The Record of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, N.J. : v. 1-5 Jan. 1880-Dec. 1885, pt 1, Part 50

Author: First Presbyterian Church (Morristown, N.J.); Green, R. S. (Rufus Smith), 1848-1925
Publication date: 1976
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826


USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > The Record of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, N.J. : v. 1-5 Jan. 1880-Dec. 1885, pt 1 > Part 50


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THE RECORD,


FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MORRISTOWN, N. J. " THIS SHALL BE WRITTEN FOR THE GENERATION TO COME."-Psalms 102 : 18.


VOLUME IV.


FEBRUARY 1884.


NUMBER 14


[Printed with the Approval of the Session.]


THE RECORD


Will be published monthly at Morristown, N. J. Terms $1.00 per annum, in advance. Subscriptions may be made at the book- stores of Messrs. Runyon and Emmell, or to Messrs. James R. Voorhees and William D. Johnson, or by letter addressed to the


EDITOR OF THE RECORD,


Morristown, N. J.


Entered at the Post Office at Morristown, N. J., as second class matter.


(Mr. Barnes's Sermon Continued.)


ground of this, sufficient for all ;- a healing balm fitted to extend far as the spreading moral pestilence and death. This plan con- sisted in the selection and gift of the Son of God to die for the race, that a way of salva- tion might be opened for all. The Being thus selected was the co-equal of the Father -existing in intimate union with him, in perfect honor and happiness, without devia- tion and without change, from all eternity. He was God. This person of the Godhead became intimately and indissolubly united to human nature, in the person of Jesus the Son of Mary of Nazareth. This union was such as to constitute the acts of the Divi- nity, and those of the humanity those of a person ; in the same way as the acts of the mind, or the sufferings of our body, are the acts and sufferings of a person-of ourselves. Thus united, this being possessing the di- vine and human nature in one person, be- came the mediator between God and man. In our nature the Son of God preached the good tidings of peace ; exerted his power in healing the sick, and raising the dead ; gave comfort to the desponding ; supported the weak ; traversed the valleys and ascended


the mountains of Judea ; founded a church and appointed its officers ; predicted his own death, his resurrection, the destruction of the temple and holy city, and the certain universal spread of the Gospel. In human nature the Son of God expired on the cross. The divine nature suffered not, but it gave dignity and value to the sufferings of the man of Nazareth.


He died in the place of sinners. He did not endure indeed the penalty of the law- for his sufferings were not eternal, nor did he endure remorse of conscience ; but he endured so much suffering, bore so much agony, that the Father was pleased to ac- cept of it in the place of the eternal torments of all that should by him be saved. "The atonement, of itself, secured the salvation of no one." It made it consistent for God to offer pardon to rebels. It so evinced the hatred of God against sin-so vindicated his justice-so asserted the honor of his law, that all his perfections would shine forth illustriously, if sinners through this work should be saved. The atonement secured the salvation of no one, except as God had promised his Son that he should see of the travail of his soul, and except on the con- dition of repentance and faith.


In our nature the Son of God arose ; gave proofs of his identity ; and ascended to heaven to make intercession ; to give re- pentance and remission of sins ; and to con- duct the affairs of the universe, with refer- ence to the welfare of the church. He still lives to teach his people, to defend them in danger, to preserve his church from ruin.


This atonement was for all men. It was an offering made for the race. It had not re- spect so much to individuals, as to the law and perfections of God. It was an opening of the way for pardon-a making forgiveness consistent-a preserving of truth-a magni-


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fying of the law ; and had no particular re- ference to any class of men. We judge that he died for all. Le tasted death for every man. He is the propitiation for the sins of the world. He came, that whosoever would believe on him should not perish, but have eternal life.


The full benefit of this atonement is of- fered to all men. In perfect sincerity God makes the offer. He has commissioned his servants to go and preach the Gospel-that is, the good news that salvation is provided for them-to every creature. He that does not this ; that goes to offer the Gospel to a part only ; to elect persons only ; or that supposes that God offers the Gospel only to a certain portion of mankind, violates his commission, practically charges God with insincerity, makes himself " wise above what is written," and brings great reproach on the holy cause of redemption. The offer of salvation is not made by man, but by God. It is his commission ; and it is his solemn charge, that the sincere offer of heaven should be made to every creature. That all creatures have not heard it; that every heathen-man, every Indian, African, and Is- lander, have not heard it, has been owing to the unfaithfulness of ministers-to the avarice of the church-to the want of proper zeal among christians, and not to the com- mand of God, or of any want of fulness in the atonement.


