CHRIST'S CONDEMNATION--CRUCIFIXION--RESURRECTION--ASCENSION

CHRIST'S CONDEMNATION--CRUCIFIXION--RESURRECTION--ASCENSION
CHRIST'S TRIAL
From the bar of Pilate, Jesus was passed to Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee--who happened at that time to be in Jerusalem--and from Herod he was returned to Pilate. His trial then proceeded; and, notwithstanding the persuasion of the governor that Jesus was innocent, the voice of the multitude and of the chief priests prevailed; and Pilate, having scourged him, delivered him up to their fury. The most cruel indignities followed. They crowned him with thorns, mocked him, spit upon him, smote him on the head, and ultimately led him away to be crucified.
BARABBAS RELEASED
Pilate had, indeed, shown a desire to deliver Christ from the sentence of condemnation, and, as it was the custom at the passover, to release a prisoner, he proposed him as the object of favor on this occasion; but such was the malice of his enemies, that they cried out for the death of Jesus, and for the release of Barabbas, who was a murderer and a robber; and such was the time-serving spirit of Pilate, that he could not resist the wishes of the multitude.
CALVARY
The place of execution was called Calvary, a little without the city of Jerusalem, and thither Jesus was conducted, bearing his cross. It was the third hour of the day (or nine o'clock in the morning) when, arriving at the place, they crucified Jesus Christ, nailing his hands and feet to the cross, and raising him up between the heaven, and the earth; while, full of divine compassion on his murderers, he prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!” At the same time, also, they crucified two thieves--who had been brought along with Jesus--the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
CROSS OF CHRIST
The cross of Christ is one of the most interesting objects which can be presented to the Christian reader. An eminent divine says of it: “Let it be to the Jews a scandal, or offensive to their fancy, prepossessed with expectations of a Messiah flourishing in secular pomp and prosperity; let it be folly to the Greeks, or seem absurd to men puffed up and corrupted in mind, with fleshly notions and maxims of worldly craft, disposing them to value nothing which is not grateful to present sense or fancy, that God should put his own beloved Son into so very sad and despicable a condition; that salvation from death and misery should be procured by so miserable a death; that eternal joy, glory, and happiness, should issue from these fountains, of sorrow and shame; that a person in external semblance devoted to so opprobrious usage should be the Lord and Redeemer of mankind, the King and Judge of all the world; let, I say, this doctrine be scandalous and disdainful to some persons tainted with prejudice; let it be strange and incredible to others blinded with self-conceit; let all the inconsiderate, all the proud, all the profane part of mankind, openly with their mouth, or closely in heart, slight and reject it: yet to us it must appear grateful and joyous; to us it is a faithful and most credible proposition, worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, in this way of suffering for them.” In such a light as this must every true Christian look upon the cross of his blessed Redeemer.
CRUCIFIXION
The cruel mode of punishment by crucifixion appears to have been in use from the earliest recorded period of history. Possibly it was the invention of some barbarous tribe to prevent the escape of a captive, by fastening him to a tree; or used to inflict death on an enemy, by leaving him exposed upon a tree, to be a prey to birds and beasts, or to die of hunger. In time, however, it was adopted by the most civilized nations of antiquity. Among the Carthaginians, persons of all ranks, even commanders of armies, were subject to it: among the Romans, however, it was considered as the punishment of slaves, and inflicted on that class only. With reference to the Hebrews, it seems doubtful whether crucifixion was a mode of punishment practised by them in ancient times. The putting the sons of Saul to death, as recorded 2 Samuel 21., has been adduced as an argument that it was; and the term “hanged on a tree,” which is used, Acts 10:39, to describe crucifixion, seems to favor such a view.
Whatever the original form of crosses may have been, we cannot tell; but in the course of time they were made of two pieces of wood, and they have been divided by antiquaries into three kinds: 1, the crux decussata, or cross divided like the letter X, and usually called St. Andrew's cross; 2, the crux commissa, or joined cross, consisting of an upright piece of timber, with a transverse piece on the extreme top, at right angles with the first, like the letter T; and 3, the crux immissa, or let-in cross, in which the transverse piece of timber is let into the upright, but placed somewhat below the top of the upright, in this form †. It is the latter cross on which our Savior is usually represented to have suffered, and though there may not be any absolute authority for ascertaining the precise form of the cross used on this occasion, yet the circumstance of an inscription being placed over his sacred head renders the conjecture probable.
CARRYING THE CROSS
It is said by St. John, (John 19:17), that Jesus went forth “bearing his cross.” Accordingly, we find painters representing our Savior bearing the entire cross on which he suffered. This, however, if we take into consideration the great weight the cross is thought to have been, from its size, and from its being made of the hardest wood, generally of oak, could scarcely be possible; and painters themselves have also been practically sensible of this; for the same painter who represents Christ bearing his cross, gives a representation of one shorter and more portable, than that which he exhibits in a painting of the crucifixion. But this, some imagine, may be correct. They think that the cross which our Savior carried was a representation of the cross of actual crucifixion; and that it was usual for prisoners to bear such, to suggest to the people in the streets through which they were conducted the kind of punishment they were about to undergo. Lipsius, on the contrary, explains that the heaviest part of the cross, the perpendicular beam, was either fixed in the ground before, or was ready to be set up when the condemned person arrived; and he contends. that the part which the prisoner carried was the large cross-beam to which the arms of the crucified were fastened. There are others, again, who think that the crosses of the ancients were not so lofty, large, and massive, as those depicted by painters; and certainly instruments of such dimensions would be unnecessary for the purpose. Pone crucem servo, “Put the cross to the slave,” is an expression used by Juvenal. It is probable, therefore, that it was the real cross which our Savior carried, and that he was nailed to it before it was raised and fixed in the ground; which is in accordance with the general opinion.
CROSS DROPPED INTO HOLE
The manner in which this was done has been thus graphically described: “When the malefactor had carried his cross to the place of execution, a hole was dug in the earth in which it was to be fixed; the criminal was stripped; a stupefying potion was given him; the cross was laid on the ground; he was distended upon it, and four soldiers, two on each side, at the same time were employed in driving four large nails through his hands and feet. After they had deeply fixed and riveted these nails in the wood, they elevated the cross with the sufferer upon it; and in order to infix it the more firmly and securely in the earth, they let it violently fall into the cavity they had prepared to receive it. This vehement precipitation of the cross must have occasioned a most dreadful convulsive shock, and agitated the whole frame of the malefactor in a dire and most excruciating manner. These several particulars were observed in the crucifixion of our Lord. Upon his arrival at Calvary, he was stripped; the medicated cup was offered to him; he was fastened to the cross; and while they were employed in piercing his hands and his feet, it is probable that he offered to Heaven that most benevolent and affecting prayer for his murderers, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'”
SIMON CARRIES CROSS
Of whatever size the cross on which our Redeemer paid the penalty of our transgressions might have been, we learn from St. Mark that it was of great weight. He intimates to us, in a parallel passage to that of St. John, that the soldiers, finding that Jesus, exhausted by his sufferings, was no longer able to bear his cross, laid hold of one Simon, a Cyrenian, who happened to be passing, and compelled him to bear it for the sufferer (Mark 15:21). The practice of a prisoner bearing his own cross, at least among the Romans, very probably arose from the deep disgust and horror with which they looked upon this instrument of punishment; the prisoner, accordingly, was condemned to bear his own instrument of torture.
GUARDS
Previous to crucifixion, it was the custom to scourge the sufferer, after which he was stripped naked; and it is probable, as we have seen, that he was laid down on the cross for the purpose of having the nails driven into his hands and feet; or, as was sometimes the case, of being fastened to the cross with ropes. The cross was then elevated, and afterward the legs were broken, and wounds were inflicted with a spear or other sharp instrument, to hasten death. But this was not invariably done; and as, in the case of its omission, death would not ensue for a length of time, guards were placed to prevent the relations and friends from giving them any relief, taking them away while alive, or removing their bodies after they were dead. Sometimes crucifixion took place with the head downward; and St. Peter is said to have suffered death in this way, at his own express desire, deeming himself unworthy to suffer in the same position with his beloved master.
INSCRIPTION
In leading to his death a person condemned to crucifixion, it was usual to carry an inscription before him, stating the crime for which he suffered. To the charge of Jesus, no crime could be laid; but to his cross they fastened this inscription: “This is the King of the Jews,” Luke 23:38. This was written in three different languages, and the reason which has been given for this is, that none might be unapprised of its contents. It was written in Greek, which was the general language of commerce in western Asia, and which would be familiar to many Jews from Europe, Egypt, and elsewhere; it also was written in the Syriac, called “Hebrew,” the vernacular language of Palestine; and it was written in Latin, probably for the use of the Romans, many of whom would assemble at Jerusalem during the paschal week.
To advert to the many passages of holy writ which point to the cross of Christ as the foundation of a sinner's hope, would extend our work beyond the assigned limits. It must suffice, therefore, to say, that it is the sum and substance of the Bible, and that, if we would be saved by it, we must look to it with an eye of faith, as eagerly and fixedly as the Israelites of old, when bitten by the fiery serpents, looked to the brazen serpent--which prefigured the cross--erected by Moses to effect their cure. There alone is our hope of redemption.
Interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, at Jerusalem The punishment of crucifixion, it has been said, was so common among the Romans, that, by a very usual figure, pains, afflictions, troubles, etc., were called crosses. Hence, our Savior says, that his disciples must take up their cross, and follow him (Matthew 16:24). The cross, therefore, is the sign of ignominy and suffering, yet it is the badge and glory of the Christian. Christ is the way we are to follow; and there is no way of attaining that glory and happiness which are promised in the gospel, but by the cross of Christ.
FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES
While under the agonies of the cross, the Redeemer manifested his filial affection by committing his mother to the care of the beloved John; and in the same situation, he gave a signal instance of the power and freeness of his grace, toward one of the thieves, who hung beside him. The heart of this poor creature was smitten with conviction and repentance, and, addressing a prayer to the dying Savior, he received the soul-cheering answer, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
DARKNESS
About the sixth hour (or middle of the day) a supernatural darkness covered the whole land, which continued till the ninth hour (or three o'clock in the afternoon), when Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama, sabachthani!”--that is, “My God, my God, why hash thou forsaken me!”--thus showing that his soul was in pangs, as well as his body. After a little space, he cried again with a loud voice, and commending his spirit into the hands of his Father, “he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”
VEIL RENT
At this awful event, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; the earth quaked, and the rocks were torn asunder; the graves, too, of many of the saints were opened, and the dead, arising, appeared to many in the city of Jerusalem. These fearful tokens gave a solemn check to the feelings of the multitude that attended, and produced on the minds of several a conviction that Jesus was the Son of God.
SIDE PIERCED
Thus expired this wonderful Sufferer!--a ransom for sinners, a Savior to all who truly believe in his name. And now, as the next day was the Sabbath of the Jews, as the bodies were not to remain on the cross on that day, and as they were making preparation for its approach, they petitioned Pilate that the legs of the crucified might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers, therefore, having broken the legs of the two malefactors, when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, forbore to perform the operation on him; but one of them, to insure his death, pierced his side with a spear, whence there issued blood and water.
JOSEPH TAKES BODY
When the evening was come, Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich man and a counsellor, and one who “waited for the kingdom of God,” having begged of Pilate the body of Jesus, took it down from the cross, and, assisted by Nicodemus, wrapped it in fine linen, with a quantity of spices, after the Jewish mode of burying. Thus prepared, they laid the sacred body in Joseph's own new tomb, which was hewn out of a rock, in a garden near at hand, and rolling a large stone to the door of the sepulcher, they departed.
ROMANS SEAL TOMB
At the same time, several pious women who followed Jesus from Galilee, and who from a distance had beheld the mournful scene of his sufferings, being present at his burial, and seeing how the body was deposited, “returned and prepared spices and ointments,” intending after the Sabbath to visit the sepulcher for the purpose of embalming the body of their Lord. The chief priests and Pharisees, on their part, took a different course. By the authority of Pilate, they sealed the stone at the mouth of the tomb, setting around it a guard of soldiers, to prevent any attempt by the disciples of Jesus to steal him away, and thus pretend that their Master was risen.
EARTHQUAKE ROLLS STONE AWAY
Such was the state of things, till the commencement of the third day, being the first day of the week. Early in the morning of that day, Mary Magdalene, with Salome, and another female disciple by the name of Mary, coming to the sepulcher for the purpose (as before mentioned) of embalming the body of Christ, found the stone removed from the door. Scenes the most awful and glorious had just before been exhibited. A great earthquake shook the place; the angel of the Lord descending from heaven, rolled away the stone and sat upon it; and while the keepers, struck with terror, became as dead men, Jesus, awaking from the sleep of death, arose and left the tomb.[438]
[438] The Resurrection--Twice had the sun gone down on the earth, and all as yet was quiet at the sepulcher: Death held his scepter o'er the Son of God; still and silent the hours passed on; the guards stood by their posts; the rays of midnight moon gleamed on their helmets and on their spears; the enemies of Christ exulted in their success; the hearts of his friends were sunk to despondency and sorrow; while the spirits of glory waited with anxious suspense to behold the event--wondering at the depth of the ways of God. At length, the morning star, arising in the east, announced the approach of light; the third day began to dawn on the world, when on a sudden the earth trembled to its center, and the powers of Heaven were shaken; an angel of God descended; the guards shrunk back from the terror of his presence, and fell prostrate on the ground. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment was white as snow; he rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulcher, and sat on it.
But who is this that cometh from the tomb, with dyed garments from the bed of death? He that is glorious in his appearance, walking in the greatness of his strength? It is thy Prince, O Zion! Christian, it is your Lord! He hath trodden the winepress alone; he hath stained his raiment with blood; but now, as the firstborn from the womb of nature, he meets the morning of his resurrection. He arises, a conqueror from the grave; he returns with blessings from the world of spirits; he brings salvation to the sons of men. Never did the returning sun usher in a day so glorious! It was the jubilee of the universe! The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted aloud for Joy! The Father of Mercies looked down from his throne in the heavens with complacency; he beheld his world restored--he saw his work, that it was good. Then did the desert rejoice; the face of nature was gladdened before him, when the blessings of the Eternal descended, as the dews of heaven, for the refreshing of the nations.
JESUS APPEARS
His first appearance after this great event was to Mary Magdalene, who stood weeping at the sepulcher when Peter and John, who had made a visit to the place, had departed. Afterward he appeared to a company of women on their return from the sepulcher; then to two of the disciples on their way to a village called Emmaus, a few miles from Jerusalem. The reports, however, of these witnesses of the resurrection met with but little credit with the rest of the disciples, till Jesus, on the evening of the same day, presented himself among them, and confirmed their faith by appealing to his lately wounded hands and feet.
ROMAN LIES
In the meantime, the affrighted guards had fled from the sepulcher and related their tale of wonder to the chief priests, who, alarmed at the consequences that might follow, hired these wretched creatures to say that the disciples came by night, and stole away the body of Jesus while they were asleep. This absurd report was accordingly propagated, and prevailed among the Jews as a fact.
THOMAS' UNBELIEF
It is proper we should here take notice of the case of Thomas, called Didymus, who, not being with the disciples when Jesus made his appearance among them as above mentioned, declared that he would not believe in the reality of his resurrection unless he should see and feel the print of the nails in his hands, and the effect of the wound in his side. Accordingly about eight days after, when the disciples were all together, Jesus again appearing among them presented his hands and his side to Thomas, with a reproof for his unbelief; while the astonished disciple, overpowered with conviction, exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.”
THE GREAT COMMISSION
“After these things, Jesus showed himself again to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias,” where several of them were employed in fishing, and then, by appointment, he met the eleven apostles on a mountain in Galilee, where he delivered to them the great gospel commission, to go forth and “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” pronouncing at the same time, “He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
FORTY DAYS OF FELLOWSHIP
Forty days was the time pre-ordained for our Lord's continuance upon earth after his resurrection. These days being now almost expired, the apostles, according as they had been ordered, with some of their select friends, returned to Jerusalem, and there assembled themselves in a private place, as they had always done after the crucifixion of their Master. Here our blessed Lord appeared to them for the last time; and after instructing them in many particulars concerning the kingdom of God, and the manner in which they were to behave themselves in propagating the doctrine of the gospel, he put them in mind that, during his abode with them in Galilee, he had often told them that all things written in the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, concerning him were to be exactly accomplished. At the same time “he opened their understandings;” that is, he removed their prejudices by the operation of his Spirit, cleared their doubts, improved their memories, strengthened their judgments, and enabled them to discern the true meaning of the Scriptures. He then reminded them that both Moses and the prophets had foretold that the Messiah was to suffer in the very same manner he had suffered; that he was to rise from the dead on the third day as he had done; and that repentance and remission of sins was to be preached in the Messiah's name among all nations, beginning with the Jews. He told them that they were to testify unto the world the exact accomplishment in him of all things foretold concerning the Messiah; and closed his instructions to them by giving them a particular charge, that they should not depart from Jerusalem until they had received that miraculous effusion of the Holy Ghost which he had promised and would shortly send down upon them. He likewise gave them to understand, that after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them they would have juster notions of those matters, and be sufficiently enabled to be the authentic witnesses of his life and actions throughout the world.
ASCENSION
After our blessed Lord had thus fortified his apostles for the important work they were going to undertake, he led them out of the city to that part of the mount of Olives which was nearest to Bethany. On their arrival there, he gave them some farther instructions relative to the measures they were to follow in order to propagate his gospel, after which he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was doing this, and his apostles were placed in an adoring posture, he was parted from them in the midst of the day, being gradually taken up in a shining cloud, and triumphantly carried into heaven, where he now sitteth at the right hand of God his Father, “to whom be honor, glory, and power, for ever and ever. Amen.”
EARTHLY LIFE WORK FINISHED
In this illustrious manner did the Great Redeemer of mankind depart, after having finished the grand work about which he was sent into the world; a work which angels with joy described was to happen, and which through all eternity to come, at periods the most immensely distant from the time of its execution, will be looked back upon with inexpressible delight by every inhabitant of heaven; for though the minute affairs of time may vanish together and be lost when they are removed far back by the endless progression of duration, yet this object is such that no distance, however great, can lessen it. The kingdom of heaven is erected on the incarnation and sufferings of the Son of God, and therefore no mortal whatever can forget the foundation on which his happiness stands established; nor will any fail of obtaining a seat in those mansions, provided he preserves a proper subjection to Him who reigneth for ever and ever, and whose favor is better than life itself.
REFLECTIONS ON CHRIST'S LIFE
It may not be improper, in this place, to admit a few reflections on the life of the blessed Jesus--a life the greatest and best that was ever led by man, or was ever the subject of any history, since the universe was called from its original chaos by the powerful word of the Almighty.
BENEVOLENCE
The human character of the blessed Jesus is entirely different from that of all other men whatever; for whereas they have selfish passions deeply rooted in their breasts, and are influenced by them in almost everything they do, Jesus was so entirely free from them, that the most severe scrutiny can not furnish one single action, in the whole course of his life, wherein he consulted his own interest only. No; he was influenced by very different motives: the happiness and eternal welfare of sinners regulated his conduct; and while others followed their respective occupations, Jesus had no other business than that of promoting the happiness of the sons of men. Nor did he wait till he was solicited to extend his benevolent hand to the distressed: “he went about doing good,” and always accounted it “more blessed to give than to receive;” resembling God rather than man. He went about doing good; benevolence was the very life of his soul: he not only did good to objects presented to him for relief, but he industriously sought them out, in order to extend his compassionate assistance.
CONSISTENCY
It is common for persons of the most exalted faculties to be elated with success and applause, or dejected by censure and disappointments; but the blessed Jesus was not elated by the one nor depressed by the other. He was never more courageous than when he met with the greatest opposition and cruel treatment; nor more humble than when the sons of men worshipped at his feet.
STEADFASTNESS
He came into the world inspired with the grandest purpose that ever was formed, that of saving from eternal perdition, not a single nation, but the whole world; and in the execution of it, went through the longest and heaviest train of labors that ever was sustained, with a constancy and resolution, on which no disadvantageous impression could be made by any accident whatever. Calumny, threatenings; bad success, with many other evils constantly attending him, served only to quicken his endeavors in this glorious enterprise, which he unweariedly pursued even till he finished it by his death.
SUFFERING FOR US
The generality of mankind are prone to retaliate injuries received, and all seem to take a satisfaction in complaining of the cruelties of those who oppress them; whereas the whole of Christ's labors breathed nothing but meekness, patience, and forgiveness, even to his bitterest enemies, and in the midst of the most excruciating torments. The words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” uttered by him when his enemies were nailing him to the cross, fitly express the temper which he maintained through the whole course of his life, even when assaulted by the heaviest provocations. He was destined to sufferings here below, in order that he might raise his people to honor, glory, and immortality, in the realms of bliss above; and therefore patiently, yea joyfully, submitted to all that the malice of earth and hell could inflict. He was vilified, that we might be honored; he died, that we might live for ever and ever.
JESUS WAS HOLY
To conclude: the greatest and best men have discovered the degeneracy and corruption of human nature, and shown themselves to have been nothing more than men; but it was otherwise with Jesus. He was superior to all the men that ever lived, both with regard to the purity of his manners, and the perfection of his virtues. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated from sinners.
JESUS WAS SINLESS
Whether we consider him as a teacher, or as a man, “he did no sin; neither was guile found in his mouth.” His whole life was perfectly free from spot or weakness; at the same time it was remarkable for the greatest and extensive exercises of virtue. But never to have committed the least sin, to word or in deed, never to have uttered any sentiment that could be censured, upon the various topics of religion and morality, which were the daily subjects of his discourses, and that through the course of a life filled with action, and led under the observation of many enemies, who had always access to converse with him, and who often came to find fault, is a pitch of perfection evidently above the reach of human nature; and consequently he who possessed it must have been divine.
JESUS FILLS OUR HEARTS
Such was the person who is the subject of the evangelical history. If the reader, by reviewing his life, doctrine, and miracles, as they are here represented to him, united in one series, has a clearer idea of these things than before, or observes a beauty in his actions thus linked together, which taken separately do not appear so fully; if he feels himself touched by the character of Jesus to general, or with any of his sermons and actions in particular, thus simply delineated in writing, whose principal charms are the beauties of truth: above all, if his dying so generously for men strikes him with admiration, or fills him with joy in the prospect of that pardon which is thereby purchased for the world: let him seriously consider with himself what improvement he ought to make of the divine goodness.
JESUS PROVIDES IMMORTALITY
Jesus, by his death, hath set open the gates of immortality to the sons of men; and by his word, spirit, and example, graciously offers to make them meet for the glorious rewards in the kingdom of the heavenly Canaan, and to conduct them into the inheritance of the saints in light. Let us, therefore, remember, that being born under the dispensation of his gospel, we have, from our earliest years, enjoyed the best means of securing to ourselves an interest in that favor of God, which is life; and that loving-kindness, which is better than life.
LIFE IS TO LAST ETERNALLY
We have been called to aspire after an exaltation to the felicity of the heavenly mansions exhibited to mortal eyes in the man Jesus Christ, to fire us with the noblest ambition. His gospel teaches us that we are made for eternity; and that our present life is to our future existence, as infancy is to manhood. But as in the former, many things are to be learned, many hardships to be endured, many habits to be acquired, and that by a course of exercises, which in themselves though painful, and possibly useless to the child, yet are necessary to fit him for the business and enjoyments of manhood. So while we remain in this infancy of human life, things are to be learned, hardships to be endured, and habits to be acquired, by a laborious discipline, which, however painful, must be undergone, because necessary to fit us for the employments and pleasures of our riper existence, in the realms above, always remembering that whatever our trials may be, in this world, if we ask for God's assistance, he has promised to give it. Inflamed, therefore, with the love of immortality and its joys; let us submit ourselves to our heavenly teacher, and learn of him those graces, which alone can render life pleasant, death desirable, and fill eternity, with ecstatic joys.
NATURE OF FAITH
We can not close the solemn scene of the life of our dear Lord and Savior with greater propriety than by making a few observations on the nature of his religion and considering the great benefits which will infallibly result to all, who shall, by faith, receive and embrace his holy doctrine.
FOUNDATIONAL
The religion of Christ is the perfection of human nature, and the foundation of uniform, exalted pleasure: of pubic order, and private happiness. Christianity is the most excellent and the most useful institution, having “the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” It is the voice of reason; it is also the Ianguage of scripture: “the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” And our blessed Savior himself assures us, that his precepts are easy, and the burden of his religion light.
PERMEATION
The Christian religion comprehends all we ought to believe, and all we ought to practise: its positive rights are few, and perfectly intelligible to every capacity; and the whole is manifestly adapted to establish in us a proper sense of the great obligations we lay under both to God and Christ.
The gospel places religion not in abtruse speculation, and metaphysical subtleties; not in outward show, and tedious ceremony; not in superstitious austerities and enthusiastic visions; but in purity of heart and holiness of life. The sum of our duty (according to our great master himself) consists in the love of God, and of our neighbor. According to St. Paul, in denying ungodliness, and worldly lusts; and in living soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. According to St. James, in visiting the fatherless and widow in affliction, and in keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. This is the constant strain and tenor of the gospel. This it inculcates most earnestly, and on this it lays the greatest stress.
It may be asked if the Christian religion is only a view of the law of nature, or merely a refined system of morality? To which we answer, that it is a great deal more than either. It is an act of grace, a stupendous plan of Providence, for the recovery of mankind from a state of degradation and ruin, to the favor of the Almighty, and to the hopes of a happy immortality through a mediator.
Under this dispensation, true religion consists in a repentance toward God, and in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the person appointed by the supreme Authority of heaven and earth, to reconcile apostate man to his offended Creator. And what hardship is there in all this? Surely none. Nay, the practice of religion is much easier than the servitude of sin.
HELP TO BE HOLY
It certainly must be allowed by all that our rational powers are impaired, and the soul weakened by sin. The animal passions are strong, and apt to oppose the dictates of the spirit of God: objects of sense make powerful impressions on the mind. We are, in every situation, surrounded with many snares and temptations. In such a disordered state of things, to maintain an undeviating path of duty, cannot be effected by poor weak man. There are, however, generous aids afforded us to persevere in the ways of the Lord.
The gracious author of nature has planted in the human breast a quick sense of good and evil; a faculty which strongly dictates right and wrong; and though by the strength of appetite and warmth of passion, men are often hurried into immoral practices, yet in the beginning, especially when there has been the advantage of a good education, it is usually with reluctance and opposition of mind. What inward struggles precede! What bitter pangs attend their sinful excesses! What guilty blushes and uneasy fears! What frightful prospects and pale reviews! “Tenors are upon them, and a fire not blown consumeth them.” To make a mock at sin, and to commit iniquity without remorse, requires great length of time, and much painful labor; more labor than is requisite to attain that habitual goodness which is the glory of the man, the ornament of the Christian, and the chief of his happiness.
The soul can no more be reconciled to acts of wickedness and injustice, than the body to excess, but by suffering many bitter pains, and cruel attacks.
The mouth of conscience may, indeed, be stopped for a time, by false principles: its secret whispers may be drowned by the noise of company, and stifled the entertainments of sense; but this principle of conscience is so deeply rooted in human nature, and, at the same time, her voice is so clear and strong, that the sinner's arts will be unable to lull her into a lasting security.
When the hour of calamity arrives, when sickness seizes, and death approaches the sinner, conscience now constrains him to listen to her accusations, and will not suffer the temples of his head to take any rest “There is no peace to the wicked;” the foundations of peace are subverted, they are at utter enmity with their reason, with their conscience, and with their God.
PEACEFULNESS
Not so is the case of true religion. For when religion, pure and genuine, forms the tempers, and governs the life, conscience applauds, and peace takes its residence in the breast. The soul is in its proper state. There is order and regularity both in the faculties and actions. Conscious of its own integrity, and secure of divine approbation, the soul enjoys a calmness not to be described. But why do we call this happy frame calmness only? It is far more than mere calmness. The air may be calm, and the day overcast with thick mists and clouds. The pious and virtuous mind resembles a serene day, enlightened and enlivened with the brightest rays of the sun: Though all without may be clouds and darkness, there is light in the heart of a pious man. “He is satisfied from himself, and is filled with peace and joy in believing.” In the concluding scene (the awful moment of dissolution) all is peaceful and serene. The immortal part quits its tenement of clay, with the well-grounded hopes of ascending to happiness and glory.
REASONABLENESS
Nor does the gospel enjoin any duty but what is fit and reasonable. It calls upon all its professors to practise reverence, submission, and gratitude to God; justice, truth, and universal benevolence to men: and to maintain the government of our own minds. And what has any one to object against this? From the least to the greatest commandment of our dear Redeemer, there is not one which impartial reason can find fault with. “His law is perfect; his precepts are true and righteous, altogether.” Not even those excepted, which require us to love our enemies, to deny ourselves, and to take up our cross. To forgive an injury is more generous and manly than to revenge it; to control a licentious appetite than to indulge it; to suffer poverty, reproach, and even death itself, in the sacred cause of truth and integrity, is much wiser and better, than, by base compliances, to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience.
Thus in a storm at sea, or a conflagration on the land, a man with pleasure abandons his lumber to secure his jewels. Piety and virtue are the wisest and most reasonable thins in the world; vice and wickedness the most irrational and absurd.
BENEFITS
The all-wise Author of our being hath so framed our natures, and placed us in such relations, that there is nothing vicious but what is injurious; nothing virtuous but what is advantageous to our present interest, both with respect to body and mind. Meekness and humility, patience and universal charity, and grace, give a joy known to transgressors.
The divine virtues of truth and equity are the only bands of friendship, the only supports of society. Temperance and sobriety are the best preservatives of health and strength; but sin and debauchery impair the body, consume the substance, reduce us to poverty, and form the direct path to an immature and untimely death.
JESUS IS OUR EXAMPLE
To render our duty easy, we have the example, as well as the commands, of the blessed Jesus. The masters of morality among the heathens gave excellent rules for the regulation of men's manners; but they wanted either the honesty, or the courage to try their own arguments upon themselves. It was a strong presumption that the yoke of the scribes and Pharisees was grievous, when they laid “heavy burdens upon men's shoulders,” which they themselves refused to touch with one of their fingers. Not thus our great law-giver, Jesus Christ the righteous. His behavior was in all respects conformable to his doctrine. His devotion toward God, how sublime and ardent!--benevolence toward men, how great and diffusive! He was in his life an exact pattern of innocence; for he “did no sin; neither was guile found in his mouth.” In the Son of God incarnate is exhibited the brightest, the fairest resemblance of the Father, that heaven and earth ever beheld, an example peculiarly persuasive, calculated to inspire resolution, and to animate us to use our utmost endeavors to imitate the divine pattern, the example of “the Author and Finisher of our faith,” of him “who loved us and gave himself for us.” Our profession and character as Christians oblige us to make this example the model of our lives. Every motive of decency, gratitude, and interest, constrain us to tread the paths be trod before us.
THE HOLY SPIRIT DIRECTS
We should also remember that our burden is easy; because God, who “knoweth whereof we are made, who considereth that we are but dust,” is ever ready to assist us. The heathens themselves had some notion of this assistance, though guided only by the glimmering lamp of reason. But what they looked upon as probable, the gospel clearly and strongly asserts. We there hear the apostle exhorting, “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we map obtain mercy, and find grace to help, in time of need.” We there hear the blessed Jesus himself arguing in this convincing manner: “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy spirit to them that ask him?”
We would not here be understood to mean, that the agency of the spirit is irresistible, and lays a necessitating bias on all the faculties and affections. Were this the case, precepts and prohibitions, promises and threatenings, would signify nothing; and duty and oblivion would be words without a meaning. The spirit assists in a manner agreeable to the frame of human nature; not controlling the free use of reason, but by assisting the understanding, influencing the will, and moderating the affections. But though we may not be able to explain the mode of his operations, the Scriptures warrant us to assert, that when men are renewed and prepared for heaven, it is “through sanctification of the spirit,” and “belief of the truth.” How enlivening the thought!--how encouraging the motive! We are not left to struggle alone with the difficulties which attend the practice of virtue, in the present imperfect state. The merciful Father of our spirit is ever near to help our infirmities, to enlighten the understanding, to strengthen good resolutions, and, in concurrence with our own endeavors, to make us conquerors over all opposition. Faithful is he to his promises, and will not suffer the sincere and well disposed to be tempted above what they are able to bear. What can be desired more than this? To promote the happiness of his people, everything is done that is requisite, his grace is all-sufficient, his spirit is able to conduct us through this vale of tears, to never-fading bliss.
RESTORATION
We should also remember, that the great doctrine of the gospel, concerning the propitious mercy of God to all penitents, through Christ Jesus, greatly contributes to the consolation of Christians. Let it be granted, that the hope of pardon is essential to the religion of fallen creatures, and one of its first principles, yet, considering the doubts and suspicions which are apt to arise in a mind conscious of guilt, it is undoubtedly a great and inestimable favor, to be relieved in this respect, by the interposition of Divine assistance. This is our happiness. We are fully assured, that upon our true repentance, we shall, “through the mediation of Christ,” receive the “remission of sins,” and be restored to the same state and favor with our Maker, as if we had never transgressed his laws. Here the gospel triumphs. With these assurances it abounds. Upon this head the declaration of our blessed Savior and his apostles are so express and full, that every one who believes them, and knows himself to be a true penitent, must banish every doubt and fear, and rejoice with Joy unspeakable. “Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “All manner of site and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men” (Matthew 12:31). “Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39). What grace and favor is this! Who can dwell upon the transporting theme too long! Now our way is plain before us, and the burden we are to bear is made comfortably easy. No sins are unpardonable, if repented and forsaken.
GOD'S GENEROUS MERCY
Consider this, all ye who have never yet regarded religion, but pursued a course of vice and sensuality all your lives long. Though your conduct has been base to the last degree, your case is not desperate. Far from it. The God whom you have so highly offended commiserates your errors, is ever ready to extend his pardoning mercy to his most degenerate creatures, upon their faith and repentance, and “is in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself, not imputing unto [penitent] sinners their trespasses. Let the wicked [therefore] forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7.)
ETERNAL LIFE
Another particular, which renders the Christian religion delightful is, its leading us to the perfect, eternal life of heaven. It can not be denied but that we may draw from the light of nature strong presumptions of a future state. The present existence does not look like an entire scene, but rather like the infancy of human nature, which is capable of arriving at a much higher degree of maturity; but whatever solid foundation the doctrine of a future state may have had, in nature and reason, certain it is, through the habitual neglect of reflection; and the force of irregular passions, this doctrine was, before the coming of our blessed Savior, very much disfigured, and in a great measure lost, among the sons of men.
In the heathen world, a future state of rewards and, punishments was a matter of mere speculation and uncertainty, sometimes hoped for, sometimes doubted of, and sometimes absolutely denied. The law of Moses, though of divine original, is chiefly enforced by promises of temporal blessings; and, even in the writings of the prophets, a future immortality is very sparingly mentioned, and obscurely represented, but the doctrine of our Savior hash “brought life and immortality to light.” In the gospel we have a distinct account of another world, attended with many engaging circumstances; about which the decisions of reason were dark and confused. We have the testimony of the Author of our religion, who was raised from the dead, and who afterward, in the presence of his disciples, ascended into heaven. In the New Testament it is expressly declared, that good men, “when absent from the body, are present with the Lord.” Here we are assured of the resurrection of the body in a glorious form, clothed with immortal vigor, suited to the active nature of the animating spirit, and assisting its most enlarged operations and incessant progress toward perfection. Here we are assured that “the righteous shall go into life everlasting,” that they shall enter into the heavenly Canaan, where no ignorance shall cloud the understanding, no vice disturb the will. In these regions of perfection, nothing but love shall possess the soul; nothing but gratitude employ the tongue; there the righteous shall be united to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first-born. There they shall see their exalted Redeemer, at the right-hand of Omnipotence, and sit down with him on his throne; there they shall be admitted into the immediate presence of the supreme Fountain of life and happiness, and, beholding his face, be changed into the same image, from glory to glory.
Here language--here imagination fails us! It requires the genius, the knowledge, the pen of an angel, to paint the happiness, the blissful scene of the New Jerusalem, which human eyes can not behold, till this mortal body shall be purified from its corruption, and dressed in the robes of immortality: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart to conceive, the joys which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
What is the heaven of the heathens when compared with the heaven of the Christians? The hope, the prospect of this, is sufficient to reconcile us to all the difficulties that may attend our progress, sweeten all our labors, alleviate every grief, and silence every murmur.
HUMANISM
But why, says the libertine in the gayety of his heart, should there be any difficulties, or restraint, at all? God hath made nothing in vain. The appetites he hath planted in the human breast are to be gratified. To deny or restrain them, is ignominious bondage; but to give full scope to every desire and passion of the heart, without check or control, is true manly freedom.
In opposition to this loose and careless way of reasoning, let it be considered, that the liberty of a rational creature doth not consist in an entire exemption from all control, but in following the dictates of reason, as the governing principle, and in keeping the various passions in due subordination. To follow the regular notion of those affections which the wise Creator hath implanted within us, is our duty; but as our natural desires, in this state of trial, are often irregular, we are bound to restrain their excesses, and not indulge them, but in a strict subserviency to the integrity and peace of our minds, and to the order and happiness of human society established in the world. Those who allow the supreme command to be usurped by sensual and brutal appetites, may “promise themselves liberties,” but are truly and absolutely the “servants of corruption.” To be vicious, is to be enslave. We behold with pity those miserable objects that are chained in the galleys, or confined in dark prisons and loathsome dungeons; but how much more abject and vile is the slavery of the sinner! No slavery of the body is equal to the bondage of the mind; no chains press so closely, or gall so cruelly, as the fetters of sin, which corrode the very substance of the soul, and fret every faculty.
It must, indeed, be confessed, that there are some profligates, so hardened by customs, as to be past all feeling; and, because insensible of their bondage, boast of this insensibility as a mark of their native freedom, and of their happiness. Vain men! They might extol with equal propriety the peculiar happiness of an apoplexy, or the profound tranquillity of a lethargy.
LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL
Thus have we endeavored to place, in a plain and conspicuous light, some of the peculiar excellences of the Christian religion; and hence many useful reflections will naturally arise in the mind of every attentive reader. It is the religion of Jesus that hath removed idolatry and superstition, and brought immortality to light, when concealed under a veil of darkness almost impenetrable. This hath set the great truths of religion in a clear and conspicuous point of view, and proposed new and powerful motives to influence our minds, and to determine our conduct. Nothing is enjoined to be believed but what is worthy of God, nothing to be practised but what is friendly to man. All the doctrines of the gospel are rational and consistent; all its precepts are truly wise, just, and good. The gospel contains nothing grievous to an ingenuous mind; it debars us from nothing but doing harm to ourselves, or to our fellow-creatures; and permits us to range anywhere but in the paths of danger and destruction. It only requires us to act up to its excellent commands, and to prefer to the vanishing pleasure of sin, the smiles of a reconciled God, and “an eternal weight of glory.”
Surely no man who is a real friend to the cause of virtue, and to the interest of mankind, can ever be an enemy to Christianity, if he truly understands it, and seriously reflects on its wise and useful tendency. It conducts us to our journey's end, by the plainest and securest path; where the “steps are not straitened, and where he that runneth stumbleth not.”
PRAISING GOD FOR HIS PROVISIONS
We ought daily to adore the God of nature for lighting up the sun, that glorious, though imperfect image of his own unapproachable luster; and appointing it to gild the earth with its various rays, to cheer us with its benign influence, and to guide and direct us in our journeys and our labors. But how incomparably more valuable is that “day-spring from on high which hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace?” Oh Christians, whose eyes are so happy to see, and your ears to hear, what abundant reason have you to give daily and hourly praise to your beneficent Creator! When, therefore, your minds are delighted with contemplating the riches of the gospel; when you reflect (as you certainly must do) with wonder and joy on the happy means of your redemption; when you feel the burden of your guilt removed, the freedom of your address to the throne of grace encouraged, and see the prospect of a fair inheritance of eternal glory opening upon you; then, in the pleasing transports of your souls, borrow the joyful anthem of the psalmist, and say, with the humblest gratitude and self-resignation, “God is the Lord who showeth us light; bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar.” Adore “God, who first commanded the light to shine out of darkness,” that by the discoveries of his word, and the operations of his spirit, he hath “shined in your hearts, to give you the knowledge of his glory, as reflected from the face of his Son.”
Let us, therefore, who live under the gospel, the most gracious dispensation bestowed by God to mankind, “count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord;” and not suffer ourselves, by the slight cavils of unbelievers, to be “moved away from the hope of the gospel.” Let us demonstrate that we believe the superior excellency of the Christian dispensation, by conforming to its precepts. Let us show that we are Christians in deed and in truth; not by endless disputes about trifles, and the transports of a blind zeal, but by abounding in those “fruits of righteousness, which are, through Christ, to the praise and glory of God.”
PLEASURES OF SALVATION
From what has been said, we may clearly perceive how groundless all those prejudices are which some conceive against religion, as if it were a peevish, morose thing, burdensome to human nature, and inconsistent with the true enjoyment of life. Such sentiments are too apt to prevail in the heat of youth, when the spirits are brisk and lively, and the passions warm and impetuous; but it is wholly a mistake, and a mistake of the most dangerous tendency. The truth is, there is no pleasure like that of a good conscience; no real peace but what results from a sense of the Divine favor. This enables the mind, and can alone support it under all the various and unequal scenes of the present state of trial. This lays a sure foundation of an easy, comfortable life, of a serene, peaceful death, and of eternal joy and happiness hereafter: whereas vice is ruinous to all our most valuable interests; spoils the native beauty, and subverts the order of the soul; renders us the scorn of man, the rejected of God, and, without timely repentance, will rob us of a happy eternity. Religion is the health, the liberty, and the happiness of the soul; sin is the disease, the servitude, and destruction of it--It will perhaps be said, that the sons of vice and riot have pleasure in sensual indulgences. This we allow; but must observe, that it is altogether of the lowest kind--empty, fleeting, and transient; “like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the mirth of the wicked.” It makes a noise and a blaze for the present, but soon vanishes away into smoke and vapor.
On the other hand, the pleasure of religion is solid and lasting, and will attend us through all, even the last stages of life. When we have passed the levity of youth, and have lost all relish for gay entertainments; when old age steals upon us, and stoops toward the grave, this will cleave fast to us, and give us relief.
COURAGE OF SALVATION
Clad in this immortal robe, we need not fear the awful summons of the king of terrors, nor regret our retiring into the chambers of the dust. Our immortal part will wing its way to the arms of its Redeemer, and find rest in the heavenly mansions. And though our earthly part, this tabernacle of clay, returns to its original dust, and is dissolved--our joy, our consolation, our confidence is, that “we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Such will be the happy consequences attendant on all those who strictly adhere to the Christian religion, and diligently, through the course of their lives, follow the precepts laid down by their divine Master, the great Savior and Redeemer of the world.