said to His disciples, "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the Gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands; and in the world to come eternal life." The temporal benefits of religion are great; the spiritual benefits are greater; but as to the eternal, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him." It means, too, that no one shall stand between him and his advantage, so as to gain it from him. You know how often this is the case among men in their worldly concerns. But here is God speaking to His people-" They shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble: for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them." There is no uncertainty, therefore, in your gain, Christians. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." II. Let us pass to the second character and the second condition. " If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it." To scorn is to undervalue, or to treat with contempt. All disregard is a species or degree of contempt. If your servant disobeys your orders, it is a contempt of your authority; and if a fellowcreature in distress and want rejects your kindness and assistance, this is a contempt of your goodness. A sovereign desires not; the language always is," By command of his Majesty." So that neglect, you see, is always deemed disobedience and insult. And this is the case supremely with the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He 66 says, My son, go work to-day in My vineyard." The sin"I will not; I will stand here ner says, "I will not stir a step," says the sinner; "this is my rest; here will I dwell." Suppose a king were to issue a proclamation towards a rebellious province, declaring that whoever among the rebels would throw down their arms, and come in, should obtain pardon and life; and suppose they should refuse; why, what a contempt would there be of his clemency! what an avowal of their determination to oppose and to fight it out! This is the case with regard to sinners. God has achieved the plan of reconciliation, and sends forth His messengers, and condescends to beseech you to be reconciled unto God. What is the consequence? "All the day long," says He, "I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." What contempt, what scorn of God is here! "Behold, says He, "I stand at the door and knock." Which of you would endure a servant, who if he heard you, would detain you when knocking at the door two minutes? Men hear God-for He knocks loud; and there you have suffered Him to continue week after week, and year after year, knocking at the door of your heart, and still you keep Him out. What contempt and scorn is here! You see, therefore, that this part of our subject will not apply to the heathen. No; they never had the message, they never had the messengers, sent to them. They therefore do not "neglect so great salvation;" they do not "turn away from Him who speaketh from heaven;" they do not "trample under foot the Son of God;" they do not "judge themselves unworthy of eternal life." All this belongs to those to whom the Word of this salvation is sent. You scorn His authority in the law, and transgress it; and you scorn His grace in the Gospel, and you will not submit yourselves to the righteousness which is of God. Thus you oppose His dearest command, which is to believe on the name of His Son. Thus you rob Him of His highest honour; thus you "frustrate the grace of God," and make Jesus Christ to be dead in vain." Thus of His own Son, whom He has set Himself upon His holy hill of Zion to rule and reign you, the citizens say, "We will not have this Man to reign all the day idle." He says, "My son, over us. give Me thine heart." He says, "I will not give it; I will prefer giving it to the world and the devil.' What contempt is here! He says, "Arise and depart." Then behold the condemnation. "Thou alone shalt bear it." Bear what? why bear the scorning? What of the scorning? why, the consequences. What of the conse | punishment also. "Every man," says the apostle, "shall bear his own burden." That is, as St. Paul says in another place, "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God," and abide by the result. If others be punished for endeavouring to destroy you, their destruction will not relieve you at all. "If the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch;" but the destruction of the leader will be no relief to the follower in his perdition. There will be none, therefore, to aid you in bearing it; you alone must bear it. Community in sin is no excuse; community in suffering is often one of the greatest grievances. Here many may help you to bear your burden; who will, or who can, help you to bear it then? Abraham, kind as he was, would not send a drop of water to cool the tongue of Dives in answer to his prayer, nor send a messenger to hinder the coming of his brethren into the place of torment. quences? why, the blame, and the penalty. First, the blame. You alone will bear this-not God, as you now sometimes suppose. You will not be able to draw on His decrees, or upon His providence, or upon the constitution which He has given you; though now you avail yourselves of these things often, in order to extenuate your sin. No; God will say, "Hast thou not procured this unto thyself? Thine own wickedness shall hurt thee; thou hast destroyed thyself." When the king, therefore, came in to see the guests, and saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment, and he said unto him, "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment?"-he was speechless. Why was he speechless? Why did he not say, 'Oh! I was too ignorant to wear one, or too poor to purchase one?' Why, because he knew the state of the case; he knew the king would have immediately said, Why, there were garments enough in My wardrobe and in My But will not God help you? He is ante-chamber; and they were placed ready to help you now. He will help you there for the guests to take them and ap- now, all-sufficiently. Now is the time of pear in them.' Oh! he felt this; he your salvation. Then it will be too late. knew it arose from neglect, or pride, or Then he will say, "Because I have called contempt; and he was speechless. This and ye have refused, I have stretched will be the case with all hereafter, what-out My hand and no man regarded, but ever they may think now. He alone will bear it, and not the minister, if the minister has been faithful to his commission, and not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God, and kept back nothing that was profitable. No; he will be pure from his blood; and though there are some to whom he will be "the savour of death unto death," as well as some to whom he will be "the savour of life unto life, yet he will be "a sweet savour in Christ both in them that are saved, and in them that perish." He will not be answerable for his success, but only for his fidelity. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." He alone will bear it, and not those who have aided in his destruction—not the devil himself. They tempted indeed, but they did not force him. The devil tempted Adam, but he could not compel him to eat; he always had a motive to refuse infinitely stronger than any motive to compliance; and if he could not have resisted in his own strength, there was God standing by and saying, "Let him take hold of My strength;" and by this we can do all things. And he alone, secondly, will bear the ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but shall not find Me." Will not death help you then? No; they shall seek death, but shall not find it; they shall "desire to die," it is said, "but death shall flee from them”—refusing in eternity to shield from wrath those who refuse to receive the offers of mercy and grace now. Well, you have seen both the characters and the conditions. You have seen the wise wise for themselves; you have seen the scorner alone bearing it. What is the consequence? There was nothing more ridiculed among the Puritans and the Nonconformists (and the ministers of the Church at the same period), than their distinct and separate addresses to their people, in what they called "a word to saints, and a word to sinners;" for the fact was, that those who thus ridiculed them, had no notion that two states comprehended all mankind. They would allow there were some very bad, who stood in need of conversion; but there were others, as they imagined, who only wanted a little improvement. But did not those who were thus despised fall in with the com mands of God? Does not God say, "Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hand shall be given him?" Did they not obtain the Divine approbation? "If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth." Did they not follow inspired example? Did not the forerunner of our Saviour say, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on him?" Did not Solomon say, "He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh it shall find mercy?" And does not Solomon deal in the same way here? Is not here a word for the saint and a word for the sinner? "If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it.' And therefore, according to our measure and degree, we have been pursuing the right course. We have this evening set good and evil, blessing and cursing, life and death before you; and by the terrors of the law, by the love of your own souls, by your wish to escape the damnation of hell, and by your wish to obtain a share in the glory which is to be revealed, we call upon you to choose life. Who will accept this call? Will you, ye aged? Your day is nearly gone; and the work is not yet begun. What a condition are you in! All behind you guilt, and all before you It is time, high time, for you to awake out of sleep; and blessed be God, it is not yet too late. ruin! Or will you, ye afflicted and distressed? and so have the valley of Achor given you for a door of hope, and so have no more laid upon you than He will enable to bear, and so as your day find your strength, and so have an abundant entrance ministered unto you into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Saviour, when the days of your mourning shall be ended and He will wipe away the last tears from your eyes. we Oh! let me say to each of you, in the language of the apostle to the Romans, "Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God?" You may wonder, perhaps, that we are in such earnestness with you; but you will not wonder at all soon; you will soon only wonder, that we were not much more in earnest with you. We ourselves often wonder at ourselves, when reflect that we are not more in earnest with you; for we see what you see not; we can see behind you; we see there death behind you and hell behind death. Can you wonder, therefore, that we are importunate in urging you to escape from the wrath to come?" still wonder that we should be so earnest ? Oh! let the warning of Solomon, and the encouragement of James fully justify us. "If thou forbear," says Solomon, "to deliver them that are drawn unto death and are ready to be slain, if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not" (when thou mightest have known it, and oughtest to have known it), "doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it, and He that keepeth thy soul doth not He Do you Will you, ye young, before the evil days shall come, and the years draw nigh in which ye shall say "I have no pleasure in them?" Now, your body enjoys its health and strength, your mind its activity and vigour, your fancy its sprightliness, your memory its tenacious-know it? and shall He not render to every ness, your passions their glow; and all call upon you to seek the Lord; and He is saying, "I love them that love Me and they that seek Me early shall find Me." And if you die early, early death will be early glory and if you should have grey hairs, being found in the way of man according to his works?" "If any of you do err from the truth," says James, "and one convert him; let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins." Amen. THE EIGHTEENTH OF A COURSE OF LECTURES ON THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. BY THE REV. T. GOUGH, Sen. DELIVERED AT WESTBURY LEIGH CHAPEL, ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, APRIL 8, 1838. "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and 1 will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but. I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."-Rev. iii. 4, 5. Ir is a scriptural truth, that "to the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. Indeed "light is sown for the righteous, and gladness" (not for the hypocrite, but) "for the upright in heart." "Sown;" where? In the field of Holy Writ-in the promises of the eternal God. You perceive an exemplification of this, my hearers, in the words of my text. Hitherto the epistle to this church has borne a very sable hue, or, in better language, a dark complexion. Charges are exhibited, and exhortations are given and followed up, in the most pointed and affectionate manner. I have told you, we had a brighter subject before us this morning; a subject with which we take our leave of the church in Sardis. You observe, dear hearers, in the most degenerate times and seasons, God has had His distinguished few. It was so in the time of Malachi; so here. The Saviour says, "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis." Bad as it is, cursed as the mass is" a few names who have not defiled their garments. As