may infer the need of prayer on their behalf. III. The conse- nature."-Diony. quent duty of being found earnest in prayer for the rising pastors Halicarn. and evangelists of our churches:-1. For the sake of the Church e Dr. itself; 2. For the honour and glory of Christ.e a Williams. known W. R. 18, 19. eyes..enlightened, spiritual illumination. hope things to be calling, the sure and certain hope wh. the calling warrants. riches.. glory, the glorious riches. b of.. saints, riches of a 2 Co. iv. 4, 6; love, trust, zeal, etc. All these, the wealth of God in His people. what.. power,d in converting, renewing, governing the soul. acc. power, in its manifestations, felt, acknowledged, estimated, and realised. iii. 18; Ps. cxix. 18; Is. xlii. 6,7; Lu. xxiv. 45; Ac. xxvi. 17, 18; xvi. 14. Ro. viii. 30; 1 Th. ii. 12; Phi. iii. 13, 14, 21; Tit. T. Adams. Spiritual eye-salve.-I. An eye: 1. The situation of this spiritual eye is in the soul; 2. Its qualification--" enlightened;" 3. Its diseases; 4. The means to cure these. We must learn to see ourselves (1) Naturally, (2) Morally, (3) Spiritually. II. An ii. 13; iii. 7. object to be seen-"the hope of his calling," etc. The things c De. xxxii. 9. necessary to seeing this object perfectly are: 1. Firmness of the organ that seeth; 2. A proportional distance between the eye and d Ps. cx. 2; Ph. the object; 3. Light whereby to see; 4. Substantial matter in the ii. 13. object; 5. Clearness of atmosphere; 6. Steadiness of the object. e Ep. iii. 20; 1 Pe. One of the days of heaven. Mr. Flavel, at one time on a i. 3-5. journey, set himself to improve his time by meditation; when his mind grew intent, till at length he had such ravishing tastes of heavenly joy, and such full assurance of his interest therein, that "For the powers he utterly lost the sight and sense of this world and all its con- of the mind cerns, so that he knew not where he was. At last, perceiving with those of the gather strength himself faint through a great loss of blood from his nose, he body; and in the alighted from his horse, and sat down at a spring, where he same way, as old washed and refreshed himself, earnestly desiring, if it were the age creeps on, will of God, that he might there leave the world. His spirits re- and weaker till they get weaker viving, he finished his journey in the same delightful frame. He they are finally passed that night without any sleep, the joy of the Lord still insensible to overflowing him, so that he seemed an inhabitant of the other everything."world. After this, a heavenly serenity and sweet peace long continued with him; and for many years he called that day "one of the days of heaven!" and professed he understood more of the life of heaven by it than by all the discourses he had heard, or the books he ever read. Herodotus. "He sins against this life who slights the next." -Young. Christ 20-23. which.. Christ, an ill. of the power as well as exaltation of mercy of God. when.. dead," special manifestation of power. set, making Him sit. Rest aft. toil. at.. hand, the seat a Ac. ii. 24; Jo. of honour. far above, as His nature and office are far x. 17, 18, 30. above. all.. dominion, all degrees of heavenly intelligence. b Ac. vii. 56. and.. come, saints here, and in heaven. put, subjected. all c He. i. 13. d feet, all subdued under Him as conqueror and king. head.. d Phi. ii. 9, 10; things, He rules all events, etc. to.. Church, for His Church's He. i. 4; Col. i. good. which.. body, He will therefore the more care for it. 16; ii. 10. the.. him, not only full of Christ, but manifesting the fulness e Ma. xxviii. 18; of grace, etc., there is in Christ. that.. all," He filleth heaven 1 Co. xv. 27; He. with His glory, and earth with His grace. ii. 8. Christ the Head of the Church.-A head of—I. Representation; ƒ Ep. iv. 15, 16. II. Direction; III. Influence. Application: 1. We must form ag Ep. v. 23, 30; 1 distinct idea of this privilege of being united to Christ; 2. The Co. xii. 12, 27; grand object set before us in the Gospel; 3. From this subject we Ro. xii. 5. may form an estimate of our own character.