Isai. 44:22.

Isai. 44:22.

With such views as these, we cannot wonder that during the continuance of the affliction he should “have great bitterness;” and that in the removal of it he should find such an occasion of joy and gratitude. And it is worthy of observation, that the Psalmist speaks of the removal of temporal judgments from the people of Israel in terms exactly similar to those which Hezekiah uses in reference to his recovery from sickness: “Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob: thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their sin: thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.”

This then shews us why the pious Hezekiah so grievously complained of his sickness, and so earnestly implored a restoration to health. This explains those words of his, “Like a crane or a swallow, so did I twitter; I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail for looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.”]

  The state of his soul—

[When he complains of God having, “like a lion, broken all his bones,” it seems evident, that God had withdrawn from him for a season his wonted consolations, and that he was much in the state of David, who, under the pressure of a dangerous illness, cried, “Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps: thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.” Whether there was any particular occasion for this dispensation, we are not informed, We know that Job, who was esteemed by God himself “a perfect man,” was subjected to a similar trial for his good. And, if this dispensation had no other end than to counteract that propensity to pride which afterwards broke forth, and brought down upon Hezekiah the severest displeasure of the Almighty, it was justly and graciously ordained.

For deliverance from a state like this, we wonder not that Hezekiah should bless and magnify the Lord. Who can think of being delivered from the pit of corruption, and not rejoice? Who can contemplate God as having “cast all his sins behind his back,” and not bless him from his inmost soul? Consider what is implied in this expression: it imports that “God will remember our sins no more.” Once “he set our iniquities before him, and our secret sins in the light of his countenance;” but now he hides his face from themm,” “blots them out” from the book of his remembrance, and “casts them into the very depths of the seao,” from whence they shall never rise to appear against us in judgment. Verily, if on the receipt of such a mercy as this “he had held his peace, the very stones would have cried out against him.”

We must not omit to notice the source to which Hezekiah traces this great deliverance: it is to God’s sovereign love and mercy. He does not say, “From a respect to my deserts thou hast done thus;” but, “in love to my soul” thou hast done it. And to this must all spiritual blessings be traced. Whatever mercy God has vouchsafed to us, it is the fruit of “his great love wherewith he has loved us,” even of that love which knows neither beginning nor endq.]

The words thus explained, I shall now proceed to,

  II.      Improve—

There are two remarks which I will make upon them. They shew us, in a very forcible way,

  1.      What should be our chief desire under any afflictive dispensation—

[Our great concern usually is to get the affliction itself removed. But judgments may be removed in anger, as well as sent in anger: and God may cease to smite us, only because he is determined not to strive with us any longer, but to give us over to final impenitences. Our first object should be, to inquire of God “Wherefore he contendeth with us?” and then to seek the removal of that sin which God has visited with his displeasure. If we can fix on no particular sin, which has provoked God to anger, yet we know that there is an immense load of guilt upon our souls: and therefore we should pray as David did, “The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses! look upon mine affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins!” — — — Sin, even one single sin, being retained before God’s face, will be the heaviest curse that can befall us: but, if our sins be “cast behind his back,” the most accumulated trials shall only “augment our eternal weight of glory” — — —]

  2.      What exalted happiness we are privileged to enjoy—

[Hezekiah spoke of the forgiveness of his sins as already granted, yea, and manifested also with full assurance to his soul. And this is the common privilege of all believers. As Isaiah had a live coal from off the altar applied to his lips, with this assurance, “Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged;” so have we the promises applied to our souls at this day, “the Holy Spirit of promise sealing them upon our hearts,” and thereby becoming to us “a Spirit of adoption, and a witness of our being the children of Godz.” Doubtless there are marks by which these manifestations must be determined — — — but it is not by the marks alone that we can attain the consolations here spoken of: these can be imparted only by Him who is emphatically called THE COMFORTER: but the assurance itself is, if not the attainment of all, yet certainly the privilege of all, who truly believe.

Live not then below your privileges. And, as God generally makes use of afflictions to prepare us for the enjoyment of them, learn to welcome any trials which it may please God to send — — —

Only, if God cast your sins behind his back, be the more concerned to set them ever before your own face; that your own souls may be the more deeply humblede, and that the grace of God may be the more abundantly exalted — — —]

DCCCCXVIII

PRAISING GOD FOR HIS MERCIES

  Isai. 38:19.

The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

THIS is a part of a most pathetic record, written by Hezekiah after his recovery from a sickness which he had expected to terminate in death. The description which he gives of his feelings is certainly very different from what we should have expected from so good a man: but when we reflect on the particular situation in which he was placed, as a reformer of all his subjects; and the prospect that by his removal all his past efforts would be frustrated; we no longer wonder that he should express so great anxiety to live, and such a lively sense of his obligations to God, who, in answer to his prayers, and the prayers of the Prophet Isaiah, had promised to add fifteen years to his life. Indeed, under almost any circumstances, the living have reason to bless their God for the prolongation of their days: and the words which I have read will afford me a fit occasion to shew the return which this mercy at all times calls for at our hands. It is the duty of every living man to glorify his God,

  I.      In a way of devout acknowledgment—

Such a return is called for,

  1.      From those who are yet unprepared for death—

[Let them reflect a moment, where they would have now been, if they had been taken hence in their present state; let them consider how many have been removed, whilst they have been left; and what the feelings are of those who have been so taken into the presence of their God—and methinks they will need no exhortation from me to praise their God, they will find their souls penetrated with the devoutest gratitude, and will be saying, “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day.” Tell me, ye who are here alive this day, have ye not reason to bless your God for the space which is yet given you for repentance; for the opportunities yet afforded you of access to God through Christ; for the continued influences of the Holy Spirit, who yet striveth with you to bring you to salvation ? Suppose one, who has been called to his great account, and doomed to the misery which his sins have merited, could be restored for a few days to the situation in which you stand; would he be insensible to the mercy vouchsafed unto him, or lukewarm in improving his renewed advantages? No, verily; so great a blessing would not be despised by him; but he would instantly become an example to all around him, saying, “Bless ye our God, as I do this day!” Do ye then regard the blessing of a protracted life, as ye would if so restored; and employ your every remaining hour in making that life a blessing indeed, even the means of securing everlasting blessedness and glory at the right hand of God.]

  2.      From those also who are ready to meet their God—

[It may be thought that these have the less reason to be thankful for life, because they are already prepared for death, which would be to them a door to everlasting happiness. But this was the state of Hezekiah, who could appeal to God, that he had “walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart, and had done that which was good in his sight:” and yet it was this holy man who uttered the thanksgiving in our text. It must be remembered, that there are many great and glorious ends of life, which are instantly and for ever frustrated by death. The instant that we depart hence, there is no more opportunity of honouring God on earth, or of benefiting our fellow-creatures, or of advancing our own eternal interests: “The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down to the pit, cannot hope for thy truth:” these are things which the living only can engage in: and therefore the living are bound to estimate their high privileges aright, and to improve them with all diligence, as long as these advantages are continued to them. Doubtless, in the eternal world, the dead in Christ are happy. But is there a redeemed soul that does not desire to advance the honour of his God in this world? Is there one who does not long to promote the temporal and eternal welfare of his fellow-sinners? or is there one who does not wish to augment the talents committed to him, that in so doing he may find a greater measure of approbation from his God? I say, then, to every one here present, whatever be the measure of grace that you have attained, you are greatly indebted to God for the prolongation of your life; and it should be to you a subject of most ardent praise and thanksgiving.]

But this gratitude should be expressed also,

  II.      In a way of affectionate commendation—

It is well to speak of God’s mercies, whether they be general or special, public or personal; as it is said, “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts: they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.” But it should seem that Hozekiah was peculiarly anxious to transmit to succeeding generations the knowledge of the true God, and of all the wonders which he had wrought for his people Israel. And this is the desire which every living man should feel; and especially under the dispensation under which we live, wherein the truth of God, in all the wonders of redeeming love, is made known to the children of men.

We ought to transmit to others the truth that has been revealed to us—

[This was the command repeatedly given to Israel of old — — — And the obligation to obey it was deeply felt by all the saints, who regarded God’s Law as a sacred deposit, committed to them for the benefit of their children, and their children’s children, even to the latest generationsd. For this very end it was that the Passover and other ritesf were ordained, and that memorials also were established; even that an inquiry might be excited, in every successive generation, into the things so exhibited to their view; and that the information contained in them might be transmitted and perpetuated to the end of time. The Lord’s Supper is intended to answer the same end; for, in the administration of it, we shew forth the Lord’s death till he come.”]

And the hope of effecting this ought to make life regarded by us as an invaluable blessing—

[What father would not wish to make known God’s truth to his children; and account the prolongation of his life a rich mercy from the Lord, as giving further opportunities for the advancement of their eternal welfare? I may say, too, what pastor, who stands, as it were, in the relation of a father to his flock, would not adore his God for the strength whereby he is enabled to labour for their good? The Apostle Paul judged, so far as respected his own personal feelings, that it was “desirable rather to depart, and to be with Christ:” but yet, reflecting on the importance of his life to the welfare of the Church, he was willing to forego his own personal happiness, and to have a life of labour and of suffering prolonged to him, that he might still further advance the interests of God’s people. Thus should the hope of benefiting others endear life to us; and every effort be made, as long as life shall last, to transmit to others the light which we ourselves have received.]

  And NOW, Brethren,

  1.      Let me call you to the performance of this duty—

[It is a duty equally pertaining to all, (so far as they have an ability to discharge it,) to “render unto the Lord according to the benefits conferred upon them:” yea, all should strive to be, in this respect, patterns and examples to those around them. To those in like circumstances with ourselves, we should be able to say, “Let all of you praise God, as I do this day.” But permit me to ask of the generality amongst us, What would be the state of things, if all were to take you for their pattern? Would God be glorified in any measure as he ought? or would his truth be diffused as it ought to be? Would not rather the mercies of God pass unacknowledged, and his revealed will be almost utterly forgotten? Do not think that a mere lukewarm engagement in God’s service will suffice. If, indeed, the blessing of life call for nothing better at your hands than this, I will be content that you shall render him nothing better: but if life be of such importance as I have represented, then I call on every living soul to say with David, “Praise the Lord, O my soul: while I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto God while I have any being.”]

  2.      Let me urge it by that most appropriate consideration which occupied the mind of the grateful Hezekiah—

[“The grave cannot praise God, nor can death celebrate him.” This is the only time for serving and honouring God in this world. And how soon this opportunity may have passed away, who can tell? Another day, and all power to serve your God may have passed away for ever. I must then say to you, “Work whilst it is day; for the night cometh wherein no man can work.” Should your soul be required of you before you have given yourselves up to God, how painful will be your reflections to all eternity! But did ever any man think that he had begun to honour God too soon; or had too diligently engaged in that blessed work? Is there one in heaven that regrets he began to serve his God so soon? or is there one in hell that curses not his folly for neglecting to improve the advantages that were afforded him? I call you, then, to prevent those sad reflections which a neglect of God will occasion in a dying hour; and to secure now the eternal approbation of your God, by dedicating yourselves altogether to his service.]

DCCCCXIX

HEZEKIAH’S THANKSGIVING FOR HIS RECOVERY

  Isai. 38:20.

The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.

TO make public acknowledgments to God for national mercies is a duty so evident, that persons of all characters and denominations are forward to the performance of it. The very heathens thought that they had not properly testified their joy on account of any signal victories or deliverances, till they had made some public procession to the temples of their deities, or offered sacrifices to their honour. A greater cause for thankfulness than that which we are now assembled to commemorate, England scarce ever saw. A sovereign, who, for his excellent qualities in domestic life, stands almost unrivalled; a sovereign, who is truly the father of his people; a sovereign, who is, if I may so speak, the idol of the nation which he governs, is restored to health from the most afflictive of all disorders, and to the government of his kingdom at the very moment it was to be transferred to other hands: what cause for joy and thankfulness is this! And indeed ye have already in some measure testified your joy; and I would hope the reality was as universal as the appearance: but surely we should not rest satisfied with such demonstrations of joy; we should have our lamps trimmed and our lights burning within us: we should have a sacred flame kindled in our hearts; and we should endeavour to excite others to rejoice with us. When David was brought, as he tells us, into the dust of death, and, in answer to his prayer, was delivered from it, he said, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord praise him; all ye, the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him all ye the seed of Israel: for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard: my praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before them that fear him.” Now such should be the desire of our hearts to glorify God for the king’s recovery: not contented with offering up our praises in secret, we should say with him in the text, “the Lord was ready to save; therefore we will sing our songs in the house of the Lord.”

In discoursing upon these words, we will consider,

  I.      The import of the words—

This will partly appear from the occasion on which they were uttered—

[This chapter begins with a very affecting account of King Hezekiah’s sickness: a message was sent to him from the Lord, to tell him that he should die of his disorder. These melancholy tidings no sooner reached his ears than he turned his face towards the wall and wept very sore. In the ninth and following verses we have a copy of what he himself wrote concerning the workings of his own mind under that affliction: “The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years: I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world: mine age is departed and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off with pining sickness, from day even to night will he make an end of me: I reckoned till morning that as a lion so will he break all my bones, from day even to night will he make an end of me: like a crane, or a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove; mine eyes failed with looking upwards! O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me.”

Now it is possible enough that he was, in a considerable degree, under bondage to the fear of death; but yet we cannot suppose that all this grief originated from that one cause: no, he doubtless felt much for the glory of God and the prosperity of his people, both of which, as far as he could judge, would be very materially affected by his removal at that particular crisis. He was one of the best kings that ever governed the Jewish nation. No sooner did he come to the throne than he began to reform the abuses which had been introduced in preceding reigns. He threw down the altars that had been built; he opened and repaired the temple which had been shut up and left to decay; he restored the sacrifices which had been long neglected; he stirred up the people throughout all the kingdom to reform their lives; and he ardently longed to see these beginnings of reformation carried further into effect. He had very lately beheld the whole country overrun by Sennacherib’s army, and Jerusalem itself reduced to the utmost distress and danger; and though he had seen a great part of the Assyrian army destroyed by the hand of God, yet he knew that the Assyrians were still a powerful enemy, and that if the Jewish nation should relapse into their former wickedness, they could not expect another miraculous interposition from God. He was aware also that having no son to succeed him, there would probably be intestine divisions about a successor; so that if he were taken away at this time, the cause of religion would be neglected, and the whole Jewish nation be given over to suffer the consequences of their apostasy from God. That these reflections greatly contributed to his grief, seems plainly intimated in the answer which God gave to his prayer, as it is recorded both in 2 Kings 20:6, and in the chapter before us; in both of which places God not only promises to prolong his life, but to deliver the city out of the hands of the king of Assyria, and to defend it for his own name’s sake. Afflicted with these gloomy prospects, he betook himself to the best of all remedies, prayer; and as we are expressly told that Isaiah joined with him in crying to heaven on a former occasion, it is reasonable to suppose that, when he saw the king so overwhelmed with the news which he had brought him, he did not neglect this opportunity of joining with him in prayer for his recovery. Behold, their prayer prevailed; yea, so speedily did it prevail, that before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Tell Hezekiah, thus saith the Lord; I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold, I will heal thee.” God moreover commanded the prophet to make a plaster of figs, and to put it upon the boil, and to assure the king that in three days he should be well enough to go up to the house of the Lord. This was done to show that we ought to use means, while at the same time we look not to the means, but to God, for the desired success. Being restored to health he comes into the house of the Lord, and pours out his soul in pious and devout thanksgivings: knowing that, if he had died in his illness, he should never have had any more opportunities of glorifying God before men, he exclaims, “The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee, they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth; the living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known thy truth:” and then he adds in the words of the text, “The Lord was ready to save me, therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”]

But we shall have a further insight into the meaning of the text, if we consider more particularly the words themselves—

[They contain a thankful acknowledgment to God for his recovery, and a determination to glorify him for it as long as he should live. “The Lord was ready to save me,” says the king. He does not blasphemously ascribe his recovery to his physicians, or to the means used, notwithstanding they were used according to God’s own prescription; but he gives the honour, where alone it is due, to God. In disorders of any kind our eyes should not be so fixed upon the creature as they usually are; our expectation should be from God alone: it is “he who killeth and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up.” But that which Hezekiah seems to have been more particularly affected with, was the Lord’s readiness to help him; “the Lord was ready to save me.” This is a matter of astonishment to all who have ever tried the power and prevalency of prayer: God does not indeed bind himself to answer prayer immediately, at least not in the way in which we expect it to be answered; yet does he often with marvellous condescension grant the requests of his people as soon as they are offered up; he often visibly fulfils that precious promise recorded in Isaiah, “It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” David mentions this as his own experience, and seems to have been struck with it as Hezekiah was; “I will praise thee with my whole heart, O God; for in the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. So Hezekiah in the text; “The Lord was ready to save me; therefore will we sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.” He determined that as the mercy vouchsafed to him was a public benefit, so he would manifest his sense of it by public acknowledgments. He recorded this mercy and had it set to music, that all the nation might join with him in singing praises to God for it. Nor would he suffer it ever to be effaced from his memory: he made the recital of this mercy a part of his daily devotions; and determined he would continue to do so as long as he should live; judging very properly that his life, which had been so miraculously spared, should be spent wholly in the service of his God.]

Nothing more being necessary to illustrate the meaning of the words, we shall pass on to notice,

  II.      The use we should make of them—

  1.      To excite our gratitude for the king’s recovery—

[There is a striking resemblance between the event which we are now met to commemorate, and that recorded in the passage before us. I will beg leave to point it out in several particulars.

