tion of death, though the form of it was not death but life. It was the offer of life upon a condition which they could not fulfil and did not fulfil. "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away." I shall be very short in what I have to say upon the remaining verses. You remember perhaps the fact that, when Moses came down from the mount with the two tables of stone in his hands, his face shone so brightly that they could not look upon him, and he was obliged to put a vail upon it. Now there was something designed in that, which was emblematical of the dispensation which he ministered. It was "glorious," for his countenance was so bright that they could not look upon him, and he was obliged to put a vail upon his face. And yet that "glory was to be done away." Nothing can be more plain than that this teaches us that that dispensation was but for a time, and that they who would bring us back to the law do most wofully declare their ignorance of the nature and process of God's plan. The whole transaction was emblematical; thereby was shown the nature of the dispensation, that the glory of the dispensation was to cease with the dispensation. "Which glory was to be done away." You perceive it is an appeal in the way of contrast: That was glorious; why then, if that was glorious, how much more is the other glorious! "If the ministration of death was glorious, how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" Now you perceive here death and the spirit are put in contrast. I have given you the explanation. If the Spirit is the essence of life, to say, "how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?" is as good as saying, "how shall not the ministration of life be rather glorious?" We all know that life is the correlative of death. And therefore, if he puts death as the object of comparison on the one side, he must mean to put that which is equivalent with life on the other side. And I have told you how it is equivalent with life. It is the source, it is the essence, it is the very life, of the heavenly state. Well then, "the ministration of life"-the gospel which ministers this Spirit-must be more glorious than the law which ministers death. "For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." Here he gives it another form: first of all, the comparison is between "death" and "the spirit;" then between condemnation" and "righteousness:" condemnation, because the effect of the law was to bring man into condemnation; righteousness, because the Spirit clothes man with the righteousness of God in Christ,-that righteousness which God has prepared for him in Christ: the one is the ministration of condemnation, the other ministers to him salvation or righteousness. 66 Well now, beloved, I must not occupy your attention further at this time; but I will just tell you what I had intended to press upon you as the fit improvement of this subject. I meant to call you to an intelligent apprehension of the nature of the Christian ministry. I meant to lead you into the apprehension what obligations you owe to Almighty God for having given you the Christian ministry. And now, understand me, my friends; I am not speaking of myself; I am not calling you to thank God for having given you such a minister as I am; but I am calling you to thank God for having given you the institution of the Christian ministry, which is in fact your great teacher; only you will remember, and be thankful for it, I would have you be thankful,—that we have a check upon our ministry. God has given us the Bible. And whilst I will ever, so long as He is pleased to give me utterance, declare that the ministry is the mouth of the message, and the Word but the standard of appeal, I am sure no one who is in the habit of attending upon the ministry of this place can doubt the high reverence with which I regard the written Word of God. I call upon you then to pay that veneration which is due to the Christian ministry. And I tell you you cannot act more satisfactorily to my mind than by comparing every word I utter with the Bible; but I would have you in many instances suspect your own interpretation. I would have you suspect the interpretations which are given by very learned But it is far can be called commentators, and by some who have a great name for their spirituality. The Bible nowhere contradicts itself. But do not be sure that you have got the meaning of a text, because it sounds so. There is a great nicety in interpreting Scripture. However I am not afraid to submit the testimony of my ministry to the plain and simple interpretation of the sacred text. from my intention to utter a word that personal. I desire to claim your respect for the Christian ministry, and to urge you to show that respect by a diligent attendance upon the ministry of the Church. And I add, if the object of the Christian ministry be to supply you with instruction, and if it be its object to bring you by that instruction to the reception of the doctrine of the Church, how are you to testify your reception of the doctrine of the Church, and the desire you have to grow in the knowledge of it, and the high value you attach to it, and the benefit you are receiving from it, but by a careful attendance upon that ordinance which, after all that may have been written and spoken about it, is the only test that I know of adherence to the communion of the Church? I will therefore most earnestly entreat you to take the subject of the Communion of the Lord's Supper into your diligent and most earnest consideration, with prayer to God for light that you may understand it. And I cannot doubt that the result of such earnest consideration with prayer to God will be, that I shall see many constant attendants |