SERMON XIV.

CONFIRMING THE WITNESS OF CHRIST.

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Eve as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you."-1 CORINTHIANS, L. 6.

It is not always the most gifted church which is in the most healthy state. A church may have many rich, influential, or learned members; many that have the gift of utterance, and understand all sciences; yet that church may be in an unhealthy condition. Such was the case with the church at Corinth. Paul, in the opening of his epistle, tells them that he thanks God always on their behalf for the grace of God given unto them by Christ Jesus, that in every thing they were enriched in all utterance, and in all knowledge, so that they were behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Corinthians were what we should call now-a-days, judging them by the usual standard, a firstclass church. They had many who understood much of the learning of the Greeks; they were men of classic taste, and men of good understanding, men of profound knowledge, and yet in spiritual health that church was one of the worst in all Greece, and perhaps in the world. You would not find another church so low sunk among the whole of them as this one, although it was the most gifted. Now what should this teach us in the very outset? Should it not show us that gifts are nothing, unless they are laid on the altar of God? That it is nothing to have the gift of oratory, that it is nothing tc have the power of eloquence, that it is nothing to have learning, that it is nothing to have influence, unless they all be dedicated to God, and consecrated to his service? I said it is "nothing"" I mean it is nothing good. Alas! it is worse

than nothing good; it is something evil, it is something dreadful, it is something terrible for a man to have these gifts, and yet to misuse them, for they shall only furnish fuel for a fiercer flame than he would have endured had he not such abilities. He who buries his ten talents may well expect to be given over to the tormentor. This is the lesson taught us Let us never judge men by their talents-let us never estimate our fellows by externals-but by the use which they make of their powers; by the end to which they devote their talents by the kind of usury which they bring on those pounds which their Master has intrusted to them. St. Paul, in the commencement of his epistle, very gently hints at the right use of gifts and talents, and he tells us that they are sent to us, that we may "confirm the testimony of Christ Jesus." If we do not use them for this purpose, we misuse them; if we do not turn them to this account, we abuse them. We ought to use our endowments as the Corinthians did not use them; but as they ought to have done, in confirming the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Corinthians had more powers thar any of us. Many of them could work miracles; they could heal the sick; they could restore the lepers; they could work wonders by the supernatural gifts of the Holy Ghost. Some of them could talk several languages, and wherever they went, they were all able to speak the language of the people among whom they abode; because they were not able to spend much time in learning languages, and there needed something to sustain the infant church. It was then but a sapling, it re quired a staff in the ground by its side, that it might lean upon it, might grow, and be strong. It was a little plant that needed to be sustained; and, therefore, God worked miracles; but now it is the stalwart oak, and has its roots bent round the stanchest rocks in creation; now it needs not any support by miracle, and therefore God has left us without extraordinary gifts. But whatever gifts we have, we are to use them for the purpose mentioned in the text, that is, for the confirmation of the testimony of Christ Jesus.

There are two points which we shall speak of as the Holy Spirit may enable us. First of all, the testimony of Christ Jesus; and, secondly, what is meant by our confirming.

I. First, then, the testimony of Christ Jesus. We are told in the text, that there was a testimony of Christ which was "confirmed in you." Our inquiry is, what is meant by the testimony of Christ.

That this world is fallen, is the first truth in all theology. "We have gone astray like lost sheep," and had there not been 10erey in the mind of God, he might justly have left this world to perish without ever calling it to repentance; but he, in his wondrous long-suffering and his mighty patience, was not pleased so to do. Being full of tender mercies and lovingkindness, he determined on sending the Mediator into the world, whereby he might restore it again to its pristine glory, and might save for himself a people whom "no man could number," who are to be called the elect of God, loved with his everlasting love. In order that he might rescue the world, and save those elect ones, the Lord of Hosts has constantly ordained and sent forth a perpetual priesthood of testifiers What was Abel with his lamb but the first martyred witness of the truth? Did not Enoch wear his mantle when he walked with God, or prophesied the second advent? Was not Noah a preacher of righteousness among a gainsaying gen. eration. The glorious succession never fails. Abraham comes from Ur of the Chaldees, and from the hour of his call till the day when he slept in Machpelah, he was a faithful witness. Then we might mention Lot in Sodom, Melchisedec in Salem, Isaac and Jacob in their tents, and Joseph in Egypt. Read the Scripture history, and can you fail to observe a golden chain of united links, hanging over a sea of darkness, but yet uniting Abel with the last of the patriarchs.

