1

honor, and immortality, he will render," as their gracious reward, "eternal life." “Faithful is he that hath promised, who also will do it." "God is not a man, that he should lie; nor the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said it, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken it, and shall he not make it good?" Surely, then, Christians ought to act as the servants of God. Constrained by the mercies of God, they should present themselves to him "a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is rational worship;" they should be "steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the service of God, knowing that their labors shall not be in vain in the Lord." 2

These motives are directly addressed to those who are engaged in the service of God; their force will be perceived and acknowledged by them, and I trust under their influence they will become more diligent in the discharge of their honorable and delightful duties than ever. But what shall we say to those who are not free, or if free, are what the apostle terms "free from righteousness;" who are not the servants of God, but the slaves of his and their great enemy? We could say much of their degradation, and criminality, and wretchedness; but we prefer "proclaiming liberty to these captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are thus bound." Fellow-sinners, we call your attention to the truth, "the word of the truth of the gospel." That truth, understood and believed, will make you free, free indeed; and that very truth which will loose the fetters of guilt and depravity, of Satan and sin, will bind on you the easy yoke, lay on you the light burden of the Divine service. Remaining in your present state, which you well know is far from a happy one, you will become more and more miserable throughout eternity. Unless you are released from the chains of condemnation and depravity, you must ere long, bound hand and foot, be cast into the prison of hell, whose adamantine gates open only inward. He whom you have chosen as your master, shall then be constituted your jailer and tormentor. "He opens not the house of his prisoners. The prey of the mighty shall not then be taken away, nor the captives of the terrible one be delivered. To his prisoners the gladsome sound, Go forth, will never come. Prisoners of hope! It comes now to you. It has come to you often, but you have lent a deaf ear to it. It comes to you once more, it may be only once more. May it not come in vain!

NOTE A. p. 255.

This verse is obviously not a complete sentence, and must be considered as connected either with what goes before, or with what follows, or with both. Its meaning and design cannot well be distinctly apprehended, unless this question respecting its construction be satisfactorily resolved. If it be considered as connected with what precedes it, then the words are descriptive of the manner in which the duty of submission, for the Lord's sake,

1 Heb. x. 23. 1 Thess. v. 24. Numb. xxiii. 19.

2 1 Cor. xv. 58.

3 Isa. lxi. 1.

to every human institution "for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them who do well, whether to the king or emperor, as supreme; or to governors, as to them sent by him"-i. e. to the institute of civil government, whatever its form may be―ought to be performed by Christians. It ought to be performed in a manner suitable to their condition, as at once a condition of freedom and of subjection; in a way becoming at once the glorious liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, and that entire subjection to the mind and will of God which befits those who are His servants. It intimates that, 'being set at liberty by Christ, they are not to enthral themselves to any creature, however elevated, nor to submit to any human institution as slaves, as if the ordinance or institution itself, as a human ordinance and institution, did by any inherent power bind the conscience; but that, as the Lord's freemen, in a manner becoming so exalted a character, they should yield a cheerful subjection to the power of civil magistrates, and a ready obedience to their lawful commands, from a regard to the authority of Christ, the sole Lord of their conscience, requiring them so to do,-taking heed 'not to use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh, not making that a cloak or excuse for disrespect or disobedience to their civil superiors: for though, in the highest sense of the term, they be not the servants of men, but of God, and therefore are not bound to obey any human command without a reference to the authority of God requiring them to do so; yet, on the ground of his command to be subject to the higher powers, they are bound to yield to them such honor and obedience as does not interfere with the supreme reverence and obedience which they owe to him as the only Lord of the conscience." This, from the punc tuation adopted by our translators, seems to have been their view of the reference and meaning of the words. The whole passage, from the beginning of the 13th verse to the end of the first clause of the 17th, may be viewed as one sentence; in which case, the words of the 16th verse stand connected both with what goes before and with what follows. Thus, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every ordinance of man for punishing evil-doers and rewarding those who do well, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors as to them who are sent by him (for so is the will of God, that with well-doing ye put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, honor them all-all civil magistrates, whether supreme or subordinate." To the first mode of connecting the 16th verse it is an objection, that it seems an unnatural mode of concluding a sentence, and gives a very disjointed aspect to the whole period; and to the second, that the four injunctions in the 17th verse are so closely connected, that it seems improper to separate one of them from the rest. We are disposed, therefore, to consider the 16th verse as the commencement of a new sentence, which closes with the 17th.

NOTE B. p. 261.

66

T

The passage referred to, Rom. vi. 20, has received another interpretation. It has been supposed that cepot here is used as if it were the participle evleρwlévтes, as it seems to be, ch. vii. 3, where ¿λcú¤spa is obviously equivalent to Karnpynraι in verse 2. In this case τỹ dikaιoσúry must be rendered, by righteousness;" and the words, ¿λεOúερoι йτε тy dikatoσúvn are the statement of the fact, the consequences of which are stated in verse 22. This secures to dialooovn its ordinary meaning in the epistle; and the use of ȧrò in verse 22 seems to intimate, that another idea is meant to be conveyed there, than by the use of the dative without a preposition, in verse 20.

NOTE C. p. 279.

