The quiver of Jehovah is not yet exhausted, though we take into our account the ravages ofwar, the desolation of famine, the fatal effects of the noisome pestilence, or the overwhelming fury of the earthquake. When he “opens his armoury, he can bring forth” innumerable “weapons of his indignation.” Jer. l. 25. He can execute his tremendous purposes by “fire and hail, snow and vapor.” Psal. cxlviii. 8, or “fulfil his word” of threatening and promise, by
5.StormsandTempests. These are nothing more than the violent and unnatural agitation of that circumambient air, in which we live and breathe; and which might at any time be excited to such a degree of fearful perturbation, as to discharge some of the most dreadful artillery of heaven. What secret laws produce these phenomena are only known to that God, whose “way is in the whirlwind and in the storm, who maketh the clouds the dust of his feet, and holdeth the winds in the hollow of his hand.” For their dreadful effects we have no occasion to look very far back. The close of the last year exhibited a scene of desolation in the western islands, which their inhabitants can never forget; and in reviewing which, we ought to be actuated with sentiments of the tenderest commiseration and benevolence towards the unhappy sufferers, as well as with impressions full of reverential awe of that God, who sends his judgments through the earth, that the inhabitantsthereof might learn righteousness. A few outlines of the devastation occasioned by the late hurricanes, will, it is presumed, convince us of this.—After the storm began, which had been preceded by weather remarkably calm, but by a sky surprisingly red and fiery; the wind was so impetuous as to bear down every object that stood in its way, with a sudden breaking in of the sea, in some places, which swept every thing away with it, so as not to leave the smallest vestige of man, beast, or house, behind;[215a]and all this scene of horror and desolation heightened by repeated shocks of an earthquake. In one island,[215b]we have been informed, that not ten houses survived the fury of the storm. Whole families were buried in the ruins of their habitations; and many, in attempting to escape, were maimed, and disabled. A general convulsion of nature seemed to take place, and universal destruction ensued. On the one hand, might be seen the ground covered with mangled bodies; and on the other, reputable families wandering through the ruins, seeking for food and shelter. Every building and plantation was levelled with the ground; trees were torn up by the roots, orstripped of their branches; and the most luxuriant spring was changed, in one night, to the dreariest winter. In vain was it to look for shelter, when all was a general wreck before the sweeping tempest. Many fell victims to the violence of the winds; and great numbers were driven into the sea and there perished, to the amount ofsome thousands. Alarming consequences were dreaded from the multitudes of dead bodies which lay uninterred: while, to complete the dismal scene, inevitable famine seemed to stare the miserable survivors in the face. This description includes the calamities of a single island; and, when to these we add, what other islands belonging to us and our enemies suffered by a similar visitation, how accumulated must the loss be of property and of lives! And who can help, in a reflection upon such events, crying out, “Who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord! who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto Jehovah! Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand; justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne.” Psal. lxxxix. 6, 13, 14.
I presume not to decide on the particular designs or intentions of Providence, in selecting some parts of the earth for a manifestation of his power, while others remain untouched;much less do the scriptures warrant us to conclude, that exemplary sufferers are necessarily “sinnersabove” the rest of the world. A hasty conclusion of this nature would reflect highly on our candor and humility, and involve in it too, a bold usurpation of the prerogative of God, to explore and distinguish the grounds of his own dispensations. And, indeed, the late visitation was so indiscriminate, as to leave us no room to draw inferences, either flattering to ourselves, or insulting to our enemies. And, perhaps, the impartiality and severity, which have marked these recent calamities, in their application, might serve to prove, that powers exhausting blood and treasure in a contest for the empty names of power and sway, are both wrong; whenJehovahseems to take up the controversy, and to punish both. One thing we cannot help seeing; which is, that if the Most High God were to exercise his power, as he is able, or, as we deserve, the necessity of waging or carrying on war would be very soon superseded; for there would exist no belligerent powers to do either the one or the other. We talk of our fleets and armies, and record with triumph the mighty achievements of our heroes; but, behold! the Almighty accomplishes in a few hours, what the armies of the earth are not able to effect in numerous campaigns!
We may, however, safely conclude in general, that if “there be evil in a city, the Lord hath done it,” as the scriptures peremptorily affirm. That is, if any part of the earth is visited with evils or calamities, the agency of God, either permissive or decretive, is to be acknowledged in them. We may with equal safety infer, too, that all the judgments originate from, and imply the existence of,sin; since it would be an impeachment of his justice, to suppose, that he would suffer the elements to conspire to man’s ruin, if there were nothing in human nature to provoke his wrath. But this leads me to consider
II. In what light, and with what temper, we ought to contemplate such portentous dealings.
If we consider the works themselves, they should teach us the great evil of sin; if we reflect on the great author of them, they should impress us with a reverential awe of his tremendous majesty, and a dread of his wrath; or, if we have any just idea of our own character as sinners and mortals, they should preach to our hearts the necessity of seeking the great means of conciliating the divine favor, that we may be prepared for those contingencies, which render our existence upon earth so very precarious, and proclaim the folly of those who seek terrestrial good to the fatal injury of their everlastinginterests. If we are Christians, we should contemplate the works of Jehovah, with confidence and joy; and, standing at a distance equally from presumption and unbelief, should rejoice with trembling that the great Ruler of the Universe is our Father and our God; while we feel ourselves encompassed with the most forcible motives to love his name and obey his will. But if, instead of living as Christians, any of us should be sunk in ignorance, dissipated by pleasure, supine in carelessness, and immersed in sin; we should awake from the fatal lethargy, and fly from the wrath to come, ere death overtake us, and judgment fix our miserable and eternal doom.
