Imatges de pàgina
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SERMON.

MATT. XVIII. 20.

FOR WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN MY NAME, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM.*

SUCH was the declaration of the Saviour to his apostles. He had been giving them directions with regard to the mode of exercising discipline in the church, and had promised them special assistance in the discharge of this duty, when he uttered the words of our text. He had told them, that when two of their number should be agreed on earth, respecting anything which they would ask, it should be done for them by his Father in heaven. On this, he assured them, they might rely; since no such request could escape his notice, or fail of attracting his aid. Wherever two or three are met together, said he, in my name, there am I in the midst of them; consequently the apostles could not fail of obtaining that aid which he had promised.

Although these words had a particular reference, when they were first spoken, to the apostles, and were intended to satisfy their minds respecting the assistance which their Lord and Master would give them, while employed in his service; yet, as there is nothing in the nature of the case which necessarily limits them to the apostles only, I shall consider them as addressed to Christians of every age, and applicable to all who convene in the name of Christ. Not that a promise of miraculous aid is to be extended to all who are convened as the disciples of Christ; not that everything for

* Preached at the Dedication of the Church in Hanover Street, Boston, March 1, 1826.

which they now ask will be specifically granted, as it was to those who had a miraculous faith, and who asked for various things under special supernatural guidance. The application of our text to Christians of every age, does not necessarily involve this. The assurance of Christ to the apostles, that whatever any two should agree in asking for, should be bestowed upon them, is grounded not on the fact that he would be specially present, and present only with them as apostles, but on the fact, that wherever his disciples might convene he would be present. It involves a general promise, that they who should be his sincere friends and faithful ministers of the gospel, should enjoy his presence and aid. It is a promise of a nature similar to that which the Saviour made at the moment of his ascension: "Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." This was addressed to the apostles; and was designed in a peculiar manner to cheer their drooping spirits, and animate them in the great work which they were about to undertake. But who will say, that it must be confined solely to them? Were they to continue to the end of the world? If not, then Christians in general, or at least the ministers of the divine word in general, down to the end of time, are meant to be included.

This may suffice to show, that our text can be properly adduced at the present day, and on this occasion, as applicable to an assembly of worshippers convened in the name of Christ.

If so, we may now proceed to inquire:

I. What is it for an assembly of men to convene in the name of Christ?

II. What is implied in the declaration that he is in the midst of them?

Our English translation of the verse, which I have chosen as my text, hardly conveys to the common reader of our language the force of the original Greek. Such a reader would naturally suppose, that the phrase in my name means, by the

1 Matt. 28: 20.

authority or command of Christ; as we speak of anything being done in the name of the king, or in the name of the commonwealth. But this would be an entire misconception of the meaning of the passage before us. In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, and in the Greek of the New, which very frequently (as might naturally be expected) imitates it closely, the word name is often employed only as a kind of periphrasis or circumlocution, in order to express him, himself, i. e. the person to whom the word name refers. Thus the Hebrews say: Let the name of God be honoured! instead of simply saying: Let God be honoured! God says: I will reveal my name, instead of I will reveal myself. So our Saviour says, in the prayer which we familiarly call the Lord's Prayer: Hallowed be thy name; which means, Be thou held in reverence, or adored.

.....

From this very common usage in the Hebrew tongue it comes, that in the New Testament such phrases as for thy name's sake, on account of thy name, often mean nothing more than for thy sake, on thy account. For example: Ye shall be hated of all men ・・・ ・ ・ ・for my name's sake, i. e. for my sake. All these things shall they do to you . . . . on account of my name, i. e. on account of me.2 Whoever shall forsake his family and friends..... for my name's sake, i. e. on account of me.3 Whatever ye shall ask in my name, i. e. on account of me, for the sake of my cause.4 The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, i. e. on account of me, or for the sake of my cause.5 If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, i. e. on account of him, because ye are Christians.6 Whoever shall receive a little child

in

my name, i. e. on my account.7

It were easy to add many more examples of the same nature, but I forbear. I have produced these, merely to show that I do not hazard anything in asserting the sentiment of our text to be this: Where two or three are convened on my

1 Matt. 10: 22.
2 John 15: 21.
3 Matt. 19: 29.

4 John 14: 13, 14.

6 1 Pet. 4: 14.

5 John 14: 26.

7 Luke 9: 48.

account, for my sake, because of me. The original Greek (εis rò quòv őropa) can scarcely admit of any other con

struction.

To meet together on account of Christ, is to convene as his disciples; as having a common interest in him; and as possessing characteristics which distinguish those who do thus convene from other men, i. e. from the world around them.

Men may convene for a great variety of purposes, either of business or of pleasure. But it will not be affirmed that all conventions of this sort are for the sake of Christ. Nay, men may meet together for acts of religious worship, and yet not convene for the sake of Christ. Sober theists like Lord Herbert, Jews, Mohammedans, nay idolaters, may meet together for the sake of social worship; but they come not together in the name of Christ; nor has he promised to be in the midst of such assemblies.

There is something, then, which must distinguish the Christian worshipper from all others; something which makes him what he professes to be, a Christian, in distinction from an unbeliever, a heathen or polytheist, a deist or naturalist, a Jew, or a Mohammedan. Like every other religion received by men, Christianity has, and must have, some distinctive traits of its own which make it what it is; which make it Christianity rather than Deism, or Judaism, or Islamism. The disciples of Christ, his true disciples, must of course recognize these traits. If there be doctrines and duties of Christianity which differ from those of all other religions, then they who are the genuine followers of Christ, and real converts, to his religion, must receive those doctrines, and practise those duties. Nor can any be truly said to meet together in the name of Christ, or as his disciples, who do not admit the one, and practise the other.

Surely a man could not, with any propriety, be called a Mohammedan, who should refuse to receive the Koran, and to practise the rites and duties which it enjoins; nor could he be called a Jew, who should reject the Pentateuch, and the peculiarities of the Jewish institutions. It cannot be any

more proper, then, to consider men as real Christians, or to call an assembly convened for the purposes of worship, Christians, provided they reject the peculiarities of the Christian religion which make it what it is, viz. Christianity in distinction from all other religions.

What then is it to come together as Christians? What are those distinctive traits of belief or character, which separate Christians from all other worshippers; make them the subject of that promise which our text contains; and give them, therefore, the assurance that Christ will be present when they worship as his disciples?

Christianity does not differ, as to every doctrine which it teaches, and every duty which it prescribes, from all other systems of religion. The better part even of pagans admitted some of the doctrines which our religion inculcates. Many of the moral duties, for example, were taught with no small degree of force and perspicuity by Socrates, Plato, Epictetus, Plutarch, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and others. The light of nature did much for such men; and the doctrines which they taught, and the duties which they inculcated, so far as they were guided by that light, were altogether accordant with those which Christianity teaches and enjoins.

But the difference, after all, is so wide between Christianity and any of the various systems of idolatry and polytheism, that I do not think it worth a moment's delay, on the present occasion, to show that a worshipper under the Gospel is of a very different complexion from one who either bows down to images which his own hands have made, or worships the host of heaven, or prostrates himself before heroes and conquerors, whom superstition has exalted to heaven and ranked among the objects of human adoration.

Very different from all these, and at a great advance beyond them, is the considerate theist or naturalist of modern times, the Jew, and the Mohammedan. These, I mean the sober and reasoning part of them, all unite in the belief, that there is one only living and true God, spiritual, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, immutable, just, wise, good,

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