To elucidate the words before us, we shall inquire,

To elucidate the words before us, we shall inquire,

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

WHATEVER bears the stamp of antiquity upon it, finds, for the most part, a favourable reception in the world, while innovations are admitted with caution and reserve, The Gospel itself is often discarded under the idea that it is new. Even as far back as the days of Jeremiah, serious religion was deemed a novelty: but the prophet claimed the people’s regard to it, no less from the consideration of its antiquity than of its inherent excellence—

To elucidate the words before us, we shall inquire,

  I.      What is that old and good way here spoken of?

The explanation, which our Lord himself has given of this passage, shews, that we are not to confine its import to holiness alone, but must understand it as comprehending,

  1.      A penitential affiance in God—

[Christ declares that he himself is “the way,” the only way to the Father. To him we must come, trusting in his mediation and intercession, and looking for acceptance through him alone, Now this is certainly the old way, marked out by all the Jewish sacrifices, and trodden by Abel and our first parents. Nor can we doubt of its being the good way, since it was appointed of God himself, and has been approved by all his saints from the beginning of the world.]

  2.      A cheerful obedience to him—

[Our Lord expressly says, “Take my yoke upon you;” nor can this ever be dispensed with. Though faith in Christ be the way of acceptance with God, yet obedience to him is the only means of manifesting the sincerity of our faith. Hence holiness is by the prophet called, “The Lord’s highway.” This too is of great antiquity, and must be traced up through prophets and patriarchs to the days of “righteous Abel.” And it must be acknowledged to be good, since it tends so much to the perfecting of our nature, and to the adorning of our holy religion.]

This however is not a mere speculative point; as we shall see, if we inquire,

  II.      What is our duty with respect to it?

God having so plainly revealed it to us, it becomes us all,

  1.      To inquire after it—

[We should not go on in a presumptuous confidence that we are right; but should “stand and see,” and attentively consider whither we are going. We should “ask” of those whom God has appointed to be as way-marks to the people, and whose lips should both keep, and dispense, knowledge. Moreover we should search the sacred oracles (which, as a map, delineate our path with infallible precision) comparing with them the various steps we have taken, and noticing with care the footsteps of Christ and his Apostles. Not however trusting in our own researches, we should above all implore the teaching and direction of God’s holy Spirit, who would bring us back from our wanderings, and “guide our feet into the way of peace.”]

  2.      To walk in it—

[To possess knowledge will be of little service unless it produce a practical effect. Having found the right way we must come into it, renouncing every other path, how pleasant or profitable soever it may have been. Nor must we only get into it, but “walk therein” continually, neither diverted from it by allurements, nor discouraged in it by any difficulties. Whatever advances we may have made, we are still to prosecute the same path, trusting in Christ as our advocate with God, and rendering to him an uniform and unreserved obedience.]

Nor will this appear hard to us, if we consider,

  III.      The encouragement given us to perform this duty—

To those who are out of this way, whatever they may boast, we are sure there is no solid peace: but they who walk in it shall find rest,

  1.      In their way—

[Sweet is the rest which a weary and heavy-laden sinner finds in Jesus Christ: he sees in his blood a sufficiency of virtue to expiate all his guilt, and to cleanse him from all his sin: he perceives that the foundation of his hope is sure and immoveable; and therefore, “having peace in his conscience, he rejoices in hope of the glory of God.” In the way of holy obedience, he enjoys, moreover, a present and a great reward: for while he vests from turbulent passions and tormenting fears, he finds, that “the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever.”]

  2.      In their end—

[If the ungodly have no peace in this world, much less have they in the world to come: but the obedient believer will enjoy perfect rest, when he shall have ceased from his present labours. “There is a rest remaining for the people of God;” and such a rest as neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived: at the instant of their dismission from the body, they shall be borne on the wings of angels into the regions of the blest, and lie in the bosom of their Lord to all eternity.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      To those who disregard religion—

[You indeed may plead long prescription (even from the days of Cain) and general practice too, in favour of your habits: but do you doubt which is the better way? Do you not in your hearts envy those who walk in the good old way; and wish that you were able to live as they live? If then you would not persist in following a track, which you knew would lead to a place extremely distant from that which you were desirous to reach, attend to the warning now given, and turn unto God in the way marked out for you in his Gospel.]

  2.      To those who seek indeed the paths of religion, but find no rest in them—

[There are many who approve of coming to Christ for salvation, but wish to be excused from taking his yoke upon them; while others, on the contrary, would be content to render obedience to his law, if they might be at liberty to decline the humiliating method which he has prescribed for their acceptance with God. Others, again, profess to approve of the good old way; but cannot renounce the cares and pleasures of the world which retard their progress in it. No wonder then if such persons find no solid rest: indeed, it is well for them that they do not; since it would only deceive them to their eternal ruin. If we would have rest, either here or hereafter, it must be obtained in the way that has been pointed out; nor can it be obtained in any other to all eternity.]

  3.      To those who are walking comfortably in the good way—

[Be not contented to go to heaven alone; but labour in your respective spheres to bring others along with you. This was the disposition of the Church of old; and should be the desire of all who have a hope towards God. It is scarcely to be conceived how much the exertions of Christians in their several families would extend the benefits of ministerial labours. The public ministration of the word would be far better attended, and incomparably more improved. Since then all are commanded to seek instruction, let all endeavour to communicate it. So will the good way be more frequented; and more abundant blessings flow down on all who walk in it.]

MXLI

EXPOSTULATION WITH THE IMPENITENT

  Jer. 8:4–8.

Thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; Shall they fall, and not arise? Shall he turn away, and not return? Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse, to return. I hearkened and heard; but they spake not aright; no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What hare I done? Every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord. How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.

WHATEVER difference civilization may produce in the external habits of men, it makes no change in the dispositions of their minds towards God. The advantages of religious instruction may rectify their sentiments in many things, and raise the standard of morals among them; but Divine grace alone can reach their hearts or dispose them to devote themselves to the service of their Maker. Hence the unregenerate amongst us are, in their general character, the same as they have been in all ages, and under all the different dispensations of religion. Papists and Protestants, Jews and Christians, differ only in name, and in a few outward observances: their hearts are all alike; and the same warnings and exhortations may be fitly addressed to them.

The Prophet Jeremiah was commanded to expostulate with the Jews upon their wickedness, their impenitence, their folly, and their presumption. On these same topics we would address ourselves to you. We shall not however make a formal division of our discourse, or mark our transition from one part of it to another, but shall prosecute our subject in the precise order of the words before us.

Permit me then to observe to you, that,

Men will endeavour to remedy any misfortune that has happened to them—

[“If a man have fallen, he will rise again;” he will not be contented to lie where he is, in a state of stupid indifference, but will exert himself to regain the posture that is better suited to his nature and pursuits. “If a man turn out of the way,” when prosecuting a journey of great importance, “will he not, us soon as he finds his error, return,” and get into the right path? No one can doubt what his conduct would be on such an occasion, Such is the conduct of all men in relation to temporal matters.]

But they do not act thus in reference to their souls—

[It is undeniable, that, we “have slidden back” from God, “like a backsliding heifer” that will not submit to the yoke — — — Of this we cannot but be convinced, seeing that we violate his law in unnumbered instances, and neither can, nor will, endure its restraintsb. But, “having fallen, do we strive to arise; having turned aside, do we endeavour to return?” On the contrary, have not our “backslidings been perpetual,” without any serious endeavours to amend our ways? Had our deviations from duty been only occasional, and under the influence of some violent temptation, or had they been intermitted, with seasons of penitence and contrition, there would be something hopeful in our case: but we have been contented to continue in our devious paths, and to lie wallowing in the mire of sin.

We have even laboured to persuade ourselves that we were not so faulty as God’s word represented us, We have gladly embraced any principle, that might justify this opinion; and satisfied ourselves with any excuse, that might keep us from self-reproach. When our delusions have been pointed out, and the vanity of our excuses plainly shewn, we still have “held fast deceit,” and have taken refuge again in the same lies, just as if they had never been at all exposed. The invitations and promises which have been held forth to us in the name of God, have produced no salutary effect: we have “pulled away the shoulder,” and “refused to return,” and “made our faces harder than a rock.”

But, notwithstanding our obstinacy,]

God is ever looking wishfully for our return—

[“He looks down from heaven, to see if there be any that will understand and seek after him.” “He willeth not the death of any man, but rather that he should come to repentance and livee.” He even swears that this is the state of his mind towards us. He “hearkens” with more than parental anxiety ‘Cannot I hear some acknowledgment amongst them; cannot I hear so much as one groan, or one sigh? O that I could! O that they would suffer me to exercise mercy towards them! Would they but “speak aright,” and condemn themselves for their iniquities, I would soon shew them how gracious and merciful I am.’ Thus does God listen, as it were, in hopes that some will repent and turn unto him;]

But scarce any will repent of their wickedness, or even consider their ways—

[We hope that impenitence is not quite so universal amongst us, as among those whom the prophet addressed. We cannot quite adopt his complaint, and say that “no man” repents. We trust there are some amongst us, who have “called their ways to remembrance,” and sought for mercy in God’s appointed way — — — But certainly there are very few that will turn their thoughts inward, or seriously ask themselves, “What have I done?” Reflection is painful to the generality; and, instead of cherishing it, and setting apart seasons on purpose for it, the greater part do all they can to stifle it; they run to pleasure, to company, to business, in order to shake out of their minds all painful recollections. In all the concerns of time, they will examine carefully enough, whether they have prospered or not: nor would they be averse, in a journey through woods and forests, to compare their steps with the directory that had been given them, and to inquire occasionally whether they were in the right path. But in the concerns of their souls they harbour no doubts; they go on even in direct opposition to the strongest evidence s and take for granted that they are right, when, if they would make the smallest inquiry, they could not but find that they are in the most fatal error.]

Too many amongst us seem even to glory in their sins—

[The image by which this truth is represented in the text, is as just and beautiful as any that can be conceived. Look at the description given of the war-horse in the book of Job: “He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth forth to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting.” What a lively representation is this of sinful man! he heareth of God’s judgments, but laugheth at them: ho in a measure feels them; and is only stirred up by them to a more resolute defiance of them, Destructive as his sin is, he “makes a mock at it,” and accounts it sport: and, whatever his ways have been, whether those of a proud self-righteousness, or open profaneness, he “turns to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.”]

In these respects they act a more irrational part than even the brute creation—

[“The stork, the turtle, the crane, the swallow, observe” invariably the approach of summer or of winter; and adopt measures either to escape the impending calamities, or to secure the blessings which God has prepared for them, They loiter not till the season for action is past, but avail themselves of the first intimations which they receive, to avoid the evil, and obtain the good. But sinful men possess not that wisdom; they “know not the judgment of the Lord;” God tells them of approaching blessings, but they labour not to possess them: he warns them also of approaching miseries, but they use no means to escape them: though they feel in themselves, and behold in all around them, striking intimations of the way in which God will ultimately proceed with men, they take not one step to avert his wrath, or to conciliate his favour.]

To complete the whole, they persuade themselves that they are safe and happy—

[They call their own ways wisdom, and the conduct of those who differ from them, folly. Surprising! “We are wise!” Would they account any one wise that should pursue a similar conduct in reference to the things of this world? Would it be wise in a merchant never to inquire into the state of his affairs? Would it be wise in a person to reject wholesome food, and to eat nothing but what was sure to bring upon him disorders and death? Yet the folly of such persons would not be worthy to be compared with that which the inconsiderate world are guilty of, in reference to their everlasting concerns. And strange it is to say, that they will even quote the word of God, as countenancing their ways; and, without once considering the true import of the passages they adduce, they will cry, “The law of the Lord is with us.” But let them bring forth their strong reasons; let them shew us from the word of God, that no “difference shall be put between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth the Lord and him that serveth him not:” let them prove to us, that a course of sin and impenitence, and an unconcern about our future state, are innocent, or at most only trifling faults, which will not be regarded in the day of judgment. Let them shew us these things from the word of God; and then we are prepared to say, “In vain has God made it, and the pen of the scribes (who have either recorded or expounded it) is in vain.” Certainly, if they succeed in that attempt, the Bible is the most worthless book in the universe; for men could live in sin and neglect God, without any book to direct or encourage them in such ways.]

