First Part of Sermon II. for the Second Sunday in Advent.
Rom. xv. 4-13. St. Luke xxi. 25-33.
Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our
learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope.—ROM. xv. 4.
THE Holy Scriptures have been always made by the Church the subject
of this Sunday. In the Epistle they are spoken of as already fulfilled;
in the Gospel, which our Church has appointed, as now waiting their last
accomplishment. The Epistle speaks of Christ as revealed to all nations;
the Gospel as yet to be manifested in great power from Heaven. The things
of which the Epistle speaks were once matters of prophecy, now matters
of history; they were once merely in the written Word, and subjects of
faith, but now of sight throughout the world. That which the Gospel describes
is still matter of prophecy received by faith, not by sight. Yet not altogether
thus; for the Gentiles are not yet fully called in as the Epistle describes,
and the signs of which the Gospel speaks are even now some of them fulfilled.
Thus things which have been, and things that are, and things yet to be,
are by Holy Scripture interwoven together, and form that “threefold cord”
which “is not quickly broken.” When we read the Epistle, we look behind
and see what has been fulfilled and is fulfilling in us; in reading the
Gospel we look before, and wait for what is yet to be.
Whatsoever things were written aforetime, says St. Paul, were
written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures
might have hope. He is speaking of things in the Old Testament respecting
Christ; they are there written, he says, that we may dwell and. ponder
on the same, as seeing how they have been fulfilled in Him; and so being
supported and comforted by them may have hope. But as the inspired Scriptures
are of no avail unless God Himself, Who gave them, enlighten us, he takes
up the same words of “patience and consola-tion,” and proceeds, Now
the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward
another according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one mind and one mouth
glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That God may
shed abroad His peace in our hearts, and this His peace may make us at
peace with each other; and so having love to each other, we may render
to God acceptable praise and united worship. This, the firstfruits of the
Word and of the Spirit, must be by brotherly kindness, uniting Jew and
Gentile, bond and free, rich and poor, fragrant as the sacred ointment,
and as the dew from Heaven rich in blessing. Wherefore receive ye one
another, he adds, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
St. Paul then returns to the fulfilment of the Scriptures, showing how
the Law and the Prophets were in Christ altogether accomplished; inasmuch
as He fulfilled the righteousness of the Law, was the object of its types,
the substance of its shadows, and as such the “Apostle and High Priest”
to the Hebrews; (Heb. iii. 1.) and according to the same Scriptures throughout,
was to bring the Gentiles to the obedience of faith, that there might be
“one fold and one Shepherd.”
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a Minister of the circumcision for
the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers; i.
e. fulfilling all the promises made to Abraham and his seed. And that
the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. This calling of
the nations, St. Paul next proceeds to show, is intimated through the whole
of the Old Testament; as instances of which he mentions these expressions
of the Prophets: As it is written in the Psalms, For this cause
I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy Name. And
again He saith, by the mouth of Moses long before, Rejoice, ye Gentiles,
with His people. And again, the Psalmist, Praise the Lord, all ye
Gentiles, and laud Him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall
be a root of Jesse,. and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,
in Him shall the Gentiles trust.
This is the mystery so long hidden; the Jew knew Him not, and the Gentile
knew Him not, but now both in Him are made one; and as He opens their understandings
they find the Scriptures bearing witness to Him they knew not. And thus
the Holy Scriptures would have been as a sealed Book were it not for Christ,
Who bears the keys of David. “ The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root
of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and to loose the seals thereof.”
(Rev. v. 5.) For now, the Holy Spirit enlightening our hearts, we are able
therein to discern Christ throughout; we take hold of Him by faith, and
will not let Him go, saying, “I have found Him Whom my soul loveth ;“ “My
beloved is mine, and I am His.” (Song of Sol. ii. 16; iii. 4.) So the good
Spirit whispered in the Old Testament to the secret heart of the penitent;
and so did He speak aloud to St. Paul, filling all his life, as it were,
and his soul with this Heavenly music, with which he laboured so earnestly
to fill the minds of others. All of which he here sums up in these words,
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that
ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. “The God
of hope,” as before “the God of patience and consolation ;“ this is a wonderful
expression; how full of sweetness; what a tower of strength is there in
the very word! If our God is the “God of hope,” who shall despair? if our
God is “the God of patience,” who shall not endure? And thus does the Epistle
end as it begins with hope, as resting on the Scriptures, as strengthened
by the fulfilment of them, as imparted by the God of all hope; and this
hope is that “blessed hope” of seeing Christ soon return, and of being
accepted in Him.
And surely such hope we need, and all the strength with which the Scriptures
and the God of all consolation can afford to support us, when from looking
back to what has already bean fulfilled, we turn our eyes and look forward
to those fearful things of which the Gospel for to-day speaks, and the
coming on of which we may now expect.
.... (for the second part, on the
Gospel.)
