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SERMON III.

ALL THINGS THE BELIEVER'S.

1 CORINTHIANS iii. 21.

For all things are yours.

THE gospel of Jesus Christ is a divine remedy for the evils of human nature; and its divine original is wonderfully marked, in all the methods which it takes for their removal. It finds the sinner in his enmity,-averse from God and holiness, and a stranger to real happiness; and God designs, by the gospel, to win him back to these. How does he deal with him? Does he plead with him of the unreasonableness of his spirit and conduct? Does he urge him with commands, or terrify him with threatenings? No. The gospel has, indeed, its expostulations, and commands, and threatenings; but it has them for other ends. These cannot, of themselves, cure the distaste of men to a holy God. They would but irritate, and alienate them, more. He begins, by giving them his Son; taking off their sins of his own accord, and laying them on

Christ he takes satisfaction for them, in the person of Christ; and then he comes to the poor wretched sinner, with free pardons, offers of peace, the gift of eternal life; spreads before him these rich provisions of his love, and invites him only to believe, and take, and live. And, so, in all his after dealings with us, he draws us "with cords of a man, with bands of love :" (Hos. xi. 4) not to the exclusion of commands, and warnings, and chastenings of his children for folly; these have their place, and influence, in the present imperfect condition of the redeemed family. They need the stimulus of fear, and the voice of reproof and authority; but these motives, of necessity, and fear, are, comparatively, low, and servile. False religions have these, in abundance; and all experience proclaims, that they are, in themselves, utterly in adequate to produce the ends proposed by them. But God would have his children walk before him in a spirit of adoption. It is that, which, in a marvellous manner, breaks sin's dominion; turns duty into choice; and gives a sweet liberty, a holy ardour, unto all obedience. "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, (viz. I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty) -having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the

flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Cor. vii. 1.)

Now the same, you see, is just the divine argument which our apostle uses here. He wants to correct an error into which the Corinthian Church had fallen, of overvaluing one christian teacher, at the expense of others; setting up one against another, and calling themselves his, to the exclusion of all the rest. Mark, my brethren, how the apostle meets this evil. He sets before them their high privilege as Christians, and applies it as an effectual remedy for the evil he is combating. There was a want of spiritual understanding of what they were called to in Christ," the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”—or these foolish and hurtful partialities, and divisions about particular ministers, could never have had place among them, for a moment. Are some of you of Paul against Apollos, and others of Apollos against Paul, as if you could not profit by the one, without disparaging the other? O ye foolish, ye carnally-minded Corinthians. Here is a cure for your folly. Ye are not of Paul, nor of any other man, however eminent. Ye are Christ's and, if ye be Christ's indeed, then it is not Paul only, or Apollos only, that is yours; but every one of the ministers of Christ is yours. Yes, and that is a small matter: the whole crea

tion of God,—the world that is, the world that shall be,-all is subservient to your interest, to your blessedness. "All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

My brethren, do you not see, what giant strength is in all this, to slay the evil? O what elevating, what ennobling contemplations are these! What a divine influence must they exert, on the soul that is persuaded of them, and embraces them! Be sure, it is, mainly, christian privilege, that is effectual for christian practice. Get to know these blessed hopes of the saints. Get to know your interest in them, as simple believers in Christ: certainly, you shall find a power by them, which you never felt before, to die to sin, to live unto God. To this end let us wait, now, on God, for his blessing, while we meditate on the wondrous assurance, conveyed to us in my text. "All things are yours!" We may consider,

I. Of whom the assertion is made.

II. The truth itself declared.

I. Of whom the assertion is made, that all things are theirs.

They are described in various ways, in the word of God: all expressive of a marked difference, an essential opposition, of character and prospects, between them and others. But we may confine ourselves, at present, to the description given of them, in the words connected with my text. "Ye," saith the apostle, "are Christ's.' Here is a particular, that is true of every real Christian; and to every one in whom it is veri fied is this word addressed, "All things are yours." They are theirs, because themselves are Christ's. Believers are the Lord's property, the Lord's portion, wherein he takes unspeakable delight, and sets on them the highest value. He calls them his jewels, his peculiar treasure; or, as the prophet speaks, "Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." He is satisfied, if he may but have them as his own.

And his right in them, thus to have them, is unquestionable and complete. In respect of his deity, they are his by creation; for, "without him was not anything made that was made." But it is his property in them, as he is Christ, which the apostle speaks of here; as you may see from what he immediately adds, that "Christ" himself" is God's ;" not, of course, as he is the eternal Word, in which respect he " thought it not robbery to be equal with God:" (Phil. ii. 6 :) but, as the incarnation of that Word,--Godman,