  That our expostulation may not fall to the ground, we entreat you to listen to a few words of salutary ADVICE—

  1.      Consider your ways—

[This is a reasonable duty; and can do you no harm: if your conduct have been conformable with the will of God, you will have great comfort in ascertaining that it has been so: if, on the contrary, it has been such as God decidedly condemns, you will have an opportunity of altering it before it be too late — — —]

  2.      Renounce your sins—

[This must be connected with the former, and indeed must result from it. You cannot but know that there has been much amiss, both in your heart and life: search it out therefore, and, whatever it may be, put it from you: if it be useful as a right hand, or precious as a right eye, spare it not, but cast it uttterly away. Attempt not to justify or extenuate it; but acknowledge your criminality and danger; and cast overboard the goods that would sink the ship — — —]

  3.      Obey the Gospel—

[Sinful as your state has been, the Gospel proposes to you an infallible remedy: it sets forth a Saviour; and invites you to come to him. Obey the call: come to him, who bought you with his blood: and accept the salvation which he freely offers to the chief of sinners — — — At the same time “Be wise indeed, and let the word of the Lord be truly with you.” Let “the glorious Gospel of the blessed God” be indeed the one ground of your hope, and the one rule of your conduct. Let the light which it exhibits be desired by you; and let all “your deeds be brought to it, that it may be manifest that they are wrought in God.”]

MXLII

HEALING OUR WOUNDS SLIGHTLY

  Jer. 8:11.

They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

THERE were, amongst the Jews, false prophets, who accommodated themselves to the corrupt taste of their hearers, who said to them, “Prophesy unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits.” In particular, they assured the people that the judgments denounced against them by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, should never come upon them; that the king of Babylon should never succeed in his efforts against Jerusalem; and that, though they should still continue to walk after the imagination of their own evil hearts they had nothing to fear. Thus they lulled the people asleep in their sins, “promising them peace, when in reality there was no peace;” but the heaviest judgments of Almighty God were impending over them.

Such prophets have existed at all periods of the Church, “with lies making the heart of the righteous sad, whom God has not made sad; and strengthening the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.”

But whilst we lament the effect of such delusive ministrations, and refer all persons to the written word, as the only true standard of sound doctrine; we would not forget, that men love to deceive themselves, and, by indulging vain conceits of their own, in opposition to the written word, to silence the convictions of conscience, and to “speak peace to themselves, when there is no peace.” For the benefit of such persons, we will endeavour to shew,

  I.      What need we all have of healing—

Sin has infected all the powers of our souls — — — This melancholy truth is,

  1.      Asserted in the Scriptures—

[“God made man upright; but he has sought out many inventions.” His very heart is corrupte; so that “every imagination of it is evil, and only evil, continually.” The extent of his depravity can scarcely be overstated: as the Apostle clearly shewsg — — — and the description given of the Jewish people may be well applied to every people, yea, and to every individual also in the whole world: “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint: from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in us; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.”]

  2.      Confirmed by experience—

[Who is there amongst us that must not confess this to be his own state? Who does not find darkness in his understanding, rebellion in his will, sensuality in his affections? Who is there that does not perceive a partiality in his conscience, and, as far as spiritual things are concerned, a forgetfulness in his memory; so that, in all his faculties, he is unlike what he was when he came out of his Creator’s hands? That there are some traces of his original excellence, I willingly admit. There is in some persons a measure of benevolence towards man: but towards God there is in all the same rooted indisposition and enmity: “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”]

But, as many think themselves healed whilst yet they are in a perishing condition, I will proceed to shew,

  II.      Who they are that heal their wounds slightly—

Of these there are many classes: many “speak peace to themselves, when there is no peace.” Amongst these are,

  1.      They who rely on the uncovenanted mercy of God—

[Many have an idea that God it too merciful to inflict on men the judgment he has denounced against sin: and on this presumption they dismiss all fear of future punishment, As for the justice or holiness of the Deity, they altogether overlook them; supposing that their claims may be superseded without any difficulty, and that truth itself also may be violated without any dishonour done to God, But all this is a delusion, which will betray them to their ruin, God is merciful, no doubt; yea, merciful beyond all conception: but then his mercy flows only in that channel which he himself has prepared, even through the Son of his love: and to expect it in any way that is inconsistent with the Divine attributes, is fatally to deceive our own souls.]

  2.      They who take refuge in a round of duties—

[It is common for persons, when convinced of sin, to engage in religious duties, with a hope of making thereby their peace with God, They will begin to read the Scriptures in private, and to attend on divine ordinances in public, and exercise a greater measure of benevolence to their fellow-creatures; trusting that God will accept their services, and for the sake of them will pardon their past transgressions, But this is only to “heal their wounds slightly;” for there are two things necessary to their perfect restoration; the one is, to make an atonement for sin; the other is, to get their souls renewed after the Divine image: but neither of these can ever be effected by any exertions of their own, The attainments of the Apostle Paul, eminent as they were, could not stand in the place of Christ, either before his conversion or afterwards: and therefore he desired “to be found in Christ; not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ.” Much more, therefore, must we renounce all hope of acceptance with God through any works of our own; and seek salvation by Christ alone, if ever we would “behold the face of God in peace,”]

  3.      They who rest in a faith that is unproductive of good works—

[True it is, that we must be saved by faith alone: and equally true it is, that faith does not save us, because it produce! good works. It saves us simply as apprehending Christ, in and through whom we are reconciled to God. But the faith which apprehends Christ aright, will work; it will “work by love,” and “purify the heart,” and “overcome the world;” and if the faith which we possess do not operate in this way, it is dead, and of no more efficacy for our salvation than the faith of devils, The only faith which will be of real service to us, is that which unites us unto Christ, as branches to the vine; and enables us, by virtue derived from him, to bring forth fruit to his glory.]

Yet, as there is a perfect remedy, it becomes me to state,

  III.      How we may have them healed effectually—

The Lord Jesus Christ has provided a remedy for sin—

[He has, by his own obedience unto death, atoned for sin, and “brought in an everlasting righteousness” for his believing people. Hear the blessed tidings brought to us by the Prophet Isaiah: “He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Stupendous thought! We healed by stripes! by stripes inflicted on Jehovah’s fellow! What a mystery is this I how utterly incomprehensible! Well does the Apostle say, “How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding outm!”]

That remedy, applied by faith, shall be effectual for all who trust in it—

[The man who believes in Christ, has all his guilt purged away; so that “though his sins may have been as crimson, they shall be as wool; though they have been as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Nor is this all: the man who believes in him, shall receive out of his fulness such a supply of grace as shall be effectual for the restoration of his soul to the Divine “image, in righteousness and true holiness.” The declaration of an inspired Apostle is, that “We, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Thus, by this simple remedy, shall our guilt be removed; and, at the same time, the corruption of our nature, like the waters of Jericho, be healed by the salt of divine grace infused into the soul. If any be not healed, it is not for want of a Physician s but because, with the balm of Gilead in their hands, they will not apply if.q]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who feel not their need of healing—

[Many, who are sensible that our nature is imperfect, have yet no conception that they are infected with a fatal malady; or that, without a most stupendous effort of divine grace, they must eternally perish. But, though they are called Christians, they are ignorant of the very nature of Christianity. I say again, they know not what Christianity is; and if they were asked to give IN ONE WORD such a description of Christianity as should suffice to characterize it in all its parts, they would be utterly at a loss, and would say that an impracticable task was imposed upon them. But Christianity is a remedy: it necessarily supposes a deep malady, which it is not in the power of any finite being to heal; and it prescribes such means of healing as shall be effectual for our recovery. The malady and the remedy correspond with each other: whichever be seen, the lineaments of the other may be inferred from it: they answer to each other, as accurately as the impression to the seal. There is nothing in us, for which there is not a correspondent provision in Christ: nor is there any thing in Christ, of which there is not a correspondent want in us. Were this duly understood, there would be no persons of the description that I am now addressing. But to all, without exception, must I declare, that “it was not the righteous that Christ came to save, but sinners;” (“the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick:.”) and if we feel not our lost estate, we can receive no benefit from Christianity, no salvation from Christ. “It is the broken heart whom he heals, and whose wounds he bindeth up.”]

  2.      Those who, after having derived some benefits from Christ, have relapsed into sin—

[Such persons there are, in great abundance: and greatly is their guilt augmented by their misimprovement of the mercies conferred. If they continue in their declension, “it were better for them that they had never known the way of righteousness;” for “their last end will be worse than their beginning.” But they are not beyond the reach of healing, Rather, I should say, their Lord is more particularly anxious respecting them, and gives this injunction to his servants: “Go, and proclaim these words; Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to full upon you.” “I will heal your backsliding, and love you freely: for mine anger is turned away from you.t” If you are ready to despond because of your unworthy conduct, he cuts off at once all ground of despondency, by saying, “For the iniquity that he committed I was wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth; and yet he went on frowardly, in the way of his heart. But I have seen his ways, and (What? will cast him off, and execute my heaviest judgments on him? No: I have seen his ways, and) will heal him; and will restore comfort also to him and to his mourners.” Avail yourselves then, my Brethren, of the opportunity now afforded you; and go to Him who is able to save you to the uttermost”, and “will cast out none who come unto him.” But remember, you must be content to have your wounds probed to the very bottom; lest, after all, the healing of them should be only superficial.]

  3.      Those who are enjoying health in their souls—

[Happy indeed is your state. You have the true enjoyment of life. We feel the benefit of health, as it respects the body: for it enables us to perform every office of life with ease and pleasure; whilst to the sick and the infirm even the smallest labour is difficult. So, to the man that is under the power of sin, all spiritual exercises are irksome: but to him whose “soul prospers, and is in health,” the ways of God are beyond measure delightful. Be careful then, beloved, to preserve your health. Be living nigh to your heavenly Physician; and, at the very first appearance of disorder in your soul, apply to him. So will he “keep you in perfect peace,” and “preserve you blameless unto his heavenly kingdom.”]

MXLIII

THE REMEDY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR SEASONS OF GRACE

  Jer. 8:20–22.

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

EVERY one acknowledges that it is his duty to trust in God; but we are prone to creature-confidence. Hence we are often left to faint under difficulties from which we might easily have been extricated. Thus the Jews increased their distress by relying on the Egyptians for succour, when, if they would have trusted in God, they might have been delivered. The prophet therefore’s takes up this affectionate lamentation over them:

  I.      Who are they of whom it may be said “their harvest is past, their summer is ended, and they are not saved?”

In its primary sense this passage is applicable only to the Jews, when they were attacked by the Babylonians; but it may be applied to those who have lost seasons of spiritual relief; The “summer and harvest” may be considered as seasons afforded us by God for providing for the necessities of our souls. Many of these we have suffered to pass unimproved and unnoticed. They therefore may be said to have lost their summer, &c. who have neglected to improve the seasons afforded,

  1.      By nature—

[Youth is well fitted by nature for the work of conversion. The mind is then more flexible, the passions more governable, and the conscience more tender. But many have lost that favourable season.]

  2.      By Providence—

[Mercies are sent by God to invite, judgments to alarm. But many who should have been drawn by them to seek after God, have remained impenitent. The sabbath also was instituted by God for the promoting of man’s spiritual welfare. On that day more especially God calls and converts sinners to himself. But many have let those seasons pass, without obtaining the knowledge of salvation.]

  3.      By grace—

[There are times when all experience the strivings of God’s Spirit. If they improved those seasons, God would “give them more grace.” But many stifle their convictions, and “resist the Holy Ghost.”]

They who are in this predicament would do well to reflect on,

  II.      The misery of their state—

The distress of the prophet’s mind on account of the calamities that were coming on the Jews is most pathetically expressed. But a view of the miseries impending over those who have lost their seasons of grace might well excite yet more painful apprehensions.

Their seasons lost are irrecoverable—

[Present time is often wasted, as though it were of no value. But many would be glad on a death-bed to recall the seasons in which they had heard the tidings of salvation, or felt the motions of God’s Spirit, Such wishes, however, are all in vain.]

Their seasons lost may never be renewed—

[We are apt to promise ourselves days and years to come. But how often does death disappoint our expectations!]

Every lost season has greatly aggravated their guilt—

[The means of grace are most important and valuable “talents.” The neglecting to improve them will be severely punished.]

Every season they have lost has hardened their hearts—

[The word that does not quicken and save will stupify and condemn.]

Every lost season has grieved the Holy Spirit more and more—

[God will not alway strive with those who resist his motions. If he cease to strive with us, our destruction is inevitablef.]

How should we compassionate those who are in such a state! How should every one adopt the words following my text! But their condition is not desperate:

  III.      The remedy that yet remains for them—

We might be ready to suppose that such persons were incurable; but the animated interrogatories in the text shew the contrary—

[Christ is a “physician” able and willing to save those who come unto him — — — His blood is a “balm” that heals the most deadly wounds — — — The true reason that so many die in their sins is, that they will not come to Christ for salvation — — — Let every one then acknowledge that it is his own fault if he be not saved.]

MXLIV

CHRIST OUR PHYSICIAN

  Jer. 8:22.

In there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

AS the Eastern languages in general, so the inspired writings in particular, abound in metaphors. In this view, they are peculiarly calculated to convey instruction; because they embody truth, as it were; they dress it in the most inviting colours, and bring it home to the mind with most commanding energy. Metaphors are of necessity founded on some acknowledged truth: if therefore the figure itself be just and apposite, the sentiment contained under it becomes so much the more luminous and impressive. The general idea intended to be conveyed in the words of our text, is this; that, though God was so severely punishing the Jewish nation, he was willing to remove his judgments from them, and to restore them to his favour, if they would use the means which his prophets had prescribed: lamentable as their state was become, they were not beyond the reach of mercy, if they would repent themselves, and turn unto their God. Now this sentiment is conveyed in metaphorical expressions; the literal import of which is, that no one with the means of recovery before him would be foolish enough to continue under the pressure of a painful and dangerous disorder. This truth every one feels and acknowledges: and consequently we must acknowledge yet more strongly the folly and wickedness of continuing under the displeasure of God, when we have at hand the certain means of deliverance from it.

To impress this thought upon your minds, we shall,

  I.      Shew what is that state of recovery to which God desires to bring us—

That man is disordered by means of sin, is so evident, that we scarcely need insist upon it. We justly say in the general confession of our Church, “There is no health in us:” and we may as justly apply to our state that description of the Prophet Isaiah, “From the sole of our foot even to the head there is no soundness in us, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.” Still however there is such a thing as a state of health: and what that is, we may learn,

  1.      From the condition of some who had never known sickness—

[Adam in Paradise was made after the Divine image: every perfection of the Deity, as far as it was communicable to a creature, was found in him. His dispositions were altogether in unison with the will of God. He communed with his Maker daily, as with his familiar friend; and sought all his happiness in the performance of his will, and in the enjoyment of his presence.

Our blessed Lord and Saviour also is another example of one who never knew sin. In his early years we have but little information about him, except that he was subject to his parents, and obedient to them in all things: and though we cannot consider this as the whole of a child’s religion, we do not hesitate to say, that it is a most essential part of it, and that religion never can exist where this proof of it is wanting. When he had attained the age of twelve, we are enabled to speak determinately concerning him. Then, we know, that he loved the house of God, and found all his delight in the services of religion. Yea, with such intenseness was he engaged in communicating and receiving instruction, that he let his parents go from Jerusalem without him; and, when they found him in the temple after three days, expressed his wonder that they felt any solicitude about him, and that they did not at once conclude him to be occupied “about his Father’s business,” When he entered on his ministry, he made it “his meat and drink to do his Father’s will:” after labouring in his vocation the whole day, he would sometimes spend whole nights in prayer. He went about doing good amongst the poorest and vilest of mankind: and when his love was recompensed only by the most cruel insults and persecutions, he rendered nothing but good for evil: “when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not:” yea, rather, he wept over his enemies, and prayed for his very murderers.]

  2.      From the condition of some who had experienced a recovery—

[We cannot easily find persons more diseased than those to whom Peter addressed himself on the day of Pentecost. They had withstood all the discourses and miracles of our blessed Lord; and their hands were yet reeking with the Saviour’s blood. But as soon as the grace of God reached their hearts, they were humbled for their sins, they believed in Christ as their only Saviour, they addicted themselves to the ministry of the Apostles, they felt the most cordial affection towards all the despised followers of Jesus, they sold all their possessions for the support of his Church and people, and they found all their happiness in the exercises of devotion, and the service of their God.

The Apostle Paul is another instance of a most astonishing recovery. He had been filled with such a murderous zeal against the followers of Christ, that he “breathed out nothing but threatenings and slaughter against them.” But when he was stopped in his career, he became the most zealous and active of all the Apostles. No trials could deter him from prosecuting his Master’s work: he counted not his life dear unto him; yea, “if he should be offered upon the sacrifice and service of his brethren’s faith,” and pour out his blood as a libation for the Church, he considered it as a ground of most exalted joy and thanksgiving.]

  3.      From these instances we may learn, I say, what a state of recovery is—

[It consists, first of all, in turning to the Lord Jesus Christ, with deep humiliation, and with lively faith, It consists, next, in mortifying all those corruptions which formerly led us captive, and in devoting all our powers to the service of our God. In a word, it consists in following the steps of our adorable Emmanuel, in being “pure as he was pure,” and “perfect as he was perfect.” And to this it is the earnest desire of our God to bring us: “Wilt thou not be made clean?” says he; “O when shall it once be?”]

Now, if God really desire to bring us to this happy state, we should,

  II.      Inquire, Whence it is that we do not already enjoy it?

It is not for want of adequate provision for us on the part of God—

[God himself appeals to us respecting this: “Is there not balm in Gilead; is there not a Physician there?” Has not God sent us a Physician from heaven, even his only dear Son, who perfectly knows the extent of our disorders, and is able to prescribe a remedy for them? Other physicians find their remedies in the productions of nature and of art; but this blessed Physician “heals his people with his own stripes:” he shed his own precious blood for us upon the cross, that it might be applied, as a sovereign balm, to our souls, to restore us to perfect health. And now we appeal to all of you: Is there any want of skill in this Physician, or any want of virtue in this balm? Have not thousands and millions of persons, dying of the malady of sin, experienced a perfect restoration of health through the application of the blood of Christ to their souls? Is there any reason to doubt, but that it would be as efficacious for you, as for them? And is not this remedy offered you “without money and without price?”

Behold then, ye are witnesses for God this day, that no blame attaches to him, and that the continuance of your maladies can in no respect be imputed to him.]

It is altogether owing to yourselves—

  1.      You do not believe that your disorders are so great and fatal as God has represented them—

[That sin has in a measure disordered your souls, you will readily acknowledge; but that your diseases are mortal, and that you must die to all eternity if they be not healed, you do not believe. We ask only what you would do, if you felt within yourselves a bodily disorder, which you were certain would destroy your life in a few hours if a remedy were not instantly applied? Would you not send for a physician without delay, and be in the utmost solicitude till he arrived for your relief? Why then is there not all this anxiety about your souls? Why are you not seeking the Lord Jesus Christ with your whole hearts? Our Lord assigns the true reason; “The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;” and you feel no need of him, because you are not duly sensible of your sickness.]

  2.      You do not like the prescriptions which the good Physician has appointed for you—

[Repentance is regarded by you as a bitter pill, which you are very averse to take. Faith in the atoning blood of Christ is so humiliating, that you cannot make up your minds to submit to it: you think that you may be excused going to him with all that contrition and self-renunciation which the Gospel requires. “The living henceforth not to yourselves, but unto him,” and “the having your whole selves, body, soul, and spirit, sanctified” and devoted to the Lord, is also regarded by you as an insufferable restraint. You would be far better pleased to be left in possession of those gratifications which are pleasing to your corrupt nature, and which foster the most deadly diseases of your souls.]

  3.      You hope for some more convenient season for returning to your God—

[You have a general persuasion that you must experience a change before you go hence; but you wish to put it off to some future period. You are too young at present, or have too many engagements; and you think a time of sickness will be more favourable to reflection; and, as God has shewn mercy to many in their last hours, you hope he may to you. This completes what the other errors have begun. This lulls you asleep in fatal security. If ignorance slays its thousands, this procrastinating habit slays its ten thousands.]

  Having shewn you the true reasons why your health is not recovered, I would impress the subject yet further on your minds, by asking two QUESTIONS:

  1.      Would not the recovery of your souls tend to your present happiness?

[Grant that the votary of pleasure obtains all that he seeks after; is not he who has his sins forgiven, his corruptions mortified, his soul transformed into the Divine image, the sting of death removed, and a glorious inheritance secured to him, the happier man? — — — We will abide the decision of your own consciences.]

  2.      Will not the consequence of dying in your present diseased state be terrible?

[Terrible it will be to all; but most of all to those who have their diseases faithfully pointed out to them, and the heavenly Physician brought before them. O how pungent will that question be to them in the day of judgment, “Why were not ye recovered, ye, who had the balm of Gilead freely offered you, and who withstood the most pressing solicitations to accept of mercy?” O that ye may be wise in time! and that, instead of having then to regret the opportunities you have lost, you may now be enabled to say with the Psalmist, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; who forgiveth all thy sins, and healeth all thy diseases!”]

MXLV

FORTITUDE RECOMMENDED ON THE SIDE OF TRUTH

             Jer. 9:3.

They are not valiant for the truth upon the earth.

IT is by no means uncommon to see men valiant in their country’s cause, or fearless in the commission of iniquity. But courage on the side of religion is a quality but rarely seen. This virtue attaches not itself to strength of nerves, nor is it a necessary attendant on constitutional intrepidity. It is a grace, produced in the heart by the Holy Spirit; and is found equally to adorn the weaker as the stronger sex. The want of natural courage is a fault in those only who enter into professions where the exercise of it is essential to a proper discharge of their duty: but the want of spiritual valour is a crime, for which we must answer before God: yea, it is a great and heinous crime, for which we have reason to dread his heaviest judgments. The prophet, when enumerating the sins which prevailed among the Jews, and which caused him to weep over them day and night, mentions this as one that called for his severest reprehension; namely, that when they could “proceed with undaunted effrontery from evil to evil,” they “were not valiant for the truth upon the earth.”

In illustrating these words, we propose to shew,

  I.      That valour is requisite on the side of truth—

Let “truth” be taken in the lowest sense, as meaning nothing more than common justice and equity, and there will still be found need of valour for the maintenance of it in the world. Let a magistrate set himself vigorously to reform abuses, and he will soon find that vice and profaneness will maintain a violent contest against him, and that he has need of courage to carry his plans into full effect.

But if we understand “the truth” as comprehending the whole extent of our duty not only as men but as Christians, our need of valour in maintaining it will be still more apparent. We stand in need of it,

  1.      To profess the truth—

[Who does not know that a profession of religion subjects us to contempt? What was said of the Christians of the first ages, is equally true at this day; “We know that this sect is everywhere spoken against.” Men will “gaze strangely at us, as soon as we cease to run with them into their excess of riot.” As soon as we “depart from evil, we make ourselves a preyb,” which every one feels himself at liberty to hunt. What the Gibeonites experienced, when they made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel, is a striking emblem of what must be expected by all who submit to Jesus, and associate themselves with his people — — — And does it not require courage to endure this? — — — Verily, there are many who would find it easier to walk up to the mouth of a cannon, than to brave the contempt and obloquy to which a profession of religion would expose them.]

  2.      To practise it—

[Let a person be solicited by his friends to unite with them in courses which he disapproves; let him be ridiculed as indulging needless scrupulosity and preciseness, or perhaps as hypocritically pretending to more sanctity than his neighbours; will he find it easier to be steadfast in his obedience to God, dissembling no truth, omitting no duty, conforming to nothing dubious or sinful? Will he need no courage to stem the torrent, to disregard the appearances of singularity, and to maintain a conscience void of offence towards God and man? — — —]

  3.      To recommend and enforce it—

[The Gospel enjoins us, not only to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them.” Now we know what have been the consequences of such faithfulness in all ages; “I hate Micaiah, because he doth not speak good concerning me, but evil:” “The world hateth me, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” And is it a light matter to encounter the hatred of our friends, and relatives, yea, and of the whole world? When we foresee these consequences, are we in no danger of withholding the admonitions and instructions which we ought to give? Are we in no danger of “putting our light under a bushel,” when we know what offence will be taken at us, if we suffer it to shine forth? Are we under no temptation to indulge that “fear of man which bringeth a snare?”]

If we cannot recommend, or practise, or even profess, religion, without valour, we can have no doubt about,

  II.      The duty of exercising it—

It is a duty we owe,

  1.      To God—

[God has not told us to obey his commandments only as far as the world will approve, but to “follow him fully,” and to love and serve him with our whole hearts, Will he then be contented to see us “partial in the law?” Will he accept our plea, if we urge our fear of man as a reason of our not fearing and obeying him? No: he has bidden us “not to fear man, who can only kill the body; but to fear him, who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”]

  2.      To our neighbours—

[What will they think of religion, if they see us, who profess it, violating its most sacred obligations through feat of offending man? Will they not imagine that it is not worth contending for? Will they not be emboldened to shew the same preference to the world that we do; and to regard the opinions of men more than the commands of God? On the contrary, Would not a firm, bold, decided conduct tend to convince them, that God is worthy to be served, and that “his loving-kindness is better than life itself?”]

  3.      To ourselves—

[Our own everlasting welfare depends upon our steadfastness in the ways of God. “If we are ashamed of him, he will be ashamed of us:” “if we deny him, he will deny us;” “if we draw back, it will be unto perdition; for his soul can have no pleasure in us:” “he only that overcometh, shall inherit all things;” and “he only that endureth unto the end, shall ever be saved.” If then we have any regard for our own souls, we must be valiant, and “quit ourselves like men:” for if even life itself be suffered to stand in competition with his will, our souls will be forfeited and lost for ever.]

It is not however sufficient to possess valour: we should also understand,

  III.      In what way it should be exercised—

Here we are very liable to err: true Christian valour should be shewn,

  1.      In meek and patient sufferings—

[Passive valour is by far the most valuable. Would we see it illustrated? Let us see how it operated in the Apostle Paul: “Being defamed,” says he, “we entreat; being persecuted, we suffer it.” Would we behold the most striking exemplification of it that ever existed? Let us behold Jesus, who had just before evinced his power over his enemies by striking them all to the ground with a word, yielding up himself to them, and led as a sheep to the slaughter. Behold him, “dumb before them, even as a sheep before her shearers; giving his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and not hiding his face from shame and spitting:” “when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself unto him that judgeth righteously:” yes, here was precisely the valour which we are called to exercise. We must “possess our souls in patience,” and “let patience have its perfect work.” If once we recede from this ground, we are vanquished, If we would “not be overcome of evil, we must overcome evil with good.”]

  2.      In firm and steady perseverance—

[Obedience to God is the great point: to that we must adhere at all events. We must resemble Daniel and the Hebrew youths, and determine to suffer the most cruel death, rather than violate the dictates of our conscience, or neglect any known duty whatsoeverh. Next to our blessed Lord, St. Paul perhaps endured more for the truth’s sake than any of the children of men: in every place, bonds and afflictions awaited him: but “none of those things could move him, neither counted he his life dear unto him, so that he might but fulfil the ministry” committed to him: he was “willing not only to be bound, but also to die,” at any place, at any time, and in any manner, for his Master’s sake: when he had been stoned, and left for dead, at Lystra, he returned again speedily to that very city, regardless of his own life, and intent only on executing the commission which he had received of the Lord Jesus? Thus must we go on, “steadfast, immoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord:” and in such a course we shall approve ourselves “good soldiers of Jesus Christ.”]

  We would ADD to what has been said, a word,

  1.      Of caution—

[Let not any imagine that Christian fortitude at all militates against the duties which we owe to our parents, or to any that are placed in authority over us. Many are apt to mistake pertness and forwardness as marks of valour: but “they know not what spirit they are of;” they are, in fact, displeasing God as much as man, while they indulge a petulant, froward disposition. We need look well to ourselves in this particular, and see that we are not gratifying our own self-will, under a pretended regard for the commands of God. We should never forget the respect due to our superiors: and when we are forced to act contrary to their commands, we should strive as much as possible to conciliate them in our manner of doing it; and shew them, that our opposition to their will is not a matter of choice, but of necessity.]

  2.      Of encouragement—

[None need to fear, as though they should not be able to act valiantly in the hour of trial: for God has promised, that we shall not be tempted above our ability to withstand, or without a way for us to escape. We are told of women, who, under the most grievous sufferings for conscience sake, would not accept deliverance, when it was offered as an inducement to recede from their principlesl. We need not fear therefore but that “our strength also shall be according to our day.” God will “strengthen us by his Spirit in our inward man, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness:” and “his strength shall be perfected in our weakness.” In the weakest amongst us shall that promise be exemplified, “They that do know their God, shall be strong, and do exploits.”]

MXLVI

THE ONLY TRUE AND SUFFICIENT GROUNDS OF GLORYING

  Jer. 9:23, 24.

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and Knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth.

TO know the Creator is the supreme excellence and chief good of man. The Jews enjoyed greater opportunities of obtaining this knowledge than any people upon earth: yet they neglected to improve their advantages; and, like the nations around them, sought their happiness in the creature, and confided in it for their security; having forsaken him who was their Rock of Defence. They treated Jeremiah’s predictions of their captivity in Babylon with contempt. This the prophet saw and bitterly lamented: and hoping still if possible to reclaim them and thereby to prevent their calamity, and to secure to them a permanent enjoyment of their privileges, he exhorted them in the name of God himself to renounce all dependence on their own wisdom, might, or riches; and to glory rather in the knowledge of their God, and an acquaintance with him as their Protector and Deliverer. To us who have a much clearer revelation of God’s nature and perfections, the exhortation may be applied with still more propriety and stronger energy.

Let us then (as the text requires) first remove the false and insufficient grounds of glorying, and then propose such as are true and sufficient.

The usual grounds of glorying the prophet here proscribes:

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.”

It is by no means to be imagined that earthly things are to be utterly disregarded, and that Christians in these days are to expect those miraculous gifts of wisdom and power which were bestowed in the days of the Apostles, or that we are now called to forsake our several occupations as they were: this would be enthusiasm indeed. At the first promulgation of Christianity, it was necessary that the instruments used for that purpose should be both weak and illiterate, that the excellency of the power might more evidently appear to be of God: but the person who should now hope to speak by inspiration, to work miracles, or live like the birds of the air, without any thought for the morrow, would grossly misunderstand the Scriptures, and become an object of ridicule or pity to all rational and sober-minded. Christians.

Wisdom is highly necessary in religious concerns and in every department of social life; it capacitates us for instructing others; it enables us to make improvements in arts and sciences; it qualifies us for superior usefulness at the bar and in the senate: nor less in religious exercises; it gives a deserved pre-eminence to all who possess it; and a want of it (especially in a seat of learning) is deservedly attended with proportionable ignominy.

Power also is desirable; inasmuch as it may be used for the preservation of due order in society and most beneficially employed in punishing vice and rewarding virtue. Nor are riches to be disregarded, for they afford us many opportunities as well of encouraging industry, as of relieving the necessitous; and they give full scope for the exercise of our most benevolent affections. Each of them has its peculiar uses; and each is a precious talent capable of the highest improvement. Yet however they lay no solid foundation for glorying: and the prophet’s injunction is that we should not glory in them; by which he means, that we are not to esteem them too highly, nor to regard them as the principal objects of our pursuit, nor to place our chief happiness in them, nor to make them our trust and confidence.

And indeed what is there in our wisdom wherein to glory? The more knowledge we possess, we are only more fully convinced that we know nothing in comparison of what is yet veiled from our eyes: besides, the wisest counsels are often frustrated for want of power to carry them into execution; and though we excelled even Solomon himself, disease or accident may reduce us in a moment to a level with the brutes.

What is there in power? To have it is no little temptation to exercise it in an unbecoming manner and for selfish ends: it universally stirs up opposition in those who are subjected to our authority, and creates much trouble and anxiety to ourselves in the dispensing of it.

And what is there in riches? They often generate in our hearts covetous and sordid tempers (for it is seldom that our “riches increase, but we immediately set our hearts upon them”), they make us proud, overbearing, and oppressive: yet all the wealth of the Indies can furnish us with very little more than food and raiment: and there are so many thousand ways in which we may be impoverished, that Solomon observes of riches, “they make themselves wings and fly away.”

What ground then is there for glorying in any, or all, of these? There is not any in wisdom; for it is limited in its extent, defective in its operations, and uncertain in its continuance. There is not in might; for the very possession of it is dangerous, and the exercise of it vexatious to ourselves and others. There is not in riches; for they are defiling in their influence, contracted in their uses, and precarious in their tenure.

Besides all which in the hour of death all our thoughts perish, our rank and dignity are annihilated, and our wealth is transferred to another owner. And in the day of judgment, not all the wisdom, might, or riches, that ever were possessed by man will be sufficient to bribe our Judge, withstand his power, or elude his search.

Let us proceed then to consider what is the true and sufficient ground of glorying: “Let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord who exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.”

The knowledge of God as far excels all other attainments, as God, the object of that knowledge, surpasses all created excellencies. But it is not every knowledge of God that lays a foundation for glorying. It is not the knowledge that there is a God; for that is common to the evil angels as well as the good. It is not the knowledge of God from the works of creation; for that comes as much under the observation of heathens as of Christians. But it is a knowledge of God as revealed in the inspired writings. This is strongly intimated in those two expressions in my text, “understandeth” and “knoweth,” which are designed to teach us, that it is only in a practical and experimental knowledge of God that we are to glory; or in other words, such knowledge as makes us stand in awe of his majesty, tremble at his threatenings, and seek an interest in his love and favour. Several reasons might be offered for glorying in this rather than in the forementioned possessions or attainments. I will assign three which will comprehend them all: First, because the knowledge of God is not subject to any of those defects, which are almost inseparable from wisdom, might, and riches. They are above the reach of far the greater part of mankind; this is equally attainable by all: they too often debase the mind; this invariably elevates and ennobles it: they leave us still longing for something unpossessed; this supplies all the wants, satisfies all the desires, and fills all the capacities of our immortal souls: they, through the depravity of our nature, often become means and instruments of pride, oppression, and avarice; this changes the proud, tyrannical and avaricious man into the image of God in righteousness and true holiness: they are destroyed at death; but this is perfected.

Again we may glory in this knowledge of God, because it transcends all their excellencies. Human wisdom may enable us to discharge the duties of civil life with advantage; but the knowledge of God rectifies our judgments about things of far greater moment; it makes us both see and feel the evil of sin, the beauty of holiness, the vanity of time, and the importance of eternity. It teaches us (which is indeed the very essence of wisdom) to pursue the best ends by the fittest means; to seek a crown of glory by a renunciation and abhorrence of every known sin, a firm reliance on the Saviour’s merits, and an uniform obedience to his commands. Power also may be improved for the good of the community; but the knowledge of God endues us with might for better purposes; it renders us mighty to resist temptations, mighty to subdue our evil tempers, mighty to mortify our lusts and passions, mighty to endure the bitterest afflictions, and mighty to vanquish the united forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Riches, too, it is granted, are highly beneficial; but the knowledge of God imparts more profitable riches: through it we are rich in possession, and in reversion too; it brings into our souls a sense of pardon, it fills us with a peace which passeth all understanding, and entitles us to all the blessings which God himself can bestow: for Solomon, on making this very comparison, observes that “wisdom is a defence, and money a defence, but the excellency of knowledge (i.e. of spiritual knowledge) is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.” And a greater than Solomon still more plainly affirms, that “to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, is eternal life;” i.e. is the way to it, and the very beginning and earnest of it.

Once more. We may glory in this knowledge of God, because it comprehends and unfolds to our view wisdom, power, and riches that are indeed infinite. The text particularly directs us to consider God as exercising loving-kindness (to his friends), judgment (to his enemies), and righteousness or justice (in the distribution both of his rewards and punishments). Now this is a view of God which we have not any where, but in the Gospel of Christ. In his dealings towards the fallen angels we behold only his judgments; but in his dealings with man we behold the exercise of mercy and loving-kindness, because he accepted the mediation of his Son on our behalf. The Apostle directs us therefore to look for the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The intent of the types and prophecies in the Old Testament, as well as the historical and epistolary writings in the New, is to hold forth Jesus Christ as that illustrious person in whom the Father would be glorified: He therefore, as being “the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person,” is the proper object of our glorying: and so inestimable is the knowledge of Him, that Paul (the most learned and powerful, if not the richest of the Apostles) counted all things as dung and loss in comparison of it. Now the knowledge of this our incarnate God comprehends, I say, and unfold to our view, wisdom, might, and riches that are indeed infinite. Infinite wisdom—In the person, work, and offices of our Lord, are contained mysteries, which, though hid from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, were displayed with the fullest evidence upon the cross. It is true that the doctrine of a crucified Saviour was “to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but,” says the Apostle, “to them that are called, it is the wisdom of God;” or, as he elsewhere terms it, “the wisdom of God in a mystery:” and so indeed it is; for it reconciles things which, to unhumbled, unenlightened persons, would appear contradictory and absurd. It shews us how sin may be punished, and yet the sinner saved: and this too not only without countenancing sin or dishonouring the law, but in such a manner as to bring more honour to the law, than if it never had been broken, and to manifest more indignation against sin, than if the offender had endured its deserved penalty. It shews us also how the divine perfections unite and harmonize in the great work of redemption; how God may pardon those whom he had threatened to destroy, without any violation of his word; and how he may restore rebels to peace, without any infringement of the demands of justice; or, as the Psalmist beautifully expresses it, how “mercy and truth may meet together, and righteousness and peace kiss each other.” It shews us further (which is wonderful indeed) mercy displayed in a way of punishing sin, and justice in a way of pardoning it; yea, more mercy than if the whole world had been pardoned without any such atonement, and more justice than if the whole human race had been, like their predecessors in iniquity, cast into the depths of hell. In God, as shining forth in the person of his Son, we behold also infinite might. Jesus Christ is called by the Apostle “the Wisdom of God and the Power of God,” because that, when mankind had destroyed themselves, and not a combination of all created powers could effect their deliverance, his own arm brought salvation. He sustained the dreadful weight of their iniquities in his own body on the tree, and ransomed an apostate world by his own most precious blood. To all appearance indeed he “was crucified through weakness:” he fell a sacrifice to the envy of the priests, the treachery of Judas, the cowardice of Pilate, and the rage of an incensed populace: yet by that very fall he bruised the serpent’s head and triumphed over principalities and powers. He submitted also to an imprisonment within the bowels of the earth; yet soon burst the gates of death, by which it was not possible he should be detained, and shewed himself to be “the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead.”

Infinite riches also are manifested in this our adorable Redeemer. How glorious, how unsearchable were the riches of the Father’s love, which rather than we should perish, bestowed, not an angel or archangel, but his only-begotten Son, yea, gave him up for rebels, to the most bitter, ignominious, and accursed death of the cross! How rich was the Son’s compassion, to obey that law which we had broken, to humble himself that we might be exalted, to endure the penalties which we had incurred, and to die that we might live for ever! What unbounded mercy! Inasmuch then as this knowledge of God is not subject to the defects that are in wisdom, power, and riches, but transcends their excellencies, and comprehends them all in the highest degree; we may, we ought to glory in it: we cannot value it too highly, we cannot seek it too earnestly, we cannot contemplate it with too exalted joy, or trust in it with too confident assurance: this was evidently the sentiment of the Apostle when he said, “I am determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.” And again, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Here it will be proper to observe the manner in which the inspired writer prefaces his exhortation in the text; “Thus saith the Lord.” The voice of the world is quite different; even they who are esteemed the wisest in the world hold up wisdom, power, and riches as the grand, if not the only, objects worthy of our pursuit: the whole multitude are following these with unabated ardour: all their affections are set upon them: their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, are excited alternately by these, as the loss or acquisition of them shall give occasion: these are the things most envied and admired: and, when obtained, are ever made the ground of glorying. But the knowledge of God and of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ is deemed scarce worthy our attention. If it were at our option to be the wisest, greatest, and richest person upon earth, but at the same time destitute of this knowledge; or to be endued with it, but at the same time live in a state of poverty, meanness, and ignorance, how few would shew themselves like-minded with God in this matter! Indeed, how few seek this knowledge at all, or even give it the least place in their thoughts! On the contrary, the generality treat it with contempt; and too many seem to apprehend, that we cannot glory in our God, but we must presently be beside ourselves: but (as says the Apostle) “let God be true, and every man a liar;” let the whole universe combine to extenuate the guilt of neglecting God, and to exalt wisdom, power, and riches, as the chief good of man; their opinions are of no avail: for “thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in THIS, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, who exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth;” that I am He, who will amply and eternally reward those who glory in me, and will assuredly execute judgment upon those who idolize the world. While therefore we pay a just attention to those things which God allows, and the interests of society require us to pursue, let us take shame to ourselves for having preferred the perishing things of time and sense, to an acquaintance with our God; let us fear lest we be left to take the fruit of our choice, and to have our portion only in this life; let us receive the united testimonies of reason and revelation; and, in compliance with their dictates, let us prize above all things, follow with unwearied assiduity, and supremely delight ourselves in, the knowledge of this Saviour; that through him we may be mighty in subduing our evil habits, rich in faith and good works, and wise unto salvation; so shall we have cause to glory here, and be partakers of everlasting felicity in the world to come. Now to God, &c.

  Jer. 9:23, 24.

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth.

WE need no other introduction to our subject than that of the prophet—

Bearing in mind therefore the Saviour’s repeated admonitions, we shall

  I.      Remove the false and insufficient grounds of glorying—

Wisdom, Power, and Riches, are highly esteemed amongst men—

And, if rightly improved, they certainly are valuable talents

[Wisdom enables a man to conduct his own affairs with discretion—

It qualifies him also for instructing his fellow-creatures—

It may lead a person to make many valuable discoveries—

Thus it may profit individuals and the community at large—

Might also is useful for the preserving of order in society—

And it may be improved to suppress vice, and encourage virtue—

Riches too may serve for the rewarding of industry—

Or they may be employed in relieving the necessitous—

None of these things therefore ought to be depreciated—]

But they are by no means proper objects of glorying—

To glory in any thing, is, to value it highly, pursue it eagerly, and seek our happiness in it—

But we must not thus glory in Wisdom—

[The wisest know that they know but little—

Their best concerted plans they often want power to accomplish—

Disease or accident may soon reduce them to a level with the beasts—]

Nor should we glory thus in Might—

[Power is a source of temptation to those who are invested with it—

It indisposes a man to comply with reasonable restraints—

It generally excites opposition in those who are subjected to it—]

Nor are Riches at all more worthy objects of our glorying—

[Wealth is very apt to produce covetous and sordid tempers—

It frequently renders its possessors proud and oppressive—

At best it can furnish us with little more than food and raiment—

And we are liable to be deprived of it in a thousand ways—]

To glory therefore in any of these things would be absurd—

Having removed these common but insufficient grounds of glorying, we shall,

  II.      Propose such as are true and sufficient—

The knowledge of God in Christ Jesus is the only object of glorying—

[The knowledge that there is a God is not the knowledge here spoken of—

Nor is it the knowledge of God as He is seen in the works of creation—

But the knowledge spoken of in the text is a view of him in redemption—

It is in the Gospel only that God’s loving-kindness to his friends appears—

In that too especially He denounces his judgments on his enemies—

And in both He displays equally his unspotted righteousness—

Not that a speculative knowledge even of this will suffice—

The words “understand and know” imply a practical knowledge—]

This is a just ground of glorying to all who possess it—

  1.      It is free from all the defects which are found in the foregoing grounds—

[They render the mind low and groveling; This elevates and ennobles it—

They never satisfy the soul; This affords it perfect satisfaction—

They may become sources of craft, tyranny, and avarice; This always changes us into God’s image—

They end with our present existence; This is perfected at death—]

  2.      It transcends all the excellencies that are in the foregoing grounds—

It imparts more excellent wisdom—

[It rectifies our judgments about more important objects—It teaches us to seek the best ends by the fittest means—]

It endues us with more excellent might—

[It renders us mighty to mortify our lusts and passions—

It qualifies us to conflict with all the powers of darkness—]

It conveys to us more excellent riches—

[It puts into our hands “the unsearchable riches of Christ”—

It makes us rich in possession, and in reversion too—]

  3.      It comprehends all the foregoing grounds in the highest degree:

Wisdom—

[This knowledge of God unfolds the deepest mysteries—

It shews how sin may be punished, and yet the sinner saved—

It shews how mercy is exalted in punishing, and justice in rewarding—]

Might—

[The salvation of a ruined world is a marvellous display of power—

Hence Christ is called “the Wisdom of God, and the Power of God”—

We have no idea of almighty power, till we know a redeeming God—]

Riches—

[Infinite are the riches of divine grace—

In the glorious mystery of redemption they are all contained—

The knowledge of God exhibits them all to our view—]

In this we cannot possibly glory too much—

[We cannot possibly set too high a value on this knowledge—

We cannot pursue it with too much earnestness—

We cannot delight in it with too exalted joy—

Let us therefore seek to know God as He is revealed in the Gospel—

Let us take encouragement from that declaration of our Lord—

Let the fixed purpose of our hearts resemble that of the Apostle—]

MXLVII

THE CONTEMPT WITH WHICH GOD’S RICHEST MERCIES ARE TREATED

  Jer. 13:11.

As the girdle cleareth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

IT pleased God in former times frequently to instruct his people by signs, as being more calculated to awaken the attention of those who were but, as children, slow to understand the plainest declarations of his word. Sometimes those signs were represented to the prophets in visions: as when Ezekiel was taken up by the hair of his head, and earned to the north gate of the temple to see all the wickedness that was transacted in the sanctuary; the thing was done only in a vision. At other times the prophets actually did the things which were to be signs to the people; as when Ezekiel, for the space of three hundred and ninety days, reclined on his right side, with a representation of Jerusalem before him, to figure to the Jews the siege that should assuredly be formed against it by the Chaldeans. Whether the sign which Jeremiah was here directed to use was in a vision only, or in reality, commentators are not agreed. Certainly the going repeatedly several hundred miles only to carry a girdle to the Euphrates and bring it back again, seems a labour unlikely to be imposed upon him: but on the other hand, that very labour might tend the more powerfully to awaken the attention of the Jews to the subject which was thus emblematically represented to them: and it is safer, on the whole, to take literally the Scripture account in all cases where reason and common sense do not necessitate us to understand it figuratively.

The sign here used by the prophet was this. He took a girdle, and, after wearing it some time, carried it to the river Euphrates, and hid it there in the hole of a rock; and then, after a considerable lapse of time, he went and fetched it back again, and exhibited it to the people in its decayed state; declaring that they, notwithstanding their present strength and power, should ere long be reduced to the lowest ebb of misery by the Chaldeans; because when God had formed them for himself, they had refused to adhere to him, or to regard his overtures of love and mercy.

Such is the explanation given us by God himself in in the words of our text; which, whilst they elucidate the emblem used by the prophet, will naturally lead me to shew you,

  I.      The honour which God has designed for his people—

The primary use of a girdle is to bind up the garments around the loins—

[In conformity with this idea, God had caused his people to cleave to him, that they might be, as it were, in continual contact with him. This he had caused them to do, when he brought them out of Egypt, and made them altogether dependent on himself for direction, preservation, and support. In like manner he may be said to have caused us also to cleave to him, having in our very birth imposed on us a necessity to depend upon him for life, and breath, and all things; for “in him we live, and move, and have our being.” Our proper state is that of a little infant clinging to its mother, or, as our text expresses it, “a girdle cleaving to the loins of a man.” We should at all times be “taking hold of God by prayer,” and by faith uniting ourselves to him, so as to be one with him, and he with us. If this was the duty and privilege of the Jews, much more is it ours; because our God and Saviour has actually assumed our nature, and become bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh: nay more, by the fuller communication of his Spirit he “dwells in us,” and lives in us, and is “our very life” so that they who are joined unto him by faith are “one Spirit with himf.” This then, I say, is the honour which God designs for us: he would have us all renouncing every kind and degree of creature dependence, and to live as nigh to him and cleave as close to him, as a girdle to the loins of a man; yea, in spite of every opposition and discouragement, he would have us “cleave unto him with full purpose of hearts.”]

But a girdle is also of use for ornament—

[And to this our text has especial respect. The girdle of the high-priest was, as it is repeatedly called,“a curious girdle,” given him “or glory and for beauty” and our great High-Priest desires that we should be to him what that curious girdle was to Aaron. Vile and worthless as we are in ourselves, ho would form and fashion us anew, interweaving in our nature all the graces of his Spirit, and transforming us into the very image of our God in righteousness and true holiness. Surrounded by us, he would esteem himself more richly adorned than with the brightest jewels, and more enriched than with all the treasures of the universek. It appears almost impious to say, that such ornaments would be a glory to our God and Saviour; yet we will venture to affirm that they would be regarded so by our Lord himself, who says, “All mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” What a royal diadem is to an earthly monarch, that are we designed to be to the King of kings and Lord of lordsm As Christ was “the image of the invisible God,” because God who is invisible in his own nature was visible in him so are we according to the measure of grace given unto us: we are to “shine as lights in the world, holding forth” in our whole deportment “the word of life” we are made his on purpose that we may “shew forth his virtuesp;” we are to be “epistles of Christ, known and read of all men;” and shewing in the whole of our spirit and temper what the will of the Lord is: we are to “have the same mind as was in himr,” and to “be changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” This will surely become our state, if once we cleave, like a girdle, unto him; and all who see us shall be constrained to “glorify our Father who is in heavent.”]

Who would conceive, that when such honour is offered unto man, there should be found a creature in the universe unwilling to accept it? Yet the sequel of our text leads us to shew,

  II.      The way in which this honour is contemned—

The melancholy testimony that was almost invariably borne against the Jews was, that “they would not hear—

[See how they conducted themselves in relation to the very offer before us! “they refused to hear God’s words, and walked in the imagination of their own hearts, and worshipped and served other gods.”]

And what can be a more just description of ourselves?

