The character which the gospel of Christ requires is made up of all that
is lovely, is formed upon the highest model, but it is not composed of
the insensibility, the anger, the pride, the egotism, the worldliness,
which is so common among men. It is not the cold indifference of modern
moralists; it is not the rank and scepticism of modern doubters, nor yet
the intellectual rashness and moral phantoms of modern scientists. These
have done all they could to take possession of the human heart, and have
left it more miserable than it was before. The great author of our holy
religion, through the instrumentality of our blessed Savior, brings us
into the possession of his own spirit; imparts to us the elements of his
own divine excellence; forms us anew in his own image. The idea of
"Emanuel, God with us," is composed of the richest elements. It embraces
all that is venerable in wisdom, wonderful in authority, and touching in
goodness. Human greatness, blended with imperfections and many
limitations, is seen only in detached and separate parts; never appears
in any one character whole and entire; but in our Lord Jesus Christ
these conceptions, or scattered rays of an ideal excellence, are brought
together and constitute the real attributes of that Savior whom we
worship, who stands in the nearest relation to us, who is the "head of
all principality and power," and who pervades all nature with his
presence. The object of the Christian religion is to recover man from
his degraded, miserable condition, elevate him above his debasement, and
reinvest him with the character of Christ, that he may eventually dwell
with the angels in the perfections of the Infinite One.
The views and spirit transfused into the soul of the Christian are very
different from the views and spirit of the world. The spirit of the
world is pride and selfishness, the pride of rank and office, the pride
of wealth and worldly accomplishments, which lives for the praise of
men. On the contrary, the Savior imparts to all his worshipers the
loveliest of all the graces, a heaven-born humility, a modest estimate
of one's own worth, and a deep sense of unworthiness on account of human
weakness. As Christians we learn to humble ourselves in view of the
majesty and perfections of our heavenly Master. "Before honor is
humility." The Savior commands an humble religion; its love is humble,
its faith is humble; its repentance, its baptism, its hopes, its joys,
its raptures are all humble. True greatness is not found except in an
humble mind; never is an archangel more exalted, more truly great, than
when he bows before the throne of Christ. The spirit of the world is
self-will and insubordination, hard-heartedness and impenitence, or
inflexible perseverance in sin. The spirit of the world is one of
self-indulgence and guilty pleasure. Sinners are lovers of pleasure more
than lovers of God. They are eager for enjoyment and obtain it in
dissipated behavior, thought and feeling. Lawless pleasure is the idol
of the sinner's heart and the rule of his life; it often leads him to
shame, infamy and ruin. The religion of Christ gives, in the place of
this, the love of God and duty. The pleasures of the Christian are much
broader and brighter than the pleasures of the disobedient; they are far
superior to the sinner's day dreams and pleasures of sense. The spirit
of the world rejects the truth of God; distrusts his word; has not
sufficient confidence in his declarations, or, it may be, love for his
praises, and so leans upon self, having no wants, fears, or despondency
which it does not presume to relieve for itself. And often it happens
when corruptions, doubts and disobedience have kept rule until the poor
man is ruined and the hope of a better day is literally exhausted, that
the soul under the dominion of sin cries, "Lord, save, or I perish."
Have you faith in God and in his word? then let unshaken confidence in
Jesus Christ his son and our Savior become the great principle and
impulse of action, rise up in the dignity of true manhood or womanhood
and obey the gospel and live. It is hard to conceive of a darker, deeper
chasm than that which would be made by the absence of this great
principle and impulse of action which has formed thousands of characters
in the image of the Redeemer.
Let no one suppose that the obligation to live a Christian life is a
light one. Holiness is the highest attainment of a rational soul; it is
the greatest good within the reach of man; it is the greatest good in
the universe. Seek this, it is most sublime and excellent; seek to be
virtuous and holy that your hearts may be won and subdued by the power
of His own word. "Purify your souls in obeying the truth." There is
nothing in the universe that can be a substitute for purity or holiness,
it is an indispensable qualification for the heavenly world. O, when
will men _understand_ and _realize_ that nothing possesses importance
compared with this which relates to God and eternity. Never was there
stronger evidence of folly than that man presents who chooses this world
for his portion. If tears could quench the fires of torment they would
be quenched at the remembrance of the folly which preferred this world's
goods to the salvation of the soul. There is nothing upon earth that
hurts the true-hearted, energetic Christian like the indifference with
which those who have hope toward God are directing their way toward that
"exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
In a short time we shall pass through the tomb. To-day we are floating
upon the stream, to-morrow we may be floating upon the ocean of
eternity. Another step and we have entered on the world of retribution,
but what retribution is it? Is it the world of peace and joy? or is it
the region of tribulation and anguish? "To those who by patient
continuance in _well-doing_, seek for glory and honor and
immortality--eternal life. But to those who are contentious and obey not
the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation
and anguish, upon every soul of man that doth evil." Is it not a
melancholy state of being to be gliding down the stream of time under
the fearful uncertainty whether we will land in the realms of bliss or
the regions of anguish? You may be happy without power above your
fellows, without influence over them, without great learning, without
wealth, but you can not be happy without God. Give man all of this world
that he desires, multiply around him the gratifications of sense and the
pleasures of thought, and if God is not his joy and refuge the day is
not far distant when he will feel as did the poor prodigal in a far
country feeding upon husks in nakedness and want; but if you are a
Christian you dwell with God in Christ, for "God is in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing unto them their
trespasses," and if any man be in Christ he is a new creature. Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not--doth not serve sin. Nothing can make you
_miserable_ while you enjoy the presence of God. If you have accepted
the Savior as "Emanuel, God with us," as "God manifested in the flesh,"
and have entered into him, you are at home with God--with the Father of
your spirit--and why should you not be happy? "In him (Christ) all
fullness dwells." God is there. Paul says, "All the promise of God in
him are yea, and in him amen unto the glory of God by us." "It pleased
the Father that _in him_ all fullness should dwell." Are you in him? He
says, "I am the door, by me if any man enter the same shall be saved,"
but the door was never known to be of any use to the man who passes by
it. It is only of importance to those who enter. Have you no interest in
this open door? It was said to a very needy people, "See, I have set
before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." God is in Christ,
Christ is the great doorway to the Father's house. He says, "I am the
way; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." Do you ask how shall I
enter the door? Well, do you really believe that it is your own duty to
enter the door, or do you wait to be thrown into it by some unknown
spiritual convulsion that you never have as yet experienced? How is
this? Let us see. When the Savior was in the world he gathered about him
a great many disciples. John the Baptist also gathered a great many more
and prepared them for the Lord. These all received the "baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins," were converted and saved. Jesus
said to them, "Now, ye are clean through the word which I have spoken
unto you"--John xv, 3. All this was accomplished before these disciples
were baptized at Pentecost or any where else with the Holy Spirit. It
was not given until Jesus was glorified, and when it was given it was
not given to sinners to make them saints, but to the disciples who were
already converted and pardoned, to guide them into all truth, to endow
them with apostolic authority.
