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one, which is, indeed, the sum and substance of "the gospel of our salvation."

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The first of these is, 'Jesus Christ, as the foundation of the spiritual temple, is "laid by God:" "Behold," saith Jehovah by the prophet, "I lay in Sion a sure foundation." The phrase, "in Sion," seems intended to mark that the foundation was the foundation of a temple, a palace for himself. "Mount Sion, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole land," was "the mountain of God's holiness," the mountain set apart for himself. "He chose the Mount Zion, which he loved." While he was known in Judah, and his name was great in Israel, in Salem was his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion." To lay a foundation, then, "in Zion," is to lay the foundation of a temple, and of a temple to Jehovah.

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We have already seen what is signified by Jesus Christ being this foundation. Our inquiry now is, what is meant by this foundation being laid by Jehovah? It indicates that the whole arrangement is not the result of human, of created, wisdom or power, but of divine. No man, no angel laid this foundation. "I lay it," says Jehovah. It is equivalent to, I appoint him to the character emblematized by the foundation of the spiritual temple. I invest him with it. I qualify him for it. I accredit him in it.' I accredit him in it.' Jesus Christ is the divinely appointed, the divinely qualified, the divinely raised up, the divinely accredited Saviour of men; "fore-ordained before the foundation of the world;" at the appointed period "sent forth;" possessed of every necessary qualification, and bringing along with him every necessary credential; and "all" these "things are of God." His destination, his constitution, his qualifications, his attestation, are all divine. There seems to be a peculiar reference to the manifestation of this glorious truth, when "God raised Jesus from the dead, and set him at his own right hand." Then was "the stone set at naught of the builders" made to appear to be indeed "the head stone," the principal stone "of the corner." Then was it proclaimed as from heaven, "Let all the house of Israel," let all the family of man, "know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom men crucified, both Lord and Christ." "2

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The second subsidiary statement is, this foundation is a "chief," or the chief "corner-stone.' The stone on which the angle of a building rests, gives not only support, but connection, to the different parts of the building. It joins the different walls and stones into one. building. The idea intended to be conveyed seems to be this, that the union of Christians as a body fitted for enjoying the divine presence and promoting the divine honor, depends on their individually being connected with Jesus Christ, as the divinely appointed, qualified, constituted, accredited Saviour. It is this common connection with him which is the basis of their connection with each other. "In him," united to him, "they are builded together, a habitation of God through the Spirit," a spiritual habitation of God. It is thus that they are "knit together," thus that they are "fitly joined and compacted.'

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Psal. xlviii. 1, 2; lxxviii. 68; lxxvi. 1, 2.

1 Pet. i. 20. Gal. iv. 4. Psal. cxviii. 22. Acts iv. 10-12; ii. 36.

The third subsidiary statement is, that this foundation is "chosen or elect." These words seem intended as a translation of the Hebrew phrase rendered in our version of the Old Testament, a “tried stone," proved and approved, and therefore chosen, selected, appointed, and employed to serve an important purpose. When God from eternity appointed his Son to be the Saviour of men, the foundation of the spiritual temple, the Father knew the Son; he knew his capacities, he knew he could bear all that was to be laid on him, both the weight of suffering, and "the exceeding great and eternal weight of glory;" and previously to his actually constituting him "Lord and Christ," and holding him forth to men in these characters, he had been exposed to every species of trial competent to him, and had stood the trial. Every test applied, but brought out more fully his complete fitness for the mighty work to which he was appointed.

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The fourth subsidiary statement is, that this foundation is “precious," that is, highly valuable, as possessed of every quality necessary in a foundation, and as alone being possessed of the qualities necessary in the foundation of such a building; for "other foundation can no man lay save that which is laid, Christ Jesus." The idea is, Jesus Christ is a "precious," an all-accomplished Saviour, a perfect Redeemer, having all the knowledge, all the wisdom, all the power, all the merit, all the compassion arising from himself having suffered, being tried," which are necessary to fit him for accomplishing the work of salvation in the best possible way. And he is "precious," too, as the only Saviour. He is not one among many saviours; not the best among them; he is the only Saviour. He can, and he only can, save from evils; he can, and he only can, raise to blessings; deliverance from the first, and possession of the second of which, are absolutely necessary and completely sufficient to secure us from being miserable, and for making us happy, without measure and without end, up to the largest capacity of our nature for suffering or enjoyment, and during the whole eternity of our being. "The Deity, filling his human nature with all manner of grace in its highest perfection, made him infinitely precious and excellent; and not only was he thus excellent in himself, but he is of precious virtue, which he lets forth and imparts to others, of such a virtue that a touch of him is the only cure of spiritual diseases. Men tell of strange virtues of some stones; but it is certain that this precious stone hath not only virtue to heal the sick, but even to raise the dead. Dead bodies he raised in the days of his abode on earth, and dead souls he doth still raise by the power of his word.” '

