The Purifying Influence of the Christian Faith

Acts xxvi. 18. ‘ Sanctified by faith.” Il. Iv is a matter of direct and obvious understanding, how the law, by its promises and its threatenings, should exert and influence over

human conduct. We seem to walk in a plain path, when we pass onwards from the enforcements of the law, to the effect of them on the

fears, and the hopes, and the purposes of man. Do this, and you shall live; and do the opposite of this, and you shall forfeit life, — form. two clear and distinct processes, in the conceiving of which, there is no difficulty whatever. The motive and the movement both stand intelligibly out to the discernment of common sense; nor in the application of such argument as this, to the design of operating on the character or life of a human being, is there any mystery to embarrass, any hidden step, which, by baffling our every attempt to seize upon it, leaves us in a state of helpless perplexity.

‘ The same is not true of the gospel, or of the manner in which it operates on the springs of human action. It is not so readily seen, how its privileges can be appropriated by faith, and at the same time its precepts can retain their practical authority over the conduct of a. befiever. ‘There is an alarm, and an honest alarm, on the part of many, lest a proclamation of free grace unto the world, should undermine all our securities for the cause of righteousness in the world. ‘They look with jealousy upon the freeness. ‘They fear lest a deed so ample and unconditional, of forgiveness for the past, should give rise, in the heart of a sinner, to a secure opinion of his impunity for the future. What they dread is, that to proclaim such a freeness of pardon on the part of God, would be to proclaim a corresponding freeness of practice on the part of man. ‘They are able to comprehend how the law, by its direct enforcements, should operate in keeping men from sin; but they are not able to comprehend how, when not under the law, but under grace, there should continue the same motives to abstain from sin, as those intelligible ones which the law furnishes, or even other motives, of more powerful operation. We are quite sure, that there is something here which needs to be made plain to the understandings of a very numerous class of inquirers, — a knot of difficulty which needs to be untied, — a hidden step. in the process of explanation, on which they may firmly pass from what is known to what is unknown. ‘There are not two terms, in the whole compass of human language, which stand more frequently and more familiarly contrasted with each other, than those of faith and good works; and this, not merely on the question of our acceptance before God, but also on the question of the personal character and acquirements of a true disciple of Christ. It is positively not seen, how the possession of the one should at all stimulate to the performance of the other, — how the peace of the gospel should reside in the same heart, from which there emanates, on the life of a believer, the practice of the gospel, — how a righteousness that is without the deeds of the law, should stand connected, in the actual history of him who obtains it, with a zealous, and diligent, and every-day déing of these deeds. ‘There is much in all this, to puzzle the man who is experimentally a stranger to the truth as it is in Jesus. Nor does -it at all serve to extricate or to enlighten him, when he is made to perceive, that; in point of fact, those men who most cordially assent to the doctrine of salvation being all of grace and not of works, are most assiduous in so walking, and in so working, and in so painstaking, as if salvation were all of works, and not of grace. ‘The fact is quite obvious and unquestionable.. But the principle on which it rests,

remains a mystery to the general eye of the

world.» ‘They marvel, but. they go no farther. They see that thus it is, but they see not how it is; and they put it down among those inexplicable oddities which do at times occur, both in the moral and natural kingdom of the creation.

But in all our attempts to dissipate this obscurity, it is well to advert to the total difference between him who has the faith, and him who has it not. The one has the materials of the

:

argument under his eye, and within the grasp of his handling. The other may be able to recognize in the argument, a logical and consistent process; but he is ata loss about the simple conceptions, which form the materials of the argument. He is like a man who can perform all the manipulations of an algebraical process, while he feels not the force or the significancy of the symbols. His habits of ratiocination enable: him to perceive, that there is a connection between the ideas in the argument. But the ideas themselves are not manifest to him. lt is not-m the power of reasoning to supply this want. Reasoning cannot create the primary materials of the argument. It only cements them together. And here it is, that you are met by the impotency of human demonstration, — and are reduced to the attitude of knocking at a door which you cannot open, — and feel your need of an enlightening. spirit, — and are made to perceive, that it is only on the threshold of Christianity, where you.can hold the intercourse of a common sympathy and understanding with the world, — and that, to be admitted to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, you must pass into a region of manifestation, where the world cannot follow, but where it will éast the imputation of madness, and of mysticism after you. ‘;

Without attempting to define faith, as to the nature of it, which could not be done but with other words more simpie than itself, let us look to the objects of faith, and see whether there do not emanate from them, a sanctifying influence on the heart of every real believer.

