At the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road
London: E. Palmer and Son, 18, Paternoster Row
CHRIST is the object to be sought in the Old Testament, as well as in the New. He is the Patriarch, (viz. Father), The Judge, the Prophet, the Priest, and King of his people, and was in these characters typified by the Patriarchs, Judges, Prophets, Priests, and Kings of the Old Testament. He is the mighty conqueror, the sweet psalmist, the chief singer in Israel; The great treasurer, holding durable riches and righteousness, unsearchable riches, riches which cannot corrupt in themselves, wear out, by circulation, be lost by carelessness, nor stolen by thieves. All the oxen, sheep, goats, calves, birds, gold, silver, cedar wood, fine linen and precious stones, used in the ceremonial law, have neither the worth, nor the weight of a feather, which can when compared with the great antitype, Christ Jesus. He is the true sacrificial ox, the submissive lamb, the sin-bearing scapegoat, the true gold, the shining silver, the fine linen, our holy array, the gift, which is as a precious stone, and “whithersoever it turns, it prospers” (Proverbs 17:8); and, therefore, it is that the ceremonial law is called a shadow. “A shadow of good things to come.” If the children of Israel were to remember that they were bond men in Egypt and were delivered by the mighty power of the Lord; How much more shall the true Israel, through the holy remembrance, think of the loving kindness of the Lord Jesus, who has delivered them from the wrath to come. What were the manna, the water that flowed from the flinty rock, the victories of the Israelites, the division of the river Jordan, their settlement in Canna, and exaltation above the nations around; What were these things, compared with the true bread, the living water, the sure victory, safety through death, settlement in glory, and final exaltation, all of which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory of God?
And who does not see, in the history of Jonathan and David, the exercise of that love which is of God? Jonathan's love to David surpassed the love of women, and the reason is, because it was the love of Christ; the waters of sin quenched the love of angels, and they fell; Temptation quenched the love of Adam and Eve, so that they ceased to love their maker; And iniquity shall abound and quench the love of many. And envy quenched Saul’s love to David, but the love of Christ, many waters can neither quench, nor abate, nor can floods drown it! This is the love that held Jonathan and David together. Jonathan, like Moses, esteemed the reproaches of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of an earthly kingdom; therefore he envied not David in his appointment to the throne of Israel; no doubt but Jonathan had his fleshly thoughts, reasonings, and exercises upon the subject but all these were overcome by the love of Christ; Jonathan's lot was to fall in the field of battle, and thus depart to that Kingdom where no envy, fear, war, sin, nor sorrow can ever enter.
David was appointed to the throne of Israel; nor could anything make void this decree; yet many were the afflictions he must endure, and the victories he must obtain, in order to arrive at the appointed exaltation; thus it was with David's Lord; He must endure what none beside could endure, and achieve victories which none but himself could obtain, nor was there the least danger of failure. Yet “being found in the fashion of a man,” he used the means of preservation; means suited to the circumstances, as going into Egypt from the wrath of Herod; turning aside to Nazareth; Together with often leaving the assemblies, which aimed to enclose him that they might destroy him; Yet these enemies could not go one inch further, nor act one moment before the appointed time; This the Saviour knew, this is enemies did not know. The same God that decrees the end, appoints the ends to obtain that end, and the means are suited to the circumstances, and adequate to the end. Hence the blood and righteousness of Christ, are suited and adequate means of salvation, and by which the Saviour is, even as man, made higher than the heavens. He arrived at the appointed end, in the appointed way, and at the appointed time.
And so, the Lord's people are appointed in the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore and are brought more or less to know this; Yet many are the afflictions and the fears of which they are the subjects while passing to the promised land. The afflictions by which they are followed, are the means of weaning them from the creature, stripping them of legality, bringing to light the hidden evils of their fallen nature, and thus keeping them little in their own eyes, and base in their own sight; and though this path be trying to flesh and blood, yet, as the old saying is, it is better to be preserved in brine, then rot in honey.
In connection with the tribulation are many doubts and fears, which doubts and fears the Lord alone can subdue. It was revealed to Abraham that he should have a son, yet before the promise was fulfilled, he was left to fear he would be slain by Abimelech (Genesis 20). David must come to the throne of Israel, yet he through weakness said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul” (1 Samuel 29). “Without (says the apostle) where fighting’s, and within were fears.” thoughts and fears either concerning their interest in Christ, or many other things connected there with, are in the Lord's people almost as natural as the air they breathe, and although there is no cause for fear in this love, salvation, and grace of the Lord their God, yet they will never cease long together while in this world, from doubting and fearing about something or other, and it is their mercy that their unbelief cannot make the promise of none effect; The Lord has spoken and he will perform all the promises of his holy Word, he abides faithful whether we believe with full assurance of faith or not, he will not deny himself.
The Lord’s people cannot perish nor come short of one mercy treasured up in Christ for them yet means suited to their circumstances are to be used for their preservation. Noah built an ark, and the Lord’s people shall fly to Christ for refuge. Lot was delivered from the cities of the plain, and the Lord’s people shall be delivered from the systems of the world and be sheltered in the secret place of the Most High. Rahab received the spies and hid them and is commended by the Holy Spirit in so doing (James 2:25) Jacob fled from the face of Esau. Moses was hiding three months when a child, and when he came to years of maturity refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; he then fled to Midian and was received by Jethro, thus being preserved for his future work. David fled from time to time from Saul, and though he had more than one opportunity of putting Saul to death, yet he knew it was best to leave the matter with the Lord. Moses did not forward his advancement, nor make any progress in delivering Israel, by killing the Egyptian. So that David was determined, and was kept by the Lord in that determination, not to put Saul to death.
There is one instance of the preservation of David which I must here notice, because it has been thought by some to be at variance with absolute predestination. The circumstance I allude to is this deliverance from the men of Keilah2, as recorded in 1 Samuel 23. From this chapter we learned that the Philistines fought against Keilah and robbed the threshing floors. David inquired of the Lord if he should go against the Philistines and the Lord promised to deliver the Philistines into his hands, which he did; so that David delivered Keilah from the Philistines. Saul, hearing David was in Keilah, thought it a good opportunity to carry his cruel design of slaying David into effect. Now as this David was to come to the throne of Israel, it was not possible that he could be slain by anyone; but did this set aside the using of the means? Oh, no; So far from that, it assured the use of the means and rendered them efficient. Now here is David in Keilah, and having delivered the men of Keilah from the Philistines, he might naturally conclude that these men of Keilah were well disposed towards him, but not having a very good opinion of human nature, he thought it would be best to inquire of the Lord concerning this matter, and the Lord told him that the men of Keilah would (that is if he continued among them) deliver him to Saul. This is what the men of Keilah would have done but David's deliverance from them proved that the decree of heaven was that they should not deliver him to Saul, but David did not know how this matter stood, and therefore he inquired of the Lord
What the men of Keilah did do, and that which they would have done, are very different things; and so, in slaying the Lord of life and glory; That which the Jews would have done, and that which they did do, were widely different. They would have banished the Savior's name from the earth; but so far from they're doing this, their deeds were subservient to the progress of his kingdom, as they only did that which God had determined should be done.
David's inquiring of the Lord concerning the men of Keilah was according to the order of Providence and of grace. Those who know the truth know they shall come to their appointed end; and they also know two more things, 1st.that they are to enjoy certain deliverances; and come to a certain end by certain means; 2ndly, That neither Providence nor grace is to be dealt with presumptuously. The language of Providence is, “If any man will not work neither shall he eat:” and the language of grace is, “What a man sows that shall he also reap”. The Lord's people, through
the Holy Spirit, sow to themselves in righteousness; That is they receive the great truth of the gospel into their hearts and minds, renounce all confidence in the flesh, revere the name of the Lord, long after the Lord, are glad to go and hear the ministers of God, attend to the ordinances of the Lord, and thus walk in the ways of the Lord; Not for but in doing these things they are honored, owned and blessed. Thus, they sow unto the spirit and shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. It is God that works in them to will and to do this. If David had not called upon the Lord, he would not have known the mind of the men of Keilah; but the Holy Spirit took good care that he should call upon the Lord. So if we are not seeking the Lord, where is our evidence that we belong to the Lord; But if we are seeking the Lord, it is because he has sought us; So that he has been found of us who sought him not until he sought us, and it's made manifest unto us who asked not after him until he began the good work which he will carry on to the day of Jesus Christ; For the Lord's family has a sacrifice in the city, and they must all be there to partake thereof. The family of God is ancient, honorable, and in-dissolvable. But passing by this part of our text, our subject shall be to notice the sacrifice, the city, and the command.
