Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

throw! It is His grace that makes | principal particular in our text, to

which our Saviour especially calls our attention in our own application of it; and that is, THAT OUR BLESSED REDEEMER EXECUTES THIS Work OF MERCY FOR THE SINNER WITH PLEASURE. "He layeth it on his shoulder, rejoicing." And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them,

the sinner now inquire, with an earnestness which is irrepellerable, what he must do to be saved. It is His grace that makes him, notwithstanding all the jeers of the world, separate from that world that has too long ensnared and enchanted him. It is His grace that prepares his heart to receive those truths which now begin to penetrate and melt him. It is His" Rejoice with me; for I have found grace, and his grace alone, that effects such a transformation of the soul, that he becomes a new creature, feeling now the exercise of a lively hope quite different from that state of unbelief, that death in trespasses and sins, under which he before mourned. It is, in short, his grace, and his grace alone, by which that sinner is carried on step by step till he becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus; what he formerly hated now he loves, and that which he formerly loved now he hates; and venerates the characters which he calumniated before, because he could not comprehend them, and feels a delight in those employments, from which he was before so utterly alienated, and longs for interest in those blessings which seemed to him before so insipid and so worthless.

my sheep which was lost." We have here an undoubted disclosure of that disposition of mind, with which our exalted Saviour regards each sinner whom he recovers by his grace. He rejoices over his restoration and happiness: "He lays him on his shoulder rejoicing." He has been pleased to tell us what is in his heart; so that he who feels that, through divine grace, he is at length surrendering himself to the guidance and government of this good shepherd, may feel a certainty that the Lord Jesus is rejoicing over his recovery. When any one is converted by the grace of GOD, the world affects to pity the loss of his former enjoyments, and that he has now betaken himself to a life of austerity, gloom, and self-denial; and can see nothing in that conversion but matter, either for ridicule or mourning. And even Christians see not, with sufficient plainness, how large a source of joy is opened for each disciple of Christ when a sinner is thus recovered. But if there is little joy in earth over the event, our Lord has told us there is joy in heaven:-" Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.", Those ministering angels that watch over the heirs of salvation rejoice. over his recovery; and GoD and Christ rejoice over him too. Nor is there cause for wonder; for, when we look at the recovered sinner, we behold one who was lately a slave of And this leads us to that last, and sin and satan now brought into the glo

All this has been effected by the grace of Christ in the case of each returning sinner; for the Good Shepherd has gone to seek and to save that which was lost, and has thus exactly answered that remarkable expression in our text "he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." It is His strength that brings the wanderer back; it is by his Almighty power that he is brought from the dangers, that environed him, into a place of safety; that his reluctance was overcome, and that he was led to have a place among the people of GOD and to share in their blessings.

[ocr errors]

rious liberty of the children of God a liberty far more precious than that personal or civil freedom for which multitudes have been content to bleed and die. When we look at the recovered sinner, we see one who was lately a prey to many sorrows, at last having discovered the secret of true happiness here on earth; there is one, who, instead of diffusing mischief while he lives, will spend a life at once blameless and beneficent; there is one, who, while he lived, would have poured foul dishonour on his Saviour's name, but who, now, will live and glorify him; there is one who was shut out from all the best blessings we know on earth, who now has found and will enjoy them; there is one who would have frustrated all the chief ends of our existence, and now through grace will eventually fulfil them. There seems to be but a little change; it seems but a little more love; or a little more virtue, a little more happiness to which he is introduced. So it seems to the casual and superficial observer: but that virtue and that happiness is immortal and eternal. It is, indeed, but a little fountain that the grace of GoD has made to gush forth in the desert; but it will surely swell into a river, it will certainly expand eventually into an ocean. It has no limit by human thought or human observation for we must extend our thoughts beyond the present if we would measure the amount of those blessings which are created in the event of each sinner's restoration to the favour of GOD. He is capable of an infinity of happiness, and will throughout eternity, pass through long scenes of enchantment and wonder, each rising above the other till his soul is filled with all the fulness of GOD. It is true that angels will have celestial glory, but here is one who will have that glory, who, but for this recovery,

would have been shut up in all the torments of the damned: it is true that angels are also perfect in celestial holiness, but here is one perfectly holy who was fast ripening into a perfect conformity to the prince of darkness; it is true that angels in their glory, their joy, their felicity, and their goodness, will render praise to GOD for ever and ever; but here is one who will render much higher praise, inasmuch as there is far more condescension manifested in the recovery of a rebel, than in the preservation of the sinless, and far more mercy in the sacrifice of the redeemed than in the power that created; and so does this recovered sinner magnify for ever and ever the great and glorious GOD and their gracious Saviour, far more than those sinless spirits that have never fallen and need no repentance. Perhaps, as Calvin has interpretated it, the passage may refer to those sinless beings when our Lord says, that, "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance." But, if not, and if it refers rather to that gladness which fills the mind of angels at the moment of a sinner's recovery, more than over the contemplation of those long since rescued by grace-something like that overwhelming joy of a parent who feels more joy in the restoration of a recovered child than he would, for a moment, in the virtue and in the filial kindness of those who had never left his roof-be this as it may we cannot doubt that this should be a source of joy in heaven, since it is manifest that the recovered sinner will in fact illustrate the perfections of GOD, more, to all eternity, than the sinless angels. So that when our Saviour rejoices over him; he knew all the dangers that environed, all the guilt which he had accumulated, all

him feel that, if Christ rejoices over him, he has far more need himself to be interested in that recovery. What, to the Lord of Glory, who fills heaven and earth with his ma

the misery which he would have experienced, the full extent of those threatenings that menaced him, and he rejoices: he knew likewise the immensity of that good to which now he will be introduced, and so he re-jesty,-what to him is the restoration joices over his recovery. Not all the magnificence of the empire over which he presides as the vicegerent of GOD-not all the homage of those glorious angels that ever counted it their highest honour to cast their crowns before him-not all the felicity which fills our Redeemer's heart -can ever make him forget, can ever make him cease to regard with interest, the case of each single recovered sinner. And any one in this assembly who feels through grace, the first contrite melting of heart, and the first sincere and prevailing desire to have an interest in Christ, may rest fully and peacefully assured, that the Lord of glory does rejoice when his soul is converted and saved.

of a worm like man? What is it to Him that the sinner should be saved or perish? What interest has he but that which only divine benevo |lence gives him? But the sinner has a deep and thrilling interest, to him his soul is himself-his very all, and it were better that he should lose the whole world than lose his soul, and there is nothing he may wisely give in exchange for it. And, therefore, let him now desire that the Saviour of sinners should rejoice over his recovery, instead of seeing him yet wandering on, as foolish as he is criminal, as obdurate as he is both.

But there is one more truth to which the passage, in the last place, calls our serious attention. Our Lord, unquestionably, by those whom he terms the friends of the shepherd, here refers to those angelic beings who have a benevolent joy in the re

But if this be so indeed, and he sees of the travail of his soul and is satisfied, when, with the knowledge of Him, each individual sinner is justified, what an exceedingly impres-storation of their fellow creatures on sive motive does this present to each one who is yet careless in his sins to seek an interest in that Saviour. Why is it that Christ rejoices over the recovered sinner, but because he knows the deep need there is for that recovery, because he is well aware of the extent of that disaster which threatens the sinner: which he either believes not, or the weight of which he has imperfectly comprehended,-because he knows the real solid nature of those blessings which such restoration will procure, though now the sinner, in his folly and blindness, may scorn them? Oh, let each unconverted person feel, this night, a desire to be the object of the Redeemer's joy; let

earth. But has he confined that name of his "friends" only to the angelic host? He said to his disciples, "henceforth I call you not servants, but I have called you friends." And not with reference to his contemporaries, does the apostle, in the epistle to the Hebrews, say, "he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Now, if his people are his brethren and his friends, his brethren and his friends on earth must have the character of those whom he styles his friends in heaven. If those who are his friends in heaven rejoice with him over the restored sinner, what must

those who are comparatively stran-, gers to them in the flesh, to come to Christ and live? Is it not him who. can visit the degraded in the courts and the alleys of our city, to carry thither the saving name of Christ? Is it not those who pity the prisoner in his distress? Is it not those who cannot look at the darkness of a benighted world without the deepest commiseration? Is it not those who are anxious to see the Bible circulated through every province, city, and hamlet, and placed in every house? Is it not those who count no exertion too great by which sin

