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I. The abolition of the ceremonial law.

Christ punctually observed all the ceremonies which the law of Moses enjoined. He was circumcised the eighth day; he kept the Passover; he conformed to the Jewish worship in the Synagogue; and went with his parents at twelve years old, to be presented before the Lord. And with all this conformity to the ceremonial law, he did not explicitly teach his disciples that it was to be abolished. Full of attachment as they were to that law; and seeing their Master so rigidly conform to it; no wonder they expected it was to be continued in full force. So far were they from even suspecting that the ceremonies of Judaism were done away, that for a long time after the resurrection of Christ, they continued rigidly to adhere to them. It was matter of great offence to the brethren at Jerusalem that Peter should visit Cornelius, an uncircumcised man, and eat with him. And when Peter made his defence before them, he alleged scruples of a similar nature to them, which had existed in his own mind; and nothing short of a vision from heaven, was sufficient to remove them. When the brethren heard that Cornelius had received the Holy Ghost, and thus had a seal put upon him that God had accepted him, they were surprised. "Then hath God," exclaimed they, "to the Gentiles also granted repentance unto life." Before this they had imagined that the privileges of the Redeemer's kingdom were to be confined to the Jews. Although the parting instructions of our Lord were, "to preach the gospel to every creature" yet, as he did not, in his life, give such instructions, they were ignorant on that subject.

So little had our Lord said respecting the abolition of the ceremonial law, that the great body of the Jewish converts would have imposed on the Gentiles the rite of circumcision, and a strict observance of the law of Moses. Had Jesus Christ, while he was

among them, clearly taught the abolition of the ceremonial law, no such opinions had obtained. It is clear, then, from these considerations, that the abolition of the ceremonial law was no part of the instructions which Jesus, while he was upon earth, gave to his disciples; for this plain reason, that they were not, at that time, able to bear such a doctrine.

II. Christ did not open to the view of his disciples the doctrine of justi fication.

He disclosed this doctrine so far, that by comparing it with the full explanation of the apostles afterwards, it is clearly taught; but he was not sufficiently explicit on the subject, during his personal ministry, to render the system complete. Had he spoken of justification by faith, in the clear manner in which Paul speaks of it, no man in his audience could have understood him: for they did not know the full extent of his character. It was uniformly the expectation of his followers that he was to sit on a temporal throne. "We trusted," said one of them in his despondency, on account of Christ's death, "that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel;❞—evidently alluding to a temporal deliverance, which the Messiah should effect for his chosen people.

Now had Christ insisted largely on the necessity of faith in him to being justified in the sight of God, it is very obvious that his disciples could not have understood him. The removal of their erroneous notions must be a work of time, and could not, therefore, be effected in a moment.

It was indeed a favourite remark of our Lord's, if we may so speak, that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; but the nature of that faith would have been little known to us without the subsequent instructions of the apostles. Our Lord spoke too of his being "the way, the truth and the life," and declared, that no man cometh unto the Father but by him. Yet these declarations were very im

perfectly understood even by his disciples, till after he rose from the dead.

Although our Lord said nothing contrary to the doctrine of justification, as laid down by the apostles, yet he never so fully and clearly inculcated it as they did. He implied it, however, in many things that he said; but did not teach it so clearly as to render it impossible that he should be misunderstood.

When the young ruler came to him and inquired, what good thing he should do to inherit eterna! life, he replied, "Thou knowest the commandments," and then repeated them; but he said nothing of that faith in him, which the apostles afterwards taught, as absolutely necessary for acceptance with God. The young man did not know enough of the character of Christ, to be thus taught at this time. Our Lord taught his disciples clearly, the extent and spirituality of the divine law, and rescued that law from the false glosses of the Jews-he set the example of an unsullied life-but he did not inculcate with clearness the plan of salvation which was afterwards made known. It was left for his apostles, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to finish the work of abasing the creature, and of exalting the Lord of glory. It was for them to declare, that without faith it is impossible to please him;" that "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." It was for the apostles to proclaim, that "there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved;" the doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, in its fullest and clearest sense, the disciples were not able to bear, till they had seen more of his character than they could see before he left the world. Their prejudices cast such a thick veil before them, that they could not perceive the spirituality of the Redeemer's kingdom. In gracious condescension to their weakness therefore, our Lord waived the

Vol. 3.-No. X.

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subject, in a great degree, till the Spirit should be sent to guide them into all truth.

III. Christ, while he was upon earth, did not clearly make known the object of his death, which he expected to suffer at Jerusalem.

