XI.

SERMON wholly inconsistent with any Christian view of politics; all these and other like questions can only be decided aright by a regard for the precepts of Christ's Gospel, and a deep sense of our national and political responsibility to God.

of the

Gospel.

23.

This sub- 6. Thus then, brethren, we learn from this pasject included in sage and from the teaching of the chapter which has the full preaching preceded it, that in all the relations of life, as members of families, of different professions, of Christ's Church, of a political community, we must always Acts xxvii. remember whose we are and whom we serve, and present to Him ourselves, our souls and bodies, as a reasonable, holy and lively sacrifice. Thus too we are furnished with the answer to any one who objects that to preach on such a subject as the present is not to preach the Gospel, and that the only proper topics for Christian teaching are repentance and faith, and the great Atonement offered for our sins, and the renewal of our hearts by the Holy Ghost. On these subjects indeed, Christ's ministers must never cease to preach, but they must preach them in their fullest significance, bidding men repent of national as well as individual transgressions, telling them that faith in Christ must pervade the whole of human life, that the Atonement was offered up to reconcile all men and all things to God, that the Holy Ghost is sent to Rom. viii. free the whole creation from that groaning and travailing in which it waits for the manifestation of God's sons. For the Gospel is not a mere list of directions by which each separate soul may be saved,

19, 22.

15.

18.

XI.

nor are its revelations confined to the world beyond SERMON the grave, the blessings to be enjoyed hereafter at the right hand of God, and the terrors of that fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels. It has also established certain principles by which the Rev. xi. kingdoms of the world may become the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ. Through its influence must be fulfilled the promise that the officers of every Christian nation shall be peace and its exactors righteousness, so that violence shall no more be heard Is. Ix. 17, in the land, wasting nor destruction within the borders, where Christ's Church is set up and His redemption acknowledged. No doubt such truths are not the whole Gospel, and there have been times when Christ's ministers have mixed themselves to an unseemly extent with political strife, and drawn from the very passage before us fanatical and monstrous conclusions. But unless a preacher brings such portions of God's word before his hearers in their due measure, especially when the services of the Church naturally suggest them, he cannot be said rightly to divide the word of truth, so that each 2 Tim. ii. part and side of it may be duly set forth in its 15. season, but rather he will incur the reproach of selecting a few favourite doctrines to the neglect of others, and will fail to obtain the praise which the apostle claimed, for declaring to his people all the Acts xx. counsel of God.

PENANG, 1862.

27.

XII. ALL THINGS IN CHRIST'S NAME.

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY.

Name in

Scripture.

COL. III. 17.

Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the

Lord Jesus.

SERMON THIS is one of those passages in Scripture of which XII. the mere explanation, apart from any application or Meaning of the word inferences, furnishes us with important spiritual lessons. A heathen or an uninstructed Christian would not understand it. An ignorant Roman Catholic might suppose that its meaning is satisfied by some outward action, such as making the sign of the cross before entering on his work. An ignorant Protestant might suppose that it merely inculcates, or perhaps extends the rule of repeating Christ's Name at the end of his prayers. But as soon as any unlearned person began really to comprehend what is meant by it, his views of Christian duty would be greatly widened and strengthened. He might indeed shrink from the contemplation of a task far more practical and difficult than he had hitherto connected with the profession of Christianity, but he could hardly fail to perceive, much more keenly than before,

XII.

what is in truth intended by that profession, how SERMON wide is its significance, how penetrating its power, how weighty its responsibility. The first thing which might strike a person who should begin seriously to reflect on this passage, and convince him that it implied something fa. more real than any outward act or form of words, would be that there is some special importance attached in Scripture to the word Name. He would remember that it is very prominently used in the most fundamental and elementary of religious lessons. The simplest of all prayers, the most comprehensive of all moral codes, the form of words by which we are received as members of Christ, all place it in a striking and important connection. The very first petition of the Lord's Prayer is Hallowed be Thy Name. Of the four commandments which contain our duty to God, one forbids us to profane His Name. And we are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's Church by baptism in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Our supposed enquirer might remember too, that sometimes in Scripture a man's name seems intended as a symbol of his character, or his calling, or any striking change in his life. Abram Gen. xvii. by God's command received the new name of Abra- 5; xxxii. ham, the father of a multitude; Jacob was changed Joh. i. 42. into Israel, a prince of God; Simon into Peter, the 18. stone; and perhaps the call of the Gentiles was represented by the transformation of the Jewish Saul into the Roman Paul. The various doctrines of the

28.

Matt. xvi.

Acts xiii. 9.

XII.

SERMON Creed respecting our Lord's Nature, His character as our High Priest, and as our Redeemer, as the Heb. i. 3. brightness of God's glory, and express image of His Person was embodied in the Names by which He is called in Scripture, Christ, the Anointed; Jesus, the Saviour; Emmanuel, God with us. So that by the Name of the Lord Jesus in the text is not meant the mere human designation of the Son of God, but His revealed character, the relation in which He stands to us as our King and Saviour, and therefore by the direction to do all things in His Name, we are taught to maintain always a real practical sense of that character and that relation, to live as it were in the holy and spiritual element which His Name betokens, and so to receive, and do, and suffer all that God appoints for us.

Connection

2. We have just taken an example of one of the text. method of interpreting Scripture, by finding out the meaning of a word, and tracing its use from one passage to another, and by employing this method the enquirer, whom we have supposed to be trying to comprehend our text, would be able to ascertain generally that it is intended to connect all our work very closely with the character and Person of the Lord Jesus, and with our duty to Him. Another way of ascertaining the sense of any particular verse in the Bible is by carefully studying the whole passage of which it forms a part, and viewing a text in connection with its context. Now the words which we are considering stand almost at the