1. The desolating works of God are intended to display the heinous nature ofsin. All the evils which overspread the natural and moral world spring from this source. Sin is the great parent-evil, to which, as to a bitter and common fountain, may be traced every corruption that has depraved the heart, every malady that has invaded the human frame, and every judgment that has rent the earth. All the disorder of jarring elements, all the commotions in contending nations, all the convulsions that shake the globe, and all the dispensations that sweep away its inhabitants, imply its existence, and publish its malignity. The sin of man “iswritten as with a pen of iron, and the point of a diamond, on the tables of the heart,” and stands engraven, in capital characters, upon his words and actions; while all the dispensations of God, directed to the great end of obliterating the writing, shew how enormous that evil must be, which requires the exertions of omnipotence either to punish or reform. Come, ye, who think or speak lightly of sin, and see what desolations it hath occasioned in the earth. Look at the ruins of mighty cities, the depopulation of flourishing states, and the fall of great empires, and then say, whether it be a small thing to sin against God. View the first rebellious pair expelled their earthly Paradise; their sinful progeny swept away with a flood; the earth cursed for the sin of man; and all the generations that are past buried in the promiscuous ruin of the grave; and entertain, if you can, low thoughts of the evil, that has produced these dire effects. Or, if this complex scene of misery and desolation does not sufficiently display sin’s enormity; examine death’s quiver, review the envenomed shafts that fill it; count over the formidable names of war, pestilence, earthquake, famine, tempest, fire, with the numerous train of bodily and mental disorders; and then if you ask, what has given such strength to the arm of the King of terrors,and such execution to the deadly arrows upon the string of this insatiate archer? an apostle informs you, that “the sting of death isSIN, and the strength of sin is the law; 1 Cor. xv. 56; that by one manSINentered into the world, andDEATHbysin, and so death passeth upon all men, for thatALL HAVE SINNED.” Rom. v. 12. But, should this representation not answer the end of convincing some of you, that sin is an abomination of such enormity, give me leave to ask, “Wherefore hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure?” Isa. v. 4. What kindled the flames of Tophet? what awakened the wrath of God? or what exposed his Son to the bitter agonies of the cross? In each dreadful view,sinis the instrumental cause. The sufferings of Jesus, the torments of the damned, proclaim its God-provoking nature. Go then, sinner, and after you have in thought traversed the globe, and seen its desolations; after you have dropped a tear over the monuments of the dead, and looked with horror into the chambers of the grave; go, and visit Calvary. See who hangs there in agonies and shame. What means this affecting scene? Wherefore is the sun darkened, and why are the rocks rent? Why does the immaculate Jesus thus suffer and die, while nature feels the shock, and sympathizes with strong convulsions?Sin,thysin is at the bottom of this tragic scene. This was the bitter ingredient in the Redeemer’s cup, the dregs of which he drank off in our stead. This was the intolerable burden which he bore for us; and which in the bearing sunk him to the grave. Say then, must not that be a great evil, which is the cause of such calamities to man, and of such incomprehensible sufferings to the “Son of man?”
But do we see this? and are we affected at the sight? We are assembled together for the purpose of humbling ourselves before Almighty God, on account of “our manifoldsinsandprovocations.” Do the feelings of our hearts correspond with the profession of our lips? Do wemeanwhat we say? Is it not to be feared, that many content themselves with a repetition of a devotional form, adapted to the present occasion, without ever entering into the spirit of it? and hereby add to that immense load of inconsistency and guilt, which similar conduct has been increasing for numbers of years? And does not melancholy matter of fact demonstrate, that we are guilty of no breach of truth or charity, when we assert, that multitudes mock Jehovah to his face, by loving and living in the secret practice of those very sins, which, on this day, they condemn with their lips? We profess to regret the continuance of war, andto lament the expense of blood and treasure incurred by it. But, if our eyes are shut to the real cause of the evil, the visitation may be lengthened out, until we are at last forced to read our sin in our punishment. For, whatever some may think, war is a grievous scourge of the Almighty, permitted as a chastisement for crying sins, and a loud call to the nations of the earth to repent and turn to God. Hear what the Lord saith by the prophets. “Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart: therefore destruction upon destruction is cried.” Jer. iv. 18, 20. “Becausethey have cast away thelawof the Lord of Hosts, and despised thewordof the Holy One of Israel; therefore the anger of the Lord is kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but hisHAND IS STRETCHED OUT STILL.” Isa. v. 25. And, in that long list of threatenings recorded in Lev. xxvi. among other denunciations, is the following:—“If ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary to you, and will punish you yetseventimesfor your sins; and I will bringa swordupon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant.” Verse 23, 25.
Would to God there were no occasion to apply the following charge to ourselves! “Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.” Jer. v. 3. Whether this scripture is not fulfilled in this day, let facts declare. We have been for some years involved in all the horrors of war. The desolations of it are continually upon the increase. Our enemies are multiplied; and with them our dangers too. Four great powers are uniting their force against us; and we have not one single ally in Europe, that we can call our own. The conjuncture of our affairs is more and more critical; especially if we consider, that an intestine faction still secretly works in the bosom of the state, and labors hard to kindle and keep alive the expiring flame of discord and rebellion. Add to this, that, through the last year, the metropolis of the kingdom was just upon the point of destruction; and with it the wealth and power of the nation. These are loud calls; alarming visitations. The rod hath spoken again and again; yet how few hear its voice,or fear him that appointed it! The rich and poor amongst us go on as usual. Iniquity stalks with brazen front through our streets; and error, in ten thousand forms, vents its unsoftened blasphemies against God and his Messiah. Places of amusement are crowded; and the whirl of dissipation goes on, as if there were nothing to solemnize us, or make us think. Multitudes of our gentry are laughing, at the play-house, or pursuing a more childish farce at the masquerade, while their poor countrymen are groaning in the field of battle, and, at the expense of their blood and lives, are fighting for that which is to keep others in ease and idleness. Thus, while the deepest tragedy is exhibited beyond the Atlantic, on this side the water we are carrying on the grossest farce. Youth are educated in ignorance, or trained up in fashionable vice; by which they fall an easy prey to the first bold invader of their morals and their virtue. Dress, visiting, and various species of dissipation, leave no time for the serious calls of religion; and a knowledge of the truths of revelation forms, in the system of many, no part of modern education. Frothy and lascivious novels occupy the place of God’s word; and there is no book so little read or understood, as theBook of books. The aged lead the way in folly and vanity; andendeavour to initiate their tender offspring, as early as possible, in those “pomps and vanities of a wicked world,” which both promised to renounce. Thus grey hairs give a sanction to evils, which youth want a curb in the pursuit of. And thus many a child has to curse its parent for an initiation into the pride of life and lusts of the flesh, by which his disgrace and ruin have been led on by a sort of necessary gradation. An introduction to the world, that is, to its nonsense, vanity, and dissipation—is deemed, with many, an essential in good-breeding. And, with many, to keepgoodcompany, is not to associate with those who fear God, but with those, who are distinguished by no other excellence but the possession of a title or a fortune. These accidental acquisitions are often complimented with the appellation ofgood; though all beside should be nothing but a compound of wretchedness and vice. Thus no distinction is made between men and their accidents; and adulation frequently offered at the shrine of debauchery and pride. And thus men confound the names of good and evil; put darkness for light, and light for darkness.
And can it be said that God’s desolations have taught us the evil of sin? No. While vice maintains its wonted vigor, pleasure attracts its votaries as usual, and profaneness rearsits triumphant crest without control or shame, it can never be said, that we are advancing in reformation. Rather, as our visitations have increased, the stupefaction of sinners has increased with them. The storms, which should rouse, have eventually rocked them to rest. Even thedeaf adderis quick of hearing, when compared with numbers, who neglect or refuse to hear that “Charmer,” whose voice, in hispromises, is sweeter and more harmonious than all the choristers of heaven; and, in histhreatenings, more tremendous than the roaring of the seas, and all the artillery of conflicting elements. Which leads me to observe, that,
2.God’sdesolations in the earth should impress us with a reverential awe of his majesty and a dread of his wrath; should make us see his hand and acknowledge his interposition in every event.
As it is the part of bad divinity to make as little as possible of the Lord Jesus Christ, so it is the province of bad philosophy to leave God out of its favorite systems. In the latter case recourse is had to the doctrine of second causes, and to what are called the laws of nature. Upon this principle, vain man would attempt toaccountfor every thing, and to exclude all mystery from the natural and spiritual world; although, in both respects, the phenomena exhibited evincethe vanity and danger of the effort, and prove that, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways above our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts.” But, still proud man cannot bear that his reason should be confounded, or his understanding limited; and sooner than confess his ignorance, will explore depths, which angels cannot fathom, and soar so high into the regions of speculation, as to drop into materialism, and lose sight of his God. Thus it appears, that from pride springs every atheistical hypothesis, that produces a contempt of God and a denial of his sovereign interposition; but that the very first step in that heavenly science, which revelation styles “the wisdom from above,” is humility, which makes a man submit to be taught by his Maker, and not dispute away the existence of what he cannot comprehend.
The system of nature, it is allowed, is a chain of second causes, concatenated in such a manner, as to make one link depend upon another by a necessary coherence. But second causes must have a first, and laws must originate in some law-giver. So that, admitting that nature is regulated by certain laws interwoven with its existence and constitution, still the contrivance and execution of the wondrous plan force us to acknowledge, that an infinitemind must have tied together at first every link in the golden chain; and that what heathenism called theanima mundi, is in reality the all-pervading, all-supporting, and all-comprehending presence and power of Deity. But what shall we say, when the laws of nature suffer a temporary infringement? When the regularity of her course is diverted, and broken in upon? Do the convulsions of the earth, and the rage of elements, form any part of her laws, or any link in the concatenation of her parts? Was it by any inherent law, that the ocean once burst its barriers and overspread the earth? that the ground opened and swallowed Korah and his sacrilegious associates? that Sinai’s base shook, while its summit was enveloped with “blackness, and darkness, and tempest?” that the sun was eclipsed without any intervening sphere, and the rocks were rent, when Jesus expired on the cross? Or upon what principle will philosophy account for that final conflagration, which shall, in the destined period, burn up the earth and the works that are therein? when
“The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,The solemn temples, the great Globe itselfShall dissolve; and, like the baseless fabricOf a vision, leave not a wreck behind!”
“The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,The solemn temples, the great Globe itselfShall dissolve; and, like the baseless fabricOf a vision, leave not a wreck behind!”
Are these nature’slaws? No; they are the disruption of them—the rending, not the orderof the system. Who breaks in upon this harmony? The God of nature. The Creator is the dissolver of the world. He who spoke it from chaos into light and arrangement, speaks it into ruin. And those who insinuate, that “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world,” an inspired apostle calls, “scoffers, who walk after their own lusts. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water; whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But, the heavens and earth which are now, by the same word, kept in store, are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment.” 2 Pet. iii. 4, 7.
As, therefore, there is a Supreme Being, that made and now supporteth the world, so there is a God thatjudgeththe earth. And as the world could not have existed in the beginning without hisfiat, so neither can the course of nature be disturbed without his interposition. And they who are so ready upon every occasion to ascribe to second causes merely, what must be the effect of the greatFirst Cause, indirectly strike at the existence ofsin, and the being of God. Leaving, therefore, the vain philosopher and cavilling sceptic to speculate about the natural causes of earthquakes, tempests, pestilences, famine, sword; come, beholdthe works of the Lord, what desolationsHehath made in the earth. For thus saith Jehovah, “I form light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I theLorddoall these things.” Isa. xlv. 7. If the earth be convulsed, Jehovah shakes it. If the sword rages,He“gives it its charge.” If the tempest lours, and the heavens are clothed with black,Heguides the storm, and rides upon the wings of the wind. If the artillery of the skies send out their voice, and shoot their arrows, it isHe, who maketh the thunder and darts the lightening. If Jerusalem is to be buried in ruins, it is becauseHesaith, “This is the city to be visited.” Jer. vi. 6.
Let all the earth stand in awe of Him, and all its inhabitants revere his majesty and dread his indignation. “He measured the waters in the hollow of his hand; he meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.” Isa. xl. 12, 15, 17. “Behold the name of the Lord cometh from far, burningwith his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire.” Isa. xxx. 27. “If he whet his glittering sword, and his hand take hold on judgment, he will render vengeance to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him.” Deut. xxxii. 41. “Fear ye notME? saith the Lord. Will ye not tremble at my presence?” Jer. v. 22. “Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt and the earth is burned at his presence, yea the world, and all that dwell therein.” Nah. i. 5, 6.
“He frowns, and darkness veils the moon,The fainting sun grows dim at noon;The pillars of heav’n’s starry roofTremble and start at his reproof!”
“He frowns, and darkness veils the moon,The fainting sun grows dim at noon;The pillars of heav’n’s starry roofTremble and start at his reproof!”
These sublime passages taken from the inspired writings, and descriptive of the wisdom, majesty, grandeur, and indignation ofGod, are written, that we might form a due estimate of the littleness and impotence of that reptile man, when contending with Omnipotence? and learn from the desolations of the earth, to tremble at his presence. But where are the people thathave learned this lesson? If a veneration for the institutions of Heaven, a delight in the ways of God, a reverent mention of his sacred name, a conscientious observation of the Sabbath, and a hatred of sin, be characteristics of God’s peculiar people, I fear the number will be found very small, when compared with the bulk of the profane. And here I cannot paint in stronger colors the prevalence of immorality in the present day, than by adopting the words of good Bishop Sherlock, in his description of the predominant wickedness of his own times. In a sermon delivered at Salisbury, the good bishop says, “Surely the Gospel of Jesus Christ was never treated with greater malice and contempt byJewsorHeathens, than it has been in this Christian country.—Is not Sunday become a day of diversion to great ones, and a day of idleness to little ones? And has not this been followed by a great increase of great wickedness among the lower sort of people?” And, when speaking of the licentiousness of that period, which succeeded the Restoration, and opened flood-gates of iniquity, which have continued through similar channels ever since; he says, “The sense of religion decayed, and the very appearances of it were suspected as a remnant of hypocrisy. And, if we may judge by theperformances of the stage, which are formed to thetasteof the people,there never was a time whenlewdness,irreligion, andprofaneness, were heard with more patience.” No wonder that, from a contempt of the gospel, and a love of dissipation, should spring what the good Bishop asserts in his Pastoral Letter, p. 7, “Blasphemy and horrid imprecations domineer in our streets; and poor wretches are every hour wantonly and wickedly calling for damnation on themselves and others, which may be, it is to be feared, too near them already. Add to this, the lewdness and debauchery that prevail among the lowest people; which keep them idle, poor, and miserable, and the number oflewd houseswhich trade in their vices, and must be paid for making sin convenient to them; and it will account for villanies of other kinds. For where is the wonder, that persons so abandoned should be ready to commit all sorts of outrage and violence. ACITY WITHOUT RELIGION CAN NEVER BE A SAFE PLACE TO DWELL IN.”[234]
Thus the excellent prelate, like a faithful watchman, lifted up his voice like a trumpet, and dared tospeak out. And should not the ministers of the present day copy the example? The lion hath roared, who will not fear? TheLord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? O ye ambassadors of Christ, “cry aloud and spare not,” that sinners may take the alarm, and fly from impending judgments and imminent destruction, to that way of salvation revealed in the gospel. And this suggestion points to another improvement to be derived from a view of God’s desolating dispensations; namely,
3. The necessity and importance of an interest in the blessedJesus, as the great antidote against every calamity, and the glorious security against sin and its consequences.