I assume the free and full offer of the Gos- pel to all men, to be one of those cardinal points of the system by which I guage all my other views of truth. It is, in my view, a corner-stone of the whole edifice ; that which makes it so glorious to God, and so full of good-will to men. I hold no doctrines -and by the grace of God never can hold any-which will be in my views inconsistent with the free and full offer of the Gospel to all men : or which will bind my hands, or palsy my tongue, or freeze my heart, when I stand before sinners to tell them of a dying Saviour. I stand as the messenger of God, with the assurance, that all that will may be saved ; that the atonement was full and free; and that if any perish, it will be because they choose to die, and not because they are straitened in God. I have no fellow- feeling for any other Gospel; I have no right hand of fellowship to extend to any


scheme that does not say that God sincerely offers all the bliss of Heaven to every guilty wandering child of Adam,-be he a Caffra- rian, a Hindoo, a man of China, or a Lapland- er ;- a beggar or a king, a rich man, a learned man, a moral man, or an abandoned wretch of christian climes. .


The scheme of salvation, I regard, as of- fered to- the world, as free as the light of heaven, or the rains that burst on the moun- tains, or the full swelling of broad rivers and streams, or the heavings of the deep. And though millions do not receive it-though in regard to them the benefits of the plan are lost, and to them, in a certain sense, the plan may be said to be in vain, yet I see in this the hand of the same God that pours the rays of noon-day on barren sands, and genial showers on desert rocks, and gives life, bubbling springs, and flowers, where no man is, to our eyes, yet not to his, in vain, So is the offer of eternal life, to every man here, to every man every where, sincere and full-an offer that, though it may produce no emotions in the sinner's bosom here. would send a thrill of joy through all the panting bosoms of the suffering damned.


III. In the presentation of this scheme, I proceed to remark, in the third place, that while God thus sincerely offers the gospel to men, all mankind, while left to them- selves, as sincerely and cordially reject it. It is not to any want of physical strength, that this rejection is owing ; for men have power enough in themselves to hate both God and their fellow-men ; and it requires less physical power to love God than to hate him ; less power to love a kind and tender parent, than in the face of conscience, and motive, and law, to hate such a parent. And so with regard to a kind, and patient, and holy God. It is found that it is far easier to be reconciled to him, and love him, than to remain at war and oppose him.


It is supposed that it is an evident reflec- tion on the Deity, of a most serious nature, to say that he has required under the pen- alty of eternal vengeance, that of man, which he has in no sense power to do.


The rejection of the gospel, then, is to be traced to some cause, where man will be to blame, not God.


It is impossible for the pure gospel to have any fellowship with a scheme, which


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in any sense charges God with wrong. The fact that the gospel is rejected, is then to be traced to the obstinacy of men ; to a de- cided, deliberate purpose not to be saved in this way. All men are supposed, by nature, to be insensible of the need of salvation by another. They are held to be so much op- posed to God, that they will not submit to him. They are charged with being so much in love with sin, that neither commands nor threatenings,-neither love, nor vengeance, neither the offer of heaven, nor the pros- pect of hell, will induce them to forsake it. They are so proud, that they will not stoop to receive even eternal joy as a gift. They have so high a conception of their own merit, that neither argument nor intreaty, nor the mild voice of persuasion, will in- duce them to come to the arms of a bleeding Saviour.


