LECTURE XIV.

Of CHRIST the SAVIOUR.

T is acknowledged, that the publication of the gospel is exceeding agreeable, and perfectly answers its original name, which signifies good tidings. How much sweeter is this joyful news, than the most ravishing and delightful concerts of music? Nay, these are the best tidings that were ever heard in any age of the world! O happy shepherds, to whom this news were sent down from heaven! Ye, to be sure, though watching in the fields, exposed to the severe cold of the night, were in this more happy than kings, that slept at their ease in gilded beds, that the wonderful nativity of the supreme King, begotten from eternity, that nativity which brought salvation to the whole world, was first communicated to you, and just at the time it happened. "Behold, says the angel, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day a Saviour. And immediately a great company of the heavenly host joined the angel, and in your hearing sung, "Glory to God in the highest" And indeed, in the strictest truth, "A most extraordinary child was sent down from the lofty heavens, &c. *"

Whence also his name was sent down along with him, "His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." "O sweet name of Jesus," says St. Bernard, "honey in the mouth, melo

Luke ii. 10, 11.

d Luke ii. 14.

* Jam nova progenies cælo demittitur alto, &c. Virg. Ecl.

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dy in the ears, and healing to the heart." This is the Saviour, who, though we were so miserable, and so justly miserable, yet would not suffer us to perish. Nor did he only put on our nature, but also our sins; that is, in a legal sense, our guilt being transferred to him; whence we not only read, “that the word was made flesh;" but also, "that he was made sin for us, who knew no sine;" and even, as we have it in the epistle to the Galatians, that he was made a curse, that from him an eternal blessing and felicity might be derived to us. The spotless Lamb of God bore our sins, that were devolved upon him; by thus bearing them, he destroyed them; and by dying for them, gained a compleat victory over death. And how wonderful is the gradation of the blessings he procured for us; he not only delivered us from a prison and death, but presents us with a kingdom; according to that of the Psalmist, "Who redeemeth thee from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies."

I believe there are none so stupid or insensible, as to refuse that these tidings are very agreeable and pleasing to the ear. But we may, not without some reason, suspect of the greatest part of nominal christians, who commonly receive these truths with great applause, that it may be said to them, without any injustice, "What is all this to you?" These privileges are truly great and manifold, and indifferently directed to all, to whom they are preached, unless they reject them, and shut the door against happiness offering to come in: and this is not only the case of a great part of mankind, but they also impose upon themselves by false hopes, as if it were enough to hear of these great blessings, and dream themselves happy, because these sounds had reached their ears. But O unhappy men! what will all these immense riches signify to you, I must indeed say, if you are

4 John i. 14.

e Psm. ciii.

f 2 Cor. v. 12.

8 Gal. iii.

not allowed to use them, but rather, if you know not how to avail yourselves of them?

I therefore earnestly wish that these words of the gospel were well fixed in your minds: "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God."

In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid, and without him there is nothing but emptiness; "because in him all fuluess doth dwell." But what advantage can it be to us to hear these riches of our Jesus spoken of at great length, and to excellent purpose, or even to speak of them ourselves, if, all the while, we talk of them as a good foreign to us, and in which we have no concern, because our hearts are not yet open to receive him. What, pray, would the most accurate description of the Fortunate islands, as they are called, or all the wealth of the Indies, and the New World, with its golden mines, signify to a poor man half naked, struggling with all the rigours of cold and hunger? should one, in these circumstances, I say, hear or read of these immense treasures; or should any one describe them to him in the most striking manner, either by word of mouth, or with the advantage of an accurate pen; can it be doubted, but this empty display of riches, this phantom of wealth and affluence, would make his sense of want and misery the more intolerable; unless it be supposed, that despair had already reduced him to a state of insensibility? What further enhances the misery of those, who hear of this treasure, and think of it to no purpose, is this, that there is none of them, who is not miserable by choice, "and a beggar in the midst of the greatest wealth, and not only miserable by choice, but obstinately

h John i. 10, 11, 12.

so, from an invincible and distracted fondness for the immediate causes of his misery: "For who but a downright madman would reject such golden offers *?"

To give a brief and plain state of the case: to those, that sincerely and with all their hearts receive him, Christ is all things; to those that receive him not, nothing. For, how can any good, however suitable or extensive, be actually enjoyed; or, indeed, any such enjoyment conceived, without some kind of union between that good, and the person supposed to stand in need of it? "Behold, says the Psalmist, all those, that are far from thee, shall perish." To be united to God, is the great, and the only good of mankind; and the only means of this union is Jesus, in whatever sense you take it: he ought truly to be called the union of unions; who, that he might with the greater consistency, and the more closely unite our souls to God, did not disdain to unite himself to a human body.

The great business of our life, therefore, young Gentlemen, is this acceptance of Christ, and this inseparable union with him which we are now reccommending. Thrice happy, and more than thrice happy are they, who are joined with him in this undivided union, which no complaints, nor even the day of death can dissolve; nay, the last day is happy above all other days, for this very reason, that it fully and finally compleats this union, and is so far from dissolving it, that it renders it absolutely per fect and everlasting.

But that it may be coeval with eternity, and last for ever, it is absolutely necessary that this union should have its beginning in this short and fleeting life. And pray, what hinders those of us, that have not entered into this union before, to enter into it without delay? Seeing the bountiful Jesus not only rejects none that come unto him, but also offers him

* Quis enim nisi mentis inops oblatum hoc respuat aurum?

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self to all that do not wilfully reject him, and standing at the door, earnestly begs to be admitted. O!" why do not these everlasting doors open, that the king of glory may enter," and reign within us? Nay, though he were to be sought in a far country, and with great labour, why should we delay, and what unhappy chains detain us? why do we not, after shaking them all off, and even ourselves, go as it were out of ourselves, and seek him incessantly till we find him? then rejoicing over him, say with the heavenly spouse, "I held him, and would not let him go;" and further add, with the same spouse, that blessed expression, "My beloved is mine, and I am his." And, indeed, this interest is always reciprocal. No man truly receives Jesus, that does not, at the same time, deliver up himself wholly to him. Among all the advantages we pursue, there is nothing comparable to this exchange. Our gain is immense from both, not only from the acceptance of him, but also from surrendering ourselves to him; so long as this is delayed, we are the most abject slaves: when one has delivered himself up to Christ, then and then only he is truly free, and becomes master of himself. Why should we wander about to no purpose? To him let us turn our eyes, on him fix our thoughts, that he, who is ours by the donation of the Father, and his own free gift, may be ours by a chearful and joyous acceptance. As St Bernard says on these words of the prophet, "To us a child is born, to us a son is given. Let us therefore make use of what is ours, saith he, for our own advantage*." So then, let him be ours by possession and use†, and let us be his for ever, never forgetting how dearly he has bought us.

h Psm. xxiv.

* Puer natus est nobis, filius nobis datus est. Utamur, inquit, nostro in utilitatem nostram.

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