Are there any amongst us that have turned back from him?

[Alas; there are apostates now, as well as in former times. But what has any one gained by departing from Christ? Is he happier than he was when he sat at the Saviour's feet and heard his words? There is but one testimony on this head from all the children of men: "In observing lying vanities, they have forsaken their own mercies1". Think then from whence ye are fallen, and say, "I will return unto my first husband, for then it was better with me than now m❞

To those who are walking steadily with him,

[We would address those words of the Apostle, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." If even the Apostles were ready to start aside, who has not need to watch and pray lest he also enter into temptation? Awful is that admonition of our Lord, "Remember Lot's wife." If you would endure unto the end, you must be teachable as little children; and be determined, through God's assistance, to "die with Christ, rather than forsake him."]

John vi. 67-69. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

NOTHING is more common than for persons to take offence at the word of God itself. Sometimes its strictness offends them; sometimes its harshness and severity; sometimes its mysteriousness and sublimity. Nicodemus could not receive what was spoken to him about the new birth: the Samaritan woman could not comprehend the idea of living water and the hearers of our Lord were altogether indignant, when he discoursed to them about giving them his flesh to eat. Indeed, this saying appeared to them so hard, so strange, and so absurd, that a great number of them departed from him, and walked no more

with him. Even the Apostles themselves were evidently stumbled at it; insomuch, that our Lord, with a mixture of surprise and pity, asked them, "Will ye also go away?" The answer which St. Peter gave him, in the name of all the rest, will lead me to shew you the grounds of a Christian's adherence to Christ. He determinately cleaves to Christ,

I. Because there is salvation for him in no other

[We may conceive the Apostle speaking to this effect: "Lord, to whom shall we go? We are seeking after salvation: we are desiring to obtain peace with God: we want to find rest for our souls. Whither can we go for any of these things?"

Now, in like manner, may every Christian say, 'To whom shall I go, to remove the burthen of my sins? If I go to the world, it may dissipate my thoughts for a moment; but it can bring no solid peace to my soul. Its cares, its pleasures, its company, can do nothing towards healing the pangs, or silencing the accusations, of a guilty conscience: they may suspend, but can never remove, my sorrows: or rather, if they cause me to forget my sins for a little time, it is only that they may press upon me afterwards with an accumulated weight, and leave me a more awful prey to guilt and shame and misery. If I go to the Law, and seek to pacify my mind by an obedience to its commands, I find no success. I feel a consciousness that I can never atone for the sins I have already committed: I am sensible, too, that, in spite of all my endeavours, I cannot fulfil its. demands: I come short in every thing I do: and I hear it thundering out its anathemas against me; saying, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." I perceive that I can never establish such a righteousness as shall avail for my acceptance before God. I am therefore shut up to that way of salvation which thou, my Lord, hast revealed. Nothing but fear or terror haunts me, whether I endeavour to forget my sins, or to make an atonement for them: and I can find none but Jesus that can afford me the desired relief.']

A further ground on which a Christian adheres to Christ is,

II. Because he is both able and willing to save

["Thou hast the words of eternal life," said this blessed Apostle. The preceding discourse alone abundantly warranted this assertion: for, in it, Jesus had declared, in the strongest terms, that "he would give eternal life;" that "whosoever

a ver. 27.

should come to him, and believe in him, should never hunger, never thirst";" that "of those who should come to him, he would never cast out one;" that "all who should see him and believe in him should assuredly have everlasting life;" yea, that they were at that very moment in actual possession of it; that he had come down from heaven on purpose to bestow it on all who would seek it through him': that, as the Jews had subsisted upon manna in the wilderness, so all who would eat his flesh, and drink his blood, should subsist by him, and that not for a time only, but for ever h. Now what could all this mean? Could any declaration be more full, more rich, more suitable to men sojourning in this dreary wilderness?

Thus, then, may every believer say: for the whole Scripture teems with invitations and promises from this adorable Saviour, and especially to those who feel their need of mercy at his hands. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls: for my yoke is easy, and my burthen is light." "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Here is no exception: the only requisite for acceptance with him is, that we feel our need of him, and come to him to quench our thirst.

What can we want more? Let our wants be ever so great, he has a fulness adequate to the supply of them: and let our unworthiness be ever so great, our sense of that unworthiness shall be our best recommendation to him: nor shall our incapacity to offer him any thing in return for these benefits be any bar to our acceptance: since they are all offered freely, "without money and without price!." Shall we then decline going to him? or, having gone to him, shall we ever depart from him? God forbid !]

