1. Propose to you the inquiry [To every individual amongst you would I propose the question, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" And let no one imagine, that it is an unnecessary inquiry. This man had argued well on the subject of evidences, and yet needed to have the question put to him. And many amongst ourselves may be able to defend the outworks of Christianity, whilst yet they have no personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus. If we would determine this point aright, let us see how this man acted: the very instant that he was enabled to say with truth, "Lord, I believe," he fell down and "worshipped" his heavenly Benefactor. And will not true faith produce the same effect on us? Shall not we feel delight in prostrating ourselves at the Saviour's feet, and in acknowledging our obligations to him? Beyond a doubt, this effect must and will follow. Ask then yourselves, whether this be the habit of your minds from day to day? Has it been so this very day? Has it been so during the past week? Is there in your souls such an overwhelming sense of gratitude to him, as constrains you to revert to him, and fix your thoughts on him, as soon as ever the occasions which have caused a momentary diversion have passed away? Are you touched, as it were, with a magnetic power, that draws you to him, as the needle to the pole? This, I say again, is the invariable effect of true faith; and the resolution of this question will furnish you with the true answer to the inquiry in the text.] 2. Commend to you the example— [In reference to every part of God's word should the same disposition be exercised. I say not, that an attentive examination of evidences is not good: for we are bound to 66 prove all things, and then to hold fast that only which is good." But a critical spirit, a disputatious spirit, a sceptical spirit, are not favourable to the reception of divine truth. They may be proper enough in reference to things which are purely intellectual; but not so in reference to things which are altogether spiritual. For a just discernment of these things we need the teachings of God's Holy Spirit: and with childlike simplicity of mind we should ever pray with Job, "What I see not, teach thou me";" and with David, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy lawa." Were such a spirit exercised by us, we should find, in ten thousand instances, that the difficulties of Scripture would vanish; what was "crooked becoming straight, and what was rough, being smoothed to a plain." An obediential spirit would x 1 Thess. v. 21. y 1 Cor. ii. 14. a Ps. cxix. 18. make the whole book of God both luminous and easy to be received. Let me then recommend, that you regard the sacred volume as "a mould, into which your soul is to be poured"," and by which its every feature must be formed. Be ready to "obey it from the heart;" and it shall be as effectual to create your souls anew, as the command of heaven was to bring forth the universe into existence, and to reduce the chaos to that order and beauty which entitled it to the commendation of Jehovah, as "very good." In a word, cultivate the spirit which displayed itself so eminently in this man; and, with a readiness to receive instruction and embrace the truth, let there be in you a determination of heart to follow your convictions, without hesitation and without reserve.] b Rom. vi. 17. the Greek. c John xv. 3. with Gen. i. 3, 31. MDCLXI. DISCRIMINATING EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL. John ix. 39. Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they who see might be made blind. THE miracles of our blessed Lord were, as is well known, testimonies from God to his divine mission. But they were also intended as emblems of that spiritual work which he was sent to accomplish. In the former view, he appealed to them for the conviction of John the Baptist, and of those who had been sent by John to inquire respecting his Messiahship: "Go, and shew John those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and blessed is he who shall not be offended in me." In the latter view, he refers to them in the passage before us. He had healed a man who was born blind. This having been done on the Sabbath-day, his obstinate and unbelieving enemies imputed it to him as a crime, rather than as any proof of his Messiahship: but the man who was healed, knowing that "no man could do such miracles unless God were with him," believed in Jesus, and confessed him openly as the Saviour of the world. From a Matt. xi. 4-6. the division thus caused, our Lord took occasion to declare, in reference to the souls of men, the intent, and certain effect, of his advent: "For judgment am I come into this world; that they who see not, might see; and that they who see, might be made blind." The true import of this passage will not be seen by a superficial observer. It needs much consideration: but it will amply repay all the labour which we can bestow in the investigation of it. To assist you in apprehending it aright, I will shew, I. The need there was of Christ for the developing and disclosing the characters of men— The judgment which was universally formed of men's characters was extremely erroneous [Men had no other test, whereby to try the human character, than that of moral virtue. If a person had such a respect for the Supreme Being as to be observant of external duties towards him, and such a disposition towards his fellow-creatures as prompted him to acts of benevolence towards them, he was approved, and regarded as a pattern of all that was good. Hence it was that the Scribes and Pharisees were held in such high esteem. Humility, as a grace, was not inquired after; nor