Now, by believing in Christ, we become perfectly one with Christ

[This is affirmed in my text: "We are all one in Christ Jesus." It is also frequently declared in other places. I will specify one, where the union which is formed with Christ in baptism is represented as equivalent to that which subsists between the head and members of the same body; so that the persons baptized are actually called by his very name, as being altogether identified with him: "As the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of that body, being many, are one body; so also is CHRIST;" that is, so also is the Church of Christ." For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free' "We are indeed many members, yet are we but one body." Thus it appears, that, inasmuch as we become one with Christ by faith in him, we become in and with him the seed of Abraham, and heirs of all the promises that were made to him.]

And being united unto Christ by faith, we need nothing to be superadded to us by the works of the law

[The natural descendants of Abraham, as such, have no title to these benefits: for "all are not Israel who are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children;" for it was said to him, " In Isaac shall thy seed be called: that is, they which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seeds." Now, by union with Christ we become the children of promise, and consequently heirs of all that God has promised. But how is this union effected? It is effected simply by faith. No work of the law can contribute to it. Even if we were of Abraham's natural posterity, it would avail us nothing: nor, if we were to keep the whole law, would it avail us any thing. We must believe in Christ, and by faith be made one with him; and then the benefits are ours: nor shall all the powers of darkness prevail to rob us of them. Only let these two things be remembered, and our whole argument will be clear. First, no want of external privileges can deprive us of these benefits; and next, no observances whatever can augment our title to them, if only we believe in Christ: for "if we be Christ's, then are we Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."]

Now let me ADDRESS myself,

1. To those who are Christ's in profession only—

r 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13.

s Rom. ix. 6—8.

[You perceive, that, as "baptized into Christ," you profess to have "put on Christ." Now, then, permit me to ask, have you ever felt your need of Christ? Have you ever been conscious of the nakedness of your soul by reason of sin; and of the utter insufficiency of the fig-leaves of your own righteousness to cover your nakedness; and of the indispensable necessity of your being clothed in Christ's righteousness, in order to your acceptance before God? Have you, under a deep sense of your need of his righteousness, gone to him, and apprehended him, and put him on by faith? and does all your hope of happiness in the eternal world arise from this thought, that God views you, not as you are in yourselves, but as you are in Christ, clothed from head to foot with his unspotted robe, and therefore standing without spot or blemish in the sight of the heart-searching God? Let but conscience return a candid answer to these inquiries, and you will have a perfect insight into your real state before God. You will then see, that, though baptized into Christ, you have never really availed yourselves of your privilege to " put him on." You are in the state of a widow, who, though entitled to a certain portion of the estate of her deceased husband, neglects to take out administration according to law: she cannot turn any part of the estate to her own account; and must perish with hunger, even as if she had no title whatever to the estate, if she continue to neglect the appointed means of coming to the possession of it. And so must you perish under the guilt of all your sins, if you neglect to put on Christ by faith, and to cover yourselves with the robe of his unspotted righteousness. You may be as observant of the law as ever Paul was in his unconverted state: but yet will you perish for ever, as he also would have done, if you apply not to Christ, that you may "be found in him, not having your own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in him." As for your baptism, it will avail you nothing without this: for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." On the other hand, let me say, that if only you will believe in Christ, though you were the most ignorant of Gentiles or the most abandoned of sinners, you should be accepted in him, and be made partakers of all his blessings, both of grace and glory.]

2. To those who are Christ's in reality and truth— [I trust there are many such among you. And what shall I say to you? what but this? Survey the covenant t Rom. ii. 28, 29.

which was made with Abraham, and all the promises contained in it; and say, All these are mine.' Survey all that Abraham ever possessed, or possesses at this moment at the right hand of God; and then say, 'As Abraham's seed, and Abraham's heir, I am entitled to all of this.' Go further still, and survey all that Christ himself ever enjoyed, or at this moment enjoys, as the promised Seed of Abraham, and the great Heir of all; and then say, 'All this also, so far as I am capable of enjoying it, is mine: God is my God, even as he is Christ's"; and Christ's throne is my throne: Christ's kingdom is my kingdom; Christ's glory, my glory; for "the glory which God has given him, he has given mex.""

What then shall I do, to shew my sense of the benefits conferred upon me? This will I do, to the utmost of my power: I will "put on Christ:" I will put him on daily; so that God shall never see me but as I am in him, covered with the robe of his righteousness; nor shall my fellow-creatures ever see me but as possessing "the very mind which was in Christ"." I will "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," even as a man puts on his garments; so that all who see me shall say that I resemble him. I will, God helping me, be "a living epistle of Christ, that shall be known and read of all mena;' so that all may know how he walked when on earth, and how he wills that we should walk".

