under the belief that he had deceived them, and that they should now become His equals!! Well might he be angry! But how long did his wrath continue ? Did he let the Sun go down" upon it? No! He forthwith proceeded to visit the culprits. They heard him walking in the garden in the cool of the day: " and the summons, 66 Adam, where art thou?" solemn as it was in the ears of the guilty, was nevertheless the summons of a reconciled Father; who came to tell them of a Saviour that should afterwards be manifested, to atone for that heinous offence. 1 Thus prompt let every one of you be, to lay aside anger. ..That ye may be the children of your Father which is in hea ven," "let not the sun go down St. Paul now adds upon your wrath." III. AN AWFUL MOTIve. "Neither give place to the devil." Holy Fear is the Motive; fear, lest we fall under the power of our great Adversary. There are two characters which the Devil sustains towards us: he is our Accuser, and our Tempter. In both these characters, he gains an advantage over us by means of sinful Anger. 1. It furnishes him with a charge against us.-And let it not be supposed that the charge is a slight one. Dream not that angry words are mere idle breath "by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." " Throughout our Saviour's sermon on the mount, there is not one sentence so fearful as that against sinful Anger: it is set on the same level with Murder. 4 Now all this is known to the great Accuser; and if your conduct and character be such as is here described, you "give place to him"-you furnish him with weapons against you, 1 See Gen. iii. 2 Matt. v. 45. 3 Matt. xii. 37. 4 See Matt. v. 22. which he will be sure to use without pity.-But again, 66 2. It assists his temptations of us.--Every one must know what a pitiable creature he is, who gives way to unbridled Anger. Only work on his passion, and you may make him believe any thing-say any thing-do any thing. It would be cruel,' you say, 'to treat him so!' Very true; but for that reason, Satan (who was a murderer from the beginning," 1) at once fixes on that man as his prey, his slave, his victim. And the man unconsciously "gives place" to his Enemy. While proudly resolving not to give way to a fellow-creature, whose ill-will could do him little injury, and might have been disarmed by gentleness or yielding he throws himself into the arms of One, who seizes the occasion for promoting the destruction of both body and soul in Hell. All sinful Anger, whether violent or otherwise, tends this way it strengthens the hands of the devil; the Accuser-the Tempter.-Can there be a more alarming Motive for resisting and controuling it? Two points must be alluded to, however briefly, before we quit this subject. How shall our past sins of Temper be blotted out and forgiven?-Only by the blood of His sacrifice, who was "meek and lowly in heart." Bring them fearlessly to him, in contrite faith, and "you shall find rest unto your souls." How shall our unruly Passion be subdued for the time to come?-Instrumentally, by self-denial, watchfulness, prayer: effectually, by the grace of the Spirit of Christ, calming and converting the soul. Oh, then, despair not! You may do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth you!" 1 John viii. 44. SERMON XXIII. 2 CORINTHIANS xii. 8, 9.-For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. ST. PAUL had been honoured by some remarkable revelations, which his Saviour had granted to him: but such is the force of human corruption, as it remains even in the heart of an Apostle, that there was a danger lest this special favour might become fuel for pride and vain-glory. To prevent this perversion of the Lord's kindness, it was accompanied by the affliction alluded to in these figurative expressions; "there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." The trial, whatever it may have been, was so distressing, that "for this thing he besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from him.” And what did he gain by his earnest supplications? Relief from his burden? No-but support and encouragement under it ; and of such a kind, that, for the sake of it, he resolves even to "glory in the infirmity" which he feels. It is to the answer of our Lord that I shall now call your more particular attention; with earnest prayer that every suffering Christian may draw comfort from his words. You may observe in it, I. A GENERAL TRUTH-that "the strength" of Christ is made perfect in weakness." 1. By "the strength" of Christ we must here understand, not his almighty Power in general, but his ability to employ that power for the relief of frail and helpless Man. This ability had always been ascribed to him by St. Paul, and by every other preacher of the Gospel they had all spoken of him as "able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him." 1 Nor had they spoken more strongly, than Christ himself had spoken on the same subject. See especially that striking passage-Matt. xi. 27. 66 2. But in what sense can this ability be said to be "made perfect?" Was it ever imperfect? No-he who gave unto him the Spirit, gave it not unto him by measure." 2 The Mediator between God and man was fully prepared and, qualified, even from the beginning, for the work which he had undertaken. The expression "made perfect" refers therefore to the manifestation and proof of his ability to save, rather than to the completing of what was in fact complete already. Christ's strength could not become more perfect than it was; but it could be more perfectly displayed —could be made more discernible, more effective, more undeniable.-And, in this reply to the afflicted Apostle, he shews in what manner the perfect proof of his power to save is generally given. 3. It is made perfect "in weakness." The weakness of man, who is to be saved, brings into view the strength of Christ in saving him.-An illustration or two will make this plain. Who is there that can so well understand the value of a staff, as the lame? To whom is the Physician's skill so perfectly manifested, as to the sick? So the hungry man will prize even a 1 Hebrews vii. 25. 2 John iii. 34. dry morsel, if he can get nothing else; while the full soul loatheth an honey-comb." In all these cases, the value of a thing is seen by the need of it. And in like manner, the strength of the grace of Christ can only be perfectly known, when we feel our own weakness; that we deserve nothing-can do nothingcannot even have a hope of deliverance-without him. Then is the time-then, when all other things seem to be against us when we see that we are "wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" 2-then is the time for Christ's power to be shewn. While elated by worldly prosperity, or self-righteous pride, or vain confidence in our own strength, we think little of Christ. When we know ourselves to be nothing, then for the first time we know him to be every thing. Now, as the great design of God the Father is to glorify Christ—and of the Holy Spirit, to take of the things of Christ and shew them unto us; 4 it is needful for this end, that our misery and weakness should in the first place be made apparent-as an evidence that nothing can save us, but the exertion of Christ's glorious power. There is but one other way in which that power can be shewn in men-namely, by consuming them as his adversaries. Oh seek rather to have the strength of his grace displayed in you; that, while he gains the greater glory, you may not be losers, but gainers, by that which more honours him. For this purpose, then, know your own weakness— depravity-vileness: be content to learn it even by affliction, sorrow, and pain-by the most trying dispensations, by the most mortifying convictions. They will place you in the right posture for receiving spiritual strength-for "learning Christ" 5-for knowing, 1 Prov. xxvii. 7. 3 John xvii. 1. 2 Rev. iii. 17. |