indebted for the renovation he has experienced. "Being born again," saith St. Peter, "not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."* III. We are directed to the consideration of the end proposed by this regenerating influence, "that we might be a kind of first-fruit of the creatures." In the Jewish law, which was, in all its essential parts, a perpetual shadow of the gospel, the first-fruits of the earth were commanded to be dedicated in the temple, and presented by the priest as an offering to God: "The first of the fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God." In the performance of this part of religious duty, an affecting form of words was prescribed, expressive of the humility and gratitude of the offerer. When a vineyard was planted, the Israelites were forbidden to partake of the fruits for the first three years, during which it was to be looked upon as uncircumcised and impure: "And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal."§ In allusion to this the apostle observes, the design of Christianity is, that being received into the heart as a renovating principle, we may become in a spiritual sense what the fruits presented in the temple were in a literal,—“ a certain first-fruits of his creatures;" in which representation he meant probably to include the following ideas:that we should be dedicated to God as holy persons, separated from every unclean use; that we should be distinguished as the most excellent part of his creatures, as the first-fruits were ever considered as the best of the kind; and that our dedication to God should be a pledge and [earnest] of the universal sanctification of the creatures. 1. This representation denotes our solemn dedication to God as holy persons, as persons set apart for his use and service. Christians are not their own, and the method by which God claims and appropriates them to himself is that of regenerating grace. The principle of regeneration is a principle which prompts men to devote themselves to God. They in whom it is planted "present themselves a living sacrifice," as "a reasonable service;" they present all their faculties and powers to him; their understanding, to be guided and enlightened by his truth; their will, to be swayed by his authority and to be obedient to his dictates; their hearts and affections, to be filled with his presence and replenished with his love; the † Exod. xxxiv. 26. 1 Pet. i. 23. "Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there. "And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. "And now, behold, I have brought the first-fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God." Deut. xxvi. 2, 5, 10. Lev. xix. 23, 24. Rom. xii. 1. members of their body, to be instruments of his glory sacred to his use; their time, to be employed in the way which he directs, and in pursuit of the objects which he prescribes, and no longer according to the dictates of inclination and caprice. They feel and cheerfully acknowledge the obligations they are under to regard him as their God, their owner and their Lord, through the Redeemer. They deprecate the thought of considering themselves under any other light than as those who are "bought with a price;"* that as God was highly honoured by presenting the first-fruits in the temple, since it was an acknowledgment of the absolute right over all things inhering in him, and whatever was possessed was held at his pleasure, so he is much more honoured by devoting ourselves, in proportion as the offerer is superior to the gift, in proportion as a reasonable creature is superior to unconscious matter. "They gave themselves," says St. Paul, speaking of the Macedonians, "first to the Lord;"† they gave themselves immediately to Jesus Christ as the great High-priest and Mediator, to be by him presented with acceptance to the Father, just as the basket of first-fruits was put into the hand of the priests to be laid upon that "altar which sanctifies the gift." It would have been great presumption for an Israelite to present his fruits without the intervention of the priest, as they were to be received immediately from his hands; so in our approaches we are to come first to the Mediator, and in his name to devote ourselves to God: "No man cometh to the Father but by him."§ Though we are infinitely unworthy of the acceptance of so great a King, yet when we present ourselves we offer the noblest present in our power, we offer that which has an intrinsic excellence far beyond the most costly material gifts: we offer what has a suitability in it to the character of God; that which is immaterial to the " Father of lights," and that which is spiritual to the "Father of spirits." If he will deign to receive any tribute or acknowledgment at the hands of a fallen creature, as he had demonstrated his readiness to do through a Mediator, what can be deemed equally fit for this purpose with the solemn consecration of our inmost powers to him, in love, adoration, and obedience? A soul resigning itself to him, panting after him, and ambitious of pleasing him in all things, is a far more excellent gift than the numerous peace-offerings which Solomon, surrounded by a whole nation, presented at the dedication of the temple. Under the gospel he makes little account of other offering: the fruit which he demands is the fruit of our lips. By the Lord Jesus, therefore, “let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name." When the fruits were dedicated the grant was irrevocable. The right to them passed fully and for ever from the offerer, so as to make it impossible for him ever to resume them again. Thus when we have dedicated ourselves to God the act is irrevocable; we must never pretend the least right in ourselves any more; we are to consider ourselves entirely the Lord's. * 1 Cor. vi. 20. † 2 Cor. viii. 5. Matt. xxiii. 19. **Heb. xiii. 15. John xiv. 6. 2. This "being a certain first-fruits of his creatures," denotes the superior honour and dignity which it is the gracious design of God to put upon Christians. The first-fruits presented to God were not only required to be of the best, but they derived a pre-eminence above all others from the very circumstance of their being dedicated to God; they were employed to a nobler use. Grace dignifies and exalts in a similar manner its possessor: "The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour;"* however obscure in station, and however beclouded and depressed by the meanness of his external condition, he is one of the excellent of the earth. His employment is that of "a king and a priest unto God."t In reflecting some rays of his image, in advancing the honour and sustaining the cause of the blessed God, he is infinitely more honourably occupied than the votaries of the world or the servants of sin. His calling is "high and heavenly." He is associated with Jesus and the holy angels in sacred ministries, his pursuits are of a permanent and eternal nature. If we consider the principles, also, which actuate good men and form the basis of their