after pleasure, and relaxation, and the gratification of the senses, without subscribing to the moral paradox introduced into our text, that "the creature was made subject to vanity." It is true his will and desire readily fall in with the natural bent of his mind, he is glad that the world should make such ample provision for the gratification of his tastes and likings; but this is another view of the question, and it is just in this view where we shall find the creature's responsibility, and the justice of his being called to account for the deeds done in the body. But still, my brethren, we must confess that this is an embarassing view of the human condition, that involuntarily, and without any choice being offered to the creature formed, he should be made subject to serve the baser passions of his nature, and be told at the same time that sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. And if there had not been left out of this universal wreck of the whole creation some better and higher aspirations, if the mysterious chain which connects the creature in his lowest state of degradation to the great fountain of light and love had not left a few links by which the soul might hold on until the rescue came, this world of ours would have been but a dark abyss, in which nothing had been heard but weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. But for our relief and consolation, and for helping us to unravel the mystery which this view of fallen humanity introduces, we are told that "the creature was made subject to vanity," but in hope, and that his earnest expectation waits for the manifestation of some blessedness which he cannot as yet comprehend. It is like a sunbeam alighting upon a dark waste of waters, when we are told that in the midst of this moral desolation, and the vain shadow in which men walk, there is hope; that the creature so oppressed with the slavery of sin is capable of forming expectations of some great change which will work out his emancipation from the thraldom of his present misery, and give him a position in some happy region of the blessed. We are now prepared to view that creature, that is the natural man, in his hopes and expectations of the future. Those, my brethren, are for him undefined, for let it be remembered that I am not speaking of the hopes of the Christian, which are defined and substantial. All the expectations and hopes of the creature are for a change, which he thinks at some time may come. He is like the captive in the dungeon, who has not lost all hope, but cherishes a vague expectation that he may at least have a change. It arises from the uneasiness of his actual condition; anything would be better, he thinks, than the wearisome days and nights he is condemned to endure in a lightless abode, and he cannot entirely divest himself of the notion that something may happen which will restore him to the light, if not to liberty. This is the earnest expectation of the creature waiting for a change; and this characteristic of man, without the believer's hope, is exhibited in all those spasmodic efforts which he is ever making to alter the actual course of things, and effect some change which in his imagination will make himself, and perhaps the world around him, happy. But that which we find most remarkable in all these attempts to emancipate the creature is, that they partake more or less of the hopes and prospects of the sons of God. Whatever form the earnest expectation of the creature takes, it merges in the final hopes and prospects of the Christian. This may be illustrated by glancing at some of the most prominent demonstrations of our own time. We can hardly impugn the motives of some of our citizens, who possess the mercantile spirit of England, but count light of its chivalry, when they associate themselves together for the purpose of putting an end to wars. They see in every battle of the warrior, however it may turn, nothing but a wound inflicted upon human progress; and they are willing to run the risk of future calamities, if they may have present peace and prosperity. They would bid all nations sheathe the sword, and settle their rivalships and their differences by the harmless process of negociation; they have an earnest expectation of the future, which is, after all, but a ray which emanates from the manifestation hoped for by the children of God. For what are the hopes of the Christian as he contemplates the destiny of nations? What, but the sure word of prophecy, “Nation shall no longer rise up against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." But, then we know, this will not be as long as "creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together;" it cannot be until the face of the earth is renewed by the Spirit of the living God. Men can never be reconciled one to another, unless they are first reconciled to God by the death of his Son. It was with this proclamation that the reign of Christ was first ushered into the world"Peace on earth, goodwill towards men." This is the ultimate object of the gospel, and to this end all its provisions are adapted. The sons of God are waiting for the manifestation of a Saviour, who will take to himself the power, and will break the spear in sunder, and burn the war chariot with fire. The sons of God have this continually in view, and all their efforts and prayers tend to promote the reign of peace; but they do not expect to accomplish this by working upon elements which can never coalesce. They know, that until the creature is brought out of the bondage of corruption, it will be in vain to propose to him to live in brotherly love and union with his fellow. Therefore they consider the Great Peace Society to be the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood; and the happy condition of the world which the natural man vaguely expects to come round by a mutual interchange of commerce, the spiritual man hopes to see by the prevalence of God's truth as it is revealed in Christ, and when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." Again, we have this restlessness of the human spirit in our day exhibited in systems and theories which aim at something like the Christian's hopes, but without his principles. It partakes of the prospects of the sons of God, when the economist expects to create his elysium upon earth by the general and equal distribution of wealth, or by the triumph of his social economy. He is sufficiently alive to "the groaning and travailing together” of “the whole creation," to see that something is wanted to adjust the inequalities and redress the wrongs which man suffers at the hand of his fellow man, He thinks it never was the design of what he calls nature, that one should weep and lament, while another should rejoice; that there should be one portion of mankind doomed to temporal misery, while another portion should revel in the midst of sensual enjoyment; and therefore, in the exercise and feeling of vague benevolence he produces his plan for settling states and governments, and through revolutions and anarchy, if needful, he will try to plant the standard of his system, waiting for nothing else in fact than the manifestation of the sons of God. For what is the practical end and aim of the religion of Jesus, but to induce men to love one another, and to con sider one another as members of the same body; to be so constituted even in this imperfect condition, that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it? And what, but Christianity, properly understood, has ever been found to influence the human being, to make real sacrifice purely for benefit of his fellow creature? Where is the true socialism to be found, but among those