-Christ the Lord of\n Col. i. 18. i R. Cecil, M.A. k S. Martin. all.-I. The sovereignty of Jesus Christ, as here declared : 1. Sovereignty must, by the very nature of the Deity, belong to "Let us not lis-God; 2. Christ is supreme in relation to every creature; 3. He ten to those who asserts and maintains His sovereignty in every sphere with special banish Christ to relation to His Church; 4. Christ's headship over His Church is the Church tri- distinct from that over all. II. What does this headship involve? His king- 1. A strict, 2. An active, 3. An universal, 4. A redemptive, 5. A dom is a king-judging, government.". umphant in hea ven. dom of faith. We cannot see our have one."Luther. 1 J. A. Macduff. 66 The empire of Christ.-What an empire is this! Heaven and head, and yet we earth-the Church militant-the Church triumphant-angels and archangels-saints and seraphs. At His mandate the billows were hushed-demons crouched in terror-the grave yielded its prey! Upon His head are many crowns." He is made "Head over all things to His Church." Yes, over all things, from the minutest to the mightiest. He holds the stars in His right hand; He walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, feeding every candlestick with the oil of His grace, and preserving every star in its spiritual orbit.' man's natural state a Col. ii. 13; Jo. v. 24; Ro. viii. 6 -8. CHAPTER THE SECOND. с a 1-3. you, you also. quickened, implied by foregoing. (He raised up Christ by His power, and you also). dead, morally, spiritually. wherein, in this state of death. walked, lived an animal life, dead to moral duty and eternal things, course,d path, fashion, policy. prince.. air, Satanic influences the.. c Sleep-walkers. disobedience, Hebraism: dependent on, springing fr., nourished "For in this by, disobedience. conversation," way of life. mind, thoughts, sleep of death not sinning thoughtlessly. the.. wrath, under wrath, sufferthere is a strange ing punishment. 6 1 Co. vi. 11. somnambulism." -Eadie. d Ro. xii. 2; 1 Jo. h Tit. iii. 3; 1 Pe. Sin.-I. Its essence-disobedience to the will of God-obedience to the flesh. II. Its universality-it extends over all. III. Its variety-not merely a variety in the extent of guilt. IV. The corruption accruing from it. Nature and grace.-Socrates was once accused by a physiognomist of having a base and lewd disposition; his disciples, knowing his character to be altogether the reverse, were much enraged, and would have beaten the offender; but Socrates interposed, and iv. 3; Ga. v. 16-modestly acknowledged, "I was once naturally the character he describes, but I have been regenerated by philosophy." Every Christian will acknowledge that he is by nature a child of disobedience and wrath, and that by the grace of God he is what he is. 21. i Ro. iii. 9, 10; Ps. li.5; Ro. v. 12. k Dr. K. Braune. fruit of 4, 5. who.. mercy,a His mercy-not our merit-explains God's love what follows. love, mercy takes away misery; love confers a Ep. i. 7; Ex. salvation.c even.. .sins, even then the objects of Divine love. xxxiv. 6, 7; Ps hath.. Christ, He fr. natural, we fr. spiritual death. grace ..saved, have no doubt, therefore, ab. the possibility of your b Ro. v. 8; Jo. salvation. lxxxvi. 15; Mi. vii. 18. iii. 16; 1 Jo. iv. 10, 19; 2 Ti. i. 9; Je. xxxi. 3. c Bengel. d Jo. v. 21; vi. 63; Col. iii. i. 3. d Grace and law.-So far from being irreconcilable, grace and law conduct necessarily to one another. I. The law conducts naturally to grace. Consider: 1. Its nature; 2. Its extent-it is the law of perfection; 3. Its authoritative character; 4. Its sanction or guarantee-happiness. II. Grace, in its turn leads back to the law: 1. Grace, as manifested in the Gospel, is the most found mercy are daries mercy splendid homage, the most solemn consecration, which the law e Ro. iii. 23, 24; can receive; 2. Thus, in the idea of evangelical grace, the moral Tit. iii, 5. law is highly glorified, and should be so in the hearts of those who "Notorious sinreceive grace; 3. In this manner, grace, and grace alone, leads ners who have back to the law. Learn: (1) Those who admit grace, admit also as landmarks, the law; (2) Those who do not admit grace deny the law.f showing what The power of love.