We are now arrived at a new era in the history of the church, but it is not destitute of light. See there the son of Amram, the honored Moses. That man was a very sun of brightness, for he had been where darkness vailed the unut terable light of the skirts of Jehovah. He climbed the steep sides of Sinai; he went up where the lightnings blazed, and the thunders lifted up their awful voice; he stood upon the mount. ain's burning summit; and there, in that secret chamber of the Most High, he learned in forty days, the witness of forty years, and was the constant enuntiator of justice and right

eousness. But he died, as the best men must. Sleep on, U Moses, in thy secret grave! fear not for truth, for Joshua now declares: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The times of the judges and kings were sometimes densely Jarkened; but amid their civil wars, their idolatry, their persecutions, and their visitations, the chosen people still had a remnant, according to the election of grace. There were ever some who walked through the earth, like the ancient Druids in the woods, wrapped in white garments of holiness, and crowned with the glories of the Most High. The river of truth might run in a shallow stream, but it was never utterly dry. Next come to the times of the prophets; and there, after traversing a dreary period, when the world was only illumined here and there by such lamps as Nathan, Abijah, Gad, or Elijah, you find that you have come to the light of meridian day, or rather to a cloudless sky, crowded with stars. There is the eloquent Isaiah, the lamenting Jeremy, the soaring Ezekiel, the well-beloved Daniel, and, lo! behind these four high priests of prophecy, there follow twelve clothed in the same habiliments, performing the same service. I might style Isaiah the pole-star of prophecy; Jeremiah resembles the rainy Hyades of Horace; Ezekiel was the burning Sirius; and as for Daniel, he resembles a flaming comet, flashing on our vision but for a moment, and then lost in obscurity. I am not at a loss to find a constellation for the minor prophets: they are a sweet group, of intense brilliancy, even though but small: they are the Pleiades of the Bible. Perhaps at no former season were the stars of God marshaled in greater numbers; but yet, amid all preceding and succeeding gloom, the sky of time was never in total darkness; there was always a watcher, and a shining one, there. God has never aban doned the world, he has never quenched its lamp of testimony; he has never said “Go, thou vile thing," and spurned it from his foot. He might deluge it once with water; he might rain fire and brimstone upon Sodom; he might drown a nation in the sea; he might destroy a generation in the wilderness; he might devour kingdoms, and root them up; but never, never would he extinguish the perpetual flame of the testimony of truth.

John says: "He that

I was thinking just now of a picture which I saw a few days ago; a beautiful painting of a brook, with stepping stones in the water, upon which the traveler crossed; and the idea has just flashed upon my mind-surely, the stream of man's wickedness, and the stream of time, may be crossed by those stepping-stones of testimony. There you have Noah, and he is a stepping-stone, to step to Abraham; and from him to Moses, and from Moses to Elijah; and so on, from Elijah to Daniel, from Daniel to Isaiah, and from Isaiah down to the brave Maccabees. And what is the last stepping-stone? It is Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witr.ess; the Lord of the kings of the earth. Jesus was, in one sense, the last testifier of truth. We are left to confirm it to others; and we shall just for a few moments enlarge on what the testimony of Jesus Christ was. First of all, in order to justify me in calling Jesus Christ a testifier, I want to refer to one or two passages of Scripture, where you will see that he came into this world to be a testifier and witness of the truth. Turn to the 3d chapter of John, and the 31st verse. cometh from above is above all he that is of the earth, is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true." There we find John, who was the harbinger of our Saviour, speaking of Christ as giving testimony; speaking of him as one who came into the world for the special purpose of testifying to the truth. Turn further on, in the same book, and you will find, in the 8th chapter and 18th verse, our Sa viour says this of himself: "I am one that bear witness of myself; and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me." I refer you again to the 18th chapter of John and the 33₫ verse, where Pilate saith to Jesus Christ: "Art thou a king ?" and he said: "For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." There again you find our Saviour speaking of himself as a witness. Then I might refer you to some portions of Scripture in Isaiah, where he speaks of himself as a witness; but I will only keep to the works of our friend John; and we will now turn to the book