be the proper disposition then of his friends on earth? Can they be his friends on earth who are so dissimilar to his friends in heaven? Who are his friends-who among you, my brethren, can have that high and honourable name? Is it not those who, like him, rejoice over returning sinners, to whom it is not a matter of indifference whether their fellow men around them perish in sin or rejoice in salvation? Is it not those who have an heart to pity lost souls, who feel that they cannot but make it a matter of praise when the sinner is recovered, and, therefore, a matter of prayer while the sinner is perish-ners may be rescued from eternal ing? Is it not those who will ever join effort with prayer, and feel that intense desire to save souls that they count not a little labour too much to save them, nor a little effort too much if they may be the honoured instruments of Christ, in rescuing them from the ruin, that they in some measure comprehend? Who are the friends of Christ but they who cannot leave the sinner alone in his sins, those whose hearts yearn over their unconverted children and servants, their ungodly friends and relations; those who cannot look with a dry eye and hard heart on their dreadful prospect; those who have faith enough to realize the condition of the lost sinner, and faith enough in the Saviour to believe his readiness to bless their dependent efforts, and an earnestness of spirit which will not let them rest without those efforts which they are able in their places to make? Who are the friends of Christ but those who feel that it is really one of the principal objects they have in life, one of the greatest ends for which life is prolonged, one of the chief affairs they have to transact on earth, is, if possible, to recover and compel those near and dear to them, nay,

ruin, who will not let their charity be extinguished by a little coldness and contempt, nor a little asperity; who are patient in bearing what they must endure, in striving to rescue sinners; who will seize every opportunity presented in the intercourses of life; who are ready, when the happy moment comes, when sorrow opens the heart, to pour in the balm of consolation; who are glad to seize on the moment when the curiosity of any one is excited, to give him the clearest views of those blessed truths by which the soul may be enlightened and saved? Is it not those who are ready, in season and out of season, to seize on every opportunity and means, which the providence of GOD presents to them, to rescue souls from ruin, who count it not a trifling matter, who think not that their duty is done while there is one soul to be saved who is perishing in sin? Is it not him who when his efforts are baffled, will go unweariedly to the throne of grace, and there, with that effectual and fervent prayer that availeth much, supplicate, with intense earnestness, and constant faith, that blessed Saviour who is waiting to be gracious, and ready to hear his

prayers? Is it not him who is ready to cross continents and oceans, that he may carry to destitute transgressors the name of Christ; who will surrender himself to savages, and cut himself off from the enjoyments of civilized life-who cares not for the pestilence in one climate and the frost in another who is willing to forego the comforts he once enjoyed, and even to part with the friends of his own soul, if only he may be the instrument which Christ employs to save souls! These are His friends whom he calls, with him, to rejoice over recovered sinners. But if those who have embraced the doctrines of the Gospel, who have supported the Gospel ministry, who are associated with christian friends, who read religious works, who daily peruse the Scriptures, have nothing of this spirit -can live in the midst of an ungodly, dying, sinful, rebellious, wretched world, as though it were a smiling paradise, and they had only to lull their spirits by a song of many joys in this paradise on earth, before they went to their paradise in heaven; who were ready for no effort, no toils, and are making no prayers for those ruined souls, are these Christ's friends? Oh! consider, brethren, what can be this profession! Is it possible those who share not his feelings, and have a character so dissimilar to his, can be in fact his friends? Is there not something false and hollow in this profession? Would real religion desire such miserable fruits? Can

those who consent to spend a whole life as though those around them had no souls, can these be, indeed, Christ's followers? Beloved friends, consider, (for even those who are real christians have matter for serious consideration here), consider if Christ rejoices over the recovered soul, we must rejoice too;

and if we must rejoice over the recovered, we must mourn over the lost; and if that mourning over the lost is genuine, it must prompt to unwearied effort. And say not that! you are unfitted for this usefulness, ask for and get the spirit of energy, the solemnity of mind, that will make you useful. It is not natural endowment; but it is the power of grace that makes one useful. And there is none so lowly, and there is none so weak, and there is none so illiterate, but if only grace make him earnest in spirit, and charitable in his disposition, and pitying to the lost, he can and he will be the honoured instrument of his Lord, in plucking sinners as brands from the burning. Let no one say that he must be unprofitable, but go to the throne of grace, and get that true christian character that will make each a light to a darkened world, the salt of a corrupted circle, the means of holding forth the word of life to those who, but for you, would never see it. I charge it, my Christian brethren, on your consciences and may God set it home on mine-that we are sent for the recovery of transgressors, that it is our bounden duty; in neglecting which we are as criminal as in any positive transgression, And let us unweariedly seek from him that temper of mind, seeing, blessed be his name, the same when seen is lovely; and by which the humble, the most modest the most retiring, and the most considerate of those who violate no proprieties in life, of those who seize every occasion but do not force their efforts when the occasion is not presented, are made continually the instruments of His grace in recovering so many from their ways. If only the real disciples of Christ in this one congregation in this city, were thoroughly persuaded of their call to share in the beneficient work of the Redeemer,

[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »