Use 1. Do not rest in outward privileges. Say, What am I ? It is a privilege to be a member of the churcli. David accounted it so ' to be a doorkeeper in the house of God,' Ps. Ixxxiv. 10. A man may be an apostle of great authority ; but there is a more excellent way, that is grace. Outward advantages, without special grace, will not serve the turn. Judas was under Christ's own instruction.
Use 2. Look to your grounds and motives upon which you take up the profession of the name of Christ. A sound beginning will have a happy ending ; but if it be only upon carnal reasons, some time or other you will fall off, and all will end in shame and horror.
Use 3. When scandals arise, the whole body is not to be condemned for the miscarriages of some members. As the beauty of a street is not to be reckoned by the sink and kennel, nor the sound grapes by
350 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XX.
the rotten ones. We are not to condemn religion and religious persons though some among them prove scandalous ; we are not to think the worse of Christ and his apostles because a Judas was in their com- pany. In the flour there is chaff as well as wheat ; in the field there are tares as well as corn ; in the draw-net there are bad fish as well as good : Mat. xviii. 7, ' Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh.' Such is the enmity of man to good, that he is glad to have occasion to blemish the truth. Are there not many that are sincere, and walk unblamably ? And doth not thy heart tell thee, thou hast no reason to speak against them ? Keligion itself con- demneth such ways.
Use 4. Hearken unto this, you that commit sin with jollity and security ; you can eat and drink, and rise up to play. Oh ! take heed lest at length thou criest out, Oh ! I have sinned ; I have damned my soul ; I have betrayed Christ ! Judas came at length to this : ' I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood,' Mat. xxvii. 4. Some are set up as beacons to warn others, that by their dear cost we may learn to beware. We are whipped on their backs ; as some malefac- tors, their bodies are not buried, but their quarters are set up on gates of cities and places of great resort, for a warning to others. Ut qui vivi noluenmt prodesse, eorum moy^te respuhlica utatur, saith Seneca. As Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt to season after ages. It is the property of God's children still to edify themselves by what they see in others, be it good or evil. The Lord grant both you and I may tremble at this instance, to stir up watchfulness for our own safety, that we may not fall into like offences. We have to do with a just and a holy God. Thin exhalations turn into great clouds and storms.
Thirdly, The next circumstance is an appeal to scripture, ' That the scriptures might be fulfilled.' Why doth Christ make this appeal ? Partly to avoid the scandal, as if Christ could not discern a hypocrite. Partly to draw their minds from the treason of Judas and the malice of the Jews to the counsel of God revealed in the scriptures. Partly to show the certain accomplishment of whatever is foretold by the Holy Ghost. I shall prosecute these two last reasons, and thence take two observations.
1. Observe, in the whole passion of Christ nothing fell out by chance. He was not betrayed by chance ; it was a circumstance that fell under the ordination of God. It is notable that the same word is used of Judas : Mat. xxvi. 15, ' Wliat will ye give me, KU'ya) irapa- Bcoao), and I will deliver him unto you ?' of the Jews : John xviii. 30, ' If he were not a malefactor, ov TrapeScoKa/jiev, we would not have delivered him to thee ;' of Pilate : Mat. xxvii. 26, ' When he had scourged Jesus, irapiScoKev, he delivered him up to be crucified ;' and of God : Kom. viii. 32, ' Who spared not his own Son, dWa irapeScoKev, but gave him up to the death for us all.' But there are express places of scripture : Acts ii. 24, ' He being delivered, ckSotov, by the deter- minate counsel and foreknowledge of God.' We must look not to instruments but to God's hand. The word €k8oto<; may have reference to a prince giving royal gifts ; he gave us this precious gift out of his treasury ; or to a judge who deliveretli a malefactor into the hands of
VeK. 12.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVIT. 351
the executioner. Christ died not only as a martyr but as a surety ; here lieth all the hopes of our salvation. So Acts iv. 28, ' For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done/ God decreed it, and God overruled it. This is in part the meaning.