Isai. 51:1–3.

Isai. 51:1–3.

  2.      In faith—

[We are not to come to the Lord doubting either his power or his willingness to save us, but fully confiding in him as able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him: “If I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be wholei.” Our Saviour would not have any doubts entertained in our mind. He reproved Martha for questioning the fullest possible accomplishment of his word: “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” In our return to him he will make our faith the measure of the benefits he will confer upon us; “He says, according to your faith it shall be unto youl.”]

  3.      In love—

[He must have willing servants, or none. We must account “none of his commandments grievous,” but regard “his yoke easy and his burthen lightn.” In returning to him, the language of our hearts must be that which he himself used, when first he undertook our cause: “Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” In fact, our readiness and determination of heart to obey his will is the only true test of our repentance, our faith, or our love. With whatever measure of penitence or faith we may profess to return to him, “it will be in vain to cry, Lord! Lord! if we do not the things which he commands.”]

Whilst we listen to our Saviour’s invitation, it will be well to consider,

  II.      The motive with which he enforces it.

He might well have enforced it with the most terrible denunciations of his wrath in the event of our refusal. But he rather reminds us of the great things he has done for us;

  1.      As a call upon our gratitude—

[Think what I have done for you, in leaving my Father’s bosom, in assuming your fallen nature, in bearing your sins upon the cross, and in effecting your reconciliation with your offended God. Does all this love call for such a return at your hands; and “is it right for you to requite” it as you are now doing? Is it well for you to abide at a distance from me, and to “trample upon my blood as an unholy thing,” and to “crucify me afresh by continuing in your sins?” Had I never shewn such mercy to you, your wickedness in departing from me would have been comparatively light: but “now you can have no cloak for your sinr:” nay, you must stand utterly condemned in your own minds. But if you will duly contemplate the love which I have shewn to you, it will surely generate in your hearts somewhat of a corresponding love to me, and “constrain you to live unto him, who has so lived and died for you.”]

  2.      As an encouragement under our fears—

[In despite of all that the Lord Jesus has done and suffered for us, we are prone, under a deep conviction of our sins, to doubt whether he will receive such sinful creatures as we. But let us suppose, that, immediately after his resurrection, he had met many of his murderers, and told them, that the very blood which they had shed should cleanse them from the guilt of shedding it; could they have doubted his willingness to save their souls? Now it is in this very way that he meets us at this time. Our sins were the true cause of all his sufferings: and in his word he meets us at this very hour, and says to every one of us individually, “I have redeemed thee; O return to me; for I have redeemed THEE.” Dismiss then your fears, whatever you may have been, or whatever you may have done: for his blood will cleanse from all sin,” nor shall any soul perish that believes in himu. Let the most unrighteous man in the universe only return to him in penitence and faith, “and He will have mercy upon him, and abundantly pardon all his multiplied transgressions.”]

  APPLICATION—

[Let the careless sinner hear this. When you are in the midst of all your mirth and gaiety, call this to mind: ‘My Saviour is here with me; and in a still small voice he says to me, Return unto me from whom thou hast deeply revolted; “return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” What has the world ever done for you, that it should be preferred to me? or what can it ever do, that shall compensate for the loss of my redeeming love?’ Surely, my Brethren, one such thought as this will damp all your joys, and constrain you, like the Saviour’s look on Peter, to go forth from your scenes of dissipation, and weep bitterly — — —

Let the backsliding professor, in particular, consider himself as here addressed. To him our Saviour says, ‘What iniquity have you found in me, that you should so slight my love? Have I been a wilderness to you, and a land of darkness, that you should thus wickedly depart from me? O remember, “It were better for you never to have known me, than thus to reflect dishonour un my namea.” Think, in what your declension must issue, if you return not to me with your whole heart.’ And now, ere it be too late, say, “What have I to do any more with idols?” “I will return unto my first Husband; for then it was better with me than now” — — — Then shall you pour forth those joyous strains which follow my text; and, with David and Peter, unite for ever in the loudest hosannas to your redeeming God.]

DCCCCXXXVIII

REDEMPTION A GROUND OF JOY

  Isai. 44:23.

Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

IF the word of God produced its full effect upon the hearts of men, this world would be very much assimilated to heaven: there would be the same views, the same dispositions, the same exercises and employments amongst our fallen race, as are found amongst the angels, in the presence of their God. Let us only conceive that the subjects in the text universally occupied the minds of men; and that they were celebrated by all ranks of people with the ardour and affection suited to their importance; surely we should have a very heaven upon earth! Permit me then to remind you, that,

  I.      “The Lord hath redeemed his people”—

The redemption of the Jews from Babylon was a great and joyful event. The person who was to effect it was foretold by name. The manner in which he should take the city of Babylon (by turning the course of the Euphrates, and passing through the gates of brass), and the use which he should make of his triumph (by liberating the captive Jews, and ordering them to rebuild their city and temple), was all distinctly specified, above two hundred years before such a person as Cyrus existed in the world. But, extraordinary as this event was, it was only a shadow of one infinitely more important,—the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ. He has redeemed his people,

  1.      By price—

[In a figurative sense, God may be said to have “given Egypt and Ethiopia as the ransom of Israel.” But what is the “ransom that he has found for usc?” What is “the price with which he has bought us” out of the hands of sin and Satan? Kingdoms and worlds were insufficient for the purpose. We could not be “redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but only with the precious blood of God’s co-equal Sone.” Great as the price was, God did not hesitate to lay it down: “he purchased the Church with his own blood.” No longer can we now be detained in bondage, if we claim our liberty in the name of Christ. “The law cannot condemn usg; Satan cannot lead us captive; “sin cannot have dominion over usi.” If we avail ourselves of “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” we shall be “delivered from every kind of bondage, and be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” “Being made free by Christ, we shall be free indeedl.”]

  2.      By power—

[The deliverances vouchsafed to the Jews of old were effected by “a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm.” And it is only “in the day of God’s power that any are made willing” to embrace the salvation offered them in Christ Jesus. The “report of the Gospel is believed by those only, to whom the arm of the Lord is revealedn.” To rescue a soul from the tyranny of sin and Satan, is a work of omnipotence. Easy as it may seem to persuade a person to believe in Christ, it far surpasses the ability of any created being. “God himself must bring us to this self-same thing:” and we are told, that, in the accomplishment of this work, he exerts no less power than he did when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, above all the principalities and powers, whether of heaven or hell. Redemption is prepared for us before we come into the world: but, in order to enjoy its benefits, we must, each in his own person, experience the mighty working of God’s power: He who “spoiled principalities and powers upon the cross,” must triumph over them in our hearts; and incline us, by the effectual operation of his Spirit, to embrace the salvation which he purchased with his blood.]

God has not only thus consulted our happiness, but,

  II.      Herein “he has also glorified himself”—

Every work of God’s hands bespeaks his wisdom, his power, and his goodness: but the work of redemption glorifies all his perfections. We might easily shew how his justice and his holiness are illustrated by it, and how they are made to harmonize with truth and mercy: but we shall content ourselves with shewing, that herein he has glorified,

  1.      His grace and mercy—

[Consider only the state in which we were, when God sent his only dear Son to redeem us; and the state in which we are found, when he sends his Holy Spirit to apply that redemption to us; we were fallen after the example of the apostate angels; yet God passed by them, and delivered up his own Son for us; we are still “enemies to God in our minds by wicked works,” and are actually fighting against God with all our might; and yet does he subdue us by “the rod of his strength,” and make “his Gospel to be the power of God to the salvation of our souls.” And must we not stand amazed at this difference which is put between us and the fallen angels? must we not adore that sovereignty which “chose us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world,” and in due season exalts us to thrones of glory; yea, which in many instances favours the vilest of publicans and harlots in preference to learned Scribes and self-applauding Phariseesr: We are told indeed, that God designed by his Gospel to display “the exceeding riches of his grace:” and this end is thoroughly accomplished: for wherever the Gospel is received, it invariably magnifies his grace in the eyes of men: ‘Why didst thou choose me, Lord? Why was I made to comply with thine invitations, while so many were suffered to decline them, and to perish in their sins?’ Scarcely the gift of Christ himself will furnish matter for more admiration and gratitude in heaven than this: or rather, I should say, the greatness of the gift, and the sovereignty with which it is bestowed, will be interwoven with each other in everlasting hallelujahs.]

  2.      His truth and faithfulness—

[The redemption given us in Christ was a subject of prophecy, as well as that which was vouchsafed to the Jews through the instrumentality of Cyrus. And when Christ was sent into the world, the truth and faithfulness of God were most conspicuously displayed. Of these, the aged and inspired priest more particularly expressed his admiration; repeatedly blessing and praising God for “performing the promises made by the mouth of his holy Prophets, and remembering the oath which he had sworn to our father Abraham.” Nor is the truth of God to be noticed only in sending us a Redeemer: it is equally visible in applying redemption to our souls. There is not one that ever partakes of this redemption, but in consequence of his having been “given to Christ” before the foundation of the world: nor is one brought finally to the complete enjoyment of it in heaven, but his continued preservation through all his perils and conflicts is an accomplishment of that promise, “I will never leave thee nor forsake theex.” Surely at the end of our journey we shall take the same review its Joshua did in his last moments; we shall adore the faithfulness of God and say, “Of all the good things which God hath promised me, not one thing hath failed.”

Is the glory of God so blended with the happiness of man? Surely,

  III.      This is a ground of most exalted joy to the whole creation—

All, both in heaven and earth, are required to rejoice in it—

[Even the angels who never fell have reason to rejoice in this great event, because by means of it they have brighter discoveries of God’s character, and more enlarged views of his perfections. Indeed they no sooner beheld its accomplishment in the incarnation of Christ, than they sang, “Glory to God in the highest!” and from the moment that Christ had completed his work, and was seated at the right hand of God, they commenced a new song, ascribing glory to the Lamb, as well as unto Him who sitteth upon the throne.

But it is to men more especially that the Gospel is “tidings of great joy.” They are the persons more immediately interested in it; nor is there “a tree in the whole forest” of the universe, “from the cedar to the hyssop,” that ought not to “break forth into singing, and shout for joy.” Let those who are most elevated in rank and dignity consider, what source of joy the whole world affords them in comparison of this. Do they admire wisdom? “In this are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Do they find gratifications in wealth and honour? What can ever enrich or ennoble them like the Gospel of Christ, by which they become children of God, and heirs of his kingdom? Let the poor also, who merely vegetate, as it were, in obscurity, let thorn remember, that they are “plants of the Lord’s planting,” and that they are as much interested in redeeming love as any people upon earth. Methinks, the less they have of carnal joy, the more they should seek to rejoice in God. Indeed they are as much distinguished above the rich in respect of spiritual privileges, as the rich are above them in the vanities of this world. What God therefore has chosen for them, let them choose also for themselves.]

Moreover their joy should be proportioned to the occasion for it—

[A cold or languid expression of gratitude would be utterly unsuited to the mercy vouchsafed unto us. It calls for all the powers of our souls; yea, “all that is within us should bless God’s holy name.” If we would form a just idea of the state in which we should be, let us imagine ourselves, not merely condemned, but already “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire:” How should we then hear the tidings of redemption? How would the fallen angels rejoice to see the gates of hell opened to them, and to have an offer of immediate restoration to the felicity of heaven! How would every one break forth into singing! What shouts of joy would echo through the vast expanse of hell! Precisely thus ought we to be affected with the deliverance that is proclaimed to us. We are told that when Titus Flaminius, the Roman general and proconsul, caused liberty to be proclaimed in the theatre to the States of Greece, the people with one consent rent the air with their acclamations, extolling him as their greatest benefactor, and crying, A saviour! a saviour! How much more reason have we to exalt our adorable Benefactor, who has “redeemed us to God by his blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and his Father!” Let us then sing, and shout for joy. Let the “mercy and truth” which God has manifested in this redemption, be the especial subjects of our praise. Thus shall we be prepared to join the heavenly choir, and to sing hallelujahs to God and to the Lamb for ever and ever.]

DCCCCXXXIX

THE EFFICACY OF THE GOSPEL

  Isai. 45:8.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.

IT is generally thought, that doctrines relating to God’s sovereignty, and to the divine decrees, are chiefly, if not exclusively, dwelt upon by the Apostle Paul. But, if any one read the Old Testament, he will find these doctrines advanced in almost every page. The chapter before us will furnish us with an instance quite in point. God had determined to deliver his people from their Babylonish captivity above two hundred years before they were carried captive, or Babylon itself, as an empire, had any prominent existence in the world: he also named the person by whom it should be effected, almost three hundred years before he was born, and yet there had never been a king of that name; and even specified the means by which he should effect the conquest of Babylon, which was so fortified as to be, humanly speaking, impregnable: he declared, also, that that person, contrary to all reasonable expectation, should liberate them without fee or reward, and give orders for the rebuilding of their city and temple. Who does not see, in all this, Jehovah acting as a Sovereign, according to his own will and pleasure, and directing every thing for his own glory? The Persians, over whom this Cyrus was to reign, had an idea that there were two separate and independent powers, represented under the emblems of light and darkness, who were the authors, the one of all good, and the other of all evil. To these they would be ready to ascribe their failure or success. But God told them, beforehand; “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I, the Lord, do all these things:” and, consequently, they must give all the glory of their success to him. Then he issues his command to the heavens and the earth to concur with him in this great event, and to produce amongst his people those blissful scenes which he had destined them to enjoy.

In this view, the words before us are, not a prayer, but a prophetic annunciation of an event which should assuredly, in due season, be accomplished. And, in our further explanation of them, I will mark,

  I.      The import of this prophecy—

Its primary reference is to the restoration of the Jews to their own land—

[This is the subject treated of: and to this the words undoubtedly, in the first instance, refer. Certainly, by the decree of Cyrus, the Jewish people would be delivered from most cruel bondage: and, by their re-establishment in their own land, they would, together with an abundance of temporal blessings, again enjoy the blessedness of waiting upon God in the instituted ordinances of his worship. And, inasmuch as this would tend to the advancement of their souls in righteousness and true holiness, it might justify the language by which it was expressed. To the same effect the Prophet Ezekiel speaks: “I will make them, and the places round about my hill, a blessing: and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase; and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.”

But it is evident that the prophecy includes in it a more important event; and that]

Its ulterior reference is to the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom—

[Under similar emblems is the Messiah’s kingdom frequently described. It is chiefly characterized by the outpouring of the Spirit upon God’s Church and people, and the consequent production of the fruits of righteousness among them in rich abundance. Remarkable is that declaration of the Prophet Joel: “It shall come to pass, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.” Of the true meaning of those words we can have no doubt; because they were cited by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, as fulfilled, when he and the rest of the Apostles were enabled by the Spirit to address their audience in the different languages of all the nations to which they belonged. With a sanctifying efficacy also was this effusion of the Spirit accompanied, as Isaiah also had foretold: for “when the Spirit was to be poured out from on high, then was the wilderness to become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field to be counted for a forest.” This, I say, was to characterize the Christian æra, as David also had foretold: “He shall come down like rain upon the grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endurethg.”]

But my more particular object in this discourse is, to point out, not merely the sense of the prophecy, but also,

  II.      The peculiar beauty of the image under which it is conveyed—

We are no strangers to the benefits arising from the showers which water the earth: and the correspondence between those and the benefits accruing from an outpouring of the Spirit of God is obvious and intelligible to all. You will remember, that our text is a command to the heavens and the earth to perform their respective offices for the renovation of the world. And I wish you particularly to notice,

  1.      Their mutual dependence, as here intimated—

[Every one knows, that in a season of drought the earth cannot send forth its fruits: it must be watered by the clouds, in order that free scope may be given for the exercise of its vegetative and fructifying powers. In like manner, the clouds, however liberally they may pour forth their stores upon the earth, can produce no fruits, unless they fall upon a fertile soil. On a sandy desert their gifts are wasted, altogether without effect.

I say not that the Spirit of God is equally dependent on the powers of man; for man has no power which he has not first received from God: but in the ordinary course of God’s dealings with mankind there must be a similar exercise of powers on the part of man, to render effectual the gifts of God. However good the seed of the word may be, or however richly it may be watered by the Spirit of God, we see, by experience, that it springs not up when sown by the way-side; and that it then only produces fruit unto perfection, when it is sown in an honest and good heart. I need not say how barren the heart of man is, it not watered by divine grace. He knows little of himself, who does not feel that “without” constant communications from the Lord Jesus “Christ he can do nothingi.” Yet, at the same time, we must take care to improve the blessings conferred upon us. We must plough up the fallow ground, and harrow in the seed that is cast upon it; and endeavour to take out, from time to time, the weeds which spring up within us, and which, if disregarded, would soon obstruct the growth of the better principles within us. In a word, we must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling, notwithstanding all fruitfulness proceeds from God; yea, and because it is God who giveth us both to will and do of his good pleasure.”]

  2.      Their united operation, as here described—

[“Behold the heavens dropping down fatness upon the earth, and the skies pouring down righteousness:” Behold, at the same time, “the earth opening” to receive the benefits, and “righteousness and salvation springing up together.” Behold this, I say, in the field of nature; what a change is wrought, almost instantaneously on the face of the earth! Behold it, also, in the field of grace. Behold a place thus visited: how blessed the change that takes place in the ordinances of religion, in the habits of the people, and in the different institutions which immediately spring up for the advancement of the Redeemer’s kingdom in the world! Behold a soul thus highly favoured: formerly it had not a disposition or desire but towards the things of time and sense: God, and all the wonders of redeeming love were out of sight; and eternity had but a slender influence on its decisions. But now the thoughts go forth with devout affection towards heavenly objects: prayer and praise, which formerly were no more than a mere outward form, are the sweet, I had almost said the natural, exercises of the mind. To fulfil the will of God, and to promote his glory i to enjoy his presence and to taste his love; to grow up into his image, and be made meet for his inheritance; these are now the great ends for which the soul desires to live, and the constant object of its pursuit; and all its tempers, dispositions, and habits, are brought into accordance with these new desires. Let any one, looking back upon his former life, compare with it his state since he has received the grace of God; and he will find, that his soul is become, comparatively, “like a well-watered garden;” and that the fruits of righteousness, of which it once was destitute, are springing up continually, to the praise and glory of his God. The union of the two is inseparable: wherever fruitfulness is, there has previously been the grace of God: and wherever the grace of God descends into the soul, there will immediately spring up the fruits of righteousness, as indications and evidences of its power. “Truth will assuredly spring out of the earth, when righteousness looks down from heaven.”]

  3.      The true source and origin of all their efficacy—

[In my text it is said, “I the Lord have created it.” In the material world, all is of God, and of God alone. The whole universe combined could not make one shower, or give fertility to a sandy desert: nor can any power but God’s effect the renovation of fallen man. Hence it is said of the regenerate soul, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” Whatever be the means used by God, the work is his alone. “Paul may plant, and Apollos water; but it is God that gives the increase.” To him must every thing be traced, as much as the creation itself; even to his will, which ordains it; and to his power, which executes it: so that to him must all the glory be ascribed by every soul, both in this world and the world to come.]

  SEE now, from hence,

  1.      What a blessing the Gospel is—

[No one needs be told what a blessing showers are to the thirsty earth. Precisely such is the Gospel to the souls of men: “As the rain and the snow come down from above and water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give bread to the eater and seed to the sower; so is the word which proceedeth from God,” when accompanied by the Spirit from on high. I would that this were duly understood. Persons form strange notions about the Gospel, as though it were of no use but to produce dissensions in families, and enthusiasm in the soul: but its real and true use, as we may see from what took place at the first publication of it on the day of Pentecost, is to “make glad the wilderness, and to transform a desert into the garden of the Lord. Let the soul, that has experienced its effects, say, whether any other principles can equal it in power, or any other fruits bear a comparison with those produced by it? Verily, “it bringeth forth fruit in all the world,” and “is the power of God unto salvation to all them that believe.”]

