at any rate of those who said, "We will not have this man to reign over us." It says that the common state of our minds is one of apostasy; that when no particular temptation is present, in cool blood, as it were, and constantly, we look upon Christ crucified among us, and we are absolutely without a single wish that it should not be so. It is but too certain that as long as we care not to see Christ crucified by others, so long we shall never be careful not to crucify Him ourselves. This was the last point which I spoke of; how differently at different times we behold Him crucified as it were in our own hearts by our own sin; sometimes I trust being penitent, and sometimes being serious; but more commonly I fear being careless, and sometimes being hard and wilfully rebellious. Now it may be that one who hates evil very sincerely may yet sometimes under strong temptation yield to it; he may grieve to see Christ crucified by others, and yet may crucify Him by his own sin. This is not hypocrisy but human weakness, which does not bring its practice fully up to the level of its principles, even though it holds the principles most truly. But who will care for evil in himself being tempted to it, when he does not care for it in another, where he has no temptation to make him tolerant of it. Who will scruple to commit a sin himself when he has occasion, if he sees the sin committed by others with entire indif сс ference? Who will shrink from lying, or from any other sin, in his own person, if these things give him no disgust when he sees them in another? It is quite certain that he cannot hate them, and not hating sin, it is quite certain that he cannot love God. "The people," says the Evangelist, "who came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts and returned." The soldiers were indifferent, the chief priests triumphant; but the general feeling was sorrow ; when they had seen that all was over, the multitude in general, who had stood beholding, smote their breasts and returned. We know not how soon the impression melted away again from many of them; but for the time at least it was general, and with many we may believe that it was lasting. O that it might be so with us, in either of the applications of the text which I have been making! that from our sight of Christ crucified as represented in this week's solemn services, or as daily and every week set forth in the sin committed all around us, or by ourselves; the generality of us might turn away truly grieving; that from that sight, under whatever form exhibited to us, we might derive a hatred of sin with all our hearts and souls, whenever we see it in others, or in ourselves! I do not say for an instant "hatred of those in whom sin is," for as we certainly shall never hate ourselves, so neither should we hate others in whom sin may be manifested; but the sin itself, whether in ourselves or others, we should hate with a perfect hatred; for the strength of that hatred of sin is the exact measure of the strength of our love of Christ. We should hate it and make war upon it unceasingly, to destroy it utterly out of all our coasts; for this is the lesson of the destruction of the Canaanites with all that belonged to them; that we should hold no intercourse with it, make no peace with it, allow it not the least harbour amongst us; that having overcome that deadly enemy which crucified and crucifies our Lord continually, we may turn to Him with joy, and share with Him in the glory of His resurrection. March 20, 1842. SERMON XXVIII. (PREACHED ON EASTER DAY.) CHRIST'S PROMISE. ST. MATTHEW, xxviii. 20. Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. OUR blessed Lord has on this day by His resurrection from the dead established the kingdom of God. While He was on earth it could only be said that the kingdom of God was at hand, it was not actually come. But as soon as He rose from the dead, He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, and that state of things was then begun which is to go on till the time of His coming again. Long as the time might be before His second coming, still the kingdom of God was never to fail, nor would Christ ever forsake His people. His words are, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Yet in a short time He was to leave His disciples and return unto His Father, and He was not, and could not be with them as heretofore. Not as heretofore, but yet He was to be with them; insomuch that where no signs of His presence are manifest, there cannot be His people; but a people who, whether called by His name or no, are really strangers to Him. For God's promises never fail but through man's fault: if Christ has promised to be with His people always to the end of the world, and if He is not with them, or with any of them, those from whom He is so absent must have cut themselves off from being His. He was ready to be with them, but they would not receive Him. So considered, all the Scripture promises are full of instruction, alike when fulfilled or not fulfilled. Every Scripture promise not fulfilled speaks a solemn lesson. God cannot lie; but His promises always imply that we do not set ourselves against their accomplishment; He will do His part, the means of grace shall be given, the blessing is ready to fall upon the use of them; but still He will not overrule man's will so that he shall of necessity use them. And if man will not use the means of grace, then he cannot see the fulfilment of the promised blessing. And thus whenever the promised blessing is wanting, it is the visible sign of something left undone, or done |