I have drastically abbreviated this wonderful sermon. I can direct you to the entire thing if you like.
What a great, wide, and intelligent discourse!!
PREACHING CHRIST.
Colossians i. 28: Whom we preach, warning every man, and
teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus.
In the verses immediately preceding the text, we find
the Apostle enlarging with his usual zeal and earnest-
ness on a subject peculiarly dear to him ; on the glo-
rious mystery of God, or in other words, on the great
purpose of God, which had been kept secret from ages,
to make the Gentile world partakers, through faith, of
the blessings of the long-promised Messiah. Christ,
the hope of glory to the Gentiles, was the theme on
which Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, delighted to
expatiate. Having spoken of Jesus in this character,
he immediately adds, Whom we preach, warning
every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that
we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
On the present occasion, which invites us to con
sider the design and duties of the Christian ministry,
I have thought that these words would guide us to many
appropriate and useful reflections. They teach us what
the Apostle preached ; We preach Christ. They
teach us the end or object for which he thus preached;
That we may present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus.
I. What are we to understand by preaching Christ?
This subject is the more interesting and important, be
cause, I fear, it has often been misunderstood. Many
persons imagine, that Christ is never preached, unless
his name is continually repeated and his character con
tinually kept in view. This is an error, and should be
exposed. Preaching Christ, then, does not consist in
making Christ perpetually the subject of discourse, but
in inculcating, on his authority, the religion which he
"taught. Jesus came to be the light and teacher of the
world ; and in this sublime and benevolent character he
unfolded many truths relating to the Universal Father,
to his own character, to the condition, duties, and pros
pects of mankind, to the perection and true happiness
of the human soul, to a future state of retribution, to
the terms of forgiveness, to the means of virtue, and
of everlasting life.
Now whenever we teach, on the authority of Jesus, any doctrine or precept included inthis extensive system, we preach Christ. When,
for instance, we inculcate on his authority the duties of
forgiving enemies, of denying ourselves, of hungering
after righteousness, we preach Christ as truly as
when we describe his passion on the cross, or the pur-
pose and the importance of his sufferings.
By the word Christ in the text and in many other
places, we are to understand his religion rather than his
person. Among the Jews nothing was more common
than to give the name of a religious teacher to the sys
tem of truth which he taught. We see this continually
exemplified in the New Testament. Thus, it is said
of the Jews, They have Moses and the prophets.
What is meant by this that they had Moses residing
in person among them * Certainly not ; but that they
had his law, his religion. When Paul says, We preach
Christ, we ought to understand him as affirming, that
he preached the whole system of doctrines and duties
which Christ taught, whether they related to Jesus him-
self, or to any other subject.
I hope I shall not be misunderstood in the remarks
which I have now made. Do not imagine, that I would
exclude from the pulpit, discourses on the excellence of
Jesus Christ. The truths which relate to Jesus him
self, are among the most important which the Gospel
reveals. The relations which Jesus Christ sustains to
the world, are so important and so tender ; the concern
which he has expressed in human salvation, so strong
and disinterested ; the blessings of pardon and immortal
life which he brings, so undeserved and unbounded ; his
character is such a union of moral beauty and grandeur;
his example is at once so pure and so persuasive ; the
events of his life, his miracles, his sufferings, his resur
rection and ascension, and his offices of intercessor and
judge, are so strengthening to faith, hope, and charity,
that his ministers should dwell on his name with affec
tionate veneration, and should delight to exhibit him to
the gratitude, love, imitation, and confidence of man
kind.
It regards man in his diversified and ever-multiplying
relations to his Creator and to his fellow-creatures, to
the present state and to all future ages. Its aim is, to
instruct and quicken us to cultivate an enlarged virtue;
to cultivate our whole intellectual and moral nature.
It collects and offers motives to piety from the past and
from the future, from heaven and hell, from nature and
experience, from human example, and from the imitable
excellences of God, from the world without and the
world within us. The Gospel of Christ is indeed an
inexhaustible treasury of moral and religious truth.
Jesus, the first and best of evangelical teachers, did not
confine himself to a few topics, but manifested himself
to be the wisdom of God by the richness and variety
of his instructions.
It has been the object of these remarks, to show,
that preaching Christ does not imply that the offices
and character of Christ are to be made perpetually the
subjects of discourse. Where this idea prevails, it too
often happens that the religion of Jesus is very partial
ly preached. A few topics are repeated without end.