  2.      What is to be done, on our part, to render it effectual—

[The earth is said to “open its mouth,” to receive the early and the latter rain: and it puts forth all its powers to make a suitable return. Thus should we do: we should be looking up to God for the gift of his Holy Spirit; and open our very souls to receive his gracious communications; and then exert every faculty for a suitable improvement of the grace given. We are to “be workers together with God.” We are not to be merely passive, in the receipt of his favours; but active, in employing them to the ends for which they are bestowed. What might we not hope for, if all our hearers came hither with such thirsting spirits, and went hence with such a determination to render unto God the fruits which he requires! Be ye in earnest, Brethren; and we shall see more and more, that, “as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to bring forth, so will the Lord God cause righteousness and peace to spring forth amongst us” in richer abundance than we have ever yet been privileged to behold them.]

  3.      To whom we are indebted, if ever it has become effectual for our good—

[I need not say to whom we are indebted, either for the fertilizing showers, or for the fruits produced by them. Nor need I say how cordially every well-instructed soul will acknowledge his obligations to the Lord, saying, “By the grace of God I am what I ams.” In ourselves we have no reason to glory over our more unprofitable neighbour; seeing that “it is God alone who has made us to differ from him.” But, whilst we give all possible glory to God, from whose free and sovereign grace our blessings have proceededu, we must so walk as to shew us that “God is with us of a truth; and that all who behold us may acknowledge us to be “a field which the Lord has blessed.”]

DCCCCXL

STRIVING WITH OUR MAKER

             Isai. 45:9.

Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!

GOD is a mighty Sovereign, greatly and exclusively to be feared. To shew that those who were exalted as rivals to Him had no power, he challenged them all to foretell any future event; or, if they could not do that, to acknowledge his supremacy. As for himself, all things were naked and open before him, yea, and were done by him: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” But, in despite of all the manifestations which he has given of his supremacy, men would still continue to rebel against him: and therefore he warns them of the terrible danger to which they exposed themselves: “Woe to him that striveth with his Maker!”

To elucidate these words, I will point out,

  I.      The conduct reprobated—

It may be supposed impossible for men to strive with their Maker: but the fact is, that men may do it in a variety of ways:

  1.      By resisting his will—

[He has made known his will in his written Law — — — But men will not obey it — — — Tell them that God has enjoined this, and forbidden that; and they will spurn at the restraint imposed upon them, and say, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord; neither will I obey his voice” — — — And what is this, but downright rebellion? Sure I am, that we should account it so, if we were so treated by our child or our servant: and no doubt God will impute it to us as a deliberate resistance of his will.]

  2.      By murmuring at his dispensations—

[God acts according to his sovereign will, in the dispensations both of his providence and grace. The rich and the poor owe to him their respective lots; as do also all who are appointed to health or sickness, life or death. There is not any trial with which man is visited, but it proceeds from him. But where do we find one who, in a state of trouble, has not been ready to murmur and repine? And what is that, but striving with our Maker? So HE construes it: and so it will be found in the last daye. As to the sovereign exercise of his grace, that is still more offensive to our proud hearts. Though we claim for ourselves a right to dispose of our own property as we please, we refuse that right to him; as if, in benefiting others, he did to us an injury. The very case is stated by St. Paul; who, having instanced, in the case of Pharaoh, and in the destinies of Jacob and of Esau, the uncontrolled sovereignty of God, states the feelings of an ungodly man: “Thou wilt say unto me, Why then doth he find fault? for who hath resisted his will?” To which he indignantly replies, “Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” Here, then, we see indisputably in what light God views all such instances of murmuring and complaint: for, in all circumstances whatever, our only wish should be, “Not my will, but thine, be done.”]

  3.      By rejecting his Gospel—

[God, in his Gospel, comes and entreats of man to accept of reconciliation with him through the Son of his love — — — But how do men treat this divine message? They reject it utterly; and say in their hearts, respecting the Lord Jesus Christ, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” In the parable of the wedding-feast, “all who were invited began to make excuse” — — — And thus it is with us. Any thing is deemed sufficient to justify our refusal of God’s gracious invitations — — — And from his sentence in reference to them, we know in what light he will regard us and in what way he will deal with us — — —]

The woe denounced against such conduct leads us to consider,

  II.      The evil of it—

It cannot possibly be painted in too strong colours: for it is,

  1.      Presumptuous—

[In the words following my text, this is set forth by two very opposite illustrations. Let us conceive a piece of clay, dissatisfied with the form given to it by the potter, rising up against the potter, and accusing him of ignorance or injustice; should we not say, that it was presumptuous in the extreme? Or, let us suppose a child to rise up against his parents; and to ask the one why he did not beget, and the other why she did not bring forth, a more perfect being: should we not think that he arrogated to himself an authority which did not belong to him? Thus, then, it is with all who in any way strive with their Maker: they are altogether out of their place, and, in the whole of their conduct, are guilty of the most unwarrantable presumption.]

  2.      Foolish—

[Can any one suppose that he shall prevail against his Maker? As well might the clay hope to prevail against the potter, who can see nothing in his work but arrogance and folly. And so God has told us: “The counsel of the Lord, that shall stand; and he will do all his pleasure” — — —]

  3.      Ruinous—

[Vain, utterly vain, is such a contest as this. And so we are plainly warned. What would be the issue of a contest between briers and thorns and a devouring fire? Such will be the issue of the strife between God and his rebellious creatures: “Who would set briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, and burn them up together.” That pointed interrogation, “Who hath hardened himself against God, and prospered?” must for ever determine this question; and shew, that to “strive with our Maker” is, to involve ourselves in inevitable and eternal ruin — — —]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      In a way of indignant proof—

[Who amongst us has not been guilty of the crime here reprobated? Yea, whose life has not been one continued act of rebellion against God! Now, if it were “our Maker” only that had been so treated by us, no words would have been sufficient to declare the enormity of our crime. But our Maker has been our Redeemer also; yea, and has given his own life a ransom for us: yet have we “trodden under foot his blood” by our contemptuous indifference, and even “crucified him afresh” by our continuance in sin. Judge ye, then, what we deserve at God’s hands. And now let me ask, whether ye intend to persist in this conduct? If ye do, I can say nothing but what Paul said to persons of this character, “Your damnation is just” — — —]

  2.      In a way of compassionate exhortation—

[The Prophet Jeremiah, having stated the very argument before us, and shewn that God might justly, as a potter, mar the work which had presumed to rise up against him, goes on to observe, that, notwithstanding all our past guilt, God is yet ready to forgive us, if only with penitent and contrite hearts we turn unto him. And happy am I to confirm this blessed sentiment; yea, and to declare, that not one, whatever may have been his guilt in past times, shall ever be cast out, provided he come in the name of Jesus Christ, founding his hope on His all-atoning sacrifice, and His all-prevailing intercession. As God’s servant, then, I now announce to you these blessed tidings; and declare, in God’s name, that “though your sins may have been red as scarlet, they shall be as snow: though they have been as crimson, they shall be as wool.” Only cease from strife on your part, and God will be reconciled to you, and be your God, for ever and ever.]

DCCCCXLI

THE EXTENT AND CERTAINTY OF ISRAEL’S SALVATION

  Isai. 45:17.

Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

AS in the dispensations of God’s providence we behold a mixture of mercy and judgment, so in the records of his grace we see promises and threatenings continually interwoven. Declarations so opposite, standing in immediate contrast with each other, give to each other a double force and energy, more especially when, as in the passage before us, compared with the preceding verse, they are expressed in similar terms. In this view the promise in the text deserves particular attention. In considering it we shall shew,

  1.      Who they are that are comprehended under the name “Israel”—

We are not to limit this name to the Jews; nor even to comprehend all the Jews under it; since “all are not Israel that are of Israel:” it includes those,

  1.      Who worship God—

[This name was originally given to Jacob by God himself on account of his having “wrestled all night” in prayer till he obtained the blessing he desired. From him it passed to his natural descendants; but has in all ages more eminently characterized his spiritual seed, who, like him, “worship God in spirit and in truth.” Our Lord, seeing Nathanael, called him an “Israelite indeed;” and, on finding how much Nathanael was surprised by such an appellation from a stranger, assured him that “he had seen him under the fig-tree.” Most probably Nathanael, supposing that no human eye beheld him, had been praying there to God: and our Lord, adverting to this circumstance as well as to his integrity, addressed him by a name that marked his character in both respects. Thus every true Israelite is frequent at the throne of grace; and God, who seeth in secret, will testify of him, In such and such a place I saw thee lifting up thy heart to me, and imploring my blessing with thy whole soul.]

  2.      Who worship God alone—

[There were some among the Jews who feared the Lord, and yet served other gods: so amongst ourselves there are many who would be thought to fear God, while they are endeavouring to reconcile the inconsistent services of God and mammon. But Israel stand directly opposed to such characters in the context: they not only will not make or worship idols of wood or stone, but they will harbour no idols in the heart: they will not provoke the Lord to jealousy by any hidden abominations, but labour to be “Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.”]

Now since it is promised to such persons that they shall be saved, it will be proper to inquire,

  II.      In what way they shall be saved—

The Lord Jesus Christ is the person mentioned in the text as the author of their salvation: and they must be saved,

  1.      By the merit of his blood—

[Whatever integrity of heart any man may possess, or however fervent ho may be in his supplications before God, he must be saved in the same way as any other sinner, and enter in at the same door with publicans and harlots. His very best services are polluted; and he needs to be cleansed from “the iniquity of his holy things” as much as from the vilest transgressions. Nor is there any other fountain opened for sin but that which was opened upon Mount Calvary: nothing but the blood of Christ can ever cleanse from sin: the holiest man that ever lived must be “accepted in the beloved;” “nor is there salvation for him in any other:” even Paul himself, notwithstanding all his legal and evangelical obedience, desired to be “found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ.” And “in the same adorable Lord must all the seed of Israel be justified, and must glory.”]

  2.      By the efficacy of his grace—

[It is not by any efforts of their own that Israel are enabled to differ from others: “they are saved, not by the exercise of created power, but in the Lord their God.” They must all adopt the same humiliating confession, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strengthl.” Are they strong? it is in the Lord, and in the power of his might: do they gain the victory? they must thank God for giving it them through Jesus Christ our Lord. “In HIM all their fresh springs are found;” “out of HIS fulness they receive continually grace for grace:” and if this lock were shorn, they would instantly become weak as other men. Being fully assured of this, they evince that they are the true Israel, by worshipping God in the spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the fleshp.]

For their abundant consolation God declares,

  III.      The extent and certainty of their salvation—

As to the certainty of their salvation, no words can more fully express it, than those which are now before us—

[God absolutely declares that “Israel shall be saved:” lest we should limit our expectations to some temporal benefit, he assures us that the salvation he will afford them, shall be “everlasting:” and lest we should still be slow of heart to believe, he repents his assertion in terms as strong and energetic as language can afford, or imagination can conceive. The same truth is confirmed in every page of the sacred volume, and that too in the richest variety of expression, in order more effectually to engage our minds and establish our faith. And has God spoken all these things merely to deceive us? “Has he said, and will he not do it; has he spoken, and will he not make it good?” Let this then be received as an infallible truth, that whatever may become of others, “Israel shall be saved;” nor shall any difficulties, any dangers, or all the conspiracies of earth and hell, ever make void this promise in any single instance to all eternity.]

Nor can any thing be added to enhance the greatness of their salvation—

[It shall be so perfect, that there shall be nothing wanting to complete it. Their “sins shall all be cast into the very depths of the sea.” However high their expectations may be raised, they shall “never be ashamed;” nor, however strong their confidence may be, shall they “ever be confounded.” They shall appear before God with holy boldness: they may even now, as they shall also at the bar of judgment, adopt the triumphant language of the apostle, “Who is he that shall lay any thing to my charge? It is God that justifieth: who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ that died.” Yea, they may lay claim to all that God himself can give in time and eternity; and, neither in time nor in eternity, shall they be disappointed of their hope. Their felicity shall begin the very instant they believe in Christ; and shall be coeval with their own existence.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      The idolatrous worldling—

[It is not only “the maker of idols,” but he who “setteth up idols in his heart,” that is an idolater in the sight of God: if we “love and serve the creature more than the Creator,” we are as truly idolaters, as if we bowed down to stocks and stones; and do not the consciences of many testify, that their hearts are incomparably more set upon the world, than on God? If they compare their devotion before God with their zeal about earthly things, may they not see that they differ widely from from the true Israel? Shall we then say to them, that they shall be “saved with an everlasting salvation? Should we not speak more truly if we were even to reverse the terms, and declare the judgments of God against them? Yes, indeed; for though they now will scarcely admit a doubt or a fear respecting their eternal state, God has warned them, in the very words before the text, that “they shall be ashamed and confounded, all of them; they shall all go to confusion together.” But is there no way for their escape? Blessed be God, there is: if they believe in Christ, they shall yet be saved; for “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus:” and his command to them is, “Look unto me and be ye saveds.” Let them but prostrate themselves at the foot of his cross, seeking redemption through his precious blood, and they shall yet become monuments of his pardoning mercy, and his sanctifying grace.]

  2.      The true Israelite—

[“Happy art thou, O Israel, O people saved by the Lord!” What a mercy is it to have God himself saying respecting you, Israel shall be saved! Possibly you may meet with many troubles in your way to glory; but you need not regard them, as long as you have the promise that you shall survive them all. Perhaps, like Paul and those who were with him in the ship, you may be so tossed with tempest, as to be brought almost to despair: but God had promised that not a hair of their head should perish; and though they suffered shipwreck, yet was his word fulfilled to them: for all of them, some on boards and others on broken pieces of the ship, got safe to shore. Thus shall it be with you also. You may, as thousands hare before you, suffer the loss of all earthly comforts; but God’s word shall not be broken: he has promised; and he is not only able, but determined to perform. Look forward then with comfort to death and judgment, and know that that day which shall be to others the beginning of sorrows, shall be to you the commencement of eternal joy.]

DCCCCXLII

JEHOVAH A JUST GOD AND A SAVIOUR

             Isai. 45:21.

There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is mine beside me.

TO us, who have been habituated from our infancy to hear of none but the true and living God, it seems incredible that man should be so stupid and selfish as to bow down to stocks and stones, and to worship them as gods. But not only is mankind in general prone to idolatry, but even the people of God themselves, who had seen all the wonders wrought by Jehovah in Egypt, were ever ready to turn aside from him, and to worship the work of their own hands. Hence we see so much in the prophetic writings on the subject of idolatry, and in vindication of Jehovah as the only true God. In the passage before us, God has appealed to the evidence which he had given of his exclusive right to the regards of his people; in that he had foretold future events, which came to pass agreeably to his predictions; whilst none of the gods of the heathen had ever pretended to any such power. And in the words before us he maintains his own supremacy, by a further statement of his character as a just God and a Saviour.

Let us consider,

  I.      The character of God as here stated—

We shall consider it,

  1.      As contrasted with that of all the heathen deities—

[Whatever their poor deluded votaries might imagine, it was not in their power either to inflict or to avert evil. This is put in a striking point of view by the Prophet Jeremiah: “The customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with an axe. They deck it with silver and with gold: they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm-tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them: for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to good.”

But Jehovah is alike able either to save or to destroy. See whether his justice be not marked in his conduct towards the fallen angels, whom he expelled from heaven for their sin; and towards the antediluvian world, which, with the exception of a single family of eight persons, he destroyed with an universal deluge. See what is his indignation against sin, as marked in the judgments executed on Sodom and Gomorrha. See it, also, as demonstrated in the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, or of Ananias and Sapphira. But the instances are too numerous to be mentioned. No one can have read the Scriptures of truth, and not see that God is just in punishing iniquity; and that to those who live in sin, he is, and will be, “a consuming fire.”

On the other hand, he is a Saviour also to all who put their trust in him. Behold his interposition in behalf of Noah and his family, whilst all the rest of the world were destroyed. Or see the deliverance he vouchsafed to his people from their bondage in Egypt; or how he carried them through the wilderness, and established them in the land of Canaan. Or view the miracles wrought by our blessed Saviour and his Apostles; and then say, whether there be any bounds to Jehovah’s mercy or power.

But the comparison between Jehovah and the heathen deities would be utterly absurd, if it were not that the more than brutish stupidity of mankind called fur such illustrations, for the conviction of their minds.]

  2.      As shining forth in his own proper and harmonious perfections—

[It is in the union of these two perfections of justice and mercy that the glory of the Godhead is most fully seen. We must look at justice as exercised in a way of mercy, and mercy as displayed in a way of justice, if we would at all appreciate aright the character of our God. He, of his own unbounded love and mercy, determined to save our fallen race. But would he leave sin unpunished? No: he would punish sin, and yet save the sinner: and, in order to that, he gave his only-begotten Son to be the substitute of the sinful man, that in him sin might receive its just recompence, and by him a righteousness might be wrought out for man; that so God might be just, and yet the justifier of all who should believe in him. By this his justice shines forth more awfully than if he had executed vengeance on the whole human race; and his mercy more richly than if he had pardoned all without such an atonement offered for them. The gift of his only-begotten Son reflects a light on these perfections which can be seen in nothing else; and which infinitely exceeds any that can be found in a separate and disjointed view of them, as exercised towards our sinful world — — —]

Let us then proceed to contemplate,

  II.      The regard due to him under that character—

This part of my subject is altogether inexhaustible. But I will confine myself to the mention of three effects, which such a view of the Deity as is here exhibited should produce:

  1.      Fear—

As for the Heathen deities, there is not one that merits the smallest possible regard. But who will not fear the Lord our God? This is the very improvement which the Prophet Jeremiah suggests, on instituting the comparison between the two: “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord: thou art great; and thy name is great in might: who would not fear thee, O king of nations?” The same reflection is made by all the redeemed in heaven, whilst singing the song of Moses and the Lamb: “They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.” It is of immense importance, Brethren, that you should duly estimate this thought. For many, from conceiving of God as “a Saviour,” forget that he is “just.” But indeed he is a holy God, that “cannot look upon iniquity without the utmost abhorrence of it;” and he has warned us, that, notwithstanding his great delight in mercy, “he will not clear the guilty.” No indeed; “upon the wicked he will rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cupg.” I say, then, to every one of you, “Fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear Him.”]

  2.      Trust—

[As persons, previous to the awakening of their souls, are ready to think of God as all mercy; so, after that they begin to be convinced of sin, they are prone to run to a contrary extreme, and to think of God as though he were averse to mercy, and intent only on the vindication of his injured Majesty. But know, Brethren, that mercy is that in which he chiefly delights: “judgment is his strange act,” to which he never proceeds, till he has exercised forbearance towards us to the uttermost. Call to mind his exceeding great and precious promises; and then say, whether any sinner in the universe has reason to despond, provided only he desire mercy at the hands of God? Or rather, consider what God has done in giving his only dear Son to die for you: would he have done this, if he were backward to the exercise of mercy? Carry all your sins to him, without questioning for one moment his willingness to pardon; and know, that “if you go to him in the name of his dear Son, he will in no wise cast you out.”]

