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way of illustration, at 1 Cor. iv; and you will remember, I am sure, many other passages, and especially many in these two epistles to the Corinthians, where the apostle enlarges upon his own especially intense sufferings; "For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you." As Christ's death was an act of intense suffering, so his apostles after Him, and his Church generally, are made to pass through sufferings whereby they are conformed to Him in his death.

Then, "if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Now he does not here speak, beloved, of the resurrection of the last day,— for that is what I want to caution you about,—he does not here speak of the resurrection of the last day, but expresses his anxiety that he might act the part of the risen man whilst he was yet in the flesh. "If by any means,"—that is, in order that by all means,—“ 1

might arrive at the resurrection of the dead;" that is, I aim, whilst yet I am walking about in a body of flesh, to feel, speak, think, and act, as though I had put off that body of flesh, and were now clothed with the spiritual, the resurrection body of Jesus Christ.

Then, beloved, what is my word of exhortation with reference to this subject? O, beloved, it is that you enter into the consideration of the resurrection of Christ, the power which was shown in it, the power which was communicated to Him in the instant: and that, so entering into the consideration of that twofold power, you may be led to be willing partakers of the sufferings of Christ. Beloved, I have on a former occasion stated the reason for those sufferings. Why must the people of God be a people afflicted? Because by their afflictions they show that they are sinners. If they be not sinners, they could not be the subjects of affliction under a just, an all-just God. But by their afflictions they bear witness that they are sinners. And if they are sinners raised to glory, why then, they are sinners raised by mercy unto glory. Grace therefore is acted in a way of mercy, which is the highest grace, which is the grace of the Selfexistent. And thus the sufferings of the people of God are a testimony to the self-existence of the Most Highest. But that is travelling a little out of the way. My desire is only that you may be led by the contemplation of Christ's death and resurrection to be willing partakers and partners with Him and his people

in the sufferings of the present life; remembering that beautiful word in Rom. viii; "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." But then go on, as you will be naturally led, from this consideration of the sufferings which Christ bore and to which you are called,—go on, I say, to consider how, and how only, you can be made willing to be this sufferer. Why truly, it is by living above the flesh whilst you are clothed in flesh; it is by living as though you had only your spiritual body, when as you have yet to die.

Easter Day, April 19, 1829.

SERMON XVIII.

PHIL. iii. 11.

IP BY ANY MEANS I MIGHT ATTAIN UNTO THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.

In a former Sermon I endeavoured to show you what this attainment is which the apostle here declares himself to covet: that it is not the resurrection of the last day, but a present entering into the state of the resurrection of the blessed dead. Now that this is the particular object which he has in view, it may be necessary that I should endeavour to satisfy you, before I proceed in discoursing upon it. You may have been led from the sound of the words to imagine that the anxiety he expresses is with regard to his resurrection at the Lord's coming. If such should be your apprehension, it is a mistaken one. You are aware he is arguing against what is called the judaizing error,— his object, his final object, being to bring the Church to unity, to a spirit of concord. And there stood in

the way to this spirit of concord a false opinion concerning the method of salvation. Some had crept into the Church, who taught that it was necessary to graft the law of Moses upon the gospel. Against this error he especially protests, declaring that if any one had ground of boasting in the Mosaic privileges, he was that person; but all this boast he disclaimed; those things which were gain to him he counted loss for Christ; yea, every thing he counted loss in comparison of, and in order that he might attain unto, the knowledge of Jesus Christ. This knowledge he then explains by resolving it into a certain particular; his anxiety was to "win Christ.” I noticed to you in my last Sermon that it is necessary to be particular in marking the time expressed by these several acts. The time is a past time. He had done all in the way of suffering loss, in order that he might have gained, that he might at a past moment have gained, Christ, and that he might at a past moment have been "found in Him," according to a juridical expression,-not having his own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by the faith, that is, by the gospel: that he might know, that is, that he might at a past moment have known Christ,-have entered into a thorough knowledge of the interior of the substance and relations, the person and various properties and connections, of the Lord Jesus Christ,-and that he might at a past moment have learned,-have become

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