It holds good in the persons who were ill. Hezekiah, you have heard, was one of the most illustrious kings that ever sat upon the Jewish throne: the glory of God and the welfare of his people were ever near his heart. He set a good example to all his subjects, and ardently desired to see them no less obedient to their God than loyal to himself: he published his edicts prohibiting whatever was offensive to God, and enforcing the observance of the divine laws: in short, if you would know his character, see it drawn by the inspired penman: “Thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good, and right, and truth before the Lord his God: and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.” Now compare that of our gracious Sovereign: he has but limited power, and therefore cannot effect all he would; but what he would do if he were able, we see by the proclamation which was not long since issued. But this is a part of our subject on which it would not be proper to say much, nor is it needful that we should; for we trust his excellent qualities are too deeply engraven in all our hearts to need any repetition of them from this place—

But further—The resemblance holds good in the probable consequences of their illness—Hezekiah was sick nigh unto death, so that, till his recovery, he was utterly incapacitated for the business of the nation. If he had been left in the state he was, or had been taken away, his subjects would have suffered an irreparable loss. What they would have suffered we may judge in part from what they did actually suffer, when Manasses the son of Hezekiah came to the throne: idolatry was re-established throughout the kingdom; and God, wearied as it were with the greatness of their provocations, gave them over, together with Manasses their king, into the hands of their Babylonish enemies. What would have been the consequence if our Sovereign’s illness had continued, none can tell. We mean not to cast reflections upon any person or party; we would abhor a party spirit either in religion or politics: but this we may say without a possibility of giving offence to any; that, however wisely the defect of an executive power might have been supplied, and however faithfully it might have been employed, still the nation would have suffered an almost irreparable injury; for the very sinews of government would have been cut asunder. This, we say, would have been the case, supposing that every thing had been planned with the most consummate wisdom, and executed with the most unblemished integrity: but what might have happened, God alone knows: blessed be his name! he has delivered us now from the apprehensions of the calamities we have so earnestly deprecated, and so justly dreaded.

Again—The resemblance holds good in the means by which they were recovered from their illness. What was there in a plaster made of figs that could give so sudden a turn to a mortal disorder as to remove it in three days? Just as much as there was in the waters of Jordan to cleanse Naaman from his leprosy, or in the clay and spittle which our Lord used, to open the eyes of a blind man. It was prayer that healed Hezekiah; yes, prayer pierced the skies and entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts. “I have heard thy prayer, said God, and have seen thy tears, and will heal thee.” And what has healed our gracious Soverign? we answer without disparagement to any, PRAYER: a spirit of prayer has been poured out upon all God’s people throughout the nation: all that have an interest in the court of heaven, have cried day and night to God on his behalf. The prayers of the church prevailed for the delivering of Peter out of prison: so we doubt not but that the king’s recovery is an answer to prayer; to the prayers of those very people who are yet too often hated, despised, and persecuted. It is true: God has used means; but what means? not the art of medicine, but repose and quiet. We mean not to detract from the merit of those who have assisted in his cure; they deserve well of the nation at large: and we shall rejoice to see them rewarded according to their desert: but the glory is God’s, and his alone: the king’s recovery is the gift of God; and that in answer to the prayers of his own people; and, we trust, that they will not discontinue their prayers for him even to the latest hour of their lives.

Once more—The resemblance holds good in the readiness with which God vouchsafed the desired mercy. Hezekiah’s and Isaiah’s prayer was answered before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court; and in three more days the cure was effected. So has it been with respect to the cure vouchsafed unto our Sovereign; it was withheld for a season, just to make all praying people earnest in their supplications. The rod impending over the nation seemed for some time ready to fall: yet was the stroke by various occurrences providentially delayed: and then at the very moment that it was expected to fall, behold! deliverance comes: so truly may the words of the text be applied to this event, “the Lord was ready to save.” Surely that proverb has been again verified to us, that “in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen;” for God did not deliver Isaac more seasonably from the hand of Abraham, than he has done us from the calamities which threatened us.

Now if the occasions for joy and thankfulness are so similar, ought not our expressions of thankfulness to be similar also? Ought we not to render unto God according to the benefits he hath conferred upon us? Yes, surely. Did Hezekiah then make his deliverance a matter of universal praise? let us stir up both ourselves and others to a devout and holy joy on account of the recovery of our king. Did he determine that he would make it a subject of public thanksgiving? let us do the same: and did he determine to remember it and sing of it all his days? let us endeavour to keep upon our minds a lively sense of this mercy, and not provoke God to withdraw it from us by our ingratitude.]

  2.      To excite our gratitude for the mercies of redemption—

[We all without exception are sick nigh unto death: what Isaiah says of the Jews is applicable to every nation upon earth: “the whole head,” says he, “is sick;” that is, the kings and nobles, and all the governors in church and state, are infected with a mortal disease; “and the whole heart is faint,” that is, the people at large, without any exception, are dying of the same malady: “from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in us, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.” Sin is this deadly disorder, and unless we be recovered from it, the consequence must be dreadful to us all. We are not left to conjecture what this may be; we know; we know for certain; we know that no temporal calamity whatever can be compared with it: we know that our disorder, if not speedily cured, must issue in everlasting death; in an everlasting separation of soul and body from God, and in an everlasting suffering of divine vengeance. But we are fully warranted to say with Hezekiah in the text, “the Lord is ready to save us.” Of all the thousands and tens of thousands who came to our Lord for healing when he was on earth, not so much as one applied in vain: nor did ever any one call upon him for spiritual healing without experiencing his readiness to save. And is he not “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever?” Would Jesus ever have come down from heaven, if he had not been ready to save? Would he have shed his precious blood for us, if he had not been ready to save? Would lie have sent his word, his ministers, and his holy Spirit, to invite and draw us to him, if he had not been ready to save? Has he not said, “As I live I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die?” And would he thus have sworn, invited, entreated, and expostulated, if he had not been ready to save? Beloved brethen, would to God that ye would all put him to the trial! not one of you would then ever perish in your sins; he would cleanse you in his blood from all sin; he would restore your souls to health; and make them to flourish in immortal youth and beauty. Do you ask, How shall I obtain this blessing? We answer, just as the king of Judah, or the king of Britain, were restored to health: means were used for both; but the means were very inadequate to the end which was to be obtained: that which prevailed for both, was prayer; and that shall prevail for you. If you were like Jonah at the bottom of the sea in a whale’s belly, the prayer of faith should deliver you. Still however you must use the means; attend to the word that is preached; and read the Bible in your closets: but do not imagine that these means can convert your souls: no; that is the Lord’s work; and you will use all means in vain, if you do not beg of God to render them effectual. But if you pray, you will find the Lord far more ready to give, than you are to ask. To save sinners is his work, his office, his delight; it is “the joy which was set before him, in expectation of which he endured the cross and despised the shame:” yea, it is the import of his very name; for he was “called Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins.” This is a perpetual ground of joy to all; it calls for our devoutest thanks and praises: it should make us all adopt the language of the text, and say, “The Lord is ready to save me; therefore will I sing songs to him all the days of my life, in the house of the Lord.”

But if you have been restored to health; if you have experienced his salvation; if upon a review of your past life you can say with Hezekiah, “The Lord was ready to save me;” what ought to be the frame of your mind? how should you give thanks! the Psalmist says, “Let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed;” and if they will not, who will? The angels were not half so much indebted to him, as they for whom he shed his blood. “O then give thanks, give thanks unto our God; for it becometh well the just to be thankful:” “O come let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the God of our salvation.”]

An Analysis of The Foregoing Sermon

[The Author had at one time thought of inserting a considerable number of short sketches; but he relinquished the idea, from an apprhension that they would not afford sufficient aid to those, whose more immediate benefit he consulted. The following Analysis is added as a specimen.”]

PUBLIC acknowledgments of national mercies are proper. The king’s recovery is a just ground for them at this time.

  I.      The import of the words.         In which observe—

  1.      The occasion of them.        Here notice—

[Hezekiah’s illness, and dread of Approaching death. His character, as most concerned for God’s glory and the national welfare. The probable consequences of his death. The means of his recovery: prayer—figs. His expressions of thankfulness for it.]

  2.      The words themselves.      These contain—

[The grounds of his thankfulness; that God had restored him; and that he had been ready to do so. The expressions of it. He would give all the glory to God. He would do it publicly. He would have others to do the same. He would do it all his life.]

  II.      The use we should make of them—

  1.      To excite our gratitude for the king’s recovery—

[The occasions are similar; as to the persons that were ill (compare Hezekiah, and the king): as to the probable consequences of their not recovering: as to the means used for their recovery, PRAYER: and as to the readiness of God to comply with our requests.

Our gratitude should be similar; public—universal—fervent—perpetual.]

  2.      To excite our gratitude for the mercies of redemption—

[All are sick nigh unto death. The consequences of not recovering will be dreadful. The Lord is ready to heal us. PRAYER is the grand mean of recovery. All should rejoice; the sick, that the Lord is ready to save; the recovered, that he was, and still is, ready.]

DCCCCXX

THE SCOPE AND TENDENCY OF THE GOSPEL

  Isai. 40:1, 2.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

THE ministerial office is fitly compared to that of a steward, who divides to every one his proper portion. The execution of it calls for much wisdom and discretion, because there must be a diversity both in the matter and manner of our addresses corresponding with the different states of the people to whom we minister. To some we must of necessity proclaim the terrors of God’s law, however painful such a discharge of our duty may be: but the great scope of our ministry is rather to comfort the Lord’s people, and to “guide their feet into the way of peace.” The commission here given to the servants of Jehovah, is very remarkable, being thrice repeated in one single verse. In this view of it I am led particularly to shew,

  I.      How earnestly God desires the comfort and happiness of his people—

There are a people, chosen by the Father, redeemed by Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit, who are eminently the Lord’s people. And that God is peculiarly solicitous to promote their comfort, appears,

  1.      From the commission which he gave to his beloved Son—

[He sent his Son into the world to execute his eternal counsels. And our Lord himself, in his first public address to the people, declared, that the comfort of mourners was a principal object of his mission.]

  2.      From the end for which he sends his Spirit into the hearts of men—

[God sends his Spirit to testify of Christ, to witness our adoption into his familye, and to seal us unto the day of redemption. In performing these offices he comforts our souls. And he is, on that very account, distinguished by the name of “the Comforter.”]

  3.      From the titles which the Father himself assumes—

[He calls himself “The God of consolation,” and “the Comforter of all them that are “cast downi.” He compares his concern to that of a Father pitying his child, and to a mother comforting with tenderest assiduities her afflicted infantl. Yea, he assures us that his regards far exceed those of the most affectionate parent in the universe.]

  4.      From the solemn charge he gives to ministers—

[He sends his servants “to turn men from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” And he especially charges them to “strengthen the weak hands, to confirm the feeble Knees, and to say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; your God will come and save youo.” Thrice is that injunction repeated in the text: and in the execution of this duty we are justly called, “The helpers of your joy.”]

  5.      From the dispensations both of his providence and grace—

[When he suffered his beloved Son to be tempted in all things like unto us, it was with a view to comfort us under our temptations. And when he comforted St. Paul under his multiplied afflictions, he still consulted the comfort of his Church and peopler: yea, however he diversified his dispensations, he had invariably the same gracious object in view.]

As a further proof of his regard for our comfort, we may point out to you,

  II.      What abundant provision he has made for it in his word—

The message which we are commanded to deliver to his people, contains in it the richest sources of consolation—

  1.      To God’s ancient people—

[To them primarily was this proclamation made. And it was verified in part, when they were delivered from the Babylonish captivity and restored to the enjoyment of their former privileges in Jerusalem. But it was yet further fulfilled, when, by the sending of their Messiah, they were delivered from the yoke of the Mosaic law, which imposed a burthen which none of them were able to sustain. That, to those who received him as their Messiah, was a season of exceeding great joy; for they were translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s clear Son, and from a state of insupportable bondage “into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

It will not however be fully accomplished, till they shall, in their national capacity, return from their present dispersion, and be re-united, Israel with Judah, in their own land. Then will their warfare be as much accomplished as it can be in this life: then will the tokens of God’s displeasure be removed from them; and a state of prosperity be vouchsafed to them that shall far exceed all the sufferings they have ever endured, and all the privileges they have ever enjoyed. At no time have they ever been punished beyond their deserts; (their severest trials have been far less than their iniquities deserved:) but in that day shall their blessings infinitely exceed all that they can now either contemplate or conceive — — —]

  2.      To his believing people, in every age—

[It is the true Christian alone who can form any just idea of the import of my text. “His warfare is accomplished!” so far at least, as that he is in a state of victory over the world, and the flesh and the devil. He can say, “Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” “His sins too are blotted out as a morning cloud,” and “put away from him as far as the east is from the west.” God has mercifully “forgiven him all trespasses;” and he stands before God “without spot or blemish.” As for the blessings vouchsafed to him, no words can possibly express them: his “peace passeth all understanding;” and his “joy is unspeakable and full of glory.” “He has even now entered into rest,” according to that promise given him by our Lord, “Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden; and I will give you rest” — — —]

  SEE, then, Brethren,

  1.      What a wonderful difference exists between those who embrace, and those who disregard the Gospel—

[Can that be said of carnal and worldly men, which is here spoken of the Lord’s people? Are their chains broken? their sins forgiven? their comforts greater than any judgments that await them? No: they are yet in bondage to sin and Satan; their sins are all “sealed up in a bag” against the day of judgment; and the wrath of God is shortly coming upon them to the uttermost. Then it will appear how great a “difference there is between those who serve the Lord, and those who serve him not.” Let not this distinction then be made a subject of profane ridicule, but a motive to seek the Lord, that we may be numbered with his people, and be made partakers of his benefits.]

  2.      What inconceivable blessedness awaits the Lord’s people in a better world!

[Even in this life, as we have seen, their blessedness is exceeding great. But what will it be when once they shall lay down this mortal body, and enter into the joy of their Lord? Now conflicts remain even to their latest hour; and whatever victories they may gain, they must still remain girt for the combat. And, though “God has forgiven them all their trespasses,” so that he will never frown upon them in the eternal world, they still have occasion daily to implore mercy at his hands on account of their short-comings and defects. But in the day that they shall be taken into the immediate presence of their God, O! who can tell us what they shall “receive at his hands?” — — — Dear Brethren, do not think lightly of that joy; but be willing to sacrifice every thing for the attainment of it. Think in what estimation it is held by all who have entered into the eternal world. What would tempt those in heaven to part with it? or what would not they who are now in hell, give to be made partakers of it? Be assured, that it will be fully commensurate with all your labours, though they had been a thousand times greater than they have; and that one single hour of it will richly recompense all that it is possible for any finite creature either to do or suffer in the Saviour’s cause — — —]

DCCCCXXI

THE IMMUTABILITY OF THE GOSPEL

  Isai. 40:6–8.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

GOD doeth according to his own will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. When his time was come for the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, in vain did Pharaoh labour to retain them. Thus the prophet was inspired to declare the redemption of the Jews from Babylon, and the still greater redemption of the world from sin and Satan, in despite of all endeavours which might be used to thwart the divine purpose. This seems to be the immediate scope of the words before us. But they may also be taken as a general declaration respecting the instability of every thing human, and the immutability of God’s word.

  I.      The instability of every thing human—

The comparison of man to grass is very frequent in the Scriptures; and it affords a just description of,

  1.      Our temporal comforts—

[The grass in the early spring adorns and beautifies the face of nature; but, when parched by a burning sun or an eastern blast, it soon withers and decays: in the same manner the beauty and strength of youth are soon turned to weakness and deformity: the affluence and honour of the rich are quickly changed to degradation and want: and all our goodly fabrics of case and happiness are soon demolished. St. James illustrates this truth by the very comparison in the text: and as Job experienced it in the days of old, so in every age may numerous instances be found of such vicissitudes.]

  2.      Our spiritual comforts—

[God is pleased to give rich consolation to his people: and, while they enjoy it, their faces are made, as it were, to shine, as the face of Moses did, when he descended from the holy mount. But these comforts are often of short continuance. When Peter thought of building tabernacles to protract his happiness, a cloud immediately overshadowed him, and he was called down to renew his conflicts with the world. When David fancied his mountain so strong that he should never be moved, God hid his face from him and he was troubledc. Thus it is also with all the people of God; whose manifold changes in this respect may well be compared with the diversified scenes of nature under the influence of kindly showers, or malignant winds.]

  3.      Our very life itself—

[In the midst of health we promise ourselves years to come: but, when God withdraws our breath, we instantly return to our native dust. Some look more gay and possess more “goodliness” than others; but they are only as the “flower of the field,” which cannot survive the grass, and not unfrequently falls before it. In this view the inspired writers describe our state; and both observation and experience attest the truth of their representations: we must all confess, in the language of the text, “Surely, the people is grass.”]

But while every thing human is thus frail and transient, we have a firm foundation whereon to stand, namely,

  II.      The immutability of God’s blessed word—

The “word of God” here spoken of, may be understood as relating to Christ, who is often called by this name, and whose immutability is mentioned by the Psalmist in this very view. But St. Peter informs us that the prophet spake of the Gospel-salvationg. Now

This “word” contains the most important and comfortable truths—

[There is no want, which it is not able to supply, no disorder, for which it does not prescribe a remedy. It proclaims health to the sick, sight to the blind, liberty to the captives, and life to the dead. So extensive are its invitations and promises, that there is not a human being excluded from its provisions, nor is there any limit to the blessings which it will impart. It assures us, that sins of a crimson die may become white as snow; that the most heavy-laden soul may obtain rest; and that none, who come to Jesus, shall on any account be cast out.]

Nor is it a small excellence in these truths, that they are as immutable as God himself—

[How vain were the attempts of men and devils to stop the progress of the Gospel, and to make void the declarations of God respecting it! Equally vain shall be every endeavour to invalidate the promises which he has made to the believing penitent. Has he said, that “all manner of sin shall be forgiven; that he will cleanse us from all our filthiness and from all our idols; and that, where he has begun the good work, he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ?” We may rest assured that he will fulfil his word: for “he is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man that he should repent.” But it may be said, “Though God changeth not, yet we change, and therefore may forfeit our interest in the promises.” True; if God should leave us, we not only may, but most undoubtedly shall, both fall and perish. But God has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; so that we may adopt the confident declaration of St. Paul, “I know in whom I have believed, that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him.” We must be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Then, though difficulties may arise, and appear for a while wholly insurmountable, they shall surely be overcome; “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and we shall see the salvation of God.”]