whom the word of God has taught not to look upon their own things, but upon the things of others also; to disperse abroad the substance with which Providence has blessed them; to never grow weary in well doing; to learn the lessons which St. Paul inculcated by his example, how that "as labouring ye ought to support the weak ;" and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said, "it is more blessed to give than to receive?" This, my brethren, comprises, whilst it adjusts all the theories of our minute philosophers. All the advantages which they contemplate for improving the condition of the creature here, are included in the surer prospects of the sons of God. They, too, expect to see the day when there will be no complaining in our streets, when he that gathereth much shall have nothing over, and he that gathereth little will have no lack, We, too, my brethren, whose hopes are those which the gospel inspires, expect that there will be a renovated condition of humanity, and we look for 66 a new heaven and a new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness;” and we invite the man who is longing for peace on earth, and him who is busy with his theories of wealth and human industry, as if they alone were the great sources of human happiness, and him who is dreaming of equality among men, and of enjoyment in the society of the millions; and him who has elaborated a system of happiness, as he thinks, out of the universal contributions of creation : we invite them all to come to a system which existed before them all, and will stand when they shall have passed away; we mean the religion of Christ, which inspires its followers with better hopes, and assures them of the enjoyments of a regenerated society. We might pursue this inquiry throughout all the inventions and theories for improving the condition of humanity which our present age has seen, and we should find after all, that these are but so many attempts to grasp the realities which Christianity contains; so that whether it be the desire to put an end to wars, or it be the impracticable propositions of social and political economy, or it be philosophy or materialism, or the counterpoising principle of a conservative policy-all are but the rays of light borrowed from the source which God has given for the guidance of his fallen creature, and which Jesus himself declared in one word, when he said, "I am the light of the world." But what, my brethren, are we to infer from the view we have taken of the subject? If it be so, that all the earnest expectations of the creature, however faintly exhibited, or however perversely expressed, are but abortive attempts to reach up to the heights of a pure Christianity, then we infer that the religion of Jesus is destined to occupy the future generations which have yet to succeed in this dispensation of the grace of God. If when men do but grope in the dark, if the creature, when labouring under the bondage of corruption, is yet capable of forming expectations of a change for the better, what will the creature be when he is once brought into the liberty of the sons of God, when there is a wider diffusion of Christian knowledge than there has ever yet been, when men begin to see the real condition of fallen naturė and the remedy for its misery which has been provided in the councils of eternity, when they are induced to look into the plan of redemption, and are enabled to understand how that love which has been manifested in the gift of Jesus Christ sheds its influence and softens the heart which nothing else could ever move; when they understand that a spirit of truth is given to guide and console the agitated spirit of man, and is adapted to calm his thoughts and lead him to the fountains of living waters? Then Christianity will be the order of the day, and men will wonder that they ever attempted the deliverance of oppressed humanity by any other means. And so we affirm that the religion of the gospel is for the future. Christianity is destined to rule the world, not the Christianity of forms and ceremonies, not that which is after the rudiments of this world, not the religion which is popularly called Christian, but in which it is impossible to recognize the simplicity of the truth as it was taught by Christ and his apostles, but the Christianity of the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; the religion which coming from above, is first pure, then peaceable; the word of God, which declares the creature to be labouring under the bondage of corruption, but which at the same time offers him deliverance, if he will but come and ask for rest; the Christianity I mean, which was restored to our land, and partially recovered in this and other nations of Europe at the Reformation-the evangelical system, I mean, which teaches that the sinner is saved by grace, and created anew by the Spirit of God unto righteousness and true holiness; THE GROANING OF CREATION, AND ITS FUTURE DELIVERANCE, which knows nothing of a priesthood, or of an altar, or of a sacrifice, except that of praise and thanksgiving, and bids its followers call no man master on carth; a Christianity, such as sustained the early martyrs amidst sundry kinds of death, and which, just three hundred years ago enabled our great reformers to triumph as they went to the fires. This, my brethren, is what we mean, when we say that the creature, which is now without any well defined hopes or expectations, will, in due course, partake of the manifestations of the sons of God; when the religion of superstition and idolatry shall fall before the light of truth, and when, instead of a spurious Christianity, which is now imposed upon the millions; a religion of life, inspired by faith, working by love, shall prevail; the religion which descended pure from heaven in the word made flesh, and which refuses to bear comparison with any other ; for when it is a question of eternal life, we have no choice: it is Christianity according to God's word, or no religion at all. We, then, my brethren, who believe and who look for the redemption that is in Christ Jesus have a great and solemn duty before us: it is to hasten the accomplishment of the Divine purpose in bringing in his kingdom. If the creature cannot be emancipated from his bondage of corruption until the truth as it is in Christ makes him free, then who that believes this can remain uninterested in the propagation of the truth of Christianity? Who can see the tens of thousands of creatures made in the same image and likeness with himself, "groaning and travailing in pain together," and do nothing towards bringing them into the way of peace? This consideration alone, my brethren, is sufficient to give us work for the remainder of our lives, and to throw upon us a responsibility which men of other nations and other churches know little of. May we rise to the height of our privileges and duties; and whether at home or abroad, be ever ready to become fellow workers with him who has called us, as he will call others who look to him, out of darkness and bondage into his marvellous light, and into the glorious liberty of the sons of God! 796 Paris Exhibition Sermons. Delivered in the Church of the Oratoire, Rue St. Honoré, under the sanction of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London. No. 1, Rev. J. Sinclair, M.A.-On the Beautiful in Creation. 8, - G. R. Gleig, M.A.-The True God, and Life Eternal. R. Bickersteth, M.A.-Redemption, the Ground for Anticipating every Blessing. J. S. M. Anderson, M.A.-The Ministry of John the Baptist. J. Murray, M.A.-The happiness apart from the hope of the resurrection. 9, Hon. & Rev. H. M. Villiers, M.A.-The benefits derived from drawing near to God. |