once established, and who is there that will be destitute of an excuse for sin? The more deeply the sinner has plunged into iniquity, the more fully he has incapacitated himself for obedience, the less obedience he will be required to pay, the greater indulgence he will experience. My brethren, investigate this matter with attention. You will find that the notions of a mitigated law are most derogatory to the honour of God, most destructive to the practice of holiness. The advocates for this system, however they may disclaim the intention, are in fact subvertors at once of the law and of the gospel. They are equally implicated in the charge of substituting new standards of obedience; and thus far they eventually rank with the more open opposers of the law. Have any of you hitherto favoured such opinions? Examine the secret source from whence they sprang. You have probably ascribed them to worthy and honourable conceptions of the divine mercy and equity. You have perhaps regarded them as the offspring of a liberal and an unprejudiced mind. But you have been deceived. The real source has been pride, the unhumbled state of your heart. Refusing to submit yourselves to the righteousness of God, you have been secretly attempting to establish your own righteousness. Though the Scriptures positively affirm, that "by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God," you have been at the bottom indulging the presumptuous hope of saving yourselves by your works; of having whereof to glory before God. Hence has arisen your partiality for a mitigated rule. Finding that so long as the law retains its spiritual and extensive demands, you must despair of justifying yourselves by your obedience to it, you have been tempted to reduce its injunctions to a level with what you have conceived to be the measure of your own performances. You have erected an imaginary standard adapted to your own corrupt propensities. You have taken up a cheap profession of religion. You have followed a mutilated rule of conduct, the creature of your own invention; and this rule you have presumptuously styled the easy yoke of Christ. Awake, my brethren, awake. Dissipate such delusive dreams. Banish pride. from your hearts. Submit yourselves unto God. Con descend to be saved through grace, and not of debt. Accept eternal life as the gift of God: a gift wholly unmerited, freely bestowed on you for Christ's sake, without money and without price. Smite upon your breasts, and say, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Contemplate the sufferings of Emanuel. See in them the holiness of his law exhibited. See in them the fulness of his mercy displayed. Strive to affect your hearts with the thoughts of his dying love. Say, For me, for me, the Son of God endured the bitter agony, the shameful cross. Shall I count his commandments grievous? Shall I requite his love by dishonouring that law which he died to magnify?"I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost. O Lord, give me understanding and I shall keep thy law." Help me to take thy yoke upon me, for I shall find it easy. "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart." 66 Upon the whole, in the truth illustrated in the first clause of the text, we see exemplified that close connection, which invariably subsists between the precept and the promise, between the duty and the privilege. Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy. Comply with the precept, and you shall experience the truth of the promise. The abundance of your peace shall be proportioned to the sincerity and extent of your obedience. The more heartily you apply your necks to the yoke, the lighter shall you find it." Be not then like to horse and mule which have no understanding, whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle. Be not as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke." Attempt not to ease your shoulder by drawing back from the pressure. Be patient. Be faithful. Press forward earnestly in the path assigned to you. Follow the Lord fully. He shall feed you in a green pasture, and lead you forth beside the waters of comfort. You shall delight yourself in the law of the Lord, and in keeping his commandments shall have great reward.” 83 SERMON VIII. CHRIST'S BURDEN A LIGHT BURDEN. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.—Matthew xi. 30. IN a former discourse on these words, I adduced them as containing a correct and faithful delineation of the nature of true religion. In this respect they are highly important. They neither allure, by a specious exhibition of the pleasures which accompany Christianity, nor discourage by exaggerated representations of its attendant difficulties. They paint the service of Christ in its native colours, as it really is; a service not exempt, on the one hand, from trial and restraint, nor destitute, on the other, of consolations and delights peculiarly its own. Though it be a yoke, it is an easy yoke. Though it be a burden, it is a light burden. In this view we have already considered the former clause of the text. I now proceed, in a similar view, to propose the latter to your consideration. My burden is light. The servants of Christ have not only a yoke which they must carry, they have a burden