Many delightful and ennobling views of Christianity are
seldom or never exhibited. The duties of the Gospel
receive but a cursory attention. Religion is thought to
consist in a fervid state of mind, produced by the con
stant contemplation of a few affecting ideas; whilst the
only acceptable religion, which consists in living so
berly, righteously, and godly in the world, seems to
be undervalued as quite an inferior attainment. Where
this mistake prevails, we too often discover a censorious
spirit among hearers, who pronounce with confidence
on this and another minister, that they do not preach
Christ, because their discourses do not turn on a few
topics in relation to the Saviour, which are thought to
contain the whole of Christianity.
Let us never forget, that we none of us preach Christ in the
full import of that phrase. None of us can hope that
we give a complete representation of the religion of our
Master; that we exhibit every doctrine without defect
or without excess, in its due proportions, and in its just
connexions; but none are free from the
universal frailty, and none are authorized to take the
seat of judgment, and, on the ground of imagined errors,
to deny to others, whose lives are as spotless as their
own, a conscientious purpose to learn and to teach the
whole counsel of God.
II. Having thus considered what is intended by
preaching Christ, I proceed to consider, secondly, for
what end Christ is to be preached. We preach Christ,
says the Apostle, warning every man, and teaching
every man, that we may present every man perfect in
Christ Jesus; that is, perfect in the religion of Christ,
or a perfect Christian.
From the passage we derive a
most important sentiment, confirmed by the whole New
Testament, that the great design of all the doctrines
and precepts of the Gospel, is to exalt the character,
to promote eminent purity of heart and life, to make
men perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect. For
what end then is Christianity to be preached ? The
answer is plain. We must preach, not to make fiery
partisans, and to swell the number of a sect; not to
overwhelm the mind with fear, or to heat it with fever
ish rapture ; not to form men to the decencies of life,
to a superficial goodness, which will secure the admira
tion of mankind. All these effects fall infinitely short
of the great end of the Christian ministry.
We should preach, that we may make men perfect Christians;
perfect, not according to the standard of the world,
but according to the law of Christ; perfect in heart
and in life, in solitude and in society, in the great and
in the common concerns of life. Here is the purpose
of Christian preaching. In this, as in a common cen
tre, all the truths of the Gospel meet ; to this they all
conspire ; and no doctrine has an influence on salvation,
any farther than it is an aid and excitement to the per
fecting of our nature.
The Christian minister ought never to forget the great distinc-
tion and glory of the Gospel, - that it is designed to
perfect human nature. All the precepts of this divine
system are marked by a sublime character. It demands
that our piety be fervent, our benevolence unbounded,
and our thirst for righteousness strong and insatiable.
It enjoins a virtue which does not stop at what is posi
tively prescribed, but which is prodigal of service to
God and to mankind. The Gospel enjoins inflexible
integrity, fearless sincerity, fortitude which despises pain
and tramples pleasure under foot in the pursuit of duty,
and an independence of spirit which no scorn can deter
and no example seduce from asserting truth and adher
ing to the cause which conscience approves. With this
spirit of martyrs, this hardness and intrepidity of sold-
iers of the cross, the Gospel calls us to unite the mild
est and meekest virtues ; a sympathy which melts over
others’ woes ; a disinterestedness which finds pleasure
in toils, and labors for others’ good; a humility which
loves to bless unseen, and forgets itself in the perform
ance of the noblest deeds. To this perfection of
social duty, the Gospel commands us to join a piety
which refers every event to the providence of God, and
every action to his will; a love which counts no service
hard, and a penitence which esteems no judgment se-
vere ; a gratitude which offers praise even in adversity;
a holy trust unbroken by protracted suffering, and a hope
triumphant over death. In one word, it enjoins, that,
loving and confiding in Jesus Christ, we make his spot-
less character, his heavenly life, the model of our own.
Such is the sublimity of character which the Gospel
demands, and such the end to which our preaching
should ever be directed.
We need to feel more deeply, that we are in
trusted with a religion which is designed to ennoble
human nature ; which recognises in man the capacities
of all that is good, great, and excellent; and which
offers every encouragement and aid to the pursuit of
perfection. The Christian minister should often recol
lect, that man, though propense to evil, has yet powers
and faculties which may be exalted and refined to an
gelic glory ; that he is called by the Gospel to prepare
for the community of angels ; that he is formed for
unlimited progress in intellectual and moral excellence
and felicity. He should often recollect, that in Jesus
Christ our nature has been intimately united with the
divine, and that in Jesus it is already enthroned in heav
en. Familiarized to these generous conceptions, the
Christian preacher, whilst he faithfully unfolds to men
their guilt and danger, should also unfold their capaci
ties of greatness; should reveal the splendor of that
destiny to which they are called by Christ; should
labor to awaken within them aspirations after a nobler
character and a higher existence, and to inflame them
with the love of all the graces and virtues with which
Jesus came to enrich and adorn the human soul. In
this way he will prove that he understands the true
and great design of the Gospel and the ministry, which
is nothing less than the perfection of the human char-
acter.