First, then, the whole object of faith, is the matter of the testimony of God in Scripture. So that though faith be a single principle, and is. designated in language by a single term, — yet this by no means precludes it from being such a principle, as comes into contact, and is’ conversant, with a very great variety of objects. In this respect it may bear a resemblance to sight, or hearing, or any other of the senses, by which man holds communication with the external things that are near him, and around him. ‘The same eye which, when open, looks to a friend, and can, from that very look, afford entrance into the heart for an emotion of tenderness, will also behold other visible things, and take in an appropriate influence from each of them, — will behold the prospect of beauty that is before it, and thence obtain gratification to the taste, — or will behold the sportive felicity of animals, and thence obtain gratification to the benevolence, — or will behold the precipice beneath, and thence obtain a warning of danger, or a direction of safety, — or may behold a thousand different objects, and obtain a thousand different feelings and different intimations.

Now the same of faith. It has been called the eye of the mind. But whether this be a well conceived image or not, it certainly affords an inlet to the mind for a great variety of communications. ‘lhe Apostle calls faith the evidence of things not seen, — not of one such thing, but of verv many such things. ‘The man who possesses faith, can be no more ‘intellectually blind to one of these things, and at the Same time knowing and believing as to another — ee

SERMON XVIL 36)

of them, than the man who possesses sight can, with his eye open, perceive one external object, and have no perception of another, which stands as nearly and as conspicuously before him. The man who is destitute of ‘sight, will never know. what it is to feel the charm of visible scen- - ery. But grant him sight; and he will not only be made alive to this charm, but to a multitude of other influences, all emanating from the various objects of visible nature, through the eye upon the mind, and against which his blindness had before opposed a hopeless and invincible barrier. And the man who is destitute of faith, will never know what it is to feel the charm of the peace-speaking blood of Christ. But grant him faith; and he will not only be made alive to this charm, but to a multitude of other influences, all emanating from the various truths of revelation, through this intellectual organ, on the heart of him who was at one time blind, but has now been made to see. ‘This will help, in some measure, to clear up the perplexity to which we have just now adverted. ‘They who are under its darkening influence, conceive of the faith which worketh peace, that it has only to do with one doctrine, and that that one doctrine relates to Christ, as a peace-offering for sin. Now, it is very true, that it has to do with this one doctrine; but it has also to do with -other doctrines, all equally presented before it in the very same record, and the view of all ie is equally to be had, from the very oe sa of contemplation. In other wor s; ae: aed same opening of the mental eye, throug nw ne the peace of the gospel finds entrance into the

wv bosom of a faithful man, affords an entrance for the righteousness of the gospel along with it.

The truth that Christ died for the sins of the

world, will cast upon his mind its apppropriate

influence. But so also will the truth that

Christ is to judge the world, and the truth that

unless ye repent ye shall perish, and the truth

that they who have a right to the tree of life, - are they who keep the commandments, and the

truth, that an unrighteous man shall not inherit

the kingdom of God. If a man see not every

one object that is placed within the sphere of his

natural vision, he sees none of them, and his

whole body is full of darkness. If a man believe the Bible to be the word of God, he will

read it; but if he read it, and believe not every

one truth that lies within the grasp of his understanding, he believes none of them, and is’ in darkness, and knoweth not whither he is going.;

If I open the door of my mind to the word of God, I as effectually make it the repository of-various truths, as, if open the door of my chamber, and take in the Bible, I make this chamber the repository of the book, and of every chapter, and of every verse, that is contained in it. I thus bring my mind imto contact with every one influence, that every one truth is fitted to exercise over it. If there be nothing in these truths contradictory to each other, (and if there be, let this set aside, as it ought, the authority of the whole communication,) then the mind-acts a right and consistent part in believing each of them, and in submitting itself to the influence of each of them. And thus it is, that believing the propitiation which is through the blood of Christ, for the remission of sins that are past, I may feel through him the peace of reconciliation with the Father; and believing that he who cometh unto Christ for forgiveness must forsake all, I may also feel the necessity which lies upon me of departing from all iniquity; and believing that in myself there is no strength, for the accomplishment of such a task, I may look around for other expedients, than such as can be devised by my own natural wisdom, or carried into effect by my own natural energies; and believing that, in the hand of Christ there are gifts for the rebellious, and that one of these gifts is the Holy Spirit to strengthen his disciples, I may look to him for my sanctification, even as I look unto him for my redemption; and. believing that the gift is truly promised as an answer to prayer, I may mingle a habit of prayer, with a habit of watchfulness and of endeavour. And thus may I go abroad over the whole territory of divine truth, and turn to its legitimate account every separate portion of it, and be in all a trasting, and a working, and a praying, and a rejoicing, and a trembling. disciple, — and that, not because I have given myself up to the guidance of clashing and contradictory principles, — but because, with a faith commensurate to the testimony of God, I give myself. over in my whole mind, and whole person, to the authority of a whole Bible.

