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SERMON XVI.

THE RECOVERED DISCIPLE.

LUKE, Xxii. 32.

"WHEN THOU ART CONVERTED, STRENGTHEN THY BRETHREN."

If there is any season in which the admonition, "Rejoice with trembling," might be dispensed with, it is surely when the believer is sitting at the table of his Saviour, commemorating that death by which he finished redemption, and receiving the sensible tokens of his love. And yet even there we have reason for mixed exercise, and for tempering our joy in Christ with a godly jealousy over ourselves. How forcibly is this practical truth impressed on our minds by the events recorded in the chapter before us, connected as they were with the first celebration of that divine ordinance! It was when sitting with his disciples at the table, and reaching to them the sacred memorials of his dying love, that Jesus had to say, " Behold the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table." This intimation caused, as it well might, "great searchings of heart.” The disciples were "very sorrowful." But, alas, how deceitful is our goodness! how fitful and momentary our frames both of love and grief! What reason has the Saviour to complain of each of us, "What shall I do to thee?-and what shall I do to thee? for thy goodness is as the morning cloud, as the early dew it passeth away!" Scarcely was the feast over, and the table drawn, when the guests forgot themselves so far, as to enter into a most unseasonable, unseemly contest as to precedence in that kingdom, which they had been just taught sacramentally was to be established by sufferings and blood.

And, in spite of all their vows, next sun had not dawned, before the most resolute of their number had repeatedly and solemnly denied his master; and that, too, after being affectionately and faithfully warned of his danger. Lord, what is man? The best of men? Less than vanity, a lie, when left to himself. O how loudly does this fact sound in the ears of such of us as were lately at the Lord's table! How does it summon us to self-examination after supper as well as before it, to humiliation under a sense of our miscarriages and failures, even though they should only have been partial, to vigilance and circumspection, and humble walking before God! How does it call upon us to flee to the true hiding-place, and diligently to use all appointed means for fortifying our own minds and those of our brethren against temptation!

As preparatory to the holy communion, I directed your attention to the deeply interesting colloquy which the Saviour held with Peter, before his ascension, and in which he led him to profess his attachment to his master as often as he had denied him. On that occasion, Christ, after each reply, laid an injunction upon him: "Feed my sheep-feed my lambs." As if he had said, By this evince the sincerity and fervour of thy love to me, by tending, feeding, and watching over those, for whom I have laid down my life, and by dealing tenderly and gently with such of them as may be feeble or diseased, seeking that which is lost, bringing again that which has been driven away, binding up that which was broken, and strengthening that which is sick. This task Peter discharged, as an apostle and bishop of souls, in his personal ministry and by his written instructions; and not contented with his own exertions, he was not neglectful to stir up the pure minds of his fellowlabourers: "The elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder,"" feed the flock of God." But as that charge relates especially to such as are called to fill a public office in the church, I reckon it more suitable to your circumstances and stations to turn your attention to the injunction which the Saviour gave to the same individual on another occasion : "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren,"

The words of our text were addressed by our Lord to Peter, when he forewarned him of his mournful fall, and foretold his merciful recovery. "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." As if he had said, When the time shall come, that in answer to my prayer, thou shalt be recovered, by the grace of God, from thy fall, brought to a sense of thy sin, and restored to former peace of mind, look upon it as a duty peculiarly incumbent on thee, to use the experience which thou hast acquired, by doing every thing in thy power to fortify thy fellow-disciples against temptation, or to recover them from sin, if, like thyself, they shall fall through temptation. The words, therefore, teach us, That it is peculiarly incumbent on Christians who have been recovered from falls, to strengthen their brethren. And in discoursing from them we propose, in the first place, to make some observations on the recovery of fallen believers ;—in the second place, to explain the duty devolving on such as have been recovered, which is, to "strengthen their brethren ;"— and, in the last place, to inforce the duty, by specifying the peculiar obligations which they are under to perform this office of brotherly kindness.

I. On the recovery of fallen believers.

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1. I begin by remarking that true believers, as well as others, are liable to fall into sin. This is implied in all the warnings which the Scriptures give on this head. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” "Let us labour-lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." It is also evident from Scripture example, of which that of Peter is instead of a thousand. As some professors of religion may fall totally and irrecoverably from Christ, after very high and specious attainments, so genuine Christians may fall very foully, and, for a time, may remain in a desperatelike condition. The promises and provisions of the covenant of grace secure all those who are vitally united to Christ from total

and final apostasy, but there is no arrangement made securing that they shall not sin, and by their sin grievously dishonour God, wound their own consciences, lay a stumbling-block before others, and subject themselves to severe chastisement.

There are other ways of failing in our allegiance to Christ, and even of denying him, than that in which Peter offended. Let us not think that we are safe, because our circumstances are very different from those in which he was placed. There is such a thing as denying by works, as well as by words; yea, we may deny him in our heart, by yielding our affections to his rivals. Let us mention some of the ways in which we may fall from the attachment and service which we owe to him.

We may fall into spiritual decay. Instead of growing in grace, and abounding in the fruits of righteousness, we may languish, and become in a great degree "barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ." Through carelessness and carnality, a Christian may suffer himself to be shorn of his strength, and become, for a time, like another man. He is "blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." His faith wavers, his love waxes cold, his hope is shaken, he loses his wonted relish for the Word, restrains prayer before God in secret, and turns negligent or formal in waiting on the ordinances of religion. "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love."

We may fall into errors, dangerous and hurtful to the soul. This fall is often the consequence of the former. You will see from the epistles to the churches of Asia, that when they left their first love, and faith, and patience, they became infected with the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, of Balaam, and of "that woman Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess." And of Christians, at a subsequent period, it is said, that "because they received not the love of the truth, God sent them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." * At other times, this defection is to be traced to spiritual pride, puffing up per

2 Thes. ii. 11.

sons with a high conceit of their piety, knowledge, and talents, leading them to despise instruction, and to forsake the good old way in which the children of God in all ages have found food and rest to their souls, and to betake themselves to new and untrodden paths, where they wander in endless and inextricable mazes of error. There was nothing against which the apostles were more particular in warning their converts, than the delusions of false doctrine. And we live in a time when it is peculiarly necessary to attend to these warnings. The time is come when "men will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they turn away their ears from the truth, and are turned unto fables." *

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We are in danger of falling into open vice and immorality. It has often been found that error and immorality go hand in hand. The gospel is "the doctrine according to godliness; deviations from it "increase unto more ungodliness." The truth alone can sanctify; error, though it may not always directly encourage vice and irreligion, must be inefficacious in subduing the corruption of the heart, and in promoting true holiness. But even when Christians are not entangled with error, they are in danger of falling into the grossest sin. There is always need for the call, "Awake to righteousness and sin not.' "Evil communications corrupt good manners." "But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not once be named among you, as becometh saints."

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2. The call to those who have so fallen is to convert and turn to the Lord. There is a twofold conversion; one when a sinner is turned from death to life, and from the power of Satan unto God; and another when a saint is recovered from the snare of the devil, into which he had fallen through his own unwatchfulness and corruption; and the last is as necessary as the first. "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works," is Christ's call, not only to every church, but to every individual, who has "left his first love." All who are converted, do convert or turn from their

2 Tim. iv. 3.

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