Of all the symptoms of false security, which mark the complexion of the present day, there is none more truly alarming, than the supine indifference about truth, and the sovereign contempt of the gospel, which prevail amongst us. Our times are distinguished by much free thinking; and I wish there was no cause to add, by much free blaspheming too. I mean not here to insinuate any thing derogatory from that liberty which every rational being indisputably claims of thinking, and judging for himself, in the investigation of truth; provided always that he make the scriptures the ground and guide of his researches. Freedom of inquiry has ever proved friendly to the cause of truth, and inimical to that of ignorance and superstition.But, when this liberty is abused, as penal shackles are taken off, it looks as if men only wanted an easy opportunity of setting up for system-makers, to draw after them a gaping multitude, and make them stare at these prodigies in theology, who profess to suit their tenets to the taste of all. Hence, some make liturgies, and omit all divine homage to Him, whom the scriptures command us “to honor even as we honor the Father.” This appears a bright discovery to others, who immediately take the hint, and frame a manual upon a broader plan; in which the name of Jesus Christ is not so much asmentioned. A compliment this to the Deists, who are very much enraged at the idea of making a crucified man the centre of any system, or the object of any divine honors. But a third, still more hugely catholic, steps forward, and proposes a more enlarged plan, in which Jews, Turks, and the worshippers of Jupiter Ammon, may be blended together in one common brotherhood with believers in Jesus Christ; and a way to happiness be secured for Julian the Apostate, as well as Paul the Apostle. This is free-thinking with a witness. But, would such persons think as closely and calmly, as they think freely, the desolating judgments of God might teach them, that the Jewish nation could not practise idolatrywithout suffering severely for it; and that rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his gospel, were the aggravated sins that reduced their city and temple to ashes, and themselves to the abject state of vagabonds on the earth.
If there be any one truth, which appears more prominent than all the rest in the sacred scriptures, it is, that “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ;”—that he is our “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption;”—that “there is none other name under heaven whereby we can be saved;”—that he is “set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood;”—that he “offered himself asacrificeto God, and died toput away sinby the sacrifice of himself;”—that not our works, but his work, is to be the ground of our acceptance, since “we are acceptedinthe beloved;” and that, to stamp sufficiency on his glorious salvation, “in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And yet how little do these truths enter into popular systems! Is there any question that would appear more difficult to many professors of Christianity to be solved, than, “What think ye of Christ?” But while the infidel sports with truth, and the careless contemn its admonitions, O let us give diligence to make our calling and election sure. Let us fly to him,to whom all the nations of the earth are commanded to look and be saved. Would we be secure from the guilt of sin, or armed against the sting of death, let us betake ourselves to him, who bore the one and conquered the other, by dying himself. Would we be prepared for whatever afflictions may befall us as individuals, or judgments overtake us as a nation; let us but build our hope upon the rock of ages, and then all shall work for good. If Christ be ours, then whether wrath is revealed or judgments impend, we shall have a secure shelter in his blood and righteousness. The earth may be removed, and the mountains cast into the midst of the sea; yet, in the midst of nature’s wreck, we shall sing, “The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
4. We should view even the desolations of the earth as an accessory ground of joy and confidence in God. When Martin Luther and his associates in reformation were in any trouble, he used often to say, “Come let us sing the 46th Psalm.” With the words of this sweet composition in his mouth, and the energetic power of it in his heart, he animated himself and his companions in tribulation. When any storms arose within, the subject of the psalm dispelled them, and, like the melody of David’s harp, soothing to rest the turbulent spirit ofSaul, calmed their fears, and enabled them to sing their troubles away. We should imitate the heroic spirit of these champions in the cause of truth; for we have the same reason to rejoice that they had. If the Lord be our God, we should trust in him and not be afraid. He never gives up that tender relation towards his people, amidst any troubles that may arise. Though he desolate the earth with the most fearful judgments, yet he is the Father of his chosen still. And when this globe shall be in flames, Jesus will collect his jewels, and preserve them from ruin. Therefore, in the words of Habakkuk, “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet let us rejoice in the Lord, let us joy in the God of our salvation.” Hab. iii. 17, 18.
THE NATURE AND DISTINGUISHING MARKS OF TRUE CONVERSION.
[Preached at Nantwich, December 8th, 1782.]
“Except ye be converted,and become as little children,ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”Matthew, xviii. 3.
“Except ye be converted,and become as little children,ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew, xviii. 3.
Ourblessed Saviour uttered these words upon the following memorable occasion:—The disciples came unto Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” verse 1. Upon comparing this with the parallel place in Mark, ix. 34, it appears, that “they had been disputing among themselves, who should be the greatest.” A dispute this, extremely unprofitable, and highly unbecoming the disciples of that meek and lowly Jesus, who, though he thought it no robbery to be equal with God, yet took upon him the form of a servant, andcame not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Phil. ii. 6, 7. Mat. xx. 28. But see how deeply the love of power, and a fondness for pre-eminence, are rooted in human nature! One would have thought, that with such an illustrious example of humility and condescension before their eyes as their divine Master,theyshould have been the last men in the world to commence a contest about greatness; especially if they at all reflected, that the uniform obscurity of their origin and education placed them all upon a level. But when we behold pride creeping into the little college of our Lord’s own disciples, and see a company of illiterate fishermen urging a controversy about superiority in office, we may from hence infer, that “to be as gods,” Gen. iii. 5, is a desire as predominant in the nature of man as it proved fatal to our first parents; that every man is born a Diotrephes,—would have the pre-eminence in all things; and that the same arrogant spirit, which lifts up a Roman pontiff with pride and blasphemy, is congenial to human nature; and that there is that in every man’s heart, which would incline him to be a little pope in pre-eminence, how low soever his pretensions may be, or contracted his sphere of action.