But, secondly, let us take what some may think a more restricted view of the object of z 364 SERMON XVII.

faith, and suppose it to be Jesus Christ in his person and in his character. It is a summary, but at the same time, a most true and substantial affirmation, that we are saved by faith in Christ. And yet this very affirmation, true as it is, may have been so misunderstood as to darken the minds of many, into the very misconception that we are attempting to expose. I could not be said to have faith in an acquaintance, if I believed not all that he told me. - Nor have I faith in Christ, if I believe not every item of that communication of which he is the author, either by himself or by his messengers. So that faith inChrist,so far from excluding any of the truths of the Bible, comprehends our assent to them all. But we are willing to admit,that the phrase is calculated to fasten our attention more particularly on such truth as relates, in a more immediate manner. to the person and the doings of the Saviour. Take it in this sense, and you will find, that though eminently and directly fitted to work peace in the heart of a believer, it is just as directly and as powerfully on the side of his practical righteousness. When I think of Christ, and think of him’as one who has poured out his soul unto the death for me, I feel a confidence in drawing near unto God. When employed in this contemplation, I look to him asa crucified Saviour. But without keeping mine eye for a single moment from off his person, — without another exercise of mind, than-that by which I look unto Jesus, simply and entirely, as he is set forth unto me, — TI also behold him at one time as a9 We Pal 7 an exalted Saviour, and at another time as a

commanding Saviour, and at another time as a -

strengthening Saviour. In other words, by the mere work of faith in Christ, I bring my heart into contact with all those motives, and all those elements of influence, which give rise to the new Obedience of the gospel. When the veil betwixt me and the Saviour is withdrawn, — when God shines in my heart with the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of his Son, — when the Spirit taketh of: the things of Christ, and showeth them unto me, and I am asked which of the things it is that:is most fitted to arrest a convicted sinner, in the midst of his cries and prayers for deliverance, — I would say, that it was Christ lifted up on the cross for his offences, and pouring out the blood of that mighty expiation, by which the guilt of them all is washed away. ‘This is the rock on which he will build all his hopes of acceptance before God. He will look unto Christ, and be at peace. But this is not the only attitude in which Christ is revealed to him. He will look to Christ as an example. He will look to him as a teacher. He will look to him in all the capacities which are attached ;to the person, or identified with the doings of the Saviour. He will look to him, asserting his right of authority and disposal over those whom he has purchased unto himself. He will, by the eye of faith, see that rebuking glance. which our Saviour cast over the misconduct of his disciples,-and which, when Peter saw, by the eye of sight, he was so moved by the spectacle, that he went out and wept bitterly.. That meekness and gentleness of Christ, 31% in the name of which, Paul besought his disciples to walk no more after the flesh, will be present in its influence on {those who, though they see him not, yet believe him, and have their conceptions filled and satisfied with. his likeness. ‘They will behold him to be an exalted Prince, as well as an exalted Saviour, — and they will count it a faithful saying, that he came to sanctify as well as redeem, — and they will look upwards to his present might as a commander, as well as forwards to his future majesty as a judge, — and they will be thoroughly persuaded, that to persevere in sin, is altogether to thwart the great aim of the enterprize of our redemption, — and they will understand, as. Paul did, who affirmed, with expostulations and tears, that the enemies of righteousness are also the enemies of the cross; — and thus, from Christ, in all his various attitudes, will a moralizing power descend on the hearts of those who really believe in him, — and as surely as any man possesses the faith that is in Christ Jesus, so surely will he be sanctified by that faith.

And, thirdly, let us confine our attention still farther, to one particular article of our faith. Paul was determined to know nothing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified: Now, conceive faith to attach itself to the latter clause of this verse, and that Christ crucified, for the time being, is the single object of its contemplation. There is still no such thing asa true faith, attaching itself to this one object exclusively; and though at one time it may be the sole contemplation which engrosses it, at other times it may have other contemplations. If, in fact, it shut out those other contemplations; which are furnished by the subject-matter of the testimony of God, it may be proved now, and it will be proved in the day of reckoning, to be no faith at all. But just as it has been said, that the mind can only think of one thing at a time, so faith may be employed, for a time, in looking only towards one object; and as we said before, let Christ crucified be conceived to be that one object. From what has been said already, it

will be seen, that this one exercise of faith will - not counteract the legitimate effect of the other exercises. But we should like to compute the influence of this one exercise on the heart and life of a believer. In the case of an Antinomian, the doctrine of the atonement may furnish a pretext and a pacification to his conscience, under a wilful habit of perseverance in iniquity. But if this partial faith of his be not a real faith, then we are not responsible for his conduct, nor ought he to be at all quoted as an exception against that alliance, for which we are contending, between the faith of the gospel and the cause of practical righteousness.. Only grant the faith to be real, and as there is no one doctrine of the Bible, out of which it may not gather a purifying influence to the heart, — so out of this doctrine of the atonement, will such a purifying influence descend most abundantly on the heart of every genuine believer.