But the Christian will yet more determinately adhere to him,

III. Because he is expressly appointed to that very office

[Of this the Apostles were assured: "We believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the Living God." It had been foretold that the Messiah should appear, on purpose "to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make

reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in an everlasting righteousness" for his believing peoplem. This person was to be no other than "the Son of the Living God"." And that Jesus was this very person, the Apostles had no doubt. They had seen the miracles which Jesus had wrought in confirmation of his divine mission, those very miracles to which Jesus himself had appealed in proof of his Messiahship: and they could not doubt but that he was the very person to whom all the Law and the Prophets had borne witness, as the appointed Saviour. Now, if the Apostles at that time "were sure" of this truth, how much more may we be assured, who have seen his whole work completed, in his death upon the cross, his resurrection from the dead according to his word, his ascension into heaven, and his sending down of the Holy Spirit, to testify of him, and to establish his kingdom in the world? Methinks we might as well doubt our own existence, as call in question his Messiahship, and his express ordination of God to be the Saviour of the world.

Shall we, then, look out for any other? or, having believed in him, shall we for a moment suffer any other to stand in competition with him? No, Lord: we believe, and are sure, that thou art sent of God to this very office; and we will know none but Thee, none but Thee.]

Here I would put a QUESTION or two, by way of bringing home the subject more fully to our souls. Having taken for granted that we all are following the Lord Jesus, I have forborne hitherto to inquire respecting it. Let me, however, entreat you to supply that defect, and to examine carefully whether you have ever come to Christ aright? Deceive not yourselves, I pray you, in relation to this matter for the everlasting salvation of your souls depends upon it. Have you seen that there is no hope for you in any thing but in his atoning blood? Have you renounced all dependence upon your own righteousness; and are you trusting altogether in his obedience unto death? Unless this be clearly ascertained, you are not prepared to enter on the consideration of the questions which I would wish to propose to you. But, supposing that you are indeed believers in Christ, I ask,

1. Will you depart from him?

m Dan. ix. 24.

n Ps. ii. 7.

• Matt. xi. 2-5.

You

[Whom or what will you place in competition with him? Perhaps you are not at present tempted in any particular way to depart from him. But be assured that you will be for there is not any true follower of Christ who does not, sooner or later, meet with trials to prove his sincerity. may not be called to "resist unto blood:" but you cannot fail to meet with smaller persecutions, such as contempt and ridicule, and the hatred of an ungodly world, perhaps too even of your nearest friends. What, then, is the state of your minds in reference to these things? Are you enabled, through grace, to honour Christ, and to set at defiance all your enemies? If you see others turning back, (for what age is there which does not witness many apostasies?) are you the more determined, through grace, to " cleave unto him with full purpose of heart?" Are you saying, as Ruth to Naomi, "Nothing but death (no, nor death itself) shall part between thee and me." You must not indeed be making resolutions, and, in dependence on your own strength, be saying, "Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I:" but your daily prayer must be, that you may be kept steadfast unto the end: for it is only by being "faithful unto death, that you can ever attain a crown of life."]

2. Will you not endeavour to bring all you can to him?

[Surely, if you are fully persuaded that "there is no other name under heaven but his, whereby man can be saved," you will labour according to your ability to bring men to the knowledge of him. You cannot but pity the poor deceived world, who are going after lying vanities, whilst you have found a refuge for your souls. Go, look around you: go and see what empty cisterns men hew out to themselves, whilst your thirst is quenched at the fountain-head. Go to the places of public resort, and see what a poor vain portion the worldlings have. Verily, their best pleasures are but as the crackling of thorns under a pot; a fire that blazes for a moment, and then expires in smoke and melancholy. Have compassion on them, and tell them of the Saviour you have found: and, whilst you labour to instruct the ignorant, exert yourselves to the utmost to confirm the wavering, and to bring back the sheep that have been driven away.

Extend your views, also, to the heathen world. Alas! to what refuges of lies have they recourse! Behold their idols of wood and stone, that cannot so much as move themselves, much less assist their votaries! Behold the painful and cruel rites which they observe, in order to recommend themselves to the favour and approbation of their imaginary deities! Can you be acquainted with the Saviour, and not wish to make him known to them? Can you be in possession of " the words