1 Chron. xv. 12, 13.-Sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God Jeremiah, viii. 20-22.—The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people, am I hurt; I am black; asto- nishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not Matt. xvi. 26.-What is a man profited, if he shall gain 1 Kings, xxi. 29.-Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I Esther, v. 13.-Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as Acts, xiii. 22.-I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. 441 ON UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES; OR HOW TO ANSWER A Prov. xxvi. 4, 5.-Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool accord- ing to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit...... 457 SERMON I. ON THE CORRUPTION OF HUMAN NATURE. Roм. viii. 7, 8. The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. AMONG the trials which are painful to our nature, and peculiar to those who preach the gospel, it is one and not the least, that we must declare what men dislike to hear. The advocate who pleads at the bar, says nothing unpleasing to those who employ him; he does all he can do to promote the interest and gratify the wishes of his clients. The orator who addresses a popular assembly, accommodates his speech to their political views, their interest and passions; and he dwells most on that which they most approve. But it is not so with the minister of Christ: though we address our dearest friends and most respected benefactors, those whom, of all the people on earth, it is most our desire and our interest to please, we are often by our office and sense of duty, constrained to teach doctrines and enforce truths unwelcome to their ears; and to reprove and rebuke them on whom we depend for our daily bread. B There is no doctrine, which the Saviour of the world has made it our duty to teach, that is more generally offensive to unbelievers especially, than the corruption of the human heart; that we are "by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath," and "have no spiritual health in us." Pride is our prevailing sin; the predominant principle of that "carnal mind" which is enmity against God." We naturally think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. To convince the proud that their heart is corrupt, and their souls vile and sinful, is like proving to a madman that he is not in his right mind. The madman must be restored to reason before he can perceive the loss of it; and the proud heart must be changed before it can be penitent and humble. And yet there is no doctrine more essential, none more necessary to be faithfully taught, well understood, and fully received, than this. It lies at the foundation of Christian theology, and is essential to the doctrines of grace. The whole system of redemption, supposes that mankind are all by nature, in a fallen, sinful state. Jesus Christ came into this world to save that which was lost. His doctrine as taught by prophets and confirmed by apostles is, that all we, like sheep, have gone astray; that the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all; that by his stripes we are healed; that he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. If human nature were not radically corrupt, and man, according to the just demands of the divine law, were not in a state of condemnation, what need would there be of a Saviour, or of any sacrifice for sin?" He that is whole needs not a physician." Without a belief in this doctrine, it is not easy to conceive how any can feel much love for Christ, or any deep interest in what he has done to save them. Till you are sensible of such inherent corruption, such a general pollution of your nature, as to render you unfit to be accepted as righteous with God, how could you appreciate the work of redemption, or feel due gratitude for him who came into the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself?" As this doctrine is one of the most essential to Christianity, so is it clearly taught and illustrated throughout the word of God. In the law given by Moses, which was intended to prepare the way for the advent of the Messiah, and to bring men to Christ, the doctrines of his cross are strikingly represented; and among them, this of the general pollution of our nature is uniformly conspicuous; so much so indeed, that it was only by sacrifices and various purifications, typical of Christ's atonement, that the Israelites might acceptably draw nigh to God. This is clearly the doctrine of our church, as is evident through all her offices and liturgy; and is most clearly and fully expressed in her 9th article, and those which follow to the 16th, wherein original sin is declared to be "the fault and corruption of the nature of every man; whereby he is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil:-That he cannot, without the grace of God, turn and prepare himself to faith and calling upon God:-That we are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith." The church teaches what the scriptures teach, that our works which in God's sight are accounted good, are those which spring from faith and love. The same doctrine is very fully taught in various parts of the scriptures, and particularly by St. Paul, in our text. He had just said, "I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing." In our natural state of mind, when destitute of divine grace, there is nothing which, in a religious sense, is good. Our best works, wrought in that state, have in them the nature of sin." "And this infection of our nature, (as the 9th article declares,) doth remain in them that are regenerated. The flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit." Thus does the church apply what St. Paul says to the Galatians: "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary, the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." This last, that men find it extremely difficult or rather impossible to do the things that they would, the apostle has fully shown in his seventh chapter to the Romans. In our text he says, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." And this passage also does the church in this same article apply to what most evidently the apostle means, original or birth-sin. This lust of the flesh, "phronema sarkos," here rendered the carnal mind, and "which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh," as both the bible and the article teach, is a principle of corrupt nature opposed to God. So that "they who are in the flesh," whose minds are not renewed by grace, "cannot please God." |