SERMON LIX (3)

But it is time for me to draw nearer to a conclusion. We have now then, my dear hearers, done with the doctrinal part of our text; in opening of which, that we might deal with you as rational creatures, we have endeavoured calmly, and in the fear of God, to address ourselves to your understandings: but the hardest work is yet behind, namely, to affect and warm your hearts. This I take to be the very life of preaching: for man is a compound creature, made up of affections, as well as understanding; and, consequently, without addressing both, we only do our work by halves. It is true, every one hath his proper gift, and some excel in making use of a proper method to inform the judgment, whilst others are more eminent for exciting the passions. Both are beautiful in their season; and both ought and will be used by all who have warm hearts, as well as clear heads. Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles, dealt much in exhortations, as well as in opening and explaining the weighty matters of the law. And if we are taught by the same Spirit, we shall, like them, bring light and heat with us, when called to speak of, and enforce the things which concern the kingdom of God. Without a proper mixture of these, however a preacher may acquire the character, in the letter-learned and polite world, of being a calm and cool reasoner; yet he never will be looked upon by those whose senses are exercised to discern spiritual things, as a truly evangelical and christian orator.—And surely if a minister’s heart is ever warm, it ought to be so in a more especial manner, when calling on a blind and drowsy world, to behold the Lamb of God. O! that my tongue was at this time touched with a coal from his altar. O! that my cold and frozen heart (for I must again repeat the wish I put up at the beginning of this discourse) was in the same blessed and divine frame, as we have reason to believe the holy Baptist was favoured with, when he called upon his disciples and the people, so repeatedly, to behold the Lamb of God. But to whom shall I apply myself first? Or with what language shall I address you, when pressing you to the same important thing?

Will my brethren in the ministry suffer a word of exhortation from one who is less than the least of them all? Does not the practice of this fervent harbinger and fore-runner of the Son of God, naturally lead me to it? For did he so unweariedly recommend the Lord Jesus? Did he take such care to preach not himself, but Christ Jesus his Lord? And shall not we make this same Jesus the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of all our discourses? Did he take such pains to debase himself, exalt his Lord, and evidence to the world that he was disinterested, and sought not his own glory, but the glory of him whose fore-runner he was? And shall we not go and do likewise? To prepare the Redeemer’s way before him, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and to proclaim a coming Saviour, John esteemed his highest honour. This is an employ worthy angels. They thought themselves highly favoured, when sent to give notice of the Mediator’s birth to some humble shepherds. And I hope I am speaking to some, who had rather be employed in such an errand, than be ambassadors to the greatest monarchs on earth. Go on then, my brethren, or rather fathers, as it becomes such a one as I to call you. Ye angels of the churches, ye stewards of the mysteries of God, go on in the name and strength of the everlasting I AM. Preach Christ, and him crucified; continue to preach him: be instant in season and out of season; and though you should be called to suffer for so doing, fear not, but rather rejoice, and be exceeding glad: great will be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they John the Baptist, and others that have been employed in calling upon sinners to behold the Lamb of God before you.

Are any here present who are entrusted with the care of youth that are intended for the ministry? My text warns me not to leave you out in this address. John directed his disciples to behold the Lamb of God: and ought not such, who have the oversight of those who are hereafter to be employed in the same divine work as John was, to make it one main part of their daily endeavours, to bring their pupils to a true, experimental, and saving acquaintance with the ever-blessed Lamb of God? This may be done without leaving any one necessary branch of true knowledge and useful learning undone. A neglect of this important point hath been, and it is to be feared even now is, the bane of the christian church. For, if young men’s minds are from year to year wholly engaged in studying the heathen mythology, instead of being shewn the beauties of the New Testament; if they are taught to delight more in reading Cæsar’s Commentaries, or the exploits of an Alexander, than to admire the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth; if they are directed to employ themselves more in giving an account of Homer’s battles, than of the important war between Michael and the Dragon; if it is esteemed a greater excellency to be engaged in studying the folds of a Roman garment, than to enquire into the various turnings and windings of their own corrupt hearts: if these, and such-like trifling things, are recommended to their daily study, and the glorious doctrines of the gospel, such as regeneration, justification, &c. wholly neglected, or superficially spoken of, is it any wonder, that so many ignorantly strike their heads against the pulpit, or appear when put into it, more like heathen philosophers or Roman orators, than gospel preachers, though without half the clearness and sound reasoning of the one, or a thousandth part of the true pathos and unaffected eloquence of the other? The recommending and enforcing the practical study of the doctrines and example of the blessed Jesus, seems to me to be the only remedy for this great, not to say growing evil.