-A certain man had a wayward son; his extensive bounconduct brought down his father to a premature grave; on the hath set for itday of his funeral the son was present, saw unmoved the pale face self. It were a of his father in the coffin, stood unmoved on the brink of the healthy walk, poor, doubting grave. The family retraced their steps. Their father's will and Christian! for testament was read; in that testament was the name of the thy soul to go undutiful son. As his name was read his heart heaved with this circuit often."-Gurnall. emotion, his eyes were bedewed with tears, and he was heard to say, "I did not think that my father would have so kindly f Dr. Vinet. thought of me in his will." In the family of Christ, some of us, in reading His Testament, and thinking upon His great love and 9 Rev. J. Davies. marvellous gifts, feel our unprofitableness and unworthiness, and are filled with contrition and gratitude, with love and wonder.g C -10; He. vi. 19, b Ellicott. "Even now we sit there in Him, and shall sit with Him in the end." - Andrewes. 6, 7. raised.. sit, etc.,a He raised us with Him, He enthroned the ages to us with Him. that.. come, the ages in succession fr. that come time to second coming of Christ. show..grace, as an en- a Jo.xvii. 25; Re. couragement to all to seek Him. in.. us, who were so lost and iii. 21; Ro. vi. 8 sinful. through, Gk., in. Christ, as the sphere of the mani-20; Phi. iii. 20. festation of mercy, and in wh. alone its operations are felt. The ages to come.-The need of a fore-looking to future ages. I. The condition of the human race as it now exists. II. The condition of the Church itself-all that we are wont to esteem its best part. III. Our knowledge of God in the present state of things. IV. The things to be revealed in future ages-a personal experience in us of which we now have but the faintest trace in analogy; all these lead one to rebound from the present, and to seek comfort in looking forward to "the ages to come." Preparing for heaven.-" Mamma," said a little child, " Sunday-school teacher tells me that this world is only a place in which God lets us live a while, that we may prepare for a better world. But, mother, I do not see anybody preparing. I see you preparing to go into the country, and Aunt Eliza is preparing to come here; but I do not see any one preparing to go there: why "d my c Tit. iii. 4. "The knowledge of what has gone before affords the best instruc tion for the di rection and guidance of human life."-Polybius. d H. W. Beecher. "Men will don't they try to get ready?" When Ben's master died, they told wrangle for relihim he had gone to heaven. Ben shook his head, “I 'fraid massa gion; write for no go there.". "But why, Ben?"-" Cos, when massa go North, it; fight for it; or go a journey to the Springs, he talk about it a long time, and thing but live for get ready. I never hear him talk about going to heaven; never it." see him get ready to go there." die for it; any b Mk. xvi. 16; Ac. 8-10. grace. . saved," a truth that cannot be too oft. re-salvation by peated, both for God's glory and our comfort. faith, subjective grace medium and condition. that, faith. it.. God," who both a 2 Ti i. 9. gives the objects of faith and the power of believing. works, xvi. 30, 31; Bo. legal obedience. boast,' of having, by his obed., wrought his iv. 16. own salvation and deserved it. workmanship, handiwork.c Hammond. What we are, as Christians, He has made us. created..d Jo. vi. 44, 45; works, our good works are the fruit, the obedience of faith. which.. them,^ our walk in Him is a walk in them. Phi. i. 29. e Ro. iii. 20, 27, 28; iv. 2; ix. 11. f1 Co. i, 29-31. g Ep. iv. 24; 1 Co. iii. 9: 2 Co. v. 5; h 2 Co. v. 17; 1 Jo. ii. 6; Ro. viii. 29; Ep. i. 4; Tit. Phi. ii. 13. ii. 14. i Dr. Doddridge. "This, then, is makes it all grace Grace and faith.