character, we shall perceive a greatness and elevation to which the world is an entire stranger. Is there nothing more noble in taking a wide prospect, and in looking at "the things which are unseen and eternal,"§ than in being absorbed in transitory concerns? Is not that a higher species of wisdom which calculates upon the interests and advantage which lie concealed from eyes of flesh in the depths of eternity, than that which contents itself with securing perishing riches? a Is it not incomparably more noble and more worthy of an immortal creature to be "providing for himself bags that wax not old," " treasure in the heavens that fadeth not,"|| than in searching for " filthy lucre?" Is there not more true dignity in the patience that waits with composure to be happy, than in the childish eagerness which catches at every momentary gratification? Is it not more magnanimous to conquer than submit to the world? to tread the world under our feet than to be enslaved by it? to be able to exercise that self-command over our sensual affections which secures the pleasures of innocence and the approbation of conscience, than to be the victim of unbridled passions? to rule our own spirit, than to be the sport of its tyrannical disorder? to rise above a sense of injury so as to forgive our enemies, rather than to be tormented with malice and revenge? He must be insensible to reason who is at a loss how to answer these interrogatories; and to answer them in the affirmative is to attest the superior dignity of the Christian character, to acknowledge that Christians are "a sort of first-fruits of the creatures." They are so at present with all the imperfections which attach to their state and their character; but they will be incomparably more so when they shall be assembled around the Throne, and it shall be declared of them, "These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he Prov. xii. 26. § 2 Cor. iv. 18. † Rev. i. 6. Heb. iii. 1. goeth: these were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb."* 3. The representation of Christians as a certain first-fruits of the creatures implies the accession of the future harvest; they are a pledge only of what is to follow; their dedication to God as the first-fruits is a preparation for the universal prevalence of religion, the universal sanctification of the creatures. Improvement. I. Let us adore God for having planted in the breast a principle of true religion. II. Let us be ambitious of exemplifying the excellence and dignity of our Christian calling. III. As an important means of this, let us study the gospel, and endeavour to gain a deeper and more extensive acquaintance with the word of truth.† XII. ON SPIRITUAL DEATH. EPH. ii. 1.-And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. THE power of God was most illustriously displayed in raising Christ from the dead; but there is another operation of Divine power which bears a great resemblance to this, of which every individual believer is the subject. It is the prayer of the apostle, in the latter part of the preceding chapter, that the Ephesians might have an increasing experience of the effects of that power which is exerted towards "them that believe, according to the working of his mighty power;" and what particular effect of Divine [power] he had in immediate contemplation, he informs us in the first part of the ensuing chapter: "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." He had not merely raised Christ from the dead, but he had wrought a similar deliverance for the Ephesians by imparting spiritual life to those who had been dead in trespasses and sins. In treating of these words, I shall first inquire to what extent this representation of a death in trespasses and sins is to be applied, and to what description of persons it belongs; secondly, I shall endeavour to show its import; and thirdly, make a few remarks on the wretched state of those who may justly be affirmed to be dead in trespasses and sins. Rev. xiv. 4. † Preached 7th of March, 1811, at the Wednesday evening lecture. May the Lord the Spirit apply the awful truths we shall have occasion to unfold, with power to the conscience. I. Are those expressions, "dead in trespasses and sins," to be understood as applicable only, or chiefly, to heathens? or to such in Christian countries as have run very remarkable lengths in wickedness? or are they applicable to the state of the unconverted universally? The heathen, say some, were exceedingly corrupt and wicked, totally enslaved to idols, "without hope and without God in the world." It was in consideration of this their remarkable alienation from God, and extreme corruption of manners, the apostle was led to employ such phrases; which are by no means to be applied to men educated in the light of Christianity, although they may not yet be in a state of salvation. Whether the representation applies to heathens only, or to those in a Christian country who for their enormous sins may be justly compared to heathens; or whether they are to be applied to unconverted sinners universally, will perhaps sufficiently appear from the following considerations. 1. The apostle expressly includes himself among those whose former state he had been considering. To the same purpose the apostle includes himself in the following description: "For we ourselves were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." 2. The same expression is applied generally to those who never were heathens. "And another of his disciples said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said, Let the dead bury their dead," the meaning of which is obvious. Let those who are spiritually dead, who are therefore totally unqualified to serve me in the gospel, perform such offices as those, to which they are fully equal; but for thee, thou art fitted for a higher and nobler employment -go thou and preach the gospel. 3. It is the declared intention of Jesus Christ, by his appearance in our world, to give life to the world by exhibiting himself as the bread of life. "I am come that they might have life." Here we have the affirmation of him that cannot lie; that those, whosoever they be, that are destitute of saving faith, are also destitute of spiritual life. "They have no life in them;" which can surely be understood in no other sense than what is equivalent to the passage before us. 4. True Christians, without any exception, are described as persons who have "passed from death unto life."P "He that heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but hath passed from death unto life." "Hereby we know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren; he that loveth not his brother abideth in death."†† Here the moral state of the world is supposed to be separated by an invisible boundary into two regions, a region of life and a region of death; and it is implied that none come into the former, that is, that * Eph. ii. 3. 4. John vi. 53. Tit. iii. 3. John v. 24. Matt. viii. 22. ** Ibid. John x. 10; vi. 32, 33, f† 1 John iii. 14. |