  We may LEARN from hence,

  1.      The folly of seeking our rest in earthly things—

[The injunction given to the prophet to “cry,” and to proclaim aloud that “all flesh is grass,” and the frequent repetition of this comparison, are strong intimations of the extreme vanity of every thing here below. And who amongst us has not found that the enjoyments he fondly anticipated, have either eluded his grasp, or deceived his expectation? Whatever then be our comforts in life, let us not set our hearts upon them, but “so use the world as not abusing it, knowing that the fashion thereof passeth away.”]

  2.      The wisdom of embracing the Gospel-salvation—

[They who trust in the word of God are sure of never being disappointed. However high their expectations are raised, they shall never be ashamed. The stronger their faith, the more abiding will be their comfort. Besides, their enjoyments, instead of cloying, will become more and more delightful; and, instead of bringing with them many inseparable ills, will produce nothing but good to their souls. But that which most of all must endear the Gospel to them is, that their happiness will then be consummated, when they, whose comforts were of an earthly nature, will want even a drop of water to cool their tongue. Let the word of God then be precious to our souls. Let Christ, as revealed in it, be the object of our faith, and hope, and love. Let us embrace the promises, assured that they shall all be fulfilled; and let us tremble at the threatening, knowing that they shall all be executed. Thus shall we be proof against the temptations of the world, and shall possess an eternity of glory, when the lovers of this present world will lie down in everlasting burnings.]

DCCCCXXII

THE MESSIAH’S ADVENT

             Isai. 40:9.

Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God.

THE Gospel with all its sublime mysteries is regarded by the generality with coldness and indifference; whereas the most indistinct prospects of it were sufficient to fill the patriarchs and prophets with holy rapture. It was a view of its Divine Author which drew forth from the prophet this animated exhortation. He saw Jesus as it were already incarnate, and called upon the daughters of Zion and Jerusalem to proclaim and celebrate his advent. That, which he proposed to them as the subject of their song, is the one great subject also of our ministrations. To call your attention unto Jesus, to set him forth as crucified before your eyes, and, with an exalted voice, to cry, Behold your God! this is our commission. But before we proceed to execute it, we shall,

  I.      Shew what is implied in this commission—

We cannot fail to observe, what the prophet so strongly intimates,

  1.      That Christ is God—

[This is a fundamental article of our fuith. The Godhead of Christ is that which stamps a value on his sufferings, and renders the whole of his undertaking so meritorious and efficient. It would be to little purpose to say with Pilate, “Behold the man,” if we could not also add with the prophet, “Behold your God.” But we are not left to doubt of this important truth: it is clearly established in almost every page of the sacred volume: we need go no further than to the writings of Isaiah; and we shall find it expressly asserted, that the person who was to be “a Child born, and a Son given to us,” WAS THE MIGHTY GOD. He was therefore to be called Emmanuel, because he was God with us. In the very chapter before us, his forerunner, John the Baptist, was commissioned to cry, Prepare ye the way of THE LORD (Jehovah) make straight in the desert an high-way for OUR GOD. But we need not multiply words on this subject, since the voice of inspiration universally proclaims him to have been, “God manifest in the flesh,” “God over all, blessed for evere.”

  2.      That the knowledge of Christ is of universal importance—

[It was through all “the cities of Judah,” and with her “voice lifted up with strength,” that the daughter of Zion was to celebrate the Messiah’s advent. And whence the need of such zeal and labour, but on account of the universal importance of those glad tidings? Indeed there is no other thing which men so much need to be acquainted with as the work and offices of Christ. No attainments can save them, if they be ignorant of Christ; nor can any past sins condemn them, if they be truly acquainted with this divine Saviour. “This,” as our Lord himself tells us, “is life eternal, to know God as the only true God, and Jesus Christ,” as our Mediator and Advocate with the Father. So excellent is this knowledge, that St. Paul “counted all things but loss and dung in comparison of it.” It is the one mean of obtaining reconciliation with God, peace of conscience, and deliverance from the power of sinh. O that all were aware how deeply they are interested in receiving these glad tidings! We should proclaim them with infinitely greater pleasure, if we had not so much reason to complain, that “they are counted as a strange thing.”]

Taking for granted these fundamental and indisputable truths, we shall,

  II.      Endeavour to execute the commission—

The text does not limit us to any particular point of view in which we are to behold our God; we shall therefore direct your attention to him,

  1.      As descending from heaven—

[Lo! he comes from his bright abodes: but in what form does he appear? Does he descend in solemn pomp, attended with myriads of the heavenly host? Does he visit the palaces of the great, and assume our nature in its most dignified appearance? No: He is born of an obscure virgin, and has no better place for his reception than a stable. Go, look into his mean abode; see him wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger; look, I say, and behold your God! What marvellous condescension! how does it almost exceed belief, yet, incredible as it appears, we must again say, Behold your God!]

  2.      As sojourning on earth—

[Surely, no sooner could his incarnation be known, than all the world, like the eastern Magi, must flock to worship him. So one might reasonably hope; but what is that “weeping and lamentation” that we hear? The young child’s life is sought. The children from two years old and under are massacred through the whole district, that no possibility may be left for his escape: and He is saved only by the special interposition of his heavenly Father. See his parents fleeing with him by night to a distant, a heathen, land, not daring to return to their native country till the death of their blood-thirsty persecutor! But this was only the beginning of sorrows. View him afterwards when he assumed his proper office as the Prophet of his church: no sooner did he open his commission, than the short-lived applause afforded him was turned into the most cruel indignation; and if he had not by an exertion of his own almighty power effected his escape, his very first sermon had proved his last. But to pass over to the period of his death. Whom is it that we see prostrate on the ground, and bathed in a bloody sweat? Who is it that those cruel soldiers are mocking, buffeting, scourging? Who is it that is nailed to yonder cross, and that we see expiring under such an accumulated weight of shame and misery? To all this we answer, Behold your GOD!]

  3.      As exalted to glory—

[Hitherto we have witnessed nothing but his humiliation; but the shame of his cross was quickly rolled away. In vain were the stone, the seal, the watch: he burst the bands of death, and rose triumphant. Henceforth we are to view him ascending amidst myriads of exulting angels, sitting on the throne of his glory, dispensing blessings to the church below, and receiving the adorations of his church above. Sinner, lift up thine eyes to heaven, and behold thy once crucified, but now exalted, Redeemer! Now he shines forth in all his glory, and says to thee, even to thee, “Behold me, behold me!” O that every eye might see him, and that all, who have pierced him by their sins, might mourn and be in bitterness, as one that mourneth for his first-born sono! Soon indeed all shall see him: the time is shortly coming, when he will descend from heaven again, not however to stand, as before, like a criminal at man’s tribunal, but to execute judgment on the assembled universe; and then happy shall they be who have behold him here with suitable affection; they shall behold his face with inexpressible delight; and be the spectators of his glory, and the partners of his throne, to all eternity.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      The careless—

[Know you what the sins, which you commit so lightly, have occasioned? Go to Calvary and behold your God; and then judge whether sin be so light and venial a matter as you are ready to imagine! The Jews and Romans were the immediate actors in that bloody tragedy; but your sins, and the sins of an ungodly world, were the real occasion of all that your God endured; and, while you continue in your sins, you “crucify him afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Ah! did David cast away the water, for which the lives of three men had been endangered, and will not you cast away the sins which have actually shed the blood of God? Let this thought induce you to put away the polluted cup from your lips; and and let “the love of Christ constrain you to live unto him who died for you and rose again.”]

  2.      The heavy-laden—

[To you especially the Saviour cries, “Look unto me, and be ye saved! “Come unto me, and find rest unto your souls!” Consider well, who it is that thus invites you; it is your Saviour, and your God; there can be no want of efficacy in his blood, or of power in his arm: he is a strong rock, a sure foundation, an all-sufficient help. Trust then in him; and, as a sight of the brazen serpent healed the dying Israelites, so shall a view of your divine Saviour prove an effectual remedy for all your wants. You shall soon, like Thomas, exclaim with holy rapture, “My Lord and my God!” or, in the language long since dictated to you by the spirit of prophecy, “Lo, this is OUR GOD; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him: we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”]

DCCCCXXIII

CHRIST’S CARE FOR HIS SHEEP

  Isai. 40:11.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom; and shall gently lead those that are with young.

THE holy Psalmist, speaking of Jehovah’s care of him, says, “The Lord is my Shepherd:” and then, from the union of the Godhead with the pastoral office, he infers, “Therefore I shall not want.” The same incomprehensible union is mentioned by the prophet in the passage before us. The heralds that proclaimed the advent of the Messiah were commanded to draw the attention of men to them in these words, “Behold your God!” The person thus announced, is further described in the words preceding our text; “Behold! the Lord God will come:” and then it is added, “HE shall feed his flock like a shepherd.” Now when it is considered how prone the Israelites were to idolatry, it cannot be conceived that the prophet should speak of the Messiah in such exalted terms, if they did not properly belong to him. But the prophets generally, and Isaiah in particular, are very full and explicit in declaring, that Jehovah was to become incarnate, and by the sacrifice of himself to redeem and save a ruined world. It is not however of his person that we now propose to speak, but of his office; that being the particular point to which my text refers: yet it would be improper to pass over such a strong testimony to the divinity of our blessed Lord, because, in the judgment of all, but more especially of Jews, it must have the effect of silencing every doubt upon that important subject. And it adds no little interest to the description here given of him, when we know, that He who so condescends to minister as a Shepherd to the least and meanest of his flock, is the Most High God: according as it is written, “To us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and his name shall be called, The Mighty God.”

The words which form the ground-work of our discourse, will lead me to set before you,

  I.      A general view of our Lord as a Shepherd—

The character of a shepherd is frequently assigned to our blessed Lord, in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament: and every duty pertaining to that office is executed by him:—

  1.      He gathers them to his fold—

[They are “wandering upon the dark mountains, in a cloudy and dark day;” “every one going in his own waye,” and “after the imaginations of his own heart” — — — The paths of all, though differing from each other according as the age, the inclinations, and the diversified temptations of the different individuals may lead them — — — all agree in this, that they are far distant from the ways of God’s commandmentsg. But “he searches for them, and seeks them out:” he follows them by the preaching of his word, by the dispensations of his providence, by the mighty working of his Spirit; and, having found them, “he apprehends them” by his pastoral crook, and “makes them willing” to return with himi, and “carries them home upon his shoulders rejoicing”— — —]

  2.      He provides for their wants—

[O! how sweet are the pastures into which he leads them! Who can express the delight which a converted soul experiences in feeding upon the promises, “the exceeding great and precious promises” of his God? — — — In comparison of the food provided for the sheep of Christ, all else is but as “husks on which the swine subsist.” This is set forth in Scripture under the image of a luxurious feastn: and verily it is “a feast of fat things” to all the saints; a feast, of which even the angels themselves might account it a privilege to partake — — —]

  3.      He affords them his effectual protection—

[Weak as they are, and beset with many enemies, they are preserved in perfect safety — — — He who laid down his life for them, will suffer “none to pluck them out of his handq” — — — “They lie down beside the still waters,” which are a just emblem of the tranquillity of their own souls — — — “They are kept in perfect peace, because they trust in him.”]

  4.      He administers to them according to their diversified necessities—

[Amongst them there will be some who are sick, or diseased, or injured by some misfortune: but he knows all their particular cases, and imparts to them the relief which they severally need; “bringing buck those which have been driven away, binding up that which has been broken, and strengthening that which is sick”— — — and never intermitting his care of them, till he has brought them to his fold aboveu— — —]

But our text requires us to take,

  II.      A more particular view of him as ministering to the weak and needy—

Let us notice then in a more especial manner,

  1.      His tenderness to the weak—

[The lambs which have been but recently brought forth, may be supposed incapable of proceeding with the flock to any distant pasture. But these “he will gather with his arms, and carry in his bosom.” “He will not despise the day of small things.” There is not one in all his flock so weak, but he will pay the most minute attention to its necessities. He who gave so particular a charge to Peter to “feed his lambs,” and required this of him as a necessary proof of his love, will not himself neglect his lambs; but rather will augment his tender assiduities in proportion as the weakness of the lamb calls for more peculiar care: he will even take it up, and “carry it in his bosom.” In what an endearing view does this place the character of our blessed Lord! — — — How sweetly encouraging is this consideration to those who feel their weakness, and are ready to despond because of it! — — — Let us remember, that when his disciples would have kept persons from troubling him with their little children, he reproved them, and said, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Whether therefore you be children in respect of your natural or spiritual birth, fail not to come to him, assured, that he will bear with your infirmities, and “perfect his own strength in your weaknessa” — — —]

  2.      His compassion to the afflicted—

[He will have respect to the state of his flock, even as Jacob had, who “would not overdrive them one day, lest they should all die.” So our blessed Lord “will gently lead that which is with young.” There are amongst his people many who are weary and heavy-laden with a sense of sin, and bowed down greatly by reason of the difficulties of their way. But to the former he sends a special invitation, with an assured promise of rest: and to the latter he authorizes us to declare, that “he will raise them upd.” In truth, he is pre-eminently distinguished by this, that “he will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax; but will bring forth judgment unto victory. Consider what is implied in these metaphors: a bruised reed is, according to human appearance, incapable of ever sending forth a melodious sound; and smoking flax has, as it were, but a hidden spark of fire, whilst it is sending forth whole clouds of corruption: yet will Christ fan the expiring spark to a flame, and attune the reed to send forth the most heavenly strains. Let none then despond, however destitute they may be of any thing to encourage them from within; but let them “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” — — —]

  Let me now ADD a few words,

  1.      In commendation of this good Shepherd—

[Whence is it that all do not put themselves under his care? Is there any want of love, or tenderness, or power in him? God frequently, by his prophets, called on his rebellious people to testify against him, and to say, whether there had been any want of kindness or care in him: “O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me.” “What could I have done more for my people than I have doneh?” So do I now, in the name of this good Shepherd, call upon you all this day, to bear, if you can, your testimony against him. Whom did he ever neglect or despise? Whom that sought him did he ever refuse to receive? Whom that trusted in him, did he ever omit to supply according to his necessities? — — — If then no complaint ever was, or could be made against him from the world, let every heart appreciate his excellency, and every soul commit itself to its care — — —]

  2.      For the augmentation and encouragement of his flock—

[You who have to this hour been going astray, and walking in the way of your own hearts, reflect upon your guilt and danger, and “return now without delay to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” — — — As employed by him, I come now to search you out, and to bring you home to his foldl — — — O think, how delightful it will be to “hear his voice calling every one of you by name,” and “going in and out with you” as long as you shall remain in this dreary wilderness, and then performing the same office for you in the realms of blisso; “O listen not to the voice of strangers” — — — but, follow him — — — that you may be one fold under one Shepherd for ever and ever.]

DCCCCXXIV

THE DESPONDING ENCOURAGED

  Isai. 40:27–31.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

THE human mind is prone to extremes. Before a man comes to the knowledge of himself, he is filled with presumption, and accounts himself as safe as if there were no judgments denounced against him: but, when he begins to feel his guilt and helplessness, he is ready to run into the opposite extreme of despondency, and to account his state as irremediable, as if there were not a promise in the Bible suited to his condition. Such were the feelings of the Jews before their captivity in Babylon, and under the pressure of the troubles which they experienced in their bondage. The prophet, by anticipation, views them us already in Babylon, and reproves the desponding apprehensions which there depressed their souls.

The words I have read, will afford me a fit occasion to set before you,

  I.      The discouragements which the Lord’s people suffer—

It is really no uncommon thing for even pious souls to utter the complaint mentioned in my text. They do this on a variety of occasions:

  1.      Under a sense of unpardoned guilt—

[Sin, which in an unenlightened state appears so small an evil, to an awakened soul appears “exceeding sinful,” insomuch that he is ready to imagine it can never be forgiven. Hear David under these distressing apprehensions: “O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure! for thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head; as an heavy burthen, they are too heavy for me.” Even good men will, at times, adopt the language of Cain: “Mine iniquity is greater than can be forgivenb.” Nor is this to be wondered at: for when we view sin with all its aggravations, and especially as committed against the love of Christ and the strivings of his good Spirit, it does assume a character most odious, and justly deserving of God’s heaviest indignation.]

  2.      Under the assaults of indwelling corruption—

[These continue long after a man is turned to the Lord. They have indeed received a check; but often, like water obstructed by a dam, they rise and swell the more for the opposition that is made to them. St. Paul’s experience in this respect has kept thousands from utter despondency. How bitterly he complains of “the law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin that was in his members!’” From hence, like a man bound with chains to a lothesome carcase, from which he cannot get loose, he cries, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” He indeed saw that deliverance was laid up for him in and through Christ. But many are driven almost to despair: their conflicts with sin and Satan are so frequent and so violent, and sometimes, in appearance at least, so ineffectual, that they are ready to imagine that God has given them up, and that it is in vain for them to contend any more. In this state they are strongly tempted to say, “There is no hope: I have loved strangers; and after them will I go.”]

  3.      Under the pressure of long-continued afflictions—

[These will oppress and overwhelm the strongest man, if he be not succoured from above with strength according to his day. Under these, David frequently complains, as if God had left him and forsaken him: “Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted: thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.” The patient Jobf, the pious Jeremiah, the intrepid Elijah, all fainted through their troubles: the two former cursed the day of their birth; and the latter, scarcely less excusable, prayed impatiently to God to “take away his life,” in order to liberate him from his troubles. Even the Saviour himself, in his afflictions, adopted the language of the Psalmist, “My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaringi?” And no doubt the hands of the strongest will hang down, and the heart of the stoutest faint, if God strengthen them not to drink the cup which men and devils concur to put into their hands.]