What he said on this subject was always said to his disciples, and not to the multitude. But it is remarkable that such was the blindness of their minds, that they did not perceive. Nor did our Lord fully instruct them on this subject, till after his resurrection, while walking in company with two of them, to Emmaus. When Moses and Elias talked with Christ on the subject of his decease, on the Mount of Transfiguration, in the presence of Peter and James; so solicitous was our Lord to conceal this fact from the knowledge of the Jews. that he charged his disciples to tell no man till he was risen from the dead. And so little were they acquainted with the object of his death, that "they questioned one with another, what the rising from the dead should mean ;" and our Lord did not think proper, at this time, to inform them. Although he often reproved them for their gross and worldly ideas of his kingdom, yet he did not set himself systematically to oppose them; the time for that not being yet come. Towards the close of his ministry, he began to speak freely of his death to his disciples, but he generally mentioned the fact merely, and did not enlarge on the consequences of it. As his disciples were slow of apprehension on this subject, he left it for some future opportunity.

Nor did he speak but rarely, of his being the Messiah. On one occasion, when Peter confessed that he was "the Christ, the son of the living God;" he charged him and his brethren to tell no man of it. The reason of such a charge is obvious. The time was not yet come for the promulgation of the gospel; for the disciples themselves were not acquainted with it. And it was inexpe

dient that the Jews should know the full extent of his character, at that time.

It appears then that when Christ left the world, that some important parts of evangelical truth were either unknown, or unregarded; and from the manner in which our Lord conducted his instructions, that he did not intend to make them known, till after his resurrection from the dead.

From our subject we infer ;

1. That Christ did not come into the world merely as a religious teacher.

He taught, because his benevolent feelings prompted him so to do; and this was a part of his mission; but it was not the principal object for which he lived and died. "This is a faithful saying," says an apostle, "and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The business of teaching might have been accomplished by a person far less dignified than he. Christ, having all power in his hands, might, if he pleased, have made his preaching effectual, to the conversion of multitudes. But that was not his present, though ultimate object. The goal at which he aimed from the first, was, death for a world lying in wickedness. As he travelled onward towards that goal, he scattered along the way the fruits of his benevolence. He instructed the ignorant, healed the sick, raised the dead, and wrought many other miracles; but he still kept his great object in view. Had the ultimate object of his visit to our world been, to act as a religious teacher, as is af firmed by some, he would have been more ample in his instructions. Perfect as he was, and furnished with all power from on high, he would have made out a full system of religion,without leaving any thing to be communicated in after times; for he could have prepared the hearts of his disciples to bear whatever he pleased to tell them. So then, if we affirm that Christ's ultimate object in coming into the world, was, to teach us a system of

religion; we must allow that he but very imperfectly executed the duties of his office-because he left some important points unsettled. A far less dignified person than Jesus might have been commissioned to publish a system of religion; but he was the only one in the universe that could take away the sins of the world, by the sacrifice of himself. The apostles, therefore, made it a chief point in their preaching, not that Christ was merely a teacher of religion, but that he died the just for the unjust. "I delivered unto you," says one of them, "first of all, that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." "We preach Christ crucified," says the same apostle, "unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness." Christ crucified then, according to Paul, is the whole sum of the gospel; and the fact that his doctrine was a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks, was no objection in his mind to its being preached.

The same prominence is given to this point throughout all the Epistles. Christ came into the world then, partly to teach religion, but principally to make an atonement for our sins.

2. If Christ did not complete the system of evangelical truth, then the Epistles, including the Acts, are as valuable, and as much to be reverenced and depended on, as the Gospels.

Our Lord had many things to say to his disciples, which he chose to communicate by the Holy Spirit, after he himself had left them. Many of these things were committed to writing, for the use of the churches, and they have come down to us for our use. The Epistles are a part of the revealed system of truth, as much as the Gospels. If the latter contain the life of Christ, the former contain the doctrines of Christ. If the doctrines of Christ are intimated in the Gospels, they are more fully disclosed in the Epistles. While Christ did not, as

we have seen, teach plainly and fully the abolition of the ceremonial law, the doctrine of justification by faith in him, and the object of his death, all these things are largely discussed in the Epistles; so that without the Epistles, our revelation would be incomplete. Here the light which Jesus Christ brought into the world, shines upon us, without a cloud between. Here those doctrines which, during the life of Christ, could not be declared, on account of the dullness of the early converts in receiving the truth, are laid down in the clearest manner. As the morning sun comes gradually into view, and dissipates the surrounding darkness; so the sun of righteousness shone more and more unto the perfect day. As by the gradual influx of the light of the morning, the tender eye is strengthened to behold it; so by similar gradations in the light of the gospel, the disciples were prepared to receive it. If the Epistles are the consummation of that light, of which the Gospels are but the beginning, surely they are as valuable, and as much to be reverenced. It is not true then, as is affirmed by some, that a religious doctrine or precept which is found in the Epistles and not in the Gospels, is any the less obligatory on this account. It is clear also, that the superior reverence with which some regard the Gospels, is unauthorized.

