THE PERFORMANCE OF THE DIVINE WILL: A Sermon, BY THE REV. ROBERT ANDERSON, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Ir is certain, brethren, that we ought to regard the world as a school in which we are to be taught obedience and submission to the will of God, that so we may be trained up for "the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. i. 12). For here it is that we discover the necessity of God's government, and the equity and excellence of God's law. Here it is that we learn the indispensable obligation of full and unreserved submission to God's will; seeing that misery, and discord, and confusion, arise from the opposition of human wills, and from their perpetual struggles for pre-eminence. And here it is that we learn to prize that holy, reverential fear of God, which is only another name for true obedience; seeing that they only are able, at all times, and under all circumstances, to "delight themselves in the abundance of peace" (Ps. xxxvii. 11), whose hearts are filled with this spirit of holy fear, and whose feet have been guided into the paths of this obedi ence. obedience! But if this be the lesson which the Christian may derive from his residence in a world such as this, how sweet is the encouragement which he receives, in every part of Scripture, thus to persevere in all the paths of a holy "What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach," says David, "in the way that he shall choose" (Ps. xxv. 12). Yea, says a greater than David, "If any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John, vii. 17). And to represent still more emphatically the believer's privileges, our Lord says elsewhere, "Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother" (Mark, iii. 35). It is here declared with respect to that man who "doeth the will of God" from the heart, that he shall be admitted at once into the family and household of God. For, by "keeping the words" of Jesus he shews that "he loveth him" (John, xiv. 23). And of every one who thus loveth him, and keepeth his words, Jesus says, "My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Such is the gracious promise which the Saviour has made to all who walk in the way of God's commandments. And well, therefore, may a Christian poet describe them as "The living homes where Christ shall dwell, Brethren, with such encouragements before you, turn now to the petition which our Lord himself has taught us to use, and ponder in your hearts the full scope of these few but comprehensive words, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Archbishop Leighton observes, with regard to the first three petitions in the Lord's Prayer,-"Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," that there is in the petitions themselves a very profitable difference, though their scope be one. They are as so many different arrows aimed at the same mark. In the first petition, "Hallowed be thy name," we express our desire, that every kind and degree of honour may be offered to the name of God. And because his name is especially honoured in the advancement of his spiritual kingdom, the second petition is," Thy kingdom come." And because, until that kingdom shall be completed, it lies in two several countries: the one part of it being already above, which is the appointed place for the perfection and perpetuity of this kingdom; the other part being here below, but continually tending thither, the words of this third petition, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," particularly relate to all who are serving God on earth; desiring for them that, in obedience to their King, they may be as much conformed as is possible to those who are serving him above; even to those myriads of ministering spirits who encircle his throne, and who cease not day and night to celebrate, and to serve him, with uninterrupted praises and with unerring obedience. I. Now what is the spirit in which we usually repeat the words "Thy will be done?" When we utter this petition, do we utter it in the meek and gentle spirit of entire, filial acquiescence in our heavenly Father's will? Or, do we not too often repeat it in the sullen spirit of those who feel that they must submit, only because they cannot offer any effectual resistance to the sovereign will of Him whose kingdom ruleth over all? Do we, for the most part, view God as a kind, and tender, and compassionate parent, sparing us when we deserve punishment, and in the midst of judgment thinking upon mercy and do we, therefore, desire to improve the talents committed to our charge, in conformity with the will of Him, whose we are, and whom we ought to serve with every Keble on the Annunciation. faculty and every affection of the soul? Or, do we not rather too frequently hide our talent in a napkin, or conceal it under the earth, like the slothful servant in the parable, as if we were called upon to serve an austere master, who would compel us to serve with rigour, and would make our lives bitter with hard bondage? 66 # with Leighton, we were to describe the obedience practised in heaven, as being a cheerful and universal obedience. 1. The obedience of the angels in heaven is a cheerful obedience. The Psalmist, after describing the angels of the Lord as "excelling in strength" (Ps. ciii. 20), immediately adds, that "they do his commandments.". And from the connexion, therefore, in which these words are placed, these words are placed, we find it to be the proper employment of the "strength" in which the angels "excel," that it should be entirely actuated by the will of God. The angels are endued with such excellent strength for this one end, viz. that they may "do his commandments." In like manner the believer will devote all his strength to the fulfilment. of God's commandments; and he will always experience the most inward joy and gladness when he keeps the closest to the Divine will. For the law of God is not to the believer as it is to others, a force from without, urging him on violently against his own rebellious will; but it is a power lodged within his heart, and it sweetly inclines and enables him to pursue the path of God's commandments. As the believer, therefore, increases in strength, he will run, with fresh alacrity, the way of these commandments. And he will experience more and more of the blessedness of those "whose strength is in the Lord, and in whose Not only are the feet of God's children in his ways, but, as it is here declared, “ His ways are in their hearts.” Yes, brethren, we are all too apt either to worship altogether a god of our own imagination, or to form our judgment of the character of God only from that manifestation of his severer attributes, which has been, as it were, extorted from him by our sins. But if we would view the Lord our God, not according to the vain, and shallow, and partial conceptions of our own corrupt and ignorant minds, but as he is plainly revealed to us in the Bible, in all the glorious harmony of the Divine perfections, we should at once feel and acknowledge that, even as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him" (Ps. ciii. 13). We should there find it written in every page, that, though we have left our Father's house, and are blindly following the devices and the desires of our own sinful hearts, he is still stretching forth his hands to us, and is still promising us forgiveness of all that is past, if, with a perfect and true heart, we will return unto him. Let us, therefore, acquaint ourselves with the character and with the dis-heart are his ways." pensations of God, as set forth in Scripture, and we shall understand that when he calls upon us to "do his will," or, in other words, to be holy even as he is holy, he does, in effect, call upon us to be happy even as he is happy. Let us only return to our Father's house, and, in proportion as we shall exchange the miserable bondage of sin and Satan for that service which is perfect freedom, we shall find that the holiness in which we are now commanded to walk is happiness commenced upon earth; even as the perfect happiness which awaits us hereafter shall be holiness consummated in heaven! II. But if such be the nature and such the blessedness of true and faithful obedience, surely we ought to utter not only with our lips, but from the very ground of our hearts, both clauses of the petition contained in the text, and say, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven!" When the question was once put, my brethren, by a Christian minister to the children of his Sunday-school, "How is the will of God done in heaven?" one of the children answered, "It is done by the angels in heaven immediately, diligently, always, altogether, with all their strength, and without asking any questions about it." And our answer would be, in substance, the same, if, 2. The obedience of the angels in heaven is also universal. For, in the same passage in which the angels are described as those who "excel in strength," and who "do his commandments," it is beautifully said of them, that they "hearken unto the voice of his word" (Ps. ciii. 20). The angels never turn away their ears from any the least of God's commandments. No, beloved, they wait but for a word from him, and that is enough for them. And, in like manner, the believer will desire to "have respect to all God's commandments" (Ps. cxix. 6), and to " set the Lord always before him" (Ps. xvi. 8), in an uniform, constant regard to his will. He will offer up his heart to God, that it may be fashioned and moulded by him to his will. He will desire to resign it up to his Lord, and to be himself as a piece of wax in God's hand, pliable to what form he will. His prayer will be, that the Lord God would be pleased to banish from his breast whatever may be displeasing in his sight, and that he would fill it with his good Spirit. It will be his constant desire that he may have no will but God's; and that he may be altogether subject both to his commanding and to his See Abp. Leighton on the Lord's Prayer. disposing will; being always prepared to do what he commands, and, in all his dealings with us, to be pleased with what he does. In one word, the language of the believer will be: For my actions, let God's word be my guide. And, for the events of things, and all that concerns me, let his good pleasure, and his wise disposal, be my will. Yea, let me give up the rudder of my life into his hand, to be steered by him towards the haven of everlasting rest. And, amidst all the changes of this lower world, let me have grace to say from my heart, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth:" let me never" turn away from after thee!" (Jer. iii. 4, 19). 66 Behold, brethren, the mark at which you are commanded to aim; viz. an obedience to God's will, as cheerful and as universal as that of the angels which are about his throne. This, remember, is the lofty standard by which you are to measure all your performances this is the scope which you profess to set before you, as often as you repeat the words of the petition; "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven!" But as you would hope really to transcribe these words into your hearts and lives, you must now endeavour, in conclusion, to fix your thoughts and your affections upon that Lamb of God, without blemish and without spot, of whom the Scriptures declare, that he "came to do the will" (compare Ps. xl. with Heb. x.) of the Father; and whose perfect obedience even unto death not only atoned for the sins of men, but brought in for them everlasting righteousness. Look, then, to Jesus, first of all, as having tabernacled among the children of men. And, as you dwell on every part of his mysterious sufferings, regard them as declaring to you, with a voice which cannot be misunderstood, the gracious nature of that Divine will to which we pray that we may be conformed. For when, in obedience to the Father's will, the Son of God emptied himself of all his glory, that he might take our nature upon him, and suffer death upon the cross, then was it seen how justice and mercy met together to accomplish God's wonderful scheme of salvation for a rebellious world; then was it seen how the Son of God had been ordained to lift a load from the creation, which would otherwise have plunged it into irreversible perdition! And when the view of our Saviour's passion shall have deeply affected your hearts with a sense of the good will of that heavenly Father, who, to shew his hatred for sin, coupled with the tenderest compassion for the person of the sinner, did "not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all" (Rom. viii. 32); when you shall have learned from the great mystery of our redemption, how, in testimony of this good will to man, God "hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. v. 21); then lift up your hearts in holy meditation towards that temple above, even heaven itself, into which our High Priest is entered, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb. ix. 24); and ask, in his name, for such supplies of grace as may enable you to "do your Father's will in earth, as it is in heaven." For the Son of God came not only to atone for the sins of men, and to bring in everlasting righteousness for the justification of their persons, but also to purchase for them all those gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit which may incline and enable them cheerfully and unreservedly to run the way of God's commandments. 66 And who but He who liveth and reigneth with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, who but the Son of God could thus obtain for us help, to guide our wandering feet into the paths of holiness and peace? Who but the Son of God could thus obtain for us grace, to subdue our perverse and rebellious wills, and to write all God's laws in our hearts? For ever since the fall of Adam, man has been so enslaved by that "carnal mind," which is " enmity against God" (Rom. viii. 7), that, if left to himself, he would actually refuse to be "made whole" (John, v. 6). Though "light" be world," he would, if left to himself, still "love darkness rather than light" (John, iii. 19), and would not come to the Physician of souls, that he might be healed. But blessed be God! we have to do with a High Priest, of whom it was expressly written, that he should make his people "willing in the day of his power" (Ps. cx. 3). And all, therefore, who desire to " do the will" of God "in earth, as it is in heaven," will " put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. xiii. 14), as come into the "the Lord their righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 6). They will put him on, as their perfect and everlasting righteousness, for the justification of their persons. And they will put him on, as the all-sufficient source of righteousness and holiness, for the sanctification of their lives. Yea, they will pray that the Spirit which is derived from him, may so change them into the same Divine image, that they may indeed exchange that "carnal mind," which is "enmity against God," for that " spiritual mind," which is "life and peace" (Rom. viii. 7, 6). They will pray, that they may become very members incorporate of that mystical body, of which Christ is the head. And if that prayer be answered, they will know what it is to "do the will" of God" in earth, as it is in heaven." For if it be true of the mystical Head, that he " came to do his Father's will," and that he "delights to do it," and that "his law is within his heart" (compare Ps. xl. 7, 8, with Heb. x. 7-9), assuredly he will so write it, by his Spirit, in the hearts of all his faithful people, that, as the members of his body, it shall be their chief desire, and their sweetest privilege, to be, to do, and to suffer, whatever their heavenly Father shall be pleased to appoint. Hear us, therefore, blessed Jesus, from thy throne of grace, and so mould our hearts by thy Holy Spirit, that we may indeed be enabled to "do the will" of thy Father, and our Father, "in earth," even" as it is in heaven." Write in our hearts what our heavenly Father commands us to do; and then let him command what he will.* Oh! suffer us not to utter the words, "God's will be done," with the slavish spirit of those who feel that they must submit, only because they dare not offer any resistance to his will. But so shed abroad in our hearts the love of him whose "will" we are commanded to "do," that we may utter the words, "His will be done,” as dear children, in the spirit of adoption, deeming it our highest and sweetest privilege to be permitted to co-operate with God himself in the fulfilment of his will, by "crucifying the flesh, with the affections and lusts" (Gal. v. 24), and by abounding in every good word and work! And, to this end, be pleased, O Lord, so to mortify our hearts and all our members from all worldly and carnal lusts, that, whether it be by active obedience to thy word, or by a cheerful acquiescence in the providential appointments of our heavenly Father, we may, in all things, obey his blessed will, and glorify his holy name! Amen. THE CHURCHES OF ASIA.—(II.) REV. ii. 1-7. "Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which • Augustine. I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."-The Gospel was first preached at Ephesus by St. Paul, when, on his voyage from Corinth to Judea, he touched at that city (Acts, xviii. 19-21), and entering into the synagogue, proclaimed the great truths of the Christian religion. His visit was then short; but he returned again (Acts, xix. 1), and preached boldly in the synagogue for the space of three months. The Jews, who on his former visit had willingly listened to his discourse, now violently opposed him. On this account he separated himself from them, and entered into the school of one Tyrannus; and this he did for the space of two years; so that all they who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Ephesus was at this period a wealthy city. Its inhabitants were idolators, worshipping the goddess Diana, to whose honour there was a magnificent temple erected, and whose worship was celebrated at an enormous expense. Their character was dissolute in the extreme. They are spoken of by the apostle, in language, alas! generally applicable, as "dead in trespasses and in sins," as walking "according to the course of this world;" and their addiction to magic and witchcraft is perhaps alluded to by him, when he speaks of their "walking according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." In process of time the preaching of the apostle was attended with remarkable success. In spite of opposition the most virulent, and persecution the most appalling, the word so mightily grew and prevailed, that a large Christian Church was collected together, the members of which shewed their sincerity by willingly relinquishing their idolatrous practices, and destroying their books of enchantments, and other means of unlawfully gaining their subsistence. St. Paul could confidently appeal to them as to his own zeal and devotedness for their spiritual improvement, and that he had made known to them the whole counsel of God; and in his epistle he congratulates them on the advancement they had made in the knowledge of divine things. Still, the apostle was afraid lest, at his departure, matters should not continue in this flourishing condition. He foresaw that grievous wolves," as he termed them, would enter in, not sparing the flock, who should speak" perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." The 2d Epistle to Timothy, who was resident at Ephesus, and which was written a few years after that to the Ephesians, testifies that the apostle's warning was needful; for he declares that "they in Asia had turned away from him." And in the Apocalyptic vision we find the solemn charge brought against this Church," that its members had left their first love," or been seduced to follow other teachers, and to relinquish the simplicity of the Gospel. 66 In the solemn charge contained in the message to the Church of Ephesus, we find a correct delineation of the character of that Church in its infancy. Its work, its labour, its patience, its determined opposition to evil, its scrutiny into the claims of those who pretended to be apostles, and to the last its hatred of the works of the Nicolaitanes, men who gave license to the practice of gross sins, were all subjects of merited commendation. Still, however, the charge was brought against the Church, that she had left her "first love;" that she was not in the same position of devoted attachment for which she had been peculiarly distinguished. In consequence of this desertion, the call is here made to the Church of Ephesus, to recollect her former spiritually prosperous state. She is exhorted to compare her past with her present condition, and with penitence to seek to regain the high situation which she formerly maintained. She is called upon to do her first works, to be conspicuous as formerly for labour and patience; and she is threatened, that if she did not comply with the injunction, and did not amend, her" candlestick" should be removed out of his place; that is, the light of Christianity would be darkened, and her members return to their former state of delusive error. And this denunciation against her was uttered by that Saviour who holdeth the seven stars, which are the angels of the seven Churches, in his right hand; who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, or Churches themselves; and was thus qualified to ascertain the true character and condition of each individual Church. It will be observed, that in each of these epistles the Lord Jesus speaks of himself under some peculiar character, which will be found to have an especial bearing on the contents of the epistle itself. How fully the threatening against the Church of Ephesus has been realised, the present condition of Ephesus fully testifies. The warning was unheeded; and Ephesus at the present moment presents the spectacle not merely of a city from which the light of divine truth has been removed, but of which there is scarcely a vestige left, to mark its former grandeur, as the chief town of Lesser Asia. In proof of this assertion, we have the following account of the present state of this once-famous city: "In twelve hours' ride from Smyrna, (says an American missionary) we reached Aiasaluck. Strabo says that Ephesus was 320 stadia, i. e. 40 miles, south of Smyrna. Our journey corresponded well with this statement. "We found at Aiasaluck three English gentlemen, who had been travelling in Egypt and Syria, and were now on their way to Smyrna. The only coffeehouse in the place furnished lodgings for us all: its walls were of stone and mud: its roof was thatched with grass and straw, and almost filled with swallows' nests: the establishment consists of two apartments, one for travellers, the other for their horses: the only passage to the stable leads through the centre of the bar-room, or dining-room, it may be called. Before the coffee-house is a sarcophagus with an inscription on it, now almost entirely illegible. Beyond the sarcophagus is a mosque. The ruins of several Turkish baths are in sight. Around the coffee-house are a few miserable huts, which constitute the village of Aiasaluck. "We went to the church of St. John, at the foot of the hill on the west. It was probably built by the Greek Christians who settled at Aiasaluck when Ephesus was destroyed. When the Mahomedans took possession of the country, this, like many other churches, was converted into a mosque. It is now entirely deserted, without doors, windows, roof, or floor. It is divided into four apartments: one embraces half the building, and seems to have been the churchyard: in this yard some large trees are standing. The other three apartments are nearly equal; and rank weeds are now growing undisturbed where Christians first, and afterwards Mahomedans, offered their prayers. In the church are some immensely large pillars of granite, said to have been taken from the temple of Diana; having thus served, successively, in a Pagan, a Christian, and a Mahomedan place of worship. "At seven o'clock the next morning we mounted our horses, and, leaving the sarcophagus and the old mosque on our right, rode to Mount Prion; and then sent our horses back, and set out on foot to survey the ruins of Ephesus. The ground was covered with high grass or grain; and a very heavy dew rendered the walking rather unpleasant. : "On the east side of the hill we found nothing worthy of notice, no appearance of having been occupied by buildings. On the north side was the circus or stadium; its length from east to west is forty rods, or one stadium: the north or lower side was supported by arches, which still remain: the area, where the races used to be performed, is now a field of wheat at the west end was the gate: the walls adjoining it are still standing, and of considerable height and strength. North of the stadium, and separated only by a street, is a large square, enclosed with fallen walls, and filled with the ruins of various edifices: a street running north and south divides this square in the centre. West of the stadium is an elevation of ground, level on the top, with an immense pedestal in the centre of it. Between this and the stadium was a street, passing from the great plain north of Ephesus into the midst of the city. "I found on the plains of Ephesus some Greek peasants, men and women, employed in pulling up tares aud weeds from the wheat. It reminded me of Matt. xiii. 28. I addressed them in Romaic, but found that they understood very little of it, as they usually answered me in Turkish. I ascertained, however, that they all belonged to villages at a distance, and came there to labour. Not one of them could read; but they said there were priests and a schoolmaster in the village to which they belonged, who could read. I gave them some tracts, which they promised to give to their priest and schoolmaster. Tournefort says that, when he was at Ephesus, there were thirty or forty Greek families there. Chandler found only ten or twelve individuals. Now, no human being lives in Ephesus; and in Aiasaluck, which may be considered as Ephesus under another name, though not on precisely the same spot of ground, there are merely a few miserable Turkish huts. The candlestick is removed out of its place. How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!' "While wandering among the ruins, it was impossible not to think with deep interest of the events which have transpired on this spot. Here has been displayed all the skill of the architect, the musician, the |