May I be permitted to say, that perhaps one of the
greatest defects in our preaching, is, that it is not suf-
ficiently directed to ennoble and elevate the minds of
men. It does not breathe a sufficiently generous spirit.
It appeals too constantly to the lowest principle of hu
man nature; I mean the principle of fear, which under
judicious excitement is indeed of great and undoubted
use, but which, as every parent knows, when habitually
awakened, is always found to debase the mind, to break
the spirit, to give tameness to the character, and to
chill the best affections. Perhaps one cause of the
limited influence of Christianity, is, that, as it is too
often exhibited, it seems adapted to form an abject, ser
vile character, rather than to raise its disciples to true
greatness and dignity. Perhaps, were Christianity more
habitually regarded as a system, whose great design it is
to infuse honorable sentiments, magnanimity, energy, an
ingenuous love of God, a superiority to the senses, a
spirit of self-sacrifice, a virtue akin to that of heaven,
its reception would be more cordial, and its influence
more extensive, more happy, more accordant with its
great end, the perfection of human nature.
III.That the Gospel may attain its end, may
exert the most powerful and ennobling influence on the
human character, it must be addressed at once to the
understanding and to the heart. It must be so preached
as to be firmly believed and deeply felt.
very obvious principle, that a revelation from God must
be adapted to the rational and moral nature which he
has conferred on man ; that God can never contradict
in his Word what he has himself written on the human
heart, or teaches in his works and providence.
I have said, that this rational method of preaching
Christianity is important, if we would secure a firm be
lief to Christianity. Some men may indeed be recon
ciled to an unreasonable religion ; and terror, that pas
sion which more than any other unsettles the intellect,
may silence every objection to the most contradictory
and degrading principles. But in general the understand
ing and conscience cannot be entirely subdued. They
resist the violence which is done them. A lurking in
credulity mingles with the attempt to believe what con
tradicts the highest principles of our nature.
But this is not enough. It is also most important
that the Gospel should be recommended to the heart.
Christianity should be so preached, as to interest the
affections, to awaken contrition and fear, veneration and
love, gratitude and hope. Some preachers have addressed men as
mere creatures of intellect; they have forgotten, that
affection is as essential to our nature as thought, that
action requires motive, that the union of reason and
sensibility is the health of the soul, and that without
moral feeling there can be no strength of moral purpose.
They have preached ingeniously, and the hearer has pro
nounced the teaching true. But the truth, coldly im
parted, and coldly received, has been forgotten as fast as
heard ; no energy of will has been awakened; no resist
ance to habit and passion been called forth ; perhaps not
a momentary purpose of self-improvement has glanced
through the mind. Preaching, to be effectual, must be
as various as our nature. The sun warms, at the same
moment that it enlightens; and, unless religious truth be
addressed at once to the reason and the affections, unless
it kindles whilst it guides, it is a useless splendor; it
leaves the heart barren ; it produces no fruits of godli
ness. Let the Christian minister, then, preach the Gos
pel with earnestness, with affection, with a heart warmed
by his subject, not thinking of himself, not seeking
applause, but solicitous for the happiness of mankind,
tenderly concerned for his people, awake to the solem
nities of eternity, and deeply impressed with the worth
of the human soul, with the glory and happiness to
which it may be exalted, and with the misery and ruin
into which it will be plunged by irreligion and vice.
Let him preach, not to amuse, but to convince and
awaken ; not to excite a momentary interest, but a deep
and lasting seriousness; not to make his hearers think of
the preacher, but of themselves, of their own characters
and future condition. Let him labor, by delineating
with unaffected ardor the happiness of virtue, by setting
forth religion in its most attractive forms, by displaying
the paternal character of God, and the love of Christ
which was stronger than death, by unfolding the purity
and blessedness of the heavenly world, by revealing to
the soul its own greatness, and by persuasion, by en
treaty, by appeals to the best sentiments of human nature,
by speaking from a heart convinced of immortality; let
him labor, by these methods, to touch and to soften his
hearers, to draw them to God and duty, to awaken grati
tude and love, a sublime hope and a generous desire of
exalted goodness. And let him also labor, by solemn
warning, by teaching men their responsibility, by setting
before sinners the aggravations of their guilt, by showing
them the ruin and immediate wretchedness wrought by
moral evil in the soul, and by pointing them to approach-
ing death, and the retributions of the future world; let
him labor, by these means, to reach the consciences of
those whom higher motives will not quicken, to break
the slumbers of the worldly, to cut off every false hope,
and to persuade the sinner, by a salutary terror, to return
to God, and to seek, with a new earnestness, virtue,
glory, and eternal life.
