SERMON XI.
UR Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came by blood as well as by water, not only as a Fount of Face and truth—the source of sloiritual light, joy, and salvation— but as a combatant with Sin and Satan, who was "consecrated through suflering." tIe was, as prophecy had marked 1-Iim out, "red in His aloloarel, and tIis garments like tlim thut treadeth in the wine-fat;" or, in the words of the Apostle, "IIe vas clothcd with a vesture dipped in blood." It was the untold sufferings of the Eternal Word in out nature, tIis body dislocated and torn, His blood poured out, tIis sorti violently separated by a loaintul death, which bas put away from us the wrath of ttim whose love sent IIim for that very 1)urloose. This only was out Atonement; no one shared in the work. tic "trod the wine-loress alone, and of the peol)le there was noue with tIim." \Vhen lifted up UlOOn the cursed tree, He fought with all the hosts of evfl, and conquered by suffering.
Thus, in a most mysterious way, all that is needfal for this sinfttl wofld, the lite of our smùs, the regeneration of our nature, all that is most joyftù and glorious, hope, light, peace, spiritual freedom, holy influences, religious knowledge and strengh, ail flow from a fount of blood. A work of blood is out salvation; and we, as we would be saved, lnust drav near and gaze upon if in faith, and accel)t it as the way to heaven. We must take IIim, who thus sufIered, as out gide; we must embrace ]Iis sacred feet, and fd]ow IIim.:No wondcr, then, shotfld we receive on ourselves some dïops of the sacrêd agmy which bedewêd ttis garments; no wonder, shotfld we be sprinlded with the sorrows which IIe bore in expiation of out sins! And so if bas ever been in vêry deed; to approach tIim bas beên, from the flrst, to be patoEaker, more or less, in ttis sufferings; I do hot say in the case of every indMdual who believes in Him, but as regards the more conspicuous, the more favom:ed, His choice instruments, and His lnost active servants; that is, if bas been the lot of the Church, on the whole, and of those, on the whole, who had been most like ttim, as Btùers, Intercessors, and Teachers of the Church. He, indeed, alone meritorious]y; they, because they bave been near Him. Thus, immediately upon Itis birth, He brought the sword upon the infants of ttis own age af Beth]ehem. ttis very shadow, cast pon a city, where tte did hot abide, was stained with blood, ttis ]lessed lIother had hot clasped ttim to ber breast for many weeks, ere she was warned of the penalty of that fearful privflege: "Yea, a sword shall lierce through thy own soul also. ''1 Virtue went out of ttim; but the water and the blood flowed together as afterwards from His pierced side. From unong the iniants He took up in His arms to bless, is said to have gone forth a chief martyr of the generation affer tIim. Most of His Apostles lassed through lire-long sufferings to a violent death. In partictflar, when the favoured brothers, Jtmes and John, came fo Him with a request that they ndght sit beside Him in His kingdom, He plainly stated this connection between nearness fo Him and afllictîon. "Are ye able," He said, "fo drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and fo be baptized with the baptism that I ara baptized with?" As if He said, "Ye cannot bave the sacraments of gTace without the 1)ainful figures of them. The Coss, when imprinted on yom" foreheads, will draw blood. You shall receive, indeed, the baptism of the Slfirit, and the cu l) of My communion, but it shall be vith the attendant i,ledges of My cu My baptism of bloo&" Elsewhere He Sl»eaks the saine lantge to all who wotfld partake the benefits of IIis death and passion: "Whosoever doth not betr his cross, and corne after Me, cannot be My disciple. '' Accordingly, tIis Apostles frequently remind us of this necessary, though mysterious appointment, and bid us "think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is fo try us, as though some strange thing hal)l)ened tmto us, but sufferings of lesson in the Luke s Luke to rejoice ia having communion with the Christ. '' St. lad teaches us the saine text, in which he speaks of taking up the il. 5. Mtt. xx. 22. xiv. 27. a 1 let. iv. 12, 13.
remnant of Christ's sorrows, as some precious dropt from the Cross, and wearing if for His sake. "I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what renmins of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, that is, the Church."l And though he is speaking especidly of persecution and oflmr sufferings borne in the cause of the Gospe], yet if is our great privflege, as Scripture tel]s us, that all pain and trouble, borne in ïaith and patience, will be accotmted as marks of Christ, grace-tokens from the absent Saviour, and wfll be accepted and rcwarded for His sake at the last day. If declares generally, "When thou passest t.hrough the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall hot overflow thee: when thou walkest through the tire, thou shalt hOt be burned; neither shall the flamc kindle upon thee." "0ur light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. '' Thus the Gospel, which has shed light in so many woEys upon the state of this world, has aided especially out view of the suffcrings to which human nattre is subjected; turning a punishment into a privflege, in the case of a]i pain, and especial]y of bodily pain, which is the most mysterious of all. Sorrow, anxiety, and disappointment are more or less connected with sin and sinners; but bodfly pain is involuntary for the most part, stretching over the world by some external h'resistible law, reaching to chfldren who bave never actual]y sinned, and fo the brute animals, who are strangers fo Adam's nature, whfle in its manifestations itis far more Vide also 2 Cor iv. I0. s Isa xliii. 2; 2 Cor. iv. 17.
liteous and distressing than any other suffering. It is the lot of all of us, sooner or later; and that, 19erhaps in u measure -hich if vould be ap19alling and wa'ong to anticipate, whether from disease, or from the casualties of life. And all of us at length must die; and death is generally ushered in by disease, and ends in fliat separation of soul and body, which itself may, in some cases, involve 19eculiar pain. Worldly men lut such thoughts aside as gloomy; they can neither deny nor avert the prospect before them; a.nd they are wise, on their own ln'inciples, hot fo embit.ter the present by anticipating if. But Christians may bear to look af if without undue apprehension; for tlfis vel T infliction, which most touches the heart and imaginution, bas (as I have said) been invested by Almighty God with a a new and comfortable light, as being the medium of His choicest mercies towards us. l'aih is no longer u curse, a necessary evil to be undergone with a dry sublnission or passive endurance it may be considered even as u blessing of the Goslgel, and being blessing, admits of being met well or ill. In the way of nature, indeed, if seems to shut out the notion of duty, as if so naasterfitl a discipline from without superseded the necessity or olpolunity of self-mastery; but now that " Christ bath sufiered in the flesh," we are bound "to arm ourselves vith the saine mind," and fo obey, as He did, amid suffering. In what follows, I shall remark briefly, first, on the natxral effect of pain upon the ndud; and next, upoa the remedies and correctives of that effect which the knowledge of the Gosl)el sup1)lies.
1. Now, as go ifs effect upon the mind, let if be welI understood that if has no sanctifying influence in itself. ]]ad nlen m'e lnade worse by if. Tlfis should be borne in lnind, lest we deceive ourselves; for sometilneS we speak (af least he poor often so speak) as though lre - sent hardship and suffering were in solne sense a gxound of confidence in thcmselves as go out futm'e prOSlects, whether as expiating our sins or bringing out hearts nearer fo God. Na.y, evcn the more religions among us nmy be mislcd fo think tlmt pain nmkes them better than if really does; for the effeet of if af length, on any but vcry proud or ungovernable tempers, is fo cause a lallguor and eomposure of mind, whieh looks like resignation, while if neeessarily throws out reason upon the espeeiaI thought of God, our only stay in sueh rimes of trial. 1)oubtless if does really benefi the Christian, and in no seanty measm'e; and he may thank God who thus blesses if; only let him be cautions of mcas'in 9 his sl)iritual state by the partieuIar exereise of faith and love in his heart af the rime, espeeially if tha exereise be iimited fo the affections themselves, and bave no ot,portunity of showing itself in works. St. Paul speaks of ehastisemen "yielding aftcrwards the peaeeable fruit of righteousness,"} formed indeed and ripened a the moment, bu manifested in due season. This may be the real fruit of the suffering of a death-bed, even though if may hot bave time go show itself go others before the Christian departs hence. Surely we may humbIy hope that if perfects habits ldtherto but lartially ïormed, and bIends the several graces of the tteb. xii. 11.