  3.      Obedience—

[This is due to him from you, as creatures: What then is it, as redeemed sinners? I will venture to ask, Is there one of you who believes himself obnoxious to his wrath, and yet a partaker of his grace, that would even wish to be released from his obligations to obey him? No: I am sure that every one who views God in his complex character, as “a just God, and yet a Saviour,” will desire to honour God with all his faculties and powers; and will consecrate himself to God as a living sacrifice, under a full conviction, that if this entire surrender of himself to God be a necessary, it is no less “a reasonable and delightful, service.” It is impossible to have any just views of “the love of Christ, and not be constrained by it to live altogether to His praise and gloryl.”]

DCCCCXLIII

LOOKING TO CHRIST

             Isai. 45:22.

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

MANY consider the Scriptures merely as a history of past events, and imagine that the declarations contained in it are to be confined to those persons, for whose immediate use they were written. But such an idea reduces the sacred volume to a dead letter, calculated indeed to amuse the curious, but not to awaken the secure, or comfort the feeble-minded. But there are numberless passages which, though originally applied to individual persons, are quoted by the Apostles as applicable to mankind in every age. Doubtless then, the invitation before us, though primarily addressed to idolaters, is intended to be sounded forth throughout all the world. Let us then consider,

  I.      The invitation—

The person, who is here speaking, is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ; since the very words following the text are quoted by an inspired Apostle as issuing from his mouth. Here,

  1.      He directs us what means to use in order to salvation—

[”Looking to Jesus” is a figurative expression of the same import with many others used in Scripture, such as coming to him, fleeing to him, &c. Its meaning is obvious, especially when connected with salvation as the end to be attained by it. One immediately perceives the state of the cripple’s mind, of whom it is said, that he gave heed to Peter and John, expecting to receive something of them; nor can we be at any loss to ascertain the meaning of looking to Christ for salvation: it must import an humble sense of our lost estate, an ardent desire after his proffered mercy, and a persuasion that he is able to impart the blessings we stand in need of. Without such views, such desires, and such a faith, we should no more look to him for salvation than a person in health would go to a physician, or make use of his prescriptions — — — If any thing can clearly exemplify the nature of this duty, it is the state of the wounded Israelites when they looked to the brazen serpentd: they felt their wounds, they knew them to be incurable by human art, they were convinced that they must quickly perish if they did not use the appointed means, and they turned their eyes towards it in hope of experiencing the promised recovery. And exactly thus must we look to Christ, if we would be made partakers of his salvation.]

  2.      He promises that we shall not use those means in vain—

[His words undoubtedly imply a promise, though they are not delivered in the form of one. They consider all as obnoxious to the wrath of God. They are not addressed to sinners of a peculiarly atrocious character, but to “all the ends of the earth.” But while they thus insinuate that none can save themselves, they offer salvation to all without any distinction of character, provided they follow the direction given them. Such shall surely be saved from wrath: their sins, however great and manifold, shall be forgiven them. The infection that pervades their souls shall be healed. Yea, more, the favour of God, the beauty of holiness, and all the glory of heaven shall be imparted to them. The salvation here spoken of is justly called, “The salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory:” and in the name of Christ we can promise it to all who comply with the terms on which it is offered to them.]

Alluring as this invitation is, it derives additional importance from,

  II.      The arguments with which it is enforced—

That he may prevail on an ignorant and careless world, our blessed Lord reminds them of,

  1.      His all sufficiency to save them—

[That Christ is God, is a truth on which our present and eternal happiness depends; nor is there wanting all that evidence for it which the most scrupulous or doubtful mind can require. Indeed, if he were a mere creature, however exalted, we might well question his authority to issue such a command, or his ability to impart the promised blessing; but his Godhead at once enforces both his direction and his promise: ‘“Look unto me; for I am GOD,” and enjoin you to do so at the peril of your souls. “You shall be saved; for I am GOD,” and am therefore able to save you to the very uttermost. Were I a creature, you might be afraid to trust in me: but is not the blood of an incarnate GOD sufficient to make atonement for your sin? Is not the arm of GOD able to subdue your enemies before you? Or is there any “variableness or shadow of turning in me,” that you should question my fidelity? Am I not “the GOD that changeth not?” Know then that while my Godhead is your warrant fur looking to me, it is my pledge to you for the performance of my promise.’ My Brethren, can you resist the force of such an argument?]

  2.      The insufficiency of every other hope—

[We are prone to look to every other being for help rather than to Christ; but he plainly warns us that “there is none else.” Could we obtain salvation by any other means, the force of his invitation would be enervated: however the way prescribed by him might deserve a preference, we should feel ourselves, as it were, at liberty to disregard it. But in vain will be our utmost exertions, if we endeavour to save ourselves by any methods of man’s device. We are “shut up unto the faith that is revealed.” We may as well attempt to create an universe as to atone for sin, or to fulfil the strict commands of God’s law. There is no remedy but that proposed, of looking unto Jesus: “there is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ.” Observe then the weight of this argument also: it is as though Jesus had said, “To whom will ye go? I, and I alone, have the words of eternal life: if you follow after righteousness in any other way, you will never attain unto ith: you have but one alternative, to look unto me, or to perish for ever.” The Lord grant that, if we be not drawn by love, we may at least be impelled by necessity, to accept his invitation!]

  We would yet further ADDRESS this invitation to,

  1.      Those who are careless and indifferent about salvation—

[How lamentable is it, that Jesus should thus invite sinners, and they be altogether inattentive to his voice! Ye careless and supine, consider Jesus as addressing you upon his first entrance into the world: ‘Look unto me, and see how I have humbled myself for you: though I am God, yet have I taken upon myself your nature, that I might save your souls: I am come from heaven to seek and save you; O let not such condescension and love be lost upon you.’ Think again that ye hear him speaking to you from the garden of Gethsemane: ‘Look unto me, and behold how I am overcome with agony, and bathed from head to foot in a bloody sweat: this, sinners, is for you; it is your guilt that weighs me down, and your curse that I am now enduring: reflect a moment on the evil and danger of your state; for “if these things be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” if sin has so overwhelmed your incarnate God, how will ye endure the punishment of it to all eternity?’ Suppose him yet again calling to you from the cross; ‘Look unto me, ye perishing world; see what a multitude of sorrows encompass me; and how my heart in the midst of me is even like melting wax, so utterly is it consumed by the fire of divine wrath: see, how I am forsaken by my own Father, and am shortly to expire in the midst of all this shame and torment: but it is for you; to save you from everlasting death: and I shall be satisfied with all the travail of my soul, if only you will look to me for salvation: let me but have the joy of saving you, and I am content: but O, let me not pay the price of your souls for nought.’ Once more; view him seated on his throne of glory, and consider him as addressing you from thence; ‘Look unto me; it is for your sakes that I am exalted to this throne; it is that I may impart that salvation to you, which once I purchased for you: as once I governed every thing in my divine nature, so now in my mediatorial capacity is all power committed to me, that I may raise you also to a participation of my own glory: and all that I require of you is, to look unto me: O sinners, turn not a deaf ear to my entreaties; but let me save you with an everlasting salvation.’

Are there now any so obdurate as to disregard his voice? Say, beloved, is salvation so slight a matter, that ye are indifferent whether ye ever obtain it or not? Or are the terms, on which it is offered, so grievous, that ye cannot bring your minds to submit to them? What easier terms can God himself propose than those, “Look and be saved?” O delay no longer, but say with the prophet, “I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”]

  2.      Those who, through a sense of their unworthiness, dare not accept the salvation offered them—

[Persons, who are deeply convinced of their guilt and misery, are apt to think themselves too unworthy to be the objects of divine mercy; and to exclude themselves from the number of those who are invited: ‘Can it be true,’ say they, ‘that Jesus speaks to me: and that I have only to look unto him in order to ensure my everlasting salvation? Surely this invitation cannot be for such a wretch as I am: gladly would I accept it, if I dared; but I shall be only as a dog snatching at “the children’s bread.’” But, Beloved, why should any of you exclude yourselves? Does not Jesus address himself to sinners of every description, even to “all the ends of the earth?” And did you ever hear of one whom he rejected? If none ever applied to him in vain for the healing of their bodies, shall any look to him in vain for the saving of their souls? When he gave this invitation, was he not aware how unworthy you were? Did he not know the extent and efficacy of his own atonement? Did he not consider whether there was any thing in your case that was too hard for him to surmount; or did he issue this invitation only to mock and disappoint you? Let it be granted, you have some reason to doubt his power or his willingness to save you: yet, at least, put him to the trial, and see whether he will fulfil his word or not. Of this you are sure, that, if HE cannot save, no one else can; and that, if he will not, you will, at least, lose nothing by accepting his invitation. But you need not fear; he is God; and “his mercy as far exceeds your sins, as the heavens are higher than the earth.” Put away then your desponding thoughts, and “encourage yourselves in the Lord your God.” Thus shall you be numbered with his redeemed; and spend eternity in singing, “Salvation to God and to the Lamb.”]

DCCCCXLIV

EXALTATION OF CHRIST

  Isai. 45:23–25.

I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men comet and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

TO those who know the infinite importance of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ, it is delightful to see the irresistible evidence of it in the Old Testament as well as in the New. Who is it that in the two preceding verses says, “I am the LORD, I am God, a just God and a Saviour; there is no God else beside me, there is none beside me, there is none else?” Is this a creature? Who is this that, in the text, presumes to swear by himself; that arrogates to himself universal dominion; and that so frequently appropriates to himself the incommunicable name, JEHOVAH? Is this a creature? Who is it that can fulfil the promises here made to his friends, or execute the judgments here denounced against his enemies? Is he a mere creature? No person that is not blinded by prejudice, or warped by controversy, can doubt one moment, but that it is the supreme God, who is speaking throughout the whole passage: yet this very passage does St. Paul expressly apply to Christ, affirming that it was a prediction of his final victory, and of the appearance of the whole human race at his tribunal.

For the further elucidation of these solemn words we shall consider,

  I.      The subject-matter of the oath—

To comprehend this aright, we should notice particularly those very opposite circumstances which were appointed to take place, before the predictions in the text were to receive their accomplishment. Christ was to be insulted by his whole nation; and his claims of Messiahship were to be made the subject of profane ridicule: he was not only to be rejected, but to be crucified as a malefactor, and to die as one unable to save himself: his enemies were to enjoy a momentary triumph; and his followers to be disappointed, dejected, and confounded. But, that these things should not be a stumbling-block to any, it was here foretold that all these circumstances should be speedily reversed. In this view, the oath relates to four things:

  1.      The exaltation of Christ—

[Christ, as King of kings, and Lord of lords, had a right to universal empire: every creature was bound to render him an unlimited and unreserved obedience. But it was foreseen that, instead of submitting to him, his creatures would rise up in rebellion against him, and cry out with one voice, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Christ, however, laughed them to scorn; and told them by his prophet, many hundred years before, that every knee should bow to him, and every tongue take an oath of allegiance to him as the only sovereign of the universe; at least, if they did not do this willingly, as an expression of their unfeigned subjection, they should do it, in effect, against their will, by suffering the punishment due to their rebellion.]

  2.      The advancement of his kingdom—

[While in the world, he was to be considered as vile, yea, as the vilest of mankind; and to appear weak as other men: but in due time he was to be regarded, not only as righteous and powerful, but as the only source of righteousness and strength to all his creatures. In themselves, all are “ungodly and without strength:” feeling therefore their guilt and helplessness they are to “come to him,” each saying for himself, and each animating others to say, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.”]

  3.      The confusion of his enemies—

[Notwithstanding his unspotted innocence, and unbounded kindness, he was to be an object of utter abhorrence to his whole nation. But their triumph over him was to be of short duration: the time was soon to come, when they should “see him whom they had pierced, and mourn.” Their violence was soon to be recompensed upon their own heads, unless by previous repentance and faith in his blood they obtained the remission of their sins. At all events, they should be “ashamed,” whether penitent and pardoned, or impenitent and condemned. They should either be made to acknowledge with Paul, that they had been “blasphemers, injurious, persecutors, and the very chief of sinners, or to confess the justice of that sentence that consigned them over to everlasting misery.]

  4.      The salvation of his people—

[His enemies are the seed of profane Esau; but his friends are “the seed of Israel,” whose prayers prevailed with God, and whose example they imitate. These were for a time to be as men disappointed of their hopes; but, ere long, their expectations, founded on the word of Christ, were to be abundantly “justified” in the sight of men; and their persons too were to be “justified” in the sight of God; so that both before God and man they should have reason to glory in the name of Jesus. None of them should be left in their forlorn condition; but “all,” all without exception, be made to triumph in him as the Rock of their salvation.]

Such was the exaltation, and such the consequences of it to himself, to his enemies, and to his believing people, which Christ so long before predicted with a solemn oath: in confirmation of which we proceed to state,

  II.      The certainty of its accomplishment—

If God had simply asserted these things, it could not fail but that they must come to pass; for, “he is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent.” But for our fuller conviction and assurance, he has sworn; and “because he could swear by no greater, he has sworn by himself:” his word is gone forth in righteousness and truth, nor shall it “return,” till every jot and tittle of it be fulfilled. But,

  1.      It has already been accomplished in part—

[At the hour of his death, his enemies thought that they had gained their end. He, whom they had arrayed in mock majesty, and crowned with a chaplet of thorns, and before whom they had bowed the knee in derision, crying, Hail, King of the Jews! had expired on the accursed tree, an object of universal execration and abhorrence: and his followers were scattered as sheep that have no shepherd. The leader being destroyed, it seemed as if this infant sect, like others that had preceded it, were crushed, and brought to nought. It only remained, that Jesus should be proved an impostor, by watching his tomb for three days; and then their victory would be complete. But in vain were the stone, the seal, the watch: at the appointed hour he rose triumphant; and the affrighted guards fled to relate the wonderful event. Now began his exaltation, which speedily reversed the scenes that had been exhibited. His enemies already stood confounded; and propagated an absurd falsehood to conceal their shame. The hopes of his disconsolate people were revived by many infallible proofs of his resurrection. They conversed and ate with him, and beheld him in the very act of ascending into heaven. It was but a few days afterwards, when, according to his promise, he sent down the Holy Ghost, and thereby completed the confusion of his enemies, and the triumph of his friends. Instantly no less that three thousand of his most inveterate enemies “bowed the knee to him” and “took, as it were, an oath” of allegiance to him as their rightful sovereign; though they had just before seen him “crucified through weakness,” and treated as the most infamous of malefactors, they “came to him” that they might obtain “righteousness and strength.” What confusion now seized the rulers, who still retained their enmity against him! All their efforts were in vain: the more fierce their opposition was, the more did the word prevail: so that in a little time, not Jerusalem only, but all Judea, yea the whole Roman empire, was filled with converts to the cause of Christ. Now the disciples triumphed in their turn: and from that time myriads in every place have been “justified by his blood,” and have “gloried” in his salvation.]

  2.      It shall be yet more fully accomplished at the day of judgment—

[It is in reference to this period in particular that the Apostle cites the passage before us: and then indeed will it be verified to the uttermost. The submission of his people will be more entire, their acknowledgments more grateful, and their glorying more ecstatic, than they could be in this world; while the subjugation of his enemies, and their confusion before him will be complete. When he shall say, as to those of old, ‘Many good works did I for you, for which of them did ye hate me? for you I left my glory, and veiled myself in human flesh; for you I sojourned upon earth, and died upon the cross; for you I sent my messengers to beseech you in my name to accept of mercy: for which of these things was I a stumbling-block unto you 2’ how will they hang down their heads with shame! Eloquent as they now are in vindication of themselves, they will not then have one word to answer. Thus shall it be both to the friends and enemies of Christ: as sure as there is a God in heaven, possessed of faithfulness and power to fulfil his word, so sure shall not one jot or tittle of it ever fail of its accomplishment.]

  IMPROVEMENT—

  1.      For conviction—

[Nothing surely can be more calculated to awaken the secure than this solemn oath of Jehovah. Methinks the Deity, to fix our attention and obtain belief, stands forth before the assembled universe, and, with his hand lifted up to heaven, swears, “As sure as I am God, thus and thus shall it be with my friends and with my enemies.” Must not then sinners be more deaf than adders, and more obdurate than rocks, if they do not hear, and relent, at the voice of their God? O that men would no longer trifle with their eternal interests! We may argue as we please against the word of God; but we cannot invalidate its tremendous declarations. Let us then believe and tremble, yea, “believe, and obey the Gospel.”]

  2.      For consolation—

[God, in his oath, consults more immediately the comfort of his people. They are, alas! too backward to believe his word; and therefore he confirms it with an oath. Let every subject then of the Redeemer’s kingdom rejoice: let their confidence in him both for righteousness and strength be greatly increased: let them never doubt, but that his enemies and their enemies, shall soon become his footstool: let them know, that they are justified from all their sins: and let them glory in him as their God and portion. Difficulties they may, they must, expect; but the word of God shall not be frustrated: “the counsel of the Lord shall stand; and he will do all his pleasure.” Let them only rest on the oath of God, and they shall experience its accomplishment to all eternity.]

DCCCCXLV

GOD’S CARE FOR HIS PEOPLE

  Isai. 46:3–5.

Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: and even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, end I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. To whom will you liken me?

THAT men who know nothing of the One true God should form to themselves idols to represent imaginary gods, is not so much to be wondered at: because every child of man feels himself dependent on some superior Being, though of the nature or character of that being he has no distinct conception. But that persons who have been instructed in the knowledge of Jehovah, and been themselves eye-witnesses of his mighty works, should have any disposition to renounce him, and to place their dependence on idols of wood and stone, is utterly unaccountable, on any other principle than that of man’s total depravity, and radical alienation of heart from God. But such is the fact: man is prone to idolatry: his “carnal mind is enmity against God:” and from the time of the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt to the time of their captivity in Babylon, not all the judgments or mercies with which they were visited from time to time could keep them from indulging their favourite propensity. One would have thought that the very things which they had seen, even the deportation of the Babylonish idols by the hands of their enemies, should have been sufficient to convince them, that nothing formed by mortal hands could save a man. The prophet, in Jehovah’s name, here appeals to them respecting this: See, says he, what helpless things those idols are! “Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth: their idols (unable to move themselves) were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle; your carriages were heavy loaden with them; they were a burthen to the weary beast; and are themselves gone into captivity.” ‘But how different from them am I!’ says Jehovah: ‘They are carried by their votaries, yea, and by their enemies too, incapable of resistance or of motion: whereas I carry my people: I have carried them from the very womb; and I “will carry them to hoar hairs,” even to the latest hour of their lives.’

That we may enter more fully into this description which Jehovah gives of himself, let us consider,

  I.      What he has done for his people—

Jehovah addresses his people here as his children; and brings to their minds what he had done for that whole nation in the wilderness. He had borne them in his arms as a father does his child—

[In the wilderness, when the people were required to march, it must of necessity happen that many females were not in a condition to carry their new-born infants, and more especially as the journeys were often of long continuance. Hence the fathers are represented as carrying their children: and under this character God represents himself as having carried themc. Now the whole nation at that time were precisely in the state of little infants; as ignorant of the way which they were to go; as incapable of providing sustenance for themselves; as unable to protect themselves from enemies, or from a variety of dangers to which they were exposed. They needed in every respect Jehovah’s care, as much as a new-born infant the attention of its parents. And all this care did God bestow upon them. From the first moment of their departure from Egypt, he went before them in the pillar and the cloud: he sought out for them the places where they should encamp; he regulated all their motions; he supplied them with bread from heaven, and with water from the rock; he delivered them from every enemy; and carried them in perfect safety for the space of forty years. They were cast upon him, as it were, from the womb; and from the womb he thus Administered to them with parental care and tenderness.]

And in this way he still carries in his arms the true Israel—

[The nation of Israel typically represented those, who, as Believers in Christ, are in a spiritual sense the children of Abraham. And these, who are Israelites indeed, are precisely in the state of the Jews in the wilderness, or of infants in their parents’ arms. Their incapacity to guide or support themselves is quite as great, and their need of succour from on high as urgent. But God has taken the charge of them, and administered to them whatsoever their necessities required. Look ye back, ye “remnant of the house of Israel,” and say, whether God has not incessantly watched over you for good; whether he has not borne with your weaknesses, supplied your wants, directed your ways, upheld you in your goings, and kept you from ten thousand snares, into which you must have inevitably fallen, and by which you must long since have perished, if he had for one hour intermitted his tender care? You cannot but acknowledge, that to you, as well as to the Jewish nation, is that description applicable: “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howhng wilderness: he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.”]

But God further intimates,

  II.      What he has engaged to do for them—

To the Jews he promised a continuance of his care—

[The individuals whom he brought forth out of Egypt he suffered to die in the wilderness, on account of their multiplied iniquities: but the nation, as a nation, he preserved; and those children, whom their unbelieving parents supposed to be doomed to inevitable destruction, he brought in safety to the Promised Land. And though, by their innumerable transgressions, the nation has brought down his displeasure upon them, insomuch that they are scattered over the face of the whole earth, yet are they preserved in a way that no other nation under heaven ever has been, in order that they may ultimately enjoy all the blessings prepared for them. They are at this day living witnesses for him, that “he changeth not,” but is still the same gracious and compassionate God as ever.]

To the spiritual Israel also he engages that he will keep them, even to the end—

[“His gifts and calling are without repentance.” “Where he has begun a good work, he will carry it on, and perfect it, unto the day of Christg.” If “he has laid in our hearts the foundation of his spiritual temple, he will complete it;” and “be the finisher of that faith of which he has been the authori.” “His ways in this respect are not like the ways of men:” they, either from impotence or versatility, often relinquish their plans: he never does. In his own mind he considers the blessings which he bestows, not merely as a benefit conferred, but as a pledge of future blessings: “He will not forsake his people, because it hath pleased him to make them his people.” Hence we are justified in founding on the experience of past benefits an assured expectation of future: “Thou hast delivered my soul from death: Wilt thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the livingl?” The very repetitions in our text strongly confirm this important truth: “Even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” And to the same effect the Apostle Paul assuring us that God will keep his engagements with us, uses in one short sentence no less than five negatives; “He will never, never leave thee; he will never, never, never forsake thee.”]

From this statement of his own ways, he teaches us to infer,

  III.      His unrivalled title to our regard—

“To whom will ye liken me?” says he to his people of old: Are any of the gods of the heathen able to effect for their worshippers what I have wrought for you? So will I say to those who have received spiritual blessings at his hands: “To whom will ye liken him?” Who in the whole universe has such a title,

  1.      To your confidence?

[Are there any of the sons of man that could have brought you out of darkness into light, as he has done; or turned you from the power of Satan unto God? Could any of them have preserved you from the snares which Satan has spread for your feet? Who amongst them is able to keep you in future? or have you any sufficiency in yourselves, so as to “direct your own paths,” and to maintain your own steadfastness? No, verily: and nothing but a “curse awaits the man who trusteth in man, or who maketh flesh his arm.” God alone is equal to this taskp: in him alone therefore must be all our hope, and all our trust — — —]

  2.      To your love—

[Amongst your fellow-creatures you may have many who, both for their personal qualities and their kindness to you, are entitled to your esteem. But to whom are you indebted, as you are to your Redeeming God? HE has come down from heaven for you: HE has died upon the cross for you: HE has wrought out a salvation for you: HE has by his Holy Spirit imparted that salvation to your souls: HE has given you that measure of stability which you have already evinced; and has engaged his almighty power to keep you even to the end. Where have you ever found such a Benefactor as he? where, one who can vie with him in any one particular? Truly in comparison of him the whole creation is but as the dust upon the balance: and therefore you should love him infinitely above all, and say, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” — — —]

  Let me then, in conclusion, ADDRESS myself,

  1.      To those who entertain a rival in their hearts—

[You can easily see how just God’s indignation was against those who worshipped graven images, in preference to him: but know, that he is no less offended with those who “provoke him to jealousy” by “setting up idols in their hearts.” He says, and well may say, “My son, give ME thine heart.” This is his exclusive right: and if you withhold it from him, it matters not what else you give: it is all hateful in his eyes, and never will come before him with acceptance: “your very prayers will be an abomination in his sight,” and your best sacrifices only as “the cutting off a dog’s neck, or offering swine’s bloodt”— — —]

  2.      To those who profess themselves to have experienced God’s tender care—

[What gratitude becomes those who are so indebted to their God! Was Israel highly favoured above the heathen? Their obligations were nothing in comparison of yours. Their blessings, though great, were temporal: yours are spiritual and eternal — — — But look around you and see, how many even of your own friends and relatives are yet in bondage to their sins; whilst you have been delivered with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Look also to those who have been “brought out of the world for a season, and yet been again entangled with it and overcome;” whilst you are yet “holding on your way.” And who is it that has made the difference between you? Must you not say, “By the grace of God I am what I am?” Stir up then your souls to thankfulness, and say, “By Thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art He that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.”

And let your confidence in him for the future be entire. Lie in his hands precisely as a little infant in its parent’s arms; and look to him, exactly as the Israelites in the wilderness did, to direct your every way, and to supply your every want. It is not possible for your reliance on God to be too simple or too entire. In this respect also is David an excellent pattern for you to follow: “Thou art He that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope, when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly. Be not far from me! for trouble is near: for there is none to help. Be not thou far from me, O Lord! O my strength, haste thee to help me!”

Let your devotion to him also be unreserved. “You are not your own, but his; and therefore you should glorify him with your bodies and your spirits, which are his.” This is what God expects at your hands: “Ye have seen,” says he, “how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” Yes, these words I do speak to you in God’s name. Your privileges are all a delusion, if they be not productive of this effect: but if they lead to this issue, then is God glorified in you, and ye shall ere long be glorified with him in the realms of bliss.]

DCCCCXLVI

CHRIST THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL

  Isai. 46:12, 13.

Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.

THEY who deny or doubt the existence of a Supreme Being, may discover his eternal power and godhead by the works of creation, and ascertain his infinite superiority above all false gods, by the numberless predictions which he has given by his prophets, and the never-failing accomplishment of them in their appointed season. To this last criterion God himself refers idolaters in the chapter before us, and challenges them to bring any of their false deities, who should be able to stand in competition with him. To us, who acknowledge his unrivalled glory, there is one thing which displays, in a wonderful manner, the transcendent riches of his grace; I mean, the freeness with which his offers of mercy are made even to the most abandoned of mankind. This remark obviously avises from the words of our text; and will be fully illustrated by considering,

  I.      The characters addressed—

The words, in their primary meaning, were intended to describe those who were unhumbled by the judgments inflicted on them in the Babylonish captivity, and unaffected with his promises of deliverance from it. As applied to us, they comprise two common characters:

  1.      Those who feel no remorse for their past sins—

[All must acknowledge that they have sinned against God, and that, as sinners, they ought to humble themselves before him. But how many never call their past ways to remembrance, or say with themselves, what have I done! Their sins give them no uneasiness: instead of mourning over their offences, they palliate them; and, instead of imploring mercy at God’s hands, they deny that they have any need to deprecate his wrath and indignation. And must not such people be called “stout-hearted?” If God himself complains of those who represent it as a vain thing to serve the Lord, that “their words are stout against him,” surely the same complaint may justly be made against those who practically declare his service to be a needless yoke, and an intolerable burthen.]

  2.      Those who are unconcerned about their eternal salvation—

[Many, alas! are as improvident about the future as they are unconcerned about the past. They will profess indeed that heaven is a desirable portion; but they will never inquire seriously whether they be in the way to attain it; nor ever exert themselves in earnest to secure it. If an empty wish, or a formal round of duties, will suffice for the acquisition of it, they will be content to pay the price: but if they are to run as in a race, and to fight as in a single combat, in order to have it awarded to them, they do not think it worth the contest. What now must we say of these, but that they are “far from righteousness and salvation?” Surely, if they be far from a concern about these things, much more must they be from the attainment of them.]

When we reflect upon the characters here addressed, how shall we stand amazed at,

  II.      The address itself—

The prophet, in these words, foretold both the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, and the coming of their Messiah to save the world. To sinners of our day the text declares,

  1.      That God has provided a Saviour for them—

[Christ is undoubtedly that “salvation whom God has placed in Zion,” and whom we are commanded to call, “The Lord our righteousness.” Him has “God sent into the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” — — — Hearken to this, ye stout-hearted: though ye have despised your God, your God has not despised you; but has pitied your fallen state, and made provision for your restoration to happiness. Yes; for the angels that fell, he instantly “prepared” a place of unutterable and everlasting torment: but for you he prepared a Saviour, even his only dear Son. And shall not this make your obdurate hearts relent? Or will ye receive such stupendous grace in vain?]

  2.      That God now offers salvation to them—

[This salvation is nigh to all of us, and the tidings of it are now sounding in our ears. It is placed in this our Zion as much as ever it was in Zion of old. Christ is now present in his ordinances according to his promise; and will be so even to the end of the world. At this very hour he “proclaims liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” To you, even to you, ye stout-hearted, is “the word of this salvation sent.” Your past iniquities shall be forgiven, if only you will humble yourselves before him. Nor is this all: your God will not only restore you to his favour, but will “glory” over you with unutterable joy. “You shall be even a crown of glory and a royal diadem in his hands.” Let not then your hearts be yet hardened against him; but let his transcendent “goodness lead you to repentance.”]

  ADVICE—

  1.      Endeavour to see your obduracy in its true colours—

[If you are free from gross sins, you think but little of an unhumbled and impenitent state. But what can be worse than a seared conscience and a callous heart? What can be worse than to feel no sorrow or contrition for your past offences, no desire to please your God, no anxiety to save your souls? Be assured that such a state, with whatever name it may be glossed over, is hateful in the extreme: and that, if continued in, it will prove as fatal as a course of open profligacy and profaneness.]

  2.      Fear lest God should give you up to final impenitence—

[The present address, which is made by God himself, shews clearly enough, that he “has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.” But he is a holy God; nor will his Spirit “always strive with man.” He may be provoked at last to “swear in his wrath that you shall never enter into his rest.” This he most assuredly does with respect to many, who “grieve his Spirit” till they have altogether “quenched” his sacred motions. “To-day therefore, while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts,” “lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.”]

  3.      Think what regret you will feel, when that salvation, which is now so near you, shall be removed to an unapproachable distance—

[Of all the miseries that can afflict a soul in the future world, we cannot conceive any more distressing than the thought of having had a Saviour provided for us, and salvation through him offered to us. No words can express the sense which a self-ruined sinner will have of his folly, when he sees in one view the mercies he has slighted and the judgments he has brought upon himself. Now he can be “far from righteousness,” and glory in his shame: but then he will see that, which even courted his embraces here, removed afar off indeed; so far, as to preclude a possibility of ever attaining the possession of it. The Lord grant, that they who have hitherto slighted these overtures of mercy, may now embrace them with their whole hearts!]

DCCCCXLVII

OFFICES OF THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE WORK OF REDEMPTION

             Isai. 48:16.

Now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

SO mysterious and important a doctrine as that of a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead ought not to be founded on any grounds which are not clear, strong, adequate, convincing. But it may be illustrated from passages on which we could not altogether venture to establish it. Such is the passage which I have now brought before you. It might well be supposed, that so important a doctrine as this should pervade the Holy Scriptures, just in the way that all the fundamental doctrines of our religion do; and that there should be intimations of it in many places, where the express mention of it would not be expected to occur. And this we find throughout the whole Scriptures, as I shall presently take occasion to shew. In the whole chapter which precedes this, from whence my text is taken, God is declaring that he will destroy Babylon, and bring out from thence his captive people, and restore them to their own land: and, throughout the chapter which is before us, he warns his people to bear in remembrance, that he had foretold this event several hundred years before it should be accomplished; and that, consequently, when it should occur, they must trace it, not, as they would be ready to do, to their idols, but to Jehovah himself, who had foreordained it for the glory of his own name, and who had designed it to be a type of a yet greater deliverance, which he would in due season effect for a ruined world. It is in this connexion that the speaker says, “Now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me; “that is, hath commissioned me to announce to you these great events.

But it is a matter of doubt, who the speaker is. If it be the prophet, then the sense of the passage is clear: but if it be the same divine Person as is speaking throughout the whole context, namely, the Son of God, the Saviour of Israel, the Messiah, then a small alteration must be made in our translation; and the passage must be read, “Now the Lord God hath sent me, and his Spirit;” that is, hath sent me to effect this great deliverance, and his Spirit to reveal it to you; and both myself and the Holy Spirit, to accomplish that infinitely greater deliverance that is prefigured by it. This is the sense which the most approved expositors adopt, and which therefore I also shall follow: though, as far as respects the use which I shall make of the passage, it is of no moment which construction we prefer; since, in either case, a plurality of persons in the Godhead is clearly intimated. I propose, then, to consider,

  I.      The distinction of Persons in the Godhead—

I have already observed, that we might reasonably expect the doctrine of the Trinity, if it be indeed true, to pervade the Holy Scriptures throughout. Accordingly, we do find it more or less clearly intimated from the beginning. Let us trace it in the Scriptures,

  1.      Of the Old Testament—

[In the very first chapter of the Bible, where the creation of all things is declared, there is a plurality of persons mentioned, as determining to complete the whole by the formation of man: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” So again, at the expulsion of man from Paradise, a similar representation of the Deity is given: “The Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” At the building of the Tower of Babel, also, the Deity speaks of himself in the same manner: “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

In like manner, when the Messiah is spoken of, a plurality of persons in the Godhead is almost always marked. Is his qualification for his work stated? It is said, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.” Is his mission plainly declared? It is said, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meeke.” Is the effect of his mission foretold? It is said, “Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee.”]

  2.      Of the New Testament—

[The Saviour’s incarnation was announced in these terms to his Virgin Mother: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called The Son of God.” Was he consecrated to his Mediatorial office at his baptism? The account given of it is, “Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and, lo! the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and, lo! a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Were disciples to be gathered to him by his Gospel? He said, “Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Were they to receive all kinds of blessings from God? They are instructed distinctly to acknowledge the Three Persons of the Godhead; and to pray, that “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, may be with them.”]

But this distinction of Persons in the Godhead will more clearly appear, by considering,

  II.      The particular offices which they severally sustain in the economy of redemption—

God the Father is the fountain from whom the whole of salvation proceeds—

[It is he who “sends his Son,” and “delivers him up for us all.” It is he, also, who “sends the Holy Spirit,” to apply to our souls the benefits which Christ has purchased for us. On this part of our subject it is unnecessary to enlarge, because respecting it we are all agreed.]

The Lord Jesus Christ has come to procure salvation for us—

[As Mediator, God and man, he was the Father’s servant, sent to effect for us this great salvation. In undertaking the work, he voluntarily engaged to redeem us; saying, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy Law is within my heartm.” In executing the work, he acted freely throughout, “giving himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice unto God of a sweet-smelling savour:” yea, on the very cross “he, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot unto Godo.” And, as he voluntarily laid down his life for us, so by his own power he resumed it; and went up to heaven to “intercede for usq,” and “to prepare a place for us,” and to administer to us all needful graces: and in due time he will come again, and take us to himself, and invest us with crowns and kingdoms like his ownu.]

The Holy Spirit applies to us what the Lord Jesus has procured—

[As by the Spirit’s agency the man Jesus was enabled to execute the whole of his work; so, when the Saviour was gone to heaven, the Spirit descended, to complete the work which Jesus had begun. “He testified of Christ,” by the miraculous powers which he imparted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost. He also “glorified Christ, by taking of the things that were his, and shewing them unto his disciples.” To this very hour does he, by the mighty operation of his power on the souls of men, “convince them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgmentz.” He “comforts them” in their sorrows.; he “sanctifies them throughoutb;” he “bears witness to them that they are the Lord’s; and he “seals them unto the day of redemptiond.” And at the last day, “as he raised Christ himself from the dead, so will he raise us also ”to a final participation of his kingdom and glory.

And now, in all this, have I spoken too minutely, or too confidently? I have said no more than what St. Peter has spoken in one short verse; when he said of all true believers, that they are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”]

Let me now proceed to shew,

  III.      The comfort which the knowledge of this fact is calculated to impart—

Were I to enter at all fully into this subject, I should not know where to begin, or where to end. But it must suffice to mention two things; which must, of necessity, present themselves to every reflecting mind.

Have the Sacred Three so concurred in the work of redemption? Then we may be assured of,

  1.      The readiness of God to save us—

[Men exceedingly mistake this matter. They think themselves willing to be saved: they doubt only of God’s willingness to save them. But were men as willing to accept salvation as God is to bestow it, not one would ever perish. Did God, unsolicited, provide us a Saviour? Did the Lord Jesus Christ undertake to effect salvation for us? Did the Holy Spirit engage to apply that salvation to us! and can we doubt whether God be willing to save even the very chief of sinners? I am well aware, that men will pretend to found their doubts only on their own unworthiness. But where is any worthiness to be found in man? Who was worthy, that God should devise this plan; or that Christ should execute it; or that the Holy Spirit should apply it? Or who will presume to stand on the footing of his own worthiness, even of the food he eats, or of the air he breathes? It is not as worthy that we are to come to God, but as unworthy: and the more we feel our unworthiness, the more acceptable shall we be to God; who bids us come to him for every thing, “without money and without price.” Only reflect on what God has already done for you; and you may well say, “He that hath sent his Son to die for me, and his Spirit to renew me, how shall he not with them also freely give me all things?”]

  2.      The sufficiency of the salvation provided for us—

[What is there that the wisdom of the Father has overlooked? Wherein has the Lord Jesus Christ failed to accomplish the work assigned him? What is there which the Holy Spirit is unable or unwilling to impart? Find some flaw; find some defect; before you call in question either the suitableness or sufficiency of this salvation. If you were to be saved by your own power or goodness, you might well be filled with doubts and fears: but when all that the Father’s love, the Son’s merit, and the Spirit’s power can effect, is offered you freely, you must needs say, “All things are mine; and I um Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”]

Thus have we taken the passage according to a rendering somewhat different from that which our version has given us. But, for our APPLICATION of it, we will take it in the sense in which the translators of our Bible understood it: and we will not only consider it as spoken by the prophet to the Church at his day, but we will even adopt it ourselves, as an address which we at this time are authorized and commissioned to deliver unto you: “Now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me,” yes, even me,

  1.      To testify to you of this redemption—

[Prophets and apostles had no other commission than that which is given to every faithful minister of Christ; which is, “to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.” They indeed were inspired; and were, many of them at least, endued with miraculous powers, to which we can make no pretensions: but the message borne by them and us is one and the same, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” This ministry of reconciliation, I say, is committed unto us: and “we, as ambassadors of God, beseech you in Christ’s stead, Be ye reconciled to God” — — —]

  2.      To urge your acceptance of it—

[Who amongst you does not need it? The captivity of Israel in Babylon is but a very faint image of your captivity to sin and Satan. And what is there under heaven to be compared with it? If you had crowns and kingdoms, they could not make you happy: and in a short time they would vanish away, and leave you more destitute than the most miserable man on earth. O let me remind you what stupendous efforts have been made by God for you! and let me entreat you not to receive this grace in vain!” — — —]

  3.      To remind you that all the glory of it must be God’s alone—

[This was the principal point which the prophet was ordered to inculcate. The people were in danger of ascribing to their idols what was done by Jehovah alone. And is there not the same tendency amongst you? Are not you prone to think that, in some respect, your own arm has saved you? Who has not often “sacrificed to his own net, and burned incense to his own drag?” O Brethren, remember that “Jehovah is a jealous God,” and “will not give his glory to another.” I demand of you, therefore, that you give all the glory to the Triune God; and that you begin on earth the song which is prepared for you in heaven, even “blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”]

DCCCCXLVIII

GOD’S TENDER CONCERN FOR HIS PEOPLE

  Isai. 48:17, 18.

Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the leaves of the sea.

THE reducing of religion to a system is not without some use; because, by an orderly arrangement of all its parts, we are enabled to attain both a comprehensive and distinct view of the whole. But, when we presume to wrest any passages, or to weaken their true meaning, merely because they do not seem to accord with our system, we usurp a power that belongs not to us, and deprive ourselves of many benefits, which, if duly humbled, we might enjoy. It cannot be denied that God is the sovereign disposer of all events, and that “the Spirit divided to every man severally as he will.” But shall we therefore imagine that nothing depends on ourselves; that nothing is gained by obedience, or lost by disobedience? “We have not so learned Christ;” nor have we such partial views of his word. We believe, that however free and undeserved the gifts of God are, they would come down to us in richer abundance, if we were more earnest in seeking them; and that the true reason of our possessing so little is, that we labour so little to obtain fresh communications, or to improve those we have already received. If we would not enervate, or rather destroy, the force of our text, we must subscribe to this sentiment: for there God expresses his regret that the obstinacy of his people prevented the descent of his blessings to them; which is a proof, that though his mercies are in some instances sovereignly and freely dispensed, yet they are not arbitrarily withheld from any; or, in other words, though some are elected to salvation, none are lost through an unmerited sentence of absolute and eternal reprobation.

To enter fully into the spirit of our text, it will be proper to consider,

  I.      Who it is that here addresses us—

When any thing is spoken to us by man, we involuntarily consider who it is that addresses us, and pay attention to the words in proportion to the wisdom, the goodness, or authority of the speaker. If he be a stranger, we feel a comparative indifference towards him; but if he be a friend, a benefactor, a father, we are more observant of every thing he says. Now God frequently expatiates on his own character, in order that he may arrest our attention, and make a deeper impression on our minds. In the words before us, he describes himself by,

  1.      The relation he bears to us—

[God was related to Israel in a peculiar manner. He had brought them out of Egypt; and they were the only people that acknowledged him: He was therefore properly “their Redeemer: the Holy One of Israel, their God.” The Christian Church, as a body, stand in a similar relation to him; and are in that respect distinguished, like the Jews, from all the idolatrous nations of the earth. But there are some, to whom, in a higher and more appropriate sense, he bears these relations. There are some whom he has really redeemed from sin and death; in whose hearts he reigns; and on whose behalf he exercises all his adorable perfections. Amongst this happy number we profess to be.

With what care and diligence then should we attend to the words before us, when we consider them as addressed to us by Him, who bought us with his own blood, and who has given himself to us as our God and portion for ever! — — —]

  2.      The kindness he exercises—

[As God gave unto Israel both the moral and ceremonial law for their instruction, and guided them through the wilderness for forty years, so is he now the instructor and leader of the Christian Church, who exclusively enjoy the light of revelation. But there are a favoured few, “a little flock,” to whom these blessings are vouchsafed in a more especial manner. While multitudes never receive any benefit from the ministration of the Gospel, some are “taught to profit” by it: they are instructed in the knowledge of their own hearts; and are enabled to discern the suitableness of Christ to their necessities, and to live by faith upon him as their only Saviour. They are also “led in the way that they should go:” they are brought from “the course of this world in which they were walking,” and are guided into the way of peace and holiness.

If we have experienced these blessings, surely we cannot but “give earnest heed to the things” spoken in the text, since they are spoken by Him, to whose gracious teaching we owe all the knowledge we possess, and to whose protecting care we are indebted for every step that we have taken in the way to Canaan — — —]

Let us listen then with the deepest reverence to the voice of our Benefactor: let us hear,

  II.      The regret he expresses on our account—

In his words we may notice,

  1.      The matter of his regret—

[God is not an unconcerned spectator of our conduct. He is not satisfied with giving us his commands, and leaving us to obey them or not, as we please: he longs to engage our most affectionate regards to him and his service: and, when all his efforts are in vain, he takes up a lamentation over us, as a father over a disobedient and incorrigible child. And what abundant occasion has he for regret on our account! He has commanded us to come to him, to live in a state of holy fellowship with him, and to delight ourselves in him. But how deaf are we to his entreaties, and how slow of heart to obey his voice! It is not the ungodly alone over whom he has cause to lament, but even his own people: yes, even they, whose God he is, and whom he has redeemed with his own precious blood; they whom he has instructed by his word and Spirit, and whom he has led by his providential care; even they, I say, grieve him by their inattention, and provoke him to displeasure by their neglect: and so is he at times weighed down, as it were, by their misconduct, that he scarcely knows how to bear with them, or how to act towards them.]

  2.      The reason of it—

[And what is it that occasions his regret? Would he gain any thing by our obedience? or does he lose any thing by our disobedience? No: he knows how much we lose by our folly; and it grieves him, that, when he is so desirous of loading us with his richest benefits, we should be so regardless of our own interest and happiness.

If we were uniformly zealous and active in the service of our God, “our peace would flow down” in a serene, uninterrupted course, “like a river;” and “our righteousness,” or prosperity of soul, would “like the waves of the sea,” be exalted, irresistible, and boundless. We should find “the work of righteousness to be peace;” we should have greatg, and abundant peace; and “in keeping God’s commandments we should have a rich reward.” Is there not then cause for regret, that we should be such enemies to our own welfare; and that, instead of enjoying the felicity of God’s chosen, we should scarcely differ, either in comfort or holiness, from the ungodly world around us? Yes; if angels rejoice over our prosperity, they may well join with their Maker in pathetic lamentations over the greater part of the Christian Church.]

  INFER—

  1.      How bitter will be the reflections of the ungodly in a future world!

[Now God laments over them; but they regard him not: then they will lament over their own state; and he will not regard them. Then they will adopt the very language of the text: “O that I had hearkened to God’s commandments! then would my peace at this moment have been constant as a river, and boundless as the sea.” I should not have been in this place of torment: I should not have been weeping and wailing and gnashing my teeth in hopeless agony, as I now do: no; I should have been like those in Abraham’s bosom; I should have been holy as God is holy, and happy to the utmost extent of my capacities or desires. O fool that I was! O that I had hearkened to God’s commandments! I was warned, but would not believe: I was exhorted, but would not comply: O that it were possible to obtain one more offer of mercy! But, alas! that is a fruitless wish ———

Beloved Brethren, Why will ye not consider these things before it be too late?]

  2.      How blessed may the ungodly yet become, if they will only seek after God!

[The words of the text were spoken in reference to the very people who were afterwards carried captive to Babylon; and therefore they may be considered as addressed to every individual amongst us. God is not willing that any of us should perish: he desires rather that we should come to repentance and livel. He is as willing to be their Redeemer, and their God, as to be the God of any person in the universe. He would teach and guide them as cheerfully, and as effectually as he taught the Prophets and Apostles of old. “O that they were wise, and would consider these things! they should surely then understand the loving-kindness of the Lord:” they should be filled with “a peace that passeth all understanding,” and have, both in their purity and joy, a sweet foretaste of their heavenly inheritance.]

DCCCCXLIX

CHRIST THE LIGHT AND SALVATION OF THE GENTILES

  Isai. 49:6.

And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

THAT the Gentiles were to be received into the Church of God, was a truth which the Jews were backward to admit. Several years after the Gospel had been preached to the Jews, Peter declined visiting the Gentiles, and was afterwards called to an account by the Apostles themselves for going to them; nor could any thing but repeated miracles in their favour overcome the prejudices which he entertained respecting them. Not but that the conversion of the Gentiles had been very frequently and plainly foretold. The very passage before us, if there had been no other, was quite sufficient to raise an expectation of that event. In the context there is a conversation between Jehovah and his Son. The Messiah announces to the Gentiles his qualifications for the work to which he was called; but at the same time complains that his labours among the Jews were almost in vainc. Nevertheless He declares his unshaken confidence that Jehovah would not leave him without ultimate success. Jehovah then, in answer to his Son, assures him, that however he may be treated by the Jews, he shall be upheld and accepted in his worke; and that his failure among the Jewish nation shall be far overbalanced by his success among the Gentiles.

To elucidate this prophecy, we shall consider,

  I.      The characters here given to Christ—

There can be no doubt but that the words of the text relate to Christ—

[They are far too strong to be applied to Isaiah himself; nor could they with propriety be spoken of any but the Messiah. The expressions here used are similar to those which the prophet elsewhere uses in reference to him: they were evidently alluded to by the patriarch when he took up the infant Jesus in his armsg, and are expressly quoted by St. Paul as having received their accomplishment in Christ.]

To him the characters, there specified, most eminently belong. He is “the Restorer of Israel,” having reconciled “many myriads” of them to God. He is also the “Light of the Gentiles”—

[Another prophet describes him as “the Sun of Righteousness.” In the New Testament also he is repeatedly called “the Light of the worldk.” Others have enlightened the world by revealing the will of God; but He alone reveals it by his Spirit to the souls of men: He only, who opened Lydia’s heart, can have access to ours: He only, who opened the understanding of his disciples, can illumine our benighted mindsm; and this he does for them that lie in darkness and the shadow of death. While his once favoured people the Jews are blinded, he takes the veil from our hearts, and guides us into all truth. Thus does he abundantly fulfil to us his gracious promise.]

He is moreover “the salvation of men even to the ends of the world”—

[Many of the judges and kings of Israel were saviours in a temporal view; but Jesus imparts to his followers a far more glorious salvation. By his own blood he has “obtained an eternal redemption” for them, and by his meritorious obedience he renders them completely righteous. He is not merely a Saviour to them, but “salvation” itself. As he procured, so he imparts, maintains, and perfects the salvation of those who trust in him. There are none so remote but he extends to them the benefits of his death. “He came to save the lost,” in whatever quarter of the globe they be. For this very end was he sent into the world by his heavenly Father; and, as being expressly appointed to this office, he is called God’s salvation.]

In fulfilling these characters, he displays,

  II.      The excellence of the dispensation committed to him—

The dispensation of the law to the Jews was glorious—

[There was much of the Gospel communicated in and with the Law. The ceremonial rites were altogether “shadows of the good things” which were afterwards to be more fully revealed. The moral law itself, while it condemned the Jews, was intended to promote their salvation; and many, in different ages, were guided to heaven by the light which was then afforded them. The Mosaic law therefore was a rich blessing to that nation, and the salvation of a remnant from among them clearly manifested the efficacy of the great sacrifice.]

But the dispensation of the Gospel to the whole world is incomparably more glorious—

It brings far greater good to men—

[We must not disparage the salvation of one single soul; much less should we undervalue the mercy shewn to so many of the Jews; but still, the Jews were a small body, when compared with the Gentile world, and it was but a little remnant, even of them, that obtained mercy; but the publication of the Gospel to the Gentiles has been the means of saving unnumbered myriads. There are persons in every quarter of the globe, who experience the efficacy of the Redeemer’s blood; yea, every day and hour are multitudes ascending from the darkest corners of the earth to swell the chorus in heaven. How much more glorious then is the dispensation which diffuses its blessings so extensively, than that which confined them to such a narrow sphere! Surely it would have been “a light thing to save the Jews” in comparison of such a multitude. We may well therefore apply to this subject those words of tho Apostle—.]

It brings also far greater glory to the Saviour himself—

[Had none but Jews been saved by him, he might have appeared partial in his regards, or it might be thought that his sacrifice was but of a limited value; but the extension of mercy to the Gentiles displays “the exceeding riches of his grace,” and shews that his death is a sufficient “propitiation for the sins of the whole world.” How transcendent is the Redeemer’s glory in this view! And how glorious will he appear, when all that he has redeemed from every nation of the earth shall unite in ascribing salvation to him! The saving of a few from one nation only would not have been a suitable recompence for his work. He might well have complained that he had “spent his strength for nought;” but he will be fully “satisfied with the travail of his soul,” because so enlarged will be his Church, that “the birth of her womb will be as the dew of the morning.”]

  We shall conclude with a word of two of ADVICE—

  1.      Welcome the Saviour under the characters which are here given him—

[We all need him as the light of our minds, and the Saviour of our souls. Let none then boast of the light of reason, or “lean to their own understanding;” nor let us trust in our own goodness to merit, or strength to work out, salvation. Let us rather look to Jesus for the teaching of his word and Spirit, and unite our acknowledgments with those of the saints of old. Let us rejoice exceedingly that “help is laid upon One so mightyr,” and let us receive him for all the ends for which he is offered to us. Let none say, I am so far off, I can never hope for salvation by him. His exhortation recorded by the prophet yet sounds in our earst; nor shall any be ashamed who put their trust in him.]

  2.      Do not attempt to separate his characters, but unite them—

[In vain shall we hope to be saved by Christ, if he have not enlightened our understandings. Though he gives not to all his people the same degree of knowledge, he invariably instructs them in the most important truths; and if we have no views of the evil of sin, the deceitfulness of the heart, the beauty of holiness, and the suitableness of his salvation, we are still in a lost and perishing condition. The text itself informs us that Christ becomes our salvation by being our light. On the other hand, let us not rest in a speculative knowledge of these things. We must manifest the practical and sanctifying effects of what we know. We must be delivered from the love and practice both of open and secret sin. Without this, the clearest perception of divine truths will be of no avail. Let us unite in our experience what is thus united in Christ, and seek to grow as well in gracious affections, as in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour]

DCCCCL

CHRIST’S FUTURE REIGN

  Isai. 49:7.

Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers; kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

OF prophecy we may say, that it is by far the most satisfactory evidence which we have of the truth of our holy religion. Yet it is not altogether the number of the things that have been foretold respecting our blessed Lord, no, nor even the minuteness of them, that carries the fullest conviction to our minds: it is the strangeness of them, and the great improbability that such things should ever have combined in our Lord and Saviour: this, I say, it is which renders the prophecies so demonstrative of the Messiahship of Jesus. For, suppose that God had determined to send his only dear Son into the world for our redemption, and to inform us beforehand what an appearance he should make in the world, and what a reception he should find; what should we expect to be declared concerning him? Certainly we should expect that God would send him in a way suited to his august character; so that by the very splendour of his appearance he should manifest his relation to God, and carry conviction to the minds of all who should behold him. We should expect that his reception should perfectly accord with this. In truth, we could conceive no other, than that, if God should manifest himself in human flesh, and more especially if he should, in proof of his divine mission, work innumerable miracles, which, whilst they could admit of no doubt, should shadow forth the salvation which he was come to impart, all of necessity must love him, and acknowledge him as their Lord, and give themselves up to him as his obedient followers. And if the general tenour of prophecy had accorded with these views, and represented him as to be so received, it would have precisely answered the expectations we had formed. But in proportion as the prophecies corresponded with our previous expectations, they would have been divested of their force. It is the contrariety of the prophecies to all human expectations that gives them such weight; for the less the events predicted could be expected by men, the more, provided they were really accomplished, they would shew that they had proceeded from God; who alone could foresee what should really occur, or think of accomplishing his purposes by such extraordinary means. Now the prophecy before us commends itself to us most highly in this particular view; since its representations of the Messiah are such as no finite intelligence could ever have anticipated; and its statements of events are such as could never have been expected to flow from the mission of such a person into the world.

Let us consider,

  I.      The representation which is here given of the Messiah—

The words before us are an address of the Father to his own Son, under the character of the Messiah. And behold the description given of him!

Nothing can be conceived more humiliating—

[It is here predicted, that he should be an object of contempt and abhorrence to his whole nation, and, though in himself the Creator of heaven and earth, be regarded by the Rulers as the meanest slave. But can it be of the Messiah that such things are foretold? Yes, of the Messiah himself, who was to be known und distinguished by these very marks: so that, if any person, professing himself to be the appointed Messiah, should not answer to this character, it would be a sufficient proof that he was an impostor. If he be the Messiah indeed, he must be one “whom men despise, and the whole nation abhor,” and who, by “the Rulers,” is treated as a slave.]

This, however, was the character of the Lord Jesus Christ—

[Never was a being more despised than he. His whole appearance was contemptible in the eyes of those who looked for a temporal prince; so that he was indeed “a root out of a dry ground, having no form nor comeliness; and they who saw him could find no beauty in him, for which he was to be desired.” In truth, he was as “a worm,” and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the peopleb.” Nothing was too contemptuous to say of him, nothing too insulting to do unto him. Some said of him, “He is a gluttonous man, a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners:” others even appealed to himself for the justness of their reproaches; “Say we not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devild?” And when they could not deny his miracles, they denounced him as a confederate with Beelzebub, and as acting by a power derived from him. To express their utter contempt of his pretensions as the promised Messiah, they “arrayed him in mock majesty, and spat upon him, and smote him, saying, Tell us who smote theef?” In this “the whole nation” concurred. The Rulers would on no account suffer Pilate to release him: the people “with one voice cried out, Crucify him! crucify him!” and “desired that Barabbas, who was a murderer, should be granted to them in preference to him.” Crucifixion was a death to which none but slaves were doomed: but nothing less than that would satisfy the Rulers; who having dragged him before the different tribunals of Pilate, and Herod, and the High Priest, consigned him over, at last, to that death which was regarded as accursed both by God and man.]

And that same character attaches to him at this very hour—

[I need not say how his name is cast out both by Jews and Gentiles. I will speak of him rather as he still appears even in the Christian world. I grant that nominally he is regarded with great veneration and respect; but really he is treated, and that too even by his professed followers, just as he was in the days of old.

What is there in his religion that conciliates the regards of men? It is at this very hour, no less than in former ages, to self-righteous pharisees “a stumbling-block,” and to those who are wise in their own conceit “foolishness.” To stand indebted wholly to the Lord Jesus Christ for righteousness and strength, and to give the whole glory of our salvation to him alone, is thought as absurd in this day, as it was, in the Apostle’s days, to look for salvation to one who saved not himself, but was crucified as a malefactor. In like manner to devote oneself entirely to him, and to live altogether to his glory, is deemed a ridiculous excess at this day, just as much as it was in the days of old. Does any one doubt this? Look then at any person who preaches fully and faithfully the cross of Christ; and say whether his doctrine be not despised as in days of old? or look at any one that truly follows Christ, and see whether there be not, as arising out of that very circumstance, a good measure of contempt and obloquy cast upon him by his friends and relatives. See whether “the offence of the cross have ceased.” See whether Christ be not still hated and persecuted in his members, just as he was in his own person, though not altogether with the same malignity. Yes truly, his obedient followers are still regarded as “the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all thingsk:” and if they be not treated as in former days, it is not owing to any change that has taken place in the hearts of their enemies, but to the protection afforded by the laws, where Christianity is the religion of the land.

Now this I consider as an evidence in favour of the Gospel which we preach. If our doctrine und its professors were generally approved by the world, it would give very just ground to suspect that our sentiments were not those of the Apostles; since our blessed Lord foretold that his disciples should “be hated of all men for his name’s sake;” and St. Paul also has declared that “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutionm.” But our blessed Saviour was treated as the Prophet Isaiah had foretold; and, both in his doctrine and in his members, he is still treated precisely as he and his inspired Apostles have given us reason to expect.]

