more than a dream; the present, when we to the shore. You then beheld an emblem think we have fast hold of it, slips through of human life; days, months, and years, our hands, and mingles with the past; and crowd forward in like manner. Yet a little let us not vainly imagine, that the future while, yet a few moments, and all will be will be of another quality; it will glide by at an end. "The things which are seen are with the same rapidity. You have seen temporal; but the things which are not the waves of the ocean pressing each other seen are eternal." DISCOURSE XXXV. THE NECESSITY OF RISING WITH CHRIST. COLOSSIANS, III. 1, 2. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. THERE are few persons who have not | sian converts in this style, "If ye then be often employed their thoughts on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. The fact is extraordinary, and well attested; the circumstances striking and affecting. The trembling of the earth, the descent of the angel, the removal of the stone, the terror of the guard, and the different appearances of the Saviour to his disciples; all inspire a mixture of reverential awe, and heartfelt delight. As a consequence of this resurrection, it naturally occurs to our minds, that since Christ is risen, we shall arise too; because he arose that we might do the same. The members must be joined to the head; and the harvest will of course follow the first fruits. risen with Christ." But how "risen with Christ?" They had not been dead, and therefore they could not have risen from the dead. That resurrection, the resurrection of the body, was not past; it was not to come for many ages: it is not yet come. The resurrection intended was to take place in persons that were living upon earth. This intermediate link of the chain we are but too apt to leave out in our calculations; or, at least, to think very slightly and sparingly of it, though it be indeed of the utmost importance. For what will it avail us to rise from the dead, only to hear the sentence, "Depart from me, ye wicked?" Often have we bestowed some reflections on the information communicated by the Gospel of the day concerning that which has been done for us: let us at this time employ our meditations on the direction given us by the epistle, as touching that which is to be done in us. Let us take into consideration the nature of the change spoken of under the idea of a resurrection; the evidence of it in the transfer of our affections; and the objects on which those afflections are to be placed. This is clear. But there is another consequence, which perhaps may not so much and so frequently engage our attention as it ought to do. "I know," says Martha, speaking of her dead brother-"I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." We all can say this respecting our deceased friends and ourselves. We are ready to say it. But what is to become of us; what is likely to be our portion, when we shall have I. "If ye then be risen with Christ "—The thus risen? For we may rise either to salva- words evidently imply, that, in consequence tion or to condemnation. To escape the one of Christ's resurrection, some operation had and obtain the other, some work must be been already wrought, some change had alwrought, some change must be effected in us ready passed upon the persons here addressed; before we die, which in Scripture is likewise an operation and a change, bearing some redescribed as a resurrection. The apostle, you semblance, some analogy to those which had have heard in the text, addressing his Colos-been wrought and passed in the body of our styles it), compose a divine magnetical influence (if one may use the expression), which is to act upon the mass of mankind, and draw them upwards from the earth. It acts in a due and appointed order, first upon their souls, and afterwards upon their bodies. The soul, a native of heaven, had it continued pure and upright, as it came from the hands of the Creator, would still have looked and wished to return thither. But an alteration happened, which is wonderfully marked in that line of the heathen satyrist— Lord: "If ye be RISEN with Christ;" if ye The virtue of his death, and the consequent have risen from the dead, together with him." power of his resurrection" (as the apostle Now, since no such change had as yet passed on their bodies, the change intended must have passed upon the other part of their composition, their souls; these must, in some sense, have risen from the dead; previously to which, they must have been in a state of death, or they never could have risen from the dead. The very mention of the words dead, and death, has, doubtless, already brought to your remembrance several passages in Holy Writ, where expressions of a like sort occur;- "You being dead in your sins; " dead in trespasses and sins; "she that liveth in pleasure is dead, while she liveth;" arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light;" with many others. Nothing can paint in stronger colors the nature of sin, than do these texts, which, by styling it death, lead us necessarily to conceive of the one by the other. The sinner, like the dead man, neither sees, nor hears, nor tastes, nor feels, as he ought to do were he alive to God, and had he his "senses exercised to discern good and evil :" he is incapable of motion and action, in a moral acceptation of the terms, that is, of making any progress toward heaven, or performing any good upon earth; "neither is there any breath in his mouth; " the Spirit of the Almighty hath forsaken him, and he is become, as it were, a corpse, fit only to be carried forth and laid in the pit of darkness and corruption.