Spirit more entirely. Sueh is the issue of it in establishcd Christians;—but it «y possibly effect nothing so blessed. Nay, in the case of t.hose who have followed Christ with but a hall heart., it may be a trial too strong for their feebleness, and may overpower them. This is a dreadfid refleet.ion for those who put off the day of repentanee. Well does out Church pray for us: "Surfer us hot, at our last hour, for any pains f death to fall from Thee!" As for unbclievers, we know how if attcts them, frolll SlB_'h serious passages of,qcriptnre as the fi,llowing: "They gnawed thcir tongucs for pain, and blasphemed the (Iod of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented hot of their deeds." Nay, I would go so far as to say, hot only that pain does hot commonly improve us, but that without tare it has a strong tendeney to do do out souls harm, riz., by making us selfish; an effect produeed, even when if does us good in other wa)'s. Veak health, for instance, instead of opening the heart, often makes u man supremely careful of his bodfly case and well-being. hIen find an excuse in t.heir infirmities for some extraordinary attention to theiz" comforts; they consider t.hey may fairly eonsult., on all occasions, their own eonvenienee rather than that of anot.her. They indulge their wa3avard wishes, allow thelnselves in indolence when they really might exert themselves, and think they may be fretful beeause they are weak. They become quernlous, self-willed, fastidious, and egot.istieal. 13ystanders, indeed, shotfld be very cautious of thinking Rev. xvi. 10, 11. [III] K
46.odi[y any particular sufferer to be thus minded, bec,use, after all, sick people lmve a nmltitude of fceUngs which they cmmot explain to any one else, and are often in thc right in those matters in which they appear to others most fancififl or unreasonable. Yet this does hot interfcre with the corrcctness of my renm.rk on the whç, le. Take another iustance under very diçrm eireumstances. If bodily suflring ean 1,e presented under distinct aspects, it is in the lassitude of a siek-bed and in the hardships of the soldier's lire Yet of the latter w e timl selfishness ahnost a praveflial charaeteristie. Surely the lit of soldiers on service is a very sehool of generosity and self-negleet» if rigtly understood, and is used as sueh by the noble and high-prineipled; yet here, a low and eamal rond, instead of profiting by its advantages, will yield to the temptation of refeing eve3"thing that befa]ls if toits own eomfog and profit. To seeure ifs oum interests, wi beeome enshrined within it as its main duty, and with the ga'eater plausibility, inasmueh as there is a sense in whieh it may reay be so aeeounted. Others (it wi suggest) nmst take eare of flmmselves; it is a folly and weakness to tlfink of them; there are but few chances of safety; the many nmst sug some unto death; it is Msdom to struggle for life and eomfo% and to disnfiss the thought of oflmrs. Ms instances oeeug every now and then, in the experienee of life, which show that sueh thoughts and feelings are hot peetar fo any one elass of men, but are the aetuatNg prNeiples of the multitude. If an alarm of danger be given mnid a crowd, the gener«xl eagerness for safety leads men to act towards each other with utter unconcern, if hot with fra.ntic cnelty. There are stories told of companies of men findig themselves at sea. with scanty provisions, and of the shocking deeds which followed, when each was struggling to 1)reserve his own life. The natural effect, then, of pai and fear, is to individualize us in our oa minds, to fix out thoughts o ourseNes, fo make us selfish. Itis through pain, chiefly, that we realize to ourselves even our bodfly ol'gallS; a ri'ame entirely without painfltl sensations is (as if xvere)oue whole without laxrts, and prefigures that future spiritual body whieh shall be the portion of the Saints. And to this we lnOSt approxhnate in our youth, when we are hot sensible that we are compacted of gross terrestrial matter, as advancing years convince us. The young reflect little upon themselves; they gaze around them, and lire out of doors, aud say they have souls, little understa.uding their words. "They rejoice in their youth." This, then, is the effect of suffêring, that it arrests us: that it purs, as it were, a linger upon us to ascertain for us out own indiqd,.ua.lity. But it does no more than this; ff such a waming does hot lead us through the stirrings of out conscielCe heavenwards, it does but ilnprison us in ourselves and make us selfish. 