[Unspeakable as the honour is which God desires to confer upon us, we will not seek it at his hands: we are, like those who were invited to the wedding-feast, all with one consent making excuses, and pleading the urgency of our worldly affairs as a reason for neglecting our spiritual concerns. If we bow not down to stocks and stones, we “worship and serve the creature more than the Creatorz.” We have idols in our hearts; and to those we dedicate all our powers and faculties, whether of soul or body. We are justly characterized as “walking after the imagination of our own hearts:” each serves the god that suits him best. One follows all his vicious propensities, and seeks his happiness in sensual indulgence: another grasps after riches; another aspires after honour; another affects rather the more refined pleasures of science and philosophy: but all by nature, however differing in their particular pursuits, agree in this, that they “are of the world, and not of God;” and that they “seek honour from man, and not the honour that cometh of God only.” They need no exhortation to cleave unto worldly vanities; that they do naturally of themselves: and if we could point out to them how to come in closer contact with the objects of their ambition, and how to secure to themselves a larger measure of them, we should find them very attentive to our counsels. But when we exhort them to cleave only to the Lord, they have no ears to hear us, no disposition to regard us. In vain do we expatiate upon the honour which God designs for them; that appears to them no better than “a cunningly-devised fable,” or at best as a subject that may well be deferred to a more convenient season. “Though we call them to the Most High, none at all will exalt him” so that God may complain of us as he did of his people of old, “All the day long have I stretched out my hands to a rebellious and gainsaying peoplec.”]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      In a way of appeal—

[We may justly say to you, “What more could have been done for you than God has done?” and wherefore do you so requite him? Judge, all of you, between God and your own souls, and say what such conduct merits at his hands. I will tell you in God’s name what you may assuredly expect. Behold the girdle when it was brought back from the river Euphrates, how “marred and worthless” it was: see too how that emblematic judgment has been executed on the Jewish nation, not only in their Babylonish captivity, but in their present dispersion, where they are “a hissing and an astonishment” to all the rest of the world. So will God’s indignation against you be manifested on account of the contempt you pour upon him; according to that express declaration of his, “Them that honour me, I will honour; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” As they who made light of his invitation were “not suffered even to taste of his supper,” so you shall never taste of that honour and happiness which he offers to you: and as they were shut out into outer darkness, so will you at the last day awake “to shame and everlasting contemptg.”]

  2.      In a way of encouragement—

[Nothing does God desire more, than to take even the vilest of mankind, and bind them to him as a girdle. Yes, there is not one so worthless, but he should be made a partaker of this honour, if only he would comply with the invitations of his God. O that every one of us might now obey his voice; and that he would “make us willing in the day of his power!” Would you see more clearly what God would do for you? This same prophet tells you without a figure, that “he will pardon all your iniquities” that ever you have committed, and so load you with his benefits, that all who behold you shall be filled with utter astonishment at his goodness to you. Only resist not his strivings with you, but “run after him when he draws you,” and beg him to “fulfil in you all the good pleasure of his goodness, even the work of faith with power: then shall the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in you, and ye shall be glorified in, and with him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”]

MXLVIII

A CALL TO REPENTANCE

  Jer. 13:15–17.

Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.

REPENTANCE is at all times a proper subject to be enforced; but more especially on a day professedly set apart for national humiliation. The words before us were addressed to the Jews when God was about to send them into captivity in Babylon: and they may well be considered as addressed to us, now that his hand is lifted up for the punishment, and, for aught we know, for the destruction of our land.

They manifestly contain the prophet’s exhortation; his arguments to enforce it; and his determination in case he should not be able to prevail on the people to repent.

But the occasion, and the text itself, call rather for exhortation than discussion. We shall therefore, though not without a due attention to the order of the words, proceed to urge upon you the great, the seasonable, the indispensable duty of repentance—

[Know then, that it is “God who speaketh.” The words delivered to you in his name, as far as they accord with his mind and will, are his words, and are to be received as though you heard them uttered by a voice from heaven.

“Hear ye, and give ear,” and let not the pride of your hearts obstruct your attention. Often has God spoken to you by the dispensations of his providence, and the declarations of his grace; yea, moreover, by the still small voice of conscience: but ye, the generality of you at least, have turned a deaf ear, and refused to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. But “be not proud,” Ye must hear at last, whether ye will or not. Let then your stout hearts be humbled; and receive with meekness the engrafted word.

In the name of God we say to you, REPENT. “Give glory to the Lord your God.” It is by repentance only that you can do this. Repentance glorifies all his perfections; his omniscience that sees your transgressions, his justice that punishes them, his mercy that pardons them, and his wisdom and goodness that have provided such a marvellous salvation for ruined man.

O glorify his omniscience: say, ‘Lord, thou art privy to all the secrets of my heart; thou knowest that I am inexpressibly vile.’

Glorify his justice; and acknowledge, that if he cut you off, and consign you to the lowest hell, you have no more than your just desert.

Glorify his mercy; and plead it with him as the only, the all-sufficient ground of your hope and confidence.

Glorify his wisdom and goodness, that have opened a way for your return to him through the incarnation and death of his only dear Son. Declare that you have no trust whatever but in the blood and righteousness of that almighty Saviour.

To persist in impenitence is the certain way to bring down the heaviest judgments upon your souls. The darkness that hangs over the nation, cannot be dispelled in any other way; much less can that with which God menaces your souls. O consider “the darkness, the gross darkness,” in which they are involved, who are shut up under judicial blindness and final obduracy; or who, under the terrors of a guilty conscience, “stumble on the dark mountains” of unbelief, and, like the Jews (who thought they had clean escaped from their pursuers) are overtaken by the sword of vengeance, so that “while they look for light, it is turned into the shadow of death,” and they are plunged into “the blackness of darkness for evermore.”

But repentance may yet avert the storm, both from the nation, and from our own souls. Numberless are the declarations of God to this effect and numberless the instances wherein it has been verifiedp. But let us remember what kind of repentance it is which will thus prevail: it is not a mere formal confession of sin with a partial reformation of the life, but such a repentance as glorifies all the perfections of the Deity; such a repentance as has an especial respect to Christ, who alone can procure our pardon, and in whom alone we can ever find acceptance with God.

Would to God that we might prevail with you, and that you were all, in good earnest, turning unto God! Could we once behold this, O how should we rejoice: and how would “the very angels in heaven rejoice” on your account! But, “if ye will not repent,” (as it is to be feared too many of you will not,) “my soul,” and the souls of all who are aware of your condition, “shall weep in secret places for your pride; yea, our eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears,” on account of your present and approaching bondage. The godly in all ages have wept over those who felt no concern for their own souls: and we trust that there are many, who will lay to heart the evils which ye are too proud to acknowledge, too obdurate to deplore. But we entreat you to consider, Is there one amongst us all, that is not a sinner before God? and does not the broken law denounce a curse against uss? and if God be true, will not that curse be inflicted on the impenitent? Why then will ye not humble yourselves before an offended God, a merciful Redeemer? Alas! for your “pride,” and stoutness of heart! How lamentable is it, that you, who have been baptized into the name of Christ, and are therefore properly “the Lord’s flock,” should be so “carried captive” by your lusts, and by your great adversary, the devil! O think, it is but a little time and your captivity will be complete; and, lost beyond a possibility of redemption, you will be bound in chains of everlasting darknessu. And is not here a cause for sorrow on your account? “O that mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night” for your unhappy state!

We will not, however, conclude, without once more entreating you to “give glory to the Lord your God;” that so “your light may rise in obscurity, and your darkness may be as the noon-day.”]

MXLIX

THE POWER OF EVIL HABITS

  Jer. 13:23.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

OF any particular acts which we have done amiss, we have been conscious: they have, as it were, obtruded themselves upon our notice, and we could not turn our eyes from them: but of an evil principle operating within us, we have been strangely insensible; though, if we had been at all observant of our daily habits, we could not but have both seen and felt it. It is owing to this that we have, for the most part, so high a conceit of our own sufficiency for what is good. We imagine that we have but to make a resolution, and any change which we propose will take place of course: but experience shews, that our habits of sin are not so easily broken, nor our resolutions respecting holiness so easily carried into effect. The truth is, that “the Ethiopian may as soon change his skin, or the leopard his spots, as we, by any power of our own, get into a course of what is good, after having been so long and so habitually accustomed to do evil.”

From the words before us, I will take occasion to point out,

  I.      The power of sin, as inherent in our nature—

No wonder that we are entirely led captive by it: for,

  1.      It pervades all our faculties, whether of mind or body—

[Our understanding is blinded by it; our will is rendered perverse; our affections are made earthly and sensual; our conscience is stupefied; and our very memory is enfeebled with respect to every thing truly good. By it, also, is the whole of our body defiled. St. Paul, with a remarkable particularity, specifies the subjection of our several members to this evil principle, from head to foot: so that what the prophet speaks of the Jewish people, may well be said of us: “From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in us; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying soresb.” The whole man is corrupt; insomuch that “every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually;” and “all our members are instruments of unrighteousness unto sind.”]

  2.      It finds in us nothing to counteract its influence—

[True indeed, man, in his fallen state, possesses both reason and conscience: but neither of these perform their office, in opposing the evil principle within us, any farther than to testify against such flagrant acts as may expose us to shame before men, I deny not, but that there are at times some secret stirrings in the mind, even at a very early period of life; some remonstrances against sin; and some intimations that we ought to serve our God, But these arise not from any remnant of good in our fallen nature: they are the fruits of divine grace, produced by the operation of the Spirit of God upon the soul; even of that blessed Spirit who wrought on Samuel, and John, and Timothy, from the very womb. The Scripture says expressly, that “in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing:” we cannot so much as will what is good, and much less do it, unless God work within us to that end; “nor have we a sufficiency even to think a good thought,” unless it be put into our hearts by the only Giver of all good. In reference to all spiritual exercises, reason and conscience are rather on the side of the corrupt principle; justifying, rather than condemning, the neglect of them; and substituting in their place such services as are altogether unworthy of Him who “claims to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.”]

  3.      It receives aid from every thing around us—

[“All that is in the world” is comprehended by the Apostle under these three designations; “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” And what are these, but confederates of the evil principle within us, giving it continually fresh scope for exercise, and soliciting it in every possible way to enslave our souls? Every thing we see, every thing we hear, has a tendency to draw us from God, to gratify our corrupt nature, and to give to the evil principle within us an advantage against us to our destruction. Even the Saviour himself, whilst to God’s elect “he is made a sanctuary,” is, to those who are destitute of divine grace, “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, yea, as a gin and a snare, whereby multitudes stumble and fall, and are broken and snared, and taken.”]

  4.      It conceals its influence under specious names—

[There is not an evil which the corrupt principle does not lead us to palliate by some gentle name, whilst on vital godliness it invariably casts reproach. What will it not commend to us, under the idea of innocent amusement? and what will it not sanction, under the terms conviviality and good breeding? Covetousness, worldliness, ambition, yes, and licentiousness itself, all lose their hateful qualities under the less offensive terms of prudence, and honour, and youthful indiscretion.

Is it any wonder, then, that men are led captive by sin and Satan, and that godliness is in so great a degree banished from the world?]

But, to get a just notion of this evil principle, we must yet further mark,

  II.      Its power, as augmented and confirmed by evil habit—

Habit is to us as a second nature: and by it, sin is greatly augmented and confirmed.

  1.      Its odiousness is diminished—

[I have already said, that there are certain acts of sin which, notwithstanding their general approbation of it, men are agreed to stigmatize as evil; and into these, men do not plunge themselves, without some checks of conscience, and some remorse after they have fallen into the commission of them. And, if a person were warned that he was in danger of abandoning himself to these, he would be ready to reply, “Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?” But we see to what lengths of wickedness men will proceed, when once these restraints are broken through; and how they will even come at last to “glory in their shame.” Who that walk the streets with shameless impudence, or that addict themselves to theft and robbery till they bring themselves to an untimely end, would ever have believed, that sin, which, when first committed, caused in them a blush of conscious guilt, should ever be carried by them to such a fearful extent, and be familiarized to them as their inseparable companion?]

  2.      Its power is strengthened—

[It is of the very nature of habit to strengthen the principle that is called into action, whether it be good or bad. The mind, the memory, the judgment, are strengthened by exercise; as the bodily organs are also: and they acquire a facility in doing things which at first are difficult. And thus it is also with evil habits: a man may have so accustomed himself to anger, intemperance, impurity, or sloth, that he shall not be able to withstand the smallest temptation: every trifle will irritate him; every opportunity of indulgence ensnare him; “his eyes will be so full of adultery, that he cannot cease from sin;” and “on his bed he shall become like a door upon its hinges,” that knows of no motion but from one side to another. This is placed in a peculiarly strong point of view by our blessed Lord, who tells us that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Godo.” And wherefore is this? It is because his habits of indulgence have so enslaved him, that he cannot overcome them; nor can any thing but Omnipotence itself effect his deliverance.]

  3.      Its opportunities for exercise are multiplied—

[Habit calls around us those persons and temptations that are most subservient to its indulgence. The man of pleasure moves in a round of gaiety and amusement. The man who is in the pursuit of wealth, is to be found, wherever his favourite object may be best accomplished. The man who affects pre-eminence and distinction, is ever prosecuting his plans by such methods as lie within his reach. Thus all put themselves in the very way of temptation, and of indulging the sin which most easily besets them. If they even fled from the occasions of sin, they would be in great danger: but when they accumulate to themselves occasions of falling, and lay continually stumbling-blocks in their own way, it is no wonder that they fall. For, “can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burnt? or can he walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burnt?” So if, instead of watching against temptation, we court it, and rush into it, and familiarize ourselves with it, there can be no hope but that we shall fall and perish. “A bird hasting to the snare, is not more sure of ruin than wer.”]

