EXTRACT II. Quietism, as regards desire and thought. "I AM willing to unite with you in an ardent travail of soul, to sink out of ourselves, and every thing appertaining to us, and to come down into that state recommended to the disciples, to keep out of all contrivance, and improper imaginations and thoughts, for we sin in thought. Therefore the most happy state that we can enjoy, IS A STATE WITHOUT DESIRE OR THOUGHT; for then we are the Lord's, we are in his hands, and here we are in a state of safety,- we have no excitement to do any thing but to stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. Therefore, let us all stand still, and if we have power to pray to him at all, let it be that he may keep us in this state of resignation, till he shall come and enable us to glorify his great name above all, who is God blessed for ever." p. 172, 173. "THE most happy state is a state without desire or thought."-What absurdity! How entirely at variance with the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. To what lengths are we not in danger of being carried, when we take not the Scripture for our rule. Again, What saith the Scripture? "Blessed are they which | dom of God is preached, do hunger and thirst after and every man presseth righteousness." Matt. v. 6. into it." Luke, xvi. 16. "From the days of John the baptist the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Matt. xi. 12. "The law and the Prophets were until John; since that time the king "Seek those things which are above." Col. iii. 1. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Col. iii. 2. "Covet earnestly, the best gifts." 1 Cor. xii. 31. "He spake a parable and having done all to unto them, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." [The parable of the unjust judge and the widow,] Luke, xviii. 1. "And he said, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves. And he from within shall answer,-I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend; yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask-seek-knock." Luke, xi. 5-9. 66 Put on THE WHOLE ARMOUR of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not [only] against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, stand. Stand, therefore, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." Phil. iv. 8, 9. SERMON VIII. EXTRACT I. Adam's transgression. "THEY have started the notion, that we are to stand accountable for Adam's sin, and that we are loosers by it. But I think we must be gainers by it. If we reasoned as we ought, this act of Adam would be a warning to all his offspring, and would certainly be a benefit to us if we acted rightly." p. 183. What saith the HOLY SPIRIT by the Scripture? "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom. v. 12, 18, 19. See under Ser. III. Ex. 1. EXTRACT II. Can man preach the Gospel. "CAN man preach the Gospel? No, not in the right sense of the word.-All he can do, is to preach and direct to the Gospel. Gospel power is the source from which all power must come it is God in man." p. 195. On this principle, what can be the meaning of "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ," Mark, i. 1? The primary sense of Gospel (ɛvayyɛλíov) is, good tidings, or the announcement of good tidings. When the angel announced the birth of our Lord, he said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, (εὐαγγελίζομαι) and it appears always to be used with especial reference to those good tidings. Our Lord clearly used it in this sense." Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature." For the meaning of the following passage (which has been so much misunderstood) Rom. i. 16,—“ I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ;" compare 1 Cor. i. 18, where the same Apostle says, "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God;" v. 21, he says, "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe ;” and, v. 23, 24, "We preach Christ crucified,-Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." This same Christ CRUCIFIED, which was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, is here. decisively declared to be the power of God, and the wisdom of God. In the 2nd chapter, v. 2nd, of the same Epistle, he says, "I determined not to know any thing among you, (that is in his preaching) save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." And in the 15th chapter, v. 1-4, he says, "I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I declared unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Here then the Apostle leaves us in no doubt as to what HE meant by "THE GOSPEL." And to speak of the Gospel, as God in man, is a manifest perversion of Scripture; for our Lord Jesus Christ compares the Gospel to seed sown by the sower, that is, the preacher; and the Apostle Paul, Rom. xvi. 25, and 2 Tim. ii. 8, speaks of his Gospel, that is, the good message of life and salvation, which was given to him to deliver. In its comprehensive sense, the Gospel must be considered, as the announcement of the infinite love of God, in the salvation of man through Jesus Christ, by his incarnation, life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension, mediation, intercession, and gift of the Holy Spirit.* * See Cruden's Concordance, for the different senses in which the words GOSPEL, WORD, and wORD OF GOD, are used in Scripture. For want of a proper discrimination, as to the varied senses in which these words or phrases, and some others, are used, much obscurity and confusion have arisen. |