2. Here, then, it is that the Gospel finds us; heirs to a visitation, which, sooner or later, cornes upon us, turning ottr thoughts from outward objects, and so tempting us to idolize selt; to the dishonour of that Goal whom we ought to worship, and the neglect of ruait whom we should love as ourselves. Thus if fiuds us, and it obviates this danger, hot by removing pain, but by giving it new associations. Pah, which by nature leads us only to oursclves, carries on the Christian mind ff'oto/ho thought of self to the contemplation of Christ, llis passion, l[is mcrits, and His pattern; and, thence, further fo that united company of sufferers who t\)llow l[iln and "are what IIe is in this world." He is the great Objeet of out faith; and, wldle we gaze llpol l lira, we learn to forger ourselves. SUl'cly that is llot the llost fearftfl and hateful of evils, here bel.w, however trying to the flesh, whieh Christ lnderwellt voluntarily. No one chooses evil for it.s own salie, but for the ga'eater good wrougtt out thl'ough it. 1le underwent i as for ends g'eater than the imlnediate removal of it, "hot grudgiugly or of neeessity," but cheerflflly doing God's will, as the Gospel history sers belote us. When His thne was corne, we are told, "He steadfastly set tIis rime to go fo Jerusaleln." t[is disciples said, "Masteq.the Jews of late Sought fo stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again?" but l[e per.sisted. Again, Ire said to Judas, "That thou doest, do quickly." t Ie proceeded to the garden beyond Cedron, though Judas knew the place; and when the hand of otlïeers came to seize /Iim, "He went forth, and said mto them, I ara He. '' And with what ealmness and majesty did I[e bear I[is sufferings, when they came upon Him, though by His agony in the garden Ite showed He fully felt their keenness! The Psflmist, in his predietion of them, says, "I ara poured out like Luke ix. 51; John xi. 8; xiii. 27; xviii. 2, 4, 5.
waLer, and aH my bones are out of joint; my hearL is like wax, if is melted;" descrihing, as if wouhl seem, that sinking of spiri and enfeebling of nerve which severe pain causes. Yeç, in the mids of distress which seemed o pclude the opportunity of obedience, He was "abou His Faflmr's lusiness," even more diligently t.han when in Ilis childhood I[e asked questions of doct,om in the Temple; hot thinking t.o 1,e nlCre]y passive mlder t, he t, rial, lm aeeounting i as if a occasion fir a nflfle and severe surrender «f ]Iimself fo IIis Father's will. Thus IIe "learned oledienee by the t.hings flhaç He suffered." Consider the deep and serene compassion which led t[iln to pray for those who erueifihd tIim; IIis solieiçous eare of llis Iother; and IIis pardoning words addressed to the r«»bber who suffered with IIim. And so, when t[e said, "I is finished," I[e showed thaç t[e was st.ill eoufiemplating, wN a elear int.eeeç, "the travail of His sorti, and was safiisfied;" and in fihe solemn surrender of IIimself inflo His Father's hand, He showed where Itis mind resfied in fille mids of is darkness. Even when IIe seemed fo be t.hinking of Himself, and said, "I t.hirsfi," He really was re.rding fihe words of propheey, and was benç on vindiea.ting, fo t, he very leçfleg t.he divine announeemenfis eoncenfing Him. Thus, upon the Cross içself, we discern in Him film merey of a Iessenger from heaven, the love and oaee of a Saviong lhe dutiNlness of a gon, fle faith of a ereaçed nature, and tire zeal of a servan of God. His mind was sçayed npon His Faflher's sovereign wi and infinifle perfeefiions, yeg eould pass, with- 1 Ps. xxii. 14.