But it would not be thus with them, if they used aright,

  II.      The antidote provided for them in the Scriptures—

In the Scriptures, Jehovah is represented as ordering and overruling all things; and as being a God,

  1.      Of almighty power—

[There is nothing in the whole universe which did not derive its existence from his all-creating hand; nor is any thing left to its own operations without his sovereign control. Be it either good or evil, it subsists only through his permission; as God himself has told us: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.” Even the murderers of our blessed Lord, though perfectly free agents in all that they did, “effected only what the hand und counsel of Jehovah himself had determined before to be donel.” Be it so then: our guilt lies heavy on our souls; our corruptions work with almost irresistible force; our troubles of divers kinds threaten utterly to destroy us: but is there no power able to deliver? Cannot He who created all things by a word, and spake them into existence, accomplish for us whatever our necessities require? “Is his ear heavy, that he cannot hear; or his arm shortened, that he cannot save?” Were we left to the uncontrolled power of our spiritual enemies, we might well despair: but whilst God is seated on his throne, we need never fear but that he will interpose for our relief, if only we cast our care on him. “If we cast our burthen upon him, he will sustain us.”]

  2.      Of unerring wisdom—

[Because God does not exert his Almighty power for us at the first moment that we implore his aid, we suppose “that our way is hid from him, and our judgment is passed over from him,” or, in other words, that he has utterly cast us off. But we forget that he has gracious designs to accomplish; and that he accomplishes them in ways of which we have no conception, and which appear calculated only to defeat his ends. We measure his wisdom by the scanty line of our own reason; forgetting that “his ways are in the great deep,” and “past finding out” by any finite intelligence: that “there is no searching of his understanding.” Now let this be considered: let the afflicted saint contemplate Jehovah as ordering and overruling every thing for the good of his people and for the glory of his own name; let him say, ‘I have cried long, and not been heard: but perhaps the purposes of Jehovah are not yet ripe for accomplishment: there is more of humiliation to be produced in my soul; more of a preparation of mind for discerning; of his mighty hand; more depression to be caused in order to a more glorious exaltation.’ Let him recollect the ways in which Joseph’s dreams were realized; and bear in mind, that the same God sitteth at the helm, and directs the vessel amidst all the storms, “the very storms and winds all fulfilling his sovereign will and pleasure.” This were abundantly sufficient to compose the mind under the most afflictive circumstances that can be imagined: for where there is unerring wisdom to direct, and Almighty power to execute, no difficulty can exist, which shall not be overruled for good.]

But let the text declare,

  III.      The happy state of those who duly improve this antidote—

To wait on God in prayer is necessary, in order to the obtaining of help from him—

[He has said that “he will be inquired of, in order that he may do for us the things that he has promised.” This is indispensable in every view: for without it there would be no acknowledgment of him on our part, nor any readiness to give him glory, when he had interposed for our relief. Nor is it only in a way of importunity that we are to wait upon him, but in a way of humble dependence also, and of meek submission to his will. We must leave every thing to his all-wise disposal; “tarrying his leisure,” and “waiting his time, however long the vision may be delayed.” “He that believeth must not make hasteq.”]

To all who comply with this requisite, the most effectual relief is secured—

[It is God’s delight to succour his people in the time of need: “He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” This, I say, is his habit and delight: and one great end of his delaying the communication! of his aid is, to make men more sensible of their dependence on him, and more thankful for his gracious interpositions. Till he vouchsafe his answers to prayer, all human efforts are vain; “even the youths will faint and be weary; and the young men, how strong soever they imagine themselves to be, will utterly fall:” but “they that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.” Like the eagle, when moulting, they may be greatly reduced; but in due season, like him, with his renovated plumage, they shall soar on high, above all the trials and temptations with which they have been oppressed. Their course may be yet long and difficult; the opposition which they may have to encounter may be exceeding violent; but, through the Divine aid, “they shall run and not be weary; they shall march onward, and not faint.”]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      In a way of tender expostulation—

[Such a state of mind as God’s people of old indulged, is approved by many, as characteristic of humility. But it is a mark of pride rather, and of unbelief; and it is calculated only to excite God’s heavy displeasure. This appears from the manner in which it is here reproved. In fact, it argues a forgetfulness of all our principles as men acknowledging a Supreme Being. Have we not known, that there is a God who ordereth all things both in heaven and in earth? Have we not heard, that “without him not so much as a sparrow falleth to the ground?” How then can we imagine that he is inattentive to his suffering or conflicting people, or that he is at a loss for means whereby to effect their deliverance? Have we not heard that “he has given us his only dear Son to die for us? What, then, will he withhold from those who seek him?” Still further; Have we not heard that “he has made with us an everlasting covenant, a covenant ordered in all things and sure?” And is not a supply of all our wants there provided for? Be ashamed, then, my Brethren, that, with such principles, you can give way to any disquietude. You have only to “commit yourselves, and all your concerns, into his hands; and be sure that he will bring to pass” whatever shall eventually advance your best interests.]

  2.      In a way of affectionate encouragement—

[See to what all your fears are really owing. The pious Asaph was harassed with them, like you: but, on reflection, he said, “This is mine infirmity” — — — Be assured, that not all the powers of earth or hell can prevail against you, if only, in the exercise of faith and patience, you wait on God. Take courage, then, and call yourselves to an account, as David did, for such unworthy fears and such unhallowed depression: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul! and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.” If you need some specific promise for your support, take that which God has given to such as are in your very state: “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Rest on this, and you shall soon add your testimony to that of David: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and ordered my goings: and he hath put a new song into my mouth, even praise and thanksgiving to my God.”]

DCCCCXXV

THE WEAK BELIEVER COMFORTED

  Isai. 41:10.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

OF the contest between Jehovah and the worshippers of idols, we who have never witnessed the madness of idolaters, have no conception: and, consequently, the pains taken by Jehovah to vindicate his exclusive right to the worship of his creatures appear almost superfluous. But the pertinacity with which idol-worship was upheld, not only amongst the heathen nations around Judea, but even in Judea itself, rendered every possible effort necessary to withstand its influence, and to suppress its growth. Power and authority were for the most part on the side of idolatry; in support of which the bitterest persecutions were set on foot against the adherents of true religion. But Jehovah promises to them his support, and assures them, that, however severely tried for a season, they shall triumph at last.

This is the primary import of our text. But, when we recollect, that there is a spiritual idolatry still prevalent, and that there still exists the same contest between Jehovah and the votaries of this present world, and that his faithful servants are still greatly obstructed in their ways, and painfully persecuted too for their fidelity to him, we shall see that the encouragement in our text is as needful for them, as ever it was for his people of old.

I propose then to set before you,

  I.      The grounds which the Lord’s people have for fear—

The idea of guilt and unworthiness might well come into our view, if we were treating the subject without any reference to the context: but as the fear and dismay mentioned in our text originated only in the power of their enemies, their own inability to withstand them, and the fearful consequences of a defeat, we think it right to confine our observations to those topics.

The Lord’s people then have many fears as arising from,

  1.      The number and power of their enemies—

[It is well known that the world and all its votaries are in direct opposition to the children of God. As Gideon no sooner made a league with Joshua, than all the kings of Canaan confederated to destroy them; so no sooner does any one enter into covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ and submit to him, than the whole world account him a deserter from their cause, and use all their efforts to bring him back to their standard. Even our dearest friends will be the foremost in this warfare; and “our greatest foes be those of our own household.” In confirmation of this assertion, we appeal, not to the Scriptures only, but to fact and experience. Let any man set his face to seek the Lord, and all around him will put themselves in array against him, and employ all the arts of persuasion, ridicule, expostulation, and menace, in order, if possible, to divert him from his purpose. Those who, when he was going on in the ways of sin, never uttered a single word of advice to induce him to flee from the wrath to come, no sooner behold him turning into the way of righteousness, than they express the deepest concern about his welfare, and labour to the uttermost to reclaim him from what they account the most egregious folly — — —.

In league with them will both the flesh, and the devil be; the one striving by the violence of its in-dwelling lusts, and the other by the subtlety of his devices, to draw him back into that state of guilt and bondage from which he has just escaped — — —

Such enemies, so numerous, so subtle, so inveterate, the Christian scarcely knows how to encounter: and the thought of their combined and continued efforts to destroy him, fills him not unfrequently with terror and “dismay” — — —]

  2.      His utter inability to withstand them—

The Christian has no idea of the extent of his own impotency to that which is good, till he comes to exert himself in the ways of God. He then finds that “without aid from the Lord Jesus Christ, he can do nothing.” This oftentimes greatly discourages him: “If,” says he, “I have run with footmen, and they have wearied me, how shall I contend with horses?” If I am not able to encounter the least of all my enemies, how can I withstand the united force of all? The discouragements arising from this source are the greater, because they so continually recur. The Christian cannot address himself to any duty, but he is constrained from painful experience to acknowledge, that all his sufficiency to do, or to will, or even to think what is good, is of God alone — — — Verily, if it were not that he had hope in God, he would sit down in utter despair — — —]

  3.      The dreadful consequence of a defeat—

[Eternity is at stake; an eternity of bliss or woe; of bliss or woe unutterable, and inconceivable: and to those only who overcome will the prize of victory be assigned, even to those who maintain the conflict to the end, and overcome all the enemies of their souls. And how fearful the alternative! how dreadful the thought of dwelling with everlasting burnings! Can a man open his eyes to such a prospect, and not fear? Is it not sufficient to appal the stoutest heart? True indeed, some are borne up above all such fears, and are “assured, that, when the earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, they have an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens:” but all are not so privileged; or rather, all do not so fully attain the enjoyment of their privileges: and to them a doubt or suspicion of their ultimate acceptance with God is a source of the most disquieting apprehension.]

But however great be their fears, they may dismiss them all, when they are informed of,

  II.      The encouragement here afforded them—

Every difficulty that could harass their minds is obviated in our text, in which all their fears are anticipated, and their wants supplied. God promises them,

  1.      His presence—

[Were we left in the power of our enemies without any friend at hand to help us, we might well fear. But God says to the trembling soul, “Fear not; for I am with thee.” Now if but a fellow-creature were with us in a season of difficulty, we should take courage, especially if we knew that he was competent to afford us the protection we desired. How much more then may we be satisfied if Almighty God be with us! In the contemplation of this, David says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, God is in the midst of us: we shall not be moved. God shall help us, and that right early. The Lord of Hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our refuge.”

But if it be said, God may be “with us” as an enemy, or as an indifferent spectator: therefore it is not a mere persuasion of his presence that will satisfy our minds; he further assures his people of,]

  2.      His care—

[Believers are “his people; and He is their God:” and in this character will he be with them in all their trials. A stranger may see a person injured, and not feel himself sufficiently interested to interpose for his relief: but a husband, or a father, will not so act: he will feel the injury as done to himself; and will make the cause his own. So will God do for his people, who are authorized in all their troubles to say to him, “Arise, and plead thine own cause.” “Whoso toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye:” and “his eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in behalf of those who trust in him:” and every perfection that he possesses will he put forth for their preservation and protection — — —

Yet, as his people are required to exert themselves, and are apt to be discouraged on account of their extreme weakness, he promises them,]

  3.      His succour—

[We are told that he will “put strength into his people,” and “strengthen them with might by his power in their inward man.” What then need they to fear, when “the arms of their hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacobf?” The weakest of them all may fearlessly adopt the language of the prophet, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song: he also is become my salvation.” Yes; the veriest stripling, with his sling and his stone, may go forth against all the Goliaths in the universe, assured of victory: for “he can do all things, through Christ who strengthened! him.”

Yet, because the Christian’s enemies are far too strong for an arm of flesh, and he is apt, notwithstanding the strength imparted to him, to be discouraged; God further engages to aid him with,]

  4.      His co-operation—

[Fear not; for “I will help thee,” says God: “I will help thine infirmities.” In this expression there is something deserving of especial notice. The term used imports, that when our burthen is so heavy and cumbersome that we cannot with all our exertions support it, God promises that he will take hold of it at the opposite end, and bear it together with us. Be it so then, that our burthen is too heavy for us: but is it too heavy for him also? “Is there any thing too hard for the Lord?” “If he be for us, not all the powers of earth and hell combined can with any effect exert themselves against us.”

Still, as long as any thing depends on him, the trembling believer cannot dispel his fears: and therefore, to complete the consolation afforded him, God assures him of,]

  5.      His effectual support—

[“I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” What can the believer want more than this; to have the eternal God for his refuge; and to have “underneath him his everlasting arms?” “O! happy indeed art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thine excellency?” After this promise, we wonder not at the assurances added to our text, “Behold! all that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. Fear not, thou worm Jacob: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small as chaff, so that the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them.”]

  And now, if, after this, any of you entertain unbelieving fears, let me EXPOSTULATE with you, as God himself does—

[“I, even I, am he that comforteth you: Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker; and fearest every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?” Do not so dishonour your Lord and Saviour: but believe him able, believe him willing, to afford you all needful succour, and to “save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him” — — —]

  Yet let me not conclude without adding a few words for the CONVICTION of those who know nothing of such fears as these—

[They who have never had a fear of their state, are at this moment destitute of any scriptural hope: for, What can they know of themselves? What can they know of the Christian warfare? What can they know of the Scriptures of truth? They are altogether in darkness even until now. Can it be supposed that God would use such efforts for the encouragement of his people, if they did not need encouragement? Why did Jehovah so tenderly chide his people of old for their fears, and give them such rich promises of aid, if their situation did not require such supports? or why does our blessed Lord still say, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom?” Know of a surety, that the Christian life is attended with many difficulties: and that all the supports and consolations afforded to the believer in the Holy Scriptures, are no more than his necessities require: and, if ever you begin to serve the Lord in truth, you will find the promise in our text more precious to you than gold, and “sweeter to you than honey, or the honeycomb.”]

DCCCCXXVI

THE WORM JACOB THRESHING THE MOUNTAINS

  Isai. 41:14–16.

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff; thou shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.

TO comfort and encourage the weak is among the first duties of a minister. The command of God to all his servants is, to strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, and dispel the fears of the desponding, with an assurance, that their God will come and save them. This is an office executed by our blessed Lord, who “carries the lambs in his bosom, and gently leads them that are with youngb.” The delight which the Father himself also takes in raising up the drooping minds of his people, appears eminently in this, that he frequently addresses them in terms which they, through despondency, would use to characterize themselves; and then under those very characters assures them of his most favourable regards. This is particularly conspicuous in the passage before us, where, addressing his people, he declares,

  I.      Their character—

[The name of a “worm” as applied to our blessed Lord, denotes his low and abject condition during his abode on earth: but, as applied to us, it rather represents our weakness and insufficiency for any thing that is good. In this sense it does indeed most justly mark our character: for there is no creature less capable of active exertion than a worm, or less able to effect any material good: and certainly our inability to perform that which is good is extreme; for we not only cannot of ourselves do a good action, but we cannot even speak a good worde, or think a good thought. God himself must give us both to will and to dog, and must work all our good works in us. As rational beings we have yet a considerable portion of the Divine image upon us; but as moral agents, “we are very far gone from original righteousness,” and are altogether “dead in trespasses and sins;” nor have we any more power to renovate ourselves, than “an Ethiopian has to change his complexion, or a leopard his spots.”]

  II.      Their labours—

[Notwithstanding our utter impotence, we have an immensely difficult work to perform: “the worm Jacob” is required to “thresh mountains,” and to reduce them all to dust: though himself liable to be crushed beneath the smallest clod, he must address himself to this mighty task. There were to all human appearance insurmountable obstacles to the progress of the Christian Church, which yet it was destined to overcome: so are there mountains in the way of every individual, which yet he must remove, before he can arrive at the Promised Land. What almost insuperable difficulties does the world present to him! its pleasures, its maxims, its habits, its company, its friendship, its hatred, its fiercest opposition, must all be regarded as a thing of nought — — — The flesh too, with all its affections and lusts, must be mortified and subdued — — — Yea, Satan himself, with all the principalities and powers of hell, must be encountered and overcome — — — Alas! who is sufficient for these things? Who that is informed of Demas turning aside through love of this present evil world, and of the great Apostle himself crying “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?” must not tremble for himself? But such is the work assigned us; and the weakest amongst us must undertake and execute it, ere he can receive from God the the promised recompence of reward.]

  III.      Their successes—

[Weak as they are, they all prevail at last. As the Jews, notwithstanding all the obstructions of the Red Sea, the wilderness, and the warlike inhabitants of Canaan, obtained at last the full possession of the promised land, and as the Christian Church triumphed at last over all the power of the Roman empire, so is every believer crowned with victory at last — — — The hills and mountains are levelled through his unwearied exertionsl: and he is “made more than conqueror through Christ who loveth him.” Through faith he overcomes the world; by the aid of the Holy Spirit he mortifies the deeds of the bodyn; and by a steady and uniform resistance, he overcomes Satan, so that that wicked fiend is constrained to flee from him, and to yield him the palm of victory. The full extent of the triumphs described in our text has never yet indeed been realized in the Church of Christ: we look to a period yet future, when “the mountains shall be as dust, and be scattered as by a whirlwind;” and possibly at that period the triumphs of individuals will be more complete: but even now, by a firm reliance on the promises, we may be enabled to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God.” If we had but faith as a grain of mustard-seed, we might say to every mountain that is in our way, “Be thou removed; and it should immediately be cast into the depths of the sea.”]

  IV.      Their triumphs—

[With such weakness, and such labours, we might well expect the worm Jacob to sink in dejection and despair: but behold he triumphs and exults, “rejoicing in the Lord, and glorying in the Holy One of Israel.” Here it must be remarked, that ho does not ascribe his successes to his own arm; he does “not sacrifice to his own net, or burn incense to his own drag;” he gives the glory to Him, to whom alone it is due, even to “Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of his faith.” The language of David in reference to his victories exactly suits the Christian in reference to his spiritual triumphss. He readily acknowledges whence it is that the weapons of his warfare have accomplished such mighty things, namely, that they have been “mighty through God,” who “has wrought all his works in himu,” and “of whom all his fruit has been found.” Hence, whilst he acknowledges that “he who hath wrought him to the self-same thing is Gody,” he shouts with devoutest gratitude, “Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”]

  Let us LEARN from hence,

  1.      The folly of unbelief—

[We are apt to be discouraged by reason of our weakness. But, what if we be as weak as the meanest worm? is God therefore weak, or unable to effect the purposes of his grace? He characterises us as “worms,” on purpose that, “when weak in ourselves, we may be strong in him, and expect him to perfect his strength in our weakness.” Instead therefore of being discouraged on account of our weakness, we should rather “rejoice and glory in it, that the power of Christ may rest upon us,” and be glorified in us. We should not, like the unbelieving spies, contemplate the power of our enemies, but should, with believing Joshua, regard them all “as bread for us:” and, hurling defiance at them all, we should say, “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: his hands shall surely finish the work he has begun.”]

  2.      The need of constant exertions—

[Our weakness is no excuse for inactivity; nor does God’s promised aid supersede the necessity of our own exertions. On the contrary, it is that very promise that encourages our exertions. The mountains must be threshed by our arm: “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent must take it by force.” We must run our race, and fight our fight, and endure unto the end! for it is “to him only that overcometh, that the crown of glory will be given.” Give not way then to dejection or sloth, but go forth in the strength of the Lord Jesus: and when difficulties appear to be absolutely insurmountable, then go to him, and remind him of his promise, “I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Then you shall find, that “you can do all things through him strengthening you,” and that “Satan with all his train shall be shortly and eternally bruised under your feet.”]

DCCCCXXVII

CONSOLATION FOR THE DESPONDING

  Isai. 41:17, 18.

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

THE word of God is an inexhaustible source of instruction and comfort: there are passages in it suited to persons in all states and conditions; but it is calculated more especially for the afflicted and contrite. The passage before us is peculiarly adapted to a desponding soul: in its primary sense it is an encouragement to the Jews to trust in God; in its spiritual meaning it extends to the Church of God in all ages.

  I.      An afflicted case described—

The people of God are for the most part in a low and afflicted state—

[All men, if they knew their state, are indeed “poor and needy:” but the generality think themselves “rich and increased with goods.” God’s people, however, feel their poverty and need. They are deeply sensible how destitute they are of wisdom, strength, &c.]

They ardently desire to be endued with holiness and comfort—

[Water, as having a cleansing and refreshing quality, may well be understood to mean holiness and comfort; and these are the chief objects of a Christian’s pursuit. They long to be “delivered from the body of sin and death.” They desire to be walking always in the light of God’s countenance. They leave no means untried for the accomplishing of their wishes.]

But they often seem to be labouring in vain; “they seek water, and find none”—

[They strive for victory, but the conflict remains: corruptions still at times harass and defile their souls; deadness and darkness still occasionally return upon them; and the blessedness they pant after seems as distant as ever.]

Their frequent disappointments create much dejection of mind; “their tongue faileth,” &c.—

[“Hope deferred maketh their heart sick.” They faint, as a traveller after a long and fruitless search for water. They begin to conclude that God will not hear their prayers. They fear that he “has forsaken and forgotten them.” Such diligence, disappointment, and despondency were not unknown to David.]

But in the text we have,

  II.      Suitable consolation administered—

A desponding person could not dictate more suitable matter of consolation. The character here given of God is not without great force—

[The desponding person thinks his case too hard to be remedied, and his sins too heinous to be forgiven. He is here reminded what a God he has to deal with. God is “the Lord” and with whom nothing is impossible, whose mercy is infinited, whose love is unchangeable. He is “the God of Israelf,” who, however long he may try his people, will certainly bless them at last. Thus do these titles of God justify that consoling declaration.]

The promises here made by God are exactly suited to the case—

[“I will hear:” what an encouragement to continue in prayer! “I will not forsake thee:” what can the fainting soul desire more? “The most discouraging circumstances shall be no bar to my favours.” “Apparent impossibilities shall be surmounted by mek.” “Nor shall my communications to you be either small or transient.”]

Every one who relies on these promises shall experience consolation from them—

[David bears his testimony that his cries were not in vain; and all who plead like him, shall find reason to make his acknowledgmentsn.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who are unconcerned about the blessings of salvation—

[The generality know but little of spiritual troubles; but their exemption from them is by no means to be desired. They at the same time have no interest in these precious promises: they taste not the rich consolations of the Gospel; and how will “their tongue fail for thirst” in the eternal world! Let all then seek to know their spiritual wants. Let them obey the invitation of our blessed Lord. Let them take encouragement from that gracious offerp.]

  2.      Those who are fainting for want of them—

[Many, eminently pious, have been in your state, but none ever waited upon God in vain. These promises cannot possibly fail of being accomplished. From them, as “from wells of salvation, you may draw water with joy.” They shall certainly be fulfilled to you, both here, and for everr.]

DCCCCXXVIII

CHRIST’S COMMISSION

  Isai. 42:5–7.

Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, end give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.

“HEAR, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! for the Lord speaketh.” In the preceding verses he speaks to us, and calls our attention to “his elect servant,” whom he had appointed to the office of saving man, and qualified to execute it in a manner honourable to himself, and effectual for that end. But, in the words of our text, we overhear the almighty Jehovah, the eternal Father, addressing his co-equal, co-eternal Son. Ineffable mystery! And what a stupendous privilege to be admitted thus into the council chamber of the Most High! Surely if Moses was commanded to put off his shoes because the place where he stood was sanctified by the Divine presence, it becomes us to express the profoundest reverence, while we listen to the God of heaven giving his commission to his only dear Son respecting the redemption of a ruined world.

In this address to Jesus we see,

  I.      The commission given him—

Though Christ in his own nature is God equal with the Father, yet as man, and as Mediator, he acts as the Father’s servant. In this capacity he received a commission,

  1.      To undertake the work of our salvation—

[The first covenant which was made with Adam, being broken, it pleased God to make a new covenant; not so much with man, as with his own Son in man’s behalf.

The terms of this covenant were, that Christ should make his soul an offering for sin, and that he should have the souls of men for his reward.

Christ was not only a party in this covenant, but also the Mediator and Surety of it. He mediated between God and man; and became a surety, both for God to man, and for man to God. He engaged on man’s part, that he should be renewed after the Divine image, and be made obedient to the Divine will; and on God’s part he engaged, that his mercy should be extended to every believing penitent.

In this view Christ is said to be given “for a covenant;” because he alone fulfils the conditions of it, and because we, in laying hold on him, become partakers of all its benefits.]

  2.      To perform it effectually in our behalf—

[Man being blinded by Satan and enslaved by sin, it was necessary that he should be enlightened with divine truth, and liberated from the dominion of his lusts. Accordingly Christ undertook to bring him forth into light, and liberty. In execution of his office he illuminated the Jewish Church by the revelations made to Moses and the prophets; and since that period he has been “a light to the Gentiles” also, even to the very ends of the earth. Nor is it only by the outward manifestation of his truth that he instructs the world: he teaches men by his Spirit also: he “opens the eyes of the blind,” and causes them to “see out of obscurity and out of darkness.” By the same Spirit also he enables them to burst the chains with which they are bound, and to come forth from their dungeons in which they are immured. As in delivering Peter from his prison, where he lay sleeping on the night preceding his intended execution, he caused the light to shine in upon him, and his chains to fall off, and the prison doors to fly open of their own accord; so now he delivers the souls of men, “turning them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.”

All this is Christ’s covenanted work: he performs it to consequence of his own engagements: and he will perform it as long as there shall continue one on whose behalf the mighty working of his power shall be necessary.]

In the text we notice,

  II.      His ability to execute it—

We cannot doubt of this, when we are informed,

  1.      By whom he was called to it—

[The Father gives in this place a glorious description of his own majesty, as the Creator of heaven and earth, yea of man also, with his animal life, his rational faculties, and his immortal soul. Nor is this description without a very important meaning, as introductory to the commission given to his Son; because it shews us by what high authority his Son acted, and how certainly his undertaking shall be effectual for the end designed.

“Christ glorified not himself to become an high priest, but was called of God, as was Aaron.” The Father “called him in righteousness.” In execution of his own righteous purpose, and in accomplishment of his righteous promises, he gave him this commission. He called him when first he entered into covenant with him; and again, when he provided him a body for the discharge of his office; and again, when by an audible voice from heaven he testified, “Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

From these repeated calls we are assured, that Christ was fully authorized to undertake our cause, and that in all that he did and suffered for us he was accepted of his heavenly Father.]

  2.      By whom he was assisted in it—

[The trials which Jesus met with from man, though exceeding great, might have been borne: but when he conflicted with all the powers of darkness, and sustained all the weight of his Fathers wrath, he must have sunk under the load, had not his almighty Father supported him. But never did he want effectual aid. He complained of dereliction indeed in his most trying hour: but this dereliction related only to the sensible presence of his Father, whereby he might have been comforted: that which was necessary for his support, was never withdrawn: the Father had said to him, “I will hold thine hand, and will keep thee;” and never for one moment was he forgetful of his promise.

But this promise was not confined to the period of Christ’s existence upon earth: it includes also a concurrence with him in his work, even to the end of the world. What then can be wanting, when the Father and the Son are ever combining their efforts for the salvation of men? None, however blind, need to despair of beholding the light; none, however rivetted in bonds, need despair of attaining liberty.]

  We cannot close this subject without suggesting some obvious REFLECTIONS—

  1.      How deeply are we interested in the covenant of grace!

[It is generally imagined, that the mysterious engagements between the Father and the Son are merely speculative points, in which mankind are little interested. But what can be conceived more interesting than the offices of Christ, or his ability to fulfil them? Would persons destitute of vision, or imprisoned and under sentence of death, feel no interest in the inquiry, whether they could find relief, or whether one professing to offer it were able to fulfil his word? On the covenant of redemption rests all our hope. If Christ be not authorized to save us, his good-will towards us will be to little purpose: if he be not qualified, his endeavours will be all in vain.

Let us then acquaint ourselves with the proper grounds of our hope. Let us consider the parties contracting, and the engagements which they have respectively entered into; and let us lay hold on that “covenant as all our salvation and all our desire.”]

  2.      What encouragement have all to embrace that covenant!

[Are any persons ready to apprehend that they are excluded from it as unworthy? Behold the provisions of the covenant itself! See for whose benefit it is particularly designed! Are we not only in darkness, but blind also? Are we enslaved, and so fast bound in prison that we cannot come forth? We then are the very persons for whose sake the Son of God became incarnate, and for whose relief both his and his Father’s honour are mutually pledged.

Let none then listen to such unfounded apprehensions; but rather let every one remember, that Christ is given for a covenant to the whole Gentile world; and that the more desperate our condition be, the more will God be glorified in our acceptance of his proffered mercy.]

DCCCCXXIX

GOD’S DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE OPENED

  Isai. 42:16.

I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

GOD has fore-ordained every thing which he himself will do; and he has been gradually unfolding his designs from the beginning. The restoration of the Jews from Babylon, and the calling of the Gentiles into the Church, were very wonderful events, but in them the prediction before us was fulfilled: it receives a further accomplishment yet daily. We may take occasion from it to observe,

  I.      God’s dealings are mysterious—

The dispensations of his providence have been at all times dark—

[How ill-judged (according to human estimate) was the direction given to the Israelites at their departure from Egypt! Yet it eventually led to their more complete deliverancec. How strange do their long wanderings in the wilderness appear! Yet God conducted them by the right way. The present dispersion of the Jews shall enhance the mercy and the glory of their restoration. Their degradation shall issue in their fulnesse.]

The dispensations of his grace are equally inscrutable—

This is seen in the first quickening of men from their spiritual death—

[God sets their sins in array before them. He charges home their guilt upon their consciences. He threatens them with his eternal wrath and indignation. Who would conceive that these were tokens of his love? How little did the three thousand, when pricked to the heart, imagine that joy was so nigh at hand! How little could the jailor, when about to commit suicide, have supposed that his terror was the first dawn of mercy to his soulg! Thus are many still brought to Christ “in a way which they knew not” — —]

It further appears in their subsequent spiritual life—

[Men usually expect to be led on in a way of peace and joy. But God often leaves them to feel the depravity of their own hearts. He sometimes permits them to be “in heaviness through manifold temptations.” He suffers also many heavy calamities to befall them. They seem, at times, as though they should be overwhelmed. They not unfrequently are brought to the borders of despair. Yet these are ways which God takes to humble and to prove them. Who could have thought that Peter’s fall should be overruled for good? Yet perhaps nothing else would ever have purged out his self-confidence. The buffetings of Satan were earnestly deprecated by Paul; yet were they necessary to prevent the workings of pridei. How true is that observation of the Psalmist—. The more we contemplate his dealings with his people, the more shall we exclaim with the Apostlel—!]

In every dispensation, especially as it respects his people, we may say,

  II.      His intentions are merciful—

The perplexities of his people are often very great: but God has gracious designs in all. We may see this remark exemplified in the case of Job—

[How heavy and accumulated were the trials that came on him! He himself, in his haste, accused God of cruelty. But the end shewed that God sent those trials in love.]

The case of Joseph also deserves attention in this view—

[God intended to make him lord over his brethren. But, instead of being advanced, he was sold as a slaveq. Afterwards he was imprisoned as guilty of a capital offence. He was above twenty years without ever hearing of his brethren. Yet we see at last the designs of God accomplished by the very means which appeared most calculated to defeat them.]

The same mercy is discoverable in God’s dealings with all his afflicted people—

[He suffers their path to be for a time dark and intricate. But he invisibly directs and manages their concerns. He gradually removes their difficulties, and clears up their doubts. If he shut them up under the law, it is that they may embrace the offers of his Gospel — — — If he prune them as a vine, it is to augment their fruitfulness. If he refine them as with fire, it is to advance the purification of their soulsu. Thus he constrains them to acknowledge with the Psalmist—.]

They indeed are often ready to doubt his love. But,

  III.      His regards are permanent—

God did not forget his people when they were in Babylon, neither will he now “forsake” those who trust in him—

[He may appear for a season to have forsaken them. They may be left to complain as though he had quite forgotten themz. But his having made them his people is a reason why he will not recede from his gracious purposes. The Apostle was confident that God would complete his works of graceb.]

He will continue firm and unchangeable in his regards to them—

[The prophets declare this in the strongest terms. St. Paul abundantly confirms their testimonyd. He commends this truth to us as a ground of cheerful confidence in the most trying seasons.]

  INFER—

  1.      How careful should we be not to pass a hasty judgment on the Lord’s dealings!

[We are too ready under trials to exclaim with Jacob—. Yet the trials we complain of may be, as in his case, the necessary means of our preservation. It is the part of a believer to wait with patience for the issueg.”]

  2.      How safely may we commit ourselves to God’s disposal!

[God alone knows what is best for us. He knows, too, how to accomplish his designs in the best manner. Let us therefore commit all our concerns to him. Lot us lie as clay in the potter’s handsi. In whatever distress we be, let us follow the prophet’s direction—.]

DCCCCXXX

GOD’S CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE

  Isai. 43:1–3.

Now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for 1 have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name: thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.

IT is almost impossible for any one to read the Holy Scriptures with attention, and not to notice the very remarkable manner in which many of the richest promises are introduced. God seems, in them, determined to magnify his own grace; and to shew, that “where sin hath abounded, his grace shall much more abound.” Let any one read the two last verses of the preceding chapter, and then pass on to the promise which I have just read; and he will see this illustrated in a very striking point of view — — — The Jews, to this day, experience the mercy and the faithfulness of God in his wonderful preservation of them, in order to a richer display of his goodness towards them than they have ever yet known. And all the servants of Jehovah, in every age, may be assured of similar protection, in order to their present and eternal welfare.

In opening the words before us, we will notice,

  I.      What is here supposed respecting the people of God—

[It is taken for granted that they shall be a suffering people, according to what is spoken by the Prophet Zephaniah: “I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people.” In a greater or less degree this is the state of all; they have to pass through deep waters, and even, as it were, through the fire itself, in the service of their God. Sometimes they are afflicted by persecution, and sometimes by temptation; for both to men and devils are they objects of inveterate hostility. From the days of Cain to this very hour, have “those who were born after the flesh persecuted those who were born after the Spirit:” nor can any “who will live godly in Christ Jesus hope to escape” their virulent assaults. And where is there a child of God whom that great “adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, does not labour to devourf?” There is not one who has not “some thorn in the flesh, some messenger of Satan to buffet him.” Look at all the most favoured servants of the Lord—at Job, and Heman, and Asaph, and David, and Paul—and you will find them all “chosen in the furnace of affliction, even as our blessed Lord himself, who was pre-eminently a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Indeed there is a necessity for this; because there is in all the servants of God much dross, which needs the fire of affliction to purge it away; and it is in the furnace that they learn the evil of their own hearts, and the power and efficacy of divine grace: it is under tribulation chiefly, that they acquire “patience and experience, and a hope that shall never make them ashamed.”]

But, however painful their state, they have abundant consolation in,

  II.      What is here promised to them—

[God will be with his people under all their trials: as he has said, “I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him.” He will be with his people both by the manifestations of his presence and the communications of his grace; so that, under their severest afflictions, they shall have abundant support. Remarkable is that expression of the Psalmist, “Thou shall hide them in the secret of thy presence.” The man that is in the presence of his God, and has the light of his countenance lifted up upon him, is inaccessible to his enemies, and may laugh at all their assaults. See Paul and Silas in prison, under circumstances as painful as could well be inflicted on them; yet, behold, they are singing praises to God at mid-night. And see the Hebrew Youths in the furnace into which an infuriated tyrant had cast them: “not so much as a hair of their head was singed, or even the smell of fire had passed on them.” Such are the interpositions of God in behalf of all his faithful servants, that “where their afflictions have abounded, their consolations have much more abounded.” The very waves which desolated all the world besides, bore up the ark, and carried it to a place of safety. And so shall the sea itself afford a passage to all the “ransomed of the Lord to pass over,” in the way to the land of promise. But let not this be taken upon my word. Let David speak, from actual experience: “Thou, O God, hast proved us; thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net: thou laidest affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads: we went through fire and through water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.”]

