appeared on earth, cloathed in our fallen flesh and blood, he was
invested with an absolute and uncontroulable power and authority over
the whole system of temporary nature. His wonder-working Fiat was
sufficient to calm, in an instant, the most aggravated fury of the winds
and seas; and, as proceeding from the same wrathful source, to assuage
the violence of raging fevers; to heal, by a mere touch, by a word, the
most inveterate diseases; and to restore every organ of sense, which had
been injured or destroyed, to its true state, and proper use and
function. And as all outward disorders primarily proceed from a wrong
state of the human spirit, his influence pervaded the inmost recesses of
the soul, and awakened and called forth that precious spark of his own
Heavenly Fire, which had lain buried under the ashes of sin; and bade it
enlighten, invigorate, and restore health and peace to, the whole man.
The gospel for the day presents us with a very remarkable instance of
the amazing effects of these redeeming powers--"JESUS, departing from
the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the
midst of the coasts of Decapolis: and they bring unto him one that was
deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put
his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his
fingers into his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue: and looking
up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha! that is, Be
opened!"
There are three circumstances in this miraculous cure worthy of our
serious attention, viz. the looking up to heaven, the sigh, and the
Ephphatha.
I. The looking up to heaven, was beautifully expressive of the real
situation, in which this great Restorer of human nature stood before his
Heavenly Father. It was intended, no doubt, to communicate to every
attentive observer, this great lesson of instruction; that all the
powers and virtues of which he was possessed, came down from above; that
they were communicated to him "without measure;" and that he could have
no authority over the evils of human life, so as either to mitigate or
remove them, but by standing continually in the Heavenly World,
inspiring its air, receiving its beams of light and love, and sending
them forth into every human heart, that was truly desirous of their
salutary influence; and that it was by such a communication alone, that
he should be enabled to restore hearing and speech to the unhappy
patient they had brought before him.
II. This look was accompanied with a sigh. A sigh seems to indicate
distress. An anxious oppressed and afflicted heart is sometimes so full,
as to deprive the tongue of the power of utterance; it vents itself,
therefore, in a sigh. But what could oppress or afflict the heart of the
Meek and Innocent JESUS? His body, though a fallen one, does not seem to
have been sick or in pain; his soul was sweetly attempered to Divine
Love, and could have felt nothing but inward peace and serenity--and
yet, he sighs!--The poor deaf and dumb sinner, who stood before him, had
reason enough to sigh: but he was insensible of his misery, and
therefore sought not for relief. The truth is this: The BLESSED JESUS,
as the Second Adam, the Father and Regenerator of our whole lapsed race,
voluntarily assumed our nature, and became as intimately united to it,
as the head to the members of the body. In consequence of this union,
"he knows whereof we are made, he remembers that we are but dust." His
sympathetic heart is sensible of every want and distress of every son
and daughter of Adam. He is persecuted with the church that Saul
persecuteth; and who--"so toucheth his children, toucheth the apple of
his eye." Yea, he feels for those, who feel not for themselves; and
sighs over the sad state of those, who are blind to their true
happiness; "who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for
light, and light for darkness."
It was from such a tender sensibility of human woe, that our Lord
sighed; whilst he was preparing to perform this miracle of love. This
look, this sigh, seem to have uttered some such language as this: "O
Heavenly Father! I am come into this world to fulfil thy blessed will,
in the restoration of fallen men to their primeval light and glory. My
desire of accomplishing this great work, which is continually called
forth by a general view of their complicated misery, as well as by the
particular wants and distresses of individuals, now solicits, in favour
of the poor mortal that stands before me, the application of those
healing powers, which I have received from thee!" This expression of our
LORD'S desire, coinciding with the Eternal Will to All Goodness,
immediately produced the Divine Ephphatha.
III. "And he saith unto him, Ephphatha! that is, Be opened." Whatever
salutary efficacy there may be in medicine, it must proceed from that
Heavenly virtue, which rises from the re-union of divided properties.
This re-union is the source of health, and the restoration of aught that
may be impaired in any of our outward organs, or inward faculties. To
him, who had all nature under his controul, who knew how to bring
together and unite, in an instant, those properties which have been
separated, a single word, the mere motion of his will, was sufficient to
produce the desired effect. The same Majesty that said, "Let there be
light!" when "darkness was upon the face of the deep," now uttered the
authoritative cure, "Be opened!" The injured organs were instantly
renewed; "his ears were opened, the string of his tongue was loosed, and
he spake plain."
The same Supernatural Powers, which the BLESSED JESUS displayed upon
this occasion, he still continues to exercise in the hearts of his
redeemed offspring. This look, this sigh, this Ephphatha, is spiritually
fulfilled in the relief of every one, who is convinced of his spiritual
disorders, and applies to CHRIST for a cure.
Deaf and dumb with respect to our inward and spiritual senses, we all
are by nature. We can hear and speak, in deed, of worldly things, with a
quickness and facility, which manifests, in innumerable instances, the
strong attraction by which they hold our attention and affections. The
calls of business and of pleasure, we are ever ready to answer: our
earthly senses are continually open; but our heavenly faculties are
closed by a thousand obstructions, which we suffer the world, the flesh,
and the devil, to form in our hearts.
The great Shepherd of Israel, who is perpetually employed in "seeking
and saving that which was lost," makes use of a variety of means and
methods to bring the soul to a conviction of its loss. The efficacy of
these depends, indeed, upon the concurrence of the human will; because
nothing can come into the soul, but what itself wills or desires. The
different dispensations of Providence are wisely and affectionately
adapted to the different circumstances of individuals: the end and
design of them all is one and the same, viz. to bring the wandering
creature to a sense of his deviations, and "to guide his feet into the
ways of peace."
By whatever means this conviction is wrought, the soul soon becomes
sensible of its mistaken choice, and soon determines to withhold its
attention from the calls of earthly objects. In vain does the Syren sing
her delusive song; it ceases now to charm; for the finger of GOD stops
the outward ear, that the inward ear may be opened to a sweeter note.
The awakened sinner "looks up and lifts up his head, for his redemption
draweth nigh"--looks up to Heaven--For what? for the healing hand of his
Redeemer to interpose, and remove every remaining obstruction--looks up,
and sighs--No desire of deliverance, without a previous sensibility of
distress--a sigh is the true language of desire; it is more effectual
than long prayer; it is prayer itself, in its true spirit: words do
frequently render it less spiritual. The sigh of a contrite sinner
brings down Heaven into his heart. JESUS often sighed. He loves a sigh;
it invites him into his own Temple; and "Ephphatha, Be opened!" is the
blessed voice that precedes his salutary entrance.
Be opened!--Opened, to what?--To the Harmony of Heaven; to the
symphonies of angels; to "the Voice of the Bridegroom." "The marriage of
the Lamb" is come; the Bride is prepared; the silver chord is tried; the
blessed union is completed! The soul is now all eye, all ear, all heart,
all tongue; and eye, and ear, and heart, and tongue, are all employed in
receiving the gifts and graces, and celebrating the beauties and
perfections of him, who is "fairest among ten thousand, who is
altogether lovely."
O BLESSED JESUS! vouchsafe, we beseech thee, so to manifest thy power in
opening our ears, and loosing our tongues, that we may henceforth hear
no voice but thine, and offer up our sacrifice of praise and
thanksgiving to none but thee, who, with the FATHER and the HOLY SPIRIT,
art ONE GOD, blessed for evermore!
DISCOURSE XI.
The Riches and Glory of the Christian.
1 COR. CHAP. iii. VER. 21, 22, 23.
"THEREFORE, LET NO MAN GLORY IN MEN. FOR ALL THINGS ARE YOURS;
WHETHER PAUL, OR APOLLOS, OR CEPHAS, OR THE WORLD, OR LIFE, OR
DEATH, OR THINGS PRESENT, OR THINGS TO COME; ALL ARE YOURS, AND YE
ARE CHRIST'S, AND CHRIST IS GOD'S."