out effort., to the claire of filial duty, or the need of an individual simmr. Six out of IIis seven last words were words of faiih and love. For one instant a horrible dread overwhclmcd t[im, when IIe seemed to ask why God had forsakcn ]Iim. I)oubtlcss "that voice was for out sakes;" as hcn IIe ruade mention of His thirst; and, like t]c oihcr, was takcn from inslfired prophecy. l'crhaps if x as intendcd to set belote us an example of a speeial t.ri.ql to which huma.n n;tture is subject, whatevcr was lhe real and inscrutable manner of if in Him, who was all ahmg sup1,)rted by an inherent ])ivinity; I mea.n the trial of slmrp agony, hurwing the mind on to vage terrors and strange inexplica],le thoughts; and is, therefore, ga',ciously a'ecorded for out benefit, in the histo W of lIis dcatb, "who was tempted, in all 1)oints, like as we are, yt without sin. ''1 Such, then, were our Lord's sufferings, vohmtarfly undcrgone, and ennobled by an active obedience; themselves the centre of our hopes and vorship, yet borne without thought of self, towards God and for man. And who, among s, lmbitually dxvells upon them, but is led, without dcliberate purpose, by the vew warmth of gratitude and adoring love, to atteml)t bearing his owrt infcrior trials in the saine heavefly mind? Who does hot sec that to bear pain well is to meet if courageously, hOt to shrink or waver, but to 1)ry for God's help, then to look af it ste,qdfistly, to summon hat nerve we bave of mind and body, to receive ifs atta.ck, and to bear up against if (while strength is given us) as against some visible enemy in close combat? Who will hot acknow- teb. iv. 15.
ledge tlmt, when sent to us, we must make its presence (as it were) out own vohmtary act, by fle cheerfifl and ready concurrence of our own will with the wi]l of God? Nay, who is there but nmst own that wifli Christ's sufferings before us, pain and tribulation are, affer all, not orly the most blessed, but even the most coug'uous attendants upon those who are called to inherit the benefit of them? Most cong'uous, I say, hot as though necessary, but as most lmtural and 1,cfitting, hal'mnizing, most flflly, with the main Object in the g]'oup of sacred wonders on which the Church is called to gaze. Yho on the other hand, does hot at least perceive that all the glare and gaudiness of this wofld, ifs excitements, its keenly-pu'sued goods, its successes and its transports, its t)omps and its luxuries, are hot in charactcr with that pale and solenln scene which faith must ever lmve in its eye? What Christian will hot own that to "reign as kin," and to be "full," is hot his calling; so as to derive comfort in the hour of sickness, or bereavemcnt, or other affliction, froln the thought that he is now in his own place, if he be Christ's, in his true home, the septtlchre in which his Lord was laid? So deeply have tIis Saints felt this, that when rimes were peacefltl, and the Church was in safety, they cottld hot test in the lap of ease, and bave secured to themselves hardnesses, lest the world shotùd corrupt them. Tlley could hot bear to see the much-enduring l'atl adding to his necessa3" tribttlations a self-imqicted chastisement of the flesh, and yet allow themselves to lire delicately, and fare smnptuously every day. They saw the image of Christ reflected in tears and blood, in the gtorious cOlnl)any of the Apostles, the goodly fcllowship of the Prophets, and thc noldc arlny of Mart3's; they read in propheey of the doom of the Chureh, as "a woman fed by God in the wihlcrncss, '' and ber wiInesses as "clothed in sackcloth;" and they eould hot believe that they were meant fi,r nothing more than to enjoy the pleasures of this life, hm ever immeent and moderate might be their nse of them. Withont dêciding about their neighbours, they t'elt themselves called to higher things; their o sense c,t" the duty became the sanction and witness of if. Th«v c,,nsidered tlmt God, at least, wouht aftliet them in llis love, if they spared themselves ever so ranch. The th, wn in the flesh, the 1,nffetings of Satan, the bereavement of their eyes, these were their portion; and, in eolnmon lwudenee, were there no higher thought, they eouhl not lire out of rime and measure with these expected visitations. With no superstitious alavms, or eowardly imaginations, or senseless hurrying into difliculty or trial, but calmly and in faith, they surrendered themselves into His hands, who had told them in I[is inspired word that affliction was tobe their familiar food; till at leng'd lhêy gained such distaste for the lu,:uries of lire as tobe impatient of them from their very fulness of g'ace. Even in these days, x hen the '" fine gold has become dira," such has been the nfind of those we most revere." But sueh was it espeeially in primitive rimes. a ¥ide Pwv..xii. 6; xi. 8. "If is a most miserable state for a man fo have everything aeeordlng to his desire, and quietly to enjoy the pleasures of lire. There needs no more fo expose him to eternM misery."—Bishoï0 IIï/son Bacra P'rh'ata. Wedesday.
