AT TRINITY CHURCH, CHELSEA, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 22, 1833. Matthew, xxii. 11, 12, 13. —“ And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? and he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In the visible church of God, there ever has been and ever will be a great diversity of characters, from the holy and established Christian, down | even to the affected despiser of the religion which he professes; and however much it may be lamented still it cannot be, nor was it intended to be, avoided. Indeed that an indiscriminate assemblage of persons under the christian name was to be expected as the consequence of the Gospel message going abroad too, is evident from the parable where our Saviour compares the kingdom of heaven to a net which was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, "and when it was full they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." The net here represents the gospel, the sea the world, the fishes men. And as the net when spread abroad in the sea encloses fish of every sort both good and bad, neither can the fishermen then discover the difference, so is it with the gospel; its VOL. VI. invitations are proclaimed far and near, they are offered to every denomination of men-to the well disposed and the evil disposed-to the sincere and to the hypocritical-to the proud pharisee and the humble publican-to the self-righteous and the self-condemned. To all alike is the net of the gospel now open, and as might be expected, some there are of every sort that enter it--some influenced by one motive, some by another; some call themselves christians because it is convenient so to do, and injurious to their character and temporal prosperity to reject the appellation-some because they vainly imagine that the name of christian will be a recommendation, a sort of passport into the world to comesome because they were admitted into communion with Christ at their baptism, though perhaps they have never troubled themselves since to inquire into the meaning of the term or the conditions and privileges annexed to it-and some, lastly, because they really desire to be christians indeed, CC and to commit the keeping of their souls to him whose yoke they have faithfully embraced. be gathered into vessels, and those Our object, therefore, this morn- MENT, and afterwards, to show from OF IT. These, then, with every intervening shade of character, are now to be found in the net of the gospel. And great as is the actual difference between them, still in many instances they may be externally so small as not to be distinguished by the eye of man, neither will it be rendered more evident till the net being full shall be drawn ashore, and the angels of the Lord shall separate the good from the bad, the wicked from the just. The same truths are enforced in several other parables. The parable of the tares and the wheat, where they are allowed to Since the wedding feast is intended grow together; and it is forbidden to represent the blessings of the to root up the tares till the end of Gospel, in reference to this world the world. And, again, in the para- and the next, it is plain that the ble of the marriage supper, of which wedding garment must import a my text forms the conclusion; here sweetness or qualification to partake the king sends out into the highways of its blessings, And in this view, and hedges, and without any respect therefore, it signifies two things, the of persons, compels all, both bad righteousness of Christ, which is apand good, to come in that the wed-plied to ourselves by faith, and our ding may be furnished with guests. own personal righteousness, which is The latter part of the parable, how-acquired by the influence of the spirit, ever, carries us on more particularly these two things constitute the wedto the period when the separation ding garment; and, as the Gospel will take place, and points out wherein teaches, are absolutely necessary, the difference consists upon which before we can enter the kingdon of that separation shall be established. heaven. After the guests were all assembled the king came in to see them," and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? and he was speechless. Then said the king to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Here, then, is at once to be seen the difference between the characters alluded to; the difference between those who shall By the righteousness of Christ we mean that perfect righteousness which Christ wrought by fulfilling the whole law, every jot and tittle, by his obedience even unto death. This righteousness is freely given to every believer, and it is put upon him as we find in the third chapter of Romans—“ Even the righteousness of GoD which is by faith of Christ unto all and upon all that believe." Saint Paul, who had undoubtedly as much reason to boast and trust in his own works as any man, for before his conversion he had ever lived, 1 1 who chooses to apply that obedience by faith, and to receive it as a free gift, may become righteous before GOD, and justified unto eternal life. The disobedience, and the consequent penalty, are attached to every individual, and therefore, the righteousness here spoken of, and consequent justification, must be applied to every individual, or there can be no sal after the straitest sect of the Jewish religion, a pharisee, and was, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless; and after his conversion laboured more abundantly in the work of godliness, and more simply devoted himself to the service of his Redeemer than any of the Apostles; yet even he, even the great Apostle, abhorred the thought of depending on any other righteous-vation. ness than that of Christ; and esteemed Hence, again, we are exhorted to all other pretensions as less than put on the Lord Jesus Christ; and nothing. But let his own powerful his followers are described as being declaration speak for itself "Yea, clothed with him as with a gardoubtless," saith he, "I count all ment, and hence also it is said in things but loss for the excellency of Revelations those who are before the the knowledge of Christ Jesus my throne of GOD, and are serving him Lord; for whom I have suffered the day and night in his temple, that loss of all things, and do count them "they have washed their robes, and but dung that I may win Christ, and have made them white in the blood be found in him, not having mine of the Lamb." own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of GOD by faith." Now the same dependance, the same opinion must be entertained by every man who would find acceptance with GOD; for that there is no other righteousness but Christ which will avail us, for our justification, is evident from the whole tenor of the Gospel, and from many of its most express declarations. In the fifth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, it speaks clearly to this effeet. "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." The meaning of which is simply this, that, as by the fall of Adam every man born into the world became a sinner, and subject to condemnation; so, by the obedience of Christ every man It is, then, the possession of this garment alone that founds our title to the kingdom of heaven; and every one who has this possession, who has personally applied it to himself, may well exult with the church of old, saying, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my GOD; for he hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness." But, again, my brethren, by the wedding garment