profess to serve. One is your Master, even Christ. Is he not the Prince of Peace? Has be not made peace by the blood of his cross? Is not the Spirit whom he sends to dwell with his people, and to teach them, the Spirit of peace? Is not his gospel, which you all profess to believe, the gospel of peace? How, then, comes it to pass, that you are not at peace among yourselves? How comes it to pass, that you are biting and devouring one another? Are you promoting the honour of Christ? Are you promoting the cause of Christ by these unseemly and disgraceful contentions? Have you not found out, that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God? O how careful should the followers of Christ be to avoid contention, and to follow peace? Bethink you, I beseech you, of the sin which you have committed in your contentions with one another, and of the reproach which you have brought upon his cause, who is the Prince of Peace. begin this night, this very moment, to study the things which make for peace. Every angry sentiment must be subdued, every kindly disposition must be cherished; and whatsoever is unfriendly to the return of peace, must be banished from your hearts, from your words, from your looks. 4. Consider that the hour of death is coming. Disease and death are among you; and how soon they may enter your dwellings, and number you with the dead, is wisely and kindly concealed from you; but this is the very reason, why you should immediately begin to follow peace. Would it be a comfortable thing, if death were to surprise you in the midst of your contentions? Let me suppose a case. You this evening attend a meeting of the congrega tion, and instead of following the things that make for peace, you give way to an angry contentious spirit; but before the morning sun shines upon yon, you find yourself stretched upon the bed of death, 3. Consider the injury which you do and about to appear before God in judgto the principle of voluntary churches, by ment. Is not this a possible case? And these unseemly contentions. The adhe- would the recollection of your contentions rents of patronage in the church, urge its afford you any comfort on the bed of necessity, because, they say, if congrega- death? You cannot die comfortably, if tions are left to themselves, in the choice you are not at peace with all mankind. of a minister, they will never agree, but Hasten, then, in pursuit of peace, and give contentions and strife will arise in them, yourselves no rest, until you have overto the disgrace of the church of Christ. taken it, and brought it back. Your late Are you not, in your present circum- venerated and beloved pastor was unistances, giving countenance to this re- formly a man of peace. How is it, then, proach? Are you not shewing, that it is that into his congregation, so long and so well founded? Think you, the adversaries faithfully cherished by him, the spirit of of voluntary churches are inattentive ob- strife has entered, and has prevailed, and servers of your present state? Nay verily. still prevails? It is well that that which They are narrowly examining your con- takes place on earth, cannot disturb the duct, and they are founding upon your rest of heaven. Though, therefore, your present contention, an argument in favour late pastor may know what is going on of patronage in the church. Will you among you, his happiness will not be give them this advantage? Will you thus diminished; but if you would follow the do what you can to destroy the very prin- example and the instructions of him, who ciples upon which your church is founded? through faith and patience, is now inheritI hope better things of you. But if better ing the promises, "follow peace with all things are to be expected, they must men, and holiness, without which no man immediately be set about. You must shall see the Lord." A Sermon, by the Rev. John Sinclair, of St Paul's Chapel, York Place, Edinburgh, (son of Sir John Sinclair, Bart. under whose auspices was drawn up that admirable work, the Statistical Account of Scotland,) in our next; and other Sermons on hand, may be expected in early Numbers. EDINBURGH: Printed by ANDREW SHORTREDE, Thistle Lane, For WILLIAM STUART; and Published by JOHN HAMILTON, St Andrew Street; and SIMPKIN and MARSHALL, London; and W. R. MPHUN, Glasgow. SCOTTISH PULPIT. SATURDAY, 15TH DECEMBER, 1832. No. XXXVIII. SERMON by the Rev. JOHN SINCLAIR, A. M. Edinburgh. Price 2d. ON MORAL DISCIPLINE, OR THE ANALOGIES BETWEEN YOUTH, CONSIDERED AS A STATE OF PREPARATION FOR MANHOOD, AND THE PRESENT LIFE FOR THE LIFE TO COME. A SERMON, by the Rev. JOHN SINCLAIR, A.M. Pembroke College, Oxford, Minister of St Paul's Episcopal Chapel, York Place, Edinburgh. “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."-LUKE, xi. 62. We are taught in Scripture, to regard this world not only as a state of probation, but of discipline; not only as a course of trial, to ascertain our fitness for another life, but also as a course of preparation to acquire that fitness: a school in which certain tastes, and sentiments, and habits, are to be formed, and certain capacities matured, by which we are to become, as St Paul expresses it, worthy of the Lord," or endowed with "meekness for the inheritance of the saints in light;" or, according to the expression in the text, "fit for the kingdom of God,"-suited to its moral excellence, as well as ready for its spiritual occupations and enjoyments. One branch of this general qualification, or fitness, is here, by our Lord himself, distinctly brought before us, viz. firmness and consistency of character-a kind of moral courage, which, having undertaken a great object, pursues it constantly and perseveringly, without looking back. Our present purpose, however, will be, not merely to confine our reflections to this one particular branch of fitness for heaven, but generally to examine the whole subject of moral discipline, shewing its analogies with that natural discipline, by which men are prepared, in this life, for their several pursuits and occupations throughout society. The analogies between infancy, as a season of education for riper years, and the present life for the life to come, are various and important. On this occasion, we shall illustrate four VOL. I.-No. XXXVIII. only of the most remarkable and interesting points of correspondence between the state of a child in preparation for manhood, and of man in preparation for eternity. I. Both kinds of discipline are necessary. II. Both are often painful and mysterious. III. Both admit of no delay; and, IV. Lastly, Both are frequently ineffectual. 1. Let us, then, begin with the consideration of the first analogy, viz. That the discipline in both cases is necessary. A child, on his first production into the world, is by nature totally incapable of the pleasures and pursuits of manhood. This incapacity pervades equally his physical, his intellectual, and his moral constitution. In each of these respects, he must be properly qualified, by a series of changes and developments, before he can undertake the business of maturer years. His body must be brought, by long continued nourishment and exercise, to manly strength and consistency. His intellect must, by observation, instruction, and reflection, be gradually ripened and matured. His moral faculties, at first wholly dormant, cannot be roused to full activity, till he comprehends sufficiently the relations in which he stands, both to his Creator and to his fellow creatures, together with the duties which those relations involve. This unfitness of childhood for duties and occupations to which it has not yet been trained or disciplined 2 P is very forcibly and distinctly remarked upon by St Paul, in an illustration familiar to every scriptural reader, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Similar to this, my brethren, would be the unfitness of man for a crown of glory in the kingdom of God, were he not prepared by the intermediate probationary discipline of the present life. He is as unqualified, without such preparation, for the employments of the blessed in heaven, as a child is for those of full grown manhood upon earth. This incapacity, first of all, is physical. His body is of such a structure, as to be incapable of enjoyment, or even life, in an abode wholly different from that which it now inhabits, and for which alone it is naturally adapted. Hence, alluding to our present bodily constitution, as gross, imperfect, and unsuitable to the heavenly state, the apostle says, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." For the removal of this unsuitableness, proper methods and opportunities are appointed, by the Divine Author of our frame. Certain processes of gradual transition must be undergone. Life, death, the grave, and the resurrection, are all of them but so many stages in our progress, each of which prepares the body for the next that follows, and all of which prepare it for immortality. The language of St Paul is here again illustrative of our statement. He compares the dissolution and reconstruction of our bodies, to the several changes of a seed-dead, withered, decomposed, and afterwards reviving, with other properties, as a plant. "That which thou sowest," he says. "is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be. So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. This corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal, immortality." The changes here described, as being necessary to create fitness in the body for inheriting the kingdom of God, correspond precisely with our progress from the weakness and imperfection of childhood, to the strength and full proportious of mature age. Thus far the necessity of a physical improvement or alteration has been examined. The same necessity may be inferred, respecting the developments of the understanding. Some analogy seems probable, between the intellectual growth of the infant mind, and the intellectual preparation of man for the society of superior beings in the world of glory. On this subject, however, we have not the same degree of scriptural information as has been given us respecting the advancement and glorification of the body. St Paul seems, indeed, to touch upon son e mental change, as necessary for our adaptation to the immortal state, where, comparing our degrees of knowledge in this life, with our improved knowledge hereafter, he says, Now we see through a glass darkly, but then, (that is, in the mature immortal state,) face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." To what height of intellectual stature the human mind may ultimately arrive, is impossible for our present limited capacities to conceive. It would be as absurd for us to describe the latent powers and faculties which may be unfolded, in our exaltation to celestial existence, as it would be for a child to estimate the depths of reasoning with which the future philosopher will pursue his calculations. We now come to the most important respect in which discipline, temporal and spiritual, is necessary, and in which the state of childhood is again analogous to that of Christian probation. There is necessity, as we observed, for a moral preparation, as well as for the physical and intellectual. And the momentous distinction, which gives superior interest to this moral progress, is, that it can, to a must have made some progress in the great extent, be effected in the present attainment and in the practice of that life. Much depends upon ourselves. We" charity which never faileth." cannot, indeed, by the mere exertion of Let, therefore, my brethren, this all our will, prepare our bodies for a glorified important truth, the necessity of piety condition. Neither can we raise our and charity, or, in one word, of holiness, intellect to angelic eminence; but with with a view to fitness for the kingdom of respect to virtue and religious conduct, God, be continually present to your minds. fitness for heaven is, by the grace of God, Beware of superficial and inoperative within the power of us all. Although, as Christianity. Add to your faith virtue. our Lord declares, we are unable, by Remember, that besides a title to future taking thought, to add one cubit to the happiness through the merits of your stature of our bodies;" and although we Redeemer, you must be moreover qualified find ourselves still more unable, "by to enjoy that happiness. Besides being taking thought," to expand our minds into a comprehension of all mysteries, and of all knowledge; yet, "by taking thought," we are able, through the wisdom and benevolence of our Creator, to make continual approaches, morally, towards fitness "for the kingdom of God." redeemed and justified, you must be sanctified. You must read, and learn, and study the word of revelation, and put your knowledge into practice. This knowledge and this practice must not be partial and variable, ostentatious and pharisaical, but must be consistent, progressive, universal, and sincerely influencing your dispositions, tastes, and feelings. Destitute of these qualifications, the claimant for heavenly blessedness will be found wanting, however plausible his pretensions, and, like the individual in the text, will be unfitted for God's kingdom. regarded as preparatory for the life to come, is, that the discipline in both cases is often painful and mysterious. This fitness, now to be explained, corresponds exactly with the moral training which prepares the heart in childhood for the duties of more advanced age. The child, without such moral training, could not be trusted. To be admitted safely into society or domestic life, he must acquire previous habits of obedience, 2. A second circumstance of analogy docility, and submission to authority between childhood considered as introhabits of justice, truth, and charity-ductory to riper years, and the present life habits of attention, industry, and self control. These moral requisites, it must be obvious, are yet more indispensable for admission into the society of celestial A child, placed under wise and prudent beings. Man, considered here below, in guardianship, is subjected to treatment the infancy of an immortal existence, must often grievously irksome to him, which be trained to higher degrees of moral he is quite unable to account for at the excellence, in proportion to the pure and time of its infliction, however useful or holy character of that community above, necessary he may eventually find it. His which he aspires to. His aim is to dwell appetites are under troublesome restraint with God to be for ever with his his passions under severe control or Redeemer to join the company of Hea-suppression. His mental faculties are ven. In order to dwell with God-in forced into application which he finds order to be happy in communion with him, distasteful, and considers useless. by the exercise, throughout eternity, of patience during sickness is grievously praise for his perfections, and of thanks- tried by the use of remedies to which he giving for his mercies, piety must have would prefer the disease, and which he been habitually cultivated in this temporal, finds himself incapable of understanding; this initiatory state. In order to be fitted or perhaps in health his manners, looks, for social intercourse with the purest and words, and gestures, must submit to holiest of created beings, united in the watchful