Consider this, ye who deny Christ: "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."

Consider this, ye also who have been subject to privation, or peril, or disgrace, for the sake of your religion. "There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting."d

These are the threatenings, and these the promises of him, to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth. They who are wise will ponder these things; and they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.

If we would one day witness the glorious superiority, which Christ, to whom is given all power in heaven, exercises at the right hand of God, we must in this life obey in all humility, and meekness, and purity, the commands of him, to whom is also given all power upon earth.

c Matth. x. 33.

d Luke xviii. 29, 30.

LECTURE XX.

THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF CHRISTIANITY.

Titus II. 11—14.

The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men; Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity; and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

The Epistle of St. Paul to Titus is a model

of earnest and affectionate exhortation. It was addressed to him, when he had been set over the Church of Christ, established in the island of Crete; and contains instructions for his conduct, while it warns him of many errors, which had crept into the church. It reminds him of those, especially, who were introducing Jewish fables among the worshippers of God,

and his Christ: and commands him, with the energy, and seriousness, and fearlessness so peculiar to St. Paul, to "rebuke them sharply, that they might be sound in the faith.""

It formed no part, or at least a very subordinate part, of St. Paul's intention to give, on this occasion, a systematic account of the Christian scheme. But it so happens that, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, while he is laying down rules of moral conduct to be observed by all in their different stations, he displays in few words, with the utmost precision and clearness, the particulars by which the dispensation of the Gospel is characterized, the doctrines which it teaches, the inducements to obedience which it displays; and the great end of its establishment.

A person of our own nation, very eminent for his attainments and learning, towards the end of his days declared, that "notwithstanding he had been so laborious in his enquiries upon all ancient subjects, yet he could rest his soul on none save the Scriptures: and above all, that these very words gave him the most satisfaction, as comprizing the nature, end, and reward of true religion."

a Tit. i. 13.

b

This declaration was made by Selden to Archbishop Usher. See Watson's Tracts, Vol. I. p. 209. note.

Let us direct our attention to the several particulars so important and interesting. And may the same Holy Spirit direct and guide our hearts, that in pondering upon the word of truth we may both perceive and know what things we ought to do, and have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same.

I. The inspired apostle, commanding Titus to exhort even slaves to "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things," supports his injunction with the assertion, "for the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men."

In these few words, we are informed of the origin, the end, and the extent, of the Christian dispensation.

1. It originated only in the free grace of the Almighty. Upon this point, respecting which reason is necessarily silent, the sacred volume declares expressly, that God hath called us "according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." This grace of God forms so prominent a feature in the Christian scheme, that in some passages of Scripture the term is used for the doctrines of Christianity.d Thus the apostle says, "This is the true grace of God wherein ye stand."

2 Tim. i. 9.

• 1 Pet. v. 12.

And, in the text, St. Paul

d John i. 17. Acts xiii. 43.

is speaking of the Christian dispensation when he declares, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men."

2. As the Gospel scheme originated in the grace of God, so it had for its object the bringing salvation to all men.

The law of Moses was but as a schoolmaster to bring the world to Christianity;' leading on the people of the Jews, often with reluctance, and always with constraint; holding out to them temporal rewards and punishments; and selecting them from the rest of the world, to be the depositories of the Scriptures of truth, and to perpetuate the race, from which the Saviour of the world was, in the fulness of time, to proceed. If one man had an exclusive creed more than another, it was the Jew. Separated by their ceremonies, and rites, and opinions, from all the world, the children of Israel confined, in idea, the favour of the Almighty entirely to themselves.

Precisely opposed to this exclusiveness, is the genius of Christianity; which is generality. Salvation has appeared to all men. There is in Christ Jesus, "neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." All are made partakers of the same glorious privileges. To all are laid open the same

f Gal. iii. 24.

Col. iii. 11.