-I. How we may be said to be saved through faith: 1. Without it we can never be saved; 2. Every one who has it will undoubtedly be saved. II. How, in consequence of this, we are saved by grace. III. The consideration that faith is the gift of God. He-1. Reveals the great objects of faith; 2. Inclines the mind to attend to them; 3. Conquers the aversion of the heart to the Gospel; 4. Carries on this blessed work, and maintains the Divine principle.' The plank of free grace.-Mr. M'Laren and Mr. Gustart were that which both ministers of the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh. When Mr. from beginning M'Laren was dying, Mr. G. paid him a visit, and put the question to end, that God to him, "What are you doing, brother?" His answer was, "I'll not only saves tell you what I am doing, brother; I am gathering together all upon believing, but gives believ-my prayers, all my sermons, all my good deeds, all my ill deeds; ing itself." and I am going to throw them all overboard, and swim to glory Leighton. on the plank of Free Grace." far off made nigh ciii. 2. b Ellicott. e Ro. ii. 28, 29; Col. ii. 11; Phi. b 11-13. remember," for memory will aid you in realising God's grace. called, contemptuously. uncircumcision, far a Is. li. 1; Ps. off, aliens, out of the covenant. by.. hands, by the Jews, who thought not of the secret spiritual process in the heart. aliens, in a state of alienation. commonwealth, the external polity. Israel,d Theocratic name of honour. from.. promise, made to it. As strangers had no filial participation. hope, of grace or glory. without.. world, no knowledge of God, or His red Ac. iii. 25; Ro. lations. now, in contrast to the past. in.. Jesus, living ix. 4, 5; Ga. iii. 16, 17. union. were.. off, moral distance. nigh, to God, as a Father. blood.. Christ, the ransom-price: by wh. you are bought into the glorious liberty of children of God. iii. 3. e Ro. i. 18-20; ii. 18. f Col. i. 21-23. g Ro. v. 10; 1 Pe. iii. 18. h R. Hall, M.A. "Atheism is the our day. On the characteristic of amusements, Modern infidelity.—The influence of the systems of scepticism upon: I. The principles of morals. Two consequences inevitably follow the prevalence of infidelity: 1. The frequent perpetration of great crimes; 2. The total absence of great virtues. II. The formation of character. The exclusion of a Supreme Being and of a superintending providence:-1. Tends directly to the desentiments, man- struction of moral taste; 2. Promotes the growth of those vices ners, pursuits, which are the most hostile to social happiness-vanity, ferocity, and dealings of and unbridled sensuality."-Atheism of the Ephesians.-Consider the great body of that:-I. To deny the attributes essential to the nature of God is mankind lies to deny God: 1. His justice; 2. His goodness; 3. His proviwritten in broad dence. II. To deny the acts which are a necessary consequence characters, without God in the of these attributes is to deny those attributes themselves. Those world."-Cecil. acts resulting from: 1. His justice; 2. His goodness; 3. His i Dr. Vinet. providence. Application:-The Christian ought—(1) To inquire "Herein consists diligently into the foundations and privileges of his faith; (2) the excellency To learn how to exhibit the titles of his adoption with dignity; and very essence (3) To explain them with gentleness.i-Practical atheism.-I. To of religion-in whom these words "without God in the world" are applicable :drawing it 1. The adorers of false gods; 2. Those who believe there is no back from mix- God; 3. Those who have no solemn recognition of God's proviing with the dence; 4. All who are forming or pursuing their scheme of life bringing it into and happiness independently of God; 5. Those who have but a subjection under slight sense of God's authority; 6. Those who neither possess, nor seek after, communion with Him; 7. All who do not habitually anticipate the great event of going at last into His presence; 8. Those who, while professing a religious regard for God, frame exalting the soul, in creature, and in God, the first and only good; in uniting it to its proper object; in their religion according to their own speculation and fancy. II. making that The miserable effects of such estrangement from God as seen in: which was the -1. Youth; 2. Worldly occupations; 3. General social converse; 4. Times of temptation; 5. Situations of affliction; 6. Old age; 7. Death.