A SERMON

THE SAVIOUR GLORIFIED IN HIS PEOPLE.

I AM GLORIFIED IN THEM.-John, xvII. 10.

WHO in this congregation lives without prayer ? This is a question which it is impossible for your preacher to determine. But, in so large an assembly, there are probably some, if not many of this unhappy description and if he knew where you were sitting, he would look towards you not with anger, but with pity, and say "My dear hearers,-You may be respectable in your character: you may be caressed by your connections; you may be prosperous in your secular concerns-but you are living without God in the world; you are strangers to your duty, your honor, your happiness; you are wholly unlike HIM whom as Christians we profess to resemble, and who is perpetually calling upon us to follow his example."

-If you can live without prayer, He could not. "In the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and

supplications, with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared."

In the sacred history we often read of his praying: but the Holy Ghost has more fully recorded and signalized the prayer contained in the chapter before us. It was delivered in the open air just as he was going to suffer. He had left the communion chamber: and was approaching the garden of Gethsemane. He paused near Cedron. The hum of the adjoining metropolis was diminished. It was towards midnight. The moon was walking in brightness; it was at full. He was now to take an affectionate farewell of his immediate disciples, who stood around him weeping. He considered them as the depositories of his truth, and the representatives of his church in all ages; and

lifting up his eyes to heaven" he commends them to the blessing of his Father, and our Father, his God, and our God. And behold the principal argument on which his intercession rests. "All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them." "Whatever is done for my people is done for ME. It will advance my HONOR." I AM GLORIFIED IN THEM.

Let us endeavour to exemplify the truth of this sentiment, and shew, in six ways, how CHRIST IS

GLORIFIED IN CHRISTIANS.

I. He is glorified in them BY THE DERIVATION OF

ALL THEIR EXCELLENCIES FROM HIM.

What a change do we annually witness in nature. After a few months of wintery dreariness and desolation, the enlivening spring returns. The ground is decked in green. The flowers appear on the earth. The trees assume their foliage. The leaves guard the

buds; the blossoms are succeeded by fruit; and the fruit swells, colors, and matures against the perfect: day. All this is owing to the influence of the sun; and-the sun is glorified in our fields and gardens. An architect rears an edifice. It is admired for its beauty, or its grandeur by all who inspect it. But the praise belongs to the builder, not to the building; and the workman is glorified in the work. A benefactor takes a youth in all the rudeness of ignorance. He awakens and cultivates his powers. He adorns him with science; he forms him into character; and sends him forth to serve his generation; and the tutor is glorified in the pupil. The Saviour of sinners is the maker of all things; "all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." And he is glorified in all. Impressions of his power, wisdom, and goodness are left, upon the largest and the least: "All his works praise him." And is he less glorified in the new creation than in the old? Has he not said, "Behold I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind?" If believers were once in darkness, and He opened the eyes of their under: standing: if they were once in the bondage of corrup tion, and He made them free: if they were once degraded and perishing in all the ruins of the fall, and He made them an eternal excellency, the joy of many generations-it undeniably follows that he is glorified in them. Hence he said, "This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise. They shall be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified. I will place salvation in Jacob for Israel my glory."

B

All the subjects of divine grace are made sensible of this truth. In his name they rejoice. In his righteousness they are exalted. They know that by his stripes they are healed. They know that from his fullness they receive grace for grace. And as Joab, when Rabbah was ready to fall, sends to David his sovereign to assume the honor, "least," says he, "the city be taken and be called after my name;" so the christian is concerned that his Lord and Saviour should wear the glory of all his attainments and achievements, "If I have performed a duty properly, He enabled me to discharge it. If I have borne a trial becomingly, He enabled me to endure it. If I have vanquished an enemy, HE enabled me to overcome it. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give. glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and to his Father be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen."

Here it may be proper to observe, that as Christians you should never deny what he has done for your souls. Though you ought to be humble, you equally ought to be thankful; but you cannot thank him for a blessing he has never conferred, or a work he has nev er accomplished.-And why should you be unwilling to acknowledge it? If you can say, Whereas I was once blind I now see: and whereas, I was once dead in trespasses and sins I am now walking in newness of lifeYou are not praising the subject, but the author; and He is glorified in you.

II. He is glorified IN THEIR HOLY WALK.

Dr. Watts has well observed→

Thus shall we best proclaim abroad,
The honors of our Saviour God;
When the salvation reigns within,

And grace subdues the power of sin.

These lines refer to the address of Paul to Titus: "Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own màsters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." I wish you to notice this address the more, because of the character adduced. It is observable that in the illustration of his subject, the apostle does not bring forward a prince, or a nobleman. He does not mention even a master-but a servant. How easily and commonly men deceive themselves! How many are ready to imagine, that they should do wonders if they were placed in higher stations, or were possessed of greater talents! But they forget, that, he who is not faithful in little will never be faithful in much-that every individual, however situated or endowed, has some influence-that even a servant may roll away reproach, and recommend the gospel by its amiable and moral operation in social life-even a servant may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour "in

all things."

Upon the same principle speaks the apostle Peter. He supposes a case by no means an unusual one. The wife is called by divine grace while the husband remains unconverted. She naturally feels a concern for his salvation. Her first endeavour is to bring him under those instructions which have proved useful to her.