For, it first takes away a wall of partition, which, in the case of every man who has not received this doctrine, lies across:the path of his obedience at the very commencement. So long as I think that it is quite impossible for me so to run as to obtain, I will not moyea single footstep. Under the burden of a hopeless controversy between me and God, I feel as it were weighed down to the inactivity of despair. I live without hope; and so long as I do so, I live without God in the world. And besides, he, while the object of my terror, is also the object of my aversion. ‘The helpless necessity under which I labour, so long as the question of my guilt remains unsettled, is to dread the Being whom I am commanded to love. I may occasionally cast a feeble regard towards that distant and inaccessible Lawgiver: But so long as I view him shrouded in the darkness of frowning majesty, I can place in him no trust, and I can bear towards him no filial tenderness. J may occasionally consult the requirements of his law: But when look to the uncancelled sentence that is against me, I can never tread, with hopeful or assured footsteps, on the career of obedience. But let me look unto Christ lifted up for our offences, and see the hand writing of ordinances that was against us, and which was contrary unto us, nailed to his cross, and there blotted out, and taken out of the way; and then I see the barrier in question levelled with the ground. I now behold the way of repentance cleared of the obstructions, by which it was. aforetime rendered utterly impassable. ‘This is the will of God, — even your sanctification, may be sounded a thousand times in the ear of an unbeliever, and leave him as immoveable as it found him; because, while under a sense of unexpiated guilt, he sees a mighty parapet before him, which he cannot scale. But if the same words be sounded in the ears of a believer, they will put him into motion. For to him the parapet is opened up, and the rough way is made smooth, and the mountain and the hill are brought low, and the valley of separation is filled, and he is made to see the salvation of God. The path of obedience is made level before him, and he enters it with the inspiration of a new and invigorating principle; and that love to God, which the consciousness of guilt will ever keep.at a distance from the heart, now takes up the room of this terrifying, and paralysing, and alienating sentiment; and the reception of this doctrine of atonement is just as much the turning point of a new character, as it is the turning point of a new hope; and it is the very point, in the history of every human soul, at which the alacrity of gospel obedience takes its commencement, as well as the cheerfulness of gospel anticipations. ‘Till this doctrine be believed, there is no attempt at obedience at all; or else, it is such an obedience as is totally unanimated by the life and the love of real godliness.. And it is not till this doctrine has taken possession of the mind, that any man can take up the language of the Psalmist, and (say, “Lord, I-am thy servant, I am thy servant, thou hast loosed my bonds.”

Conceive, (then, a believer with the career of obedience thus opened up and made hopeful to, him, — conceive him with the necessity of obedience made just as authentically known to him, as are the tidings of his deliverance from guilt,

—conceive a man who, by the act of rendering homage to the truth of God, rests‘a con- — fidence in the death of Christ for pardon, and. who also, by the very same act, subscribes to the sayings of Christ about repentance, and the new walk of the new creature, — and then let me ask you to think of the securities which encompass his mind, and protect it from the delusion that we have already alluded to. We have said that the peace which is felt in a vague apprehension of God’s mercy, and which makes no account of his truth, or of his justice, has the effect of making him who entertains it altogether stationary, in point of acquirement. With the semblance of good that he has about him, he will meet the sterner attributes of the Deity. For his defect of real good, he will draw on the indulgent attributes of the Diety. He will make the character of God, suit itself to his own character, so that any stimulus to advance or to perfect it, shall be practically done away. And thus it is, that along the whole range of human accomplishment, you may observe an unvaried state of repose, — the repose, in fact, of death,- — for the repese of men who brought to the estimate of a spiritual law, will be found, to use the significant language of the Bible, dead in trespasses and sins, — sinning at one time without remorse, trusting-at another time without foundation.

