THE DIFFERENT STATES OF BELIEVERS AND UN- BELIEVERS. 1 Pet. ii. 7 — 10. Unto you therefore which believe, he is pre- cious : but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to I hem which stumble at the word, being disobedient ; ivhereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of dark- ness into his marvellous light : which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
THERE is a great and manifest difference put between men in respect to the advantages they enjoy, and the endowments they possess. Some are born to great possessions, while others from their birth ex- perience nothing bat penary and want. Some are blessed with a strength of intellect, that qualifies them for the deepest researches ; while others are so limited in their capacities, that they can scarcely comprehend the plainest and simplest things. A still greater difference obtains in respect to the oppor- tunities which men have for spiritual instruction. As of old, the light of Divine truth was confined to one single nation; so, at this present moment, there is but a small part of the world who hear any thing of Christ, and a very small part indeed to whom the Gospel is preached in its purity. Such being unquestionably the dispensations of God's providence, we must not wonder if a similar exercise of sovereignty appear in the dispensations of his grace. To draw the precise limits, where human agency concurs with the opera- tions of God's Spirit, or where it resists and frustrates them, is beyond our power : but of this we may be well assured, — that all evil is from man ; all good from God. We shall have strong evidence of this in the passage before us ; in which we see the difference that exists between difierent men ;
I. In their regard for Christ —
Mankind
1159.] STATESOFBELlEVEIiS AND UNBELIEVERS. 117
Mankind may be divided into two classes ; Be- lievers, and Unbelievers.
Now of all the things which may serve to distinguish these, there is none more decisive than their different regard to Christ.
To the Believer, Christ is " precious" —
[We need not enter into all the grounds of a Believer's love to Christ : suffice it to say, that he feels himself indebted to Christ for all his hopes in this life, and for all his prospects in the next. He has washed in the fountain of the Redeemer's blood, and has been cleansed by it from all sin : he has lived by faith on the Son of God, and has received out of his ful- ness all needful supplies of grace and peace. Hence he looks upon Christ, not merely as a friend a!:id benefactor, but as a Saviour from death and hell. He esteems him, not only as precious, but as preciousness ^ itself. In comparison of him, all other things are considered as dung and dross ^]
To the Unbeliever, Christ is " a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence" —
[Unbelief and disobedience are so nearly allied, that they are, in the Greek language, expressed by the same word*". Indeed unbelief is the highest act of disobedience ; for " this is God's commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ''."
To exercise faith on Christ is the duty of all. He is " the Stone which is laid in Zion," and on which we are to build all our hopes. But " the Builders themselves, the heads of the Jewish Church, rejected him:" and notwithstanding "he is become the Head of the corner," "the disobedient" still reject him. It was foretold that this would be the treatment shewn him by the generality*: and the event has fully justified the prediction. The grounds indeed on which men reject him, are altered ; but their conduct towards him is the same as was observed in the days of old. The Jews were offended at his mean appearance, and his high pretensions ; and particularly at his professing to supersede the Mosaic law : and, on these ac- counts, they crucified him as an impostor. We, on the con- trary, profess to honour him as the true Messiah ; but are of- fended at the salvation which he has revealed : we think it too humiliating in its doctrines, and too strict in its precepts : we cannot endure to give him all the glory of our salvation ; nor can we submit to walk in those paths of holiness and self-denial which he has trodden before us. On these accounts many