* breath of God breathe nothing but God.". Farindon. k J. Foster. granted to be the Ignorance of heathenism.-The men who built the Pyramids "Whether reliworshipped loathsome insects and animals. The Phoenicians, gion be true or who invented letters, chained the images of their gods to their false, it must be altars, that they might not abandon them. The cultured men of necessarily Rome made important plans by auguries derived from the entrails of sheep or the flight of birds. Plutarch thought that the souls of men were made out of the moon, and would return to it. Plato and Seneca thought the stars required nourishment, and were eager for pasture. only wise principle and safe hypothesis for a man to live and die by."-Tillot son. a Ro v. 1. c Jo. x. 16; Ga. Ga. vi. 15. 14, 15. He.. peace," not merely the peace-maker. both, Christ our Jew and Gentile. one, family and flock of God. broken.. peace us, abolished the rite of circumcision, wh., as a fence, separated Israel fr. rest of world. enmity, hatred of Jew and Gentile for ea. other. even.. ordinances, on acc. of wh. the Jew hated the Gentile, and the G. scorned the J. twain, who stood apart. one.. man, united brotherhood, compact as body of one man. Christ, our peace." He is our peace" in relation to:-I. God. With regard to-1. The Divine will. Obedience to this is necessary to peace. Man is naturally at war with God, and thus God must, through necessity, fight against man. Christ restores peace between God and man. give 2. The Divine character. II. Our own nature. Christ becomes our peace by restoring to us our proper friendships, and King. III. Our fellow-men. He becomes our peace with regard that of senseless to nationality-no Jew and Gentile with Him-with regard to men and barbareligious differences, and also with regard to our vices. Conclu- friends with enesion:-Is Christ your peace, or are you still in rebellion against mies." Diony. Him? Remember, He alone can be your peace; take Him then Halicarn. as such, and be filled with Him. en mities rians to confound fRev. J. Bartlett. "It is heaven mind move in The middle wall of partition.-Parkhurst believes that Paul upon earth to alludes to the wall or stone " palisade," as Josephus calls it, have & man's which separated the court of the Gentiles from that of the Jews, charity, rest in and which was furnished with pillars at equal distances; these were Providence, and inscribed some with Greek and some with Roman inscriptions, turn referring to the purity required by the law, and cautioning poles of truth." strangers from approaching. upon the -Bacon. 16, 17. both. . God, as well as to ea. other. one body, reconcilias they also are made one. One Saviour for one sinful race. ation b Ro. viii. 7. cross, representing the atonement. enmity, on man's part a 2 Co. v. 19, 21. towards God; as well as (v. 15) of Jew and Gentile towards ea. c Lu. ii. 14; Ro. other. came, aft. His resurrection. and.. peace, and com- v. 1; Is. lvii. 19. manded the Gospel of peace to be published in all nations. afar d Ac. ii. 39; De. iv. 7; Ps. cxlviii. .. nigh," Gentiles and Jews. 14. Him; quire too cu The enmity slain.-I. The slain-enmity between God and "Believe that man. This enmity is-1. Long standing; 2. Unjust; 3. One there is a God; that cannot be concealed as long as it lasts. II. The slayer-the worship but do not incross of Christ. It is slain by the cross because-1. Both parties can meet here; 2. Of the love that is here manifested. Idea of the atonement.-The experience of poor Jack, a deafmute, is thus given by Charlotte Elizabeth :-His sublime idea of the RED HAND was ever present. He had told me, some years riously into His for you essence; will have nothing for your trouble except the labour |
