effect on all to whom it is sent ? I must answer. No : and this will lead me to make distinctions in reference to the Gospel itself, II. By contrasting the new testament as externally
administered, with the same as internally and
spiritually received — The new testament itself, as a lette?', has no other effect than that of " killing" those to whom it is pro- claimed—
[The new-testament dispensation is, in its very nature, calculated to offend the pride of man, and to prove a stumbling- block to the unhumbled spirit. It was declared, by the Pi'o- phet Isaiah, that it should be so : " Sanctify," says he, " the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread : and he shall be to you for a sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; and many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken'." And when the Saviour came into the world, the holy man, who took him up in his arms, declared, that " he was set no less /or the fall than for the rising again of many in Israel'^." And did not the event correspond with these predictions? St. Peter tells us, that, whilst " to some he was precious, to others he was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, even to those who stumbled at the tvord, being disobedient'." It was from foreseeing these effects, that our blessed Lord gave that solemn caution to his hearers, "Blessed is he that shall not be offended in me™." If it be thought that this offence arose only from his person, as appearing in a low and degraded state, I answer, that it arose from the entire constitution of the Gospel altogether. The whole doctrine of salvation by " the cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness"." The Jews could not conceive how the Mosaic law should be superseded, and how they should be required to look for salvation otherwise than by their obedience to it: and the Greeks thought it perfectly absurd to expect salvation from one, who, in appearance, was not able to save himself. So, at this day, thousands who hear the Gospel are offended at being- told that they must renounce all dependence on their own works, and be saved simply by faith in Christ. They cannot comprehend how we are to be dead to the law as a covenant, and yet alive to it as a rule of life: and the being saved entirely
i Tsai. viii. 13—15. ^ Luke ii. 34. ' 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8.
'« Matt. xi. G. " 1 Cor. i. 23.