Of the fulfilment of this promise we can entertain no doubt, when we consider,

  III.      The ground upon which the promise is made—

[It is pleasing to observe with what satisfaction God contemplates the relation in which he stands to his people, and with what delight he expatiates upon it: “Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” Here is abundant security to us for the accomplishment of every word that God has spoken. For he takes an interest in his people, such as a man feels in reference to his dearest possessions. He puts them, we will say, into the furnace. But will he leave them there without any concern about them? No: “he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,” to watch the process, and to bring them forth the very instant that his gracious designs are wrought upon them; that so they may come forth “as vessels of honour, meet for their Master’s use.” Are they “a vineyard which his right hand has planted?” “he will keep it, and water it every moment: lest any hurt it, he will keep it night and dayp.’ No parent can sympathize with his afflicted child more tenderly than he did with his people under their trials: “In all their affliction he was afflicted: and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” In a word, they are his children; and therefore he enters so affectionately into all their concerns: “Is not Ephraim my dear son? is he not a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him: I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.”]

  INFER—

  1.      What consolation does the Gospel of Christ afford!

[In the Old Testament we have those very promises of which we have spoken. But it is the Gospel which gives us the full insight into them. We behold in the Old Testament the redemption of Israel from Egypt, and their ultimate establishment in the land of Canaan. But these were a mere shadow of the redemption that has been wrought for us by Christ, and of those spiritual mercies which are vouchsafed to us in our way to the Canaan that is above. These are, above all, to be noticed. These give us the true insight into the mystery of the burning bush. Not the Church at large only, but every true believer is that burning bush, in whom God shall to all eternity be glorified. “Tribulation is appointed for us as our way:” but most glorious shall be our endu.]

  2.      How needful for us is it that we obtain an interest in Christ!

[It is in Christ alone that these promises are made to us. If we are in him, the promises, and all that they contain, are oursy.” Let us be able to say with David, “The Lord is my shepherd:” and then we may safely add, “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy (pastoral) rod and staff, they comfort me.”]

DCCCCXXXI

THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN

             Isai. 43:4.

Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee.

FEW have any conception how close the analogy is between God’s dealings with his people of old, and his conduct towards his Church and people in the present day. In truth, we scarcely know how to admit that God will manifest such condescension to us as he did to them. But it can never be thought that the Christian Church is less privileged than the Jewish; or that God will manifest less grace towards those whom he has redeemed through the blood of his Son, than he did towards those whom he delivered from a mere temporal captivity. True, indeed, his interpositions may be, and in fact are, less visible; but they are not a whit less real than in the days of old. Connect this chapter with the last two verses of the preceding chapter; and you will see how God still magnifies his grace and mercy towards us, when we have reason to expect nothing but his wrathful indignation. So, in like manner, we may behold in the text itself to what an exalted state the true Christian is raised. We cannot but acknowledge the truth of God’s appeal to them in the words which I have just read; and the same expressions are equally applicable to his people in every age and place. If we understand the passage aright, we may clearly see in it the rise and progress of the Christian’s calling.

  Let us notice,

  I.      The rise of the Christian’s calling—

Whence and how were the Jews exalted to their unrivalled eminence?

[Were they selected by God either for their number or their superior goodness? No: they were “the fewest of all people,” and equal to any in depravity. It was altogether an act of sovereign grace when “God chose them, and set his love on them, and made them his peculiar people:” “He loved them, because he would love them” — — — Hence he reminds them of their origin, under the image of a child just born into the world of Heathen parents, without any one to administer to its necessities: “Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee: thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live.” And by Isaiah he reminds them of this saying, “Look to the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged: remember Abraham your father, and Sarah that bare you; for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.” Such was their state when God chose them to himself, “to be a peculiar people to him, above all upon the face of the earth;” and set them apart, as “his peculiar treasure,” and “his jewelsf,” and “his portion and inheritance.” Thus we see clearly whence their greatness arose; and how it came to pass that “they were exalted above all the nations of the earth, in name, and in honour, and in praise.”]

And whence is it that any of us are “precious in God’s sight?”

[Is it on account of any superior goodness in us that God has chosen us? Surely there is not a man on earth so presumptuous as to affirm, or so ignorant as to imagine, that God chose him, in preference to others, on account of his own superior worth and excellence. I have said that there is, especially in reference to this matter, a strict analogy between the Jews and us; and St. Peter marks it with peculiar force, quoting the very words which I have before cited, as applied by Moses to the Jewish people, and applying them to Believers under the Christian dispensation: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.” Beyond all doubt we are as much debtors to the sovereign grace of God as ever the Jews were; and it is wonderful that so many well-disposed people should be averse to acknowledge it. We see, readily enough, how predestination and election operated in relation to the Jews; and yet we find it difficult to acknowledge their operation in reference to ourselves. But “God has chosen us in Christ, before the foundation of the world;” and “has predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself;” precisely as he chose them, and predestinated them to the enjoyment of their privileges. To the grace of God alone we must trace it, if any of us be “precious in God’s sight:” we must acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as “the Author of our faith, no less than the finisherm:” and “when the top-stone shall be brought forth, to complete God’s temple in our hearts,” we, like all the prophets and apostles that have been before us, must cry, “Grace, grace unto it!”]

The rise of the Christian’s calling having been pointed out, let us proceed to trace,

  II.      The progress of it—

The advancement of God’s people now corresponds exactly with that of his ancient people;

  1.      In honour—

[Since the Jews had been precious in God’s sight, they were honourable, They were honourable in themselves, as being elevated to a higher character than any other people in the universe. What other people were ever distinguished with such a code of laws as they? or in what other country under heaven did persons attain to an equality with the Patriarchs in righteousness and true holiness? They were honourable also in God’s sight: for they were watched over by him, as if there had not been any other people in the world; and were regarded by him altogether as the “sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.” In the sight of surrounding nations, also, they were honourable; for they all confessed that “God was with them of a truth; and every Jew could exult over them, saving, Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being judges.”

The same elevation is vouchsafed to God’s people, also, at the present day. In themselves, they are “made partakers of a divine nature,” and are “changed into the Divine imager,” and “shine as lights in a dark world.” In God’s estimation, they are “his dear children,” the very spouse of his only-begotten Son, “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ,” preserved by him here “as the apple of his eye,” and reserved for thrones and kingdoms in a better world. And in the eyes of an ungodly world, too, are they honourable. For though the world may treat them as “the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things,” fit only to be swept away in the most ignominious manner from the face of the earth, and even to be sacrificed to devils, yet do they reverence them in their hearts; even as “Herod feared John, because he was a holy and just man.” An ungodly man feels restraint in the presence of a true Christian, and cannot give loose to his wicked propenpensities as he would do in his absence. However an ungodly man may hate and revile a true Christian, he has a secret wish in his heart that be could exchange conditions with him, especially in the eternal world. However averse a man may be to live the life of the righteous, there is no one who would not be glad to “die his death, and to have his last end like his.” Say, then, whether this be not to be truly “honourable?” Verily, not a king upon his throne is so truly honourable as the man who is brought into vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and sanctified in his soul by the Spirit of the Living God.]

  2.      In happiness—

[“Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and the sword of thine excellency!” If this was spoken of the Jews because of the love which God bare to them, what must be said of us, whom “he has loved, even as he loves his only-begotten Son?” Who can tell what it is to be favoured with “the spirit of adoption?” or what to “have the witness of the Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are the children of God?” Who can tell what it is to “have the love of God shed abroad in the heart,” and to “be filled with the Spirit?” Verily, these things constitute “that white stone, on which is that new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that hath received it.” It is, in fact, an earnest and foretaste of heaven itselfz. See how the love of God to his ancient people was displayed: how “God gave Egypt for their ransom, yea, and Ethiopia and Seba too!” Whole nations were of no more account with God than the dust of the summer threshing-floor, if they stood in the way of their welfareb. And so shall it be again, when they shall be restored to their own land: “the nation and kingdom that will not serve them shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” And let it not be thought that God will do less for his Church and people at this day. No, truly: “the gates of hell shall never prevail against them:” “no weapon formed against them shall ever prosper:” but every enemy, and “Satan himself at the head of them, shall be put under their feet shortly:” and so attentive will God be to their welfare, that every dispensation, whether of his providence or grace, shall be ordered with a view to it, and “all things, however unfavourable their aspect, be overruled to promote it.]

Two things, then, I ask of you, my beloved Brethren:

  1.      Endeavour to form a just estimate of your high calling—

[St. Paul calls this “a holy calling,” a heavenly callingf,” yea, “the high calling of God in Christ Jesus:” and the least reflection on what has been already spoken must convince you, that “the riches of it” are inestimable, incomprehensible, “unsearchableh.” Christians live far below their privileges. They are too exclusively occupied (I do not say too intensely), in viewing their remaining imperfections, and the greatness of the work that still remains to be wrought in them. They do not soar in contemplating the wonders which God has already wrought for them, and those which he has pledged himself yet further to accomplish. Hence they are kept in a low state of bondage, instead of being “brought into the full liberty of the children of God.” But read the Epistles of St. Paul, my Brethren: read, especially, his prayers, and see how he soars in his contemplation of God’s unbounded mercies, and of the Christian’s exalted privileges. It is by such meditations that we shall rise above all our spiritual enemies, and by such views we shall “be filled with all the fulness of God.” O, Brethren, know your privileges as believers in Christ; and live in the sweet enjoyment of them: for there are no bounds to the honour and the happiness which God will confer on those who are “precious in his sight” as his redeemed people.]

  2.      Endeavour, also, to walk worthy of it—

[This was Paul’s earnest entreaty to the Ephesian and Philippian Churches, when he was a prisoner at Home. He did not desire their interposition to get him liberated: all he had to request of them was, that “their conversation should be such as became the Gospel of Christ.” And indeed this was the great object of his ministry at all times: “Ye know,” says he to the Thessalonian Church, “how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” In the same manner would I now entreat you; yea, as a father with his children, would I charge you, that ye “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good workn,” and “adorning the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things.” Only reflect on your high privileges; and then say, “what manner of persons ye ought to be in all holy conversation and godlinessp.” I conclude with that inspired admonition, “As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”]

DCCCCXXXII

THE SAINTS ARE WITNESSES FOR GOD

             Isai. 43;12.

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.

GOD is a jealous God, and cannot endure that any other should be put in competition with him. Hence he takes frequent occasion to reprove the idolatry into which his people were ever prone to relapse. He shews them the folly of cutting down a tree, and kindling a fire with part of the wood, and roasting their food with it, and then fashioning another part of the same tree into the image of a man, and bowing down to it as a god. He challenges them and all the world to bring any single instance of such senseless idols having ever revealed things that were long past and forgotten, or of their having ever foretold future events, or effected for their votaries any signal deliverance. He appeals to them, that HE had done these things for them; and that therefore they themselves were witnesses for him, that he was the only true God.

A similar appeal may properly be made to the people of God at this day. They have within themselves very convincing proofs of his exclusive right to universal adoration;

  I.      In what he has taught them—

He has given them such views of Divine truth as they could not possibly obtain from any other quarter. He has shewn them,

  1.      The depravity of their nature—

[Others may profess in words that they are fallen creatures; but who over learned, from more study, or the instructions of man, that his “heart was deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked?” Who ever so learned it, as really to “abhor himself in dust and ashes?” — — — But God does teach all his people this lesson — — — and all who have learned it, are therefore living witnesses of his almighty power and grace.]

  2.      The excellency of Christ—

[To compliment Christ with honourable titles is common enough. But who can open a man’s eyes, so that he shall “behold the glory of God in his face?” — — — Yet this is done for all the Lord’s people. To every one of them “Christ is truly precious” — — — In this respect therefore they are witnesses that their teacher is the omnipotent Jehovah.]

  3.      The beauty of holiness—

[However some particular virtues may be admired in the world, the holiness which the Gospel requires is odious in their eyes. Penitence is considered as melancholy; devotion, as hypocrisy: zeal for God, as enthusiasm; and an earnest expectation of glory, as consummate pride and presumption. And who can alter their views? Not an Apostle, nor even an angel from heaven. They might be silenced; but nothing less than Omnipotence can so change their sentiments, as to make them in love with a spiritual and heavenly life. But the Child of God sees that such a life is the perfection of bliss, a very heaven upon earth — — — and herein also is a witness, that the God whom he serves is the only true God.]

But the Children of God are also living witnesses of his power and Godhead,

  II.      In what he has done for them—

We acknowledge the creation to be an evidence that the Maker thereof is God: and so likewise is the work which God hath wrought in his saints.

  1.      He has created them anew—

[The change that takes place in conversion is not an outward and partial, but an inward and universal, change. It is “a new birth,” a “renovation of the inward man after the image of God” — — — But where is the power that can effect this? Let philosophy try her powers; let reason exert herself: “the old man,” the corrupt principles of nature, will laugh at them, and defy their utmost exertions — — — But is not this change actually wrought in thousands? We grant, that in many who have professed to have experienced it, it is but very imperfectly produced; yea, and that many who think it has been wrought m them only deceive their own souls: but all the Apostles were not like Judas; nor are all professors of religion hypocrites. Take then the upright and consistent Christian, and tell me whether any power on earth can produce such a character? — — — if not, he is a witness for God, that HE alone is worthy of our hope and dependence.]

  2.      He has elevated them above the world—

[There is among the professors of religion so great a diversity of attainment, and we are so little able to judge respecting the secret experience of their hearts, that we cannot with any certainty form our estimate of the Christian character from what we see around us: we must go to the inspired volume, and take that as the only standard of Christian experience. Now we know that Christians are there represented as “not being of the world, any more than Christ himself was of the world:” and we see there examples of persons altogether “crucified to the world,” to its cares, its pleasures, and to every thing that is in it. That there are but few Christians in the present day who have arrived at the Scripture standard, we confess with grief and shame; and it will be well if many of them do not find themselves awfully mistaken, when they shall stand at the judgment-seat of Christ: but the truth is the same, whether few or many experience it; and it is a certain fact, that every Child of God is delivered from the love of this present evil world — — — and the fewness of those, whose lives correspond with their professions, tends to prove, rather than to disprove, the point we have affirmed. For, where shall we find one person truly elevated above the world, unless amongst those who have been born of God? Some may be found who are dissatisfied with the world, and who from age or other circumstances find no relish for it: but if they were put into a capacity to enjoy the world as they once did, their love of it would be found as strong as ever. We defy the whole world to produce one, who by the mere powers of reason has been raised above the world; and this is a decisive proof that the deadness to the world which true Christians experience, is the work of an Almighty arm.]

  3.      He has filled them with spiritual peace and joy—

[The peace and joy which the unconverted man possesses, will vanish at the prospect of death and judgment: or if under the influences of deluded hopes they retain a confidence, the peace flowing from that confidence is as different from that which is “the fruit of the Spirit,” as the ravings of a maniac are from the suggestions of sober reason — — — But the true Christian has “a peace that passeth all understanding,” and “a joy that is unspeakable and glorified” — — — Whence does ho obtain this? Who but God can give it him? or who can take it away, when God has given it him? Here then again is he a witness for God, that his power and grace are infinite.]

  ADDRESS—

  Those who idolatrously exalt the creature—

[See the challenge given by God himself: produce the people that have obtained from any but Jehovah, either this knowledge, or this experience. We defy the whole universe. “Bring forth your witnesses, that you may be justified: or else hear ye, and acknowledge, that what we have affirmed is truth.” the more you examine the pretensions of any who profess to have acquired these things by their own power, the more evidence you will have, that God alone can produce them in the souls of men — — —]

  2.      Those who profess to be Christians indeed—

[Remember that it is your duty and office to be “witnesses for God.” You are to be “as lights in a dark world, and as a city upon a hill.” Be then voluntary witnesses. Wicked men, and even the devils themselves, are in some sense witnesses for him: they attest, though against their will, that his representations of the human heart are true, and that he is a God of infinite patience, majesty, and power. But you are intentionally to make your light shine before men, and to convince them by the holiness of your lives that “God is with you of a truth.” Be also steadfast witnesses. You will find many temptations to “put your light under a bushel;” but you must be resolute in glorifying God, whether by life or by death. Further, be also consistent witnesses. The world will judge, not by your words, but by your actions: and if they see these to be at variance with each other, they will rather harden themselves in their infidelity, and adduce your testimony as adverse to God. Look to it then that ye walk in all things “holily, justly, and unblameably;” and “that they who are on the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.”

Lastly, for your encouragement, think what witnesses ye shall one day be for God in heaven! How will ye there proclaim and manifest his power and grace! — — — O blessed day! Look forward to it with joy; and prepare for it by increasing zeal in the service of your God.]

DCCCCXXXIII

GOD’S KINDNESS TO HIS PEOPLE

             Isai. 43:20.

I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

THE mercies of God which are daily, and, as it were, hourly renewed, demand at our hands a constantly increasing tribute of praise and thanksgiving. Former benefits are not to be forgotten: yet it is allowable, and even proper, that those which have been recently vouchsafed to us should so occupy the mind, as, for a time, almost to exclude from our minds the immediate recollection of those which have been formerly bestowed. The Prophet Jeremiah says, “Behold, the days come, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them.” Thus in the verses before our text, God says, “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old: behold, I will do a new thing.” The particular thing here predicted, is, the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon, together with their preservation in the dry and barren wilderness, through which they must pass in their way to Judea. But that deliverance would never have been represented as so superior to that which they had experienced from Egypt, had it not typified a far more glorious redemption, which they were taught to expect through the intervention of the Messiah. This it is (even the spiritual redemption by Christ, together with the aids and consolations of the Holy Spirit) to which the text principally refers; and for which, not “the owls and dragons” of the wilderness, but the more stupid and ferocious Gentiles “shall honour God” for ever.

