PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Horae Homileticae — Volume 17 of 21
Simeon, Charles, 1759-1836 · 215,167 words · 500 reading sections
Galatians
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296 wordsSECTION 2Galatians
2075. 2076. 2077. 2078. 2079. 2080. 2081. 2082. 2083. 2084. 2085. 2086. 2087. 2088. 2089. 2090. 209 1. 2092. 2093. 2094. 2095. 2096. 2097. 2098. 2099. 2100. 2101. 2102. iv. 22—24. iv. 30. v. 1. v. 2—4. v. 5. v. 6. v. 11. v. 16. v. 17. v. 18. v. 19—24. v. 25. vi. 2. vi. 3—5. vi.…
296 wordsSECTION 3Ephesians
Vll 2103. 2104. 2105. 2100. 2107. 2108. 2109. 2110. 2111. 2112. 2113. 2114. 2115. 21 10. 2117. 2118. 2119. 2120. 2121. 2122. 2123. 2124. 2125. 2126. 2127. 2128. 2129. 2130. 2131. 2132. 2133. 2134. iii. 10. iii. 14—19. iii. 18, 19. iii. 20, 21. iv. 1—3. iv. 4 — 6. iv. 7, 8. iv. 11…
315 wordsSECTION 42 Galatians, I. 4. [2049.
Gal. i. 4. Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil tvorld, according to the will of God and our Father. THESE words are a part of an introductory prayer, with which St. Paul begins almost all his epistles. The portion of it which I have selected for the subject of our presen…
637 wordsSECTION 52049.] The Great Object Of Christ'S Coming. 3
To deliver him from this state was the great end for which our Lord and Saviour came into the world — [He came to cast out every idol from our hearts, and to bring us back to God. Not that he grudges us the enjoyment of earthly things; for "he has given us all things richly to enjoyb ;" but he cannot endure that G…
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upheld him also in the whole of his worke; and "raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory f;" and committed all things into his hands, that he might accomplish in man all the purposes of his loveg.] What an object, then, must this be ! [We are accustomed to judge of objects, in general, by the efforts made …
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and we " must follow his steps." In the world we are, and must be : but of the world we must not be, either in our spirit or our conduct. If we will be his followers indeed, we must " not be of the world, even as he was not of the worldV] In this subject we may clearly see, 1. How few experience the full benefits …
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appointments they are vexed ! See them in the full enjoyment of their portion ; What have they ? what, but " vanity and vexation of spirit?" But, on the other hand, behold the Christian that is enabled to live above the world : his acquisi- tions cause no idolatrous feelings, like those which the rich man expresse…
374 wordsSECTION 92050.] Of Justification By Faith Alone. 7
Gal. i. 8, 9. Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that ivhich we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other Gospel unto you, than that ye have received, let him be accursed. TO exercise candour and forbearanc…
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On this point the utmost caution is necessary. The Apostle pronounces every one accursed that preaches any other Gospel different from that which he had preached to the Galatians. A mistake therefore in this matter will be absolutely fatal to us. Observe then, that the great doctrine which he insisted on, was jus…
401 wordsSECTION 112050.] Of Justification By Faith Alone. 9
the covenant which had been made with them™. If it be asked, Why then was the law given ? We answer, Not to supersede the covenant which had been " before confirmed of God in Christ," but to shew men their need of that better covenant11, and to serve "as a school-master to bring them unto Christ, that they might b…
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sin that grace may abound a:" for the greater sinners we are before we are justified, the more will the grace of God be magnified in justifying such ungodly creatures: and, if a per- son be justified without any respect to his works, then, secondly, we may live in sin after we are justified; because we are not und…
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other words, a " perversion or rejection of the true Gospele." Now what ground had he for such heavy accusations, if he himself preached salvation (whether in whole or in part) by the works of the law ? On this supposition, the more works they did, the more certain they would be to obtain justifica- tion : supposi…
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II. Why he manifested such zeal in maintaining it — No man had less of bigotry than the Apostle Paul : for, though a Jew, he spent his life in vindicating the liberty of the Gentiles, and, in fact, died a martyr to their cause k. Nor was he actuated by resentment; for, when most blaming the Galatians, he says, " Y…
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[Many who would shudder at the idea of infidelity, are ready to consider the doctrine of justification by faith alone, either as erroneous, or at best as speculative, doubtful, and indifferent. They will not unfrequently say, ' Take care to do good works, and you need not trouble yourself about these nice question…
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for the Apostle's anathemas, which under any other circum- stances might have been justly counted harsh and severe. He felt the importance of the doctrine ; and he wished all others to feel it : and therefore he did not hesitate to imprecate curses even on an angel from heaven, if any one could be found blind and …
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those of our text. Many things doubtless are requisite for a due discharge of the ministry : but there is one that as far surpasses all others, as the sun exceeds a taper. It is this ; an acquaintance with this fundamental doctrine of Scripture, the doctrine of justification by faith alone. If a man be not instruc…
585 wordsSECTION 18Men-Pleasers Reproved.