99

This, my beloved brethren, is the true way to prove yourselves Christ's believing people; and this will bring down to you a heaven upon earth.]

u Gen. xvii. 7. with John xx. 17.

Rev. iii. 21. John xvii. 22.

y Phil. ii. 5.

This is the precise import of Rom. xiii. 14. and refers to the

moral image of Christ.

a 2 Cor. ii. 2, 3.

b 1 John ii. 6.

MMLXX.

THE TIME AND MANNER OF CHRIST'S INCARNATION.

Gal. iv. 4, 5. When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

THE advantages which we as Christians enjoy above the Jews are exceeding great. The Jewish Church was like an heir to a large estate during the

years of his minority: he has indeed bright prospects before him; but at present he receives no more than what his guardians judge necessary for his use, and suited to his condition. "He, in fact, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all:" for he is altogether "under the controul of tutors and governors, till the time appointed by his father," whose possessions he is to inherit. We, on the contrary, are like the same person when arrived at full age, having perfect liberty from servile restraints, and entering into the complete enjoyment of the inheritance, to which by our Father's will we are entitled. In this view St. Paul himself has illustrated the

subject in the chapter before us. Having in the preceding verses described the state of the Jewish Church, he declares, in the words of our text, the superior privileges which, through the incarnation of the Son of God, we enjoy.

To bring the whole subject under your consideration, it will be proper to notice the time, the manner, and the end of our Saviour's incarnation.

I. The time

It may seem strange that, when God had promised to send his Son into the world, he should delay the execution of that promise four thousand years. But it does not become us to sit in judgment upon God's proceedings; it is sufficient for us to know that he cannot err. But, in relation to the point before us, we may observe, that the time when our Lord came into the world, was,

1. The time fixed in the Divine counsels

[When the promise of a Saviour was given to our first parents, nothing was specified respecting the time. Hence Eve (as it should seem) imagined that her first-born child was he for she named him Cain (which signifies getting); intimating, that "she had gotten a man from the Lord," or rather, that she had gotten the man, the Lord. Nothing seems to have been declared concerning the time of the Messiah's arrival, till it was revealed to Jacob, that "the sceptre should not depart from Judah, till Shiloh should come:" and b Gen. xlix. 10.

a Gen. iii. 1.

it is remarkable, that a separate jurisdiction did depart from all the other tribes several hundred years before Christ's advent; but that Judah retained it, in a measure, even during the captivity in Babylon; and never completely lost it, till Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the whole Jewish polity was dissolved.

After the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, it was revealed to the Prophet Haggai, that the Messiah should come while that temple was standing; and by his presence in it should add greater glory to it, than the former temple, with all its magnificence and peculiar appendages, possessed.

But that which marked the period with most precision, was the prophecy of Daniel, which declared, that in seventy weeks (of years), or four hundred and ninety years, from the command given by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem, the Messiah should be cut off. This determined the time with such accuracy, that the expectation of the Messiah's advent was very general among the Jews, when our Lord made his appearance upon earth.

Thus the fulness of the time was come, because it was the time ordained by God in his eternal counsels, and made known to the world by his holy prophets.]

2. The fittest time—

[If our Lord had come into the world at an earlier period, several valuable purposes would either not have been answered, or not in so eminent a degree. By the delay, there was abundant proof given, how little could be done by reason, with all its improvements; or by the law, with all its sanctions; or by the most signal judgments and mercies.

Reason had attained its summit. The learning of Greece and Rome had left nothing to be added for the perfecting of the human intellect. Yet what did all their boasted philosophy effect? Were the habits and dispositions of men meliorated? Was the dominion of sin broken, or virtue made more generally prevalent throughout the world? Read the account which St. Paul gives of the heathen world; and judge.

God has been pleased to republish his law, in a way calculated to awe his people, and secure their obedience to it. He had enforced it with the most solemn sanctions; and had himself written it on tables of stone, in order that it might not any more be mutilated and forgotten, as it had been when left to the uncertainty of oral tradition. And did this succeed? No. The Jew had nothing to boast of above the Gentiles. St. Paul draws their character also, and shews that they, with e Rom. i. 22-32.

e

Hagg. ii. 7, 9. d Dan. ix. 24, 25.