SERMON XVIII. THE CROSS AND THE GLORY OF THE SONS OF GOD. Fourth Sunday after Trinity. ROMANS VIII. 18, 19.1 FOR I RECKON THAT THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME ARE NOT WORTHY TO BE COMPARED WITH THE GLORY WHICH SHALL BE REVEALED IN US. FOR THE EARNEST EXPECTATION OF THE CREATURE WAITETH FOR THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD. THE sign of the Cross, wherewith our foreheads were in former years marked when at our Baptism we were made partakers of the Christian Covenant, is not only a witness to us of that foundation on which must rest our hope of salvation, but it is also a significant token and a pledge of that warfare which we were thenceforward engaged to carry on against sin, the world, and the devil, as good soldiers of CHRIST. When the Jews laid hold of Simon the Cyrenian, and compelled him to bear the Cross after JESUS, they presented (unconsciously, it is true) in his person to all ages the mystery of the Christian life. And our LORD has said, that "he that taketh not his Cross, and followeth after ME, is not worthy of ME ;" and, according to St. Luke, "He said to them all, If any man will come 1 Epistle for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity. 2 St. Matt. x. 38. after ME, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross daily, and follow ME."" The Cross then is not merely an object of faith, and foundation of hope external to us, as Christians; but it is typical of our daily life, and, sacramentally as it were, the means of our own death unto sin. "I die daily," says St. Paul; and the same Apostle writes,— GOD forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world:" and, in the same Epistle, "they that are CHRIST's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." To suffer under the weight and burden of the Cross cannot therefore be considered as an occasional and accidental circumstance in the life of a Christian; but it is rather a necessary part of his daily discipline, without which he " is not worthy" of CHRIST, and cannot be made conformable to the likeness of CHRIST, either here in His humiliation, or hereafter in His glory: "if so be that we suffer with HIM, that we may be also glorified together;" and again, "if we suffer, we shall also reign with HIM."'5 What, then, may this doctrine of the Cross mean— how is it applicable to us-and what our encouragements to bear it? To suffer with CHRIST, and to bear His Cross, cannot mean simply to be under suffering from poverty, pain, sickness, or any other worldly affliction or deprivation: first, because these are trials of very uncertain application; and next, because they are not necessarily connected with any growth in spiritual life at all. These several visitations, as GOD shall please, may be laid upon us or taken off; still, whatever may be our 1 St. Luke ix. 23. * Rom. viii. 17. 2 1 Cor. xv. 31. 52 Tim. ii. 12. condition in these respects, we must nevertheless "suffer" with CHRIST, if we hope to "reign" with HIM. Now the cause of CHRIST's suffering was sin; and it is because of sin that we must submit also to suffer. "Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." But sin will reign so long as we give way to the lusts and will of the flesh. As, then, CHRIST died upon the Cross in the flesh for sin, so we, who are "baptized into His Death," are pledged to deny, mortify, crucify the flesh, by refusing to follow its lusts or feed its passions, endeavouring to take away their nourishment and increase, that the flesh may suffer, and its power over the spirit may waste away and perish. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the SPIRIT do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."" This is a discipline which, whatever may be his external circumstances, each one must follow out for himself in his daily life; nor will it ever be perfected in him, till that solemn hour shall arrive, when, like the Great Captain of our Salvation, he shall give up the ghost upon his Cross, and committing his soul to the merciful keeping of his GOD, shall be able to say, “It is finished." Such is the true picture of Christian life in this world of sin. The first aspect of it is one of continual suffering; for it is a crucifying of the flesh, and a ceaseless warfare against the lusts of the flesh and the power of sin. And it is this rugged appearance of the steep and narrow path of that life, which as baptized sinners we are pledged to live, that causes such multitudes, who merely cast a hasty glance towards its entrance, to turn aside into, what seem to them to be, the soft and pleasant ways of the flesh and the world. And 1 Rom. vi. 12. 2 Rom. viii. 13. indeed we know that St. Paul has said, in reference to the nature of the present trials of Christians, that "if in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable." But you all are well assured, however little you may act as if you had such a belief, that the whole foundation of religion turns upon the fact that "here we have no continuing city"—that in this world our time is short, hereafter our condition will be an eternal one, and that this life is but the preparation for the next, that now is the seed-time, hereafter the harvest. And this being so, it is not a question whether this or that course of life is always most pleasant to us now, but whether it is such as will answer the one great end proposed to us; and if we hope to reap everlasting life," we must now "sow to the Spirit," being certain that if we "sow to the flesh," we can "of the flesh reap" nothing but "corruption :' :" and if we wish to "reign" with CHRIST, we must also first "suffer" with HIM. And why is it that we are thus called to enter upon what may thus appear so rugged a path? And is such severe discipline indeed necessary for all? We are called to enter upon this prescribed course in order to the crucifying of the flesh, that sin may not reign in us. Let us take a few particulars, generally applicable to all men and at all times; and comparing the plain and direct commandments of the Bible with the natural inclinations and ways of mankind, then let us honestly consider how impossible it must be, without putting ourselves under some regular spiritual discipline, denying our own wills and doing violence to our own inclinations and passions, that "the will of GOD, even our sanctification," can ever be fulfilled in us. 1 Cor. xv. 19. First, let us take the government of our thoughts and desires. What says the Scripture ? "Thou shalt not covet."" "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." "Love your enemies.”3 "Charity thinketh no evil." Is it possible for any child of Adam in any measure to arrive at the practice of these several evangelic graces, unless he has had the lawless passions, which are natural to his flesh, put under, denied, and as it were crucified and slain?-according to the prayer offered up at our Baptism: "O merciful GOD, grant that the old Adam in this child may be so buried, that the New Man may be raised up in him. Amen. "Grant that all carnal affections may die in him, and all things belonging to the SPIRIT may live and grow in him. in him. Amen. "Grant that he may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh. Amen."" Take next the government of words. "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt." If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.' "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity;" "it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." Are these all merely unmeaning words of CHRIST and His Apostles; or are they applicable to us? And if so, is there no need of some sharp discipline and watchfulness, in order that we may control so unruly a member as the tongue? Is there |