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النشر الإلكتروني

The Heavenly Stranger received.

SERMON VI.

REV. III. 20.

If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.

CHRISTIANITY is the religion of sinners. It is

the only one suited to their case, and that can answer the important enquiry, "What must I do to be saved?" That which is said of the law may with equal propriety be applied to the gospel: it is made for the ungodly. It is not the guilt of former transgressions, but present unbelief; not unworthiness, but unwillingness, that is the great obstruction to our peace and comfort in this world, and our happiness in the next. Are we willing? Christ is much more so. Is salvation by him the object of our sincere desire and ardent pursuit? Salvation is in some measure already obtained. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

The text divides itself into four parts, which we shall consider in their order.

I. If any man hear my voice.

How soft, how sweet the expression; how extensive the grace! If any man-whatever his country,

character, or condition may be. Though he may have been a monster in wickedness, a beast in fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, and a devil in fulfilling those of the mind; though he has no merit to recommend him, no peace-offering to bring with him; though he feels his heart as hard as a stone, nay, harder than the nether mill-stone; let him have had ever so much or ever so little terror beforehand, let his convictions have been ever so weak or ever so strong, though he may seem to himself ever so unhumbled and unbroken; yea, though he may have stood it out against Christ these thirty, forty, fifty, or sixty years; yet if he shall now hear my voice, saith the Saviour, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Much is said in scripture of hearing Christ's voice: it is that by which his people are distinguished, and to which the promises of eternal life are made. I am the good Shepherd, saith Christ, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me: but a stranger will they uot follow, for they know not the voice of strangersIncline your ear and come unto me, hear, and your soul shall live. We may here observe the following things:

1. That the voice of Christ is either external or internal; or, that which is addressed to the senses only, and that which reaches the heart. The Lord speaks to us in his works around us: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard: their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the dispensations of his providence also God speaks to us: The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name; hear ye the rod, and him that hath appointed

it. He speaks to us in the preaching of the word : the voice of ministers is the voice of Christ: Unto you, oh men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men. Oh ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. Hear, for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. All this is addressed to the eye and to the ear, but Christ also speaks to the heart. The one is a voice without us, and the other as it were a voice within us, inspiring new perceptions, and impressing a new sense of things upon the mind. This resembles the small still voice which the prophet heard, after the whirlwind and the earthquake. It comes behind us as it were when we do not look for it, and follows us when we fly from it, agreeably to that promise: Thine ears shall hear a voice behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. The effectual voice of Christ is like that which spoke to Saul in his way to Damascus: it is a voice which none hear but those to whom it is directed. They that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake unto me, John x. Psal. xix. 1-3. Mic. vi. 9. Prov. viii. 4-6. Isai. xxx. 21. Acts xxii. 9.

2. The internal voice of Christ is various, according to the different circumstances of the persons to whom it is directed. To some it is an awakening voice: it rouses them from their carnal security, and sets them a thinking. It is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It was not the voice of Peter, but of Christ, that made the two thousand cry out, Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved? To those who are bowed down with a sense of sin, and wounded with the fiery darts of divine wrath, it is a healing

and comforting voice. Distressed souls need strong consolation, and Christ can give it them. He has the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to them that are weary; and one word of his will comfort us more than a thousand angry words of our enemies can distress us. He commands the storm into a calm: he creates the fruit of the lips, Peace, peace! His voice may well be said to create, for it always produces the intended effect. To all it is a voice of infallible direction: it discovers sin, and leads in the way of safety. The language of the Saviour is in all cases, Follow me.

3. In order to hear his voice aright, our hearts must be renewed. Carnal men are like the deaf adder that turneth away its ear from the charmer, let him charm ever so wisely. They have ears, it is true, but they hear not, neither will they understand: hence they are represented as uncircumcised both in heart and ears. (Acts vii. 51.) It is the grace of God that gives a capacity and a disposition to hear the word, without which we may attend upon it from sabbath to sabbath, but shall hear in vain. Now as the first fruit of divine grace is to hear the voice of Christ, so the first work of it is to open the ears for that purpose. And this work is not upon the outward but the inward man; not upon the external organs of the body, but upon the internal powers of the soul; nor so much upon the intellectual faculties, as upon the moral state of the heart: "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ""I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." (2 Cor. iv. 6. Jer. xxiv. 7.) Dead sinners cannot hear the voice of Christ; but his is a lifegiving voice, and what it commands it communicates. The voice that raised Lazarus from the dead

must quicken those to a life of righteousness who are now dead in trespasses and sins.-We now proceed to the next clause of our text.

II. And open the door" If any man hear my voice, and open the door"

By this may be meant, the mind being prepared to receive the doctrine of Christ, so as to see the necessity and excellency of the way of salvation by him; or the heart being open to the love and authority of Christ, so as to produce cordial esteem for him, and universal subjection to his commands. It includes the whole soul, all the avenues of which are thrown open to the Saviour; so that however despised or rejected before, he is now received in all his offices; and as no rest can be found out of him, so a full contentment and satisfaction is taken in him. More particularly,

1. It is supposed that the heart may be opened, though closely shut, doubly locked, and strongly barred. The prejudices of some have subsided, the enmity has been slain, and though strongly fortified, ther have yielded to the influence of truth, and let in the heavenly stranger. Some indeed, who for many years had cherished the greatest hatred to Christ and his followers, and who could not even be prevailed upon so much as to hear the word of life, have at length been overcome: their hearts and their houses have been opened for the reception of the gospel, and for those also whom they now account the excellent of the earth. The poor Jailor, who with malignant pleasure had thrust Paul and Silas into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks, afterwards fell down before them trembling, and was glad for them to speak unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And when Lydia's heart was opened, she

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