FAITHFUL WORDS.

BY

JOHN OFFORD,

OF PALACE GARDENS CHAPEL, KENSINGTON.

CHRIST'S APPEAL TO LUKEWARM SAINTS.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."-REV. iii. 20.

THESE words have often been used in addressing unconverted men. Christ has been represented as standing at the door of the sinner's heart, appealing for access motives springing from his great love have been pressed home upon the conscience, to enforce his claim; and not without happy and even saving power. Nor is it for us to object to a wise and fitting accommodation of divine truth for any purpose of blessing for which that truth may be used; yet, on the other hand, it is not necessary, in doing this, to set aside the special purpose of the Holy Ghost in reference to any given truth. We need not, in giving to divine words a secondary application, forget or nullify their primary object. God, in placing his truth in any particular connection, has done so for a definite purpose. If we invariably take that truth out of its connection, we shall fail to discover that purpose, and we shall inevitably lose the blessing designed to be thereby conveyed to our souls. I urge this as a matter of great moment to the students of the sacred word, and I do not hesitate No. 1.

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to say, that God has never placed any instructions to us in a context which we can neglect without losing blessing. Our Lord Christ had a special object in uttering the solemn words of our text-an object which we shall do well, in dependance on his Spirit's aid, to discover and to apply to our own souls. He addressed these words to a church in a special condition, and under special circumstances; and he has, doubtless, left them on the inspired record, that they may meet all like conditions, and be applied under all like circumstances, of the Church of God, until the end of time. In our endeavour to explain, in order that you may appreciate, the meaning of our Lord's most affecting words, we shall, first, consider the state of the persons addressed, and then set forth the conduct of the Saviour towards those persons.

I. Consider the condition of the Laodicean church. 1. They were addressed as Christians. The promise to come in to them did not refer to the first entrance of Christ, as the eternal life, into their spirits; through the implantation of which life those spirits had already been renewed, and through which they had become new men. "Christ in you" is a great, an accomplished, and an abiding fact, in reference to every believer. Christ, the life, is the very essence of the renewed soul-the very life of the new man. That life may be developed into all the holy and beautiful features of the character of Jesus, as the pattern of his people; or it may be buried under a cloud of worldly feeling, arising from the corrupt natural heart. But, whether manifest or hidden, there it is, a spark from the burning love and purity of Christ's own heart; a drop of the very life and grace

of Jesus' own human spirit. Yes, there it is; grace corresponding to the grace in him; life according to the life in him. Christ in the believer, as the eternal life of his new being, is made the subject of no condition; is dependant on the fulfilment of no command: it is an unchanging truth, resting for its everlasting certainty on the very existence of the great Head of the Church, who is alive for evermore. 2. They were addressed as active Christians. Their Lord says, "I know thy works." Works these were; works manifold and manifest. Evidently they were not an idle church. They were doing much, and doing it, as they deemed, for the Lord. And as it was with them, so it is with the church of the present day, and, indeed, much more abundantly. Everywhere Christians are at work. All possible combinations are formed, and united efforts made, to carry forward Christian enterprize; while individual energy is more active than in any bygone age of the church. Religious and charitable institutions are looked upon as the glory of our land. All this is good, very good—yea, blessed, very blessed, so far as it is from God, through God, and unto God. May work that is of him, through him, and to him, abound yet more and more. Yet there is danger, always danger, that much of this can exist, while the workers may be justly subject to the solemn rebuke given by the faithful and true witness to the Laodicean church, "Thou art neither cold nor hot."

3. They were addressed as Christians satisfied with their works. This is the testimony of him who walked amongst them with his eyes of searching flame. "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased