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in that nature, as you and I are, in all points tempted as you and I are, the thought seems to swallow up all language. We seem incapable of thinking what it is. The humiliation is so deep, we have no plumb-line, that can go towards its depths. I believe it to be so vast, that if I did not see it in God's Word, I should pronounce the imagination of it blasphemy. I simply believe it, because God says it. And then, I think for whom it was He gave Himself. For sinners. And what is a sinner? One that sets at nought the authority of God, the character of God, the goodness of God, the holiness of God, the justice of God, the love of God. Is this the being, for whom the Lord Jesus was "made sin ?" Oh! what depths and heights of unutterable love are here! And then, I mark the blessednesses that hang upon it-ah! that you and I may know more of them, as we pass through this poor world: full pardon, complete acceptance, a "good hope through grace," "no condemnation," access to God, the sanctifying power of the Spirit, the Holy Ghost indwelling. Happiness?-yes, all happiness; there is no happiness, but amongst the saints of God. And heaven in prospect; and all coming through the deep, ineffable love of Christ to His Church and people. Two or three remarks, and I close.

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Here is a door of unutterable consolation opened to us, in the midst of a world of desolation. I see the blessed Jesus giving the most unspeakable proofs of His love. He gives His time, He gives His comfort; He gives His body, He gives His soul, He gives His humanity; as a man, He was a poor man, a mean man, a despised man, and "had not where to lay His head;" He was indeed as the offscouring of all things;" and this, for the Church, dear to Him " the apple of His eye." Why should I ever be cast down? If you and I are believers on His blessed name, if we have really committed our souls to Him, if we have betaken ourselves to Him, let us live upon this truth, and we shall look up; let us live upon this truth, and we shall live on high; let us live upon this truth, and we shall be conformed to His image. Ah! beloved, often have I been made to see this: precepts are precious, but no precept ever yet made me to love God; it cannot do it; doctrine applied, the promise embodied, is that which gives life to the precept. And consequently, we may go on with preceptive preaching, till our hearers are as dead as the boards they sit upon. We want to urge them to live upon Christ, to live upon the cross, and then bring in the precept. Is there any thing, that so lifts me up, and so sanctifies, as when I can realisé, in the midst of all I am, though I am what I am, " He loved me, and gave Himself for me?" And is it only past love—" He loved ?" Oh! it is an ever present love, that He has towards His people. It is in

the past tense here-" He loved;" but observe the twenty-ninth verse-it is in the present tense there: "no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church." As it was with you and me through the past week; as it was with us this morning; as it may be with us now; as it may be with us in the rest of the day: the nourishing, present, ever tender love of an ever loving Lord. Is it a partial love? He " gave Himself" for His Church; He gives "Himself" to His Church. All He is He gives to her; Himself he gives to her; a Brother, a Friend, an Advocate, a Sympathiser, a Husband-God-Lord-ALL !

My dear hearers, the love of the best of God's saints has its ebbs and flows, as you and I have often felt; it has made our hearts ache. Yet do not be too hard towards others-think of yourselves: how many are the ebbings and flowings of your love towards others! But here there is no ebb and flow; full tide ever, spring tide; at its highest always. He loves His people, out of darkness into light; out of death into life; out of the power of Satan into the kingdom of God. He loves them into love-loves them into heaven-loves them into God's presence-and will there fill them with His love to all eternity.

Here is a door of unutterable comfort, then, amidst the desolations of the world.

But another door opens: it is a door of solemn inquiry. If the Church of God is so dear to Him, what do you and I for the Church of God? I know what we are commanded to do; we are commanded to "lay down our lives for the brethren." You immediately say, (just as of the duties of wives,)—' This is too strict.' This is what the Lord commands: that as He laid down His life for His Church, so the people of God ought to be willing to lay down their lives for their brethren. Then I ask-the door of solemn inquiry opened-what do you and I for the Church of God? It is an unearthly Church; but it is one of its great blessings, that it has that in it, which opens the door to all exertion, and has the power to employ every gift and all grace. Has a man the gift to teach the young? There is the School. Has a man the gift-it is a great gift, (oftentimes those who preach, find it harder than standing up in a pulpit,)—to go and visit a dying man, and speak to him: friends all weeping around, he in an agony the gift, to be tender, uncompromising, and yet of a yielding heart? Has a man the gift, to go to the poor, and the sick, and the dying? There is the Benevolent Society. Has he a still higher gift-and yet I would not say a higher, but another-that of speaking to a sinner, a downright sinner, an ungodly man, a man that fears not God and laughs in his face, sneers at Him; a foul Sab

bath-breaker, one who takes God's name in vain as he speaks to him, and sets him at scorn? Has he the gift to go to such a man in meekness, and beseech him to be reconciled to God? There is the Christian Instruction Society. Or, do we feel-what we ought to feel— our solemn obligations to spread the Gospel all around; not to confine it to one party, or one segment, but to spread the truth as far as we can, all around? There is the Missionary Society. I would say, there ought not to be one in our Church, that does not signify his allegiance to Christ in some department. We have our meeting on Friday: those who cannot give their money, can give their presence; and those who are kept at home, can give us their prayers. There is not one in the Church, but has something to do for Him, who "loved the Church, and gave Himself for it."