These words contain a complete and beautiful enumeration of those
distinguishing privileges to which human nature is exalted, by virtue of
that glorious plan of Redemption, which JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD hath
accomplished for our whole fallen race. They were occasioned by some
little jealousies and envyings, which had broken out among the
Corinthians, in consequence of an undue attachment to particular
apostles and preachers of the gospel; some declaring themselves
publickly in favour of one, and some of another; some saying they were
of Paul, others of Apollos, and others of Cephas. Upon this occasion the
blessed Apostle, in the true spirit of Christian Love, and free
disinterested impartial Charity, reminds them of this grand and
important truth, "that no man can lay any other foundation, than that is
laid, even JESUS CHRIST;" that whatever difference there might be in the
particular gifts and talents of their different preachers, yet no
preference was to be given on this account, but their attention was
solely to be directed to those fundamental principles, which all were
labouring to inculcate, though all were not equally agreeable and
captivating in their modes of communication and address. These
differences were to be considered as accidental and external, and by no
means sufficient to warrant any partial personal distinctions. He makes
use of a variety of the most sensible and cogent arguments, to dissuade
them from a conduct so illiberal and unchristian; and in order most
effectually to silence such a spirit of contention, he reminds them, in
my text, of the high and exalted privileges to which they themselves
were called in CHRIST JESUS--"Therefore let no man glory in men." As if
he had said:
Let none of you value yourselves upon your personal attachment to this
or that favourite Apostle; let none of you boast of the superior
spiritual excellencies of those particular teachers, to whom you have
fondly surrendered your affections; or look upon the spiritual knowledge
you have acquired, as proceeding from any powers or virtues in them,
superior to those of their brethren: for let me assure you, such vain
distinctions are beneath the character of those, who are themselves
united to that very Source and Fountain, from whence the living streams
of real knowledge, holiness, and happiness, do alone proceed: "For all
things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, and
ye are CHRIST'S, and CHRIST is GOD'S."
What a glorious inheritance is here! the whole universe of things
declared to belong to the Redeemed Race of Adam! No prophecy is of
private interpretation. From the beginning to the end of the Bible,
every prediction, every promise, every truth therein delivered, equally
belongs to every individual of the human race: they are addressed to all
without exception. What a senseless distinction then is that, which some
narrow minds have adopted, and are fond of propagating, that the
promises of Scripture are made to none but believers? Whereas, these
promises are the very foundation of every one's faith, and the ground
upon which every one's hope of Salvation rests.
No son of fallen Adam can apply for pardon upon any other ground, than
that the promises of Scripture, which are founded upon the Universal and
Impartial Love of God, are made to him, and every other person in the
like circumstances. His faith in these promises makes a glorious change,
with respect to himself; but, on the part of GOD, who is "the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever," they were made to him before he
believed, or thought any thing about them: "We love him, because he
first loved us." He hath elected all mankind to salvation, in his Son
JESUS CHRIST. An immortal inheritance is secured to all, by the Merits
of this BLESSED MEDIATOR; and if any fall short of this salvation, or
lose their inheritance, the blame must lie at their own door: "They
would not come to CHRIST, that they might have life."
Should an affectionate parent, with the utmost care and anxiety, make
such an ample provision for the sober and virtuous education of his
children, as, if accepted and improved by them, would secure to them
knowledge, esteem, and happiness in this world; would not such a parent
be thought to have done all that love and tenderness could do in this
respect, for the future welfare of his offspring? The provision is
equally secured to all; and yet, if any thoughtless, perverse,
disobedient child, should refuse to avail himself of these paternal
blessings, and prefer an idle, dissolute, and abandoned life, to all the
advantages which the father had taken care he should be furnished with,
he might justly be told, as the Apostle tells the Corinthians--"All
these things are yours." Your Father hath made you equal with the rest
of his children--knowledge, esteem, and happiness, is as much in your
power as in theirs; your falling short of them, therefore, is owing to
nothing but your own perverse disposition--"they are yours," but you
will not enjoy them.
The same might be said of a temporal inheritance equally divided among a
family of children; each has an equal portion: and yet if any child
should be so weak and silly, as to chuse to forego the enjoyment of his
share, and prefer penury and contempt to opulence and honour, he might
still be told, that the portion was his, though he was so foolish as to
neglect and forsake it.
