VeR. KJ.l SERMONS UPON 2 COKINTHIANS V. 229
1 Peter, i. 8, '"Whom having not seen, we love; in wliom, though now j-ou see him not, yet, believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.' If ye receive his doctrine, obey his laws, believe in him, love him, rejoice in the midst of afflictions, you express your love to Christ.
2. It is not likely you would do otherwise, having the same temper and constitution of soul which they had that opposed Christ, the same root of bitterness in you. You hate those in whom there is the image of Christ, and some representation of his holiness and meekness. We read of those. Mat. xxiii. 29, 30, ' Who build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets,' who yet persecuted Christ ; as many will condemn the former adversaries of the martyrs, Bonner and Gardiner. Christ taught no other doctrine than that which the prophets and martyrs had done ; but dead saints do not exasperate. And what entertainment would a rude, dissolute sort of people give to sucii a mean but holy person as Christ was, that was so free in his reproofs ? — ' Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do,' John viii. 44. He that now showeth a spiteful and malicious mind against the truth and servants of God shall never make me think other- wise, but if he had lived in Christ's days he would have been as ready and forward to persecute iiim as the worst. Certainly a Herod and a Herodias to John Baptist would have been an Ahab and a Jezebel to Elijah ; ask them what they thought of Ahab and Jezebel, they would have made many great protestations that they would have done far other- wise, but they did the same things to him that came in the spirit and power of Elias. No miscreant but will cry out on the treachery of Judas, the envy and malice of the high priests, the fury of Jews ; yet the same thing is done by them whilst godliness is persecuted ; they are still desirous to break this vessel wiiere this treasure lieth ; dead saints are out of sight, no eyesore to them, no way offensive to their ears.
3. If you should, this would not save you, without conversion to God. Tb.e same laws were in force then that are now; knowing Christ after the flesh would do you no good, but a spiritual and true affection to him. The reward was still promised to true disciples: John xii, 26, ' If any man serve me, let him follow me ; and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.' When some came to see him, he exhorted to imitation of his example and subjection to his laws. It is but an outside appearance, unless we humbly engage in his service, and have a desire to please him in all things. Oh ! therefore let us make this use of the love of Christ, and the sense of our engagements to him, as to know Christ, not after the flesh, but so as to love him and serve him, and subject ourselves to liis laws.
Use 2. Have we a better knowledge of Christ ? Do we know him after the flesh, or after the spirit ?
1. The ground of our knowledge, what is it?— common tradition, human credulity, or the illumination of the Holy Ghost ? The same truths work diflerently, as represented in a different light. Common report begets a cold Christianity, Mat. xvi. 16, 17; 1 John v. 4,5;
230 SKilMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XXXI.
1 Cor. ii. 4. Hearsay is an advantage, yet not to be rested in. We stand upon liij^lier ground than heathens, yet are not taller men : John iv. 42, ' Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the saviour of the world.' We ourselves should be acquainted with Christ ; then we know the truth with more efHcacy : John viii. 32, ' Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free ;' with more clearness and certainty : John xvii. 8, 'They have known surely — aXrjdo)^ — that I came out from thee'; Acts ii. 36, ' Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly — a\')]6(b<i — that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.' You may venture safely upon it, build on it as a sure foundation ; the other is but a dead and weak thing, it vanquisheth no temptations, subdueth no carnal affec- tions.
2. The fruits and effects of our knowledge.
[1.] It is a transforming knowledge: 2 Cor. iii. 18, 'We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory.' Such a knowledge as begets union with Christ, and a thorough change, so as to be converted to him ; for it follows in the next verse to the text — ' Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.' Christ liveth a new kind of life in heaven, so should we upon earth ; he hath laid aside his mortal life, so should we our carnal life, live to God in the spirit — 'Know him, and the power of his restu'rection,' Phil. iii. 10. Christians are to be esteemed by their profiting in godliness ; that is, knowing him after the spirit. When we know that spiritual power which is in liim, and feel it in ourselves, renewing and changing the heart, we find the power of his resurrection raising us from the death of sin to the life of grace, if we are planted into Christ as living members of his mystical body.