Plain Sermons, preached at Archbishop Tenison's Chapel, Regent Street. Second Series

by James Galloway Cowan

Oh! my brethren, do not suppose that it is the weakness, the impotence of Christianity, the frustration of the will of God that is demonstrated in the world’s ungodliness, in the perdition of so many immortal souls. No! It is rather the power of Christianity to keep its own for its own: it is the glorious vindication of the sovereign will of Jehovah to save whom He will; it is the corroboration of Christ’s word, that none should come to the Father but by Him; it is the terrible, deliberately-inflicted punishment of those that will not come unto Him that they might have life; it is the manifestation, so to speak, of His non-manifestation: “If ye will not love me, holding my commandments and keeping them, then you cannot be loved of My Father, and so cannot be loved of Me, and I will not manifest myself to you.”

It is ourselves, brethren, and not God that must be changed. The seed is scattered over all the field, but it grows only in the good ground. If Christ is not manifest to us, it is because we have not complied with the conditions of manifestation. He is faithful to His promise, but we have not closed with the promise. Realising, then, that it is not binding on God to save us—excepting on the terms which He has Himself laid down—and presenting to ourselves the momentous interests at stake, let us comply with God’s terms, and let us strive to do so gratefully. Let us be at pains to ascertain Christ’s will; let us diligently and scrupulously keep it, endeavouring all the while to follow it, not as mere routine of morality, but as active direct service of Christ Himself, and proposing to ourselves, as the motive to its observance, gratitude for Christ’s salvation, and as the reward of observance, the manifestation of Christ. So doing, we shall soon find that there is a real, an unequalled power in Christianity to attract and constrain us; we shall soon know how it is that Christ will manifest Himself to His disciples, while He is hidden from the world.

II. I have left but little time for the consideration of the second form of our question, namely, in what way Christ will manifest Himself only to the chosen. There is no need of a lengthy discussion of this subject, because, with all our spiritual short-sightedness, we are not like the Jews, we can have no difficulty in understanding the possibility of Christ’s manifestation of Himself to whom He will, and at the same time His hiding of Himself from all others. We know that like as ghosts are sometimes said to appear to but one of a roomful, so if it pleased Christ—and in any other way which He pleased—He could stand visibly at this moment before any one of us, and utter to that favoured ear distinctly audible words, while the rest of us saw and heard nothing of Him.

And there is no use in the discussion of the nature of Christ’s truest manifestation, because even if the preacher had realised it in all its perfect blessedness, his words would fail to describe what he had felt; yea, the best possible description would be wholly unintelligible to the natural man who perceives not, and cannot perceive, the things of God, while it would be wholly unnecessary, rather would be solemn trifling with those who have actually partaken of the blessedness. No, brethren, it cannot be spoken—and if it could, I believe, it might not be—how Christ shows Himself to those who love Him and keep His commandments. It is only in its realisation that you can understand what the promise means: “We will come unto Him and make our abode with Him.” Go, fulfil the conditions, and you shall receive the promise; and it shall disclose to you its own wonders, and its own transcendent bliss, and its own constraining power.

But though we may not describe the manifestation itself, we may observe and recount the effects it produces. The Israelites might not come up to God and see Him face to face in the Mount, but they were allowed, and it was good for them, to behold the shining of Moses’s face when he returned from the Divine presence. Doubtless, to many, it was an additional proof of the being of God; to not a few it may have been an incentive to seek the blessing of His favour. And so, brethren, it may be with us. Taking knowledge of those who have been with Jesus, we may see on them some reflection of His glorious self, some marks of a bliss which we shall covet to share, which may stimulate us both to believe better in its reality and to strive more earnestly for its fruition. Yes! and comparing ourselves with them very humbly, with unceasing prayer and watching against false confidence, we may even discern on ourselves the faint dawn, the first streaks of the Divine twilight, which tell (oh! how unspeakable the bliss!) that the dayspring is about to mount above our horizon; that the Sun of righteousness is about to shine into our hearts with all His glory.

Consider, then, such as Abraham, who, after He had seen Christ—for Christ was often manifest before the Incarnation—could himself resolutely destroy his best earthly hope if God required it; Job, who, after the vision of perfect holiness, abhorred himself and repented; Jacob, who felt (and felt throughout his life, we may be sure) how dreadful, how consecrated was the place where God was met; Joseph, who possessed a power to resist effectually the sin, which so many dare to say there is no resisting (“How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”); Daniel, who entered courageously into a den of lions; Simeon, who longed for death, and the enjoyment of the permanent vision, after he had once seen Christ; Stephen, who died, almost like his Master, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit;” and the many others, who endured and laboured, and resisted, and persevered, and rejoiced in tribulation, and hoped against hope, as seeing Him who is invisible. Yes, brethren, consider these. Think what they were, men of the same flesh and blood, of like infirmities, and like sin with yourselves. Think how they secured the favour of God, by the same simple means which are within the power of the least of you, yea, and more within your power than theirs, at least of most of them, because of the clearer light, and the better grace of Gospel times. Think what a reflection they showed of the visions of Christ which they enjoyed. Think how real must have been their religious life; how enviable their peace and bliss; what a glorious light they afforded for the example and encouragement of other men; and be no longer content that with all your faculties and opportunities, all your knowledge and invitations, all your proffers of Divine grace, all the perpetual revelations of Christ to those who desire Him, you yet should never see Him; but resolutely accepting His terms, hold and keep His commandments, and pray, and meditate, and labour to love Him.

Then plead and watch—you shall not plead in vain, nor watch very long—and the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit will surely come unto you and make their abode manifestly within you, cheering you with the light of the Divine countenance, strengthening you with the strength of Divine grace, moulding you more and more into the image of Christ (which must be yours in perfection before you can partake of His fullest manifestation), abiding with you here, and shining clearly even in the deepest darkness, and by and by transplanting you, perfected in grace and spiritual perception, to the place where Christ is always seen, with an eye that shall never be dim, with a delight which, however it grows in desire, shall be more than satisfied, as you behold His face in righteousness, and are filled to overflowing with the fulness of His presence.

SERMON X.
BLESSING ACCORDING TO PRAYER.

St. Matthew, viii., 13.

And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.

We must compare the narrative contained in St. Matthew’s Gospel with its parallel in the 7th chapter of St. Luke, to obtain a clear and full idea of the circumstances which preceded the healing of the centurion’s servant. St. Matthew records just so much of the history as would illustrate the teaching that the Gentiles from afar should be received, and many of the children of the kingdom cast out: St. Luke sets forth in order all the particulars, small and great, which he had been able to obtain from those who were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word.