By Rev. Principal CUNNINGHAM, New College, Edinburgh.
“If, therefore, you are capable of admiring the singular excellence displayed in Christ’s becoming man, and humbling Himself, and bearing our sins, and if the contemplation of this has ever called forth any noble and generous emotions in your hearts, if you feel that you are most solemnly bound in consequence of what He has done for you to imbibe His spirit, and to imitate His example, and to aim at the accomplishment of His purpose, then assuredly you must take a deep interest in the welfare of all around you, and especially of all beneath you; you must be guided by a sincere desire to promote their deliverance and happiness, and you must not be deterred from exerting yourselves to promote their welfare by its requiring of you some sacrifice, or exposing you to some inconvenience. Had Christ acted toward us in the manner in which we are in the habit of acting towards individuals and classes among our fellow-men, and been as unwilling to make sacrifices and exertions as we are, we would still have been dwelling in the most abject and hopeless ‘poverty,’ exposed to God’s wrath and curse, and to the torments of Hell for ever.
*Extract from Sermon on II. Cor. viii. 9.
When, therefore, we dwell upon the truth concerning what Christ has done for us, let us imbibe more of His Spirit, and exhibit more of it in our intercourse with our fellow-men; let us guard against that indifference to their condition and circumstances, which is so apt to keep us inactive, though most inconsistent with being His disciples; let us mortify that constant desire to please, to gratify, and to exalt ourselves—to court the favour, and to enjoy the society of our superiors,—which prevents our making such exertions and sacrifices as we ought, in order to relieve the wants and promote the comforts of many whom God in His providence has not so highly favoured with the blessings of this life, or with the means of grace.
One of the first lessons taught us by the consideration of Christ’s Incarnation and Humiliation is just the obligation to love our fellow-men, however unworthy, and to testify our love to them by really doing something for their benefit, although it should cost us considerable sacrifices,—
*Extract from Sermon on II. Cor. viii. 9.
require of us considerable exertions, and impose upon us considerable self-denial. And yet how few of those who call themselves Christ’s followers seem to have learned this great lesson! Many, indeed, take an interest in the welfare of others, and do something, and give something for their relief, improvement, and happiness, and yet how seldom do we meet with men who devote to the advancement of Christ’s cause, and the promotion of the interests of others, such a portion of their time, their strength, and their substance, as to impose upon them any considerable inconvenience, or to require of them much self-denial. We do not expect or require Christ’s followers to abandon their wealth for the good of their poorer brethren, because this is not imposed upon men in Scripture as a general ordinary duty, and because we believe that, in general, and in ordinary circumstances, and with reference to the probable duration of their lives, most men will be able to do more for the cause of Christ, and the benefit of their poorer brethren, by remaining substantially in that condition of life in which Providence has placed them, and making a free and liberal use of the bounties which God has bestowed.
But while we do not expect Christ’s followers literally to become poor, we must still maintain, that there is not even a vestige of Christ’s spirit, that there is no trace of any resemblance to Him, unless there be the devotion to His service, and to the promotion of the happiness of our fellow-men, of such a portion of the time, and strength, and substance, as does impose upon us some sacrifice, and require of us some self-denial, and that no man can have any ground for imagining that ‘he knows the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’ at all, unless, from a regard to Christ, and under the influence of His spirit, he is devoting to the relief of the misery and the promotion of the happiness, of those who have no peculiar claims upon him, strength that might have been exerted in serving the purposes of himself, and his more immediate connections, time that might have been employed in a way more agreeable to his natural inclinations, and money that might have procured for himself and his family a large share of the luxuries and conveniences of life, or might otherwise have been spent in a manner more accordant with the principles and practice of the great body of those around him. Surely this is necessary to anything like a consistent or credible profession of Christianity, that is, to warrant any man’s entertaining the expectation of being believed when he declares, either in words or by actions, that ‘he knows the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ that he regards it as his duty to have the same mind in himself which was also in Christ, and to walk even as he walked.
We may well be ashamed of what we have done, or rather have neglected to do, in this matter in times past, and should resolve, in time to come, to take a deeper interest in the welfare of all our fellow-men with whom we come into contact, to be much more willing to sacrifice our own opinions, and feelings, and prejudices, and to devote a larger portion of our substance, if we cannot well afford more of our time and strength, to the alleviation of their miseries, and especially the supply of their spiritual wants, to the promotion of their happiness, and especially the salvation of their souls. From the preceding context, verse 7, we find that the Corinthians abounded in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, in diligence, and love to the apostle, and yet were deficient in this grace of Christian liberality; and this should lead us to regard it as by no means improbable that, however high may be our attainments as Christians in other respects, we may still be deficient in this grace, and may be imperatively called upon to attend more carefully and closely to those views of Divine truth by which it may be fostered and cherished in the soul.
We can scarcely doubt that when the Corinthians were reminded by the apostle in the text, of ‘the grace or kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ’ towards them, in ‘that for their sakes, though rich, He became poor, in order that through His poverty they might be rich,’ their liberality would be more abundantly called forth, that some restraint would be put upon their ordinary indulgences and expenditure, that more of their superfluous wealth would be laid aside, and that in a very short time a handsome collection would be raised, and distributed among the poor saints at Jerusalem. And if you realize in any measure the power of the truth which we have attempted to illustrate, your hearts will now be glowing with love to all your brethren of mankind, you will be conscious of a sincere desire to do good to them as you have opportunity. You will have no difficulties and scruples, such as you often had, about devoting a portion of your time and substance to the promotion of the happiness of those around you, sacrificing your feelings of self-importance and self-complacency to the interests of religion in the sphere in which you move. You will be enabled now and henceforth, under the power of this truth, to give liberally, to give cheerfully; you will seek for opportunities of benefitting your fellow-men, and you will rejoice when any opportunity is set before you whereby there is a reasonable prospect afforded of being instrumental, merely through the contribution of a small portion of your worldly substance, which would scarcely be any sacrifice, in the promotion of the everlasting welfare of some for whose sake as well as yours, ‘Christ, though He was rich, became poor.’