in the text, we are also to understand our own personal righteousness us acquired through the influence of the Spirit. We find moral qualities frequently represented under the figure of a garment. The Psalmist says "Let thy priest be clothed with righteousness;" and Job declares, "I put on righteousness, and it clothed me." In the nineteenth of Revelations, they are spoken of even as constituting the wedding garment. "Let us be glad and rejoice," saith the multitude," for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his work upon; they know that Christ's merits and their own exertions are both needful, but they cannot give to each its proper place in the work of salvation; and hence there appears to them a sort of contradiction when the real scriptural doctrine is enforced, that we are saved by the righteousness of Christ alone, and yet that our own righteousness is also necessary. wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." By this righteousness is certainly meant, or at all events implied, their own personal righteousness or sanctification, nor can there be a shadow of doubt but that our whole meetness for heaven consists simply in this. On this account are we not commanded to put on the new man which is created after GOD in righteousness and true holiness? on this account we are led to go on unto perfection, and add to our faith virtue and all moral qualities and, on this account, we are cautioned against sin, as that which defileth our garments; and warned that no unrighteous character hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and GOD. In short, without these qualities, we can never be admitted into the divine presence, "for without holiness no man shall see the Lord," But, if possessed of them in their proper sense, and derived from the right principle, we shall be ac-mand of GOD against Adam became counted worthy to walk in white, and to us, with all those who have by patient continuance in well doing sought for glory and honour and immortality, shall be given eternal life. two ideas. Such then, my brethren, we take to be the meaning and nature of the wedding garment; it consists in Christ's righteousness and in our own righteousness. But we must be specially careful not to confound these It is for want of a clear understanding on these important points, and of a right application of each, that so many persons entertain dark, confused, and unsatisfactory notions about religion altogether; they have a vague notion of trusting to Christ, and doing as well as they can, as they call it, but have no defined system, no established plan to I beseech you, brethren, to bear with me while I again set this matter before you, in as clear a light as I possibly can, for it is most desirable that none should err in these fundamental principles, on which all your comfort here and all your hopes hereafter, must be built, or neither will stand for one moment. Now the case, in reference to these doctrines, is simply this,-when Adam was in Paradise GOD gave him a law, and demanded obedience to that law. Had Adam obeyed the law, the demand would have been settled, and heaven purchased by works; but, instead of obeying, Adam sinned; and therefore, from that time, the de twofold; first, for obedience to his law, secondly, for satisfaction for the sin committed. And exactly in this predicament do we, who are Adam's posterity, every one of us, stand. GoD has two demands against us before we can enter heaven-perfect obedience to his law, and satisfaction for our sins, original and actual. Now, how are these demands to be answered? It is morally impossible that we can answer them ourselves; for it is a manifest contradiction to suppose that sinners can pay a sinless obedience, or that finite beings can make satisfaction to an infinite GoD for their own transgression against him. How then are these two demands to be paid? I answer, By the righteousness of Christ, and by that alone. By his sinless obedience to the whole law in our stead, he has satisfied the first demand by his death, and suffering on the cross, he has satisfied the second demand; and by the whole together, both his active and passive obedience, called simply his righteousness, does every believer stand fully acquitted, and perfectly justified, in the sight of Almighty GOD. Thus evident then is it, that we are saved by the righteousness of Christ alone; since his death alone purchased the pardon of sin, and his obedience alone has opened to us the gates of the kingdom above. 'But now, my brethren, let us see, if we are thus saved by the righteousness of Christ alone, why is our own righteousness needful also, and in what light are we to regard this, as connected with our salvation? Here again, let us go back to the case of Adam'. When Adam was created he was created in the image of God, that is, the principle within him was entirely spiritual, and this image or principle formed his qualification for communion with GOD, and for partaking of the joys of the spiritual kingdom. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit he died, and the most material part of that death consisted in the loss of this spiritual picture or image, which died with him. From that time there ceased to be in Adam any assimilation to GOD, any qualification for spiritual enjoyment; and, inasmuch as we are Iborn in the likeness of Adam, such must, necessarily, be our state by nature. We have nothing of the image of GOD, that is, of the spiritual image, left in us, we are possessed of an entirely carnal principle, and are, consequently, destitute by nature of any meetness for the kingdom of heaven. Supposing now, that we remain in this state; supposing that the carnal principle undergoes no change, that we acquire no internal righteousness; then, how is it possible that we can enter into the kingdom of heaven; or, if we were to enter, that we could dwell there? Christ's death and obedience may procure the pardon of sin, may unbar the gates of the Jerusalem above; but what will this avail, if we have no qualification for its enjoyment, no capability of appreciating the pleasures we find there.. Is it not, therefore, manifest, that though we are saved by the righteousness of Christ alone, still that our own righteousness is absolutely necessary also: for that, while the former satisfies the two great demands which God had against us, the latter restores us, in a degree at least, to the image which we had lost; and which alone constitutes our meetness for the kingdom of heaven. Let us then, my brethren, henceforth rightly understand those important points, and while we are most cautious not to confound Christ's righteousness with our own, as though they were united in purchasing heaven; let us be equally careful not to separate them, as though either would be sufficient of itself to take us there. Let us, in short, remember that while we trust in Christ alone for our salvation, we must daily seek to be renewed after the divine image; for it is in this way, and this way alone, that we can ever obtain admission to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We will now, then, proceed to CONsider THE PUNISHMENT THAT AWAITS THOSE WHO ARE DESTITUTE OF THIS WEDDING GARMENT; and for this purpose let us return to the parable: "when the king came in to see the guests, be saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he said unto him, friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?" This must have been a startling question; the man thought, probably, to pass unnoticed among all the other guests, |