But perhaps you think, while I speak thus, the door of hope is shut upon the sinner. I should be grieved to think that; I believe just the opposite. The great truth before us is, He gave Himself for sin. True, it was for His own people He gave Himself, it was for His Church He died; but I see the Brazen Serpent lifted up in in the midst of a dying world, and I hear from God's own lips, that whosoever looketh shall be healed. I perceive a Fountain "opened for sin and for uncleanness ;" and wherefore opened? That every poor sinner, conscious of his pollution, may come and be assured that there is healing and salvation to be found there. I love to see the four-square Brazen Altar, with its horn upon each of its angles; I love to see it spreading out, as it were, the blessed tidings of salvation north, south, east and west-the declaration that whosoever believeth shall be saved. My dear hearers, if I were a shipwrecked sailor hanging upon a rock, and a vessel were to come to me with a broad invitation to come on board, I should never ask for whom the vessel was built; if the invitation was brought, and the boat was sent to fetch me, I should go on board. Oh! let me remember the breadth of the invitation: "Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out." It is not the secret purpose, it is the broad invitation, it is the free welcome, the invitation to penniless, moneyless sinners, that gives us the warrant to come. Ah! if any are brought now to this Lord, I am sick and dying; I know nothing of secret purpose,' (when was secret purpose ever the rule of action to any man?) but here is Thy broad invitation:' oh! that thou mayest welcome it; and then thou shalt have the blessedness of going to thy rest with"He loved me and gave Himself for me,"

A SECOND SERMON,

BY THE REV. J. H. EVANS, M.A. PREACHED AT JOHN STREET CHAPEL, KING'S ROAD, BEDFORD ROW, ON SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 8, 1844.

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word."-Ephesians v. 25, 26.

WE have considered* the love of Jesus to His Church: in its antiquity-before all worlds; in its unutterable tenderness-language exhausting itself (as it were) in showing it forth; and in its durationall through time, and all through eternity. We have considered who it was that gave Himself-even the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, He who is "over all, God blessed for ever." We have considered what He gave; it was nothing less than Himself. And then we also regarded for what He gave Himself; it was for our sins: And I endeavoured to lay stress on that point in it, that this is the distinguishing love of Jesus to His Church. Not that love that a man has for others, and which he may have without sin; but that love which the husband has to his wife; peculiar, personal, and distinguishing. And I remarked, that His love was manifested in two different points of view: first of all in what Ile did; and then in the object for which He did it. And the objects are two-(two here specified, I should say, because there are various other objects) — first, that "He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word;" and then, that "He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." The first of these we will now consider, the Lord helping us. First of all, remark, that there is, in this passage, sanctification set forth by the expression, "washing of water;" in the next place, observe, that this sanctification is "by the Word;" and then, thirdly, note, that this was one great object wherefore He gave Himself" that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word; that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

* See ante No. 364.

VOL. XI. -No. 367.-January 9, 1845.

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I. With regard to the first of these points, sanctification, as set forth by the expression, "washing of water." I sometimes meet, not often, with men, who understand by this "washing of water". the ordinance of baptism. Great, and I believe very important results stand connected with the ordinance of baptism; yet it seems out of all reason, and out of all Scripture, to suppose this to refer to the ordinance of baptism. So they understand that tenth of Hebrews and the twenty-second verse "let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." We shall hear more of this; we shall hear abundance of sermons on this hear them I would not, but one shall hear that they are preached. But if it were not for the serious error that it embraces, it would almost lead one to smile at such a ridiculous absurdity; for to suppose that an entrance into the holiest, depends on the purity of the water in baptism-it is monstrous! I dare not say that there is no allusion to baptism in it; but there is something infinitely higher, above and beyond it. We are led to that water that is from heaven-" whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst, but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." It sets forth a far higher truth; it sets forth the sanctifying power of the Spirit; according to that passage-"not according to our works, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." It sets forth, beloved, the sanctifying power of the Spirit. And let it be no objection to say, this refers to the work of Jesus-that "He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." Nothing is more common, beloved, than that we should find one work of one peculiar person ascribed to one of the Eternal Three, though, strictly speaking, it belongs to another. The reason is manifest; because there is such unity of purpose, design, and object, in the triune God, that one work may be sometimes ascribed to one of the eternal Three, though strictly it belongs to another. Observe, in the second epistle to the Thessalonians second chapter and sixteenth and seventeenth verses" Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace; com

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