BRIEF OUTLINES OF SERMONS.

THE OUTLINES here presented to the public have been selected from a great number of others,-regard being had rather to the important subjects on which they treat, than to the skilful disposition of the matter which they contain. It must always be considered injurious to the deserved posthumous reputation of an able minister, to have such slender helps to thought, as these are, exposed to public view. Yet in the few specimens which follow, meagre though they be, the intelligent reader may trace the master mind of the author of the Checks, and the Christian zeal and charity of the vicar of Madeley. They will also be perused with considerable interest by all those who have rightly estimated the spirituality, fervour, and unction which accompanied the ministrations of this eminent Christian pastor; and on beholding the judicious (yet very imperfect) array of his Scriptural materials, every pious man will be tempted to apply to them, in an accommodated sense, the expression of the banished Grecian orator concerning his celebrated rival: "What would you have felt had you heard Fletcher himself deliver them in their perfect form with Divine pathos!"

OUTLINE I.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," &c. Genesis i, 26....

INTRODUCTION.-Man created last. The finishing stroke, (1.) For humility. (2.) That his palace might be furnished.

The word of command,-now, of deliberation. Trinity in our creation, so in our regeneration.

I. God's natural image, lost in part.

1. Clear understanding,-now dark. 2. Pure reason,-now carnal.

3. Upright will,—now sinful.

4. Holy affections,-now disordered.

5. Strong memory,-now losing good.

6. Immortality, lost as to the body, which would have suffered no violence, hunger, pain, or old age.

II. Totally lost.

1. Dominion over the creatures.

EXCEPTIONS.-Seas, fishes, rocks, earth. (Moses.) Sun, moon. (Joshua.) Fire. (Elijah.) Iron. (Elisha.) Seas, fishes, trees, winds. (Jesus Christ.)

Faith as mustard seed.

2. Impassibility.-(Naked,) insects, vermin, thorns, &c. 3. Intuitive knowledge.-Creatures, angels.

4. Glory.-(Naked,) garment of light.

5. Knowledge of God.-Adam hiding, quibbling, &c.

6. Love of God.-He fled from him.

7. Righteousness and true holiness.-Innocency, propensity to good. 8. Peace and happiness.

III. How is the mighty fallen! Ox for stupidity. Wild ass for refractoriness. Lion for rage. Fox for craftiness. Dog for greediness. Swine for impurity. Devil for sin. Covetousness beside.

IV. INFERENCES.-1. If we are born in sin, we are fallen.

Satan's

Leave the usurper,-return

3. No safety or bliss till God's image is recovered. 4. How rational the doctrine of the new birth.

5. It is God's work. Let us make; created again.

6. How precious Christ, the second Adam, whose image we are called to recover.

iii, 18.

"We all with open face, beholding," &c, 2 Cor.

7. How empty formality and morality.

8. How invaluable the workings of the Spirit.

9. How deluded professors not new created.

V. APPLICATION.-1. Careless sinners.-Know whence you are fallen. Awake. See your calling in Christ Jesus: a King, a Priest, a Prophet, a Son of God. Confess what you are: groan for what you are not. If you remain sinners, like to like.

2. Distressed souls.-See the second Adam, "made to you of God, wisdom," &c. You can do all things through Christ. Innocency, happiness, garments of righteousness, and glory in him. Believe, till you are changed. Plead, God was your Father.

3. Children of God.-Grow, walk in his image. Show you are born. Know your privileges in Jesus Christ are greater than in Adam. Seriousness, majesty, dignity, heavenly mindedness, contempt of earth,

become you,

"Whose image and superscription hath it?" See by thoughts, words, actions. See by the contrary, the glass of the law and the Gospel. O pray, that God would deface with Jesus' blood, and stamp you with his Spirit. New heart: till then, all is against you, creation, redemption, &c.

OUTLINE II.

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," 2 Cor. vi, 2.