In discoursing on these words, we shall consider,

  I.      The designation given to God’s people—

The minds of many almost revolt at the very mention of the word “elect,” or “chosen.” But though we by no means approve of bringing forward the subject of election on every occasion, yet, as it is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures, and strongly asserted in the Articles of our Church, we ought not to pass over it, when it comes plainly and unavoidably before us. The word “chosen” is used in the text,

  1.      As a term of distinction—

[No one can doubt but that God’s people are often spoken of by the term of “God’s elect:” the only doubt is, what that term imports. Now all will confess that it imports a choice of nations to the enjoyment of national privileges. In this sense God chose the Jewish nation, and took them out from the midst of a people greater and mightier than they, and gave them his statutes and judgments, when all other nations were left to follow their own ways. And this he did, not on account of any merit in them, but purely on account of his own good pleasure, irrespective of any goodness in them, either seen or foreseen. It is no less clear, that the term is also applied to individual persons chosen to particular situations of trust and honour. Levi’s appointment to the priesthood, David’s to the government of Israeld, and Saul’s to the apostleship, are unquestionable proofs of God’s having exercised his own sovereign will in the selection of individuals to posts of temporal dignity; I may add too, of unspeakable spiritual advantage. These things being admitted, it seems strange that any one can doubt, but that the term “elect” denotes yet further a choice of particular persons to eternal life. The people of God are not merely called “elect,” but are expressly said to have been “from the beginning chosen unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” And for them in particular is heaven reserved; insomuch that “Jesus Christ himself cannot grant heaven to any but those, for whom it was before prepared of the Fatherg.”]

  2.      A term of endearment—

[This seems the more particular view in which the name is given to God’s people in the text. Just as, in reference to his dear Son, God says, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,” so he speaks of his people here, as feeling complacency and delight in them. In many other passages also the term “elect” seems to be used as expressive of the peculiar interest which God takes in all that relates to his believing people: “Who will lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” “Shall not God avenge his own elect?” “For the elect’s sake those days (of trouble to Jerusalem) shall be shortened.” And, “God will send his angels (at the last day) to gather together his elect.”]

But, notwithstanding their dearness to God, we have but too much reason to consider,

  II.      The straits to which they may be reduced—

It is evidently implied, that as the Israelites in their journey from Egypt must have perished for want of water, if God had not miraculously interposed for their relief; so all his people coming through the wilderness of this world, are at times reduced to difficulties, from whence none but God himself can deliver them. This happens to them by means of,

  1.      Afflictions—

[The people of God are, for the most part, “a poor and afflicted people.” That they have peculiar supports and consolations, we shall soon shew: but inasmuch as they have all the common feelings of humanity, they must find afflictions grievous to them, exactly as others do. Even the most eminent saints have at times been ready to sink under their burthens. Behold David on the death of his rebellious son, Absalom; how bitterly he bewailed his loss! See Hezekiah under the pressure of what he supposed to be an incurable disease; how “he mourned like a dove, and his eyes failed with looking upwardk!” Thus it is with many under the loss of dear relatives, or the pressure of embarrassed circumstances, or the agonies of an acute disorder: they are ready to faint under their trials, and to be “weary even of life itself.”]

  2.      Persecutions—

[Fitly is persecution compared to the scorching heat of the meridian sun, We are told what fatal effects it produces on those who have no root of grace in themselves; and the most steadfast Christians are exhorted to “consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest they should be weary and faint in their mindsn.” Even the Apostle Paul himself was sometimes “cast down,” and needed peculiar supports from heavenp. And though we are not now exposed to all those cruelties which the first Christians endured, yet there are many and heavy trials to be borne by “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus:” and he must be a faithful labourer, who supports without fainting “the burthen and heat of the day.”]

  3.      Temptations—

[It is not without reason that the weapons with which Satan assaults the believer are represented as “fiery darts;” for when injected into the soul, they set the whole man, as it were, on fire, and “the poison of them altogether drinks up our spirits.” Who has ever known what it is to be haunted with atheistical and blasphemous thoughts; or what, to be harassed with doubts about the truth of Christianity, or what, to be tormented with apprehensions of having committed the sin against the Holy Ghost: who that has ever felt the almost irresistible impulses of corruption, aided by the dreadful workings of despair; who, in short, is in any respect acquainted with the wiles of Satan, and the depths of his own depravity; and has not been constrained to cry, “Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me!”?]

But these troubles shall only bring them to the enjoyment of,

  III.      The mercies reserved for them—

As once God made the rivers and the sea to become dry land, so will he open rivers in the dry and thirsty wilderness. He will supply the wants of his drooping and dejected people: he has treasured up for them an inexhaustible fund of consolation,

  1.      In the promises of his Gospel—

[What “wells of salvation” are opened in the holy Scriptures! and with what unspeakable joy do thirsting souls “draw water out of them!” A believing application of one single promise to the soul is more reviving, even in the most disconsolate state, than any cup of water can possibly be to one perishing with thirst. Let, for instance, that consoling declaration which was made to Paul, when he complained so bitterly of the thorn in his flesh, and of the buffetings of Satan; let that promise, I say, come home in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, and the very same effects will instantly follow; our tears will be wiped away, and all our complaints be changed into triumphant exultations.]

  2.      In the communications of his grace—

[It is principally with a view to increase and strengthen their graces, that God permits his people to experience so many troubles. He “chooses them in the furnace of affliction,” and by means of the fire he “purges away their dross,” that they may come forth as gold. Blessed is the testimony which David bears to this truth: and every believer will esteem his trials most richly recompensed, when he finds that “they have wrought in him an increase of patience, experience, and hope.”]

  3.      In the manifestations of his love—

[Never does God vouchsafe such visits to his people, as when they are suffering for his sake, and in obedience to his will. “He will draw nigh unto them,” and “manifest himself unto them as he does not unto the world,” and will give them “the witness of the Spirit, as an earnest of their everlasting inheritance.” Thus, if their “afflictions abound for Christ, their consolations are made to abound by Christ.” Now “in the Lord’s favour is life; and his loving-kindness is better than life:” when therefore a sense of his “love is shed abroad in the heart,” it little concerns them by what means so great a blessing has been imparted: whatever they may have endured to prepare them for it, they will not hesitate to say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”]

  APPLICATION—

[Is there any afflicted soul that cannot find consolation in God? He is only like Hagar, who had a fountain close to her, while she was expecting nothing but death: “let him therefore, though in darkness, stay himself upon his Gody.” Sooner or later, shall all who wait on God be refreshed and comforted.].

DCCCCXXXIV

THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S MERCY

  Isai. 43:22–26.

Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offering; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

THE sinfulness of man, and the goodness of God, are subjects which mutually illustrate each other: neither can be viewed in its true colours, unless it be considered in its relation to the other: but both appear in perfection, when they are brought into immediate contrast together. This is the view in which they are frequently presented to us in the holy Scriptures, and especially in the passage now before us; in which we have,

  I.      A contrasted view of God’s conduct towards us, and of ours towards him—

God has not required any oppressive services of us—

[God, as the author of our being, has a right to all our time, and all our faculties: but he requires of us only one day in seven, to be spent in his more immediate service. The law, which he imposed upon the Jews, appeared indeed burthensome, through the infirmity of their flesh; though, when considered in its true light, it ought not to have appeared so. As for us, we are wholly freed from that yoke, and have only two easy and significant rites to observe. Nor is the moral law burthensome; for the whole substance of it is, Be holy, and be happyb: and if a permission were given us to violate any one of its commands, it would be, in fact, a dispensation to make ourselves miserable.]

But we have been backward to offer him any token of respect and love—

[The Jews grudged to purchase a little calamus for the holy perfume and incense. Nor, if they brought any sacrifices, would they present the fat and good of their flocks, but rather, such as were lean and refuse. Thus have we been averse to “call upon him,” being soon “weary” of that holy employment — — — or, if we have just waited upon God in his outward ordinances, we have withheld from him that which alone could render our services pleasing in his sight, the tribute of an humble, contrite, and grateful heart. To mortify our lusts, and exercise devout and heavenly affections, would have cost us more pain and labour than we have been willing to afford: we have therefore wholly declined such services, and contented ourselves with offering only the cheap sacrifices of external and occasional formalities.]

Yea, instead of serving him aright, we have even “wearied him with our iniquities”—

[How awful the charge, which God himself here brings against us! He, who might justly demand any thing of us, has not required of us any great services, or wearied us with an intolerable yoke: but we, who are bound by every tie to please and honour him to the uttermost, have quite oppressed and wearied him by our long continued iniquities, till he is even “pressed under us, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.” There is scarcely an evil desire, which we have not harboured and indulged. Pride, envy, malice, revenge, covetousness, impurity, and whatever else is hateful unto God, have at all times found a ready admission into our hearts: and if an outward restraint has been imposed upon our actions, it has not proceeded from a fear of God, or a hatred of sin, but from a regard to our characters among men, and to the temporal consequences which we dreaded. When we have known that our dispositions were offensive to God, we have not regarded him, any more than if he had been our slave, that was constrained to bear whatever we might impose upon him: we have altogether contemned him as unworthy of our notice, and lived as though there were no such Being in the universe.]

Marvellous as this contrast is, we shall be yet more astonished, while we consider,

  II.      God’s address to us, founded upon the foregoing representation—

The former part of God’s address is a free and gracious promise of forgiveness—

[What might such rebels have expected, but to hear God say, “Ah! I will ease me of mine enemies;” “I swear in my wrath, that they shall never enter into my rest;” “my fury shall rest upon them, and I will be comfortedk.” But, behold, how different is his voice! ‘I, even I, whom you have so insulted, degraded, wearied; I, who could in an instant cast you into hell, us I did the rebel angels; I, who might be glorified in your eternal condemnation; even I, am ready to blot out all your transgressions, as a morning cloud: yea, I will blot them out through the blood of my dear Son; and, though I might well “seal them up in a bag,” and bring them forth at a future day to your everlasting confusion, I will no more remember them; they shall be perfectly blotted out, even as if they had never been committed. I well know, that if I seek for any thing in you to justify such an act of mercy, I shall never find it: there is nothing in you but what calls for wrath and fiery indignation: yet I will not on this account forbear to exercise mercy; I will pardon thee for mine own sake, that I may be glorified in displaying the exceeding riches of my grace.’

How infinitely does this surpass our highest conceptions! and how obdurate must be the heart that can withstand these overtures of love and mercy!]

The latter part of the address is an urgent invitation to accept of mercy—

[It may possibly be understood as a rebuke to a proud self-justifying Pharisee. Many, instead of humbling themselves under the charge brought against them, will instantly reply, “Wherein have we wearied thee?” To such God may be considered as saying, ‘Since you plead your innocencem, and stand on your own defence, as though you did not need this offer of mercy, come, and “put me in remembrance” of your good deeds (for, if you have any to boast of, they have quite escaped my notice): Let us plead together, and see whether I am right in my charge, or you in your vindication of yourself: declare thou the grounds of thy dependence, that, if they will bear thee out in thy confidence, “thou mayest be justified” before me.’

Alas! alas! that the offers of a free salvation should ever be despised through a vain confidence in our own goodness! O that we might not so despise our own mercies! Whatever sentence God shall pass upon us, “he will surely be justified in his saying, and be clear when he is judged.” Let us not then provoke God to such a contest; for our hope will be only as a spider’s web, that shall be swept away with the besom of destructiono.

But I understand it rather as a direction and encouragement to the repenting sinner. While some put away from them the word of life, because they feel not their need of mercy, others do the same, from an apprehension of their unworthiness to obtain mercy. But God is ever solicitous to encourage the humble, and says, “Put me in remembrance of this promise; come and plead it with me! declare thou thine affiance in it; and, unworthy as thou art, thou shalt be justified.” As our Lord vouchsafed to Thomas the evidence of his senses, in order that his doubts might be effectually removed, so he here condescends to the infirmities of his people, in order to bring them to a full conviction of his love and faithfulness. Let this direction then be followed by every doubting, trembling soul. Let us take the Canaanitish woman for our pattern: and our confidence shall ere long be crowned with a rich rewardq.]

  REFLECTIONS—

  1.      How averse is God to the perishing of an immortal soul!

[What stronger comment can we have on that oath of Jehovah, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Contemplate the text in that view, and say whether God does not desire that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth?” Verily “He delighteth in mercy;” and “judgment,” on whomsoever it is exercised, “is his strange work,” to which he is utterly averse.]

  2.      How bitter will be the reflections of all who perish in their sins!

[If there be one ingredient in the cup of a damned soul more bitter than another, it is this; “My God and Saviour would have saved me, but I would not accept of his salvation. I would not come to him that I might have lifeu. I pray you, beloved, treasure not up for yourselves such bitterness as this: but improve the present opportunity of obtaining mercy, for the day of grace once lost, is lost for ever. This, Brethren, is the accepted time: the Lord grant that it may prove unto every one of you the day of salvation.”

DCCCCXXXV

THE OUT-POURING OF THE SPIRIT PROMISED

  Isai. 44:1–5.

Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

THERE is a striking analogy between the things which take place in the natural and in the moral world. As, in addition to the genial warmth of the sun, the showers are necessary to promote the progress of vegetation, so, in addition to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon us, the influences of the Holy Spirit are necessary, to soften our hearts, to water the seed that has been sown in them, and to produce in us those “fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” In this the office of the Holy Spirit consists. By his gracious operations on the soul, he applies to men that redemption which Jesus Christ has obtained for them; and by his sanctifying power he makes them meet for that inheritance which their Redeemer purchased for them by his blood. Whenever therefore we behold in the Scriptures a promise of the Holy Spirit, we should treasure it up in our minds, and seek not only to understand its import, but also to experience the accomplishment of it in our souls.

In discoursing on the words which we have just read, we shall consider,

  I.      The glorious promise here given us—

The manner in which the promise is introduced, is particularly deserving of our attention—

[In the last verse of the preceding chapter, the state of Israel is represented as altogether desperate: they were “given up by God to the curse and to reproaches.” Nevertheless God would not have any of them to despair; for, if they had but a desire to obtain mercy, he had mercy in reserve for them. He still regarded them as his “servants,” whom he had “chosen and formed” for his peculiar people, whom he had helped hitherto, and was still ready to “help” on every occasion that should arise: he calls them by the endearing names of “Jacob, and Israel, and Jesurun;” and bids them to dismiss their fears, and to expect from him all that their hearts could desire.

And is it not in the same way that he addresses us? Yes: notwithstanding all the judgments he has denounced against us for our sins, he says, “Yet hear now this, O Jacob my servant;” ‘remember thy relation to me; consider how free and rich has been my grace towards thee, in that I have “formed thee from the womb,” and “chosen thee” from all eternity, to be my most favoured servant: put away thy fears: entertain worthy thoughts of thy best Friend: limit not my tender mercies: enlarge thine expectations to the utmost extent of thy necessities; and thou shalt never be disappointed of thy hope.’

It is of great importance to notice the tender and affectionate manner in which God addresses his people; because it is from thence that we collect the most just conceptions of his condescension and grace, and derive the richest encouragement to wait upon him. It is also of great importance to observe what use God makes of the doctrine of election. Twice does he call them his “chosen;” because in that term is contained every thing that is endearing and encouraging. Only let us reflect on the state we were in when he chose us, and we shall see that there is nothing too great for us to expect at the hands of such a gracious God.]

But the promise itself is most glorious—

[The gift of the Holy Ghost is that peculiar blessing which the Church in all ages was taught to look for under the Christian dispensation. A measure indeed of the Spirit was vouchsafed to the godly at all times; but the fuller effusion was reserved for the times of the Apostles; as it is said, “The Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” If we go back as far as to the days of Abraham, we shall find, that the promise of the Spirit was made to him, not so much for his descendants after the flesh, as for his spiritual progeny among the Gentiles, to whom it was fulfilled in the Apostles’ days. And the prophets taught the Jews, in every successive period, to look forward to the same time for the full enjoyment of this privilege. The prophet Joel in particular spoke strongly on this subject: and St. Peter refers to his words, as accomplished on the day of Pentecost. Our blessed Lord also, both before and after his resurrection, instructed his disciples to expect a more abundant measure of the Spirit than had ever yet been vouchsafed to the world; and to that very instruction of his did St. Peter refer, when the Spirit was first poured out upon the Gentiles. The measure in which this blessing was to be imparted to the Church, is also particularly marked in the words of our text: “I will pour (not merely sprinkle, but pour) water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground;” even such abundance, as shall be sure to reach the roots, and produce, not a transient change, like that of grass upon the house-top, but a radical and permanent change, both of heart and life.

That we may estimate the change aright, we have it exhibited in two striking images; that of grass, growing up after a season of extreme drought; and that of willows, watered by perennial streams. Here are images familiar to every eye, and calculated to convey a just idea of the effects universally produced by the operations of the Spirit of God upon the soul. A new principle of life begins to shew itself; and a new beauty and excellency to adorn the whole character: the appropriate fruits of every season, and of every condition, are brought forth, and the whole soul appears “as a well-watered garden.” Partial changes may be produced by natural means: but the supernatural operation of the Spirit invariably causes a total surrender of the soul to God. The unconverted man in his best estate conceives himself to have some right over himself: but the true convert says, yea, and delights to say, “I am the Lord’s:” ‘I am his rightfully; I am his willingly and deliberately; I am his unreservedly and for ever.’ It is for this very end that the Spirit is promised; and these are its effects, wherever that promise is fulfilled.]

