promises, so will it also help to increase our rewards. No labour of this kind can be in vain; every the least addition to it or increase of it will turn to account. It is a good point gained, to advance so far as to be secure against condemnation in hell fire: but if any man can advance farther, there are infinite degrees of glory in heaven, and the higher he rises, so much the better will it be for him to all eternity.

We have seen then what room there is left, and what encouragement is given for improving, and growing daily and hourly in every good word and work. Let it therefore be our constant endeavour so to do; and God of his mercy send us his assistance both to enable and incite us to a careful performance.

SERMON XX.

St. Paul's wish, áváteμa sivas àñò Toυ XpIσтou, ex

ιναι

plained and illustrated.

ROM. ix. 3.

-I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

THE occasion and general meaning of these words of the Apostle are obvious enough: for St. Paul having, in the foregoing chapters, taught some doctrines which he knew would be extremely grating and offensive to the Jews, thought it the more necessary to profess how warm an affection he had for them all the while, in order to convince them, that his telling them unwelcome truths proceeded not from any aversion or resentment he bare towards them, but from the love and tenderness he had for them, as well as from a just regard to the honour of Almighty God. In the words therefore of the text, he expresses his sincere and great affection for them, declaring how much he was concerned at the spirit of slumber fallen upon them, and how contentedly he could suffer any thing, (that could be reasonable for him to suffer,) if he might but be any way instrumental in rescuing them from the sad circumstances they were in, and might procure for them pardon and salvation. "I could wish that myself "were accursed from Christ for my brethren," &c. Very affectionate words, strong and pathetic, the language, doubtless, of a most generous love and a most exalted charity. But while we acknowledge the warmth and ar

dency of his affection, take we care to understand it in such a sense, that it may be rational too; that it may be worthy of a wise and a great man, yea of a great Apostle, and him conducted in what he wrote by the Holy Spirit of God. What then could he mean by wishing himself "accursed from Christ?" Is this a sober or a Christian wish, as it sounds at first hearing, and as expressed in these broad terms? Some Divines of the mystic way have thought it reasonable for a man to submit himself even to everlasting misery, to serve the ends of God's glory and the general good of mankind: but the thought is shocking, and the thing impracticable: no man can do it; neither is it rational or pious, either to suppose that God could admit of so absurd a thing, or be pleased with a wish so wild and extravagant. The more judicious Divines therefore, being sensible of this, while they have understood St. Paul's words of the curse everlasting, yet have had recourse to figure in the other parts, and called it, upon the whole, a strong hyperbolical expression, such as ought not to be rigorously interpreted up to the letter.

But still there may be a third way thought on, better than either of the former; which is to examine strictly into the original Greek, whether it may not justly bear a milder and less exceptionable rendering. It is observable, that the words ȧvádeμa sivas, which we render by accursed, often signify no more than being devoted to temporal death, or being made a sacrifice of: and the words and Tou Xplotou, which we render from Christ, may signify after Christ, that is, after the example of Christ. Let the whole sentence then run thus: I could be content, nay I should rejoice, to be made a sacrifice myself, after Christ, (or as Christ has been before me,) for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. The Greek words [άrò Toũ XPIσTOй] will signify after Christ, as well as the like phrase [άñò poyóva] elsewhere used by St. Paul, signifies after my forefathers, or as my forefathers have before me. "I

"thank my God, whom I serve from my forefathers"," or as my forefathers have done before me. So then the true and the literal sense of the Apostle in the text is neither more nor less than this, that he wished to be devoted even to death for the eternal salvation of his brethren the Jews, in like manner as Christ, his high leader, had been devoted before him. For as he taught his doctrine, so he was desirous also to follow the example of his sufferings, as far as he might be capable of so doing.

The rendering of the text being thus corrected, and the sense cleared, what I have more to say upon it may be easy and plain. In the text, as now construed, two things are offered to our serious and devout meditation.

I. The exceeding great love of Christ, in submitting himself to death, to be made a sacrifice for the salvation of mankind.

II. The good Apostle's ardent zeal and desire to die in like manner, after Christ's example, for the salvation of his brethren. Of these two articles I shall distinctly treat in their order.

I.

Let us duly weigh and consider the exceeding great love of our Saviour Christ, shown in submitting himself to death, to be made a sacrifice, for the salvation of mankind. The height and depth of his love towards mankind will best appear from a consideration of the circumstances of that so generous and so adorable an act of lovingkindness. Consider who it was that did it, what he did, for whom, and for what ends. All these circumstances have their weight, and very much enhance the value of the thing done, as well as heighten the obligation.

1. The person who submitted to suffer for us was a very great and extraordinary person; not a mere man, not an angel, or an archangel, but infinitely higher still, even the

a 2 Tim. i. 3.

eternal Son of God; who took flesh upon him, that he might be capable of suffering, bleeding, and dying for us. Here lies the particular stress and emphasis of the thing, according to the Scripture account of it; that God sent so great, so dear, and so Divine a Person to die for us. "For "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten "Sonb." "In this was manifested the love of God to"ward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son "into the world," &c. The majesty and greatness of the Person sent heightens the favour, and endears it to us; as it is the greater condescension in him, and does the greater honour to us. St. Paul expresses the whole thing in very strong and lively terms, thus: "Who, being in the form "of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; "but," nevertheless, "made himself of no reputation, and "took upon him the form of a servant," and so ond. See what an emphasis is here laid upon the dignity of the Person doing it. He was one that had the form, the majesty of God, and had a right to be revered, honoured, and adored as God; and yet he submitted to become a servant, by taking upon him the nature of man, and in that nature he died. Wonderful condescension and most disinterested love, such as no inferior person could have shown towards us! Had the highest angel or archangel, had the brightest cherub or seraph done it, the kindness had been nothing in comparison; because they are all creatures of God, infinitely short of the dignity of the Son of God: and however great they are, they are yet capable of being made greater, and of receiving fresh honour and dignity as a reward for well-doing; so that their serving us would have been at the same time serving themselves. But the eternal Son of God was so high and so Divine in himself, that he was above being promoted higher: he could have no interest of his own to serve, no ambition of his own to gratify, in what he did: it was all done purely for our benefit; was perfectly free and generous, such as

John iii. 16.

1 John iv. 9.

d Phil. ii. 6, 7.