-Such, in the sight of God, is the greatest, and the richest, and the gayest, and the wittiest, and the wisest man of the world, without religion; buried in sensuality and unbelief; he lieth in the grave, death gnaweth him, and the worm that never dieth is feeding upon him. Now to raise such a one from the dead, to restore him to life; to cause him to see the things which belong to his peace, the Sun of righteousness, and the glories of his throne; to hear the words of eternal salvation; to taste the good things of the world to come; to feel the terrors of judgment, and the comforts of mercy; to inspire into him the breath of heaven, that he may speak in purity, in truth, and in charity, as "the Spirit gives him utterance;" to call him forth, like Lazarus in his grave-clothes, that he may walk in the way of God's commandments, and sit down at the table with his Lord-this is a work, which requires power more than human. Thus to rise with Christ, can be granted only by Christ. And, indeed, to procure it, was the design of his exaltation on the cross; "I, if I be lifted up," said he, signifying what death he should die," will draw all men unto me." O CURVA in terras animæ, et cælestium inanes! The human mind has been warped from its original attitude, bent aud bowed down to the love and care of earthly things, and rendered destitute of noble and heavenly thoughts and aims. This is the spiritual death of the Scriptures, which has induced the necessity of a spiritual resurrection. And as the death of the body flowed from the same source of original transgression, a resurrection of that "This is likewise must follow in due time. the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." By the union of body and soul, it was not intended, that the former should depress the latter, but that the latter should exalt the former. The resurrection of the one from sin to righteousness, is succeeded by that of the other from death to life eternal; and thus it is that the Saviour completely fulfils his promise; "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men unto me." That we should first "rise with Christ," in the sense which has now, it is hoped, been sufficiently explained, is, you see, a necessary and leading point. We are next to consider the sign and proof of such our resurrection. II. A change of this kind being of so much consequence, it must be a desirable thing for us to learn on what evidence we may rest assured that such a change has passed upon us. On this head we are instructed by the words following; for whether they be rendered, as our translators have rendered them, in the imperative-"Seek those things which are above," or, as they may be rendered, in the indicative, "Ye do seek those things which are above," it will come to the same. He who is risen with Christ, seeks, or ought to seek, the things which are above; it will be the effect, it will be the proof, of such his resurrection. For to "seek," or make search, implies, 1. that a person is alive. A dead man, as he [jects of your love, desire, and affection. All knows nothing, can desire nothing; and as this complication of meaning seems involved he desires nothing, he can seek after nothing. in the one word, pov. And therefore 2. It implies not only life, but motion, the how diligent and industrious, how ardent and sure sign and exertion of life. No one, who persevering ought we to be in the search thus is alive and awake, will continue motionless, enjoined by the apostle! Certainly the men as if he were dead: the same spirit which of the world should never be suffered to outcauses him to live, will excite him to move. strip and put us to the blush, by their purWhen the apostle says, "In him (that is, in suits after honor, pleasure, or wealth. BeautiGod) we live," he adds immediately, "and ful is the exhortation of the wise man ; which The Christian life is not a life of in- each person may regard as if addressed to dolence that, if it be not death, is the way himself: "My son, if thou wilt receive my that leads to it. A true Christian is active words, and hide my commandments with and zealous, always thinking, speaking, or thee; so that thou incline thine ear to wisperforming something for the honor of God dom, and apply thine heart to understanding, or the good of man. But, yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hidden treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."* move." 3. Seeking, or making search, if done as it should be, with a desire and resolution to find, implies more than mere motion and activity; it implies, labor, diligence, perseverance. Nothing valuable is to be obtained without these, even in the present world; much less are the wonders and the rewards of eternity. It is possible to seek as Pilate did, who asked, "What is truth?" but never waited for an answer. We e may seek carelessly; or begin well, and in a little time grow weary, and give over; or we may seek in a formal manner, without love of that which is sought; and therefore a search in earnest, and one that deserves the name, implies, We shall be greatly quickened in this our search, if we consider the apostle's account of the things to be sought, or the objects of our search, namely, "the things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." III. To be exalted above