though He had said, I have had my eye upon them; I have honours for them another day. "They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy." And these holy conquer ors further" shall be confessed before My Father and His holy angels." The spiritually-minded soul will be exalted in that day, when a vast deal that glistens and glitters here will meet with the Saviour's disapprobation. God Almighty grant us His Holy Spirit in our medita tions. "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and His angels." Observe, these words come from Christ. It is not worth while to take up the time with regard to the personal pronoun. I am inclined to think this was spoken to the pastor of the church in Sardis; and he must have been almost broken-hearted, unless “like priest, like people." I should hope he was not sunk with them. Now if this was directed to him, and I think it was, I should suppose it was thrown in as a source of consolation and comfort. Next to the life of sinners, is the alliance of professors; the unholy minglings of those who should separate. Dear hearers, I know I am speaking strongly, but I am speaking on a subject which has broken many a minister's heart; and touching a chord the apostle touched in writing to the Philippians, when he said, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christwhose end is destruction-whose God is their belly-and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things." There's a weeping pastor! circumstances have very materially affected him. Now, if we consider this in part the case with regard to the church at Sardis, we may suppose the Redeemer looks down from His throne, and sets His foot upon His footstool earth, and says, "Thou hast a few names" in union and in fellowship, and First, dear hearers, we have the testimony which the Saviour throws in with regard to some in Sardis-" Thou hast a few names, which have not defiled their garments." Secondly; we have the glorious" they have not defiled their garments." and undying promises given respecting them; their purity, their peace, their endless bliss. Afew minutes on each of these. God be gracious unto us, and bless us. A Christian might always consider that things are never so bad but they might be worse-" It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed." And if a remnant stand and withstand the tide- this warring against the soul; it is if there are 66 a few names" left-we against the comfort, the peace, and the should recollect, it is as the apostle says, prosperity of the soul. Some could read "If the Lord had not done so and so, we lectures on this subject from bitter and should have been as the general mass." painful experience, were they to unfold I do not want to enlarge on the subject the scene. of majority, and narrow your minds with regard to the Church of God; but when we look at a world containing so many millions, and even when we come within the precincts of those who are professors, how few professors! how many hear the sound of the Gospel that have no religion! among the members, how many sink into a lukewarm state! I will not enlarge here. "A few names even in Sardis." Behold the power of Divine grace! We have sometimes sung on seeing a Christian preserved and kept "See a stone that hangs in air; See a spark in ocean live." Let us come to facts. Descend into your own hearts; there's a scene, there's a sink! One chamber of imagery, and another! And if you have not gone down with the stream of the world, you are a wonder to yourself, and must ascribe it to Divine grace. Of Sardis we have not much to say; it increased in riches; and where places increase in weath and population, they generally increase in pride and debauchery, and every thing that is bad, unless God Almighty frustrate it. We are in a world comparable to pitch-we can hardly touch it without some of it adhering to us. Our Lord having given His testimony in favour of this church, meets them with promises immensely rich, great and glorious "They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment." I have already supposed these people to have had a mighty struggle; and perhaps they found it hard to stand. They had to conflict with the adversary, as well as the abominable principles of latent nature; they had to resist "unto blood striving against sin." Now, says He, "they shall walk with Me in white." I should suppose this promise contains two things-walking with the dear Redeemer here, and being honoured and glorified by Him hereafter. Now, in the first place, I think nothing constitutes so much of religion herenothing under the heavens constitutes so much of the Christian's peace and comfort—as when enabled to walk by faith in communion with his Lord, in nearness to his dear Redeemer. How much is said of one and another, that walked with God! Brethren, this does not intend merely close walk in spirit and practice; but walking also in the enjoyment of the presence of Christ. There is a "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, precious promise in John to this effectwhich have not defiled their garments; "If we walk in the light, as He is in the and they shall walk with Me in white, light, we have fellowship one with for they are worthy. He that overcometh, another, and the blood of Jesus Christ the same shall be clothed in white rai- His Son cleanseth us from all sin." The ment; and I will not blot out his name most blessed hours the soul can possibly out of the book of life, but I will confess have are those spent in nearness of spirit his name before My Father and before and enjoyment unto Him. Now walking His angels." The term "garments" is with Christ in the enjoyment of His metaphorical, as are a great many ex-society, certainly proclaims two things; pressions in the Apocalypse. There are garments of profession. I have no idea that you can stain the righteousness of the Son of God, that you can pollute the glorious garment of salvation; if sin could do it, it would have been done. But these are preserved and sustained yes, they have through grace hated the very garments spotted by the flesh." God had enabled them to stand! under such an injunction as this-" Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." You know my ideas about -oh! 66 agreement and some conformity. Dear hearers, if indeed we are favoured with this privilege, it is a sign we have been reconciled to God by the blood of His Son. Now all that brings the soul into the enjoyment of Christ, is indeed of God. How much has been done for us, if we have been brought to walk in spirit with our Lord-in the enjoyment of nearness and communion with Him! And if this could be perfect here, it would form a heaven upon earth. There is an undying charm in being with such a character. |