Even so, "an inheritance incorruptible, immortal, and that fadeth not
away," is secured, in CHRIST JESUS, to every individual of our fallen
race: "All things are ours," by virtue of that Heavenly nature, which we
inherit from JESUS CHRIST the second Adam. Upon the birth, growth, and
maturity of this Heavenly Nature, depends our possession of this Eternal
Inheritance; and this birth, growth, and maturity again depend upon the
co-operation of our wills, which are eternally and essentially free,
with the Divine Will.
What I have here asserted, is fully consonant to the very letter of
Scripture: "GOD is not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance." But if GOD is willing to save all, Why are
not all saved? Why do not all men come immediately to repentance?--The
reason is obvious: it depends not, as some vainly assert, upon a Secret
Will of GOD, distinct from his Revealed Will. Such an idea of the GOD OF
TRUTH AND LOVE, is unscriptural, and even blasphemous--No, it depends
wholly upon the co-operation of our wills, with the unchangeable Will of
GOD. The promise is made to all; the inheritance is secured to all; but
the possession and enjoyment can never come, till the will of the
creature is united to the will of the Creator; till from a deep
conviction of his own nothingness by nature, he freely opens his heart
to the influences of Grace--and then he finds, by a blessed experience,
that, "having nothing, he possesseth all things."
When a minister of CHRIST, therefore, addresses himself to a sinner,
insensible of his fallen condition, and strongly attached to that
earthly life, which he inherits from fallen Adam, he cannot use a more
effectual argument, than that which the Apostle in my text presses upon
the divided and contentious Corinthians--For so far as these jealousies
and disputes prevailed among them, they were doubtless under the evil
influences of the same corrupt nature, to which the unregenerate are in
bondage.
Why, vain mortal, why, alas! art thou so strangely blind to thy best
interests, so amazingly neglectful of thy real happiness? Thou fleest
from the substance, and embracest a shadow; thou pursuest the vanity of
time, and despisest the riches of eternity; thou preferrest the life of
a beast to the life of an angel; thou art content to feed upon husks
among swine, whilst in "thy Father's house there is bread enough, and to
spare."--Thou art in search of a false and delusive happiness in this
world, whilst, if thou wouldst but attend to and "know the things that
belong to thy peace," thou wouldst soon discover, that "all things are
thine." For poor, wretched, sinful, polluted as thou art in thine
outward nature, thou hast, within thee, a Seed of Eternal Life, a Birth
of the TRIUNE GOD, a Son of the Second Adam, a Reconception of the Light
and Love of GOD, an Angel near its birth. To this seed, this birth, this
son, this reconception, this angel in thy breast, belongs the Kingdom of
Heaven, the pure element of Life, and Light, and Love. JESUS CHRIST, thy
Ever Blessed Redeemer, hath sown in thy heart, and in the hearts of all
thy fellow-sinners, this Seed of his own Heavenly Nature, by means of
which, he affectionately purposes to redeem thee from the bondage of
corruption, and exalt thee to a glorious state of life and liberty. As
he is invested with "all power both in heaven and in earth," so this
offspring of his, which is within thee, will become a partaker of his
Power, in proportion as it becomes a partaker of his Life and Spirit, in
proportion as it increases in Heavenly Wisdom and Stature.
If thou shouldst ask, how this growth and increase is to be obtained,
and how all things are thine?--I could answer thee, that as the
earth-born babe could never grow and increase in bodily strength,
without a perpetual supply of the light, and air, and food, which this
outward world affords; so it is as really and physically true, that the
Heaven-born offspring of the Second Adam, can never grow or increase in
spiritual strength, without the light, and air, and food of the heavenly
world, imparted by its tender and affectionate parent, JESUS CHRIST: and
as nothing disposes the earthly infant to receive that nourishment which
is suited to its nature, but the hunger of that nature, earnestly crying
for a supply; so nothing can dispose the Heavenly babe within, to
receive the precious influences of Divine Life and Grace, which alone
can satisfy its nature, but an hunger and earnest desire of this
Heavenly Food; or, in other words, the spirit of the will turning to
CHRIST, loathing all other nourishment, and desiring only to be fed with
his Bread of Eternal Life.