Now the gospel scheme of mercy is clear of this abuse altogether. It comes forth upon the sinner with an antidote against this security, just as strong and as prominent as is its antidote against despair. Insomuch that the state of the believer, in respect of motive and of practical influence, is the very reverse of what we have now adverted to. In the act of becoming a believer, he awakens from the deep and the universal lethargy of nature. With his new hope commences his new life. He ceases to be stationary, — and what is more, he never ceases to be progressive. He does not satisfy himself with barely moving onwards to. a higher point in the scale of human attainment, and then sitting down with the sentiment that it is enough. He never counts it enough. -The practical attitude of the believer is that of one who is ever looking forwards. The practical movement of the believer is that of one-who is ever pressing forwards. He could ‘not, without a surrender of those essential principles which make him what he is, tarry at any one point in the gradation of moral excellence. It is not more imseparable from him to be ever doing well, than it is inseparable from him to be ever aspiring to do better. So that the paltry question about the degrees and the comparisons of virtue, he entertains: not for a moment; and, with all the aids and expedients of the gospel for helping his advancement, does he strenuously prosecute the work of conforming to the precept of the gospel, — to be growing in grace, to be perfecting himself in holiness.

It has been a much controverted question, — how far this process of continual advancement will carry a believer in this world. Some affirm it will carry him to the point of absolute perfection. Others more cautiously satisfy a.

- themselves by: the remark, that whether perfec-.

tion be ever our attainment or not, it ought always to be our aim. And one thing seems to be certain, — -that there is no such perfection in this world; as might bring along with it the repose of victory. Paul counted all that was behind as nothing, and he pressed onwards. And it is the experience of every Christian, who makes a real business of his

sanctification, that there is a struggle be-.

tween nature and grace, even unto the end. There is no discharge from this warfare, while we are in the body. To the last hour of life there will be the presence of a carnal nature to humble him, and to make him vigilant; and, with every true Christian, there will be the ascendancy of grace, so as that this nature shall not have the dominion over him. The corruption. of the old man will be effectually resisted;. but not, we fear, till the materialism of our. actual frames be resolved into dust, will this corruption be destroyed. ‘The flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, is the short but, compendious description of the state of every believer in the world ; — and could the evil,

and adverse principle be eradicated, as well as overborne, — could a living man bid the sinful propensity, with all its workings and all its inclinations, conclusively away from him, — could the authority of the new creature obtain such unrivalled sway over the whole machinery of

the affections and the doings, that resistance,

was no longer felt, and the battle was brought to its termination, — if it were possible, we say, for a disciple, on this side of the grave, to

bi attain the eminency -of ‘a condition so glorious, then we know ‘not of what use to him would be either a death or a resurrection, or why he might not bear his earthly tabernacle to heaven, and set him down by’ direct translation amongst the company of the celestial. But:no! There hangs about the person.

of the most: pure and perfect Christian upon earth, some mysterious necessity of dying. That body, styled with such emphasis a vile body, by the Apostle, must be pulverized and made over again. And not till that which is sown in corruption ‘shall: be raised in incorruption, — not till that which is sown in weak? ness shall be raised in power, — not till that which is sown a natural ‘body shall be raised a spiritual body, — not till the soul of man occupy another tenement, and the body which now holds him be made to undergo some unknown but glorious transformation, will he know what it is to walk at perfect liberty, and, with the full play of his then emancipated powers, to expatiate without frailty, and without a flaw, in the service of his God.

We know that the impression which many have of the disciples of the gospel is, that their great and perpetual aim is, that they may be justified, — that the change of state which they are ever aspiring after, is a change in their forensic state, and not in their personal, — that if they can only attain delivery from wrath, they will be satisfied, — and that the only use they make of Christ, is, through his means, to obtain an erasure of the sentence of their condemnaeae z ci Now, though this, undoubtedly, be: one

great design of the gospel, it is not the design in which it terminates.. It may, in fact, be only considered as a preparation for an ulterior accomplishment altogether. Christ came to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify us unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. It were selfishness, under the guise of sacredness, so sit down, in placid contentment, with the single privilege of justification. It is only the introduction to higher privileges.

But not till we submit to the righteousness of Christ, as the alone meritorious plea of our acceptance, shall we become personally righteous ourselves, — not till we see the blended love and holiness of the Godhead, in our propitiation, shall we know how to combine a confidence in his mercy, with a reverence for his character, — not till we look to that great transaction, by which the purity of the divine nature is vindicated, and yet the sinner is delivered from the coming vengeance, shall we be freed from the dominion of sin, or be led to admire and to imitate the great Pattern of excellence. The renewing Spirit, indeed, is withheld from all those who withhold their consent from the doctrine of Christ, and of him crucified. Paul was determined to know nothing else; and it is in this knowledge, and in this alone, that we are renewed after the image of him who created us.

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the

7 2 ah - - oe ee Ne a Ae a eek ae Ce cute ANN oir atl everlasting covenant, make you perfect in eve good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.