We are not however discouraged: nor need we be, if we consider,

  II.      The determination of God respecting him—

God has decreed that all mankind shall bow to the sceptre of his Son—

[Kings and princes, however great in the eyes of men, are as much under the control of God as the meanest of the human race: and in God’s good time they shall all, even all throughout the whole world, submit themselves to him: “they shall see, and arise, and worship him.” Yes verily, dishonoured as the Lord Jesus Christ has been, and despised as he still is, and especially among the great and mighty, “he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high;” and “kings,” being brought to a just consideration of his character, “shall shut their mouths at him” with the profoundest reverence. Nor shall he be thus regarded only by his ancient people the Jews: the remotest monarchs of the earth shall honour him: “the kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts: yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.”]

For this he pledges both the veracity of his word and the immutability of his counsels—

“All princes shall worship him, because of the Lord who is faithful.” Jehovah has not only said, “I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion;” but he has confirmed his word with an oath, saying, “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone forth out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me (in my incarnate state) every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” Now this word is not gone forth in vain. It began, in some small degree, to be accomplished even in the apostolic age; and still more when Christianity was embraced by the head of the Roman Empire. But a mere nominal subjection to him, such as is now professed amongst the princes of Christendom, is not that allegiance of which my text speaks. No: there shall be a willing and unreserved subjection to him amongst all the kings of the earth, and all the kingdoms of the world shall become his undisputed empire. It has been promised to the Messiah himself: “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost ends of the earth for thy possessions.” It has been promised also to the Church of God: “Kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and Queens thy nursing-mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet.” And “hath God spoken thus, and will he not make it good?”

“His counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure.” “He hath chosenx” the Lord Jesus to be his servants and “given him for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth,” and to redeem the inhabitants of it from their bondage: and who shall change his purpose, or obstruct the execution of his will? In the covenant he entered into with his own Son, he engaged, that, “when his Son should make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed who should prolong their days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands: yea, that he would give unto him the great for a portion, and divide unto him the strong for a spoil.” And we may be perfectly assured, that this stone, however disallowed by the professed builders of the Church. “shall become the head of the cornera:” yea, “this stone, cut out without hands, shall break in pieces all the kingdoms of the world, and establish one undivided empire over the face of the whole earth.”]

  BEHOLD, then,

  1.      What a glorious period is fast approaching!

[Assuredly, what is here foretold shall be fulfilled in its season. Was Jesus, “after all his humiliation” unto death, exalted above all the principalities and powers of heaven, earth, and hell; and shall not all that hath been predicted concerning him be fulfilled? Yes; “He shall be king over all the earth: there shall be but one Lord, and his name one:” and if any refuse to bow to the sceptre of his grace, “they shall be broken in pieces, as a potter’s vessel.” Contemplate then this day, when all, without exception, “shall be righteousf;” when “holiness to the Lord shall be written upon the bells of the horses;” and when “there shall no more be found a Canaanite in the land.” Did Abraham, at the distance of two thousand years, rejoice at his glimmering prospect of the Redeemer’s first adventh; and shall not we rejoice in the glorious consummation which is now so fast approaching? Surely the heavens and the earth should rejoice, yea, the “hills should break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field should clap their hands,” at the prospect which we now enjoy of a speedy and universal establishment of the Redeemer’s kingdom upon earth.]

  2.      What encouragement have they who minister in holy things!

[The Prophets and Apostles had much to contend with, in their day; and some of them saw, at the time, but little fruit of their labour. But would one among them think either his labours or his sufferings too great, if he could now see what exists upon the face of the earth, among the saints of God? How much less, then, will they grudge their services, when they shall behold the Lord Jesus reigning in his millennial glory; and still less, when they shall see the full and entire fruit of their labours in the heavenly world! Let those, then, who engage in the service of their Lord, whether in the contracted circle of a single parish, or in the more enlarged sphere of a mission to the heathen, contemplate the benefit which may be hoped to arise from their labours; and that, not at the first moment of their exertions, but at a more remote period, when perhaps a “little one, whom they shall have begotten to the Lord, shall have become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation.” Let every one that is engaged in this blessed work gladly “do all things, and suffer all things for the elect’s sake, that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” And if only they be permitted to sow the seed, let them remember, that the day is coming, “when they who sowed, and they who reaped, shall rejoice togetherm.”]

  3.      How happy are they who truly believe in Christ!

[The same things has God decreed respecting you, as concerning his dear Son; and on the same grounds does he assure them to you. Like the Saviour himself, you shall be hated and despised of men: but, like him, you shall triumph over all your enemies, and be exalted to thrones of glory. Even “Satan himself,” with all the principalities and powers of hell, “shall be bruised under your feet shortlyo” — — — And would you be certified of this? Know, that “God has chosen you to salvation,” and “promised you eternal lifeq.” And who shall set aside his purpose? Who shall make his promises of no effect? Look forward, then, to the issue of your present conflicts. Let it be a light matter in your eyes to be an object of scorn and derision to ungodly men: (rather rejoice that you are permitted so to resemble your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:) and look forward to the same blessed recompence as he himself received. “He, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the throne of Gods:” so do ye also expect assuredly, that, if you are conformed to him in sufferings, you shall also be conformed to him in glory: for “if you suffer with him, you shall, as sure as God is true, reign with him also in glory for ever and ever.”]

DCCCCH

THE GREATNESS OF CHRIST’S SALVATION

  Isai. 49:8–10.

Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.

TO the Messiah God had promised, that, after his inconceivable degradation, he should be exalted, insomuch that the Kings and princes of the earth should bow down and worship at his footstool. In the passage before us, the same idea is amplified and enlarged. Jehovah had said to him, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” And in the Epistle to the Hebrews we are informed, that “in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears; and was heard.” Whilst he prayed for himself, he interceded also for all his people, to the very end of timed. For them also was he heard; as we are told in the words which I have just read: “In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will give thee for a covenant of the people, that thou mayest cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.”

In these words, together with those which follow them, we may see,

  I.      The promised diffusion of the Gospel—

To enter properly into the meaning of the passage, we must bear in mind the redemption from Babylon, to which there is a manifest reference. Not that the redemption from Babylon is here predicted: that has been very fully and largely spoken of by the prophet in the foregoing parts of his prophecy. He soars far above that subject in this place; and speaks of the redemption of the whole world by the Lord Jesus Christ, though in terms applicable to the other event. The whole of Judea was desolated by the Chaldean invaders: and, on the proclamation of Cyrus, the people were permitted to resume their former inheritances, and to repair the desolations throughout the land. In like manner, the whole world, which has been desolated by sin and Satan, is here spoken of as to be repaired by the Lord Jesus Christ, at the period foretold in prophecy, even at “the accepted time.”

  1.      This was begun in the apostolic age—

[The Lord Jesus Christ, after all his sufferings and death, was raised from the dead; and, after all the efforts made by men and devils to suppress his rising cause, “was preserved;” yea, and was “made a covenant-head to all the people of the world;” that, by believing in Him, they might regain all that they had lost in the first Adam, and all of which sin and Satan had despoiled them. Holiness was the possession, and heaven the heritage of man, whilst he retained his innocence: but he lost them; and must be restored to them by the Lord Jesus Christ: and, through the preaching of the Apostles, multitudes, not of Jews only, but of heathens also, were restored, Those who were bound, as it were, in chains, and immured in dungeons, were liberated by the Lord Jesus Christ; and they came forth, even as Lazarus had done, at his bidding, and became visible and living monuments of his power and grace. “Being made free by him, they became free indeed.” Hence St. Paul, expressly referring to the prophecy in my text, declared that the period spoken of was then arrived: “Behold, now is the accepted time: behold, now is the day of salvation.” But,]

  2.      It is still existing at this present moment—

[To this hour, in despite of all the powers of darkness, yea, and of the weakness and wickedness of man, are the interests of Christ and his Church still “preserved.” Thousands do yet look to him as their Covenant-head, and receive through him all the blessings of salvation. Blessed be God! we yet see, I trust, in the midst of you, those who “have been begotten again to an inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away;” and who, by the word and Spirit of God, are “turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto Godg.” “To those, therefore, who are yet in prison I feel myself authorized to say, Come forth; and to those who are in darkness, Shew yourselves.” I declare that this is the accepted time, as truly as that was in the apostolic age; and that “no one, who will come to Christ, shall ever be rejected.” “To you, Beloved, is the word of this salvation sent:” and without hesitation I declare unto you, that “all who will believe in Christ shall be justified from all thingsi.”]

  3.      It will be completely and fully arrived in the Millennium—

[However low the cause of Christ may sink (and it has sunk very low at different periods since its first promulgation), it shall be “preserved,” yea, and shall be “established” too, over the face of the whole earth. There is not in the universe a people, however ignorant or enslaved in sin, who shall not be “brought forth into the marvellous light of his Gospel.” Jews and Gentiles shall alike partake of his blessings. For all, beholding Christ as their Covenant-head and Surety, shall obtain an interest in the covenant which he has ratified, oven in the covenant which is “ordered in all things and sure.” A blessed day will that be! Methinks the whole creation is groaning and travelling in pain for its arrival. The deliverance from Babylon was but a very faint emblem of that day: for from Babylon a small remnant only returned to possess their former inheritance; but, at the period of which we are speaking, a redeemed world “shall come with singing unto Zion,” and “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”]

In connexion with the spread of the Gospel, the prophet proceeds to state,

  II.      The felicity of those who shall embrace it—

Here, the reference to the redemption from Egypt, which had long; since taken place, and that from Babylon, which was yet future, must be more distinctly noticed. Both the one and the other of those far exceeded all that could have been expected, and all that could have been supposed within the verge of possibility. The obstructions to that from Egypt, especially, appeared utterly insurmountable. For, how should such a multitude be fed? How should they be screened from the heat, which, at seasons, must be too oppressive to be borne? How should they also be conducted through a wilderness which was utterly unexplored? And how should they find refreshment in a land where there were neither rivers nor springs? These difficulties had been overcome through the good providence of God; and whatever may be supposed to correspond with them in the spiritual life shall also be vanquished by all who commit themselves to Christ as “their Leader,” whom they will follow, and “their Commander,” whom they will obey.

He here assures to his people,

  1.      Provision—

[He that gave his people bread from heaven for the space of forty years will be at no loss to “feed” his flocks, however numerous, in this dreary wilderness; or to give them ample “pasturage,” even on the summit of the most barren “mountains.” “A feast of fat things has he provided for us; yea, and has “spread a table for us in the presence of our enemiesm.” “The meek therefore may rest assured that they shall eat and be satisfied:” “their souls shall be satisfied, as with marrow and fatness;” and in the strength of the divine communications they shall be enabled to go forward, finding no labour too arduous, no difficulty too great, for them to surmountp.]

  2.      Protection—

[One of the greatest obstacles to the progress of unprovided travellers is the intense heat of the sun, which frequently destroys those who are exposed to its fiery rays. But to his people, when assaulted by persecution or temptation, Christ himself will be a shelter, even “as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Neither heat nor sun shall smite them.” True it is, that, in the apostolic age, myriads were persecuted even unto death; and even at the present time there are but few followers of Christ who have not a cross to bear: but still is this prophecy fulfilled; because, if afflictions abound, our consolations much more abound; and, instead of feeling the rays of the sun intolerable, we are enabled to “glory in tribulation,” and to “rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer either shame or death for Christ’s sake.”]

  3.      Guidance—

[The cloud, which covered the camp of Israel from the action of the solar rays, was a pillar of fire to light them by night, and went before them in all their journeys. So our blessed Lord will lead his people now, and make their way plain before their face. His word shall mark their path; his Spirit shall shine upon it; his providence shall open it from time to time; and thus “he will guide them by his counsel, till at last he receive them to glory.”]

  4.      Refreshment—

[To God’s people in the wilderness the fatigues of travelling were great, notwithstanding all the advantages they enjoyed; insomuch, that “they were greatly discouraged by reason of the way.” And we too, through the weakness of human nature, shall often be ready to faint in our heavenly journey. But God will “lead us by springs of water,” where we can at all times quench our thirst, and refresh our weary souls. Our blessed Lord promises that we shall have his Spirit within us, as “a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.”

But in this last communication, methinks I see, us it were, a heaven upon earth; for the description given us of heaven itself is conveyed in the very words of my text: “They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and He that sitteth on the throne dwells among them. And they hunger no more, nor thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”]

Such was the blessed state of the Church in the apostolic age — — — And such it is at this very hour — — — And such, only in a far more exalted degree, shall it be in the day when Christ shall take to him his great power, and reign unto the ends of the earth.

  ADDRESS—

[And now, let me ask, Who amongst you does not need this salvation? Who amongst you, if not already liberated by divine grace, is not at this hour in bondage to sin and Satan, death and hell? — — — But I am happy to declare, that “now is an accepted time, and a day of salvation,” to all who will “lay hold on the covenant” of grace, and embrace Christ as he is offered in the Gospel. And why should it not be an accepted time to you, my Brethren, as well as unto God? Is there any other time better than the present? — — — And are not the advantages which are here proposed to you sufficient for your encouragement? Is it a light matter to be emancipated from your thraldom, and to be brought forth into light and liberty? Is it a small matter to have every thins provided for your journey, and eternal glory at the end? What would you have more in this dreary wilderness than God has here promised you? What, if I should proceed to open to you the richness of the provision, the strength of the protection, the certainty of the guidance, the sweetness of the refreshment; especially if we view in it, as we may, the glory and felicity of heaven? But I trust that more is not necessary. “This is the heritage of all the servants of the Lord.” Let it be yours. Beg of God that you may be begotten to it; and become “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Never forget that Christ has purchased it for you; and offers it to you, as freely as ever he did redemption from Egypt, or from Babylon, to his ancient people. I pray God that not one amongst you may fall short of this inheritance; but that all of you may possess it, by faith in this world, and by actual fruition in the world to come.]

DCCCCLII

GOD WILL NOT FORGET HIS PEOPLE

  Isai. 49:14–16.

But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget: yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I hare graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

WERE the glorious truths of Christianity allowed their due operation on the hearts of men, this world would be a scene of universal peace and happiness: “the heavens and the earth, the mountains,” and the valleys would form one harmonious concert, all singing aloud for joy at the glad tidings of redemption through the sufferings of our incarnate God. But the great mass of mankind disregard the tidings as “a cunningly devised fable;” whilst multitudes who profess to believe them, derive no comfort from them, by reason of the corrupt state of their own minds, and the hard thoughts which they entertain of God. In the verse preceding our text, we see what reason there is for joy; but in the text itself we are told, how lamentably the proper influence of the Gospel is counteracted by the mistakes and errors of God’s professing people, which yet he is endeavouring by all possible means to rectify.

We here behold,

  I.      The Church’s complaint against God—

The complaint, in its primary sense, may be understood as uttered by the Church in Babylon, where her state was indeed most disconsolate. Moreover, in the present dispersion of her members, which has now continued so many hundred years, we may find a further ground for the complaint, that she is forsaken and forgotten of her God. St. Paul, aware that there was in appearance some reason for such an apprehension, states the question, “Has God cast off his people?” and then, by an appeal to fact, he establishes the truth which is asserted in our text, in opposition to it.

But it is in reference to individuals, and not to the Church at large, that we shall consider the complaint. It is common for persons under the Christian dispensation to adopt the language of our text. We will therefore state,

  1.      The occasions that most generally give birth to it—

[Among the various causes of such a desponding apprehension, the first to be noticed is, a long continuance of some temporal affliction. Little as we think of God in n state of prosperity, and little as we are inclined to mark his hand in the earlier stages of adversity, when we have long been oppressed with trials, our mind almost of necessity reverts to him as the author of them; and that too, not in a way of meek submission, but in a way of murmuring and discontent. Thus did the Church in David’s days: she complained that God had cast her off; and adduced all her trials as proofs of her assertionc: and then, as though God were asleep, and had altogether forgotten her affliction, she entreats him to “awake, and arise” for her relief. Thus also did Job, though on the whole a perfect man, sink at last under his troubles, and become the accuser of his Gode. And perhaps, if we inquired diligently into the first causes of despondency, we should generally find that it has originated in temporal afflictions, which have put the soul off its balance, and disposed it to entertain hard thoughts of God.

Another occasion of such apprehension is, a long continuance of guilt upon the conscience. After we are sensible that we have sinned, we are frequently a long time before we can humble ourselves before God as we ought to do: and whilst that hardness of heart continues, it is impossible but that we must be harassed with much disquietude. Thus it was with David, after his sin in the matter of Uriah: “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long: (for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me:) my moisture is turned into the draught of summer.” That “iniquities will separate between us and our God, and cause him to hide his face from us,” is certaing: but we are not therefore to conclude, that he has forsaken and forgotten us; since, however he may “speak against us,” as with the voice of an enemy, “he does earnestly remember us still; yea, his bowels are troubled for us,” till, by our humiliation and contrition, we open a way for him to exercise, consistently with his own honour, his tender mercy towards us. Nevertheless, till that reconciliation takes place, the distress of a soul that dreads his displeasure must be great indeedi.

One more occasion of such apprehensions is, a want of answers to prayer. When God is following us with invitations to accept of mercy, we think nothing of months or years: but, if he delay an answer to our supplications, a few days or weeks appear an age; and we begin to conclude, that he will never vouchsafe us any answer at all. Perhaps, of all reasons for despondency, this is the most justifiable; because God has so often promised to hear and answer the prayers of his people: and from hence we may account for those sad complaints, which David, the man after God’s own heart, uttered against his God. Doubtless it is distressing to be constrained to say, “I cry in the day time, and thou hearest not; and in the night season, und am not silent:” but the proper reflection for the soul in such cases is, “Thou nevertheless continuest holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”]

  2.      The dispositions and principles from which it springs—

[Whatever be the occasion of desponding apprehensions, they always arise from a morbid state of mind: for, if we were in a right frame, we should, under all circumstances, say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

At the root of all despondency will be found impatience. We do not like to wait God’s time: we would “walk by sight, rather than by faith;” and, if we have not immediately what we desire, we are ready to ask, “Is the Lord amongst us, or not?” We have a surprising exhibition of this spirit among the more religious part of the Jews in the time of the Prophet Jeremiah: God had denounced his judgments against the whole nation; and had refused to hear any prayers that should be offered for them. Upon this they complain, “Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul lothed Zion? Why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, end behold trouble. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.” Now, after every allowance which must be made for the condescension of God in permitting his people to plead with him, we cannot but think, that the terms here used savour of impatience; and that a more respectful and reverential language would have better comported with their state. But strong feelings usually issue in hasty and unadvised expressions.

Another source from which these apprehensions spring, is Unbelief. The promises of God are as clear as the powers of language can express: but we know not how to believe them. Sometimes they appear too good to be true: at other times we doubt whether they are made to us: and at other times we are ready to think that they cannot be fulfilled; yea, the very providence of God seems to oppose their accomplishment. Hence we listen to the dictates of sense, and, because of our present distress, conclude that God hath forsaken and forgotten us. This was the unhappy experience of David himself, who was brought by his trouble to ask, “Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” Well might he add, “This was my infirmityr;” for a dreadful infirmity it was, to entertain such distressing apprehensions for himself, and such injurious thoughts of God. Yet thus it is, that, under the influence of unbelief, multitudes are yet daily dishonouring their God.

