SERMON XLIV. THE FULNESS OF TIME. BY THE REV. ROBERT PHILIP, MABERLEY CHAPEL, KINGSLAND. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." -Gal. iv. 4, 5. You remember, and it is a very pleasing recollection, that the first promise of a Saviour was given under the very tree where our first parents sinned and fell. And, when you consider that four thousand years elapsed between the giving of the promise and its fulfilment, the question can hardly escape being asked, why was the promise so long being fulfilled? Why was Christ born at so late a period of the world? Why was Christianity not introduced sooner? Infidels have often said, with a sneer, "If Christianity is so valuable, why was the world without it so long? Why were four thousand years allowed to pass away without its introduction?" Now, when you hear this objection started, you may say in reply, Christianity came thus late into the world, in order that infidels might have no excuse for their unbelief. The Son of God came no sooner, because men were not before qualified to examine his claims, or to judge of his pretensions. God delayed the blessing till the world was fitted, by its population, and by its general state, to receive Christianity. It will tend to illustrate this fact if we consider more particularly what we have just stated. Let us, therefore, I. CONSIDER THE WISDOM AND PROPRIETY OF DELAYING THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROMISE OF CHRIST UNTIL WHAT PAUL HERE CALLS "THE FULNESS or TIME." He intimates that there was the same propriety in delaying this, as there is in not allowing a minor to possess the property of an heir. Now, I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world; "but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Intimating that at any earlier period it would have been as unwise to have sent his Son into the world, as to make any young man master of his own property till he came of age. Let us consider this subject. 1. At no period before "the fulness of time" would the incarnation of Christ have been so proper, all things considered. So far as it regarded the redemption of the soul by his blood, the coming of Christ could neither be too soon nor too late; the blood of Christ would have been a sufficient atonement, whether shed at the beginning or at the end of the world. The virtue of that atonement depends on his divinity, and could not have less efficacy, be presented when it would. But considering the coming of Christ as a whole, taking into account his doctrines, His his life, his miracles, and so on, it would not in those dark ages. O, how would have been untimely at an earlier period. infidelity have scoffed and triumphed, if It would have been untimely, during Christ had made his appearance then! the antediluvian age, or at the time of the | Infidels would have said that he made his flood; because there was no man then liv-appearance purposely at a time when the ing able to have written an account of it, world was peopled by barbarians-by or to have written so as to have interested weak, ignorant, credulous men ! all ages of the world. Even Noah could coming, therefore, was reserved for the not have benefited mankind in this re- great Augustan age. spect, as a writer. If he had written to suit us, it would not have benefited the men of his age; and if he had written so as to suit them, it would have been of no use to us. But by not appearing in the world till civilization and letters had spread to a very considerable extent, the facts were all carefully examined and recorded; and the New Testament is made to stand out beyond all other writings. The period from the flood to the time of Moses would not have been so suitable; because then the world's population was comparatively small, and, for the most part, uncivilized. It would have been unwise to have sent the world's Saviour when there were but few to see him, and but few to appreciate him. We say, of a man of great genius, who resides in an obscure village, or immures himself in solitude, what a pity it is that he is placed in a situation where his talents are buried -where there are none to appreciate his excellencies! And when we consider the sublime doctrines; the salutary precepts; the beneficial example; the propitious miracles; the whole life of the Son of God, we may well say, it would have been a pity they should have been given sooner, when they were intended to suit the whole population of the civilized world. The time from Moses to the Prophets would have been too soon. Then the Jews were not sufficiently familiar with the grounds of the great salvation. They understood them, indeed, but very imperfectly at the time Christ came: how much more imperfectly would they have understood them when they were just come raw out of the bondage of Egypt, with all the associations which their minds had formed in that land of gross idolatry. It was wise it was kind, that Christ came The period of four great monarchies would have been equally unfit for the coming of Christ. War was then so much the trade, and dominion, and rule, so much the passion of men, that the religion of Christ would not have gained the public attention; or, if it had, infidels would have said that Christianity was the invention of the Nimrods, the Nebuchadnezzars, and other tyrants of the day;-a mere political scheme to bring the people into their own power, and to suit the views of despotic governments. But to place the church beyond the reach of their shafts of ridicule and scorn, God delayed the coming of his Son to the chief period of peace, of civilization, of philosophy, that was ever known in this our world. And if you have not turned your attention to this subject, and considered why four thousand years were suffered to pass away before the Saviour appeared, I would remind you that the people of God were not really losers by the delay. They had not the same degree of light that subsequent ages were blessed with; but they had the same unqualified promise that whoever looked to the Lamb of God who was to be slain, should be saved. They were assured, that when the Messiah should come, he would make ample atonement for the sins which had been committed under the first covenant; and that all who believed should have the full benefit. And hence the apostle says, in the eighth chapter of his