And therefore, I beg leave in the next place to address myself to those who are now actually engaged in the study of divinity, and are desirous of being prepared according to the preparation of the sanctuary, for the great and solemn work of calling upon sinners, to behold the Lamb of God. When John the Baptist was thus employed, he took care to allure the people, that he himself was well acquainted with that Christ. “I saw, said he, and bear record, that this is the Son of God.” And doth not this at least intimate to you, young students, that above all things you should study to get an experimental acquaintance with the Lord Jesus in your own hearts, before you attempt to recommend him to the choice of others? Then, having believed, you will speak; speak not as mere dead, formal, letter-learned scribes, but as men having authority. You will then, like John the Baptist, be the voice of one crying; you will lift up your voices like trumpets; you will preach not with the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but with the demonstration of the spirit and of power. This, with a moderate share of useful learning, which is quite necessary in its place, will enable you to do wonders. Vallies shall be filled up, mountains shall be brought low, and a highway made, through your instrumentality, into sinners hearts, by the blessed and all-powerful operations of the Spirit of the everliving God. Such a method, perhaps, may render your preaching a little unfashionable, but it is the only way to render it useful, and truly evangelical. Take the Apostle Paul for your ensample. He was a great scholar, as well as a great saint; and, if called to it, could have fought the learned world with their own weapons; but he chose to fight only with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And even, when preaching at so polite a place as Corinth, determined to know nothing among them, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. He too, like another John, made it his constant, uninterrupted employ to beseech poor sinners to behold the Lamb of God. May that mind be in you, which was also in him!

But do not the words of our text lead me to address all in general, as well as tutors and their pupils in particular? Yes: to you, even to as many as hear me this day, whether high or low, rich or poor, young or old, one with another, may a word of exhortation naturally be directed. It was to the people, as well as to his disciples, that John, when he saw Jesus coming unto him, spoke those endearing words, “Behold the Lamb of God.” I therefore call upon you all in the same language, and for the same reason; for it is He, and He alone, that taketh away the sins of the world. It is this that you all stand in need of, whether you know it or not. You are all stung by that old and crooked serpent the devil. “Therefore, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so was the Son of Man lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” O then behold him, behold him! Look unto him, all ye ends of the earth, even ye upon whom the ends of the world are come, and be ye saved. Some of you, I trust, through grace, have already been enabled to do this. O come, come, I beseech you, and repeat the blessed look: for this is the christian’s grand catholicon, the sovereign remedy for all the remaining diseases of his soul. Are ye tempted? Behold the Lamb of God. “He was tempted in all things like as we are,” that he might be able experimentally to sympathize with, and succour those that are tempted. Are ye deserted, and bewailing an absent God? Behold the Lamb of God. He once complained, and that too to his own creatures, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death;” He once cried out, and that to his heavenly Father, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.” Are ye poor? Behold the Lamb of God: He had not where to lay his head. Are ye betrayed and forsaken by friends? Behold the Lamb of God: He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, and when apprehended, all forsook him and fled. Are you blackened and maligned by enemies? Behold the Lamb of God: He was accounted a mad-man, a deceiver, nay, a Beelzebub, the very chief of the devils. Are ye afraid of death, or dying? Behold the Lamb of God: He hath taken away the sting of that king of terrors, and came to deliver those, who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage. Doubt ye whether ye shall hold out to the end? Behold the Lamb of God; “He is the Author and finisher of our faith;” and having loved his own, he loved them even unto the end. Do ye want more grace, either to mortify remaining corruption, or to enable you to bring forth more fruit unto God? Behold the Lamb of God: “Out of his fulness we may all receive, and that too, even grace for grace;” grace upon grace, grace to beget more grace, even till we are filled with all the fulness of God. O ye believers, my heart is enlarged towards you; look to, and live much on the blessed Jesus; and then you will live to, and act for him more and more. Be thankful for what you have received, but be looking out continually for fresh discoveries of his love, and fresh incomes of heavenly grace, till you are called to behold this Lamb of God in glory: that time, blessed be God, will shortly come. Though worms destroy our bodies, yet in our flesh we shall see our God; not as we do now, through a glass darkly, but face to face: see him as he is: and what is yet better, be growing up more and more into his divine likeness, through the endless ages of eternity.

But as for ungodly and obstinate unbelievers that die in their sins, it shall not be so with them. Behold him indeed you shall; behold him you must; “For yet a little while, and we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.” But O! how shall I speak it? You must behold him once, never to behold him any more! Behold him, not so much as the Lamb of God, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and hear him roaring out that dreadful sentence, “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” O think of this, all ye that have hitherto neglected to behold this Lamb of God by faith, so shall unbelief not prove your final ruin. To you, even to you I once more call. Blessed be God, the door of mercy is not yet shut; the day of grace is not yet over; look unto him, and you shall yet be saved: his heart is open, and his arms stretched out ready to receive you. O that he would rend the heavens and come down amongst you; and as he had once compassion upon a poor woman, that was bowed down with the spirit of infirmity, lo eighteen years! O that he would repeat that all-powerful command, “Be ye loosed from your infirmity,” and enable every unconverted sinner to look up to, and behold the Lamb of God! However, if you will not come to him that you might have life, God forbid that I should cease to pray for you. O Lord God most holy, O Lord God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, by thine agony and bloody sweat, by thy cross and passion, by thy precious death and burial, by thy glorious resurrection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Ghost, we humbly entreat thee to help all such to take the warning that has now been given them! O help them to behold thee by faith here, that so no pains of hell may fall from thee whenever they are summoned to appear before thy awful tribunal hereafter! I am persuaded all that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, will say, Amen! Even so, Lord Jesus! Amen! and Amen!

FINIS.