First. The sacrifice. Let us then, take a three-fold view of the great sacrifice of Christ; 1st, as a sin-offering; 2ndly, as a peace-offering; and 3rdly, as a thanksgiving offering.
1st. A sin-offering. Here we have to attend to these two things; 1st, the sin for which the Savior atoned; and 2ndly, how he atoned for it. 1st, the sin for which he atoned.
The evil of sin is seen from the word of God, the experience of the saints, the practice, and calamities of the world, and in the terrors of the lost, but infinitely above all, in the death of Christ. But my aim here will be first to give an account of sin as it is in itself, together with the state into which it has brought all men. One of the characters of sin then, is death, so that men by nature may be said to be dead in a five-fold sense; dead to God, for they know not the spirituality, holiness, majesty, perfection, and immutability of that law by which they are accountable to their Maker. Know it in the letter they may, and thousands do, but they have not been burnt out of their false refuges by its fire, truly alarmed by its thunders, nor killed to the religion of the flesh by its power. They are dead, dead in the hands of a law they know not, not only dead in the law, but also dead in sin. Sin was infused into our nature by the fall; and being conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity, we have personally known no other state, so that sin is natural to us: we feel not what a depraved nature we are the subjects of a few animal propensities and evil passions may be conspicuous enough, but the thousands of abominations lying under these we feel not; but when the Holy Spirit brings the law into the conscience, sin revives, and the man seems to himself buried in the abominations of his nature. He never before dreamed that he was so vile and loathsome. We then, by nature, are dead in law, and dead in sin, and dead in the world; not dead to it, but dead in it. We feel not the emptiness and vanity of its amusements, wealth, wisdom, and applause: we feel not the nothingness of all creature doings in matters of religion: we are not alive to the many delusive systems of religion abroad in the world. We are then by nature dead in the world, for the world is called the congregation of the dead (Proverbs 21:16) We are also virtually dead in the body; and so, it is written, “the body is dead because of sin” (Romans 8:10) “Dust you are, and to dust shalt you return.” Exquisitely beautiful and wonderful as is the structure of the body, sin has ruined it. It is dead because of sin and must mingle with the dust. Humbling truth! But who can deny it? Who does not more or less, fear it? And who would not, if possible, evade it? But more humbling and awful still is that eternal death, a death (if I may use the expression) that will never die, those
who are lost are said to go down into silence; called a state of silence for these three reasons. 1st, because they are severed from those with whom they communed on earth. 2ndly, because they are banished from the enjoyment of God, for they shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. 3rdly, because they cannot impugn the justice of God in their condemnation, for, in this respect they shall be speechless.
Thus, then, by nature we are dead in law, dead in sin, dead in the world, dead in the body; and dead eternally by desert; who then can deliver us from the law, from sin, from the world, from mortality, and the wrath to come? But these are only a very few of the things we have to say of our state by nature, as I shall now proceed to notice, 1st, a few of the names by which sin is characterized in the word of truth. And 2ndly, some of the similes by which it is illustrated.
1st. A few of its names. It is called murder, because it in the first place aimed at the Almighty himself; for says the enemy, “You shall, be as gods,” and of course above all law. God is an infinite good, and sin would, if possible, have annihilated this infinite good, and thus have reveled at large in its own atheism. Sin, as thus aiming at God, is an infinite evil; are not your iniquities infinite? and never did sin show itself to such an extent as in slaying the Lord of life and glory; it threw angels from the highest bliss to the lowest hell, has slain the whole human race, and entailed eternal wrath; yet these, awful as they are, do not equal the crucifying of the Son of God. This was the greatest sin men ever committed, it scattered the Jewish nation to the four winds even to this day, yet their charging him with doing that by the wicked one which he did by the Holy Spirit is called the unpardonable sin; but this does not do away with the truth of the observation that the greatest sin men ever committed was crucifying Christ, for this was putting into practice, as far as they could, all their murderous enmity against him, this was the perfecting of their national sin.
Again, sin is called pride, and hence it is that men through the pride of their hearts will not, and cannot seek God; that is, not truly so, for the greater part of seekers are only false seekers that will never find, and so it is written: “Many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able,” for these, with all their seeking, cannot bow to the real majesty of the law, the sovereignty of God, nor the plan of mercy, nor receive the truth in love of it. Proud man must be something and do something, but really and truly to feel and acknowledge his utter helplessness is a state into which none but the Holy Spirit can bring him. Satanic pride despised Jesus of Nazareth; free-will pride despised the truth to this day.
Again, sin is called falsehood. The devil was a liar from the beginning; every man by nature is a liar, the heart of man is full of falsehood, the world is full of falsehood; lies, in politics, in war, in commerce, in science, in history, abroad, at home, among our friends and our enemies, the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, male and female, old and young, religious and irreligious, who but the Lord himself can teach us the truth among all these lies? This falsehood belies God and man, angels, and devils, it denies the truth of God, misrepresents the state of man as a sinner, it has denied the being of angels and of devils, yes, the being of a God. “Surely men of low degree (the profane) are vanity, and men of high degree (Pharisaic professors) are a lie, (Psalm 62) but the Lord is a God of eternal truth.”
Again, sin is called a thief. It robbed angels of their bliss, men of Paradise, and God of his glory, and would rob the Savior of his crown, his throne, his people, his honors, and his praise; but here
this thief is debarred, he must plunder where he can, but not where he would; although he is diligent and has men and devils on his side. This thief sends thousands into a profession to spy out the liberty of the saints, and if possible, to rob them of that liberty which they have in Christ. This is the tendency of all the legal systems of the day; the Galatians were robbed to a certain extent, and for a little while, by these legal advocates, for Moses, and Moses will curse them for their service when they have done, for Moses acknowledges no law fulfiller, either in whole or in part but Christ. Elias acknowledged Christ on the holy mount as the end of prophecy, and Moses acknowledged him as the end of the law; the only way then, in which the law is honored is by the perfect work of Christ, all that step before him are thieves and robbers, and the true sheep will not follow them, indeed how can they when these legalists leave Christ behind, at least, partly, and that is as bad as doing it quite: beware then of false prophets for they are thieves and robbers.
Again, sin is called envy. The Lord abundantly blessed Isaac, and the Philistines envied him; the Lord Jesus and his people are abundantly blessed and they are abundantly envied, the complaint of the enemy is that our high priest has taken too much upon him (Numbers 16) he having gone to the end of the law, having made an end of sin, finished transgression, completed salvation, and brought in everlasting righteousness, choosing whom he would, ordaining them to eternal life, and securing them thereunto, thus becoming their all in all, and shall ever be crowned Lord of all; this exaltation of Christ, this happiness of his people, this glory of God, are offensive to men and devils; if the wicked one envied Adam and Eve the happiness of an earthly paradise, how much more does he envy the Israel of God their happiness, and the God of Israel his glory. The Jews could not endure the rising and spreading fame of Jesus, they envied this our spiritual Joseph, and Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered Jesus unto him, what evil is there that envy will not do? It persecuted and slew patriarchs, prophets, and priests, delivered him who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, into the hands of sinners; ridicules the Lord’s elect; and seeks to this day their destruction. Who, then, is able to stand before envy? (Proverbs 27:4) Jesus has stood before it, and overcome it for his people, and will overcome it in his people, and by him they shall overcome it too, and envy will rage in vain.
Again, sin is called hatred, so that men, by nature hate the truth of God, both law and gospel, unless the law and gospel be somewhat modified; for the law, when declared and enforced in its real character, speaks nothing but wrath and condemnation; but when brought forth, merely as a rule of life, and to be obeyed as far as we can this softens the matter, and renders the law comparatively palatable to the carnal mind, so that our churches resound again with “Good Lord, deliver us,” and “incline our hearts to keep this law;” the law was added, because of transgression, that sin by the law may become exceeding sinful, so that by the law is the knowledge of sin; this is the use which the Holy Spirit makes of the law in the consciences of those of whom he is the teacher, and where this experience is not, there is ignorance of, and hatred to, the law in its real nature and use; and such as do not know the law in its killing power, are, to all intents and purposes, haters of the law, though they know it not. The natural consequence of this ignorance of the law, is hatred to the real gospel of God; the doctrines are too high, too commanding, too full, too firm, too positive, and withal, very uncharitable; and again, these high doctrines are dangerous, and a thousand other expressions of their ignorance of them, and hatred to them. Men, thus hating the truth of God, it is no wonder that it should be so natural as it is to hate one another; but no hatred is like that of hatred to the truth of God. Yet it is not the letter of truth, nor the name of God or Christ. No, thousands who are in a state of nature, have a love to these; it is not, then, the letter of
truth and name of God, of Christ, or a Christian; it is the real nature of these, which they so sincerely hate, yet they knew not that they are enemies to God, if they did, they would tremble at his word, fall at his feet, acknowledge his sovereignty, long for his mercy, obey his truth, seek his face, and Christ would be their all in all.