But we must not omit to mention, that these apprehensions frequently proceed also from disease of body or mind. There is a nervous habit of body that is very apt to produce the feelings we are now speaking of; and, the mind partaking of the weakness of the body, Satan takes advantage of it, to impress on the imagination every thing that is gloomy and melancholy: ‘God has not elected me: I am given over to a reprobate mind: I have sinned away my day of grace: I have committed the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Holy Ghost: It is in vain for me to pray, for my doom is sealed: God has entirely forsaken me, and, as to any purposes of his grace, has eternally forgotten me.’ This is indeed a most distressing state of mind; and the more so, because the persons so affected have not the least conception from whence all. their distresses arise. Their apprehensions about God have the same effect on them as if they were founded in truth: and it often happens, that a man’s whole life is embittered by fears, which the restoration of bodily health would remove at once. It seems probable that David, whose experience, under all the diversified circumstances of his life, is so fully recorded in the Psalms, had somewhat of this trial also; for, under the united pressure of bodily and mental disease, he doubted whether he should ever be restored to a sense of the Divine favour. But, at all events, it is desirable that they who have to deal with troubled consciences, should be aware that this apparently religious depression is often little more than a bodily disorder; and that they should in many such cases recommend a physician for the body, as the most likely means of curing, what, to an ignorant observer, would appear a disease of the soul.]

From hearing Zion’s complaint against God, let us turn our attention to,

  II.      The consolatory reply of God to her—

God desiring that his people should be filled with “strong consolation,” has given them such assurance of his care and love, as shall be abundantly sufficient to dissipate all their fears, if only they rely on his word. That no part of his address to them may escape our notice, let us consider,

  1.      The assurance that he gives them—

[Let the Church’s compliant be borne in mind; because to that his answer is immediately directed. She had said, “The Lord hath forsaken me; my Lord hath forgotten me.” To this he answers, “I will not forget thee;” or, as it is most tenderly expressed in another part, “O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.” Assertions to the same effect occur in numberless other passages of Scripture, and under a variety of formsu: but nowhere is it made with greater force than in the passage before us. He appeals to us respecting the care of earthly parents over their offspring. A father is represented as full of pity towards his suffering child, and as sparing with affectionate regard his duteous sony. It is even taken for granted, that a parent cannot disregard, and much less mock, the necessities of his child, “giving him a stone when he asks for bread, or a scorpion, when he desires an egg.” And, if a father cannot act thus, how much less can a mother turn her back upon her sucking infant, and forget to administer to its necessities, when even her bodily feelings, no less than the tender emotions of her mind, must interest her deeply in supplying its wants. Rare as are instances of a mother being entirely destitute of natural affection, some have been found who, through shame, have murdered their own offspring, and, through the pressure of famine, have even devoured them. It was foretold that such instances would occur; and we know that they did occur at different timesb: but, says God, though there may be found, not only one but many such unnatural mothers, no such forgetfulness of my children shall ever be found in me; I will never forget my Church at large, nor any individual of it in particular. As for my Church at large, “I will keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it day and night:” and, as for the weakest individuals that are found in it, I will consider them as infants with whom I have travailed in birth; and will carry them in my bosom, till time and age have worn away their strength, and covered their heads with hoary locks. Both collectively and individually, “Mine eye shall be upon them from one end of the year unto the other end of the yeare,” and not only shall “their place of defence be the munitions of rocks, but bread shall be given them, and their water shall be sure.”]

  2.      His confirmation of it—

[To confirm his assertion the more strongly, he introduces two striking and well-known illustrations. The first is taken from a custom which prevailed among the Jews, of imprinting on their flesh, by punctures or by staining, an image of the temple, in order at all times to bring it to their remembrance. ‘Now,’ says God, ‘I have you, and all my children, imprinted thus upon my heart, and on my arms. I have set you there as a seal or signet, which shall operate at all times to remind me of you, and to interest me in your favour: yea, “I have graven you on the palms of my hands;” so that I can never open my hand to dispense blessings to any of my creatures, but I must instantly behold your name, and be stirred up to supply your every want.’ What a beautiful and encouraging representation is this! Nor is the other illustration at all less comforting to the mind. It refers to an architect, who, whilst he is only just beginning to lay the foundation, has a perfect idea of the whole building in his mind, and sees it there as plainly as if it were already complete. Thus does God even now behold the entire building of his Church complete in all its parts, not a stone wanting, or out of the place ordained for it, yea, he sees also every individual stone formed and fashioned according to his sovereign will, and fitted perfectly for the situation which in his eternal counsels he has appointed it to fill. To a common eye all may appear at present a scene of confusion: but to him who seeth all from the beginning, all is in perfect order as far as it has advanced; and the whole edifice is, as it were, already prepared as a meet habitation for the God of heaven.

Say then, Whether there be any ground for the complaint which we have been considering? Can God have forsaken his people, when he is ever present with them? Can he have forgotten them, when he is incessantly carrying on his work in their hearts? He may, it is true, for wise and gracious purposes, so veil himself, that they shall not immediately behold him; but he can no more forget his redeemed people, than he can forget the interests of his beloved Son, or the honour of his own perfections. This he has stated in the fullest manner, for the comfort of his people — — — and, whether we believe it or not, he will accomplish every jot and tittle of it in its season, As he has no inducement to falsify his word, so he will not, “he cannot, deny himself.”]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who have forsaken and forgotten God-

[Hear ye the complaint which God utters; “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.” Alas! how true is this of multitudes amongst ourselves! Though “He is the fountain of living waters, yet have we forsaken him, and hewn out to ourselves cisterns that can hold no waterm.” We have even laboured to blot out the remembrance of him from our minds: and so thoroughly have we succeeded in this impious attempt, that, as the Searcher of hearts himself testifies, “God is not in all our thoughts.” Every vanity has been harboured in our minds; but we have found there no room for God: in short, we have lived “without God in the world.” What astonishing wickedness is this, that when God has been following us with invitations and entreaties all our days, saying to us, “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” we have “refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped our ears that we should not hear.” This however cannot always continue: God “will not always strive with us” in this manner: the time is coming when he will requite us according to our deeds, and turn a deaf ear to all our entreaties? O that we may be wise in time, and improve aright “this day of our salvationr!”]

  2.      Those who think they are forsaken and forgotten of God—

[This may be the state even of the best of men; for David, and even the Messiah himself, in a season of dereliction, cried, “My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me?” Nevertheless, for the most part, the hidings of God’s face may be traced to some special cause: some inward lust unmortified, or some wilful neglect indulged. Search out then, and put away, whatever is displeasing to your God. But, if you cannot find any particular reason for the dispensation, then follow that advice of the prophet, “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, and yet walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay himself upon his God.” Let him plead with God, as David did, and sum up his petitions with that bold request, “Arise, O God, and plead thine own causeu!” We may be sure that “God will not contend with us for ever, because he knows that our spirits would fail before him, and the souls which he hath made.” Even where we have been wilfully rebellious, he gives us reason to hope, that, for his own sake, he will heal our wounds, and speak comfortably to our soulsy: but, if we humble ourselves before him, then are we sure that in due season he will lift us up.

Let every one then, however disconsolate he may be at the present moment, yea though heaven, earth, and hell should seem conspiring to destroy him, check his unbelieving fears, and say, “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.”]

DCCCCLIII

PROMISED INCREASE OF THE CHURCH

  Isai. 49:18–23.

Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, Thou shall surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants; and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shaft have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to we that I may dwell. Then shalt thou my in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders: and kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

TO consider past events, and especially those recorded in the Holy Scriptures, is obviously the duty of every man; since from them we learn the true character of God, and know what we are to expect at his hands. Nor are present things to occupy a small portion of our regard: for, though we cannot judge of them with certainty, or declare what their ultimate issue will be, we behold them stamped with a visible impression of Divine wisdom and goodness: the very chastisements of heaven, if viewed aright, convey to us the idea of parental love. But we have a further duty, which is, to look into futurity, and to read in the page of prophecy the events that are yet future. We are not indeed to expect that we ourselves shall be enabled to prophesy, or to obtain such an insight into futurity as to discover the times and the seasons which God has reserved in his own hands: but there are certain great events which shall assuredly come to pass, and which it is our privilege to look forward to, as the pious Jews waited for the coming of their Lord, and looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Indeed it is for this end that the prophecies are given us; namely, that having expected the completion of them, we should acknowledge God in the events whereby they are completed.

In the passage before us, there is a prophecy relating to the future state of the Church: in discoursing upon which we shall notice,

  I.      The promised increase of the Church—

In the verse preceding our text, the substance of the promise is contained: and in our text itself, its accomplishment is represented as actually begun.

In two respects is the Church to be increased;

  1.      In number—

[To enter fully into the spirit of this prophecy, we should call to mind the state of Israel in Palestine. The land of Canaan was but a small tract of country, when compared with the numbers that were to inhabit it; so that some of the tribes, particularly Dan, and Ephraim, and Manasseh, complained of the smallness of their lot. But, after the desolations occasioned by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, the population was so reduced, that they were quite insufficient to inhabit the cities, or to cultivate the groundc. Imagine now the people all on a sudden restored to their country, and multiplied far beyond all former precedent; what surprise would be excited, and what universal clamour for want of room! Such is the change which is here predicted in relation to the Church: the numbers that shall be added to it will surpass all human expectation, so that “space shall not even be found for them.” In every country, in every city, in every village, yea in every congregation also, shall converts spring up as the piles of grass in the earthe, and “shall say in the ears of the Church, The place is too strait for me: give place for me that I may dwell.” The Church herself shall be filled with utter amazement at the multitudes that flock to her; and shall say in her heart, “Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone: these, where had they been?”

Incredible as this may appear, the prophet not only foretells it, but speaks of it as at that moment taking place before his eyes; and of God himself, as swearing that the whole multitude shall become brighter ornaments to the Church, than the richest jewels to a bride.]

  2.      In honour—

[It is not the poor only that shall devote themselves to God in that day, but the rich also. Hitherto “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble have been called:” but then it shall not be so: for all the great and mighty of the earth “shall bring their sons in their arms, and their daughters (in litters) upon their shoulders; and kings shall be the nursing-fathers of the Church, and queens her nursing-mothers.” As for the enemies of the Church, they shall all be prostrate before her, and “lick up the very dust of her feet:” and God shall be as manifestly revealed among them as ever he was in the days of old.

Is it asked, How shall this great change be effected? We answer, “God will lift up his hand to the Gentiles, and set up his standard to the people:” he will cause the standard of the cross to be erected in every place, and by the influence of his Spirit will reveal his Son in the hearts of men; “making them willing in the day of his power,” and rendering “his Gospel the power of God to the salvation of their souls.”

Perhaps in this passage there is a more immediate and explicit declaration of the way in which God’s ancient people the Jews shall be converted to the faith. We have reason from St. Paul to think, that an extraordinary conversion of the Gentiles shall precede the restoration of the Jews: and here, it should seem, that God will make the efforts of those Gentiles instrumental to the conversion of his once-favoured people: “I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and THEY shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters on their shoulders.” Surely this thought should animate us to diffuse as far as possible the knowledge of salvation through the heathen world, that, the Gentiles being made partakers of this grace, the Jews may be provoked to jealousy to seek it for themselves.]

Let us now contemplate,

  II.      The encouragement it affords us for Missionary exertions—

Is such a glorious prospect held forth to us, and shall we be indifferent about it, or entertain a doubt of its being realized in due season? No: we will expect it rather, and by anticipation rejoice in it: for,

  1.      God is able to effect this great thing—

[Were this promised event to be produced by human efforts only, we might well doubt whether it should ever be accomplished. But God has taken the matter into his own hand; and has said “I will do it; I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles.” And, if GOD will work, who shall let it? It is worthy of remark, that St. Paul himself grounds his assured expectation of these events on this very consideration of God’s almighty power. Speaking of the Jews being again grafted into their own olive-tree, he says, “They, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.” In the very chapter before us also, God mentions his all-powerful interposition as an effectual antidote to all the unbelieving fears of his people. The Church, doubting almost the possibility of the promised events, asks, “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?” Can it be hoped, that they who are in bondage to such powerful adversaries, and have even sold themselves, as it were, by their iniquities, should ever be redeemed? Yes; “thus saith the Lord; Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away; and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” Let us expect it then at the hands of God, knowing that “what he has promised, he is able also to perform.” Let difficulties, how great soever they may appear in themselves, be as nothing in our eyes, because that Omnipotence is engaged to surmount them all; and “nothing can be too hard for the Lord.”]

  2.      God has moreover actually engaged to effect it—

[Survey the promise in our text, confirmed by a most solemn oath, and therefore “confirmed by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have the stronger consolation.” Compare with it many other passages of Holy Writ, which speak decidedly to the same effect — — — Shall all these fail of their accomplishment? Surely “God is not a man that he should lie, or a son of man that he should repent.” As to “the times and the seasons, he has reserved them in his own power: but the ultimate accomplishment of them, if we may so speak, he has put out of his own power; because “He cannot deny himself;” and he has himself assured us, in reference to this very thing, that “his gifts and calling are without repentance.”]

  3.      The beginnings of it are already visible before our eyes—

[What the prophet says by anticipation, we may almost speak literally: “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee.” Since the apostolic ago, there has been no period like the present; all nations making peace in the spirit of peace; and societies of every kind combining, not in this land only, but in foreign lands also, to translate the Scriptures into all languages, and to impart them to every nation under heaven. Is not this the finger of God? and is not God’s display of his own almighty operation a motive and a call to us to work together with him? Doubtless, if ever there was a time that we were particularly encouraged to engage in missionary exertions, it is now: “The sound is already gone forth in the “tops of the mulberry-trees;” and therefore this is the time for us to “bestir ourselves: God is already gone out before us;” and he will be with us in all that we put our hands unto.]

  We CONCLUDE with pointing out our duty in reference to this great event;

  1.      Let our expectations of it be enlarged—

[St. Paul represents the whole creation as waiting and longing for this blessed period: and shall not we, “we, who already have the first-fruits of the Spirit;” shall not we be expecting this glorious harvest? Shall we not look forward with holy joy to that time when “all the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christt?” O glorious day! The Lord hasten it in his time! — — —]

  2.      Let our prayers for it be poured forth—

[We cannot contemplate the universal reign of peace, and love, and holiness, without feeling an ardent desire that it might immediately commence, or without crying unto God, “How long, O Lord, wilt thou not have mercy on the world, against which thou hast had indignation almost six thousand years?” Indeed God has particularly commanded that we should pray to him on this subject, and not give him rest, till he arise and answer our petitionsx — — — We are not to imagine, that because the period is fixed in the Divine counsels, it is therefore in vain for us to pray: for God has invariably connected the accomplishment of his promises with the prayers of his people; and however absolute his promises may be, “he will yet be inquired of, to do the things which he has promised.”]

  3.      Let our exertions be used—

[God works by means: and it is by a blessing upon our efforts that he will accomplish his own gracious purposes. In this view, the answer which he gives to the petitions of his Church on this subject is very remarkable. The Church, in terms the most appropriate that can be imagined, entreats him to arise and execute this great work: “Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord! awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old! &c. &c. ” And what is his reply! Does he content himself with renewing his promises to fulfil their desire in due season? No: he says, “Awake, awake! stand up, O Jerusalema!” and again, “Awake, awake! put on thy strength, O Zion! shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem! loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion!” And so far is our entire dependence upon him from being a reason for listless inactivity, that it is the strongest reason for putting forth our utmost exertions: we must “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasurec.” Let all of us then awake for the occasion, and inquire, What we can do for the advancement of the Gospel, either at home or abroad! How can we aid the different Societies that are established for these ends? Let us consider our time and our talents, our wealth and our influence, yea, our bodies and our souls, as consecrated to the Lord, and as to be disposed of by him in such a way as shall be most subservient to his glory. Then, if we live not to see the Temple of our God erected, we shall at least have the comfort of having provided materials for it: and at all events we shall secure to ourselves a rich reward; for God himself in our text assures us, that “they shall not be ashamed that wait for him.”]

DCCCCLIV

DESPONDING FEARS REMOVED

  Isai. 49:24–26.

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee: and I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh: and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

THE human mind is prone to extremes. Before we come into trials, we think them easy to be borne: but, when oppressed with them, we are apt to sink under them as an insupportable burthen. The Jews, previous to their captivity in Babylon, would never believe that such an event could take place: but, when they felt the galling yoke, they could not at all conceive that their Church should ever behold such glorious days as they were encouraged to expect. Certainly, humanly speaking, there was reason enough for them to despair: for they were in a state of the most abject slavery; the people by whom they were enslaved were the most powerful of any upon earth; and they had a consciousness, that they had sold themselves into that very state, by their iniquities. Hence they ask, “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?” To this, however, God gives them a most gracious answer, assuring them, that he will interpose effectually in their behalf, and deliver them for his own name’s sake.

But we must not confine the words to the Jewish Church. They may properly be applied to God’s people in all ages; and be considered as representing,

  I.      Their desponding fears—

Whilst men are living as without God in the world, they are for the most part unconscious of any danger; or at least they think that they are in no danger from which they may not easily be delivered. But as soon as they are awakened to a sense of their lost condition, they are apt to yield to the most discouraging apprehensions, on account of,

  1.      Their weakness—

[They see that they have been in a state of captivity all their days, having been taken alive, as it were, by the devil, and been led “captive by him at his will.” And how shall they ever recover themselves from his snares? He is a god, even “the god of this world,” who “ruleth in all the children of disobedienceb.” Shall the prey be taken from one who is so mighty? As well might a lamb hope to deliver itself out of the jaws of a lion, as they to liberate themselves from that “roaring lion who is just ready to devour them” — — —]

  2.      Their desert—

[It is not their misfortune merely, but their fault, that they are in this sad bondage: they have “sold themselves to it by their iniquities:” as Esau bartered away his rights of primogeniture for a mess of pottagee, so have they their liberty. They have chosen the gratifications of the flesh from the very first moment that they began to net: the indulgence of their corrupt inclinations was more to them than the favour of their God; so that by continual and wilful habits they have confirmed their natural propensities, and riveted the chains which Adam forged. Feeling themselves thus “sold under sin,” and become, as it were, the lawful property of Satan, they ask, “Shall the lawful captive be delivered?” The many acts of wilful transgression by which they have given him a right over them, appear an insurmountable bar to their deliverance, insomuch that the dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision scarcely appear in a more hopeless state than they. In this view of their just desert, they are tempted to say, “There is no hopeh.”]

These feelings however may well be assuaged by,

  II.      The gracious promises of God to them—

It is delightful to observe how directly God meets the wants and wishes of his people: the very language of their fears is here adopted by him, and made the vehicle of his promises to their souls. He engages that,

  1.      He himself will interpose for their deliverance—

[In a most wonderful way did he rescue his people from their captivity in Babylon. He raised up against that city an enemy; and, in the precise way that he had foretold, delivered it into his hands, even into the hands of Cyrus, whom he had specified by name above two hundred years before he existed in the world! and by him he dealt to the Babylonians that measure which they had before meted to his people, “feeding them with their own flesh, and making them drunk with their own blood.” And thus “will he bruise Satan also under his people’s feetk.” Strong as Satan is, God has raised up against him One stronger than he, who has overcome him, and taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and utterly despoiled him. The Lord Jesus “came on purpose to destroy the works of the devilm;” and he did destroy them. “Upon the cross he triumphed over him openly,” and “by his own death utterly destroyed him,” “and delivered from his power millions whom he had held in the most cruel bondage.” In his resurrection and ascension “he led captive,” as it were at his chariot wheels, this malignant foe; and has left his people nothing but to triumph over a vanquished enemyq.

Here then is Gods gracious answer to his people’s fears. Are you asking, “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? Yes, the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with them that contend with thee, and I will save thy children.” What more than this can any soul desire? for, is not God able to deliver? or will he falsify his word? “Hath he said, and will he not do it? hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?”