Their hearts are so hard, their minds are so blind, that the Saviour might have pro- longed his groans to the end of time, and the rocks-the hard rocks of Jerusalem, might have burst ; and the firm granite of the everlasting hills been dashed to powder, but still the sinner's heart would have been unmoved by all his groans ; and the race would have been giddy in pleasure, and im- mersed in business, and grasping honor un- moved. And, had the darkness of that un- natural night when he died, been prolonged to the present time ; and had it been still whispered in every breeze, and heard in every echo, that the Son of God was yet suf- fering for men, and crying in the bitterness of a dying soul, " My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me?" still not one soli- tary human heart would, of itself, care that there was no sorrow like to this sorrow. From this scene the world turns in cool contempt. The plan is rejected. Man will not come to Christ that he may have life. The proof of this we need not adduce. It is found in the Saviour's personal ministry- in the fact that a nation conspired to put him to death,- in the wide, universal rejec- tion of the gospel since, -in the humiliating unconcern with which men listen, when


" In strains as sweet


As Angels use, the Gospel whispers peace," in the open opposition, the profane jibe, the bitter sneer, with which the multitude turn from the sufferings of Jesus.


You, who are impenitent sinners in this house, are most favorable representations, in this respect, of your fellow-rebels against heaven, in other parts of the world. May I ask what has been your treatment of the plan of salvation ? From year to year, it has been pressed on your attention. Argu- ment, entreaty, and persuasion, have been exhausted in vain. Never has the smooth- ness of your self-complacency been ruffled by any remorse that you have trampled on the blood of the Son of God ;- never has the highness of your look been brought down by the remembrance that you have practi- cally joined in the cry, " Crucify him, Crucify him ;" never have you breathed one solitary emotion of gratitude to heaven, that Judah's rocks heard his groans, and that her mountains echoed his sighs ; never have you sought his aid or felt your need of his salvation, or desired an interest in his blood. With one consent, you have turned your backs on the gospel. So have all the race-so would you, and they, to the end of time. There is such a cool indifference to it in the sinner's bosom,-or such decided con- tempt,-or such fixed opposition, that if it. were left to itself, not a man would be saved. As the cold and putrid carcasses of the dead do not of themselves seek life; as the turt would not move, nor the tomb-stones shake, nor the pale mouldering people open their eyes, of themselves, if I were to, go and preach to yonder graves ; even so it is, when I preach to sinners. Of themselves, they are all sightless, and motionless, and fixed. They cordially reject the gospel. So it is with all the race, so it has ever been, and ever will be. Men are so wicked, that they will not be saved by a holy Redeemer, and a holy scheme .- We are prepared, then, to remark, in the


IVth place-That those who are saved, will be saved because God does it by the re- newing of the Holy Ghost. If the last point which I suggested be true, that all are dis- posed to reject the scheme, then it would seem to follow, that if any are saved, it will be by the special agency of God. To ac- complish this, it is supposed he has sent down his Holy Spirit into the world. In the discharge of his great official work, he arrests the attention of heedless sinners. He does it by applying the preached gospel,


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by leading the thoughts in a propet manner in the dispensations of his Providence,-by blessing the example and conversation of parents brothers, and friends, or by a se- cret, silent influence, known only to the in- dividual, drawing the thoughts along to eternity, producing distaste to the ways and wages of sin, and a panting and breathing of the soul for enjoyments suited. to its na- ture. The effect of this operation of the Spirit is not to produce inactivity or slumber. It is not compulsion. No man is compelled, against his will, to be saved. The work of salvation, and the work of damnation, are the two most deliberate and solemn acts of choosing, that mortal man ever performs.


The Spirit of God acts on the will. He goes before the convicted sinner to remove obstacles ; he pours light into the mind ; he impresses truth ; he urges to duty. He calls up the sinners own activity ; and the guilty man, sensible now of his danger, commences the most mighty and persevering struggle in which he ever engages, that to secure the salvation of his soul; and under the guidance of this spirit, he goes willingly and cheerfully, where he would not of himself go, to pardon and peace. There is here sup- posed to be no violation of freedom. In all this the sinner chooses freely. The spirit compels no one : he shuts out no one-if the particular influence is not given to all -- as no man can maintain that it is, and as the world is full of facts to show-it is thought, that no man is injured when salva- tion is freely and sincerely offered to him ; and when he as freely and sincerely rejects it. No being in heaven or earth, but him- self, shuts him out of the blessings of re- demption. The same heaven is offered, --- the same Saviour died,-the same promises are made to him, and he has all the requisite power to comply. If he chooses to go to hell, after all this, no injustice will be done him : nor will he suffer beyond his deserts, if all other beings choose of themselves to be saved, or if God chooses to save them, and takes the glory to himself.