indeed was it at all necessary to the discharge of those offices which alone were deemed obligatory in the service of God. On the contrary, the fulfilment of religious duties was considered as a just ground for self-admiration and self-applause. Such men, indeed, as David, who were inspired of God, had the same ideas of it as we have: but, as among the Greeks and Romans, so also amongst the Jews themselves, it was rather reckoned as a mean and base feeling, than as the summit of human excellence. Nor, if it had entered into the composition of virtue in their minds, were there any means of discovering its existence. The submission of human wisdom to that which is divine was not called for to any great extent: nor was a renunciation of a man's own righteousness demanded, in order to his acceptance through a righteousness provided for him by General obedience to acknowledged laws constituted the chief excellence of every man; and beyond that nothing was looked for, in order to secure the approbation of God. But all this was erroneous: yea, in relation to it all, it may be said, that "that which was highly esteemed amongst men was an abomination in the sight of God"."] b Luke xvi. 15. Hence arose a necessity for our blessed Lord to come into the world [Doubtless, the first ground of his advent was to make reconciliation for the sins of men, and to work out a righteousness for them by his own obedience unto death. But subordinate to this was the purpose specified in our text: "For judgment came I into this world." To understand this expression aright, we must call to mind the office of a Judge. He inquires into the particular facts which are brought before him, and determines the characters of men according to those facts. Now, what an earthly judge does in reference to overt acts, that the Lord Jesus Christ does in reference to secret dispositions. He brings with him a revelation calculated to elicit the dispositions of the heart, and to shew what men really are in the sight of God. Hence, at the time when his parents brought him to the temple, to do for him after the custom of the law, it was said concerning him, "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."] But I will proceed to mark more distinctly, II. The suitableness of his appearance to produce that discovery The whole of his appearance, from the first to the latest hour of his existence upon earth, was calculated to offend the pride of man [See him at his birth. Behold him born in the family of a poor carpenter; and laid in a manger, because there was no better accommodation for his mother, under circumstances which, it might have been supposed, would have called forth sympathy and liberality from ten thousand bosoms. Is this the Son of God? Impossible: it can never be, that Almighty God should suffer him to come into the world under circumstances of such unparalleled degradation. See him, too, in his life. Behold him still so poor, as not to have a place where to lay his head: a few poor fishermen for his followers; and an object of scorn and derision to all the higher parts of the community. Were I to give a just description of him, I could not do it in more appropriate terms than in those of prophecy itself: "He shall be as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows Luke ii. 34, 35. and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised, and we esteemed him not"." Yet this is the person who offers himself to me as the Saviour of the world! See him, finally, in his death. This completes the scene. He is sentenced to death, both by the men of his own nation and by the Roman governor; and, by universal consent, is executed as a malefactor; a murderer being preferred before him, as a fitter object of mercy than he. And is He to save me, when he did not save himself? Is He to deliver me from the wrath of God, who himself fell under the wrath of man? I wonder not that such an idea was a ground of offence; for throughout the whole there was an apparent inconsistency with all his own professions, and an absolute contrariety to all the expectations that were formed concerning him. Is this the person that came from God, and "made himself equal with God," and through whom alone any child of man can come to God, or find acceptance with him? Unenlightened. reason discards at once such pretensions as these, and rejects them utterly as irrational and absurd. And this is exactly what the prophet has foretold: "He, the Lord Jesus, shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken."] On the other hand, he gave sufficient evidence of his Messiahship to convince any humble inquirer [The testimony borne to him by angels at his birth, the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him at his baptism, the numberless miracles wrought by him in his life, the wonders attendant on his death, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven, his sending of the Holy Ghost on his Disciples, and all the miracles wrought by them in his name, these were evidences which an humble mind could not withstand. Besides, to those who felt their need of a Saviour, there was every thing which was suited to their necessities. A mere man would not have sufficed for them: they needed a Saviour who was God as well as man: they needed an atonement of infinite value; a righteousness fully adequate to all the demands of God's holy law, and capable of being imputed to them for their acceptance before God. They needed not only the sacrifice of Christ on earth, but also his intercession in heaven; yea, and his all-powerful agency, too, as the Head of vital influence to his Church and people: in a word, they needed precisely such d Isai. liii. 2, 3. e Isai. viii. 14, 15. |