tion, but in Him they shall have peace; let them be of good cheer, Christ hath overcome the world. That this Rogation Sunday may be the beginning to us of a life of more frequent and earnest prayer may God grant, for Jesus Christ His sake. SERMON VIII. Our Advocate with the Father. [Preached at S. Giles' on the Sunday after Ascension Day, May 19, 1844.] 1 JOHN ii. 1. "WE HAVE AN ADVOCATE WITH THE FATHER, JESUS CHRIST THE RIGHTEOUS." THE revelations, which are made to us in the Holy Scriptures concerning Almighty God and His dispensations towards mankind, are surely addressed more to our faith than to our understanding. When we come to think upon them, we soon see how utterly above us they are. Just as in the case of the dealings of good parents with a little child; the child cannot comprehend all the commands and treatment of its parents, but it can believe in them and love them, and how blessed then are the results! And how infinitely higher is our heavenly Father above us than any earthly parent above his offspring, and His love surpasses that of a mother to her first-born. And, therefore, what infinitely greater reason is there that we should accept all which God tells us with simple faith and undoubting trust, and in loving, child-like obedience. And if this were our feeling and behaviour towards God, if we were willing to take His revelations, as certainly best for us, however little we may understand all the reasons and nature of them, we should soon learn to delight ourselves in the Lord, and should grow with rapid increase to the full stature of the perfect man in Christ. Now, in the revelations concerning the nature of God, such, for example, as the great mystery of the Trinity, that in the one Godhead are three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or in that other great mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, God manifest in the flesh,-we see at once that it is our duty to believe and to adore. The facts which are told us concerning the Being of the great God, are evidently above the powers of man's intellect. Without the Divine help we could know nothing of God, and with that help we have no faculties to go further than He is pleased to guide us. And this is equally true in the case of all those revelations which have been so graciously and lovingly made us concerning the relations in which God has placed Himself to us, and us to Him, in order for our recovery from sin and final salvation. Thus, when S. Paul declares of himself and Christian ministers, "we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us," it surely surpasses all our comprehension to understand how this is; how the great, eternal, almighty King, Lord of lords, and King of kings, should condescend to beseech us miserable sinners to betake ourselves to Him, and, being reconciled, love Him, obey Him, give Him ourselves, our souls and bodies. There is something in this which goes beyond all our thoughts. But it is a fact, full of all grace, which He has told us, and there should be no difficulty in accepting the fact, and acting accordingly. We may not understand, why He should love 1 2 Cor. v. 20. |