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SERMON VI.

SOURCES OF OPPOSITION TO CHRIST AND

He shall be for .

HIS GOSPEL.

ISAIAH VIII. 14.

... a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel.

THE question proposed to Philip by the Eunuch of Ethiopia respecting a certain other passage in this book, might with much propriety be asked respecting that which has been just recited, " Of whom speaketh the Prophet this?" Not because it is really a matter of doubt, but because the very inquiry may serve to bring more fully into notice an important truth. The Prophet appears, on this occasion, to be charged with an especial message from Jehovah. "The Lord," says he, "spake

thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not a confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread; and He," the Lord of Hosts himself," shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence." And there can be as little doubt of whom the apostle Peter speaks when he says, "Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence." In fact, the Apostle and the Prophet are both speaking of the same person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the sanctuary of his people, their refuge from present wrath and eternal ruin, and who is exceedingly precious to every believing soul; but a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence to all who reject

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him through the ignorance, pride, and unbelief of their hearts. If therefore the grammatical sense of Scripture is the true sense, if one and the same Spirit influenced the several inspired writers, and if their writings may be implicitly depended on as consistent with themselves, then must we acknowledge, and without controversy, the great mystery of godliness, THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, EVEN THE LORD OF HOSTS HIMSELF;" and that the Prophets of the Old Testament, as well as the Apostles of the New, considered him in this light, and bore their decided testimony to his proper and unequivocal godhead.

So decisive a testimony as that contained in the passage before us, to an article of Christian faith of such fundamental importance, could not be passed over in silence. But we will proceed to examine the import of the text itself, and the practical use which may be made of it. May the Lord render what shall now be said, effectual, through the power of his Spirit, to the casting down of ima

ginations and every high thing, and the subjugation of every thought to the obedience of Christ!

Confining our attention to the remarkable title which, in the text, is prophetically applied to our adorable Redeemer, I shall attempt some explanation of the Prophet's meaning and confirmation of his doctrine, by a reference to the treatment which our blessed Lord received amongst men; first, in his personal ministry; secondly, in the persons of his disciples, apostles, and ministers; and, thirdly, in the faithful preaching of his gospel.

I. We will consider, in illustration of our subject, HE TREATMENT WHICH OUR SAVIOUR RECEIVED IN HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY UPON EARTH. Who, in reading that history of his career, left on record by the four Evangelists, is not frequently reminded that he was indeed, to the unbelieving Jews, " a stone of stumbling." For truly," he came unto his own, and his own received him not." He grew up before them as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; possessing, in their estimation, no form nor comeliness,

no attractive excellencies; nothing whatever of an external nature to command their reverence, or secure their regards. When they beheld him, there was no beauty that they should desire him. In short, he was despised and rejected by them; they hid, as it were their faces from him; he was despised and they esteemed him not. Thus had the Holy Ghost, by the prophet Isaiah, predicted, and thus in the event it proved. How indeed could it be otherwise? It was precisely what might have been reasonbly expected, if the fact be well considered, that the Jews had long been looking for a Messiah, attended by all the insignia and pomp of regal dignity, and by all the splendour of worldly glory. Such were their expectations; and agreeable thereto was the cast of their ideas on this momentous subject, the bias of their prepossessions concerning it, and the very nature of their hopes. Whereas the actual appearance of our blessed Saviour upon earth, was the very reverse of all this. He had emptied himself of his glory, and for a little time laid it aside,

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