and vexatious superintendence, bonds of perfect spiritual affection, without of which no account or explanation is the smallest taint of envy, hate, or selfish-satisfactorily given. Above all, his sinful ness, the Christian aspirant must have tendencies, engendered by hereditary corfirst subdued, in his course of earthly ruption, his selfishness, his pride, anger, fellowship with his brethren of this world, or obstinacy, must be checked and overthe influence of every baser passion, and come. Reproofs, remonstrances, and even His chastisements, must be reiterated, which We ask, in ignorant impatience, Why he cannot possibly reconcile with parental kindness and indulgence. At length, however, he attains to manhood, and is presented with a very different view of things. The mystery clears up-the painful discipline is accounted for-his complaints and repinings at the severities of education are discontinued. He perceives their importance and necessity; he confesses that a contrary system of neglect, or of unlimited indulgence, would have either brought him to an untimely end, or have presented him to the world an object of mingled pity and disgust, diseased and infirm, ignorant, headstrong, and unteachable, a burden to himself, and a nuisance in society. subject us to discipline at all? If discipline is to "fit us for the kingdom of God," why not at once create us in that state of fitness? Why not at once communicate the character which, by a painful process, is now slowly and uncertainly matured? A The best reply to such interrogatories, my brethren, would be to put into the mouth of a child the corresponding questions:-Why, before entering into commerce with the world, he is placed in a preparatory condition, and is not rather born at once in man's estate, with all his powers, bodily, as well as mental, in their full development? To these questions of impatient youth, the answer of his instructors is obvious. "You would, in that Analogous, my brethren, to this whole- case, be as completely unqualified for the life some process of education and tuition, and of mature age, as an idiot; the most not less painful nor less mysterious, is the solitary recluse, after a life of separation discipline by which, in this world, our from mankind, brought suddenly into Heavenly Father prepares his moral society, would be better able to conduct offspring for the world to come. "Whom himself. The novelty of your situation the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and would distract you with astonishment, scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." apprehension, curiosity, and suspense. Similar, also, to the murmurings of child- long period would elapse before you would hood are the sentiments of doubt, and so far be familiarized with yourself and suspicion, and distrust, excited by the with the objects around you as to engage unsearchableness of his judgments. The in any rational pursuit. Your language misfortunes, and casualties, and vexations (suppose you capable of speech) would be of every kind, incident to humanity; acute offensive from your want of habit in and lingering diseases, losses, hardships, adapting it to the taste and sentiments of and privations, infirmity and bad propen- others; your manners, for the same reason, sities within, and from without bad exam- would be rude and forward, impetuous, ple, wicked suggestions, and the provoca- and insupportable. Your ignorance, too, tions of injustice, of treachery, of oppres- of every useful art, joined to your inaptision; the facility, above all, of acquiring tude for acquiring knowledge, would render evil habits, and the difficulty of removing you incapable of earning your subsistence. them; these various evils, under God's In every valuable respect, you would come providential government, present to our forth into society a helpless creature, maturer years an aspect not less revolting unformed, unfinished, utterly deficient and and incomprehensible, than in early days unqualified for that mature condition into the restraints and corrections of our which you rashly thrust yourself, without childhood. In the gloom of adversity, we the requisite information and experience."* are visited with disquietudes and search- The incapacity we have just described of ings of heart in respect to the design of a supposed human agent attempting to our Maker in creating us, and to the engage in human affairs, without the prospect of our future destiny. We are natural preparation of childhood and of tempted, at such trying seasons, to allege youth, may illustrate what we have reason that greater tenderness and indulgence to believe would be man's unfitness, without should be expected from God; and that a the discipline of a previous life, for the course of life, less imbittered by suffering, society and occupations of heaven. Such and less exposed to snares and hazards, an intruder into the heavenly mansions would be more compatible with our rela- would find himself as awkward and unpretionship as children of the universal father. | pared, and as incapable of comfort or enjoy. See Bishop Butler's Analogy. |