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LECTURE XXI.

ROMANS V, 10.

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

ST. PAUL, who, by the way, is by far the most argumentative of all the apostles-and who, from being the most successful of them all, proves that argument is both a legitimate and a powerful weapon in the work of making Christians, sometimes undertakes to reason upon one set of premises, and then to demonstrate, how much more valid and irresistible is the conclusion which he tries to establish, when he is in actual possession of another and more favourable set of premises. In this way a great additional strength is made to accrue to his argument—and the 'how much more' with which he finishes, causes it to come with greater power and assurance upon his readers-and it is this which gives him the advantage of what is well known, both in law and in logic, under the phrase of argumentum a fortiore, or, an argument which affirms a thing to be true in adverse and unpromising circumstances, and therefore far more worthy of being held true in likelier circumstances. It is quite a familiar mode of reasoning in common disIf a neighbour be bound to sympathise with the distresses of an unfortunate family, how

course.

much more, when that neighbour is a relative. If I obtained an offer of friendship from a man in difficulties, how much more may I count upon it should he now be translated into a state of sufficiency and ease. If in the very heat of our quarrel, and under the discouragement of all my provoking insolence towards him, my enemy forbear the vengeance which he had the power to inflict, how much more, should the quarrel be made up, and I have been long in terms of reconciliation with him, may I feel myself secure from the effects of his indignation. Such also is the argument of my text. There is one state of matters in which God sets forth a demonstration of friendship to the world, and this is compared with the present and actual state of matters, more favourable than the former, and from which therefore, the friendship of God may be still more surely inferred, and still more firmly confided in. But it will be further seen, that in this short sentence of the apostle, there lies a compound argument which admits of being separated into distinct parts. There is a reference made to a twofold state of matters, which, by being resolved into its two particulars, brings out two accessions of strength to the conclusion of our apostle, which are independent of each other. He, in fact, holds forth a double claim upon our understanding, and we propose to view successively the two particulars of which it is made up.

There is first then a comparison made between one state of matters, and another state of matters

which obtain in our earth-and there is at the same time a comparison made between one state of matters, and another state of matters which obtain in heaven-and from each of these there may be educed an argument for strengthening the assurance of every Christian, in that salvation which the gospel has made known to us.

Let us first look then to the two states upon earth-and this may be done either with a reference to this world's history, or it may be done with a reference to the personal history of every one man who is now a believer.

That point of time in the series of general history at which reconciliation was made, was when our Saviour said that it is finished, and gave up the ghost. God may be said to have then become reconciled to the world, in as far as He was ready to enter into agreement with all who drew nigh in the name of this great propitiation. Now think of the state of matters upon earth, previous to the time when reconciliation in this view was entered upon. Think of the strength of that moving principle in the bosom of the Deity. which so inclined Him towards a world then lying in the depths of ungodliness-and from one end to another of it, lifting the cry of rebellion against Him. There was no movement on the part of the world towards God-no returning sense of allegiance towards Him from whom they had revolted so deeply-no abatement of that profligacy which so rioted at large over a wide scene of lawless and thankless and

careless abandonment-no mitigation of that foul and audacious insolence by which the throne of heaven was assailed; and a spectacle so full of offence to the unfallen was held forth, of a whole province in arms against the lawful Monarch of creation. Had the world thrown down its weapons of disobedience-had a contrite and relenting spirit gone previously forth among its generations --had the light which even then glimmered in the veriest wilds of Paganism, just up to the strength and degree of its influence, told aright on the moral sensibilities of the deluded and licentious worshippers-had they, whose conscience was a law unto themselves, just acted and followed on as they might under the guidance of its compunctious visitations-had there been any thing like the forthgoing of a general desire, however faint, towards that unknown Being, the sense and impression of whom were never wholly obliterated-then it might have been less decisive of God's will for reconciliation, that He gave way to these returning demonstrations on the part of His alienated creatures, and reared a pathway of communication by which sinners may draw nigh unto God. But for God to have done this very thing, when these sinners were persisting in the full spirit and determination of their unholy warfare-for Him to have done so, when, instead of any returning loyalty rising up to Him like the incense of a sweet-smelling savour, the exhalations of idolatry and vice blackened the whole canopy of heaven, and ascended

in a smoke of abomination before Him-for Him to have done so at the very time that all flesh had corrupted its ways, and when, either with or without the law of revelation, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually-in these circumstances of deep and unalleviated provocation, and when God might have eased Him of His adversaries, by sweeping the whole of this moral nuisance away from the face of the universe which it deformed-for such a time to have been a time of love, when majesty seemed to call for some solemn vindication, but mercy could not let us go-surely, if through such a barrier between God and the guilty, He, in the longings of His desire after them, forced a pathway of reconciliation, He never will turn Himself away from any, who, cheered forward by His own entreaties, are walking upon that path. But if, when enemies He Himself found out an approach by which He might beckon them to enter into peace with Him, how much more, when they are so approaching, will He meet them with the light. of His countenance, and bless them with the joys of His salvation.

But this argument may be looked to in another way. Instead of fixing our regards upon that point in the general history of the world, when the avenue was struck out between our species and their offended Lawgiver; and through the rent veil of a Saviour's flesh, a free and consecrated