If was the retaper, too, of those Aposl:les who were removed, more thau their brethren, ri'oto t,he worhl's buffetings; as if the prospec of suffering afterwards were no ga'ound of dispensation fir a presen sclfinflicted discipline, bu ral:her demanded il:. St. Ja.mes the Less was ]3ishop of Jerusalem, and was highly venerat.ed fç.r his upright«tess by l:he unbelieving Jcws among whonl he lived Ulmmlested. We are told thal: he drauk no xvilm nor stl'ong drinlç nor did he eal: any animal fiod, lmr indulge in the luxury of the b«tth. " So oft,ell was he ill t.he Temple Oll his knees, they were rhin and hard by his contilmal SUlqlication." Thus he kepl: his "loins girded about., and his lalnp buruing," for the blessed mart:o'dom whieh was to end his course. Could il: be otherwise? Hov« could the greal: Apost.le, sitl:ing al: home by his Lord's decree, "nourish his heart," as he calls it, "as for the slaughter?" How cofl,l he eal:, and drink, and lire as other nmn, wheu "the Ark, and Israel, and gudah were in tents," encamped in the open fields, and one by one, God's chosen warriors were falling before the brief triumph of Sata.n! How could he be "' delicate on the earth, and wanton," when Paifl and 13arnabas, 1-'eter, too, and John were in stripes and prisons, in labours and lerils, in hunger and thirst,, in cold and na.kedness Stephen had led l:he arlny of Marl:yrs in Jerusa]eln itself, which was his own posl: of service. JalueS, l:he brother of John, had folloxved him in l:he saine cil:y; he firsl: of l:he Aposl:les tasl:ing out Lord's cup, who had unwittingly asked to drink if. And if this was the Euseb. Hist., ii. 28.
feeling of the Apostles, when in telnporary safety, why is ig nog ours, who altogefler lire" at ease, excepg thag we have not faifl enough to realize what is past? Could we see the Cross upon Calvary, and the iist of sutlrers who resisted unto blood in the rimes that followed it, is ig possible that we should feel surprise when pain overt)ok s, or impatience af ifs conthmance? Is ig strange though we are smitten by ever so new a plague Is ig g'ievous that the Cri ss presses on one ncrve or lilnb ever so many years till hope of relief is gone? Is it, indeed, nog possible with the Apostle fo rejoice in "bearing in our body the marks of the Lord Jesus?" And much more, can we, for ve W shmne's sake, surfer muselves fo be t«'oubled at vhat is bug ordinary pain, tobe irritated or saddened, ruade gloomy or anxious by inconveniences which never could surprise or unsettle those who had studied and understood their place as servants of a crucified Lord? Leg us, then, determine with cheerful hearts to sacrifice unto the Lord our God out comforts and pleasm'es, however innocent, when He calls for theln, whether for the purposes of His Chmh, or in tIis own inscrutfl_)le Providence. Let us lend fo Him a few short hours of present ease, and we shall receive our own with abundang usu W in the day of tIis coming. There is a Treasury in heaven stored with such offerings as the naturel man abhors; witl sighs a.nd tears, wounds and blood, torture and death. The Nartyrs first began the contribution, and we all may follow them; al1 of us, for every suffering, eat or little, may, like the widow's mite, be sacrificed in faith to Him who sent it. Christ gave us the words of consecration, when He for an ensample said, "Thy will be doue." Hencefi)rth, as the Apostle speaks, we may "glory in tribulation," as the seed of future glory.:SIeamvhfle, let us never forger in all we surfer, that, properly speaking, our own sin is the cause of it, and it is only by Christ's mercy that we are alh)wcd fo range ourselves af His side. We who are chfldren of wmth, are ruade through Him chfldren of grace; and our i)ins —which are in flmmsclves but foretastcs of hell—arc changed by the sl)rinkling of tIis blood into a 1)rcl)a - ration for heavei