others in place and power upon earth, is the too general wish of all. From the parabolical discourse of Jotham we learn, that even the bramble was not exempt from it. And during the 4. A relish and affection for the thing abode of Christ upon earth, we read of one, sought, which cannot be possessed by a per- who desired for her two sons, that they son who is dead. After that which we do might sit, one on the right hand, the other on not affect, we shall never long take the trou- the left, in his temporal kingdom, which was ble to seek. Our apostle to the words, "Seek then imagined to be near its establishment. those things which are above," subjoins, "Set Such, however, was not the nature of our your affections on things above, not on things Lord's kingdom, or of the promotion to be obon the earth." The Greek word here used tained in it. He himself is seated at the right for, "set your affections," is one of very ex- hand; but it is "the right hand of the Majesty tensive meaning: "it comprehends the ac- in the heavens," thither must his disciples tions and operations both of the understand-look for their exaltation. We may say of the ing and the will ;" and cannot be fully trans- Creator, in a more elevated sense than that lated by any one English word; oorELTE, *intended by the Latin poet, sapite, understand, mind, relish, affect, those things which are above. Wisdom, which is the mental faculty of rightly discerning and distinguishing between one thing and another, resembles that bodily sense residing in the palate, and perceiving the different taste and flavor of the various kinds of food; and it is very observable, that in the three languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the same term is used for both; tan in the first, opore "Set in the second, sapere in the last. affections on things which are above;" acquire such a knowledge of them, as may incite you to relish, to regard, to attend, to search after them more and more, as the ob LEIGH in PARKHURST. your Os homini sublime dedit, cælumque tueri This is a holy ambition, to which no bounds The attitude denotes rest; the place, *Prov. ii. 1. et seq honor. And what can we wish for more | hear, under both Testaments, the aspirations than these? of holy persons after it, complaining that they dwell with Mesech; that their sojournings are prolonged; praying for the wings of a dove, that they may fly away to it; desiring to depart, and to be with Christ; weary of things, even the best things below; and seeking earnestly the things above, where he sitteth. The attitude, that of sitting, denotes rest. Such it was to our blessed Lord himself. His life on earth was a life of labor; he looked not for rest till his labors were at an end. His days were passed in going about to do good among men; his nights, in thinking of them, and praying for them: often, indeed, he "had not where to lay his head." By taking our nature upon him, he submitted to inconveniences and troubles, its sorrows and its pains he labored, and then he rested from his labors. In time we shall do the same but the time is not yet. The sad effects and consequences of sin are still in the world, and lie heavy upon it. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now ;" and we groan and travail with it: we ourselves, though redeemed by Christ, and favored with his grace, that we may be enabled to support our miseries; we have, and upon earth ever shall have, miseries to support, and those miseries increasing, as we draw nearer to our dissolution. All things are full of labor and sorrow, without us and within us; without are the incessant toils of life, the hurry and the bustle of the world; within are cares and fears: business fatigues mankind much; but when they have no business, they suffer more from their own thoughts. Their pursuits are often vanity, their disappointments produce vexation; and from the consideration of both, how many daily become a prey to gloom and melancholy! On these and many other accounts, which need not be mentioned (for experience will soon too teach the youngest among you,) the state of a Christian in this life is by the Scriptures represented under that of a mariner in a tempest, longing for a sight of the haven; of a soldier in camp, desiring to hear of peace, and to receive a final discharge from his warfare; of a laborer, bearing in the field the burden and heat of the day, waiting impatiently for the cool and comfortable evening, which shall release him, and send him home to quiet and repose. Hence the great object pointed out to us is rest: we are directed to consider, and derive consolation and encouragement, during our labors, from the consideration of that rest of God himself, after his work of creation; that of his people in Canaan, after their sojournings in the wilderness; and that of Christ, after his toilsome life and painful death. We are assured, there still remaineth a rest, the fulness and accomplishment of all others, for the people of God in heaven, when their labors likewise shall have been terminated upon earth. And we Let us not, however, when we think of this rest, think of it as a mere negative state, as a state of dull sleep and insensibility. It is a rest attended with pleasure; the rest of a weary flock in green pastures, beside the waters of comfort; Eden blooms anew, with its tree and its rivers; the Lamb leads his followers to living fountains of waters-of waters flowing from the throne of God, and consequently impregnated with all