But he further promises, that,]

  2.      He will glorify himself in their salvation—

[The deliverance of his people from Babylon, and their restoration to their own land, was an event that excited the astonishment of all the surrounding nations: “They saw, and could not but acknowledge, that he was their Saviour and Redeemer, even the Mighty One of Jacob.” His own glory also will he display in the deliverance of his desponding people, as soon as ever they simply and believingly commit their cause to him. In fact, there is not in the whole universe a more striking monument of God’s power than a redeemed soul. “He is a new creation.” And, if it be said, “He is still weak;” true, he is so: but he is “a worm threshing the mountainss;” and “God’s strength shall be perfected in his weakness,” and shall carry him on, though in the midst of the most potent enemies, “from strength to strength, till he shall finally appear before his God in Zionu.” To whatever circumstances he may be reduced by the assaults of men or devils, the Lord Jesus Christ will make them only a more conspicuous occasion for the display of “his own grace, which shall surely be sufficient” for all who trust in it, and shall constrain even their enemies themselves to acknowledge that the power which supports them is divine.]

  Here then we SEE,

  1.      What extremes we are to avoid—

[In the concerns of our souls, we should stand at an equal distance from presumption and despondency. It surely can never be right for persons, corrupt as we are, to presume upon salvation, as though it were a blessing easy to be attained. We are in a state of bondage to sin and Satan — — — (To this our whole lives bear witness.) The power of our adversary is such as no human being has within himself an ability to withstand — — — (His victory over our first parents in Paradise is proof enough of this.) Nor, considering how willing servants we have been to the destroyer, have we any just cause to expect the interposition of Jehovah in our behalf. Are we then to be secure and careless, as if we were in no danger? If “the righteous scarcely be saved,” shall we be as much at our ease, as if no effort were necessary to counteract the designs of Satan, and to rescue ourselves from his dominion? No verily: we must “not be high-minded, but fear.”

On the other hand, shall we, because of these difficulties and dangers, give way to a desponding frame? Shall we forget that there is a Saviour, who is both able and willing to deliver us? Justly does God reprove such folly and ingratitude: 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.” To entertain such thoughts, is greatly to dishonour God, whose tenderness and fidelity infinitely exceed all that ever existed in a mother’s bosom towards her infant offspringz. Whatever therefore be our difficulties or our dangers, we should confide in Him who has undertaken for us that “we shall take those captive whose captives we were, and shall rule over our oppressors.”]

  2.      What is that happy medium which it becomes us to observe—

[The proper medium is, not to lessen either our fears or our hopes; but to call them forth into united and simultaneous exercise. Instead of attempting to lessen our sense of danger, it is desirable to have it augmented a hundred-fold: because then we shall feel the deeper need of God’s help, and be the more earnest in our prayers to him for it. So again, instead of lowering our expectations from God, we should endeavour to have them also greatly enlarged; because we shall then honour him the more, and go forth with tenfold energy to fight the good fight of faith. This is that union, which, whilst it humbles the sinner, will exalt the Saviour, and lead us, like the heavenly hosts, to fall on our faces before him, at the very time that we are glorying in his salvation. This is a point which is never fully understood, but by experience. Those who have never known it by experience, are ready to imagine, that a deep sense of guilt and helplessness will produce discouragement; and that an assured confidence in God will foster pride. But, if both be combined, as they ought to be, in our hearts, we shall possess that most desirable of all attainments, a childlike spirit. Nothing servile will remain. “The fear that has torment will be swallowed up in loved,” whilst that which flows from love will be in full activity. We shall rejoice evermore in the God of our salvation; but shall “rejoice with trembling;” not “boasting as if we had put off our armour,” but girding it upon us for fresh encounters, till we have accomplished our warfare, and are crowned with everlasting victory.]

DCCCCLV

MESSIAH’S SUFFERINGS AND SUPPORT

  Isai. 50:5–9.

The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

IN considering the prophecies, we often find, that the mystical or prophetical sense is in reality the most literal; and that on some occasions, however the prophets may appear to speak of themselves, their words have little, if any, reference to themselves, and must be understood in reference to the Messiah alone. This is particularly observable in the passage before us. We may indeed suppose the prophet very remotely to speak of his own ministry, and to hint at his own trials and consolations: but it is obvious, that the expressions cannot with any propriety be applied in their stricter sense to any but the Messiah, in whom they were most literally fulfilled. The prophet Isaiah, it is true, was more fully instructed in divine truth than any other of the prophets; and he abounds more in consolatory promises to the weary and heavy-laden: but still we are constrained to pass him over, as having no sufficient ground to be noticed in the words before us; and we must fix our attention conclusively on the Messiah, of whom they speak. We notice in them,

  I.      His sufferings—

These were indeed both great and various—

[Not to enter into the consideration of them at large, we shall notice only those which are here brought to our view.

“He gave his back to the smiters.” Scourging was no part of the punishment of those who were crucified. The thieves who were crucified with our Lord, were not scourged: and he was scourged in order to prevent his crucifixion. But a great variety of things which had no necessary connexion with each other, yea, and some which could not, except by a miraculous interposition, be combined together, were to meet in him: though therefore he was to be crucified, (which yet was not a Jewish, but a Roman punishment,) he was also to be scourged: and most cruelly, as another prophecy declares, was this punishment inflicted on him, “the plowers plowing upon his back, and making long furrows there.”

“He gave his cheeks also to them that plucked off the hair.” When the ambassadors of David were, by the command of the king of Ammon, deprived of half their beards, they considered it as so great an indignity, that they were quite ashamed; and they were ordered to tarry at Jericho till their beards were grown. But the indignity offered to our Lord was united with much cruelty: for they blindfolded him, and smote him with their hands, and plucked off the hair from his face, and insultingly asked, “Prophesy, thou Christ; Who is it that smote theee?”

But besides the scourging, and plucking off his hair, we are told, They spat in his face; “He hid not his face from shame and spitting.” Now in Eastern countries it is deemed an insult even to spit upon the ground in the presence of another: what then must it be to spit in his face? If a person would be so degraded by it as to be rendered fit to be excluded from the camp of Israel, what an inconceivable humiliation was it to the Son of God to be so treated! Yet thus he was treated, both in the palace of the high priest, and in Pilate’s judgment-hall, and that too by the lowest of the populace. How amazing it is, that, when Uzzah had been struck dead upon the spot for only touching the ark, which was a symbol of the Deity, such during offenders as these, who so insulted the incarnate Deity himself, should escape, as it were, with impunity! But such were the sufferings which, as our Surety, Jesus was ordained to bear; and they all came upon him in due season.]

But he willingly undertook to sustain them all—

[Because in the verse preceding our text the “wakening of his car” is mentioned, it is generally supposed that the expression of “opening his ear” is of exactly the same import. But we apprehend that the former expression refers to his preparation for his great office, and the latter to the engagement which he made to sustain and execute it. In this view there is a peculiar importance in it, especially as introducing the account of all his sufferings; and it is exactly parallel to a passage in the Psalms, where the same subject is treated of. David, beyond a doubt, refers to the appointment of God, that the slave, who, instead of claiming his liberty at the sabbatic year, should choose to continue in his master’s service, should have his ear bored to the door-post with an awl by his master, and should never afterwards be free. Thus our blessed Lord undertook to execute all that was necessary for our redemption; and submitted, as it were, to have “his ear opened,” in token that he would never recede from his engagements. Accordingly we find, that, in the most trying circumstances, he “never turned back;” but, on the contrary, when the time for enduring them was arrived, “he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” It is true, he prayed for the removal of the bitter cup, if men could possibly be saved without his drinking it: but at the same time he submitted to drink it, saying, “Not my will, but thine, be donei.” And again, when so oppressed in spirit that he knew not what to do, he said, “And now, Father, what shall I say? Save me from this hour? No: for this cause came I unto this hour: Father, glorify thy name.” At the time of his apprehension in the garden, he proved, by striking all his enemies to the ground with a word, that he could, it he chose, deliver himself from them: but he then meekly gave himself up into their hands, requiring only the peaceful dismission of his servantsl. Thus manifestly did he shew that all his sufferings were voluntary, and that he endured them all in obedience to his Father’s will.] But in this same prophecy we have occasion to notice,

  II.      His supports—

In the whole of his Mediatorial work he acted as the servant of the Father; in whom he confided, and by whom he was assured of,

  1.      Effectual succour—

[The Father had promised to uphold him under all his sufferings — — — and on this promise he relied. Behold, how repeatedly, and with what assurance he asserts, “The Lord God will help me!” and with what triumph he defies his bitterest enemies; “Who will contend with me? let us stand together: Who is mine adversary? let him come near to me:” I fear none of their accusations; for “He is near that justifieth me.” I dread not any sentence of theirs; for I know that they cannot finally prevail against me; “I know that I shall not be ashamed or confounded:” My “strength shall be according to my day;” and therefore, “I set my face as a flint” against all the powers both of earth and hell. Yes, this assurance comforted and strengthened him, under all his trials; “I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Hence arose that calmness and composure which so astonished Pilate: “How is it that thou wilt not answer me a word: knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee?” No, says our Lord; “thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.”]

  2.      A triumphant issue—

[Already did he see his enemies vanquished, even when they supposed themselves to have triumphed over him: he saw that in every conflict he should be victorious: and that even his deepest humiliations should be attended with unquestionable demonstrations of his righteous character. In the midst of his trial, his very Judge was constrained to proclaim his innocence: and, whilst he yet hanged upon the cross, both heaven and earth bare testimony to him as a suffering God. At the appointed season, after his dissolution, he was “proved to be the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead.” His ascension also to the right hand of God in the presence of his disciples, and his sending down the Holy Ghost to testify of him, effectually removed the scandal of his cross, and proved him to be the true Messiah, the Saviour of the world. All this he foresaw; and the foresight of it enabled him to sustain the accumulated load of all his sufferings. He foresaw that his enemies would all “wax old as a garment, and that the very moth should eat them up;” whilst he and his cause should live for ever. And what now is become of the chief priests and elders, or of Pilate his judge? Yea, what is become of the Jewish nation itself, and of the whole Roman empire? They are all vanished: but “Christ liveth, and is alive for evermore;” and his kingdom is established in the world, and shall shortly be extended over the face of the whole earth. The prospect of this, I say, supported our adorable Emmanuel through all his sufferings; as an inspired Apostle also has informed us: it was “for the joy that was set before him,” of ransoming and saving a ruined world, “he endured the cross, and despised the shame;” and “he is now set down on the right hand of the throne of God.”]

  Let us now pause, and CONTEMPLATE this holy sufferer,

  1.      As the predicted Saviour of the world—

[What was there in the whole book of prophecy which he did not fulfil? However contradictory in appearance the predictions were, every, the minutest of them, has been accomplished in him. He did not give up the ghost till he could say, in reference to them all, “It is finished.” The particulars mentioned in our text we see recorded in the Gospels: we see also the steadfastness with which he pursued his course, and the complete triumph of his cause in the world. Let us look to him then as the appointed Saviour: let us assure ourselves that he is able to save us to the uttermost. Let our confidence be in him, as his was in his Father: “let us live by him, as he lived by his Father:” and let us not doubt, but that, through the merit of his blood and the efficacy of his grace, we shall triumph even as he has triumphed, and be partakers of his kingdom and glory for evermore.]

  2.      As the great pattern of all holy obedience—

[In the whole of his life, and especially in his sufferings, he was intended to be a pattern and example to us. What if we be not treated precisely as he was, in scourging, and smiting, and spitting, we may be assured that we shall in some respect or other have both shame and suffering to endure for him. All his followers are, and must be, cross-bearers: “if men called the Master Beelzebub, much more will they those of his household.” Let us therefore “arm ourselves with the mind that was in him:” and especially let us maintain the same holy confidence in our God. This is assuredly both our duty and our privilege; and we may comfort ourselves with this reflection, that, “if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified together.”]

DCCCCLVI

A WORD IN SEASON

  Isai. 50:10, 11.

Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow.

OUR blessed Lord was thoroughly furnished for the great work he had undertaken: he had “the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season” to every character. In the days of his flesh he encouraged the weary and heavy-laden with most affectionate invitations: but against the proud and persecuting Pharisees he denounced the heaviest woes. Thus also he did in the passage before us. It is in his name that the prophet speaks; it was he who “gave his back to the smiters,” and encountered all his enemies with a full assurance of final success: and he it is who, in the text, proclaims,

  I.      Comfort to the desponding—

There are some of God’s people, who, notwithstanding their integrity, walk in a disconsolate and desponding frame—

[For the most part, the ways of religion are ways of pleasantness and peace; though there may be found some exceptions to this general rule. Not but that real and unmixt religion must of necessity make men happy: but there are some, whose views of divine truth are clouded, whose souls are harassed with the temptations of Satan, and who are at the same time too much under the influence of unbelief, who therefore, as might well be expected, are not happy: notwithstanding they truly “fear God, and conscientiously obey his voice, they are in darkness and have no light;” at least, their hope is so faint and glimmering, that it scarcely affords them any support at all. If we were not able to assign any reason for the divine conduct in this particular, it would be quite sufficient for us to know, that God never suffers his people to be “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” except when ho sees some peculiar “necessity” for such a dispensation towards them.]

But to them is directed the most encouraging advice—

[Let not such persons say, “The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten me:” let them not conclude, that because their hemisphere is dark, it shall never be light; (for “light is sown for the righteousc,” though it may not instantly spring up) but “let them trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon their God.” The name of the Lord is a strong tower, whither they may run, and in which they may find safety. By “the name of the Lord” we may understand all by which he has revealed himself to man, and especially that adorable Saviour “in whom his name is,” and “in whom all his promises are yea and amen:” in him let them trust as a reconciled God and Father: yes, under the most distressing circumstances let them “encourage themselves in the Lord their God:” and if he appear to frown, still let them say with Job, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. And whenever disquieting thoughts arise, let them chide their unbelief, as David didg; and determine, if they perish, to perish at the foot of the cross, pleading for mercy in the name of Jesus.]

To persons, however, of a different description, the Lord changes his voice; and speaks,

  II.      Terror to the secure—

While some are disquieted without a cause, there are others causelessly secure—

[To “kindle a fire and compass ourselves with its sparks” seems a natural and obvious expression for seeking our own ease and pleasure: and this may be done, either by self-pleasing endeavours to “establish a righteousness of our own, instead of submitting to the righteousness of God;” or by giving up ourselves to worldly occupations and carnal enjoyments. Now they, who find all their satisfaction in one or other of these ways, are very numerous; while they who serve God in sincerity, but walk in darkness, are comparatively very few: and so persuaded are they, for the most part, of the happy issue of their conduct, that they will scarcely listen to any thing which may be spoken to undeceive them. But, how numerous or confident soever they may be, their state is widely different from what they apprehend.]

To them God addresses a most solemn warning—

[Sometimes, when the obstinacy of men renders them almost incorrigible, God speaks to them in a way of irony. Here he bids them go on in their own way, and get all the comfort they can; but warns them withal what doom they must assuredly expect at his hands. Precisely similar to this is his warning to the same description of persons in the book of Ecclesiastes — And how often is it awfully realized in a dying hour! When they are lying on a bed of “sickness, how much wrath and sorrow” are mixed in their cup! And, the very instant they depart out of the body, what “tribulation and anguish” seize hold upon them! Alas! who can conceive what it is to lie down in everlasting burnings? Yet thus shall their lamp be extinguished; and their sparks of created comfort be succeeded by a fire that shall never be quenched.]

  We cannot CONCLUDE this subject better than by directing the attention of all to two important truths connected with it:

  1.      To believe God’s word is our truest wisdom—

[What advice can be given to a disconsolate soul better than that administered in the text? We may “offer thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil: yea, we may give our first-born for our transgression, the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul;” but we can never attain comfort in any other way than by an humble trust in the promises of God: we must “even against hope, believe in hope:” our “joy and peace must come by believing.” Nor is there less folly in arguing against the threatenings of God, than in questioning his promises. If God say respecting those who rest in self-righteous observances, or carnal enjoyments, that they shall lie down in sorrow, our disbelief of it will not make void his word: it will come to pass, even if the whole creation should unite to oppose it. Though men therefore may account it folly to believe the word of God, let us remember, that it is our truest wisdom; and that without an humble affiance in it, we cannot be happy either in time or eternity.]

  2.      To obey God’s word is our truest happiness—

[We cannot have a more unfavourable picture of religion, nor a more favourable view of a carnal state, than in the text: yet who would hesitate which state to prefer? Who would not rather be “altogether such as Paul,” notwithstanding his chain, than be like Festus or Agrippa on their thrones? Who would not rather be in the destitute condition of Lazarus, and attain his end, than live as Dives for a little time, and then want a drop of water to cool his tongue? Yes, the most afflictive circumstances of a religious man are infinitely preferable, all things considered, to the most prosperous state which an ungodly man can enjoy: the one sows in tears to reap in joy; and the other sows the wind to reap the whirlwind. Let us then be persuaded that to serve God is to consult our truest happiness, and that in keeping his commandments there is great reward.]

DCCCCLVII

CONSOLATION FOR THE AFFLICTED

  Isai. 51:1–3.

Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and in the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord: joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

AN attention to the voice of God in his word would comfort us under all troubles, and keep us steadfast amidst all the vicissitudes of life. God, anxious for the welfare of his people, has just before exhorted them, when walking in darkness, to trust in him. He now bids them bear in mind his former mercies, and expect yet richer blessings at his hands, when the destined period of their captivity shall have elapsed. Thus did God provide comfort for them against the day of their calamity; and the same comfort is reserved for all his people in their seasons of darkness or affliction. To obtain the consolation which the text is suited to convey, it will be proper to consider,

  I.      What God has done for us already—

The description given of God’s people is sufficiently appropriate, and will distinguish them from all other people upon earth. They “seek” the favour of “the Lord,” and “follow after” it with incessant care in the way of “righteousness.” But,

They once had little prospect of ever attaining to the blessings they enjoy—

[The Jewish nation was to descend from Abraham; but the promised seed was not given him till, according to the course of nature, there was no probability that his family should be increased. There was then little reason to expect that that nation ever should exist. Thus the people of God may look back upon the time that they were lying as stones in a quarry, and as clay in a pit. How little prospect was there then, that they should ever form a part of God’s spiritual building!” They were as blind, as stupid, as averse to God and holy exercises, as any people in the universe. If they “ran not to the same excess of riot” as others, they were restrained merely by the overruling providence of God, and not by any hatred of sin which they had more than others.]

Yet they are now “called and blessed” of the Lord—

[The descendants of Abraham rapidly increased, and in process of time formed a very numerous and powerful nation. Who that beheld them at their departure from Egypt would have imagined that, only four hundred years before, these two millions of people had no existence but in the loins of Abraham? And who, that sees a person now “following after righteousness,” would imagine that he was once a determined enemy to God, and had a nature as corrupt as any of his fellow-creatures? Let the saints remember what they were, that they may see what “great things the Lord has done for them:” let them “walk softly all the days of their life” under a sense of their former guilt; and stand amazed at the goodness of their God, who has so distinguished them with his favour.]

Nor is this any thing more than an earnest of,

  II.      What he has engaged to do—

As the Church at large, so every individual member of it may be in very afflictive circumstances—

[The Jews were reduced to the greatest distress during their captivity in Babylon; and their once fertile country was become a wilderness; nor could they remember Zion but with deep sorrow and regret. Thus the people of God at this time may be brought into great tribulation. Through persecution or temptation their “sorrows may be enlarged,” and their joys be turned into pain and anguish.]

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