The fifth subsidiary statement is, 'this foundation-stone was "disallowed and rejected of men:" but, notwithstanding, made by God to answer all the purposes for which it was intended.' The direct reference is to the rejection, by the Jewish nation, of Jesus Christ as the Saviour promised to the Fathers. When the word, made flesh of the seed of David according to the promise, "came to his own, his own received him not."2 Instead of honoring him as the sent of God, the divinely destined, qualified, accredited Saviour, they regarded 1 1 Leighton.

2 John i. 11.

him with contempt and abhorrence as a low-born impostor, and put him to the death of a blasphemer and a traitor. But while this is the direct reference, the statement is meant to embrace a wider range of facts. The Jews were just a specimen of our race, and acted as the race would have done in similar circumstances; and men generally, universally till they are taught of God, disallow and reject Jesus Christ as the foundation; and though they do not do this exactly in the same way as the Jews did, for this is impossible, they manifest the same spirit, they do substantially the same thing. Jesus Christ, made known in the word of the truth of the gospel as the only and allsufficient Saviour, is by the great body of mankind not acknowledged. They do not own his authority, trust in his atonement, imbibe his Spirit, obey his laws. But though men reject him, God owns him: he shows that in his estimation he is proved, approved, excellent, invaluable. The stone which the "Jewish builders rejected," he made "the chief stone of the corner." He raised him to his own right hand, and gave him all the authority and power, as Mediator, which were necessary to carry forward to accomplishment the benignant purposes of those severe trials by which his excellence had been so fully proved. And still, though mankind very generally reject the Saviour, and so, refusing to build on him the only foundation, perish, yet this foundation of God standeth sure. "Jesus Christ" remains "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever;" and while he is to multitudes, to all who reject him, "a stumbling-block and foolishness," by divine power and grace he is "the wisdom of God, and the power of God to salvation, to all who believe;" "made of God to them wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Men may stumble at the foundation so as to fall, but they cannot move it, or render it, in any degree, unfit for the great purpose for which it is laid, to be the sure support of that edifice of mercy and holiness, of which Jehovah has said, "It shall be built forever."

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The last subsidiary statement is, that this foundation is a "living stone." The general meaning of this, at first sight paradoxical, declaration, is abundantly obvious. He is a suitable foundation for a spiritual temple, formed not of dead matter, but of intelligent beings. But while this is its meaning, this does not exhaust its meaning. The epithet "living" is, I apprehend, intended to express those qualities in Christ Jesus which make him a fit foundation for a spiritual temple. He is so a "living stone," as that dead stones, when laid on him, become living stones. He has in himself, and has the capacity of communicating to others, all that is necessary to make them fit recipients of the divine presence, fit instruments for promoting the divine glory. He is the living and life-giving foundation. He is full of spiritual life, grace, and truth; and so full, that no man can be brought near him, but straightway he fills him with grace and truth too. It is well said by an old interpreter, "He is called the living stone, as he is called the living bread and the living water, not only because he has life in himself, but also because he gives life to the dead. He lives, and because he lives, they who eat him as the living bread, they who drink him as the living water, they who come to him and build on him

1 Heb. xiii. 8. 1 Cor. i. 23, 24, 30.

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as the living stone, live also." In the words of the good archbishop, 'He is here called a living stone, not only because of his immortality and glorious resurrection, being a lamb that was slain, and is alive forever and ever, but because he is the principle of spiritual and eternal life to us," living foundation that transfuses its life into the whole building, and every stone of it, "in whom," united to whom, "all the building is fitly framed." It is the spirit that flows from him. which enlivens it, and knits it together, not as a dead mass, but as a "living body." This foundation, from the peculiarity of the case, does for its living superstructure what the root does in the vegetable world to the trunk, the branches, and the leaves, and what the head or the heart in the animal body does to all the members.

