תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

I can be the servant of only one master-to that one, whoever he be, I stand or fall.

Thirdly. There is a gracious aspect in these words, austere and peremptory as in one point of view they may appear. They are fitted to check and repress all hasty and inconsiderate discipleship-to recommend a due counting the cost, with the view of drawing a band of thorough and devoted followers, who have not crossed the rubicon without due deliberation of the consequences.

They are calculated also, by the strong and firm denial (no man) to bring matters to a crisis, making it very evident that God scorns and rejects our service, if the world or any other master share it with him. The Lord has no need to persuade and entice by flattering representations. When the people ran eagerly, saying, "We will serve the Lord," the prophet exclaims, "Ye cannot." What seemingly ill-timed, unwise, unseasonable language this-ye cannot. Why does he not encourage, commend them, on their ready offering? Does he want to damp their zeal? No. It was all to give them the impression, such as Christ would give us, that it is a serious thing to serve him, of which the consequences and liabilities must be duly weighed.

99 66

But the words have also a gracious aspect-they are calculated to promote an unreserved trust and dependance on God, on the part of his servants"Ye cannot serve God and mammon,' therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, &c." No thought-none of that which carries with it disquiet and distrust. No thought so constant as that taken about spiritual things" Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you,"-thrown, as it were, into the bargain. He who will take God as his master, has directions to mind chiefly his eternal well-being, and the life of the body shall be taken care of for him. A new channel is pointed out for his anxieties and thoughts to flow in. Let them be mainly, how "to pass through things temporal so as finally not to lose the things eternal," -how to obtain an abundant entrance into the king

dom of Heaven,-how to get the meat that endureth. Let his thoughts about this life—and he must needs have many-be without carefulness, and without covetousness, for "godliness has the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come," and that God will never leave his servant.

Thus, when we have counted the cost, and decided to follow Christ, this is his gracious direction and assurance to his servant-Thou wouldest renounce the covetous desire of the world, and choose thy portion among better things; thou wouldest lay hold, not on uncertain riches, but on eternal life; therefore, I say unto thee, make that the one thing needful-all these that your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need of, shall be added unto you. Take thou no anxious thought do the business of thy life, thy worldly calling, with an unanxious mind; beware of fretting, gloomy, forecasting thoughts, "what shall we eat?" &c. "I will bless the labour of thy hands." "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

On the whole, observe-it is a reasonable service the Lord desires us to choose. His servants are to bear his yoke and burden-the same that was imposed on him when he came down from heaven to do the will of his Father-and though in bearing them he required to make himself of no reputation, to become a curse, to humble himself unto death, he still says, it is easy and light. That was because he bore it willingly. It was his meat and drink to finish the work allotted to him. It is only when we have thus learnt of him, that we can view God's service as a yoke that is easya burden that is light,- till then, it is intolerable and repulsive, a weary, gloomy servitude. Those who are drawn, come to Jesus and learn of him; then the real liberty of his service is at last perceived. When you see how he bore his yoke, how, as the Father gave him commandment so he did, and become one with him, you will have the really intolerable burden taken off. Acquiesce, then, in the justice and truth of the declaration-" Ye cannot serve God and mammon." No longer be bent on attempting it, c 2

[ocr errors]

-you must try no longer the plan of a divided allegiance.

The Lord will not veil the crosses and trials of his service; he wants no servants but willing, grateful, and sincere ones, who shall assume, with full knowledge of what they are doing, the badge of subjection. He has a mode of winning them, sure and infallible, by which he secretly and irresistibly draws them,"Come unto me," ," "Learn of me," and in taking my yoke and my burden, ye shall surely find what ye have been seeking elsewhere in vain-" rest unto your souls."

St. James', Ryde, January, 1853.

SERMON IV.

1 John ii. 29, and iii. 1, 2, 3.-" If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he is pure."

THE Apostle treats in these verses of relationship to God. He first describes what may be taken as a proof and evidence of being related: "If we know that he is righteous, we know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him." The child will be like the father. A man altogether unlike God, who is opposed to God's ways and thoughts and judgment, cannot be born of him, he is God's creature, not his child. Then he turns to the source and origin of the relationship: he sees the cause of our being adopted by God as his children, not in some special worth which he had discovered, or a special claim, but entirely in the Father's love," Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon

us, that we should be called the sons of God." How unexpected a dignity! How honourable to be God's relations! How strange that God should love us!

He passes on to describe the future prospects of those who are God's relations. For these he looks forward in the second clause,—“ Beloved, now are we the sons of God;" and that is something; but we are away from home, not in the Father's house, the corruptible has not yet put on incorruption;-but "when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."

And he winds up with reminding the sons what becomes them, where their present duty lies, seeing they enjoy this hope,--" Every one that hath this hope in him (in Christ, not in himself) purifieth himself even as he is pure." Let us take the words as they stand. We have to consider

First.-Who has this hope of seeing Christ as he is? "Every one that hath it, purifieth himself,"-but who hath it? Whose possession is it? Who is entitled to look forward hopefully to the coming of Christ? To whom is it that that glorious appearing is a blessed hope? They who have a right to hope are the sons, exclusively his children-none but they are justified in indulging it—none but they can really enjoy its comforts-it is a jewel only in their possession, it lodges in their hearts alone. The hope of eternal life is the exclusive right and privilege of those whose nature is changed. For as long as people live after the flesh, they mind the things of the fleshthe principle of their life is sense-what they can see, what they can reach here they mind nothing beyond -they are not capable of receiving the things of the Spirit, that principle of faith which looks at the things that are unseen.

What is a son's warrant for expecting to inherit his Father's estates and possessions? That he is his Father's son. That is a rational, well-founded expectation; his relationship justifies and ensures it to him. And so the only rational expectation we can have of inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven, being heirs of God, must arise from being able to prove an undoubted

relationship. If we can prove that we are God's children, then we may warrantably hope and expect to see God's glory.

But you must ascertain that first-not by appealing to your standing in his church as baptized members, or your profession as servants of his son-but by what you can bring to light of God's work on your inmost nature, and traces of his image in your heart. If you have ground for thinking that there is friendship and agreement between God and you, you are entitled to hope that, having begun a change, he means to carry it on, and bring you finally to himself. But to talk of having hope in God for the next life, without showing the behaviour of a dutiful and affectionate child in this, is an intrusion upon the birthright and peculiar privilege of others-an infatuation which devils laugh at, and which angels pity.

Hope for nothing from God till you have yielded yourself to him, acknowledged his claims, taken his yoke, and find by your altered disposition, the new wish your heart feels to please God, your changed thoughts about holiness and sin, that you have received the adoption of sons. Then hope, as your duty, your high privilege, your right. Abound in hope and rejoice -hope confidently, because, as God's child you have a right, a clear title to the inheritance. Hope cheerfully, for it is God that cannot lie who promises; and your chief comfort, when disquieted and cast down, must spring from hope in the goodness of God. But till then, till your altered dispositions, and tempers, and lives prove that you have received the Spirit of adoption, better be without hope than hold it as a lie in your right hand. Hope first in God's mercy to you as a sinner, to put you among his children, and then hope in his mercy to you as a child, to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Thus, in the first place, every one that hath this hope in him, is a son of God.

We come next to the hope itself. What does he hope for, and what does it rest on? It waits for the fulfilment of the promise. God has promised his son a reward of souls for the things that he suffered-“ that

« הקודםהמשך »