Answ. Zion's King calls the naked to come and "buy of him white raiment, to cover the shame of their nakedness." He clothes all his subjects with change of raiment, yea, with the King's own robe; only cast away your own filthy rags, the works of the law, and all qualifications of self, and come to him as you are, for he says, Come to me " who will, "I will in no wise cast out." 66 Object. 6. I am so polluted and defiled with the uncleanness of sin, and have followed so many idols, that the King of Zion will never own me. Answ. Ezek. xxxvi. 25: "I will sprinkle them with clean water, and they shall be clean: from all their filthiness, and from all their idols will I cleanse them." "Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." The King washes the subjects with his own blood, and you shall be made to sing, (Rev. i.) "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood;-to him be glory," &c. Object. 7. I have a heart of stone like the adamant in my breast; will ever the King of Zion receive me? Answ. Ezek. xxxvi. 26: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." The King of Zion cries, "My son, give me thine heart," hard as it is, and I will soften it. Object. 8. I am unacquainted with the kingdom of the King of Zion, and know nothing of the secrets of his kingdom and government. Answ. Well, be it so, the King of Zion has "pity on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way;" he will let you into his secrets, and "to you it shall be given to know the mysteries of the kingdom." Zion's King is also a Prophet to reveal secrets, and his "secret is with them that fear him, and to them he will show his covenant." Object. 9. I am a stranger to the laws and government of the King, &c. Answ. He will "write his law in your heart, and put it in your inward parts: I will put my spirit within them, and cause them to walk in my statutes." Object. 10. If I should own the King of Zion for my King, I will prove a deserter, and turn back again unto the devil's camp, and then my latter end will be worse than my begin ning. 66 Answ. It is the promise of Zion's King to all that believe in him, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will never turn away from them to do them good: but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Object. 11. I am a dead sinner; what cares the King of Zion for the dead? 66 Answ. Zion's King quickens the dead, and commands things that are not as if they were." His voice raises the dead; and therefore I cry, " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." Object 12. What if I be not among those that are given to the King of Zion by his Father? in that case he will never receive me among his subjects. 66 Answ. That is none of your business, at the first instant to leap in among "things secret," which "belong unto the Lord:" Things revealed belong unto us, and to our children." The voice of the King of Zion, in his word and ministry, is to "Unto you, O men, do I call, and my voice is to the sons of men." And therefore come in upon the King's proclamation, for that is your warrant, and not the secret thoughts of the King's heart. you, Object. 13. I am a prisoner to sin and Satan, my bonds are so strong, that I cannot stir myself to come to Zion's King. Answ. Zion's King_comes to prisoners, because they cannot come to him, and says to the prisoners of sin and Satan, Come forth; unto you that sit in darkness, Show yourselves. It is just the work of the King of Zion to loose prisoners: and therefore submit to him, that he may loose your bands, and "whom the Son makes free, they are free indeed," &c. SERMON XXXII. CHRIST THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE.* Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life.-JOHN XI. 25. THE FIRST SERMON ON THIS TEXT. I HOPE there are a goodly number here, who are come up to the passover from afar, and are uttering the very language of those Greeks you were hearing of, "Sir, we would see Jesus;" this is the one thing we desire, to behold the beauty of Jesus, and if we miss this, we miss our errand, Well, sirs, these words that I have read, I set them up before you as a glass in which you may see Jesus; for every title and name he takes to himself is a glass in which you may see him; and if you can but get the eye of faith set to this glass, you will see Jesus, and see him to your souls' unspeakable advantage: "We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Cor. iii, 18. What is that glass the apostle speaks of, through which we may see Jesus, who cannot now be seen with the bodily eye, for "the heavens must contain him until the time of the restitution of all things?" Why, it is just his own word and record concerning himself; and here is a part of it, here is a word, a great word, and a comfortable word, look through it, and you shall see him whose name is Wonderful; he says to you as directly as he said to Martha, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. I cannot stand upon the context. The words are a part of that conference between Christ and Martha concerning the resurrection of her brother Lazarus from the dead. Martha, when she heard that Christ was near at hand, ran out of the # Being the substance of three discourses, preached at the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper at Burntisland, Oct. 1738.t † Pardon want of accuracy of style; for the author had scarce time to revise the following notes of his discourses; but because "the wisdom of words" makes the gospel of none effect, he allows them to go as they are, Truth is sweetest in her simplest dress. town to meet him, and came to him with this melancholy complaint in her mouth: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died:" There was weakness in this way of speaking, as if the power of Christ, to save her brother from death, had been confined to Christ's bodily presence: Christ can cure in the absence of his human nature, as well as when he is present. We read of a poor woman that had a bloody issue; she wanted to be at Christ, but had a crowd to pass through before she could win at him, to get a touch of him; but she went through them all, and she steals a cure from Christ. It is true, we cannot get such a touch of him with the hand of the body, now that he is ascended, as she got; but yet he may be touched by faith, as really as this woman touched the hem of his garment. And what if I should tell you, sirs, that Christ is as really present here, as to his divine nature, as he was in his human nature, when he was upon the earth: Christ tells Nicodemus, John iii. 13: "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven." And Christ says also in Matth. xviii. 20, and Exod. xx. 24: "Wheresoever his name is recorded, he is there." And we are met here upon this occasion to record the name of Christ, in word and sacrament; and he is as really present with us now, as he was with Martha. Do not, then, fall into the same mistake that Martha did, who thought that Christ could not save her brother, unless his human nature was present; our Jesus, who is now in heaven at "the right hand of God," is" able to save unto the uttermost, all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them;" and O that this company were coming to a God in Christ this night, it would make a heartsome sacrament to-morrow. -Christ drops a word for the encouragement of Martha's faith; he says, "Thy brother shall rise again," without telling her when. A promise from Christ is the fuel of faith; as fire cannot burn without fuel, so no more can faith live or act without a promise. Martha confesses her faith as to the general resurrection at the last day; she says, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Well, Christ, from that general truth, leads her faith to fix upon himself as the fountain-cause of the resurrection of the dead in general, and of her brother Lazarus in particular, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Where briefly we have these two or three things: 1. We have one of the glorious titles of Christ that should recommend him to dead sinners, I am the resurrection, and the life. 2. We have the duty incumbent upon all who would have benefit by Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, and that is, to believe in him." 3. We have the glorious advantage that shall redound to all who shall believe in him, “Though he were dead, yet shall he live." As to the first of these, and indeed it is only the first of them I have in my view at present, there is a twofold title by which Christ reveals himself to Martha, first the resurrection, and then the life; but they are so [related] to one another, that it is impossible to form a just idea of the first without the last; for what is resurrection but a recovery of the person back from the state of the dead to the state of the living? so that the resurrection and the life are but one complex title. And it is comfortable to think, that this title has a glorious relation to us dead sinners of Adam's family; all the names and offices of Christ are relative; he is a Prophet to us; he is a Priest to us, and he is a King to us; he is "made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption:" so when he is said to be the resurrection and the life, he is that to us; for unto us this son is given, unto us this child is born, whose name is the resurrection and the life. Therefore, sirs, let us see if we can fasten the hand of an applying faith upon Christ to ourselves, seeing he is so [related] to us, and his very name points to every man and woman in this company; I am the resurrection, and the life. The words themselves are the doctrine. The method I propose is, I. To show what is implied in this title Christ takes to himself, The resurrection, and the life. H. I would inquire, of whom he is the resurrection? III. Of what is he the resurrection? IV. To what sort of life is he the resurrection? V. I would inquire how it comes about that he is the resurrection and the life to us? VI. Why he assumes this title to himself? And then, I. As to the first of these, What is implied and imported in this title and designation, by which Christ reveals himself to you and me? 1. Then, It plainly supposes, that all Adam's race are dead men and women. Sirs, no sooner did we take the draught of deadly poison in paradise, but that moment the contagion ran through our first parents' souls, and has run through all of us, their posterity, ever since. We are legally dead; "The soul that sinneth, shall die;" we are spiritually dead, under the power and dominion of sin, separated from God, |