It is an essential part of the scheme which I am stating, that God, not man, begins the work. In the language of the Episcopal and Methodist articles of religion, the grace of Christ " prevents"-that is, goes before the


sinner in his efforts to be saved. God begins the work, disposes the sinner to act, and pray, and repent, and gives him pardon. God does not himself repent, but he gives grace to man to do it for himself. That this is the true statement is clear. Man himself, as we have seen, will not come to Christ, that he might have life. One man has no power to produce this change in another. The Devil surely will not do a work so un- like himself, and so injurious to his king- dom. It remains, then, that it is the work of God. In the distributions of these favors, he acts by a rule that he has not made known to us. There can be no doubt that it is wise, but he has not given us the reason of it. The fact he has stated, and the world, the nations past, and present, the distant tribes of men, and this place, are full of proofs that God changes, by his power, the hearts of many ; and that there are many whose hearts are not changed-who choose not to be saved, and whom God has not yet chosen to renew and pardon. No man has a right to conclude, that he is shut out from salvation, except by the fact. If he loves sin, and will not repent and believe the gospel, he has no evidence that he will be saved ; and if he persist in this course, he will be among the reprobate and be damned, by his own choice. If he should repent and believe, he would be saved, and be among the elect, and give the glory to God.


This doctrine, that God by his spirit pre- vents. or goes before a sinner in his efforts, or commences and carries forward the work by his own power, I deem of cardinal value in the work of religion. If it be true, then it is of the utmost importance that it should be seen and felt to be true, and that the Holy Ghost should have the glory. I have no sympathy with any scheme that divides the honor with man. I have so deep a sense of the utter and total wickedness of the human heart,-of its entire opposition by nature to all that is good, and of the corrup- tion of all its best efforts, even when aided, that I involuntarily shrink from every scheme that seems to mingle in merit the pure work of the Holy Ghost, with the crude and abortive energies of my own bosom. I seek to ascribe, in this work, simple and undivided praises to God; to ( To be continued.)


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THE RECORD


FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MORRISTOWN, N. J. " THIS SHALL BE WRITTEN FOR THE GENERATION TO COME."-Psalms 102 : 18.


VOLUME IV.


MARCH. 1884. NUMBER 15.


[ Printed with the Approval of the Session.]


THE RECORD


Will be published monthly at Morristown N. J. Terms $1.00 per annum, in advance.


Subscriptions may be made at the book- stores of Messrs. Runyon and Emmell, or to Messrs. James R. Voorhees and William D. Johnson, or by letter addressed to the


EDITOR OF THE RECORD,


Morristown, N. J.


Entered at the Post Office at Morristown, N. J., as second class matter.


(Mr. Barnes's Sermon Continued.)


feel and proclaim to my expiring breath, that God " is first, is midst, is last, is supre- mest, best," in all the work of saving men ; and that poor human nature, in all cases ex- cept in the person of Jesus, is to be regarded as undeserving. polluted, and meriting only death eternal.


What God does, he intends to do. There is no chance -- no hap-hazard. What it is right for him to do, it is right for him to purpose to do. What he does in my salva- tion or yours, he always meant to do. In him is no change, no shadow of turning. He has no new plan. We should have no security of the salvation of an individual if he , changed-no security that an act of justice would ever be done to any of the living or the dead. The welfare of the universe de- mands that he should have one unchanging plan, running from the beginning to the end of years ; and if there is a God immu- tably just and holy, there must be. In that purpose, and not in our poor abortive plans, lies your welfare and mine.