3. We learn from our subject the manner in which ministers and other Christians should treat those whom they instruct.

It was a fact, that instead of the Jews being exalted above all other nations, by the reign of the Messiah, as they anticipated, they were soon to be rejected from being the peculiar people of God, on account of their unbelief. Yet our Lord did not often insist on such a doctrine, because the Jews were not prepared to receive it. It would have prevented him from doing the good which he intended, by unnecessarily exciting prejudices against him. This doctrine was not to be concealed, but it

was to be made known in its proper time. Accordingly it is largely explained by the apostle Paul. So also at the present day, a minister must prepare the minds of his hearers, as much as he can, for the reception of the truth. In ordinary cases, however, he has, in this country, but litthe necessity of this in his public addresses, because people are generally informed as to the first principles of the Gospel. He is particularly bound to deliver the truth in its proper proportions. Private christians also are required to instruct those who are committed to their care, in the truth, as they are able to bear it. A child is to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." You would not begin with the abstruser points in theology any more than if you were teaching mathematics, you would begin with geometry. The foundation should be laid in first principles.

You are a professor of religion, and you have made some advances in the knowledge of the gospel. A man who knows nothing of the subject, (and unhappily there are some such, even in this favoured land,) comes to you for instruction. Now you would not begin with the abstruser points, how important soever those doctrines might be; for this plain reason, that your pupil is not yet able to bear such communications. An infant must be fed with milk. You would carefully lead him along to Jesus Christ, the Captain of our salvation. As you proceed, you would open divine knowledge to his view by degrees, as his faculties for comprehending it continued to expand. In imitation. of Jesus you would consider his education, his habits of life, his prejudices, and as far as your duty permitted, accommodate yourself to all these, that you might train him up for everlasting glory.

4. We learn from our subject the tender compassion of Jesus Christ.

It was from this amiable principle that he did not make known the full extent of evangelical truth, while he

was upon earth. When giving his farewell advice to his disciples, instead of upbraiding them for the little advances which they had made in divine knowledge while he had been with them; he felt for their infirmities. Because his disciples were, at that time, unable to bear them, be did not proceed in his instructions. In all his life and actions, as recorded by the Evangelists, we behold the same compassionate Jesus. When the widow of Nain was carrying her only son to the grave, he could not look on her but with compassion; and he commanded the dust to stand up alive. When he beheld the sisters of Lazarus weeping at the heavy loss which they had sustained, he wept also; and called the dead from the sleep of the grave. When he approached towards Jerusalem, and recollected the troubles which that devoted city was about to endure, he mourned over it in the tenderest manner. When denied by Peter, he looked the fallen disciple ints repen tance. When on the cross, he forgave his murderers, and breathed out a tender prayer that God would forgive them also.

Christians, the same compassionate Jesus is your friend. He can be touched with a feeling for your infirmities even on a throne of glory. He will bear with your imperfections and follies, as he did with those of his companions on earth. The burdens laid upon you, will be such, and such only as his grace will enable you to endure. The Lord knoweth them that are his, and marketh out their portion accordingly, that none of them may lose eternal life.

Ye who have but just entered on a religious course, the Lord Jesus has many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Many and great are the struggles which you are to have with a sinful heart; many and great are the troubles which you are to endure while travelling on to heaven; many and great also are the blessed consolations which the Lord Jesus will give you in all these con

flicts with your spiritual enemies and in partaking of the common woes of humanity. You know not what is before you in life, and it is best you should not know. His Providence will gradually unfold the part which you are to act. Could you look down the vale of time, and take a view of the scenes through which you must pass, your hearts would sink within you at the prospect of sorrow, and overlook the joys which will be scattered along the road. Could you be certain, at the beginning of your course, that you are the true disciple of Jesus, it might slacken your diligence in the Christian calling, and thus bring upon you many a woe to which you are now strangers. Could you look forward with an undoubting confidence to the crown of glory, it might take away your humility, and inflate you with spiritual pride. Doubts and fears are permitted to molest you, not to give you uneasiness merely, but to quicken your diligence in making your calling and election sure.

Aged saints, whose heads are whitened by the frosts of many winters, and whose hearts beat high with expectation of immortal life, little do you know how precious that hope is which you now feel to be an anchor of the soul. Little do you realize the value of that crown which awaits you. Little do you imagine the extent of that ocean of happiness on which you are shortly to embark. Could you now be made acquainted with the joy which another world will reveal, those frail tenements of clay which you inhabit, would dissolve, and crumble away under the mighty weight. The soul while detained in its earthly house, is unable to bear the delights of the Paradise above. Out of mercy to your weakness therefore, the Lord Jesus does not suffer you now to conceive that fullness of joy which you are shortly to experience.

Impenitent sinners, could you lift the veil which conceals eternity from your view, your souls would not only

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