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With an Introduction by JOSEPH COOK. With thirty-six Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo., cloth extra, 68. LONDON: S. W. PARTRIDGE & Co., 9, PATERNOSTER Row, E.C. THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE. CONSECRATION AND SERVICE.* BY JOHN HERRIDGE BATT. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."-ROMANS xii. 1, 2. N the foregoing part of this magnificent epistle, the Apostle had expounded the way of salvation. He had shown by much fulness of statement and wealth of illustration that the way of salvation is none other than justification by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He had further pointed out that the justified sinner is sanctified in Christ by the Holy Spirit. The breadths of doctrinal teaching spread over the chapters that treat of these themes, reveal an amplitude and richness of presentation, unsurpassed, perhaps unequalled, in the entire range of the New Testament epistles. The question now comes to the front for consideration,-What will the life of the believer be? What will be the practical outcome of this spiritual experience? What expression in the life may be looked for as the result of this state of justification and sanctification in Christ? Being saved, what sort of a man will the believer in Christ be required to be? Such questions as these are the questions that St. Paul sets himself to answer in this part of his treatise, where he passes from the more immediately doctrinal to the more immediately practical portion of his teaching. He informs us what "life in salvation" should be. Glancing over this chapter, we learn that the life of the saved man as lived out before others should be a life of humility, and a life of love. A beautiful description of the grace of humility, and its effects in *The Sermon to the Conference of 1885; preached at Bideford, on Tuesday, July 28th, and published by request. GG adjusting the relationships of life which are often very delicate and complicated, is given in the part of the chapter which extends from the third verse to the eighth. Of the place and fruit of love, an account is given from the ninth verse to the end of the chapter. As a member of the Christian Church, and of society generally— as a man among men-the life of the Christian should be a life of humility, and a life of holy love. The first and second verses set forth the true point of departure of this life, the initial steps of such a walk. The true point of departure of such a life, its initial step, is to be found in consecration, the personal act of surrender of the whole being to God which we are continually required to perform. It is of this act in some of its phases, particularly in its bearing on our relationship to one another in our church life, and on the work we have in common, that I wish to now speak. Taking these words for our guidance, I ask you to notice, the Christian's highest act, the Christian's daily habit, the Christian's best experience. First, observe, I. What is the Christian's highest act. The Christian's highest act is consecration to God, the express and avowed surrender of himself to the Lord, entire personal dedication to the Divine glory and service. This holy consecration reaches to all that is outward and material, including as one important part, the yielding of our bodies unto God as a living sacrifice. Our bodies are to be laid on the altar.* As it is stated in an earlier chapter of this epistle (ch. vi. 13), having yielded ourselves unto God, we are to yield our "members as instruments of righteousness unto God." The consecration begins within-in the heart; and, having taken place there, extends to the body and all its members. This is to be the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace of consecration. In this way is solved for us the puzzling question as to what the Christian is to do with the body. Strange devices have been resorted to in days that are past in order to subdue the body, all sorts of expedients adopted with the hope of drilling it into harmony with the renewed desires of the heart. No doubt many of these were the outcome of erroneous views as to the cause of sin, some ascribing to it a purely physical origin; as though the body alone were sufficient to *Bearing in mind the frightful revelations recently made of the moral condition of multitudes of people in this country, and of London life in particular, the reader will not overlook the appropriateness of this reference, implied rather than expressed, in a sermon preached in July, 1885, when every congregation was as Rama, where one voice was heard, "lamentation and weeping, and great mourning;" and every heart was as the heart of Rachel, "weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they were not." account for sin in man. When we read the pages of Church history in which controversies on these questions figure, we confess that though we cannot altogether despise, yet we cannot approve of what was said and done. We trust that we can in a measure appreciate the motives by which the perplexed were led. These contentions were often the outcome of much heart-burning as to the hindrance the body throws in the way of the spiritual life. The Apostle tells us in effect in this scripture, that there is no necessary discord between the moral and the physical nature,-the difficulty is in the moral nature; let that be renewed by the Spirit of grace, then our bodies will fall into their subordinate place as "members of Christ," and agents of the Divine glory. Consecration to Him is the root from which "the white flower of purity" springs. It is the consecration which follows conversion that is spoken of here. That part of your nature which is a source of so much contention with you, may become a holy and acceptable sacrifice on God's altar-a living victim offered up before Him, and precious in His sight. In order to see the force of the Apostle's words we must recollect that the Jewish service had two kinds of sacrifice, namely, the sacrifices offered before reconciliation, and in order to obtain it; and the sacrifices offered after reconciliation was found, and which served to celebrate it. Of the former kind were the sacrifices for sin, of the latter were the peace-offering, the thankoffering, and the vow and free-will offering. Now, the first has been done for us. Indeed, the purpose of the whole foregoing part of the epistle is to show that Christ is the sacrifice offered for the sin and transgression of mankind, the sum of its teaching being given in chapter iii. 25, to the effect, that "God hath set forth His Son Jesus to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." The ONE SACRIFICE for sin has been offered. You have felt its saving power. Then, O believer, bring thyself to the altar as a thank-offering after reconciliation. Here lies the point of the Apostle's appeal. Just as the devout Hebrew at peace with God through the atonement made for him by the high priest, brought his peace-offering, or thank-offering unto * Expressed in the language of scientific Theology, the two classes of sacrifice were expiatory and eucharistic. This well-known distinction is clearly traced by Calvin in book 41 chap. 18, §§ 13 and 16, of his Institutes; and by Professor Godet, who in so many ways resembles and modernizes Calvin, in his Commentary, from which we have had help in this instance. The second class of sacrifice, namely, the eucharistic, are those which-to use the fine phrase of Dr. Pope-belong to "the redeemed estate" of God's people. * |