SERMON X.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PATRIARCHAL, JEWISH, AND CHRISTIAN DISPENSATIONS.

(PREACHED ON CHRISTMAS-DAY.)

Luke x. 23, 24.

Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

IT is a common but very just observation, that we are seldom duly sensible of the value of our blessings till we are deprived of them. There is in man an unhappy propensity to look at his wants rather than his mercies; to wish his state better, rather than to be thankful for what it is; and to contrast his enjoyments rather with some fancied state of felicity, than with the inferior blessings which others possess.

This remark is applicable to our case, under the Christian dispensation. How few persons bless God that they dwell in the "days of the Son of Man!" How few comfort themselves amidst the troubles and sor

rows of life, with the reflection. that they enjoy spiritual privileges and mercies of the noblest kind, and in the greatest abundance!--My brethren, do you reflect, that you live in the bright day of the glorious Gospel of the Son of God; that all the treasures of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness are displayed to you; that all the promises of the Gospel are yours? Well may I say to you, in the words of my text, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them."

The way to know how much we are distinguished, is, carefully to compare our situation with that of our fellow-creatures. Let us, then, consider our circumstances as Christians, in reference to those of others (an employment very suitable to the design of this day,) and we shall perceive what reason we have to be peculiarly thankful.

But before I enter upon this comparison, I would ask, what is your idea of being truly blessed? Does your heart reply, "It is to possess good health and spirits, agreeable friends and sufficient affluence to supply all the comforts and conveniences of life?" If these be your views, there is a wide difference between us in the outset. Christ did not come into the world to bestow on his disciples blessings of this description. All these the heathen may enjoy in as large a measure as Christians; and therefore, if this be the turn of your sentiments, you, of course, cannot consider yourself as "blessed" because you live in the days of Christ. In order to form a true judgment on this point, our minds must be spiritual: we must feel the force of eternal things, and acquire a just sense of the value of the present life. We must place ourselves on some lofty point where we can command at once the view of thousands of ages; and, from that elevation must form our estimate of this world, with all its comforts and enjoyments. We must set before our contemplation the great and glorious

God, and the unspeakable benefit of doing his will and possessing his favour. We must discern the beauty and excellence of holiness; and must perceive the infinite superiority of the soul to the body. Christianity makes the lowest of its disciples philosophers in a juster sense than that in which the term was ever ascribed to the philosophers of old; that is, it teaches them duly to estimate and worthily to love real wisdom. Whoever, therefore, would pass his judgment on the value of Christianity, must have an understanding sufficiently enlightened to comprehend it; a taste sufficiently pure to admire it; and a heart sufficiently holy to love it. The sensual, the worldly, the covetous, the dissipated, the frivolous want the necessary faculties: "The carnal mind is enmity against God." "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

But I address myself, I trust; to those in this assembly who can duly appreciate that light, and truth, and glory, which the Son of God has revealed. Such persons will enter with pleasure into the comparison which I shall make of our condition in respect to religious privileges, with those, first, of the Heathen world; and then, of the Patriarchal and Jewish dispensations.

I. Let us survey the state of the Heathen World.Place yourself, for a moment, amongst them, and consider what would then be your situation with respect to knowledge and virtue.

His

1. As to knowledge-Every thing among the heathens was obscure and uncertain. They had arrived at no certain conclusions respecting right and wrong. They were in the dark as to the nature of God being, indeed, they could not but confess; his power and wisdom were every where apparent;-but what was his character; whether he concerned himself with man or not; whether there were many Supreme Being or only one; were questions which to them were

covered with an impenetrable veil: and, if any one among them was led to entertain a real regard for truth, he must have been tormented with doubts, and occupied in fruitless inquiries respecting them. All was also dark with respect to the circumstances of man in the world: how he originally came into it; how evil obtained so general a prevalence there; what was the Creator's design in giving us existence;-all this was a matter of uncertain speculation. The same darkness and doubt prevailed with respect to the future. Whether man would exist at all after the death of the body; and if he did, where and in what manner; were points which no one could satisfactorily determine. Socrates himself, one of the wisest and best of the heathens, although, while pleading his cause, he had ably discoursed concerning the happy state of the good in another life, yet plainly confessed the uncertainty of all human conclusions respecting futurity, in thus taking leave of his judges: "And now I am going off the stage: it is your lot to live, and mine to die; but whether of us two shall fare the better, is unknown to any but to God alone."

2. In the heathen world also, vice dreadfully prevailed. And what authority was there to check its prevalence? What principles strong enough to enable men to resist it? Their worship was base and degrading, offered in general to idols representing beings who were described as the patrons of corruption. Their ideas were worldly, sensual, and grovelling: they had no sentiments fitted to transport their minds beyond the present scene, or to raise them above the lusts of the flesh. And was not that an awful and melancholy state, in which ignorance and vice thus prevailed? But, alas! how many professed Christians are there among us, who do not discern the misery of such a state! How many, even of these, desire no benefit from the knowledge they possess of the truths of Revelation! How will the heathens themselves rise up to condemn them! Socrates declared that he would be contented to die

many times if he could but be assured that those things were true, which he wished to be so, respecting a future state. Some professing Christians, on the contrary, who have the knowledge of these things distinctly revealed to them, are indifferent about it. Far from accounting it an evil to live amongst heathens where vice should abound, they would probably prefer it. They desire to be unchecked by the secret suggestions of conscience, or the remonstrances of religion; so true is that remark, which I before made, that it is necessary to be spiritually-minded in order to judge of the value of Christianity.

II. But let us turn our eyes from the state of the heathens, to the fairer view of those who were in some measure enlightened by Divine knowledge. Even here we shall see great reason to be thankful for the higher dispensation under which we live.

Here, however, it will be proper, first to notice some common points of resemblance between the Patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, by which they were brought into close alliance with the clearer dispensation that succeeded them. They both declared the Unity of God, and the evil of idolatry; they both described the will of God to be the only rule of right: they both affirmed the corruption of human nature, and pointed to sacrifices as an atonement for sin: they both taught men to live a holy and godly life, and by faith, to wait for a better, that is a heavenly country: they both instructed their followers to seek their peace and happiness only in God, and inculcated continual trust and dependance upon him: they both required man to love God, and to obey him cheerfully, uniformly, constantly; they both had frequent, though obscure, references to the Saviour who was to come, and both were under the sanction of the Almighty. Yet, notwithstanding these points of agreement by which also they approximated to the clearer light of the Gospel-dispensation, many of their privileges and advantages fell exceedingly short of those which we have the happiness to enjoy.