INTRODUCTION.Two grand devices of Satan, and mistakes of men. 1. Unbelief." God will not save us now."

2. Impenitency." He will do it at death."

I. What is "the accepted time?"

1. When God offers sinners to accept their persons, and pardon

their sins.

2. When sinners can close with that offer.

Time of rejection.-Foolish virgins. Prov. i. Esau.

II. What is "the day of salvation?"

1. As to Christ: days of his flesh, birth, temptation, agony, death, resurrection, intercession.

2. As to the Spirit: when he saves sinners by an application of what Christ has done and suffered.

(1.) From stupidity, by awakenings.

(2.) From guilt, by a pardon.

(3.) From uneasiness, by peace and joy.

(4.) From a spiritual hell, by a taste of heaven.

(5.) From sin, by righteousness and a new birth.

A day. Short space, wasting, soon gone, to work in followed by the night. Day of life, day of grace, Lord's day, day of health, day of youth, day of the Gospel, day of power.

Remember Felix, Lot's sons, Jerusalem.

III. "Now is the accepted time," &c.

The Father calls, Jesus intercedes, ministers plead, the Spirit strives. While you have conscience to reprove, eyes to see, ears to hear, senses, health, leisure.

Now Christ stands; now saints pray; now mercy courts; now sceptre of love; now door of heaven opened; now well of life unsealed; now the scale hovers; now a breath; now death is coming; now Gospel trump sounds; God about to summons; now that others enter in.

Behold, consider. Let not Satan, world, flesh, blind thee.

Behold, soon the time of rejection, no time. Soon the day of death, of judgment, of condemnation. The day when the wheels of opportunity shall be fast. O who shall bear that day of God, that last day? APPLICATION.-To sinners.-Jesus weeps over you. Know, squander not your day; kill not time, soul, and Saviour together. Mourners.-Publicans, now, Zaccheus, no to-morrow. Believers.-Know, tell, show; day of glorification near.

OUTLINE III.

"This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance," Matt. xxi, 38.

INTRODUCTION.-Speech both of the Jews, and of every unbeliever, at least in their hearts and actions. Barbarous mothers. Herod and Pharaoh kill.

I. Jesus is the Son and heir.

1. Son, Isa. ix, 6; Matt. iii; Heb. i; Psalm ii. One in nature and essence, dignity. As old as his Father, as venerable; always begotten, and always in begetting; as brightness, and the sun.

2. Heir, Heb. i, 2; Rom. viii, 17, and iv, 13.

II. What is his inheritance?

1. Heaven. That part of it people do not trouble themselves much about.

2. Earth." The uttermost parts" of it, Psalm ii, 8. For this many fight they will seize on houses and lands, and those refined particles of the earth, called silver and gold, with all its fruits.

3. "The heathen for his inheritance."-All nations, our souls and bodies, our senses, powers, members, hearts, are Christ's, though we seize upon them as our own.

III. The unbelieving heart, the Jew within, says, "Let us kill him." Let us see him killed without taking his part. Let us reject him. Let us not entertain him. Let us account his blood a common thing. Let us crucify him by sin. Let us look on him as dead and lost. Let us "seize on his inheritance." He is come to take possession of thy thoughts and heart; seize them not; they are his right, as Son, as Redeemer, and heir.

APPLICATION.-1. Unconverted.-Too long have ye murdered him afresh; perhaps doubly on his holy days.

2. Ye unbelievers, though you do not kill him, yet, Pharaoh like, you take him not up, you nurse him not, as Pharaoh's daughter did Moses. Mind now.

This is the heir, the Son; come let us kiss him, adore, serve him. Let us restore him his inheritance. Let us kiss him, with the shepherds; restore his own with the wise men in so doing you will become heirs and joint heirs.

3. Ye believers, be as busy every one in saying, "This is the Son, believe on him," as the Jews were in crying, "Crucify him!" Remember, you are his peculiar possession.

OUTLINE IV.

