Transcribed from the [1850] edition , email
THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY SERMON
OF THE
Church of England Young Men’s Society,
PREACHED IN ST. BRIDE’S CHURCH, FLEET STREET,
ON TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 23,1850,
BY THE
REV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A.
INCUMBENT OF CHRIST CHURCH,RAMSGATE.
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel ofChrist: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.”—Romans i. 16.
There is nothing more strange thanhuman nature. It is afraid where no fear is: yet bold inthe midst of danger. It is ashamed where there is nodisgrace; and yet shameless, when it ought to be abased, even tothe dust. It is proud of things which do it no honour, andyet ashamed of gifts which are the wonder and admiration of thesaints in heaven. If a man is possessed of greatintellectual attainments, he is never found to be ashamed ofthem! If he is successful in the accumulation of wealth, heis never known to be ashamed of that; if he is remarkable forworldly wisdom, he is never tempted to be ashamed of that; nor,if he deduces his pedigree from a long line of ennobled ancestry,does he show any tendency to be ashamed of that. But if, onthe other hand, he be made partaker of the highest gift that theworld has ever known—the gift of the grace of God in hisheart—the most blessed and glorious gift within the reacheither of man or angel—then, strange to say! such is thefolly of human nature, that he is strongly tempted to be ashamedof that; ashamed of the deep emotions which the Spirit of God haskindled within his soul, ashamed of that which, in the secrets p. 2of his ownheart, he acknowledges to be his hope, his joy, his salvation,and his glory.
Now this is no new thing in the church of Christ, and thewords of the text are a clear recognition of its existence in thedays, and even in the heart, of St. Paul. He was not“ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” But thetemptation was there; the sense of shame did arise in hisheart, and did struggle there; but the grace of Godovercame it. So that in allusion to this victory, he makesthe declaration of the text. Now what does this declarationimply? and what is the full force of the sentiment contained init? Clearly that he was not ashamed of confessing Christ,and of acknowledging, before both Jew and Gentile, that his wholelife was wrapt up in Christ. Nay, more! that he was notashamed of preaching Christ, of consecrating his every power tothe holy work of proclaiming Christ before the world. Thetext, therefore, appears well suited for an address to the Churchof England Young Men’s Society, as I trust it may be saidof the great body of young men composing it, that they are not“ashamed of the Gospel of Christ;” not ashamed ofconfessing Him before men, nor of uniting together, as a holyband of faithful labourers, in the earnest endeavour to spreadHis Gospel through the world.
Let us examine, then, into the reasons why St. Paul was not“ashamed of the Gospel of Christ,” and we shall findthree especially mentioned in the text—the Divinity of itsorigin, the blessedness of its end, and the magnificence of itsterms.
I. The Divinity of its origin. “I amnot ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power ofGod.” By which he means that it is no humansystem, but a Divine scheme, divinely planned and purposed; as