Again: sin is called unbelief. “Has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” is it certain that death will be the result of eating of the tree in the midst of the garden? This enemy thus infused the seed, planted the root, laid the foundation, and thus made suitable preparations for carrying into effect his dark designs; unbelief acts against God in a fourfold way; first, it opposes the account given us in the Book of God, of our real state by nature. There are but few, very few, who believe that we are what we really are by nature, and those few are the remnant, according to the election of grace; these, in the fullest sense of the word, believe and feel that the creature is utterly helpless, and that in the flesh dwells no good thing, but sins and abominations without number; but this truth to its full extent, unbelief cannot admit. 2ndly, In reprobation. “Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord has rejected” (Jerimiah 6:30). Not reprobate silver because they are worse than others, but because the Lord has rejected them; nor does it mean that the Lord has made them sinful, but being sinful by nature and practice, the Lord has rejected them purely because he would; for “whom he will he hardens,” not influentially, but permissively; the non-elect, whoever they are, must be lost, but this men cannot believe. 3ndly, In election. This truth is also opposed, kept back, and rejected by unbelief. 4thly, Completeness in Christ. This, by unbelief, is called a demoralizing dogma. This fourfold opposition to truth includes all the opposition truth ever has, or ever will meet with, from the men of this world; men cannot, because of this their unbelief, enter into rest; this unbelief, none but the Lord can remove.
Again: sin is called folly, and for these reasons, that men, by nature, care more about the things of the poor perishing body, than about the things pertaining to the immortal soul; more about the creature than about the Creator; more about time than eternity; this life, than that which is to come. They do not stop here; but go on to prize the supposed free-will of the creature, more than the sovereign will of their Maker; the doings of the creature, more than the doings of Christ, the Godman; so far are they gone in folly, that the things of the Spirit of the Lord are foolishness unto them; the great plan of salvation, the plan of infinite wisdom, is accounted foolishness. “This their way is their folly, yet their posterity approve their sayings.”
Again: sin is called vanity; men are reaching after vain things, man is a compound being, made of matter, and mind. The things of this world may supply the body; but God alone can truly stay and satisfy the mind. God is a spirit, and the soul of a man is spirit, and can be happy only in him who is a spirit. Solomon went to the highest possible pitch of worldly glory, and assures us, at last, that it was all vanity and vexation of spirit. Everything out of Christ is vanity, “Lord, turn away my eyes from beholding vanity and quicken you me in your way” (Psalm 119:37).
Again: sin is called flattery. “You shall be as gods;” but instead of this they became sensual, and devilish. Profanity promises much gratification, gold and silver promise much happiness, a little morality a great reward in the world to come; and that it does not matter what our creed be, if we render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and then, no doubt, all will be well at last; but these are the more popular and general ways in which sin flatters deluded man; ten thousand are the ways in which men flatter themselves, and also one another, for “there is no faithfulness in their
mouth, their inward part is very wickedness, their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue.” (Psalm 5:9).
Again, sin is called shame. Adam and Eve knew not shame until sin clothed them therewith, nor does any man know the shame he is clothed with until the Holy Spirit convinces him of sin, it is then that the sinner is ashamed of himself before God, he is ashamed of what he has done, of what he is, and what he is likely, yes sure, to be in himself while in the body. Sin degrades to the lowest company and conduct, to the company of devils, and their conduct too, in opposing the truth of God. One of the most abominable operations of shame is that it tries to make the Lord’s people ashamed of the truth, although the truth will never be ashamed of them. Sons and daughters of the Almighty, kings and priests to God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, having a kingdom, a crown of glory, and an inheritance as much surpassing the kingdoms, crowns, and estates of this world, as the Creator surpasses the creature; yet such is the power of shame and such our weakness, that we have blushed before mortals, lest they should know we have left the devil and his service, and his riotous agents: but, as Bunyan says, it is one thing to be attacked by this shame, and another thing to be overcome and led as his willing captive, as thousands are who keep the truth back, or lay it aside altogether, lest they should lose some of the good things of this life; these are the fearful and the unbelieving who shall, dying in this state, be cast into the lake of fire. Nothing can be such a disgrace as sin, the devil knows this, therefore he tried to make men ashamed of Christ, by setting men to declare that Jesus of Nazareth was a winebibber, a gluttonous man, a friend of publicans and harlots, a deceiver, blasphemer, an usurper, yes a devil, and so it is now, his holy and infinitely precious doctrines are charged with tendency to every evil, and that by thousands of thousands who are professed followers of Christ; tremble you accusers of the brethren, howl for the miseries that shall come upon you, you cold-blooded enemies of eternal election, divine predestination, and complete salvation. You compromising, world-pleasing, fawning, hypocritical liberalists, “walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled, thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, this shall you have of my hands, you shall lie down in sorrow.”
Again, sin is called discord. Order, harmony, and tranquility reigned in man, and in the world, in the elements, and animal creation into all this sin brought confusion, discord, and war. I forbear to enlarge upon the mental, national, political, commercial, social, family and theological discord, of which sin is the root; yes, and discord itself, for sin cannot agree even with itself, not that it is so divided against itself, as to destroy itself, yet its legs are not equal; for though the world agree to reject the truth, yet they cannot agree one with another, for the devil’s own armies fight one against the other, the dead Protestant against the superstitious Catholic, the Wesleyan against the Socinian, the mongrel. Calvinist sometimes a little against the Wesleyan, but as Mr. Huntingdon says, “they are like Samson’s foxes, though their heads are turned different ways, they are all in one bond,” yes, and they are in the same gall of bitterness against truth too, that is speaking generally, for there are, no doubt some exceptions, some among them that are not of them. These, in the Lord’s own time will come out from among them, so that on some we are to have compassion, making a difference, pulling them instrumentally out of the fire of enmity against the truth, hating even the garments of salvation spotted by the doings of the flesh (Jude 23).
Death, murder, pride, falsehood, a thief, envy, hatred, unbelief, folly, vanity, flattery, shame, and discord are a few and but very few of the characteristics of sin.
Let us now proceed to notice a few of the similes by which sin is set forth.
1st. Disease. Leprosy, which often among the Jews corrupted house, clothes, and person; let the house remind us of our poor bodies; the body is our earthly house, but the leprosy is in it, and down it must come. No scraping, washing, or mending can put it to rights, he shall change our vile bodies. Let the garments remind us of the holiness and righteousness we had in Adam. These by the disease of sin are become filthy rags, not fit for the presence of the king, and cannot endure the storm of death and judgment. The person being corrupted with leprosy may remind us of the soul, and thus we are, altogether as an unclean thing, the disease universal and fatal.
2ndly. Famine. Sin deprived us of all the food of paradise; When a sinner by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit comes to himself, he finds in the world, in himself and at Sinai, in the scriptural sense, a mighty famine; And is sooner or later brought to know, that without Christ, the true bride freely given, he must perish eternally. It is a mighty famine, he cannot make the world his own nature, nor Sinai productive of what he needs.
3rdly. A wilderness. We by nature are in the wilderness of sin and were born like the wild ass’s colt; by nature, we are in the spiritual sense wild, we think wildly, talk wildly and act wildly in things pertaining to God. All kinds of birds and beasts have been tamed by man, yet none but the Lord can tame man himself; he finds his people in the wilderness, leads them about, and instructs them, and makes them wise unto salvation. So that they can no longer snuff up the wind (the vanity) of the desert, nor feed upon the wild herbs and fruits of the world, but are brought into the land of promise, and eat of the wild store, walk over the green pastures of truth, and lie down in safety.
4thly. A cloud. Hence, our state by nature is called the cloudy and the dark day: “darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people,” it is in, and by, this darkness that the prince of darkness carries on his dark designs, nor can the natural light of conscious, nor the glimmering taper of human wisdom, show men where they are by nature; Not only so, but they love darkness rather than light, and put darkness for light; And nothing is so offensive to them as the light of real gospel truth; this is the light they hate, and fly from.
5thly. A troubled sea. “The wicked are like the troubled sea, that cannot rest but cast up mire and dirt.” This is the sea of perdition in which millions are drowned; and who can manage the mighty waves of this satanic ocean, for “the floods have lifted up their voice: the floods lift up their waves, but the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters; yes, then the many waves of the sea” (Psalm 93). Jesus is the mighty deliverer; he has dried up the sea and made a way for the ransom to pass over.
6thly. A prison. What are sin and the world but a large prison: all that are in the world, are by nature criminals and debtors; And yet, poor wretches, they strut about, and are as proud as Lucifer, especially if they have a little silver and gold, which they call their own. Yet these stupid things have nothing but sin, death, and condemnation really to call their own. Awful will be the trial, dreadful the sentence, and eternal the condemnation of those whose names shall not be found written in the Lamb's book of life.