epistle to the Romans, what applies, not only to us, but more especially to those who had lived before his coming, the history of whose experience it may be said to record :-"Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justi- | religion of Christ were submitted to the fied; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Now, though this applies to the state of believers in the present age, it is, in fact, the history of the conduct of God towards the ancient believers. So that they were no losers by the delay of Christ's incarnation; they were pardoned and renewed, and finally admitted into heaven, upon trust or sufferance. Hence the writer to the Hebrews intimates that Christ had to make atonement for the sins of the first covenant, that they might be ratified in the state into which they had entered, on the ground of faith in him who was to come in due time. 2. The Augustan age (the period in which Cæsar Augustus lived, known in history as the Augustan age) was emphatically "the fulness of time;" and, of all periods, the best of time for introducing Christ and his system. first scrutiny the world ever saw; and it is passing strange, that the puny wits of our day should stagger the opinion of any man, when the brightest geniuses of which Roman philosophy could boast, were not able to shake the system they attacked! The religious state of the world, also, enabled men to make such a scrutiny. If you read the Eclogues of Virgil, and examine them with the prophecies of Isaiah before you, you will find the representations of the poet to be almost verbatim with the language of the prophet. And the writers of that age were well able to do so:-for Ptolemy Philadelphus had been careful to secure translations of all the principal Hebrew writings; and the learned were all able to have access to them. Hence the Jews so often cavilled about our Saviour; they saw so many marks of Messiahship in him, that they sometimes said, "Tell us who thou art;" "If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly;" "Art thou the Christ, the Son of God?" My brethren, these are not questions to be settled in the present century; they were settled-completely settled, in the first centuries; and though the enemies of Christianity had all their emperors and philosophers to put it down, they were not able to put it down for a moment! 1st. The world was then prepared thoroughly to examine the claims of Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles were then qualified to detect an impostor, if Christ had been an impostor. They had POLITICAL motives to urge them to this. The Jews were under the Roman power, and had not another hope of deliverance but from their Messiah. He was as a star in their horizon; and they were pre-O, let us not be robbed of our confidence, pared with the greatest nicety to scruti- or startled by the objections and sarcasms nize his claims. On the other hand, the of vain and foolish men. Paul has Roman government was very jealous of stated, in the text, that it was "the fullosing any portion of its power; and they ness of the time" when Christ appeared. also would scrutinize the claims of Christ, The collision of systems, and of polititill they saw clearly that his kingdom cians, and disputants, have only rubbed was "not of this world." The literary the diadem into brightness; and we are character of that age also led them mi- not about to surrender its glories to any nutely to scrutinize his claims. The of the puny scoffers of our day! celebrated philosopher, Cicero, had pre- 2d. The world was then fully able to apviously introduced the system of argu-preciate the doctrines of Christ by comparison mentation which doubted and disputed and by contrast. They might not be able all it met with; and would admit nothing to appreciate them spiritually; but they without proof. If Bolingbroke, and Voltaire, and Hume, and Gibbon, had lived then, they could not have brought greater talent into the field than then existed. Christianity then threw down the gauntlet, and boldly dared philosophy to investigate her claims. "These things were not done in a corner." The claims of the could do so by comparison and by contrast. Infidelity says, why did not Christ come sooner? Had he come a century sooner, philosophy would have contended that she had entire empire over men. In the wisdom of God she was allowed to try her strength; and she was at length compelled to hide her head in her own shade, when Christ came, and said, "I of the world. And thus God did not send AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE." "his gospel till the world was properly prepared for its reception and diffusion. Little did the Romans think, when they were forming their Appian ways, and opening their new roads, that they were forming and opening paths for the feet of the gospel to track its way over the known world! Little did they think, when they reduced their language to rule, that that language should be the means of defrauding their own temples, and of dethroning their own gods! But so it was; and there was no period but that when it could have been introduced so suitably. Hence, Paul says, "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent his Son." These are only hints on this interesting subject; but they may tend to throw some light on a very important question in reference to Christianity, and they may tend to furnish the minds of the young with an answer to those infidels who ask, sometimes, with a triumphant sneer, "Why was it that Christ came so late into the world?" If you are asked this question, my young friends, turn round to the man who asks you, and say, "Just that you, sir, might have no excuse. Mightier geniuses than you have examined into the claims of Christ and Christianity; and that at the very time when it was proper to do so-when they had all the facts and circumstances of the case before their eyes." Thus the wisdom and goodness of God ordained it, that our system might have firm footing, and that our hopes might have a stable foundation. Let us, At the time Christ came, the doctrine of immortality was expunged from their creed, and the practice of suicide had become most popular. But though philosophy could blot the doctrine of immortality from the creed, it could not root its idea out of the human mind. Life was too dear, and