"Ye desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life," Acts iii, 14, 15.

INTRODUCTION. -"Killing” not literal. Four soldiers.

Uriah killed by David and the Ammonite's sword: so Christ by the Roman spear. Sin is the true cause.

I. We have desired a murderer to be granted to us.

1. Barabbas within, who hath made insurrection against God, superiors, conscience, law, Gospel.

2. Who hath committed murder on our souls and bodies, and on those of others. Yea, Christ himself has been stabbed.

Sin is the butcher of mankind, subtle poison, sharp dagger, envenomed dart. It brings lethargy and spiritual death, grieves and drives the Author of life, gilds the pill, sweetens the cup, comes in disguise, lets in a troop.

II. How our sins have particularly murdered Christ and us.

Priests, magistrates, people, pursue him to the garden; bound by the chain of our sins. We wander; he is led captive. We execute; he is silent. We shut our eyes; he is blindfolded. We pamper the flesh; he sheds blood, and agonizes. We seek ease; he faints under the cross. We are proud; he is crowned with thorns, and naked. We abuse our hands and feet; he is pierced. We are intemperate; he thirsts, and hath vinegar and gall. We are unclean; he is bathed in blood. are impatient; he was railed at. We are accursed by the law; he was upon the tree. We are hard hearted; his heart was pierced. We are careless; he had strong cries and agonies.

We

Particularly, envy of priests, covetousness of Judas, fear of Pilate, condescension of the multitude in submitting to priests and elders, Matt. xxvii, 20, backbiting and slander, lies and wrong construction of witnesses. III. Christ is the Prince of life.

"He

"The resurrection and the life,” John xi. "The way, the truth, and the life," John xiv, 6. "In him is the water of life," Rev. xxii. that hath the Son hath life," 1 John v. "I am come that they might have life," &c, John x. "Ye will not come to me," &c, John v, 40. "I live not, but Christ lives in me," Gal. ii.

Christ our life. He is the giver and preserver of spiritual and animal life. "He breathed the breath of lives," upholds it, will restore it. INFERENCES.-1. Aggravation of. Killed a Prince.

That of life.

2. Condescension of Christ, and the worth of his death. Prince of life and life itself.

He is the

3. Certainty of his resurrection, and power to raise the dead.
APPLICATION.-Desire no more the murderer. Pursue him in public

and secret. Plot against him day and night. Find, bind, drag. Not
only bind, spit, strike, crucify, but kill and pierce Delilah through the
heart. Repent, as David, Psalm li, 6. Wash in the blood.
1. Sinners.-Dread.

2. Mourners.-Rejoice. Jesus lives and pardons. Thirst. Begin at Jerusalem, Luke xxiv, 47.

OUTLINE V.

"John truly baptized with water: but ye shall be baptized with the HOLY GHOST, not many days hence," Acts i, 5.

INTRODUCTION.-Last words of our Lord. Dispensation of John: baptized with water, not in.

I. Use of John's water. Baptism.

1. A sign of universal pollution, from the womb. Repentance.

2. Acknowledgment of guilt, and need of pardon.

3. Acknowledgment of corruption, and need of holiness.

4. Profession of thirst after refreshing comfort.

5. Profession of helplessness.

None baptized themselves.

6. Profession of cleansing the outside.

II. Insufficiency of John's baptism.

1. Material water cannot clease the soul.

2. It is not saving. Witness Simon Magus. tized," &c.

“You shall be bap

3. The water flows off, dries up: the effect superficial.
4. The testimony of John himself: "I indeed."

5. The declaration of Christ in the text.

III. General necessity of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
1. All tainted with original sin. Must be born again.
2. All guilty. Must be pardoned, (Act. ii, and x.)

3. All unholy. Must be sanctified. Catechism, (Rom. viii.)
4. The corruption is spiritual and deep. Fire refines.

5. All are miserable, and need the Comforter and kingdom.
6. All helpless and Christless till then. If any man," &c.