  4.      The powers whereby it should be resisted are destroyed—

[We have before said, that against enormous wickedness there are some barriers, arising from conscience, and a desire of man’s applause. But by habits of sin, “the conscience becomes seared as with a hot iron,” and is rendered altogether incapable of discharging its proper office. A fear of detection, or of God’s displeasure, may sometimes operate to restrain from great iniquity: but the mind may become altogether “hardened through the deceitfulness of sint,” till we resemble those of whom the prophet speaks in a preceding chapter: “Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock: they have refused to return.” What can be expected of such persons, but that they will “wax worse and worsex,” and continue “treasuring up wrath,” till it shall come upon them to the uttermost?”]

  5.      Every thing that is good is put, by it, at an unapproachable distance—

[“How shall they DO GOOD that have been accustomed to do evil?” If “the putting off the old man” be so difficult, what hope is there of such persons “putting on the new”? The loving, serving, honouring of God, are things which come not into the mind of one who is addicted to the commission of evil: in this sense, “God is not in all his thoughts.” And if any man think that of himself he can turn unto the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth, let him first wash an Ethiopian white; and then he may hope to accomplish the task of converting his own soul, and of “creating himself anew after the Divine image, in righteousness and true holiness.”]

  LEARN then, beloved,

  1.      Your need of converting grace—

[You need it for the subjugation of sin, and much more for the implantation of holiness in your souls. Yes, indeed, Brethren, “you must be born again, and be made new creatures in Christ Jesus.” No power, but that which formed the universe at first, can ever make you what you ought to be; and what you must be, if over you would behold the face of God in peace — — —]

  2.      The difference between sin and grace, as affected by our habits—

[You have seen the terrible effect of habit in relation to sin. But it is far different in relation to grace: for though it is true that gracious habits render the exercise of grace more easy, they will never, in any degree, supersede the need of fear and watchfulness. Behold David, the man after God’s own heart: he catches but a glimpse of Bathsheba, and what becomes of all his gracious affections? See Peter, also, who was so bold that he would die with his Divine Master: a maiden does but point him out as a follower of his Lord, and he denies him with oaths and curses. The truth is, that habits of sin increase the corrupt bias that is in the soul, and render its departure from a right line more easy and more certain than it was before: but habits of grace are only like an augmenting of a man’s power to roll a stone up hill: but if he intermit his labour, whatever advance he may have made, the stone will instantly roll down, and he will have all his labour to begin again. “Let him, then, that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” Still has the most eminent amongst us “the flesh lusting against the Spirit, as well as the Spirit lusting against the fleshb.” Yes, and still has the corrupt principle within him the force of “a law, which wars against the law of his mind, and brings him more or less into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members.” And this I say to humble you, and to put you on your guard. Yet, let not any of you be discouraged: for “the grace of Christ is amply sufficient for you,” if you will but seek it; “nor shall any temptation occur to you without a way to escape, that so “you may be able to bear it.” Be weak, then, in yourselves, and “strong in the Lorde:” so shall “his strength be perfected in your weakness,” and his name be glorified in your salvation.]

ML

GOD IS DESIROUS OF SAVING MEN

             Jer. 13:27.

Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?

THROUGHOUT all the sacred writings we behold the goodness and severity of God: sometimes the one attracts our notice, and sometimes the other; and in many places, as in that before us, we are struck with the union and combination of them both. Jerusalem was the city of the living God, the residence of his peculiar people; yet he denounces woe against them: but at the same time he declares, in very pathetic language, the ardent desires of his soul to exercise mercy towards them.

From these most affecting words we shall take occasion to shew,

  I.      The woes which impenitent sinners have reason to expect—

This is a painful, but necessary, subject of our inquiries—

The punishment that awaits sinners is most tremendous—

[The loss of heaven is one part of it: and who shall declare how great a loss this is? — — — The miseries of hell (which is the other part) are equally beyond the powers of language to describe, or of imagination to conceive — — —]

This, however, the impenitent have but too much reason to expect—

[“Woe unto thee!” says my text: and this is the voice of reason — — — of Scriptureb — — — of experience — — — of the compassionate Saviour himselfd — — — What stronger evidence can any man wish for? and how blind must he be that is not convinced by it!]

But however merited and awful these woes are, we see from the text,

  II.      How unwilling God is to inflict them—

He complains of men’s obstinacy in rejecting the overtures of his mercy—

[It is their sin only that exposes them to his displeasure: were that once removed, he would “rejoice over them to do them good.” And whence is it that they are not cleansed from it? Has not God provided such means for their cleansing, us should certainly be effectual, if only they were applied? Has he not opened a fountain to cleanse them from guilt? — — — Has he not promised to sprinkle them with water that should purify and renew their very inmost soulsf? — — — Yes: but they are averse to that purification: they hate the very means by which it is to be attained, and the regimen whereby it is to be preserved — — — God would gladly effect the work for them, if only they would submit to it; but they will not. Hence those complaints so often uttered by the prophetsh, and by Christ himself — — —]

He expresses also an impatient longing for an opportunity to bless their souls—

[Long has he waited to no purpose: yet still “he waiteth to be gracious unto us:” “he stands at the door of our hearts, and knocks.” His address to us is, “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways i for why will we die, O house of Israel?” Every day appears to him an age: he is at a loss, as it were, what to do, whether to give us up, or to use any further means. The complaint in the text is scarcely less the language of despondency than of compassion; “When shall it once be?” It is us though he said, ‘My patience is almost exhausted: your return to me is the most earnest desire of my soul: but I fear I shall be forced, in spite of all my efforts to save you, to abandon you at last, and to execute the judgments which you so obstinately provoke.’]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who imagine that they have no need of cleansing—

[What child of man has not need to be cleansed from that taint which we inherit from our first parents? And who has not contracted much moral defilement by means of actual transgression? — — — Let none entertain such proud conceits. The best amongst us, no less than the worst, need to be washed in the blood of Christ, and be renewed by his Spirit; and, without this cleansing, must inevitably perish.]

  2.      Those who are unwilling to be cleansed—

[Many are unwilling to part with even the grossest lusts. What then must we say to them? Must we speak peace to them, instead of denouncing woes? If we were to do so, God would not confirm our word: so that we should only delude them to their ruin. But indeed they themselves would not be deluded by any such assertions: for, with whatever confidence they utter them themselves, they would not endure to hear them if uttered from the pulpit.

But it is not gross sin only that must be put away: we must be “cleansed also from secret faults:” whatever stops short of this, is ineffectual. The right hand, the right eye, must be sacrificed; and the whole heart be turned unto God — — —]

  3.      Those who desire the cleansing of their souls—

[It is of infinite importance that you seek this blessing aright. It is not in floods of tears that you are to be cleansed; though floods of tears are proper and desirable: it is the blood of Christ alone that can cleanse from the guilt of sin; and the Spirit of Christ alone that can cleanse from the power and pollution of sin. To apply these effectually, we must embrace the promises, and rest upon them, trusting in God to accomplish them to our souls. We must not first cleanse ourselves, and then embrace God’s promises of mercy; but first lay hold on the promises, and then, by virtue derived from them, proceed to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit.”]

MLI

GOD’S NAME THE SINNER’S PLEA

             Jer. 14:7.

O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake.

PRAYER is both our duty and our privilege: and God often suffers trials to come upon his people, in order to stir them up to prayer, and to manifest himself to them in a more conspicuous manner as “a God that heareth prayer.” On some occasions, indeed, he has forbidden his people to intercede with him; as when he said to Moses, “Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against these idolaters, and that I may consume them.” But, in such cases, the prohibition has not been considered as absolute, but rather in a qualified sense; as intimating only, that any petitions offered under those particular circumstances could scarcely be expected to prevail; yet as implying a permission to the person to make the attempt. Certainly Moses understood it thus; for he, notwithstanding the prohibition, besought the Lord for Israel, and enforced his petitions with the most powerful pleas; and never ceased from urging his requests, till he obtained an answer of peace. The Prophet Jeremiah, in like manner, was repeatedly forbidden to intercede for Judah and Jerusalem: “Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.” Yet the prophet could not forbear; but urged his pleas with all imaginable tenderness and compassionc. He acknowledged, that the sins which had provoked God to anger were great and undeniable: but though he could find no excuse for Israel, he could find a plea in the very character of God: and therefore he entreated him to do, for his own sake, what he could not venture to ask for theirs.

In respect of outward circumstances, we at this day do not resemble the Jews; yet, as sinners, we need to make the same acknowledgments, and to offer the same pleas, as are recorded in our text.

Let us then, with a more immediate application of the passage to our own case, consider,

  I.      The sinner’s acknowledgment—

The prophet’s confession is precisely such as befits the world at large—

[Verily, their iniquities do “testify against them, even to their face.” Their whole lives shew that they have not the fear of God before their eyes. It is impossible to see their conduct, and not feel the force of this melancholy truthe. If it be said, that “they cannot serve the Lord;” I reply, “They will not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord.” There is much which they might do, and yet will not do. They might abstain from many things which they wilfully commit; and might perform many duties which they wilfully neglect. They might put themselves into the way of receiving good to their souls, by reading the Scriptures, and other religious books, in private; by a more diligent attendance on public ordinances; and by conversation with persons capable of instructing them in the things of God. But their contempt of all religious advantages, and the determined preference given by them to the things of time and sense, clearly prove the language of their hearts to be, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.”]

With too great reason, also, may it be adopted, even by the best of men—

[There is doubtless an immense difference between the godly and the world at large: for whilst the world are willing slaves of sin and Satan, the godly resist to the uttermost their spiritual enemies, and maintain, on the whole, a successful warfare against them. But though “the Spirit in them lusts against the flesh, the flesh still lusts and fights against the Spirit; so that they neither do, nor can do, the things that they would” I would ask of all, Whether their consciences do not bear testimony, that yet there is much amiss within them; and that they have yet much to deplore, in respect of commission, and especially in sins of omission and defect? Who amongst us have not reason to confess, that, on some occasions, through impatience or inadvertence, they have been betrayed into tempers which were unbecoming their holy profession? And who, through weakness and infirmity, have not given way to sloth and negligence in the secret exercises of the closet? And who, if they compare their very best duties with the holy requirements of the Law, and the boundless obligations of the Gospel, have not reason to blush and he confounded before God? Verily, the very best amongst us may well say with the prophet, “Our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and, as for our iniquities we know them.”]

But are we, therefore, without hope? By no means: for, together with these acknowledgments, we are free to offer,

  II.      The sinner’s plea—

The particular request which the prophet offered is not specified: but, in accordance with the subsequent part of his address, we may suppose it to have been for the restoration of God’s favour. For this we also may ask, not indeed on that is in us, but solely for the sake of God’s honour, and for the glory of his name.

This plea is open for all—

[God’s honour is deeply involved in his dealings with us. His justice and his holiness require him to manifest his abhorrence of sin, and his indignation against it: but his mercy inclines him to receive the mourning penitent, and to pardon his transgressions, however greatly they may have been multiplied against him: and if he were to spurn from his footstool a repentant sinner, he would consider himself as acting in a way that was unbecoming his divine character. He esteems the exercise of mercy as his highest glory, and his chief delight. And, when he can find nothing in his creatures to call forth, or even to justify, his kindness towards them, he takes the motive from within his own bosom, and shews mercy towards them for his own name’s sake. It was from this motive only that he brought his people out of Egypt, and conducted them in safety to the Promised Land. “Not for any righteousness of theirs” did he display his mercy towards them but, as he repeatedly tells them, “he wrought for his name’s sakek.” Seeing, then, that he has shewn such a regard for his own honour, it cannot be, but that he should be pleased when he sees a similar concern in us, and hears us urging it with him as our only plea. But that we may not found this on mere conjecture, let me refer you to an instance wherein this plea was urged exactly in the way that was most pleasing to God. On an occasion wherein God had appeared to have forsaken his people, Joshua addressed him in these memorable words: “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?” Here then we see, that, however much we may have provoked God to anger, and whatever reason we may have to fear that he is become our enemy, we may still approach him with this plea, and entertain a good hope that we shall find acceptance with him.]