the love of life was too ardent, to be readily given up; and at the precise period when immortality was so longed for, and men were sick of the doctrine of annihilation, Christ came, and "brought life and immortality to light." This hope of the heart became one of the strongest motives to induce men to embrace Christianity. At that period, too, the doctrine of sacrifices was fully understood. They had, indeed, began to decline in the Jewish temples, but they were taken up with eagerness by the heathen. At the time that Christ came, the doctrine of vicarious sacrifices was most popular, and the offering of those sacrifices at its highest pitch. The altars of Jupiter blazed incessantly-but they blazed in vain those who offered them found that "the blood of bulls and of goats could not take away sin.” And at the precise period when sacrificers became tired of their round of offerings, at the very moment when hope was about to give up the ghost, Christ came "to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Yes; at this solemn crisis, when philosophy failed to teach men the way of happiness, and the sacrifices which had so long been confided in were about to be put away, then Christ came to teach men the way of life and salvation, and then was his blood shed to ransom men by thousands and by millions. II. CONSIDER THE MANNER OF HIS INCARNATION. "When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law." 3. The Augustan age was the best for the revelation of Christ and his gospel, be- 1. “God sent forth his Son, made of a cause then the world was prepared for the woman." There is something very peextension of Christianity. Had Christ culiar in this expression, "made of a wocome into our world sooner, Christianity man;" it is generally said “born of a could not have been so well propagated. woman;" it is only in reference to Christ We know, from our own experience and that the word "made" is used. The fact observation, something of the truth of is, that the words would have been an this. Our Bible and Missionary Socie- absurdity, had Christ been the son of Joties were not formed till our commerce seph. The language agrees with nothing had linked this nation with all the nations in nature, because the fact of which it speaks is out of nature, is altogether a miracle. The expression will not apply to any other but Christ. On the same principle it was said, "the word was made flesh;" what would you think if I were called to baptize a child, and were solemnly to thank God that the child was "made of a woman," or that it was "made flesh?" You would consider it a strange mode of expression, and would naturally say, "Why what else could it be made of?" But we must not dwell on this point. There is something peculiarly striking in the fact, that "God sent forth his Son" into the world as a child. To me there is something very delightful in the idea that the Saviour was first presented as an infant in our world. Why it proves at once that his errand was one of mercy it is an affecting illustration of what is said in the gospel, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world," else he would have come as a man of war, arrayed in all the attributes of power and of terror. But he came as a babe; and this was permitted, that you and I, who are parents, might feel as much comfort and delight in his nativity, as when we folded our own first dear infant in our arms. God has thus given a pledge in the very sweetness of his infancy, how blessed his errand to the world was! He sent him also in humble life. It was said to the shepherds, " Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger;" and in similar circumstances of poverty we find his whole life. And why? Why to show that the poorest and humblest are welcome to him, and to all his benefits. Had he been born in a palace; had he dwelt among the rich and great; the poor might have feared to approach him. But he took the lowest scale in society, that the humblest, the poorest, the most dependent might not fear rejection when they came to him. Hence, he sent the plainest, the simplest, the most unlettered men, to see and to worship him at his advent; though he sent also, some great and wise on the same errand. This teaches us that while there are mysteries in the incarnation of the Son of God, which angels cannot comprehend, there are yet in it features of grace and glory which the simplest may understand. Angels sang on their visit to Bethlehem, and the mysteries of the incarnation did not prevent their song; and shepherds did so too, and its mysteries did not prevent their song. 2. He was "made under the law." That is, he was made in the same relation to the law, which we as sinners stand to it-bound to obey it, and also to bear its curse. This Christ did ;—he "magnified the law" by his perfect obedience, and he "made it honourable" by bearing its curse, and preventing it from being a curse to us. III. CONSIDER THE GREAT DESIGN OF HIS INCARNATION. This was two-fold :-" to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." 1. "To redeem them that were under the law." "To redeem them" from what? My friends, from the curse of the law, and not from the obligation of it. The death of Christ would not have been an atonement, if it had set aside the law as a rule of life; this would have disgraced and destroyed the law, instead of magnifying and making it honourable. The death of Christ has made the law a rule for our working, and has abolished it as a covenant of works. We are not redeemed from the curse of the law, if we reject the obligation of the law. That man has not faith, whatever he pretends to, who makes void the law:-that faith is not the "faith of God's elect," if it make void the law of Christ; and while a man pretends to do the will of Christ, if I hear him deny the authority of the law, and declare that he has nothing to do with it, I turn at once from him to the apostle of the Lamb, and he says, "Do we make void the law, through faith? God forbid : yea, we establish the law;" and then I know which side to choose. But all are not redeemed from the curse of the law who acknowledge the obligation of the law. If there be a man here who tries to obtain redemption from the gospel, by obedience to the law, that man understands neither law nor gospel. My fellow sinner, if you are concerned about |