SERMON XIV.

CHRIST PRECIOUS TO THE BELIEVER.

1 PETER ii. 7.-" Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious."

On the Death of a Minister of Christ.

A PECULIAR excellence of the Sacred Scriptures is, that they direct our attention to those things only which are truly precious. If they advert for a moment to objects of an inferior or a worthless description, it is only to point out their worthlessness and the danger of loving them—and thus to prepare the way for leading our affections to objects of a higher character and of substantial worth. They propose to impart to us a wisdom more precious than rubies -the science of salvation-the excellent knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. They speak of a most precious faith, and of the trial of that faith being much more precious than gold. They tell us of the precious blood of Christ, and give to us promises exceedingly great and precious.

But it would be easy to shew that the value of each of these arises from its relation to Christ; so that in speaking of Him we are speaking of an object from which everything else derives its value. Now, if a tree be more valuable than any one of its fruits singly, or even than all its fruits of a single season, then the Saviour must be regarded as incomparably more precious than any of those things to which he imparts a value. Now, it is He who is here presented to our attention. He is spoken of in the context-which is a quotation from the book of Isaiah-as a living stone, chosen of God. and precious; and as a corner-stone, elect, precious—while

His supreme value is spoken of in the text as a truth corroborated by the experience of all who rely on Him; "to them who believe He is precious"-or rather He is preciousness-the -the very abstract of excellence-the essence of satisfaction and delight. Let it be borne in mind, then, that our attention is now to be occupied by an object whose value transcends to an infinite amount everything else, however valuable, which can be brought into comparison with it. And while our attention is thus employed, may He whose office it is to commend the Saviour to the soul, endear Him to our hearts, and raise our affections from earth to heaven.

In illustrating the excellence of Christ we propose to shew that, tried by every test by which the value of any object can be ascertained, He is supremely precious.

I

And, first, we remark that many things are esteemed precious on account of their extreme rareness. We could specify many things which it was once deemed an honour and a distinction to possess, but which the progress of science has so multiplied that they have now ceased to be sought or valued. And many an object still, to possess which scarcely any price would be thought too costly, or any sacrifice too great, depends for its value on its scarceness alone; multiply it indefinitely and its charm would be gone, its value extinct. Now, by this test, the Saviour is precious; for not only is there no other Saviour-there never can be. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved." However numerous the ways to destruction may be, there is but one way of escape-but one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. However numerous the false refuges we may have devised, He comes forth in His Gospel amidst them all, and proclaims, “I am the Lord; and besides me there is no Saviour." On this

account, "to them that believe he is precious." He is the only centre around which their hopes can revolve-the only object to which their hearts can cleave. They have no other name but His to plead for acceptance with the Father-no other robe to wear in the presence of God but that which His righteousness supplies. They feel that to look away from Him in the question of their salvation would be to look away from their light and their life-that to build for eternity on any other basis than that of His perfect mediation would be to build their house upon the sand-that to forsake Him would be to step from the only ark provided for a perishing world into the wide and wasteful ocean of despair. Cleaving to His cross, as to their only hope, they revolt from the idea of forsaking Him, as from the sight of a bottomless gulf-of certain destruction-while they exclaim, "Lord to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life!"

II.

Secondly, An object is accounted precious when it has availed us in danger, and procured for us deliverance and security. Now, tried by this test, the Saviour is precioustried by this test, He will be found to occupy a rank which nothing can approach within an infinite distance. Others may have saved us from temporal dangers, and ministered to our temporal relief. Others may have broken the chains of the slave-have rescued a people from the fangs of tyrannyhave assuaged the sufferings of disease-and, by their painstaking labours and discoveries, have multiplied the enjoyments of mankind. And were there no hereafter-were there no sin to be punished in that hereafter-these would be services of the first importance. But when we look away from this world into eternity, and think at the same time of our sin-how insignificant does every benefit we can receive from man appear, compared with deliverance from sin! There is no shame independently of sin-there is no bondage apart from sin. Take away sin-and the gloomiest dungeon

becomes a palace--and death itself becomes stingless-and the undying worm loses its power to torment—and the flames of perdition expire. Now Jesus delivers His people from their sins--and, in saving them from these, He rescues them from every evil; not merely from the evils peculiar to the present life, but from those which would otherwise cleave to them through eternity. And more than this-He has taken their nature into union with His own, and having thus honoured it in His own person, He has borne it into the presence of God, and has placed it on the loftiest seat in the heavenly state-a pledge that He has rescued it from every foe, and secured to it an immortality of life and bliss. As a foretaste of what He proposes to do for them hereafter, He calls them now to stand in the light of the Divine countenance-takes them into the sacred embraces of His own friendship—infuses into them His own spirit—and bestows on them the most endearing titles, the most distinguished privileges. And still more, at this moment He is engaged in their behalf-He is preparing mansions for their receptionoccupying the throne for them-officiating at the altar of incense for them-and conducting them onwards to that point where the blessings of redemption are to be all unveiled—where the treasures of His grace are to be all displayed before their admiring eyes, and their felicity is to be completed in the enjoyment of more than eye hath seen, or heart hath ever conceived. On this account, to them that believe He is precious. They love Him because He first loved them--and because He has demonstrated His love by delivering them from an evil, and securing to them a good, the amount of which eternity alone can fully display.

III.

Again: An object is esteemed precious when it has inherent worth, intrinsic excellence, even though it has never benefited us: but if, in addition to its having been of great advantage to us, it proves also to be valuable in itself, this

enhances its worth in our esteem. Now, tried by this test, the Saviour is precious. He has not only laid us under infinite obligation by what He has achieved for us, but the manner in which He has achieved it proves that He is a Being of inherent excellence, of transcendent dignity and perfection. In working out our redemption He has developed His character; and in that character we behold an assemblage of the highest qualities—of qualities which angels admire, and imitate, and adore.

Now it is the spiritual perception of these qualities, as disclosed in the history of our redemption, which wins our confidence and excites our joy. It is not enough that the Being who offers to redeem us be able to do only almost everything that His power be nearly unlimited-He must clearly be able to accomplish everything, or that which He is unable to do may be something which is essential to our salvation. It is not enough that He be compassionate merely, His compassion must be unlimited, or we may be the very sinners who have passed beyond the limits of His grace. He must be willing to pardon every description of sin, every amount of guilt, or we should be constantly harassed with the fear that He had no grace for us. It would satisfy us but little to be assured that He was all but free from sin-that He was nearly perfect--He must be entirely free from every taint of sin-pure as God himselfor we could not be sure that God would accept Him-or would accept of us for the sake of Him. And it would satisfy us but little to know that He was all this, if at the same time He was liable to change. He must be essentially immutable-otherwise He might change in His conduct towards us-and change, too, at the very moment when it was most important to our happiness that He should not change.

Now the Redeemer is all this—realizes the loftiest conceptions we can form of a perfect Saviour. In power He is omnipotent, able to save unto the uttermost all that come