who should thereafter be born, should from their birth inherit the blessing, as from Adam they had inherited the curse. No man might say, “CHRIST has died and risen again, therefore, I am certainly saved, without any reserve or delay on His part, without any effort, almost without any desire, on my part.” Salvation was then provided; rather, the fountain was then opened, and began to flow; but each man in his turn, at the call of GOD, and in the way of GOD’S appointment, was, so to speak, to help himself to salvation. In other words, what CHRIST did, was not to take all who were then living into an ark, and to cause all that sprung from them to be born and brought up in that ark; but simply to build an ark, and leave it open for all ages, and to offer helps to reach it, and to urge an entrance into it upon all men, by the entreaties and promises of His love, and the threats of His wrath.

We want to be impressed with this. We are too apt to look upon salvation as an accomplished fact, belonging to the past; to speak of the blessedness of being born after the atonement has been made; to take for granted that we are actually saved, rather than that we have a present offer of salvation; and even to regard the ordinances of religion, as Baptism and Holy Communion, more as ceremonies of thankful faith, acknowledgments of obligation for past favours, than as means of laying hold on a now offered, and, as yet, unattained blessing.

Think a moment, brethren: look into your ways and thoughts about religion, and you will, perhaps, find that it is so with you; that, whatever may be your theory, your practice does not assent to the truth, that “Now is the day of salvation”; that you have now to be saved, yet to be washed from sin, to have its power destroyed in you, to be qualified for salvation, to lay hold on it, to work it out with fear and trembling, as that which, though commenced, is not certain to be completed—which, even when got, may again be lost. It may occur to you, as an objection to this statement, that you use means of grace, and somewhat diligently; that you exercise yourselves in prayer, and by Christian discipline; that you depend continually upon the ever-present grace of GOD; that you count not yourselves to have attained; that you seek to go on unto perfection. All this may be true, and yet—I beseech you ask yourselves whether it is not so with you—the latent feeling may be, that salvation is a thing inherited, already, in a measure, attained; and that what religion requires of you, and what you render, is gratitude to the Giver, and a due appreciation of the gift, sought to be testified and developed by a becoming life, and an enlarging of the spiritual faculties, which by and by will have so much more to exercise themselves upon.

But, secondly, is not this, it may be urged, a right view and feeling? Is not this what the ministers of religion should labour to impress upon the baptized: that they have received salvation—the grace of GOD, which bringeth salvation? Are we not taught by the Church, and by the Bible, that in baptism we were born again, that we then became children of GOD—and if children, then heirs, joint heirs with CHRIST; that we are, therefore, from that new birth as actually the inheritors of a blessing, as naturally we were inheritors of a curse; and that, thenceforth, it is proper for us to say, “I heartily thank my Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this state of salvation through JESUS CHRIST”? It is even so, brethren. “Now is the day of salvation,” may mean to us Christians, “now we _have_ salvation,” rather than “now it is only offered to us.” It may be intended to stir us up to a consideration of our high calling, to an appreciation of the great gift already bestowed, to a remembrance of what GOD has already done for us, to a sense of His abiding presence. There is no doubt—whether this text teaches it or no is another question—that the disciples of CHRIST have a present possession, as well as a present offer of salvation; and what I meant in the first part, was not to hide this truth, but to guard against the error, to correct whatever amount you might have of the feeling, that we have already a final gift, so complete that nothing can be added to it, so altogether of the past, that we can do nothing in the present, but acknowledge the goodness of GOD in bestowing it, and wait on Him patiently and holily till He is pleased to reveal to us the full excellencies of the gift, and to enable us to enjoy them in the eternal heaven. Above all, I meant to protest against, to awaken from the fearful delusion, that CHRIST has conferred absolutely on mankind, or upon any chosen number—the elect—the salvation which, by His precious merits, He procured; that it is ours independently of means of grace, without closing with present offers of it, and making present exertions, and showing present appreciation of it; that it can be ours at all, without earnest seeking and praying for it, and strivings, and workings, and self-denials, and crucifyings of evil, and growth in grace, and perseverance unto the end. “By grace are ye saved, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of GOD.” Work out your own salvation, each individual of you; make that your own which was once procured for all that would have it; work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Your salvation (I speak to the baptized) is _begun_, you have _present_ salvation—_i.e._, you are in the way which leads to salvation. You have guaranteed to you, on conditions, the helps necessary to attain perfect salvation. You may derive, and should be deriving, present benefits from your salvation, and you should experience present joy in it.

You have, I say, present salvation. You have been made members of that One Body, which was sanctified, and which is able to sanctify all other bodies that are joined to it: you are branches of that glorious tree, whose sap, pervading every healthy branch, gives it present strength and develops its beautiful growth, and by and by will produce the fruit of everlasting life. You have the life of CHRIST kindled in your souls. Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now is the day of salvation, and _present_ salvation, too; not merely past salvation applied, not that you are washed in a lake whose waters _once_ flowed from a glorious Fountain; not that you partake of a store of sanctification, long ago laid up; but that now each individual of you is operated upon by a present influence, deriving directly from the source, the water of life, having sanctification produced in you by the now-working and influencing Spirit. Creatures of the present, there is a present salvation for you; and that does not mean merely that you have for yourselves to seek and lay hold of a ready salvation, but that a merciful and grace-giving GOD, a loving Saviour, an indwelling Spirit, are present with you, and personally operating upon you for your salvation.

Dear brethren, try to understand and feel this. Do not suppose that GOD’S gifts are in any way separated from the Giver by time or by distance. Once for all, He resolved to give, but severally as each needs and rightly seeks, He gives; and when He gives, it is not by messengers, through long mediums, _but out of His own hand_. The bread which we break and the cup which we bless, are the communion of the Body and Blood of CHRIST. The bread is not the Body, nor the wine the Blood, nor is the reception of them the way of applying to us any stored up blessings; but when we keep the ordinance which CHRIST has appointed, then He fulfils His promise of blessing us, and, with the sign, Himself the reality enters into our souls.

There present in the heart, Not in the hands, th’ eternal Priest Will His true self impart.

And so of all other ordinances. They are nothing, and give nothing of themselves. Their whole value—but what an unspeakable value it is—consists in their being appointed ways of bringing us into direct communication with a present GOD, our Father, our Saviour, our Sanctifier!

But there is another view to take of present salvation—namely, that from its very nature, it cannot be received at any one time in perfection, in such a state as to need no care to preserve it, no sustentation and renewal, no constant direction and blessing from the Author, and Regulator, and Finisher of it. It is spiritual life. Who does not know to what hazards life may be exposed, and how, from its very nature, it requires to be fed with proper food, and kept in health, and exercised, and developed? It is a spiritual sap. And what a mockery of life and support to the branch, would be one single, separated, unrenewed imparting from the vine, of the sap, which indeed ceases to be sap when the flow from the trunk is interrupted! The work of salvation is GOD’S work, begun by Him, continued by Him, and to be completed by Him—therefore, it must have His continued personal superintendence. He must work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Thus is salvation _present_ as distinguished from the _past_.

But in another sense it is now the day of salvation. We have not to expect it as a thing wholly future, we must not delay to close with it as though there were a better time and way of doing that to be afforded hereafter. Salvation is present in its rewards and effects.