What led to the dispute among the disciples, was, probably, the mistaken notion they had conceived respecting the nature of the Messiah’s kingdom. Fancying that it was to be a secular establishment, and having their heads full of ideas of their own future greatness, it should seem that they anticipated the period of their exaltation; and, concluding, that they should be raised to the highest posts of civil and ecclesiastical preferment, it remained only for them to determine, who among them should be chief. For genuine pride can never brook a superior; and is never perfectly gratified, until every competitor is vanquished, and its own sovereign mandates acquire a sanction from a pre-eminence of office and power. The source this, of all the fierce contentions, that have often for centuries rent the church, and are at this day ravaging the world. The unsanctified disputes of ecclesiastical rulers, or the bloody contests among the tyrannical governors of states and empires, when narrowly examined, appear to originate, for the most part, in this question, “Who shall be greatest?”
In order to strike at the root of this imperious disposition in his disciples, their wise Master gave such an answer to their question, as would best tend to mortify their vanity, anddisappoint their affectation of false greatness. To give an emphasis to his observations on this important question, he took a child, and placed him in the midst of them, and then pronounced the great and interesting truth of the text. As if our Lord should say, “Imagine not that my kingdom, as to its origin and establishment, is of this world. It is entirely spiritual; is not to be founded on secular dominion, or to be conducted agreeably to the principles and temper of earthly potentates. And whereas, among men, human greatness is estimated by worldly exaltation; and they are generally deemed the chief, who rise to the highest post of honor, though avarice, pride, and ambition, are the mischievous tempers that lead to their exaltation, and are fed by the enjoyment of it; yet it shall not be so in the kingdom which I am about to establish in the hearts of the children of men. There, ambition is to have for its object, not earth, but heaven; not temporal, but eternal concerns: and the laws by which the subjects of that kingdom are to be governed, will require, not the temper of the proud and the ambitious, that is so successful in the schemes of the men of the world, but the disposition of a child, humble, teachable, dead to the world, and dependant upon me for every provision. And except ye be inwardly changed,and become transformed into this amiable and heavenly characteristic of the subjects of my kingdom, ye cannot be partakers of my glory.”
From the words, thus opened, I shall take occasion to consider;First, The nature of conversion;Secondly, The temper that distinguishes this great change;Thirdly, I shall endeavour to shew, how much every individual among us is concerned in the subject, since our Lord declares, that, without conversion, we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
I. As to the nature of conversion, it essentially consists in an inward and universal change of heart, wrought by the gracious operation of the Spirit of God; by which new principles are established in the mind, new inclinations are imparted, and new objects pursued. The word conversion signifies the being turned away from an object of former attachment, in order to contemplate and enjoy one, that had been previously disregarded and despised. In the work, which this word is adapted to describe, there occurs this twofold change. The heart is turned away from the love of sin, the love of self, and the love of the world, and becomes captivated with the love of God, and turns to him as its chief good. Sin loses its dominion, the world appears in its true colors, stript of all that false beauty, in which a depraved heart isapt to paint it. Pleasure, that fatal enchantress, can allure no longer. She spreads all her nets, and gilds all her baits, in vain. The converted sinner perceives no melody in her syren voice, and feels no attraction from all her studied blandishments. Conversion removes the scales from his eyes, and rends the veil from his heart, that prevented him from seeing through the false disguise that covered all her lying vanities. And he turns away with disgust and disappointment from that cup, of which he once drank so freely. He nauseates what he once imbibed so eagerly; and in that draught, from which he once hoped to derive such happiness, he now sees poison and death concealed. The love of God having vanquished the love of the world in his heart, he now heartily coincides with that wise man, whose experience taught him, that “all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Eccles. i. 14.
As it is a very common case for one, who has been a profligate, to commence Pharisee, or to turn from sin to self, which is but a refined species of wickedness; it is necessary to observe, that in the great change of which the Holy Spirit is the author, it is the principal office of that divine Agent, to convince of sin, and to drive the sinner from the false refuge of self-dependance, to the glorious righteousnessof the Lord Jesus Christ. Without this, a sinner would take down one idol only to set up a worse in its stead. And, as there is none so injurious to the honor of the Redeemer, or so deeply prejudicial to a sinner’s immortal interests, as self-righteousness; this idol, as the leader of all the rest, must be dethroned, that Christ might have in all things the pre-eminence. “Inhimshall all the seed of Israel be justified.” Isa. xlv. 25. When a man, therefore, is truly converted, the Holy Spirit never teaches him to turn in upon himself, and contemplate with proud self-complacency his own worthiness, or to admire his own performances; while, like the Pharisee in the gospel, he looks down with conscious superiority upon a poor publican at the footstool of mercy. No. With Job, he abhors himself, and repents as in dust and ashes. Job, xiii. 6. With Isaiah, he cries, “Woe is me! for I am undone.” Isa. vi. 5. And, with St. Paul, he desires to “be found in Christ, not having on his own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness of God by faith.” Phil. iii. 9. So that, as naturalists say, it is the peculiarity of the heliotrope or sun-flower to expand its beauties to the rays of the sun, and always to keep its face turned towards that bright luminary; in like manner, the converted soul spontaneously turns to the Sun of Righteousness,by the light of whose countenance it is cheered and attracted, and to whose merits it is indebted for all its prospects in time and eternity. The love of Jesus is the load-stone that draws, and his perfect righteousness the object which the happy sinner contemplates with delight and admiration. To that exhaustless spring of all the hopes and comforts of God’s people he turns, and from him he looks for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 1 Cor. i. 30.
Where conversion is genuine, it may be discovered by the universality of its influence, and the depth of its operation. It begins at the heart, and extends its salutary effects to all the sublime faculties of the mind, and the whole tenor of the outward conversation. The understanding is renewed in knowledge. Col. iii. 10. The contrariety of the will is broken, and is changed into a passive acquiescence in the sovereign will of God. “The carnal mind, which is enmity against God,” Rom. viii. 7, is subdued by the superior influence of divine grace. All offences at the gospel-plan of salvation cease; for, when the veil of unbelief that covers the heart is rent, it then “turns to the Lord.” 2 Cor. iii. 15. The languid affections are quickened, and are set on things above. Col. iii. 1. The desires are turned intoa right channel, and directed to proper objects. The eye of the understanding being illuminated to “behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord Jesus,” 2 Cor. iii. 18; the heart, enraptured with a view of his matchless excellency, cries out, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth, that I desire besides thee.” Psal. lxxiii. 25. The desire of the soul is to him, and to the remembrance of his great name and glorious salvation. Isa. xxvi. 8. The thoughts, that formerly wandered upon subjects of the most trivial, or the most pernicious nature, are now turned to the interesting concerns of eternity, and are often employed in meditating upon that sweetest, most sublime, and most copious of all topics, the stupendous love of God manifested in the unspeakable gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. The strain of conversation becomes very materially altered, from froth and levity, or, what is worse, from perhaps indecency and gross profaneness, to seriousness, purity, and spirituality. The aversion to engage in religious converse ceases; and no company appears so honorable or so delightful, as that which is composed of persons, who love to talk of the great things that belong to their peace. Prayer is deemed an exalted privilege, as well as a duty; and praise is considered as the employ of heaven. The hands are lifted up, and theknee is bent in supplication before the divine throne; and the tongue, which is the glory of man, awakes to vindicate the honor of truth, to recommend the Friend of sinners, or to publish the preciousness of his salvation. The feet, turned away from crooked and perverse ways, are swift to bear the converted sinner to the house of God; where, as he sits rejoicing in the name of Jesus, and happy in the sound of that blessed gospel, that charms his ear, and captivates his heart, he joins issue with the sweet Psalmist of Israel, and says, “How amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of Hosts! One day in thy courts is better than a thousand.” Psal. lxxxiv. l, 10.