No language however strong, no image however bold, no colouring however high, can fully describe the state we are in by nature, nor is it possible for men to be in practice what they are by nature. All of the abominations that have ever been committed, (awful as they are,) are but few drops from the ocean of the human heart, for the heart “is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked and who can know it.” None but the Lord can fathom this mystery of iniquity. I repeat that it is not possible for men to carry out a thousandth part of the principles of fallen nature into practice; The depth and deceitfulness of sin are beyond all human conception, and be it remembered, the scriptures not only notice what we are by practice, but also what we are by nature. The Lord looks on the heart, nor can all the sin that man commits, make them worse in their nature; They make themselves vile in practice, and bring more or less into exercise the principles of sin, which are in them; their external acts do not make them sinners, but only show that they are sinners, as says the proverb of the ancients, ‘wickedness proceeds from the wicked” (1 Samuel 24:13). We are conceived in sin, and shaped in iniquity, and are as vile in our nature as it is possible we can be; and so far from my wondering that man can go on in sin as they do, my wonder would be, that they are not thousand times worse in practice than they are; this would be my surprise, were it not that I remember it is written ‘hitherto shall you come and no further, here shall your proud waves be stayed.” Thousands are the ways in which the Lord restrains the ungodly, yet because they are thus restrained, and even as many of them appear righteous before men, their nature is none better in reality, although they themselves are as men, more comfortable and more honorable among men. Abimelech boasted of his innocence, but it was the Lord that withheld him from sinning; what I contend for is, that man is altogether as an unclean thing, utterly helpless, ruined and lost. This is his state by nature; Now then, what is to be done: nature cannot help itself, death cannot be avoided, the law of God cannot be altered, creature duties in the affairs of salvation or of no avail: if any real good is to be obtained it must be by Christ Jesus.
I now come to notice how the Lord Jesus atoned for the sin of which I have spoken. He atoned for sin by the sacrifice of himself; not; by the blood of goats and calves, nor by silver and gold, but by the sacrifice of himself. He was and is God and man in one person; he came under the law; but let us be very careful upon this matter, and be as clear as possible, that we may have no misunderstanding. I, therefore, repeat it, that Christ was and is God and man in one person; now mind, I am not going to say his Godhead could suffer, bleed or die, but I mean to say that the manhood of Christ was and is inconceivably noble, and infinitely valuable by its union to his Godhead, and that the obedience and death of his manhood, were in the strength of his Godhead. His human nature had in it all the holiness, majesty, and glory of his divine nature, so that his obedient life, and atoning death were not the works of a mere man, but the works of the God-man; it was to this God-man that the law looked for a magnifying of obedience, and for a satisfying atonement for sin. Now, as atonement was to be made by the sacrifice of himself, huge indeed was the guilt of the church; ponderous was the curse of the law, but such a person as this could and did overturn these mountains by the roots, and by his power destroyed their very being; as then Christ was and is God and man in one person; what must be the purity, majesty, strength, and glory of that righteousness which he produced by his own personal obedience to the law of God, for as man he was equal to the law, as was Adam before the fall, but then Christ was God as well as man, and was not only equal in holiness and righteousness of nature to the law, but infinitely superior to the law; uncreated holiness, infallible uprightness, perfect knowledge, infinite power, inflexible justice, boundless love and immutability are attributes of Emmanuel. From his whole person, not his manhood without his Godhead, nor yet from his Godhead without his manhood, but from his
whole person, arose that righteousness, which is the way of acceptance with God; this is called the righteousness of God, and is for the children of God, it honors the law of God, shows forth the grace of God, glorifies the Son of God, is made known by the Spirit of God, and shall eternally shine in the presence of God.
But my object here, is, to notice chiefly the atoning death of Christ; I wish still to repeat, that the life and death of Christ were the works of his whole person, he who obeyed the law was Emmanuel, he who atoned for sin, was Emmanuel, he as God-man obeyed the law, he as God-man had a life which he laid down for the redemption of the church; it is by his being God and man in one person, that he was qualified to compass, to bear, to atone for, and take away the sin of his people, no penal suffering was deserved by the sins of his people, but what he endured. The Father comprehended all the sins of his elect and laid them all on Christ. Christ being as God, one with the Father, comprehended all these sins in his death, and said, “It is finished.” The Holy Spirit comprehended all the sins of the church on Christ, and has testified that Christ “by one offering has perfected forever all them that are sanctified.” Jesus was not as a king, sending servants, employing property, and using money to attain some great object; he came himself, and employed no means to put away sin, but by the sacrifice of himself; none but himself could dry up the mighty oceans of sin and death; none but himself could entomb the curse of a violated law, overcome the fury, break the stratagems, and defeat the designs of the legions of fallen angels, whose enmity is implacable, whose diligence is unwearied, whose counsels are deep, and whose rage is constant; rest they cannot, the wrath of God dwells in them, and they in that; they are as the troubled sea, which cannot rest, but would carry the Lord’s people away like feathers upon the wind; but our dear Emmanuel met them, with the breast-plate of his own righteousness, the arm of his own power, and according to the counsels of the upper world: these counsels must stand, and our God will do all his pleasure. Who then, but our precious Emmanuel could overcome the fury of fallen angels, and turn the counsels of hell into foolishness? And remember, the Lord of life and glory did this personally, by the sacrifice of himself; he travelled in the greatness of his own strength.
Nor could the pious craft of the priest, the serpentine enmity of the scribes and Pharisees, the terrors of the Roman tribunal, nor the mad vociferations of the deluded multitude, joined to all the powers of darkness let loose upon him, neither all nor any of these could impede his march, stay his hand, nor move his heart from the victory upon which he was determined; nor could Peter’s denying him, incline him to deny Peter, he turned and looked upon Peter, and overcame Peter with a look of majesty and mercy; Peter owned the power, felt the mercy, loathed himself, went out and wept bitterly. O! for the same mighty look from the same precious person, that we may feel the same power, experience the same mercy, loathe ourselves, and be perpetually going out from sin and self, sit at the Savior’s feet, and there weep until we are lost in his love; and how often will this our Elder Brother forgive us, until seven times? yes, and until seventy times seven, for with him is mercy, and plenteous redemption, nothing can turn his heart from the objects of his love.
I again repeat, that all the sin of the church was laid upon him, not one particle could escape the eyes of omniscience, nor the vengeance of inflexible justice; the guilt of the church is the mountain he levelled to a plain, the ocean he dried up, the fire he quenched with his own blood, the cloud he penetrated and destroyed, the plague that he stayed; deep indeed is the pit of sin, and his people are by nature in a low estate, in which low estate he has not only remembered them, but has placed under them his everlasting arms, he went by his atonement, by the sacrifice of himself, down even
to unfathomable depths. Hear his own account of his solemn descent: “You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps (Psalm 88:6). He went down himself, in the dignity of his person, and power of his infinitely efficacious blood, by which his people are brought up from the gates of death and power of the grave; stay in the pit of sin they cannot, must not, and shall not; the work is done it is settled in heaven, the decree is gone forth, and is in the book thus written: “As for you also, by the blood of your covenant. I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water” (Zechariah 9:11). God our Father has thus settled the matter, our Emmanuel has finished the work, the Holy Spirit testifies of it, and we know that his witness is true. Jesus thus visited, and not only visited, but redeemed his people, sin, death, and hell, never could, and never can, drag one chosen sinner beyond the reach of atoning blood; let then the heralds of Jesus proclaim the mighty depths of atoning blood, redeeming love, and saving grace, let them fear not to go down to the lowest of the low, the vilest of the vile. Let Manasseh, Mary Magdalen, the thief on the cross, and Saul of Tarsus tell of its mighty depths. But why need we mention these, are these the only great sinners that are saved? Verily no, for where shall we find a little sinner? The real heart-felt language of each (who is taught of God) is, I am a chief.
Now mind it is said of the Savior, he went into the lowest pit; that he was by the Father laid in the lowest pit; the lowest pit is the curse of the law. He being God and man could and did go to the bottom of this pit, tore away its foundations: the foundations were the sins of his people. He took away sin, overcame death, and destroyed the gloomy pit. Not only are the guilt of the church and curse of the law called the lowest pit, but also darkness. This is the thick darkness in which we by nature are lost; a darkness of which we ourselves could have found no limits. It is a great darkness in its nature, extent, and duration. Into this darkness came the great Messenger of the covenant; but he being God as well as man could not be lost therein, He penetrated this thick darkness, sought and found all his people, who were therein lost. He, by the light of his own glory, breaking forth by his great atonement, shines the darkness of his people away, causing them to arise and shine in his righteousness. He is the glory of the Lord rising upon them. This light is progressing and will continue to do so until all his people are brought into perfect light; and so, shall the path of the just be as the shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day. This pit shall not hold them; darkness shall not detain them. Jesus has gone to the bottom of the pit, to the uttermost boundaries of the darkness of his people.