also which they must bear. What does this expression mean? What is the burden which Christ imposes on his people? Generally we may understand the term to imply, all those peculiar sufferings, labours, and afflictions, to which his service exposes those who follow it. It cannot be denied, it need not be dissembled, that the servants of Christ are called to encounter many heavy trials, from which other persons are free. The very images, under which Christianity is pourtrayed in Scripture, strikingly convey this truth. Why is it described as a narrow way! Why is it characterised as a race, as a wrestling as a warfare, but in allusion to the difficulties and the hardships with which the serious profession of it is accompanied? Does not St. Peter, when speaking to Christians of their sufferings, expressly tell them that "hereunto they were called?"* Does not St. Paul assert, that "through much tribulation we * Peter ii. 21. must enter into the kingdom of God?"* Does not Christ himself affirm, "Whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple?"+ But is it asked in what particulars the burden of Christ more especially consists? I reply: 1. In the daily conflict which the Christian maintains with sin that dwelleth in him. The power of sin in his heart, though broken, is not utterly destroyed. The body of death, though condemned and crucified, still continues to defile, to impede, to harass him. Too often does he find reason to lament that he cannot do the things which he would; that "when he would do good, evil is present with him." Too often has he occasion to complain, that though he delights in the law of God after the inward man; yet he sees another law in his members warring against the law of his mind and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin, which is in his members." Corrupt propensities, which have long since seemed to be weakened, or even utterly subdued, at times resume their wonted force, and cost him many a painful struggle: while deadness of heart to the things of God, coldness of spiritual affections, wandering thoughts in prayer, and numerous unallowed transgressions, which escape all human observation, fill him with unaffected shame, and oppress his bosom with real sorrow. 2. In the hostile treatment which the Christian experiences from the world. It is the declaration of unerring truth, that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."§ Let this declaration however be understood in a qualified sense. It is not intended that every true disciple of Christ is necessarily called to seal his faith with his blood, to be made with the apostles a spectacle to men and angels. And it must be admitted that much of that opposition and obloquy which christians encounter, is too often provoked by their own injudicious zeal, indiscreet singularities, and needlessly offensive conduct. At the same time they are not of the world, therefore the world hateth them."|| Their views, their maxims, their principles are so directly opposite to those, by which the men of the world are actuated, that notwithRom. vii. 21-23. 19. *Acts xiv. 22. + Luke xiv. 27. || John xv, standing every lawful endeavour to obviate prejudice and to conciliate esteem, that enmity, which was originally put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, will secretly continue to operate. A variety of circumstances may concur to modify, to direct, or to restrain its operations; but still it will occasionally break forth, and betray the lurking venom. In beneficial designs perversely thwarted; in motives misrepresented; in conduct harshly judged, and uncharitably censured, in vilifying appellations wantonly and reproachfully applied: the Christian will experience the hatred and opposition of of the world. Even if resort be not had to weapons more open and violent, the malicious sarcasm, or the insulting sneer will at times exercise his patience, and expose his fortitude to trial. 3. In the chastening which the Christian receives from his heavenly Master. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”* The Christian is a scholar, whom Christ is training up for future glory. Already he is a partaker of the divine nature: the seed is sown in his heart; but much care and management are requisite to bring it to maturity. Already, he is born again of the Spirit: but much painful discipline must be endured, before the new-born babe "shall come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Hence severe rebukes, hence afflicting dispensations become necessary instruments in the hand of the Lord for correcting and proving his servants; for exercising and strengthening their graces; for weaning their affection from the world; and for gradually fitting their souls for that glorious inheritance which he has prepared for them. Such is the burden which Christ imposes on his followers. And is this a light burden? Is daily conflict with sin, is hostile treatment from the world, is chastening from the hand of the Lord a weight easy to be borne? Do these accumulated trials constitute only a light burden? Yet Christ avers in the text, my burden is light. How can we reconcile those seeming inconsistencies? As the yoke of Christ is easy in comparison with those yokes, Hebrews xii. 6. I |