world, to my knowledge, has ever professed to maintain that opinion. It is certainly not the sentiment of the Bible. and no man has any right to charge it on any system of re- ligion ; and I do not deem it too serious to say, is guilty of gross slander if he does it. God made men to glorify himself in their holiness and felicity ; and has made provi- sion for their salvation, and if they do not choose to be saved ; if they choose to hate him, and rebel, and go to perdition, and HE does not choose to save them against their will, they cannot blame him for their self- chosen condemnation. It is an act of jus - tice which we claim, that it should be re- membered, that neither here, nor in .any christian church on the face of the earth is it held, that God made men on purpose to damn them. If, then, God renews the heart by his Holy Spirit, if he begins and carries forward the work in all that shall be saved, and holds the power of doing this over all men, and does not thus incline all to come to him, and it be asked, as well it may be, why he does not renew and save all-we have only to say, that all do not choose to be saved, and will not come to him. If it be asked why the great sovereign of worlds does not constrain them to come, and bring all to heaven, I answer, my powers of rea- son here fail,-my understanding faints and is weary ; and I ask also, why he did not keep by his power men and devils from falling, and save the universe from sin and sorrow altogether ?- Secret things belong to God, and I can only say as God's only Son said long since, " Even so, Father, so it seemeth good in thy sight." The christian scheme, then, claims that God, by his spirit, renews all that will be saved. 1 remark,


It is no part of this scheme, as you will V. That this is done by a change in the affections and life of man. This change has see, that God made men on purpose to damn them. No man, from the beginning of the 'been usually called regeneration, or the new


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birth, or conversion. It is that revolution of character, when a man ceases to be a sin- ner total and unqualified, and begins to be a man of holiness. It implies a change in his views and feelings towards God, and the Saviour,-towards the truths and duties of teligion, -towards christians, and a revolu- ton in his objects and pursuits. It is not merely a love of happiness in a new form, it is a love of God and divine things, because they are good and amiable in themselves. It is instantaneous-not always indeed known at the time or precise moment, but. to be tested by the new views and feelings, and especially by a holy life. New objects are loved ; new views are acted on ; a new world opens to the view ; and the man be- fore selfish, becomes now benevolent; he that was vicious becomes virtuous ; he that hated religion is now its friend; he that looked with cool contempt on all that could be said or done to win him. now enters heart and soul into the same work, and wonders that all does not see as he sees ; he that sought only to live and enjoy himself here, now rises to higher objects, begins to feel that he is in the infancy of his being, and casts an eye of desire to the green fields in the skies, where he may for ever sweep the lyre in the praise of the Son of God, and unite with angels and archangels in lauding him that sitteth on the throne forever and ever. Never was a more appropriate name given by inspired or uninspired lips than to call such a man a new creature. He begins now to live. He has just awaked to the great purposes of his being, and treads with a light heart, and soft step, the earth where he shall soon sleep, and fixes the eye on the heavens that are soon to become his home. All this is done through the merits of the Son of God, in virtue alone of his death, and in connection with two acts made in- dispensable by the authority of God. These high feelings, these exalted hopes, are con- ferred on no one who repents not of his sins, and believes not on the Son of God. The former act implies deep sorrow that God has been offended ; a deep sense of the intrinsic evil of sin, as well as of its conse- quences ; and a solemn purpose to renounce all that opposes God. The latter implies a sense of the lost condition by nature ; a conviction of helplessness, and unworthi-


ness, and a simple reliance on the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, a willingness to be in the hands of a holy God, and an humble trust in the promises of aid. It is a solemn, deliberate rejection of self, and a giving up the soul to God, and a cordial hatred of sin in every form, and an embracing of the only Lord God, as the portion and Saviour of the soul. In connection with this act of believing, the sinner is pardoned and just- ified. A sweet sense of pardon, a peace that passeth all understanding flows into the wounded spirit. The storms subside,- the sky becomes clear and serene. A new beauty-the beauty of a new spring, where every flower and fountain, every rock and hill, every sun and star, have "found a tongue " to tell the praises of the all-present God of redemption, spreads over the works of creation and providence. And the soul redeemed and disenthralled goes forth for the first time to enjoy truly the works of ! creation, or the business of life, or the so- ciety of new-found friends. There is a charm around the duties of religion, unfelt in all other employments; and all tell of the height and depth, and length, and breadth, of the love of Christ that passeth knowl- edge.


The evidence of this great change is to be sought in the life. By their fruits they shall be known. They shall grow in grace. They shall be progressively sanctified. They, and they only, have evidence of this change who die unto sin, and live unto righteousness, who put on the Lord Jesus Christ,-are clothed with humility, crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts-who do justice, love mercy, walk humbly, and persevere unto the end.




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