Such, then, is the truth about Christ, which the converted strangers scattered abroad believed, that Jesus Christ, though rejected by the great body of mankind, is the divinely chosen, the divinely qualified, the divinely proved, the divinely approved, the divinely constituted, the divinely accredited, Saviour of man,-possessed of every necessary excellence for making man truly and eternally happy, by making him the fit recipient of the divine presence and benefits, and the fit instrument for declaring the divine excellence,-showing forth the divine praise. This they believed, for they had heard it "in the word of the truth of the gospel" a word to which "God bore witness by signs, and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost," and which was confirmed by the testimony of the law and the prophets. And believing this, they had come to him as the sure foundation laid by God, and had built themselves on him. Believing the truth about him, they had acted towards him according to their faith, implicitly submitting to his teaching as their great prophet, relying on his atonement as their only priest, obeying his commandments as their Sovereign Lord and King. This is the way in which they ceased to be dead stones and became living stones; came out of darkness into light; and from not being a people became God's people; and from not having found mercy became the happy possessors of the peculiar favor of Jehovah, and of all its glorious results.

There is a peculiarity in the phraseology which deserves attention before we close our remarks on this part of the subject. The word is in the present, not in the past tense. It is not "having come," but "coming;" not "he who has believed," but "he that believeth." This intimates, that to the continued enjoyment of the peculiar privileges of Christians, there must be continued faith in him, continued coming to him. In order to a life of christian enjoyment, there must be "a life of faith on the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us.

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IIL-THE PECULIAR PRIVILEGES OF CHRISTIANS.

§ 1.-General Statement.

It is now time that we proceed to consider the view which the text gives us of the dignified and happy state into which Christians are

1 Gal. ii. 20.

brought by their believing on, and coming to, Christ. That state is a state of nearness to God, of reconciliation to him, of resemblance to him, of fellowship with him,—a state of dignity and happiness, just because it is a state of nearness to the infinitely great and glorious and ever-blessed God,-a state which strongly contrasts with their previous condition, which was one of distance from God, a state of enmity and alienation; and which, just because it was a state of distance from the source and sum of true glory and happiness, was a state of degradation and misery.

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Their happy state, as well as the means by which they reach it, is stated generally in the words, "To you then who believe there is honor;" for this is the literal and natural rendering of the words in the beginning of the seventh verse, which in our version runs thus: Unto you who believe he is precious." He that believeth on the foundation laid in Zion by Jehovah, that is, as we have shown, he who believes the truth respecting Jesus Christ as the divinely laid foundation, shall not be ashamed or confounded. The faith of the truth naturally, necessarily, gives origin to hope or expectation of certain blessings; and this hope, founded on this faith, "maketh not ashamed," does not disappoint. He who cherishes it shall certainly obtain the blessings he expects; and he shall as certainly find in these blessings that satisfying portion of the heart which he had anticipated. Not shame, but honor, shall be to him. The privileges which, as a believer in Christ, a comer to Christ, a builder on Christ, he enjoys, are of the most dignifying nature. He is brought into a near and most honorable relation to the greatest and best being in the universe. Coming to Christ, he comes to God through him." He becomes "an heir of God," by becoming "a joint heir with Christ Jesus." The general statement is expanded in a great variety of expressions, some of them highly figurative, but all of them full of meaning, rich in instruction and consolation. Christians become living stones; they are built up a spiritual house; they are a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; they are a chosen generation; a royal priesthood; a holy nation; a peculiar people, that they might show forth the praises of him who called them from darkness to light; the people of God, objects of his peculiar complacency, the subjects of his saving blessings. Let us very shortly inquire into the import of these descriptions of the Christians' peculiar privileges.

§2.-Particular Statement.

(1.) Christians are "living stones," built up into a temple.

First of all, they are described as becoming "living stones," by coming to Christ as the living stone. We have already seen they were "dead stones," entirely unfit for forming a part of a spiritual temple. But having believed in, and come to "the living stone,'

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Ὑμῖν οὖν ἡ τιμὴ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, “Cedit honori et commodo vestro, quod in Christo creditis."--GERHARD. "Vobis, igitur honos, credentibus, ille nimirum honos ut non confundamini ab eo in adventu ejus, sed sicut ipse ait, siquis mihi ministraverit, honorificabit eum pater meus." John xii. 26.--Beda.

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