Thus fed, supported, and strengthened, by a Vital Union with thine
adorable REDEEMER, thou standest not in thine own strength, but in his;
not in thine own righteousness, but the Righteousness of CHRIST within
thee; not in thine outward and perishing nature, but in thy inward,
Angelical, and Divine Nature. In this nature, sweetly mingling with its
own kindred element, thou art safe, firm and collected; all temporal
objects are beneath thy feet; like Adam in his paradisiacal state, the
earth, and all that is therein, is subject to thy will. Health and
sickness, prosperity and adversity, storms and calms, spiritual comforts
or spiritual distresses, the vicissitudes of life, the horrors of death,
the vanity of time, and the riches of eternity, are all at thy command,
and thou makest them all subservient to thy spiritual growth and
consolation.
All these powers, virtues, and enjoyments, are thine; thine by the Free
Gift of GOD in CHRIST JESUS, imparted to thee; and made thine, at the
very moment the "Seed of the Woman" was inspoken into Adam's fallen
nature. It is true, they are in an hidden state, and require the
strongest exertion of thy will co-operating with thy Saviour, in calling
them forth. They can only appear and manifest themselves, in proportion
as thy will is given up to CHRIST, in proportion as thou diest to thine
earthly nature, and its earthly desires, and becomest one Desire, one
Will, one Spirit with thy REDEEMER. This is not a sudden and
instantaneous work: the process is slow and painful. Many a right hand
must be cut off; many a right eye must be plucked out; many a favourite
passion must be sacrificed, many a weary step taken, many a temptation
baffled, many a victory obtained against the devil, the world, and the
flesh, before "all things are thine" by actual possession.
The combat is tedious, and the victory sometimes appears doubtful. But
be not discouraged at this--darkness as well as light, doubt as well as
assurance, weakness as well as strength, will help thee on thy way. Thy
REDEEMER is perpetually watching over his own offspring; he eyes thee
with ineffable compassion throughout thy whole progress, and renders all
its vicissitudes subservient to thy real and eternal welfare.
Think not, that it is necessary to thy spiritual growth, that thou
shouldst walk in perpetual sun-shine, beneath a clear unclouded sky. The
howling winds, the beating rain, are equally necessary at times; and are
as powerful and operative in spiritual, as in earthly vegetation.
Through these, and worse than these, even the gloomy vale of the shadow
of death, the invisible hand of an Omnipotent REDEEMER shall conduct
thee safe to a region of uncreated light and glory, where eternal
nature, in its essential and unchangeable splendors, manifests the
Beatifying Presence of FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST, in their full and
undivided Trinity of Glory.
What though pain of body, and inward anguish of soul, should assault
thee; what though disease should blast the bloom of health, and
convulsion rack and rend thine earthly frame; what though death, with
all his grim attendants, should knock at thy door, summon thee to
relinquish all thy temporal prospects, and to enter at once into the
world of spirits; this single reflection, that CHRIST has made "all
things thine," will be sufficient to support thy sinking frame; nay,
more, thou wilt rejoice in thy deliverance from the captivity of the
body, look forward with transport into the Paradise to which thou art
hastening, nor "cast one longing lingering look behind."
Such an address as this, from a minister of CHRIST, to a poor
thoughtless sinner, I cannot but think, by the blessing of GOD, would
have a more sure and certain effect upon his hardened heart, than all
the terrors of eternal damnation, thundered, as is too frequently the
case, with more than brutal violence and impetuosity against him. For
such a method would open two things to his mind, which are equally
necessary to be revealed to him, neither of which he can attend to in
his present thoughtless condition, viz. the sin and vanity of his fallen
life, and the comfort, happiness, and glory of his redeemed nature--one
should never be opened without the other: it would only be probing the
wound, without administring the restoring balsam. This method which I
have mentioned, was that which our dear REDEEMER and his blessed
Apostles always used; and if Christian ministers would more carefully
tread in their footsteps, they might be sure of greater success: not
perhaps in the way of extraordinary awakenings, violent convictions, and
instantaneous joys; but in the still, calm, and soothing ways of the
Gospel of Peace and Love.