Gal. i. 10. Do I seek to please men ? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. IN the Churches of Galatia, great efforts were made, by Judaizing teachers, to " pervert the Gospel of Christ," and to establish in its place a doctrine more congenial with Jewish prejudices and Jewish habits. S…
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passage altogether unintelligible. But if the word which we render "persuade" were translated " obey" (as it is translated in other parts of this very epistle0), I conceive that the sense would be more clear. Let it be remembered, that the Apostle, previously to his conversion, had sought to please men, and, under…
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1. The things which men, and the Lord Jesus Christ, require, are directly contrary to each other — [Men have their maxims and habits, to which they wish all others to be conformed. Our blessed Lord, on the con- trary, says, " Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that…
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he says, " He that is not with me, is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad5:" and in anotherplace he says, " He that is not against us, is for usq :" and therefore he may, in this latter passage, be said to have modified and tempered the severer language of the former. But there is no …
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others is highly criminal : it argues a want of love ; without which divine principle, whatever a man may have, he is no better than " sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal5." Those around us have immortal souls, for which we ought to be tenderly concerned : and, as they must of necessity be more or less affected b…
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sake, but) for the Gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with youy." Let this distinction be kept in view, and this principle be in operation, and we shall not materially err, either by pertinacity on the one hand, or by compliance on the other. It may be said, that this mode of proceeding will make a C…
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go together, we should follow the world : but where they separate, we should let all men see " whose we are, and whom we serve."] Now, in this subject we may see, 1. Matter for serious inquiry — [" Do I yet please men?" This has been the habit of us all in former times : for the unconverted man has no higher pri…
463 wordsSECTION 25Conversion, And Its Effects.
and will be, the effect : " I am come," says he, " to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against the mother, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law: and a man's foes shall be those of his own household^" But then we should ask ourselves, " Have I, like Enoch, this tes- timony, th…
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which his followers reposed in him. To counteract the sad effects of their representations, St. Paul, in the very introduction to his Epistle to the Galatians, declared, that he had received his Gospel, " not of men (as the authors), nor by man (as an instru- ment), but directly from the Lord Jesus Christ, and fr…
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his. But in its essential parts conversion is the same in all. Ours therefore must resemble his, 1. In its origin, the electing love of God — [God " separated him from his mother's womb " to the apostolic office, just as he had done the prophet Jeremiah to the prophetic office0. It was evidently not for his righte…
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3. In its manner, by a revelation of Christ to the soul — [As far as relates to the external circumstances, we have before said that no analogy exists : but as it respects the revelation of Christ to the soul, conversion is the same in all. There may be a preparatory work of conviction without this ; but no conve…
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suppressed. Yet the decision of his character on the occasion shews us what we should be and do, when once we have received the converting grace of God. We must enter on the duties assigned us, 1. Without hesitation — [Many doubts will be suggested by our own corrupt hearts, how far it is necessary or expedient t…
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[There is a strange backwardness in man to do this. If all be traced to the sovereign grace of God, we bring forward a thousand objections, that so we may divide the glory with him. But this is not so in heaven: nor should it be on earth. In heaven there is no song but that of " Salvation to God and to the Lamb." …
374 wordsSECTION 312053.] God Glorified In His People. 29
Gal. i. 23, 24. They had heard only, that he ivhich persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he de- stroyed. And they glorified God in me. THE account of men's conversion to God is a very profitable subject of contemplation. It tends to illustrate the infinite diversity of ways in which God …
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help forward the cause of Christ : and though the same sacri- fices be not required now, the same disposition is ; and every Christian in the universe should be able to say, " I count not even my life dear unto me, so that I may but finish my course with joy," and fulfil my duty to my Lord and Saviour.] The tiding…
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scope for exercise till man had fallen, and was redeemed by the blood of God's only-begotten Son. Can we wonder that the angels, on the first discovery of this work of mercy, burst forth into songs which they had never known before : " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men11!" In t…
474 wordsSECTION 34Christian And Unchristian Pertinacity.