Jesus said to them, "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come
upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts i,
8. So these disciples were converted and cleansed--saved before they
were baptized with the Holy Spirit.
There is no case in all the world's history of a sinner being baptized
with the Holy Spirit in order to his conversion from sin, or in order to
put him into Christ. These disciples who were baptized with the Holy
Spirit were by the same means qualified to fill the offices of apostles
and prophets--were guided into all truth--preached the gospel with the
Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, and that "gospel is the power of God
unto salvation, unto every one that believeth." Jesus said, "Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be
damned." Paul says, "Christ loved the church and gave himself for it
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word." On Pentecost, when hundreds were convicted of their sins, and
said, What shall we do? the answer from the spirit of God was, "Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
These all entered into Christ--the door, while those disciples who had
entered a good while before Pentecost were put into the offices of
apostles and prophets by the baptism of the spirit. No man should wait
to be _put_ into the open door, to be put into Christ, but should do as
all the disciples of Christ did in the days of Christ and of his
apostles--flee for refuge into an open door--not wait to be put in, but
enter. You can be saved in heaven without being put into the office of
an apostle or prophet, but you can not enter heaven without being
sanctified and cleansed. Will you come and enter by the Lord Jesus,
become a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, being baptized into
Christ? Do you say this is not the way? Then, why? O, why should the
pages of this book of books be burthened with such things? Were those
disciples who received the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins before Pentecost out of Christ--uncleansed--unwashed? No! They were
clean through the word spoken unto them. They were converted--pardoned.
Will you enter Christ, or wait to be put into Christ? Why is it that all
men are not put into Christ? I answer, men are not put into Christ, they
enter in--they come to Christ--they come to God--God is in Christ. The
spirit and the bride say, come! And let him that heareth say, Come! And
let him that is athirst come! And whosoever will let him take the water
of life freely."
"Many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized." "When the
Samaritans believed, they were baptized, both men and women." This is
our entrance into the door. We have now just entered into the church of
Christ--into the family of God--it is God's house--we are at home in the
Father's house, and naught will harm us if we live at home, if we are
"obedient children not fashioning ourselves after our former lusts." The
injunction comes to us here: "Add to your faith virtue, to virtue
knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience
brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness godliness, and to godliness
charity, and if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye
shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and can
not see afar off, and had forgotten that he was purged from his old
sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your
calling and election sure, for if ye do these things ye shall never
fall. For _so_ an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Blessed
are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree
of life and enter through the gates into the city." Men in disobedience
to the gospel feel, when they approach the cold Jordan of death, that
every thing upon which they built their hopes is being swept away. Their
thoughts, their treasures, their grandeur, their honors, their little
world, their all, fails them here. They have lived at a distance from
God, and now they tremble at the thought of approaching before him whose
great mercy they have rejected. Death is a terror to sinful man--his
afflictions are his darkest hours. It is not so with the Christian. To
him death has no sting; over him the grave has no victory to boast, nor
has the second death any power. He has unshaken confidence that every
thing is safe in the hands of Jesus. What but obedience to the gospel of
the blessed God will enable the child of faith, when flesh and heart
fail to say, "Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is
fullness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore." What
then must be the happiness of fixing the heart on God, where there is
nothing unlovely, nothing fickle, nothing false or dying. We may place
our affections on the things of earth, and sooner or later we are
severed from them. Here all is change, disappointment and consequent
sorrow. It is not so in Heaven where all, is pure and immutable. From
our best affections towards creatures up to the love of God there is a
height as lofty as his ways and attributes are above the attributes and
ways of mortals. No fear can haunt the mind that he may change in his
character of love. He is beyond the reach of accident or change, perfect
in goodness and power, and to those who trust in him, he is a sure and
never-ending, and ever-increasing source of joy. "Blessed are all they
that put their trust in '_Emanuel_.'" Their very sacrifices are more
than compensated. If we give up self it is for the love of God. If we
give up time it is for eternity, and in the exchange our happiness is
not diminished either here or hereafter.
OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO REVELATION.--No. V.