It has been suggested in the beginning of this head of the discourse, that to turn the heart of a sinner is the work of God. And most certainly, whatever conversion is, the scriptures authorize us to believe, that it is not the work of man; and indeed cannot be, since the extreme depravity and helplessness of his nature render him altogether insufficient to any good word or work. If conversion consisted in nothing more than the breaking off some outwardly vicious courses, or the mere adopting a line of regular attendance on the external forms of devotion; if it implied no more than decency of manners, and an exemptionfrom gross indulgencies, or the relinquishing of former excesses; in those cases, perhaps, man might exert his power with considerable success, and, in part at least, claim the honor of being instrumental to his own salvation. But as conversion hath, for its subject, the immortal soul, with all its strong propensities, intemperate desires, irregular passions, impetuous appetites, and depraved principles; as it comprehends a work that gets at the very root of sin, and cleanses the fountain of corruption, that renovates the very constituent faculties of the human mind, and forms a radical cure in the very centre and seat of the malady; it is evident, that the change necessary to produce this effect must be the result of a divine agency; or, in plainer terms, thatHewho made the heart, andHealone, can change it. A truth this, confirmed by the express authority of the word of God. “Without me,” says Christ, “ye can do nothing.” John, xv. 5. And he says again, “No mancancome unto me, except the Father which hath sent me,drawhim.” John, vi. 44. In that solemn prayer uttered by the church in her distress, and recorded in the lamentations of Jeremiah, she acknowledges the same truth, when she cries, “TurnTHOUus unto thee O Lord, and weshallbe turned.” Lam. v. 21.And this is the language of Ephraim bemoaning himself in Jer. xxxi. 18. Where, after having bewailed the refractoriness of his heart, that made him feel, under the discipline of Jehovah’s rod, like “a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke,” he cries out, “TurnTHOUme and I shall be turned.” And when the great change was effected, in retrospect, as before in prospect, he attributes the accomplishment of it to the power of God, saying, “Surely, after that IWAS TURNED, I repented,” &c. verse 19. And, indeed, the passive form of the words of the text fully implies the truth I am contending for, especially when compared with similar language in Acts, iii. 19. Psal. li. 13. As for those passages of scripture, which seem to make the power of turning to be the sinner’s sole act, or to rest in the efforts of the ministers of the gospel, as Ezek. xiv. 6. and Mal. iv. 6. Acts, xxvi. 18. they are to be interpreted, in consistency with the general maxim already laid down, as only declarative in one case, of theinstrumentality, which divine wisdom useth in the accomplishment of its purposes; and, in the other, of the derived influence, which the sinner himself is enabled to exert, but by a power, originally not his own. Thus, ministers are said to turn others from darkness to light, and sinners to turn themselves, only in consequence of theblessing and power of God, which enable them to do the one and the other respectively. For, when the great Apostle of the Gentiles reviewed the success of his ministrations, or when he contemplated the evidences of his conversion, he resolves both into the agency and sovereignty of divine grace, saying, “Not I, but the grace of God which was with me.—By the grace of God I am what I am.” 1 Cor. xv. 10.
I cannot prevail upon myself to dismiss this branch of the subject, without observing further, in confirmation of what hath been already urged, that the change effected in the conversion of a sinner, is compared, in scripture, to some of those operations in nature, to accomplish which nothing short of an Almighty agency is requisite. It is, for instance, called “a newcreation,” 2 Cor. v. 17;—a newbirth, John, iii. 3;—aresurrectionfrom the dead, Col. iii. 1;—a quickening from a death in trespasses and sins, Ephes. ii. 1;—the communication of light to the soul, by the same powerful voice that said in the beginning, “Let there be light.” 2 Cor. iv. 6;—a translation from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Col. i. 13. And the renovation which it produceth, is said to make believers “the habitation of God by his spirit,” Ephes. ii. 22;—“his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus untogood works,” Ephes. ii. 10;—branches, taken from a barren stock, and engrafted into the “true vine” by the operation of the Spirit, John, xv. 5;—sons of God by adoption, Gal. iv. 6;—and joint-heirs with Christ to an everlasting inheritance, purchased at the price of his blood.
Now, from such bold and striking metaphors, as make the power that created the universe, that arranged the elements when in a state of chaos, that formed the light, and that raised the dead, to be representative of that influence exerted in conversion, what are we to infer? but that, as an omnipotent agency is displayed in the works of nature, it is equally requisite in the operations of grace; and, in fact, that none butHewho made the world, can convert a sinner. A truth this, to which the experience of every true believer bears an additional testimony. Reviewing himself as a brand plucked from the burnings, he cannot but stand astonished at the mighty power of that grace, which saved him from eternal perdition, when he was just upon its very brink. “How infinitely indebted,” he will often say, “do I consider myself to that gracious Saviour, whose mercy vanquished such a rebel! and whose blood was sufficient to expiate the guilt of such deep-dyed transgressions! When I reflect, with what impetuosityI was running in the road to ruin; with what obduracy of heart I defied Omnipotence, while I was trampling his law under my feet, and lived regardless either of his threatenings or his promises; what a contumacious resistance I made to all the overtures of divine mercy in the gospel, and with what blindness, unbelief, and hardness of heart, I quarrelled with the way of salvation through a crucified Saviour; in what a false security I was wrapt up, even when my headstrong corruptions were precipitating me to destruction; and how determined I was never to relinquish the fond but fatal prepossessions that only fed the pride of my heart, and kept it in a state of servile conformity to a world lying in wickedness;—when I revolve all these considerations in my mind, I rejoice with trembling, to think, how narrowly I escaped; and am constrained to attribute all to the sovereign and unsought interposition of divine grace. Surely nothing but a supernatural power could have softened a heart so hard as mine; and none but God himself could have saved a sinner so rebellious. Therefore, while life, and breath, and being, last, toHimI will offer up the glowing effusions of love and gratitude, and record through eternity what he hath done for my soul.”