2. Those who profess themselves to have received the Gospel — [See that ye " adorn the Gospel ; that ye adorn it in all things." Let the change be as visible in you, as it was in Paul. I mean not that ye are to affect the same ostensible character as he sustained ; for ye are not called to that : but to live unto…
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but from an idea, that the observance of that rite was necessary to the completion of Christianity, and to the attainment of the Gospel salvation. To such advisers he would not listen for a moment. What- ever might be their rank or influence in the Church, he regarded them not as deserving the slightest de- feren…
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liberty in a way that should give offence to a weak brother, he would not eat flesh so long as the world should standc." View him on another occasion, towards the close of his life. Being at Jerusalem, where there were " many thousands of Jews zealous of the law, he was advised by James, and all the elders of the …
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have a lovely instance of disinterestedness in Mephibosheth, the son of Saul. When David fled from the face of Absalom, Ziba, Mephibosheth's servant, took his master's asses laden with provisions, and went with them to David ; reporting that his master was now gratified with the hope of David's death, and of his o…
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A command from him supersedes all human authority, and must be obeyed under all circumstances. The Hebrew Youths were required to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image : they were the only persons in the whole Chaldean empire who refused to comply with the royal edict : and they were threatened to be cast into…
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See, then, 1. What need we have to get our minds duly en- lightened— [Suppose, for a moment, St. Paul had proved as ignorant or unstable as St. Peter, what evils would have accrued, both to the Church and to the world at large ! In fact, the whole faith of Christ would have been subverted ; and, if God had not i…
612 wordsSECTION 40Remembering The Poor.
Gal. ii. 10. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was fonoard to do. THE circumstances to which my text refers, were very peculiar. St. Paul, in conformity with the com- mission given him by the Lord, had preached his Gospel to the Gentiles, whilst the other Apostles con- fined …
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be cut off from the people of the Lorda." They did not, as yet, clearly see that the law had been abrogated by the Lord : much less was this known to the Jews in general at Jerusalem. Still, however, it was so far understood, that all acknowledged, that the difference between Paul and them was, under existing circ…
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usages. This was a becoming spirit in both : and if this spirit prevailed amongst us, as it ought, we should see very little of separation from the Established Church, and no want of cor- diality towards those who judged themselves constrained to differ from herd.] Thus we see how far they were agreed to differ. …
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towards God or man. We have none towards God : for St. John says, " Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, lioiv divelleth the love of God in himh ?" Nor can we have any real love towards our fellow-creature : for St. James saith, " If a br…
457 wordsSECTION 44Peter Reproved By Paul.
2. A spirit of benevolence towards those who need your aid — [If you are richer than others, consider yourselves as the Lord's stewards ; and do not stay till you are called upon, and then " give your alms grudgingly and of necessity ;" but " be glad to distribute, and willing to communicate ;" remembering that b…
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the Gentiles, had disregarded the distinctions of the Jewish law, which he knew to be no longer binding ; and had acted according to the customs of the Gen- tiles amongst whom he dwelt : but upon the arrival of certain persons from Jerusalem, where the ordi- nances of the Mosaic law were still continued in the Ch…
454 wordsSECTION 462050.] Peter Reproved By Paul. 45
obedience unto death, salvation is provided for a ruined world. No other obedience must be blended with it as a joint ground of hope: his righteousness is that which alone can justify us before God ; and his must be all the glory. But Peter by this conduct confirmed the Jews in their error, and established the sam…
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But grievous as such inconsistency would have been in any one, it was peculiarly sinful in Peter : for it was at this very place, Antioch, that the point had been some time before discussed with great vehemence ; and so pertinaciously had the Jewish teachers maintained the universal and perpetual obligation of the…
493 wordsSECTION 482056. J Peter Reproved By Paul. 47
[It was not the decree of man, but of the Most High God, that he presumed to abrogate. God had graciously sent his only-begotten Son to be the Saviour of the world : and had declared that in him should all nations be blessed. By faith in that Saviour had Abraham, the father of the faithful, been saved, hundreds of…
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gave to Peter. It was indeed the observance of the ceremonial law that gave occasion for the reproof: but the works of the moral law must of necessity be comprehended in the reproof itself, because it is as a subversion of the faith of Christ that St. Paul chiefly complains of Peter's conduct. The observance of th…
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2. That no consideration under heaven should lead us to compromise the truth of God — [Peter doubtless excused himself in his own mind from an idea that his dissimulation was, in existing circumstances, expedient. But expediency, though worthy to be attended to by every true Christian, and in many instances a prop…
516 wordsSECTION 51True Use Of The Law.
Gal. ii. 19. / through the law am dead to the laio, that I might live unto God. THE knowledge of the law is indispensably neces- sary to the knowledge of the Gospel. Even persons who have some views of Christ as a Saviour, have, in general, a very inadequate idea of the extent to which we need a Saviour. This can…
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will pretend to have kept it? or who will build his hopes of salvation on his obedience to it ? It is manifest, that there is not a man upon earth who has not, in numberless instances, violated it; and who therefore must not shut his mouth with conscious shame, and acknowledge himself " guilty before Goda."] 2. B…
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II. In relation to our obedience to it — As a covenant of works, the law doubtless is set aside : but as a rule of life, it is as much in force as ever : and, though delivered from its curse, we are bound as much as ever to obey it : 1. From a sense of gratitude — [Will a man delivered from the law say, " I will …
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being dead wherein we were held, that ive should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letterV Our obligation to obedience, so far from being relaxed by that change, is strongly and unalterably confirmed.] 3. From a sense of interest — [Though we can never hope to be justified by our obe- dien…
467 wordsSECTION 5554 Galatians, Ii. 20. [2058.
covenant, that has been made with us in Christ Jesus, is our proper refuge, that we may flee to it, and lay hold upon it, and find acceptance by it: and let this covenant be all your salva- tion and all your desire.] 2. To fulfil its purposes — [It was intended, as we have said, to drive you to Christ. Let it ope…
334 wordsSECTION 562058.] The Christian Crucified With Christ. 55
Gal. ii. 20. / am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. THE Gospel is, for the most part, plain and sim- ple : yet are there some things in it which …
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to restore him to the Divine favour, endured the curse which we had merited, and obeyed the pre- cepts which we had violated : and thus rendered our salvation perfectly compatible with the honour of the Divine law ; inasmuch as what we have failed to do or suffer in our own persons, we have done and suf- fered in…
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salvation on the obedience of my blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ*.' To this state he is brought, partly by the law itself, which cuts him off from all possible hope from his own obedience to it1, and partly by the death of Christ, which has totally cancelled the law, as a covenant, for all those who believe …
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from God: he sits loose to them; and is willing to part with them at any moment, and in any manner, that his Lord shall call for them : in short, he regards the world, and every thing in it, as a crucified object, which once indeed was dear to him, but which he is now willing, if need be, to have buried out of his …
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2. In dependence on his sacrifice — [The atonement of Christ is the one ground of all the Christian's hopes. If he look for reconciliation with God, it is through the blood of the Redeemer's cross : if for peace, for strength, for any blessing whatsoever, he has no other plea than this ; " My Lord and Saviour has …
449 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical edition (1832-33); scan/OCR from Internet Archive.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.