Not only was the Savior, by the sacrifice of himself, laid in the lowest pit and in darkness, but also in the deeps; not but the pit and darkness are deeps, yet I cannot forbear noticing the expression here used, because it seems to have a fulness of meaning, being used in the plural, not merely deep but deeps. He went into the deeps. May not these deeps mean the deep seas of sorrow through which he waded, and that for us?
1st. Privation. The privation he underwent was twofold, internal and external. He came under the law and subjected himself to its servitude; and instead of walking in the constant enjoyment of his heavenly Father's presence, darkness was around him, vindicated wrath laid hard upon him, waves and billows rolled over him. He also underwent external privation, which was sixfold.
First. Poverty. He had not where to lay his head, and though the heir of all things, yet he called no man's table, no man's house, nor field, nor property, nor place his own, yet paid his way, and owed
no man anything. Even Caesar obtained without any trouble his tribute money. As heir of all things he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we may be spiritually and eternally rich.
Secondly. Character. He underwent provision of character, for instead of man's acknowledging him, to be what he really was, holy, harmless, an undefiled, they cast upon him all the of opprobrious names that men or devils could think of, calling him a deceiver, blasphemer, wine bibber, gluttonous man, a friend of publicans and harlots, yes, a devil; he thus underwent privation of character, and the true free grace gospel of God meets with the same treatment from free-willers, mongrel Calvinists, and every other herd of blind charity professors of the present day, it is impossible but that these offences will come, but woe unto them by whom they come. Jesus then underwent poverty and privation of character.
Thirdly. Liberty. They came out against him, as against a thief, with swords and salves. Judas betrayed him, the assembly of the wicked enclosed him, and then thought to extinguish the spreading of the eternal truth, to hinder the rising fame of the name of Jesus. But it turned out as all things must immediately do, to the furtherance of the Gospel.
Fourthly. Justice. He was deprived of justice at Pilate’s bar, the witnesses were false witnesses, and the priests knew that they were false witnesses, and so did Pilate, it was therefore unjust in Pilate to give sentence against him; but the terrible cry of the multitude was, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend.” Yes, then Pilate you will lose your place and perhaps your head; The fear of man brings a snare, and into this snare Pilate fell.
Fifthly. Civility. Jesus underwent the privation of common civility, they mocked him, spat upon him, deridingly bowed the knee, smote him, and treated him with the greatest possible indignity.
Sixthly. Life. He underwent the provision of life. They crucified him in the most ignominious manner, and thought to complete his indignity by placing him between two thieves, and who would have thought that one of these thieves was an object of eternal love and heir of God and joint heirs with Christ: “O! The depths of the riches, both of the wisdom, and knowledge of God; How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.” They crucified him; those depths he went through for us, he went into the lowest pit, into darkness, into the deeps. Crucified him, and here they must stop; They can go no further; Nor one of the sacred bones could they break nor bury him with the malefactors; no, an honorable counselor shall go in boldly unto Pilate and crave the body of Jesus, and he shall be laid, not in the open fields, to be given to the fowls of the air, nor in the anatomist’s dissecting room, but in tomb dug out of the rock, a new tomb wherein no man ever laid; And shall they be permitted to write a piece of mockery on the cross, saying, he said, I am the king of the Jews? No, but an eternal truth, this IS the king of the Jews.
The great Mediator then went into all the deeps of vindictive wrath, has destroyed the foundation of our prison house, and rendered it impossible for his people to continue in their low estate. Then going to the bottom of all their miseries, as there is in his atonement and inconceivable depth, as there is in his atonement a suitable width. We are by nature and practice afar from God, but this great atonement brings all the Lord's people together in Christ, brings them nigh to God. Law and gospel are brought together in him, the law demands nothing but what it finds in him, mercy desires nothing but what it accomplishes in and by him; mercy and truth, righteousness and grace meet in
him, and by him and by his atonement shall all the children of God be gathered together in him; There is no character in which the atonement appears, but it shows it's complete extension to all our needs. As the price of our redemption it is complete, he has paid the uttermost farthing, his resurrection is the receipt to be read by all his people. The Holy Spirit is the witness, God the father is satisfied; And the law magnified, and his people the partakers of the benefit.
His blood is the victory, and this victory is complete; The warfare is accomplished; not one enemy but is by his blood conquered; death, hell, sin, the grave, the wicked one, the world, and the flesh, are all overcome by the blood of the Lamb. The warfare is accomplished, his blood, as the cure of our diseases, is complete, he by his blood heals all our diseases, he is the health of our countenances it cleanses us from all sin, not leaving spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing; His blood is our life, and it is complete, for no accident, disease, nor famine can destroy it. It is our security; the destroying angel will never touch those who are sheltered by the blood of the Pascal Lamb. All our needs will be supplied out of God our Father's riches in glory by the great atonement of Christ Jesus.
Not only are there in the Saviors atonement suitable depth, and breadth, but also height. It reaches up to God, and answers in nature and dignity to all the perfections of God. I must again repeat that Christ was, and is, God and man, in one person, and that his atonement was by the sacrifice of himself, and that therefore it accords with, answers too, and is expressive of, the perfections of God. As I before said, uncreated holiness, inflatable integrity, perfect knowledge, infinite power, inflexible justice, boundless love and immutability, are attributes of Emmanuel. This glorious person atoned for sin by the sacrifice of himself. This atonement having in it all the dignity of his complex person, it brings us up into a state as superior to the paradise we lost in Adam, this heaven is superior to earth; it brings us up into the immediate presence of God, to be filled with all the fullness of God, and enjoy joint heirship with Christ Jesus. Now, as the Savior by his atonement reached as it were to the whole compass of the heavenly world, even to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, there will be no sign, no shadow, no symptom in the world of anything that can be laid to the charge of God's elect. Jesus is our forerunner, he has entered by his own infinitely precious blood into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us. He did, while on the cross, receive to his own bosom, every particle of the wrath of heaven, due to the sin of the church. No one cloud can ever rise in that celestial world, not one calamity can be dreaded, nor one complaint be heard. God and the Lamb, are the life, the light, the fullness and glory therein; the depth, breadth, height, and length of the atonement of Christ are immeasurable, and answers to the length and breadth, the depth and height of the love of God, which love in its immensity, passes all creature knowledge.
Let me here mention the evils which to show the necessity of the sin offering I have enumerated, let me bring these enemies to the cross, and slay them there, or rather show, that they are virtually slain, buried, and banished forever. One is death: this he has destroyed and brought life and immortality to life. 2ndly, The aim of sin at the Almighty himself, the criminality of this, awful as it is, he has erased, and made pardon sure in all the chosen. 3rdly, Pride: this he has slain, and so the holiness of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone exalted. 4thly, Falsehood: this he has put away, and his people are guided into all truth. 5thly, Sin is called a thief, but Jesus has restored that which he took not away, viz. The rights of the law and his people shall be made honest in his sight. 6thly, Envy: this is drowned in the mighty ocean of his precious blood; And his people shall
freely give unto him the glory due to his name. 7thly, Hatred: such is the love that is revealed in and by the shedding of his blood, that hatred to him sinks and falls and dies, and his people love him more than ever they hated him. 8thly, Unbelief: the mediator's faithfulness to his covenant engagements in humbling himself unto death, even the death of the cross, has conquered unbelief, so that he must be believed in by all who are ordained to eternal life. 9thly, Folly: Jesus has shown by his doings and dying that he is the wisdom of God, and his children shall be wise to salvation. 10thly Vanity: Jesus is truth itself, and right by his death deliverance from the vanities of time and brings into possession of the verities of eternity. 11th, Flattery: Jesus neither flattered God nor man; he gave to the law its due, told the truth to men, and glorified God. Flattery throughout the church shall die, it cannot live on calvary's hallowed mount. 12th, Shame: Jesus having put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, the Saints will have nothing to be ashamed of; there shall be no disease to weaken them, no famine to destroy, no wilderness to beguile, no cloud to darken, no troubled sea, no prison to enclose, the great atonement of Jesus delivers from every evil, and the more we know of ourselves, the more we shall praise the precious blood of Christ; this is the sin offering that cleanses from all sin. The persons on whom the Lord has fixed his everlasting love are sinners, the persons for whom Jesus died are sinners, the persons who are by the Holy Spirit led to repentance are sinners; he loved us “when we were dead in our sins” (Ephesians 2:4,5) “Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). “It is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing” (John 6:63” Sin is a universal, incurable, and everlasting evil, that is to say, it has corrupted, overcome and ruined the soul and body of every son and daughter of Adam; nor can angels, or men do one thing toward the cure of this evil. No man can redeem his brother, no man can keep alive his own soul; And as for angels, they are indebted to electing favour, for the security they have (1Timothy 5:21), and are servants, and not masters, ministering spirits, but not mediators; For there is but one mediator between God and man: the Man, the God-man, Christ Jesus; he has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself: he did it by himself (Hebrews 1:3); of the people there was none with him. Who but the wicked one can be the author of these fooleries and doctrines of devils, propagated by Roman Catholic priests, Socinians, free-willers, and duty-faith men; doctrines well suited to answer the purpose of the deceived, deceiving, and designing men, but they are doctrines which never did, and never will bring one soul to God: bring thousands into a profession they do, but bring sinners into the truth as it is in Jesus they do not; all profession and experience that do not lead to an acknowledgement of the ancient covenant of mercy, the finished work of Christ, the sovereign and invincible energy of the Holy Ghost; all profession and experience which do not lead to a willing reception of, participating in, resting upon, a cleaving to, a following hard after, these truths in their spirit, power, and preciousness; All profession and experience, which do not bring the sinner to these things are deception, carried out by the devil and a deceitful heart, sanctioned and assisted by men who are ministers of the letter, but not of the Spirit. These ministers appear wonderfully humble, pious, and righteous before men, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works, of keeping back and opposing the truth (2 Corinthians 11:14,15).
Jesus has, by the sacrifice of himself, performed the conditions of the new covenant, and made the promise sure to all the promised seed. These, and these only, shall come and sing in the heights of Zion. The sin offering of the ceremonial law was a morning and evening, and everyday subject; And if we are taught of God, it will be our constant theme too, and we shall justly despise those doctrines that would lead us from the family sacrifice to the beggarly elements of human doings.
Jesus has put away sin, all sin, by the sacrifice of himself. Salvation is wrought, the church virtually delivered, law and justice really satisfied and magnified, mercy triumphs, truth is established, enemies confounded, the vilest of sinners freely and fully saved, Christ exalted, and God glorified.
This sin offering is God the Father's unspeakable gift, the Saviors work, and the Holy Spirit’s revelation. To this fountain opened for sin and uncleanness the sacred three bear record in heaven, and that to the unspeakable joy of the spirits of just men made perfect; and there are three ordinances on earth that bear witness of the same thing, the preaching of the gospel, which is called the administration of the spirit; The water, believers baptism; The blood, the Lord's supper3; These all testify of that fountain that will ever be remembered in the new song of “unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
After thus showing the necessity and nature of the sacrifice as the sin-offering, I come,
II.. To notice this family sacrifice as a peace-offering, the peace of God in Christ, and as brought into the heart by the Holy Spirit. This peace implies these three things, terms, knowledge, and repose: the terms are the doings and dying’s of Christ; he is our peace; the terms are truly honorable to all included in the covenant of peace, honorable to God our Father; all the claims of the law and justice are maintained, holiness is unsullied, while love, mercy, grace, and pity appear in all their freeness, fullness, activity, harmony, and duration, the councils of his infinite mind unfolded and confirmed; Peace is not partly but wholly and infallibly made. The man who would bring anything else, or anything more or less, than the life and death of Christ as the terms of peace with God, is, whether he knows it or not, acting the part of an enemy to God and goodness. How often do we hear a fellow creature say, “I have made my peace with God” little do such think that there is none but Christ Jesus the glorious Mediator, could for sinners make peace with God; But more of this presently. I again repeat that the terms are honorable to all included in the covenant of peace; Honorable to God the Father; honorable to Christ. He did no injustice to any one of his enemies, the wicked one and his legions have unlawfully drawn the whole elect of God; yes, the whole human race, into the service of sin. And Jesus came to seek his people, to declare his father's nature unto his brethren, for Jesus was not and is not ashamed to call them brethren, he has redeemed them from death, delivered them from the wrath to come, and will not allow his enemies to run finally away with the objects of his love, but will deliver them from all hostility to God and truth; “in righteousness does he judge and make war”, merciful, savingly merciful, to millions of millions but unjust to none. This same peace is honorable to the Holy Spirit, his work is carried on upon the ground of the work of Christ; The Holy Spirit “tarries’ not for men, nor waits for the sons of men.” He is indebted for his admission into the heart of a sinner, neither to free will, duty faith, human exertion, nor anything else out of Christ. He comes from the Father by Christ Jesus, and who can hinder him, for “he takes up the isles as a very little thing, all nations before him are as nothing and less than nothing.” But say you, is it not said “quench not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.” I scarcely need to say that the words quench not, cannot mean the person, perfections nor covenant relations of the Holy Spirit. Not his person, for he is invisible, untouchable, eternal, and unalterable; Not his perfections, for they are immutable, and immovable, and untarnishable; nor his covenant relations, for they all center in Christ, as the whole work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ. The quenching here spoken of
appears to me to refer to the comfort of the Holy Spirit; everything which has a tendency to rob us of our spiritual comfort, may be called quenching the Spirit; There are many ways in which the Lord's people are beset, cast on, and shut up. All the mere manmade ministers, who are ministers of the letter, but not of the spirit, are quenchers of the spirit, their ministry mingled with the dregs of legality, is nothing but the cold and foul water which the serpent cast out of his mouth (Revelation 12:15). This, and the golden oil of electing grace are very different; the ministry of these legalists, is the sort of freezing mixture which hardens dead professors in delusion, secures them in carnal confidence, glides them down the broad road of general profession, and are thus finally, and fatally deceived. One way then in which the Spirit, the comfort of the Spirit is quenched, is by the truth being kept back. In whatever way, or by whatever means we passed from a spiritual to a carnal state of mind, we quench the Spirit, and there is not a just man upon the earth that does good and sins not; The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are contrary, the one to the other, so that we cannot do the things that we would; The precepts and exhortations are given, and to will is present with all them that are taught of God, so that their aim, object, and desire, is to walk in the fear, the love, and the truth and comfort of the Holy Ghost; they therefore desire not to quench the Spirit, that is, when they are comforted they would continue so. And where the willingness is real, the Lord accepts the will for the deed, and so it is written “the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41): Again, “if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man has and not according to that a man has not” (2 Corinthians 8:12). Yet, the apostle’s exhortation “quench not the Spirit” is needful, and to the children of God useful.
Grieving and resisting the Holy Spirit, are words used after the manner of men. The Holy Spirit indited the scriptures; those who despise the great truths therein written, are said to resist the Holy Ghost, that is to say, as the Holy Spirit has borne witness in the written word of the total vileness and helplessness of men by nature, the reprobation of fallen angels and non-elect men; the eternal love of God to his people, their election in Christ, completeness in him, regeneration, and final perseverance by the Holy Spirit, those who oppose these testimonies are said to resist the Holy Ghost, since they do not, and cannot receive the testimony he has borne, the Holy Spirit being grieved are words after the manner of men, we find many similar terms in the Old Testament, such as the Lord repented, feared (Deuteronomy 32:27), was pressed down (Amos 2:13), and moved (Job 2:3). Nothing can violate the bliss of the Holy Spirit, and can we for a moment suppose that he who inhabits eternity can really repent, fear, be oppressed, and move from the councils of his will, for although he has often, to suit circumstances spoken of, after the manner of men, yet “he is not man that he should repent” (1 Samuel 15:29). “His counsel shall stand and he will do all his pleasure.”
But to return, the terms of peace with God then, are the doing and dying of Christ, which terms are every way glorifying to God, and that because they are salvation to the poor and needy. These terms are to be insisted upon by all the ambassadors of the cross; let them go where they may, or meet with whom they may, no other terms maintain the dignity of the king, secure the prosperity of the kingdom, nor do credit to the ambassadors. The Lord in mercy preserve his ministers, from giving up to the traitorous claims of legality, or any other enemy, one clause of their credenda. Let the tribes of compromising liberalists make peace one with another, and unite in casting the King of king’s down from the sovereignty of his will, but “You, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” (1 Timothy 6:11); the
righteousness of Christ, and proclaim it to others, make mention of this righteousness even of this only. Godliness, the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, included in this is all our salvation and all our desire. Faith, the faith of God's elect, this faith nourishes prayer, encourages hope, receives the truth, overcomes the world, and endears the Saviour. Love, the love of God in Christ this makes us willing to endure all things for the elect’s sake. Patience and meekness, viz. The patience and meekness of Christ; He bore and submitted to all things for the truth’s sake. “Thou, O man of God, follow after these things, and in so doing you shall fight the good fight, and lay hold on eternal life, where unto you are also called” (1 Timothy 6:11, 12). One thing, then, implied in the sacrifice as a peace offering, are terms; the next thing to be noted is knowledge; For there can be no peace in the experience of it, without knowledge. The Lord brings his people into soul trouble, so that their knowledge shall not be merely theoretical, but experimental. The vileness of nature is one thing they shall deeply feel; Which feelings shall bring them into the dust of selfabasement and self-loathing; and as they go on learning the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of their own hearts, together with the holiness, justice, majesty, and perfection of the law of God, they shall be swerved from all confidence in the flesh, through the law; that is, through its killing power they shall become dead to the law, and shall be thus brought to know that there is no other way in which they can be conformed to the law of God, but the life and death of Christ. In this way they have all the holiness, righteousness, goodness, love, spirituality, and perfection which the law can demand, mercy bestow, or the creature possibly need; true experience, leads the soul from the religion of the flesh to reception of the truth as it is in Christ. “In Christ all the promises are yea and amen in him, Amen, unto the glory of God the Father.” All experience which does not lead to such a reception of this gospel, as to exclude all others, is a false experience, containing false principles, having a false foundation, nurtured by a false heart, filled with false doctrines, sanctioned by false prophets, who are walking in false light, the light of the law of legality, which they have kindled, and not in the light of the sun of righteousness. It is in and by the false light of legality that many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able, for they do not seek by a believing reception of the truth as it is in Christ (Romans 9:32); and without this faith, which receives the truth, it is impossible to please God. The only thing God is pleased with in this great subject of salvation, is Christ, and all that dwells in him; He is fullness itself; nothing can be brought to him in a way of help, recommendation, or qualification: “In him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.” This is the gospel received, held fast, abode by, contended for, lived upon, rested in, boasted of, sought after, talked about, by that people of whom it is written, “they shall abundantly utter the memory of your great goodness and shall sing of your righteousness” (Psalm 145:7).
The terms then of the peace offering are honorable, and the knowledge thereof experimental and savory. The next thing in the experience of this peace offering is repose. We who have believed, do by him enter into rest, ceasing from our own works, and leaning and living upon the words and works of the Lord. This is the rest of faith, of hope, and love: first of faith, being enabled to receive the truth of the Father's eternal love, sovereign election to salvation, and divine predestination to eternal life; the Saviors imputed righteousness, great atonement, immutability; and that by the quickening, illuminating, and emancipating power of the Holy Spirit, these truths are brought home to our hearts, as to be spirit and life unto us as we thus rest by faith, so we rest in hope; Our hope resting in God by the truths faith receives; and “this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and enters into that within the veil:” even that which “eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man to conceive even those things which God has prepared for them that love him.” We hope, that is, we both expect and desire these things; this is
the good hope, and inseparably connected with everlasting consolation. The Lord's people cannot lose nor change away their hope; Whatever may be their perplexities, adversities, and afflictions, still the Lord is their hope; for “he WILL be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:16) and then the repose enjoyed by the peace offering is a repose of faith and hope, as it is a repose of spiritual love. When a sinner is once brought to receive the truth, and enabled to fix his affections, that is the affections of the new man, as for the affections of the flesh they will continue longing after the old objects; but the affections of the new man, when the sinner is brought by the new man to fix his affections on Christ, they are there forever; never again can such a one again hate the Lord Jesus; no, the love of fleshly professors may wax cold, but “the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that has clean hands (true faith and hope), shall wax (in his love in the Lord Jesus) stronger and stronger” (Job 17: 9).
After thus noticing the necessity and the nature of the family sacrifice, as a sin offering and a peace offering. I have now to notice that this same sacrifice is also a thanksgiving offering. I am thus creeping along towards the climax of this great subject. The praises of the saints shall be spontaneous, entire, and eternal. These three features, were characters of praises of the saints, accord with the great atonement of Christ; first in being spontaneous. This great atonement was freely bestowed by the Father of all mercies. The people on whom was bestowed this unspeakable gift were not only not worthy in the least measure whatever of such a gift, but deserved the lowest hell. The difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians, at the time of the plagues of Egypt, and institution of the Passover, did not originate in anything good in the nature and conduct of the Israelites, but “that you may know that the Lord does put a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites” (Exodus 11:9). This great atonement then is the free gift of the Father; the Savior came freely; it was his delight to do the will of the Father; he freely put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; he loved us, gave himself for us. And is not the Holy Spirit said to be a free spirit (Psalm 51:12).
“He scorns conditions, and breathes salvation free as air.”
The Lord Jesus comes down as the rain, and rain comes freely; the river that proceeds from the throne of God, comes freely; and the Holy Spirit shall be in the saints as a well of water, freely springing up unto everlasting life; they having a vital union to Christ, to praise the Lord shall be as natural to them as the air they breathe. Yet this praise will never become commonplace, so as to be in the least measure a matter of indifference; no, the praise of the saints will always be the high praises of God; even glory to God in the highest. The saints shall rise in their gratitude above all created things, that is to say above all mere created things; their gratitude shall spring from and rise to the Lord their God, who has saved them in himself, with an everlasting salvation. “All your works shall praise you O Lord, and your saints shall bless you” (Psalm 145:10).
As the praise of the saints shall be spontaneous, so their praises shall be entire. Not one thing the Lord ever did shall be disapproved of by them. Their entire approbation of the Lord arises from his entire approbation of them in Christ Jesus; for they are entirely approved in Christ; in him they are without spot. By their union to Christ, they will show what the Lord is to them, what he does for them; And how gloriously he dwells with them. And thus, they shall show forth the praises of him who has called them out of darkness into his marvelous light. They are formed by and for the Lord and shall show forth his praise.
Salvation once begun shall never end: the work of Christ will ever be ever valid and ever new; God the Father is immutable in his love; the Holy Spirit will dwell in the Saints forever; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What think we then, of the great atonement of Christ as an atonement extending in all the perfections of God; Yes, embodying in it all the perfections of God; subduing all our enemies, putting away all our sin, healing all our diseases, delivering us from evil, bringing us to God in the way in which we shall be forever happy. “Happy then is the people that is in such a case, happy the people whose God is the Lord,” Thus I have laid before you, and I hope somewhat clearly, the necessity and nature of the atonement of Christ as a sin offering, a peace offering and thanksgiving offering; The way in which sinners are saved and God glorified.
We now pass to the next part of our text which is the city; “our family has a sacrifice in the city.” The church as it is wisely planned, firmly secured, and divinely enriched, is called a city. But here I shall notice only a few typical things represented by the city of Bethlehem, to which city our text refers. The city of Bethlehem is remarkable for these five things; First, its name; Secondly, it's situation; Thirdly, the well by the gate; Fourthly, the typical persons, who were natives of the city; Fifthly, Jesus himself being born in this city. These things render Bethlehem rather a conspicuous type of that remanent which is called “a little city, and few men within it;” And which was and is besieged by the king of the bottomless pit. But there was found in the city, now more than eighteen hundred years ago, “a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city;” yet no man, from any good disposition of his own, remembered this same poor man; but the Holy Spirit being the remembrancer of her, he, who though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, shall not be forgotten; “His name shall be remembered to all generations.” (Ecclesiastes 9:14,15).
Let us then attend to some of the typical things found in the city of Bethlehem. First, its name, which signifies the house of bread. In the city of our spiritual David, there is the bread of life, upon which all the citizens live; Nor can one of them ever die, for there is no death there; it is the bread of God; by him it is freely given, and leads the people to him in praise for what they have had, and in prayer for more. It is bread of which the people will never be weary, in which the Lord will never be wary of giving, for the Lord himself has said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This bread is true bread, that is imperishable. No one in this city shall perish with hunger. It may frequently seem long from one mealtime to another, and so that one and another may, in the fit of fear and unbelief, explained, “My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord” (Lamentations 3:18). But this is their weakness and often infirmity. Fast days are days of dullness, yet they are days of reflection, and though painful, are nevertheless profitable. The Lord's people are not made to fast because of any scarcity of bread but because it seemed good in the sight of the Lord; he will in his own time satisfy the poor with bread. In this city, then, is the bread of life; The bread of God, the true imperishable bread; obtained without money and without price.