A work of this nature, in which the hand of God is so conspicuous, must be productive of the most salutary effects to the highly favored sinner, who is the subject of it. For, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (η’ καινη κτισις a new creation): old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” 2 Cor. v. 17. The renovation, intimated in this passage, having introduced new light into the understanding, and new desires into the heart and affections, it must consequently have a proportionable effect upon the temper; not wholly to eradicate the constitutional peculiarity of it, but to sanctify, and render it subservient to the glory of God and the good of society. Nor does this great change go merely to correct, regulate, and sanctify the natural temper, whatever in different constitutions it may happen to be, but it likewise establishes in the heart tempers, to which it was before an utter stranger; which I now proceed to consider under the second head; and that is,
II. The distinguishing mark of true conversion, that, of “becoming as little children.”
Although, in numerous instances, the work of conversion is attended with circumstances so striking as not only to obviate all doubt respecting the reality of it, but also to enable many to fix, with the utmost precision, thedate of its origin, and to recollect perfectly the time and manner in which the light of conviction first dawned; yet, as in others, the work has been wrought at an early period of life, has been less perceptible in its first impressions, and has been carried on by degrees slow and progressive, like “seed cast into the ground, which springeth and groweth up, a manknoweth not how;” Mark, iv. 27. I prefer the consideration of what is essential to conversion, andcommonto all the subjects of it, to what ispeculiarto some, and comparatively of little consequence. For the point of real moment with every sinner is, not so much to inquire how, when, and by what instrument he was converted, as to ascertain, that the work has really been wrought. And, indeed, as it is extremely possible for a man, busy in the former inquiry, and partial in his inferences respecting the safety of his state, to rest the great affair on circumstances rather uncertain in their nature, and at no time decisive, while he fatally overlooks what is essential to the work itself; in order to set us right in a matter of such vast concern, the text, and the whole tenor of sacred scripture, lead us to examine, whether we are “become as little children;” because this is the safest and most certain criterion of our being the children of God: and thus, in particular, St. Peter argues withthe professors of Christianity in his day, saying, “If these things, (faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity,) be in you, and abound, they make you, that ye shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things, is blind, and cannot see afar off.” 2 Pet. i. 8, 9.
When our Lord makes the principal characteristic of true conversion to consist in a temper resembling that of little children, the comparison is not designed to consider them, as they are by nature, but as they happen to be by constitution, by the texture of their tender frame, and their accidental inability to exercise those faculties of the mind, or those organs of the body, which, when age and strength co-operate, man very soon uses as instruments of unrighteousness. It is in this light, and this alone, that we can interpret the force of the resemblance in the text, consistently either with scripture or matter of fact. The former assures us, that “man is born as the wild ass’s colt.” Job, xi. 12. And experience soon demonstrates the truth of this striking comparison, when that “folly which is bound up in the heart of a child,” Prov. xxii. 15, shooteth forth into those branches of iniquity, and fruits of unrighteousness, which, like the flower in the seed, or thefruit wrapt up in the germ, only wanted time and strength to bring them to maturity. Yet, as long as corruption is checked by infantile weakness, and nature has not power, in that first stage of the life of man, to put forth its innate propensities, infants and little children become eventual teachers to adults; and many with hoary heads need not be ashamed to go and learn wisdom from the weakest and youngest of their own species; especially if they attend to the several points of view, in which scripture places little children, as objects worthy of our imitation.
1. In the first place, as they are no sooner ushered into life, than they cry for that nutriment, which the God of nature hath so wisely adapted to their weak condition; in like manner, must we evidence the reality of our regeneration, by an insatiate thirst for that spring of salvation opened in the scriptures of truth. Thus the Apostle Peter says, “As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” 1 Pet. ii. 2. And St. Paul uses the same idea, when writing to the Corinthian Church, he says, “I have fed you with milk and not with strong meat.” 1 Cor. ii. 2. See also Heb. v. 13, 14. As the new-born babe, by instinct of nature, cries for the breast, so the new-born soul first evidences its introductioninto divine life, by its love to the scriptures. For this spiritual food, other things are thrown aside; and what constituted the soul’s repast, when dead in sin, is, after its regeneration, esteemed as chaff, or dreaded even as poison. The midnight lamp, that had been often exhausted in the perusal of publications of the most frothy or the most pernicious tendency, is now extinguished, that the soul might indulge in sweet meditation on the word of God. In the streams, which flow from this fountain, there are no dregs of latent error or poison of lurking impurity. And, while they communicate life and health by their salubrious influence, they convey also the most refined enjoyment to the renewed mind. The sacred pages, like the fragrantname, which gives them all their preciousness, are as “ointment poured forth.” Solomon’s Song, i. 3. They emit an odor that regales the senses and ravishes the heart. The promises are those “breasts of consolation,” from whence the new-born soul derives all its nourishment; and while it “hears them, reads, marks, learns, and inwardly digests them,”[259]its life is fed, and its happiness enlarged. This made the Royal Psalmist say, “How sweet arethy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” Psal. cxix. 103. So that they who can delight more in frothy novels, and the pernicious productions of the stage, than in a perusal of the word of God; or who can make any other book whatever take the lead of the Bible, have no more pretensions to refinement of taste, than they have to true religion. And such persons need not go far to find out whether they be converted or not; their disrelish to the scriptures is as decisive a mark against them as possible. And till their vitious taste is refined, and their depraved nature renewed, they cannot resemble little children, according to the idea suggested in the text, and must, therefore, be far from the kingdom of heaven.
2. Another sense, in which we should become as little children, is in the imitation of their humility. This is the temper more immediately recommended in the context, because it is the direct reverse of that which led the disciples to dispute about pre-eminence, and to ask their Lord an unimportant and vain question. Whatever seeds of pride lurk in the nature of infants, yet such is their imbecility of constitution, that, for want of power to exert themselves, they are rather patterns of humility; but more especially, if such little children as our Lord referredto, are partakers of the grace of God. Pride shews itself in forms of various nature. Elation of heart, when the sun of worldly prosperity shines, and proportionable depression and pusillanimity, when the scene shifts to the gloom of adversity—envy at another man’s good fortune, and repining at our own—impatience of reproof, and a quick and acrimonious resentment of injuries—an overweening desire to grasp at worldly things, only to feed and pamper a worldly mind—a violent promptitude to boast of personal endowments, to the depreciating of others, and the aggrandizing ofSelf, that darling idol of an unhumbled heart—are all pride, that hydra with many heads, shewing itself in these and various other ways impossible to be enumerated. But, to be humble, look at the infant lulled to rest in his mother’s arms, or the child taken up with the objects of his puerile amusement, dead to the broils of the contentious, and to all the ambitious pursuits of the proud: the former, anxious only for that nutriment, which, when received, operates as a pleasing opiate to its senses; the latter extending his solicitude and ambition only to some little matter, which it costs no care or expense to possess, leaving sceptres, titles, riches, and honors, to those who exert all their subtlety and all their pride to procure them. To bethus easy, like a little child, about worldly pre-eminence, and to be solicitous only, or primarily, about the honor that cometh from God, is the privilege of a Christian, and a mark of conversion. And why should infatuated mortals indulge a contrary temper, when, “before honor is humility;” but especially when it is considered that the loftiest head must be laid low in the grave, and that “dust to dust” will conclude the noblest song of earth. If you disdain to learn humility from a little child, yet take as your pattern that illustrious example of condescension, the holy child Jesus, who for us men and for our salvation exchanged the glory of the heaven of heavens for a manger and a cross.
