St. James says, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou," says he, "how his faith wrought with his works?" how his works were the tool or instrument which his faith used; and by his works his faith was brought to perfection, as a tree is brought to perfection when it bears fruit? "And so," St. James continues, "the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. Ye see then," he says, "how that by works a man is justified," or shown to be righteous and faithful, "and not by faith only;" that is, not by the mere feeling of faith, for, as he says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." For what is the sign of a body's being dead? It is its not being able to do any thing, not being able to work, because there is no living and moving spirit in it. And what is the sign of a man's faith being dead? - his faith not being able to work, because there is no living spirit in it, but it is a mere dead, empty shell and form of words, a mere notion and thought about believing in a man's head, but not a living trust and loyalty to God in his heart. Therefore, says St. James, "Show me thy faith without thy works," if thou canst, "and I will show thee my faith by my works," as Abraham did by offering up Isaac his son. Oh! my friends, when people are talking about faith and works, and trying to reconcile St. Paul and St. James, as they call it, because St. Paul says Abraham was justified by faith, and St. James says Abraham was justified by works, if they would but pray for the simple, childlike heart, and the head of common sense, and look at their own children, who, every time they go on a message for them, settle, without knowing it, this mighty difference of man's making between faith and works. You tell a little child daily to do many things, the meaning and use of which it cannot understand; and the child has faith in what you tell it: and, therefore, it does what you tell it, and so it shows its faith in you by obedience in working for you. But to go on with the verses: "And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." Now, here remark two things; first, that it was Abraham's obedience in giving up all to God, which called forth from God this confirmation of God's promises to him; and next, that God here promised him nothing new; God did not say to him, 'Because thou hast obeyed me in this great matter, I will give thee some great reward over and above what I promised thee.' No; God merely promises him over again, but more solemnly than ever, what He had promised him many years before. And so it will be with us, my friends; we must not expect to buy God's favour by obeying him,—we must not expect that the more we do for God, the more God will be bound to do for us, as the Papists do. No; God has done for us all that He will do. He has promised us all that He will promise. He has provided us, as He provided Abraham, a lamb for the burnt-offering, the Lamb without blemish and without spot, which taketh away the sins of the world. We are His redeemed people-we have a share in His promises-He bids us believe that, and show that we believe it by living as redeemed men, not our own, but bought with a price, and created anew in Christ Jesus to do good works; not that we may buy forgiveness by them, but that we may show by them that we believe that God has forgiven us already, and that when we have done all that is commanded us, we are still unprofitable servants; for though we should give up at God's bidding our children, our wives, and our own limbs and lives, and show as utter faith in God, and complete obedience to God, as Abraham did, we should only have done just what it was already our duty to do. SERMON XIV. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. "I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father."-1 JOHN, II. 13. I PREACHED some time ago a sermon on the whole of these most deep and blessed verses of St. John. I now wish to speak to those who are of an age to be confirmed three separate sermons on three separate parts of these verses. First, to those whom St. John calls little children; next, to those whom He calls grown men. To the first I will speak to-day; to the latter, by God's help, next Sunday. And may the Blessed One bring home my weak words to all your hearts! Now for the meaning of "little children." There are those who will tell you that those words mean merely "weak believers," "babes in grace," and so on. They mean that, no doubt; but they mean much more. They mean, first of all, to be sure, what they say. St. John would not have said "little children," if he had not meant little children. Surely God's apostle did not throw about his words at random, so as to leave them open to mistakes, and want some one to step in and tell us that they do not mean their plain, common-sense meaning, but something else. Holy Scripture is too wisely written, and too awful a matter to be trifled with in that way, and cut and squared to suit our own fancies, and explained away, till its blessed promises are made to mean any thing or nothing. No! By little children, St. John means here children in age of course Christian children and young people, for he was writing only to Christians. He speaks to those who have been christened, and brought up, more or less, as christened children should be. But, no doubt, when he says little children, he means also all Christian people, whether they be young or old, whose souls are still young, and weak, and unlearned. All, however old they may be, who have not been confirmed-I do not merely mean confirmed by the bishop, but confirmed by God's grace-all those who have not yet come to a full knowledge of their own sins-all who have not yet been converted, and turned to God with their whole hearts and wills, who have not yet made their full choice between God and sin,— all who have not yet fought for themselves the battle which no man or angel can fight for them-I mean the battle between their selfishness and their duty |