"When he was to do for us the part of a Redeemer, he was to redeem us from the curse of the law, not from the command of it; to save us from the wrath of God, not from his government. Had it been otherwise, so firm and indissoluble is the connection between our duty and our felicity, that the Sovereign Ruler had been eternally injured, and we not advantaged. Were we to have been set free from the preceptive obligation of God's holy law; then, most of all, from that most fundamental precept, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thine heart, soul, might, and mind.'~ Had this been redemption, which supposes only what is evil and hurtful as that we are to be redeemed from? This were a strange sort of self-repugnant redemption, not from sin and misery, but from

1 Sanderson.

our duty and felicity. This were so to be redeemed as to be still lost, and every way lost, both to God and to ourselves forever. Redeemed from loving God! What a monstrous thought! Redeemed from what is the great, active, and fruitive principle-the source of obedience and blessedness-the eternal spring, even in the heavenly state of adoration and fruition. This had been to legitimate everlasting enmity and rebellion against the blessed God, and to redeem us into an eternal hell of horror and misery to ourselves. This had been to cut off from the Supreme Ruler of the world forever, so considerable a limb of his most rightful dominion; and to leave us as miserable as everlasting separation from the fountain of life and blessedness could make us."-HowE. "None can be exempted from this law, unless he will be banished from his own essence, and be excommunicated from human nature."-CULVERWEL.

DISCOURSE XII

A FOURFOLD VIEW OF THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS AS FREE, YET THE SERVANTS OF GOD.

1 PET. ii. 17.—Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

In our last discourse our attention was turned to the view which the preceding verse gives us of the condition and character of true Christians. Their condition is one both of liberty and of subjection: they are "free," yet "the servants of God." They are "free" free in reference to God, both as to state and disposition; free in reference to man; free in reference to the powers and principles of evil: they are "the servants of God," redeemed by the blood of his Son; formed by his Spirit to the character of servants, being made acquainted with his will, and disposed to do it; devoted by their own most free choice to his service, and actually engaged in that service; obeying his law, and promoting his cause. Their duty, when viewed generally, consists in acting in a manner suited to their condition, as a condition equally of freedom and subjection. They are to act "as free" in all the varied senses in which they enjoy the privilege of liberty, guarding against abusing that privilege in any of its forms, "as a cloak," pretext, apology, or excuse for sin; and they are to act" the servants of God," to cultivate the principle of obedience, habitually keeping in view those perfections of the Divine character, and those relations which they bear to God, in which the obligation to serve God originates, and the belief of which is the grand means which the Holy Spirit employs to fit and dispose us to recognize and discharge that obligation; to make themselves acquainted with the rule of obedience, carefully studying the word of God, observing the providence of God, and seeking the guidance of the Spirit of God; and to exercise this principle, and apply this rule in actual obedience, both inward and outward, both active and passive.

as

To this general view of the Christian's duty, as an acting in conformity to his condition, the apostle adds a somewhat more detailed and particular account, for the purpose of illustration. In the words before us, he specifies four different ways in which Christians are to conduct themselves " as free," and yet as the servants of God." They are to "honor all men;" they are to "love the brotherhood;" they are to "fear God;" they are to "honor the king." Let us now proceed to inquire into the meaning of these Divine injunctions, and into the motives which urge to a cheerful compliance with them. And while we do so, may God give us the understanding mind and

the obedient heart! May He "open our understandings," to understand this portion of "Scripture given by inspiration of God," that we may become wiser; and open our hearts to love it, that it may be the effectual means of making us better as well as wiser; giving us clearer views of what is our duty, and a deeper impression of our obligations to discharge it!

"Here," as the good Archbishop remarks, "are no dark sentences to puzzle the understanding, nor large discourses, and long periods, to burden the memory. As the Divine Wisdom says of her instructions in the book of Proverbs, These precepts are all 'plain;' there is nothing 'froward or perverse,' nothing wreathed,' as it is in the margin, involved, distorted, perplexed, difficult, in them. And this gives check to a double folly among men, contrary the one to the other, but both agreeing in mistaking and wronging the word of God. The one is, of those who despise the word, and that doctrine and preaching which is according to it, for its plainness and simplicity; the other, of those who complain of its difficulty and darkness. As for the first, they certainly do not apprehend the true end for which the word is designed, that is, to be the law of our life; and that it is mainly requisite in laws that they be both brief and clear. It is our guide to light and happiness; and if that which ought to be our light were darkness, how great would that darkness be! It is true that there be dark and deep passages in Scripture for the exercise, yea for the humbling, yea for the amazing and astonishing, of the sharpest-sighted readers. But it argues much the pride and vanity of men's minds, when they busy themselves only in these, and throw aside altogether the most necessary, which are therefore the easiest and plainest truths in it, evidencing that they had rather be learned than holy, 'wise than good,' and have still more mind to 'the tree of knowledge' than to 'the tree of life.' In hearing the word, too many are still gaping after new notions, something to add to the stock of their speculative and discoursing knowledge, loathing the daily manna of such profitable exhortations, and requiring meat for their lust.' There is an intemperance of the mind as well as of the mouth. You would think it, and may be not spare to call it, a poor cold sermon, that was made up of such plain precepts as these: Honor all men: love the brotherhood: fear God: honor the king:' and yet this is the language of God. It is his way, this foolish despicable way, by which he guides and brings to heaven them that believe."

As to those who complain of the difficulties of Scripture, let them but believe and do what is perfectly level to the apprehension of the simplest mind, and they will thus take the most probable means of arriving at just views of what is obscure; for he is faithful who has promised-"If any man will do"-that is, be willing to do-"the will of my Father in heaven, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God;"1 and, at all events, he will soon and certainly find his way to that region where all difficulties are removed, all mysteries. are unveiled, all obscurities are explained. There, in God's light, he shall see light; no longer seeing as through a glass darkly, but face to face; no longer knowing in part only, but knowing even as he is

1

1 John vii. 17.