Now then let all the house of Israel hear,

  II.      The duties and privileges resulting from it—

Every promise brings with it correspondent duties as well as privileges: and most assuredly this promise is replete with INSTRUCTION and CONSOLATION,

  1.      To the Church at large—

[Think of Israel when under “the curse” of God, and overwhelmed by the “reproaches” of their enemies: What comfort must the words of our text have administered to them, especially to all who believed the prophet’s testimony respecting them! And shall it afford less comfort to us at this time? Certainly this is a season of lamentable drought, when compared with the apostolic age. Though God does not leave us altogether without witness, yet the effect of our ministrations is very small and partial. But we look forward to a period, yea, and we hope that the clouds are even now gathering, when the Spirit shall be poured out again, and “showers of blessings” descend upon our thirsty land. We look for the time, when the Church, which is now but as a slender plant, shall become a tree, in whose branches the “fowl of every wing shall lodgeg.” Then shall converts be “as the morning dew;” they shall fly in immense multitudes “as a cloud,” and with the speed and velocity of “doves to their windows.” The Church itself will be perfectly astonished at the vast increase, of her membersi; for “a nation shall be born in a day;” the most dreary regions of the earth shall, equally with ourselves, participate the blessing; and “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” O what joy should such glorious prospects afford us! Did Abraham rejoice when he obtained but a glimmering view of the day of Christ; and shall not we, who have already seen him risen on our horizon, and behold him now rapidly advancing to his meridian height? Was the birth of Jesus announced by angels as “glad tidings of great joy to all people;” and shall not his universal reign, now speedily approaching, be hailed with joy? Yes; blessed be God! we not only “see the cloud of the bigness of a man’s hand,” but we behold the commencement of those showers, which shall refresh and fertilize the whole earth.]

  2.      To the weak and disconsolate in particular—

[What mercy can be in reserve for me, may one say, who am “given over to the curse of God, and to the reproaches” of my own conscience? Were I like “the earth that drinketh in the rain, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, I might hope for a blessing from God: but bearing, as I do, only briers and thorns, 1 am rejected, and nigh unto cursing; and my end is to be burned.” But what room is there for such desponding apprehensions, when we contemplate the state of Israel as described in the preceding chapterl, and in the very words of our text? The “thirsty and the dry ground” is that to which the promise is made: and who may not find his character designated by those terms? But if these be not sufficiently humiliating, to warrant our hope of an interest in the promise, let us reflect on the description of persons for whom our blessed Saviour, on his ascension to heaven, received the gift of the Holy Ghost: it was “for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” Surely the most self-condemning person in the universe may venture to place himself in that class, and consequently to expect under that character what he could not venture to hope for as promised to the righteous. And, if a very extraordinary measure of grace be thought necessary for us, more than for others, we may surely find a sufficiency in the “floods” which are contained in the promise before us. Fear not then, whoever thou art; for God has said, that the poorest, even in the most destitute and desponding state, shall, on looking to the Saviour, have floods and fountains of grace, unbounded in their measure, irresistible in their efficacy, and endless in their duration.]

  3.      To parents more especially—

[The covenant made with Abraham, was made with him and with his seed; and this very promise, which holds forth to us the chief blessing of that covenant, is expressly said to be “unto us, and to our children, and to as many as are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall callp.” Let not any then be satisfied with having it fulfilled to themselves alone: let all consider the interest which their children also have in it; let them plead it with God in behalf of their offspring: and let them remember, that, whatever measure of grace they themselves possess, it is given them, not for their own good only, but “for the good of their children after them.” O Parents, bear in mind, that the gift of the Spirit is more to be desired in behalf of your children than thousands of silver and gold: let it be your daily prayer, that they may be endued with this precious gift: and, whilst you look for their growth in bodily nature and intellectual attainments, look to see them “growing up as willows by the water-courses,” and manifesting to all around them, how richly they are watered by the grace of God. That there is a great neglect of these things amongst religious professors, is but too true; but if the grace of God really exist in us, it will shew itself by an unwearied solicitude for the welfare of our offspring; as the prophet clearly intimates, when he says of the converts in the latter day, “They shall bring their sons in their arms, and their daughters (in litters) upon their shoulders.” O that every mother might be as Hannah, and every father as Abrahams! and that none of you would “give rest unto your God,” till you have prevailed, like wresthng “Jacobu,” and constrained him, as it were, to “shed forth his Holy Spirit abundantly upon your offspring through Jesus Christ our Saviour!”]

  4.      To young people, above all—

[Of whom is it said, that they shall, with such zeal and unanimity, devote themselves to God, and glory in the appellation of his people? Is it not of the young, who are springing up as willows by the water-courses? See then what is the first duty, and the highest privilege of the young! and see what all young people will do, as soon as they have “received the grace of God in truth!” And are there none amongst you who feel your obligations to God for the gift of his only dear Son to die for you? are there none so penetrated with his redeeming love, as to say in the fulness of your hearts, “What shall I render to the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?” Come then to the table of the Lord, and surrender up yourselves to him there! Think it not too early to wait upon him in that ordinance: if you truly desire to be the Lord’s, that is the ordinance at which in a more especial manner the surrender of yourselves to him should be made; and in that ordinance you may confidently expect that the Lord will more especially accept and bless you. In that ordinance too you form a closer union with the people of the Lord, who will delight to see you added to their society, and to help you forward by their counsels and their prayers. Come then, and “subscribe with your hand unto the Lord;” or rather, as soldiers, and slaves, and idolaters were used to inscribe on their flesh, in some indelible characters, the name of the general, or the master, or the idol, whom they served, so do you get inscribed on your heart, and on your arm, the name of your adorable Saviour, and give yourselves up to him in “a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”]

DCCCCXXXVI

THE FOLLY OF SPIRITUAL IDOLATRY

  Isai. 44:20.

He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

WE who have lived under the light of revelation, and have been instructed in the knowledge of the one true God, are amazed at the stupidity of the Heathen, who form idols of wood and stone, and worship gods which they themselves have made. But we do not consider, that it is not the forming of these images, but the trusting in them, that makes them gods: and that we ourselves are guilty of idolatry as much as the heathen themselves, if in any respect we “love and serve the creature more than the Creator.” This is the essence of idolatry; as the Apostle tells us; “Beware of covetousness, which is idolatry.” And of persons addicted to sensual enjoyments, he says, they “make a god of their bellyc:” and Christians universally, being in danger of indulging an undue confidence in, or attachment to, the creature, are guarded against those evils in these very expressive terms, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” In speaking therefore of idolaters, it is not necessary that we carry you back to the prophet’s days, or that we take you amongst Pagans of the present day: the language in our text is quite as applicable to us at this time as to any of them. With a view therefore to spiritual idolaters amongst ourselves, I will shew you,

  I.      The folly of their ways—

Of every one amongst them it may truly be said, “He feedeth on ashes:” for, whatever the things be with which he seeks to satisfy his desires, they are,

  1.      Unsuitable—

[It is needless to say, how unsuitable ashes are for the food of the body: but they are not a whit less so than the things of this world are for the nourishment of the soul. The soul is a spiritual substance, and must be fed with that which is spiritual. It was formed for God: and nothing but what comes from God, and leads to God, can support it. The word of God, for instance, is food on which it may subsist: and hence “the new-born babe desires the unadulterated milk of the word, that he may grow thereby.” On this the saints of old subsisted: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them: and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heartf.” The presence of God also is that which strengthens the believing soul: “for that it hungers and thirsts, even to see his power and glory, as they are revealed in the sanctuary: and, when a sense of his loving-kindness is imparted to it, the soul is filled as with marrow and fatness, and praiseth him with joyful lips.” In a more particular manner the Christian is nourished by the flesh of Christ and the blood of Christ; on which he feeds continually, and which he finds to “be meat indeed, and drink indeedh.” As for the things of time and sense, they are but as husks which the swine eat of: and to attempt to feed on them, is only to “feed upon the wind,” and to “fill the belly with the east windk.]

  2.      Unsatisfying—

[To all who go to the creature for happiness, the prophet says, “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” In confirmation of the reproof here given, I will venture to appeal to all, even to those who have drunk deepest of the cup of pleasure, and feasted themselves most largely with carnal delights; ‘Has any thing that you have ever enjoyed, afforded you permanent satisfaction?’ “Was your eye ever satisfied with seeing, or your cur with hearing?” or, “Was any man that loved silver, ever satisfied with silver?” There is but one testimony on this head, from every child of man. Vanity is written upon all human enjoyments; and vexation invariably follows in the pursuit of them.]

  3.      Injurious—

[As ashes, if taken into the stomach, would soon injure the constitution of the body, so all endeavours to satisfy the soul with carnal enjoyments will of necessity deprave and vitiate all its faculties. Such food will indispose the soul for every thing that is spiritual and divine: it will weaken all its energies; and debase all its powers; and reduce it to the lowest possible state of degradation, causing it to nauseate every thing which God has ordained for its good, and to affect every thing which will tend to its destruction. Every day that a man lives to himself and to this present world, he departs farther and farther from God, and renders himself more and more incapable of heavenly pursuits and heavenly enjoyments. He is “a sinner against his own soul;” and is fitly represented as “wronging his own soul, and loving deatho.”]

But to what shall we look as,

  II.      The source of their errors—

It is not from any radical defect in their understanding that this idolatry proceeds: it comes from their heart: “a deceived heart hath turned them aside.” This is a point which is by no means duly considered. If the subject of idolatry be brought fairly before a heathen, he sees at once that his god cannot help itself, and consequently can much less afford any help to him. And in like manner the spiritual idolater, if only he will candidly examine the matter, must see, and be convinced, that a vain world can never satisfy an immortal soul. But,

  1.      His heart is deceived by Satan—

[Satan is the great deceiver of mankind, He puts a gloss on every thing; representing as desirable that which is in itself evil; and hiding the deformity of it; and assuring us, that no painful consequences will follow a compliance with his suggestions. Thus he beguiled Eve in Paradise: and thus he still deceives the children of men, over the face of the whole earth. “He was a lying spirit in all the prophets of Ahab:” and he has his agents in every place, who are ready by every possible means to forward his delusions. He can, and often does, “assume the form of an angel of lightq:” and not unfrequently urges his temptations in so specious a way, as “to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect.” In a word, so subtle are his devices, that to know them, and be aware of them, is a science which scarcely any human being is able to attains; so innumerable are his wiles, and so unsearchable his deceits.]

  2.      His deceived heart turns aside his whole man—

[The heart, beguiled thus, and vitiated with evil propensities, blinds his understanding, biasses his will, and carries him forward in ways, which a more dispassionate view of things would lead him to condemn. This distinction clearly appears in the two verses preceding our text: “They have not known nor understood: for God hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire, &c. and shall I make the remains thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?” Then it is added, “He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside.” The blindness in his understanding arises from a want of due and unbiassed consideration in the heart. And, in fact, all evil will be found to originate here. “The heart of the sons of men is full of evil;” and it is “deceitful above all things, as well as desperately wickedu:” and, like a bias in a bowl, even when under any strong impulse a man has been going for a season in u right direction, it draws him gradually aside, and causes him to rest in a situation far distant from that at which he aimed. Who amongst us has not had abundant experience of this in his own soul? Who amongst us has not been drawn from complying with the dictates of a better principle, by the more powerful influence of an evil principle within him; and thus followed the less proper course, at the very time that he beheld and approved the better? Thus it is with all the votaries of this world: they have an internal consciousness that their ways and their doings are not good: they therefore will not bring them to the test of God’s revealed will: “they are afraid of coming to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved:” yet, through the deceits of Satan and their own hearts, they say, “We shall have peace, notwithstanding we walk in the imagination of our own heartsz.” Thus, I say, it is with them: they are “carried away by a spirit of whoredom:” “they are drawn away of their own lust, and enticed. Then, when their lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth deathb.”]

Hence we may easily account for,

  III.      The strength of their delusions—

“They cannot deliver their souls”—

[Truly, as our Liturgy well expresses it, they “are tied and bound with the chain of their sins.” The whole generation of ungodly men are “led captive by the devil, at his will,” and are “carried away to their idols, even as they are ledd.” Amongst them all there are few, if any, who have not felt at times some desire to liberate themselves from their thraldom, and formed some purpose to turn unto their God. But they have not been able to effect it; their inward lusts have been too strong for them, and their deep-rooted habits too inveterate; so that “they could no more change their course of life, than an Ethiopian could change his skin, or a leopard his spots.” Their good desires have perhaps been renewed from time to time; but have soon vanished again; “their goodness being only as a morning cloud, or as the early dew that passeth awayf.” In a time of sickness possibly, and at the expected approach of death, they may appear to have gained the victory over their corruptions. But no resolutions of theirs have been found sufficient. Returning health has brought with it renewed temptations; and these have borne down all their purposes, which have snapped asunder, as the cords or withs with which Sampson was bound: and the poor devotees of this world have returned again to their idols, “as a dog to his vomit, and as a sow that is washed to her wallowing in the mire.”]

“They cannot even say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

[Even to consider their ways with any seriousness, is an effort beyond their power. I mean not that they are under any natural incapacity for this; but such is their moral weakness, and such the strength of their corrupt nature, that they cannot do what their better judgment would dictate. If they attempt to read or pray, their minds start aside from the employment, “even as a deceitful bow:” and their thoughts quickly rove to the very ends of the earth. It is said of Satan, that, “as a strong man armed, he keepeth his palace, and his goods are in peaceh.” And this is verified in experience: for he keepeth his vassals from considering their bondage; he suggests to them that they will have some more convenient season for such unwelcome reflections; and he thus induces them to “think only of peace and safety, till sudden destruction come upon them,” and they “perish without a remedyk.” One would indeed scarcely conceive it possible that rational and immortal beings should be so insensible in the midst of their dangers, and against all the dictates of their better judgment: but so it is: they are willingly deceived, and are therefore “given over to a delusion to believe their own lie:” and so “vain are they in their imaginations, and so darkened in their foolish heartsm,” that to bid them examine whether they have not a lie in their right hand, is as great an offence to them, as it would be to a poor, blind, infatuated heathen.]

  INFER—

  1.      How thankful should we be for a Saviour!

[If God had not “laid help for us upon One that is mighty,” who amongst us could ever be saved? Blessed be God, if there is “a strong man armed that has enslaved us, there is a stronger than he, that has overcome him, and taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divided his spoils;” and at this moment sends his servants to proclaim, in his name, “liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are boundo.” The very first sermon which he himself ever preached on earth was to this effect. In his name therefore I now “preach the acceptable year of the Lord,” even the year of Jubilee, wherein every slave may assert his liberty, and claim the possession of his forfeited inheritance. Rejoice then, Brethen, in these glad tidings: and now “cast your idols to the moles and to the bats.” Feed no more on ashes: let not a deceived heart any longer turn you aside: but deliver your souls; and come forth into the light and liberty of the children of God. If your cast idolatries have involved your souls in guilt, there is a sufficiency in the blood of Christ to cleanse you from it: if your corruptions appear so inveterate that you cannot hope to subdue them, “the grace of Christ shall be sufficient for your.” Only seek henceforth your all in him, and “you shall be saved by him with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end.”]

  2.      How watchful should we be against the remains of our corrupt nature!

[Whilst we are in this world, we still carry about with us “a body of sin and death,” and many corrupt propensities, against which we must be ever on our guard. We are but “in part renewed.” “The flesh still lusteth against the Spirit, as well as the Spirit against the flesh.” And Satan has still power to tempt us, yea, and “will sift us all as wheat,” if our blessed Lord do not interpose for our help. We see in Demas, how prone the carnal heart is to relapse into the love of earthly things; and we know very little of ourselves, if we have not learned, by our own manifold backslidings, that we are yet in danger of “turning back unto perdition,” and of “losing all the things which we have wroughtx.” I would say then, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:” “and take to you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to standz”— — —]

DCCCCXXXVII

THE WORK OF REDEMPTION A MOTIVE TO CONVERSION

             Isai. 44:22.

Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

ON occasions of public worship we generally expect a set discourse from man. But on the present occasion, I wish you to place man altogether out of the question, and to listen to a few words addressed to you by Jews Christ himself. It is he who is speaking in the passage before us, and who, addressing, as it were, every one of us by name, urges us by the most forcible of all considerations to return to him. True indeed the words in the first instance were delivered to the Jews, who, notwithstanding all that Jehovah, the only true God, had done for them, were prone to idolatry; and who were absurd enough to cut down a tree, and fashion it after the image of a man, and, after having roasted their food with a part of it, to worship the residue of it as a god. Yet, instead of denouncing his heaviest judgments against them, our Lord says, “O Jacob and Israel, thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” Now though we are not gross idolaters as the Israelites were, we may very fitly consider the words of our text as addressed to ourselves, since every one of us has lived in spiritual idolatry, “loving and serving the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore.”

Let us then consider,

  I.      The invitation, “Return unto me.”

That we have all departed from God is evident from what the Prophet Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, every one to his own way.” Thus though, as to the particular ways which we have pursued, we may differ, one having rushed into all manner of gross sins, whilst another has walked in a more moral and decent way, we are all alike in this, that we have lived to ourselves rather than unto God. This we all have acknowledged in the general Confession — — — and therefore we may all, without exception, consider the invitation as addressed to ourselves: “Return unto me;”

  1.      In penitence—

[As sinners, we are all called upon to repent: nor can we ever be accepted of God, whilst we continue impenitent. The Prodigal Son, in his return, is a pattern to us all — — — The Publican, and not the self-applauding Pharisee, was justified before Godd. It is not the more notorious sinner only that is to “sow in tears, in order to reap in joy:” for “he that covereth his sins, whoever he may be, shall not prosper: it is he only who confesseth and forsaketh them, that shall find mercy.” Hence the Saviour would have the very best of men approach him with that penitential acknowledgment, “Behold, I am vile: I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashesf.”]

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