3. We must becometeachableas little children. This amiable disposition is one principal branch of true humility, and essentially consists in submitting our reason to the authority of revelation. A point this, not so easy to be accomplished, when we reflect on the pride of the human heart, and see multitudes propagating such tenets, as if they meant to teach the scriptures, and not that the scriptures should teach them. This more especially happens, when the pride of reason and the parade of learning unite their influence to puff men up with a fond conceit of the superiority of theirwisdom. But how mortifying to the vanity of these sons of science to hear the following declaration from the mouth of the Son of God! “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them untobabes.” Mat. xi. 25. Were a man possessed of all the learning of Greece and Rome, he may, notwithstanding, be a fool in God’s account; and, until he is so, in his own estimation, his profound wisdom is nothing but foolishness, and, instead of aiding him in the investigation of truth, often proves a dreadful bar in his way. “If any man among you seem to be wise in this world,” says St. Paul, “let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” 1 Cor. iii. 18. And the reason which the apostle urges for this extraordinary requisition, is, that “the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.” Verse 19. Conceive human nature at the very summit of secular wisdom, and you see it elevated to the very pinnacle of pride; from whence men find it very difficult to descend into the valley of self-abasement. And yet descend they must, if ever they would know themselves or Christ Jesus the Lord; and instead of going to the throne of divine grace with philosophic pride and conscious wisdom, they must approach it as children, and as fools.
The language of this humble temper is, “That which I see not, teach thou me.” Job, xxxiv. 32.—“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Psal. cxix. 18. And he who has been enabled to adopt it, like a child under tutors and governors, submitting to their instruction, and acquiescing in their discipline, sits at the feet ofJesus, to learn the mysteries of his kingdom, and receive the fulfilment of that promise, “It is written in the prophets,And they shall be all taught of God.” John, vi. 45.
4. As true religion is the most efficacious bond of society, by inspiring such tempers as promote benevolence and peace among men, St. Paul recommends the following maxim to the church of Corinth, “In malicebe ye children, but in understanding be men.” 1 Cor. xiv. 20. Malice is a deeply-rooted ill-will, accompanied with rancorous hatred, and a thirst of revenge; a temper that rages in the hearts of natural men, but cannot be harboured or indulged in a regenerate breast. Here again we are to learn of little children. If a momentary passion ruffles their temper, or awakens their feeble resentment; yet how soon is the cause of their indignation forgot! and in how few instances does the sun ever go down upon their wrath! In the bounds which nature hath fixed to theirshort-lived anger, they become examples highly worthy our imitation, that we should be “slow to wrath;” James, i. 19; “be angry and sin not;” Ephes. iv. 26; and that we should “put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another; if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave us, so also should we.” Col. iii. 12, 13. But, where the contrary tempers of studied revenge and inveterate malice predominate, and are secretly indulged, they are as certain evidences of the reigning dominion of sin, and of an unconverted state of heart, as habitual drunkenness and debauchery.
5. Aschildrenlook up to their parents for their entire provision; are indebted to them, under God, for their being; and receive their education and their fortune from their hands; so, to demonstrate our conversion, we must live a life of dependance upon the Supreme Being for every thing contributory to our comfort here, and our salvation hereafter. That we all live, move, and have our being in God, is a truth admitted by all. But yet, multitudes who subscribe to the doctrine, nevertheless “live as without God (ἀθεοι atheists) in the world;” possessing atheistical hearts withorthodox heads; “professing that they know God; but in works denying him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate;” Tit. i. 16; never heartily imploring his blessing upon the bounties of his providence, or thanking him for the continuance of favors, which, by their ingratitude, they are daily forfeiting, together with the lives that his mercy so eminently spares. To instil the opposite temper, of dependance, gratitude, and confidence, our Lord sends us not only to little children, but also to the fowls of the air, and the flowers of the field; that, from the growth of a lily, or the provision made by the great Father of the universe, for the young ravens that call upon him, we may learn to live upon his all-beneficent hand; to acknowledge his parental care; and to trust that all-surrounding and all-protecting Providence, which makes the hairs of our head, as well as the whole world itself, the objects of his preserving and merciful superintendence.
But how much more should we learn to look up to the great Author of redemption for our spiritual provision! Whatever is necessary to the delight, the refreshment, the guidance, the establishment, the salvation of sinners, is all laid up in the rich fulness of the Son of God. If they want spiritual repast, he isthe “bread of life.” If they want consolation, he is the fountain of living waters, and the God of all comfort. If they want wisdom, all the treasures of it centre in him, and he is Wonderful, Counsellor. If they want a righteousness to justify before the great Jehovah, his name is The Lord our Righteousness. Jer. xxiii. 6. If they want a friend to speak for them to God, to plead their cause, and render their services acceptable, he is their Advocate with the Father; and, for the unchangeableness of his affection, hath in all ages proved himself a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. If they want one, whose wisdom and power are sufficient to baffle all the stratagems of hell, and to vanquish the most formidable enemies, Jesus is the Captain of salvation, and his strength is the arm of the Lord God omnipotent. If they want a foundation, whose stability is adequate to the immense weight that rests upon it, Lo! Jesus is a sure foundation and the rock of ages. Upon the covenant and promises sealed with his blood they may securely rest their peace and happiness, all their vast interests for time and eternity.
That the mind may be formed into a susceptibility of these great truths, the temper of alittle child must first be implanted in it. For, while its natural pride and enmity remain, there is nothing to which a sinner is so averse, as to that of renouncing self, and being dependant for his whole salvation upon the Lord Jesus Christ. From hence arose the unwillingness of the Jews to “submit themselves unto the righteousness of God;” Rom. x. 3; and from the same bitter root sprung self-righteous Saul’s “confidence in the flesh.” Phil. iii. 4. But, as soon as the power of God brought that once-elated Pharisee to the dust, and effectually broke his heart, he who thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, is made to cry out to that very person, whom he once blasphemed, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” From that moment, the lofty self-justiciary became a little child, and ever after gloried only in the cross. He learned to “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord;” Phil. iii. 8; esteemed himself nothing, and Jesus all; and “the life which he lived in the flesh, was by the faith of the Son of God.” Gal. ii. 20. The idol of self-righteousness in his heart was pulled down, that Christ, and Christ alone, might ever after possess, in all things, the pre-eminence; as he must, in ours also, if ever wewould enjoy a well-grounded hope of entering the kingdom of heaven. Which leads me to consider,
III. How much every individual is concerned in the subject, since our Lord declares, that, without conversion, in the scriptural light in which it has been represented, none can be partaker of his glory.