Secondly, the situation of Bethlehem. It stood upon the acclivity of the hill; that is to say, not at the bottom nor yet at the top of the hill, but between the two. All who were called by grace come up from the world of unregenerate men; They come “to Mount Zion and general assembly, whose names are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that sprinkles better things than that of Abel.” They thus leave the bottom of the hill; but will they ever arrive at
the top: the enemy says they shall not, sin says they shall not, the world says they shall not, free will says perhaps they may not, the world says they shall not, unbelief says they shall not, cardinal reason says they are too vile, weak, and stupid ever to get to the top of Mount Zion; these are witnesses against them, but as these witnesses are notoriously bad characters, it will be needful to ask what says the Scriptures. The Scriptures speak in this way, “the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he, therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion” (Jeremiah 31:11,12). Thus, the way is opened, and the end secured; Many are the powers aiming to pull them down, but “greater is He who is with them, then all that can be against them.” All the attempts of their enemies must be in vain, for if they could not hinder the King of the City, they cannot hinder them, for he is their strength, in him is everlasting strength, for notwithstanding all that the enemies have imagined in their hearts, and done with their hands, yet, “says the Lord, have I set my king upon my holy hill in Zion.” (Psalm 2:6); and said Jesus to the citizens, “Because I live, you shall live also and where I am, there shall my servants be also!”
In the 7th chapter of Revelations, we have an account of 144,000, who were sealed, and in the 14th chapter of the same book we find the same number standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion, The citizens of this little city shall all arrive at that city where songs of praise shall never cease.; yes, the little city, the church in the world, is only a branch of that city, “which has foundations and whose builder and maker is God.”
3rdly. The well by the gate of Bethlehem. “And David longed and said, Oh, that one would give me to drink of the waters of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.” The Gospel of God is the well of salvation, and for the waters of the well all the Lord's people are made to thirst. And do not David's mighty men represent gospel ministers who breakthrough the hosts of eternal and external enemies, to draw water for the thirsty of the Lord's household. David says the men went in jeopardy of their lives, and the Holy Ghost says of the apostles, “they hazard their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 15:26). When the Holy Spirit rises up and qualifies the man for the ministry of the Word of Eternal Truth, whether it be his lot to preach to ten or to ten thousand, such a minister is determined to draw water from no other well than the well of free grace, salvation; He knows where the well is, it is in Christ; He knows the water to be quickening, cooling, healing, and cleansing; He has experienced these in his own soul, and he knows that our spiritual Boaz commands all his humble gleamers in the fields of truth to drink of that which the young men (the ministers), have drawn from the well. Bethlehem: let what may stand in the way of such a man, he is determined to have water from the free grace well or none at all: The world may roll the stone of reproach upon the wells mouth (Genesis. 29); Pharisees, critics., and conceded speculating professors may send anonymous letters, and even pay the postage (which is not very often they do); they (the minister's) may be the scorn and derision of those that are round about them, they may be sore broken in the place of dragons (the wilderness of tribulation), and be covered with the shadow of death, Yet God standing by them, their hearts shall not be turned back, Their steps shall not decline from the way of truth, nor shall they deal falsely in the covenant of their God. (Psalm 44); such shall be “strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus!”
The whole of Bethlehem was by the gate entrance in the city, All the Lord's people come in by the gate of regeneration, As soon as they enter, they begin to cry for this water of life; They do, though they do not as yet know where it is, how it is to be obtained, nor what its properties are, nor hardly that such a precious well of water exists; Still he goes thirsting on until the Lord commands some
water to be drawn for him, that he may satiate his heart, and say with those who have gone before him, “spring up, O well, sing you unto it.”
David poured out the water brought him by the mighty men, a drink offering unto the Lord, and so shall the people of God pour out prayer and praise unto the Lord, who is the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort. Bethlehem, then, is the house of bread, and has in it a well that will never be dry. “This bread shall be given, and the water shall be sure.”
Fourthly. The typical persons who were natives of the city; These were. Ibzan. (Judges 12:8), Ebimelech. (Ruth 1), Boaz, and David. I shall here merely notice the meaning of their names. Ibzan signifies weapons of war or armor; all the citizens of spiritual Bethlehem are warriors, the great truths of the Gospel or their armor, Which armor is impenetrable, incorruptible, and that not at all cumbersome; In order to put on the armor of God, the armor of the flesh must be put off, the armor of the flesh are the doctrines of men, the passions of nature, human learning, political laws to regulate religion, Every true soldier of the cross will say, “I cannot go with these.”. Spiritual enemies must be encountered with spiritual armor and spiritual weapons. Now as Ibzan signifies armor, Ebimelech signifies my God is King, or God is my King; This is the King in whom the Saints of God are brought to take an oath of allegiance. Christ is their God and King and “every one that swears by him shall glory” (Psalm 63:11). Boaz signifies strength, this is the strength by which the soldiers of the cross run through troops of their enemies, leap over the wall of nature, and tread upon the high places (high powers) of their enemies, and each at the end of the battle shall exclaim, “O my soul, you have trodden down strength.” (Judges 5: 21).
David signifies Beloved, love is the constraining principle of the heavenly warfare, and ensures one holding out to the end, For we shall be more than conquerors through him that loved us; Thus, in the meaning of these four names, we have the armor of God, the King of Zion, the Strength of Israel, and the Love of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus himself was born in Bethlehem, and although this (as well as many more things), were so plainly foretold by the Prophets, yet the Jews knew him not; So true it is that “No man can know the Son, only he to whom the Father will reveal Him;” He is the elder brother, and is Himself the sacrifice in the city, and commands all his brethren to be there.
I now pass on to notice the last part of our text, viz. the command, “My brother has commanded me to be there;” on this part, though much may be said, I must, at present say but little, which may be expressed in these two ideas, relationship and destiny. First, relationship; the nature of the commands depends upon the relation in which the command is given. Relation to God is in the first Adam, and relation to God in Christ, are relations very different in their nature and end. Relation to God in the first Adam holds the creature a debtor to do the whole law and denounces wrath and condemnation upon every soul of man that does evil, and all have done evil, and the whole world is become guilty before God. We had all the holiness, love and righteousness in Adam suited to our creation state, but having sinned in Adam, and lost these, the law continues to call for holiness, love, and righteousness, but it brings us none of these, nor can we by this, our law relation, obtain, or be in any other way, entitled to any one mercy.
But relation to God in Christ Jesus, brings us mercy holiness, love, righteousness, yes, every good, needful and perfect gift; The commandment of God in Christ Jesus is everlasting life. “He commands the light to shine in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the person of Christ.” In Christ Jesus, he commands his love abroad in our hearts; In Christ Jesus he commands his covenant forever; in this relation, he puts his fear into the hearts., that we should not depart from him; brings us up from death, and says, loose him, and let him go. “Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom.” All the promises, precepts, and exhortations of the Gospel are in Christ, and rendered effectual to all the heirs of promise, by the Holy Spirit; The truth which is commanded in the Saints they keep by the Holy Ghost. Their creation, or law relation to God is dissolved, the law is dead to them, and they are dead to the law. This has magnified the law, redeemed them from the curse, being made a curse for them. And the words which the Savior speaks are spirit and they are life; His people hear his voice and live, they follow him wherever he goes.
Christ is heir of all things, and his people are joint heirs with him. All power in heaven, and in earth, is in his hands, his words can never fall to the ground. As a prophet, he ever spoke truth, as a priest, he put away all the sin of his people, by the sacrifice of himself; and shall he not reign as king. Yes, truly, “he shall break the power of his enemies, as with a rod of iron, he shall dash them to pieces, as a potter's vessel.” (Psalm 2:90). “Where the word of this king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, what are you doing?” (Ecclesiastes. 8:4). In the light of his continence there is life, and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain,” (Proverbs 16:15).
All of the commandments, then of the Gospel, must be sooner or later obeyed, by all the ransomed of the Lord; these shall be willing in the day of the Lord's power; as soon as they hear of him, by the quickening power of the Holy Ghost, they shall obey him.
Lastly, Destiny. “My brother has commanded me to be there;” that is, he has commanded me to be in the city “glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God,” namely, that it is a strong city; that salvation is appointed for wells and bulwarks that there is a river ever making glad this city, a city sought out, and not forsaken; that God is in the midst of her; that she shall not be moved; that it has foundations; that it's builder and maker is God; that it is built as a city compact together; that God will establish it forever; that it is a holy city, a city of righteousness; that there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away; that this city needs not the light of the sun, nor the moon, nor any candle, nor any temple, for the Lord God Almighty the Lamb. are the light thereof, and the temple therein; that “there shall in no way enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatever works abomination or makes a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21:27). These are they that keep the gospel commandments of God; and have the testimony of Jesus; and by him have right; a right given to them by the Father, ratified for them by the Savior's blood, and made known to them by the Holy Spirit. These believe and receive the truth in the love of it and thus prove the possession of their right in the tree of life. These shall enter with safety through the gates of death, and judgment into the city. God has prepared it for them; the Holy Spirit leads them to it, and Jesus commands them to be there. May the Lord, the Holy Ghost, increasingly direct our hearts into the love of God, and patient waiting for Christ.
FINIS.