the blessings and glories of eternity. I say glories, as well as blessings; for as the attitude in which our Lord is described by the apostle, that of sitting, denotes rest; by the place, "the right hand of God," is denoted honor the former promises the the blessings of his peace; the latter, the glories of his kingdom. : Rest and honor, among men, are not often companions. Disquietude attends height of character, rank, and station, both in the pursuit, lest it should not be attained, and in the possession, lest it should be lost again. But of the honor which cometh from God this cannot be said. It is always bestowed on the penitent, the humble, and the faithful servant of his heavenly Master; and when bestowed, can no more be taken from him. The crown is immortal as the Donor of it. "When the breath of man," on which depends all sublunary fame, "goeth forth, he turneth again to his earth; and then all his thoughts" those of the giver, as well as those of the receiver-" perish. Blessed therefore is he," and he only, "who hath the God of Jacob for his help, and whose hope is in the Lord his God." To describe the blessings of rest and peace in the kingdom of our Lord, images are borrowed from the scenes of rural and pastoral life. To give us ideas of its glories, its majesty and magnificence-a throne is set in heaven, encompassed by a rainbow; and one is seen upon it, like a jasper or a sardine; seven lamps burn before it; lightnings and thunders proceed from it; four and twenty venerable personages appear clothed in white; they rise from their seats, and fall prostrate at the foot of the throne; when a chorus is heard of all creatures both in heaven and earth, singing glory to the Lamb triumphant ! Elsewhere, a city is exhibited, new Jerusa lem, built of gold and precious stones; that | tions. May the consideration of them prois, in the prophetical language of Isaiah, its duce that effect, which a due consideration walls salvation, and its gates praise; the of them must produce. May they who have Lord God and the Lamb constitute its temple; neglected to seek them-if any such there from whence it is illuminated by a splendor, far be-now begin to seek them; and they who exceeding, and rendering needless, the light of have always sought them, now seek them the sun and of the moon; the streets resounding still more; thus receiving in themselves this with the hallelujahs of its blest inhabitants. most comfortable testimony, that they are These are some of "the things above," on "risen with Christ ;" that their bodies, at the which the apostle exhorts us to "set our af-appointed time, shall arise; and both body fections." I am sure, you all think them and soul ascend to heaven after him, that worthy of your very best and warmest affec- "where he is, they may be also." DISCOURSE XXXVI. THE CHRISTIAN RACE. 1 CORINTHIANS, IX. 24. So run that ye may obtain. MOST important was the matter by the apostles communicated to the world; the heavenly reward, and the way to obtain it. The manner of communication well deserves your notice and attention. It is not none in the dry didactic style. There is nothing dull and heavy. All is spirit, and all is life. Their ideas are clothed in such figures, as at once convince the understanding, strike the imagination, warm the heart, and excite the affections. It is impossible to continue cold and indifferent while we read their epistles. They look around on the various scenes of life, and the customs that prevail among those to whom they write. From these they select images calculated to convey with effect to the minds of their disciples, the doctrines which they wish to impress. "The most splendid solemnities which ancient history hath transmitted to us, were the Olympic games. Historians, orators, and poets, abound with references to them; and their sublimest imagery is borrowed from these renowned exercises. The games were solemnized every fifth year by an infinite concourse of people from almost all parts of the world. They were observed with the greatest pomp and magnificence: hecatombs of victims were slain in honor of the heathen deities, and Elis was a scene of universal festivity and joy. We find that the most formidable and opulent sovereigns of those times were competitors for the Olympic crown. We see the king of Macedon, the tyrants of Sicily, the princes of Asia Minor, and at last the lords of imperial Rome and emperors of the world, entering their names among the candidates, and contending for the envied palm; judging their felicity completed, and the career of all human glory and greatness happily terminated, if they could but interweave the Olympic garland with the laurels they had purchased in the fields of war." * No subject could be more familiar than this was to the minds of the Corinthians, who were besides so often spectators of similar games, celebrated upon the isthmus on which their city was situated, and from thence denominated Isthmian. With the greatest propriety therefore the verse of which my text is a part, is introduced by the words, Know ye not-" Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain." For every citizen in Corinth was perfectly acquainted with each minute circumstance of this solemnity; a solemnity every way so splendid and pompous, that there was no danger lest the allusions made to it in this and other parts of the apostolical writings, should appear low and * Dr. HARWOOD's Introduction to the Study and Knowledge of the New Testament, vol. ii. |