This plea shall never be urged in vain—

[In the instance just mentioned, it was attended with good success. The Lord immediately answered Joshua, “Get thee up: wherefore liest thou upon thy face? Israel hath Sinned;” and on the putting away of their sin, I will return in mercy towards them. A yet more striking instance we have in the intercession of Moses for Israel, when God had determined to consume them on account of their worshipping of the golden calf. Moses pleaded with him the oath by which he had bound himself to Abraham and his seed; and immediately “the Lord repented of the evil which he had thought to do unto them.” Will not, then, the same plea be efficacious still; or rather, I should say, be, if possible, far more efficacious, now that we can plead the name of Jesus? Hear what Jesus himself has said: “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” Here is no limitation, no exception: nay more, the very glory of God is pledged for the fulfilment of this promise, and shall be advanced in its accomplishment.]

  The passage, thus opened, affords me a peculiarly fit occasion to DECLARE,

  1.      What should be the effect of sin upon the soul—

[That it should humble us, will be universally acknowledged. But to many it appears as if it were a proper ground for dejection and despondency; and more especially when it has been committed by one who has been numbered with the Israel of God. But I would wish the terms of my text to be very particularly noticed; for in them the plea is urged in the very face of all the iniquities that had been committed: “Though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake.” Here you will see that conviction of sin is, not to keep us from God, but to bring us to him. We must on no account give way to discouragement, as though our sins were too great to be forgiven, or as though it were presumptuous in such sinners to draw nigh to God. Presumptuous it would be, if we were to seek any plea from ourselves: but it cannot be so when our plea is derived from God alone. One or two passages of Scripture will place this matter in a clear and beautiful light. David prays, “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity: for it is great.” And again, “Iniquities prevail against me: but as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.” Here he makes the greatness of his sins a reason for his more earnest application to God, and for his more entire affiance in him. Let us then learn a truth but little known, and a truth on which our spiritual welfare most essentially depends; namely, That sin is a just ground for humiliation, but not for discouragement. In our first conversion to God, we must come as the chief of sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in him as both able and willing to save us to the uttermost. And is there any other way for us to come to God at a subsequent period? I know of none. Whether our sins be many or few, we may come as sinners, and we must come as sinners; founding all our hopes, not on any righteousness of our own, but on the multitude of his tender mercies. The mercy of God is our only hope, from first to last: and though we may have changed, He changeth not: nor is the way of access to him through the Son of his love closed against us. Let me not be misunderstood, as if I meant by these observations to speak lightly of sin; for sin, indulged and unrepented of, will infallibly destroy the soul: but we must be aware of a legal spirit; and guard against the idea, that the possession of any personal worthiness entitles us to God’s favour, or that the want of it is a barrier to our acceptance with him. From first to last our hope is in Christ alone; and his name, as it is our only plea, so shall it be effectual, if it be urged in humility and faith. Let this, then, be remembered by every mourning soul, that sin is a ground of humiliation, but not of discouragement. It is not possible for us to be too deeply humbled: but, on the other hand, it is not possible to hold fast too strongly our hope and confidence in God.]

  2.      What shall surely be effectual to remove it from the soul—

[Prayer, fervent and believing prayer, shall infallibly succeed at last. Where do we find an instance of a weeping penitent spurned from the footstool of the Lord? Never, never did a repenting sinner pour out his cries in vain. Only we must remember the requisites of acceptable prayer. It must be humble and contrite. We must “acknowledge our iniquity,” and our desert of God’s judgments on account of it. It must be fervent and persevering, like that of Daniel: “O my God, incline thine ear, and hear! for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken, and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God!” It must be offered solely in dependence on God’s promised mercies in Christ Jesus: “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.” The truth is, that God has solemnly engaged that “he will not cast out one who comes to him in his Son’s namex;” and sooner shall “heaven and earth pass away, than one jot or tittle of his word shall fail.”]

MLII

A PATTERN FOR NATIONAL HUMILIATION

  Jer. 14:7–9.

O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee; O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save! Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name: leave us not.

NATIONAL humiliation is the only mean of averting national judgments: it is that which God himself has prescribed; and to which he has often given the most signal success. The repentance, and consequent deliverance of Nineveh, a heathen nation, stands as an encouragement to all the kingdoms of the earth. The instances of God’s regard to the united supplications of his people are so numerous, that it has ever been judged expedient to appoint days for general fasting and prayer, in seasons of great calamity. Surely such an appointment was never more necessary than now! To assist you in improving this solemn occasion, we shall propose to your imitation the Jews, who, in a season of grievous drought and famine, humbled themselves before God. In the words before us, we see,

  I.      Their humble acknowledgments—

Conscious of having merited the Divine judgments, they confessed their guilt—

And may not we justly adopt their language as our own?

[“We have sinned against God” as much as any people upon earth: “our backslidings have been very many,” and “our iniquities do indeed testify against us,” Look through the land; see what profaneness everywhere abounds! — — — We have indeed professed on many solemn fast-days to repent, and turn unto the Lord; but our humiliation has not survived the day appointed for it, nor has any national reformation been visible amongst us — — — If we enter, every one of us, into our own hearts, we may see an epitome of all that is passing in the world: we may say with the Psalmist, “My heart sheweth mo the wickedness of the ungodly” — — — What ingratitude for mercies, what impenitence under sin, what unmindfulness of God’s presence, what disregard of his word, what evil dispositions, corrupt affections, and vile propensities, may be laid to our charge! — — — Let any one say, Whether these and innumerable other sins, do not testify against him — — — We would hope that there are but few amongst us who have not resolved, and for a time endeavoured, to repent: but has not our “goodness been as the morning-cloud, or the early dew that passeth away?” Have not our “backslidings been multiplied? And could we have thought, some years ago, that we should have made so small a progress in the Divine life, or, perhaps, that we should at this day have been as far from God as ever? — — — Let us then make these acknowledgments to God with most unfeigned contrition, and lie before him in dust and ashes.]

With equal propriety also we may imitate,

  II.      Their mournful expostulations—

Nothing indeed can be more offensive to God than arrogant expostulations; but nothing more acceptable than such as are presented with unfeigned humility—

Such were those with which the Jewish penitents addressed the Lord—

[The titles, by which they address the Deity, are expressive of the deepest reverence: God is indeed the hope, the only “hope of his people:” and he is their willing and all-sufficient “Saviour in the time of trouble.” Nor did they intend to question either his inclination or ability to save them; but only to say, Wilt thou be like a stranger that cares not for us; or like one, who, though mighty in himself, is yet, through perturbation of his mind, or the insuperable difficulty of the case, unable to afford succour? Similar expostulations were frequently used by David; and however they may at first sight appear expressive of too great familiarity, are indeed the genuine effusions of a contrite soul—]

Let us approach our God in terms of like import—

[To whom can we look as our “Hope,” but Jehovah? and who but he has been our “Sariour in times of trouble?” But, alas! He is at present but as “a stranger in the land, or as a mighty man that cannot save.” We have cried to him, and we are not delivered; though he has graciously interposed on some occasions, yet still we are left in deep affliction; nor can we at all divine what shall be the issue of our troubles. The greater part of us too, we fear, are no less in doubt respecting the issue of their spiritual conflicts: If they June ever cried to God, their enemies yet prevail; and it is uncertain whether they shall not finally be overwhelmed by sin and Satan. With what earnestness, then, should they look to Christ, as to “the hope set before them,” and plead with him as their Saviour in this hour of need!]

But to their expostulations let us not forget to add,

  III.      Their fervent petitions—

The penitents before us seemed conscious as well of their unworthiness as of their impotency—

Hence, both in their petitions and their pleas, they expressed their entire reliance upon God’s grace and mercy—

[Sensible, that if God forsook them, or refused his aid, they must perish, they cried, “Leave us not!” “Do thou it” which we desire: and having no goodness or worthiness of their own to plead, they entreated him “for his name’s sake,” and because of his presence with them, and his relation to them; “Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name: leave us not!”]

A more excellent pattern for our imitation we cannot find—

[What can we do as a nation, if God forsake us, or withhold his powerful interposition? In vain will our fleets and armies go forth to meet the enemy, if God be not with them, to succeed their efforts. But can we plead the superior piety of our nation? Is there any thing in the land so excellent, that we can urge it with God as a ground whereon we may expect his favour? Alas! the superior light of which we boast, and the distinguished blessings which we enjoy, have greatly aggravated our national guilt: we can therefore ask nothing but mercy, for mercy’s sake. It is true, “God is still (bleased be his name!) in the midst of us;” and while our enemies have professedly cast off their allegiance to him, we glory in being “called by his name.” In this view we may plead his presence with us, and his relation to us; yet not in a spirit of proud boasting, but of humble and thankful acknowledgment. And the more God is honoured in the midst of us, the more may we expect a continuance of his favour towards us.

It is almost needless to observe, that, with respect to our personal necessities, we must have no other plea than that before mentioned. He must be ignorant indeed who will presume to ground his hopes upon any merit of his own; though certainly, if we belong to God, we may plead his past mercies as a ground on which we hope for the continuance and increase of them. In this manner therefore let us approach our God; and we may rest assured that our supplications shall not go forth in vain.]

  APPLICATION—

[Let this day be truly set apart for the humbling of your souls before God — — — And let the pattern now set before you be not only approved, but imitated in all its parts. There is a day coming when we shall either look back upon our present humiliation with unspeakable comfort, or regret bitterly that we trifled with God and our own souls. Defer not then this necessary work. The nation, of which you are members, demands it of you. Whatever be your judgment with respect to politics, there can be no doubt but that you have contributed to augment the guilt of the nation, and are therefore bound to deprecate the judgments that are hanging over it. The salvation of your own souls too depends on your unfeigned repentance; and the sooner you turn to God in his appointed way, the sooner will you obtain a sense of his favour, and the brighter will be your prospects in the heavenly world. Let us all then turn to Christ, as the Hope of Israel, and the Saviour thereof: and however unable or unwilling to save we may have foolishly supposed him, we shall find him both “able and willing to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.”]

MLIII

HOW TO PLEAD WITH GOD

  Jer. 14:20, 21.

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.

“LORD, teach us to pray,” was the request of the Apostles to their Lord and Master: and may Almighty God teach us to pray, whilst we consider the passage we have just read. Here is prayer indeed, such as it becomes us all to offer; and such as we shall surely offer, if ever we be duly sensible of our state before God. It was offered by the prophet in a season of great affliction. The whole land was in the utmost distress by reason of a drought, which put a total stop to vegetation, and destroyed all the fruits of the earth: and the prophet was assured, that that distress would speedily become extreme by means of the Chaldeans, who would invade the country, and desolate Jerusalem with the sword and famine. Under these circumstances, he was commanded not to pray for the people, since the measure of their iniquities was full, But, like Moses of old, the prophet could not forbear: he first indeed warned the people of the judgments which God was about to inflict upon themc, and then, in a most earnest and humble manner, pleaded with God in their behalf.

We propose,

  I.      To explain this prayer of the prophet—

His acknowledgments are plain and easy to be understood—

[He confesses, as he might well do, the sins of the whole nation; as well those contracted by their ancestors, as those which they had themselves committed: and he entreats God “not to abhor them” on account of their extreme wickedness. Now this expression, whilst it marked his sense of their vileness, had particular reference to what God himself had threatened by Moses, and to what he had promised also in the event of their humbling of themselves before him. Hence, in the verse before the text, the prophet asks, “Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion?”]

His pleas require some explanation—

[Being exceedingly earnest in his petitions, he offers the most powerful pleas that could possibly be urged: he entreats God to have mercy on them for his own sake, and to shew regard to the honour of his name, the glory of his administration, and the sanctity of his engagements.

The first of these pleas, the honour of God name, is frequently urged in the Holy Scriptures, and is particularly acceptable to God; who “is jealous for his holy name,” and delights to sanctify it” in the sight of an ungodly worldh.

The second of these pleas involves in it somewhat of greater difficulty. The words, “Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory,” are generally interpreted as importing no more than this;” ‘Do not give up the city and temple into the hands of the enemy.’ The words will undoubtedly bear this sense: for both the city and the temple are represented as God’s throne; and he threatens to give them up into the hands of his enemies to be polluted and defiled by themk. But, if we attend to the manner in which this petition is introduced, we shall see that it is, like that which precedes, and that which follows it, a plea; in which view its sense will be, ‘Thou art our King, who art engaged to provide for and protect thy people; and if thou give up the city and the temple into the hands of our enemies, as thou hast threatened, thy government will be dishonoured; and they will say, that thou art not able to afford them the succour which thou hast promised them.’ In this view the passage exactly accords with the plea urged by Moses, and with that also which Jeremiah himself has urged more fully, and in the very same connexion, in the preceding part of this chapterm.

The last of these pleas reminds God of his covenant, which he cannot, and will not, break. This must doubtless refer to the covenant of grace, which God made with Abraham and with all his believing people to the end of time. The national covenant that was made with Moses was broken, and annulled; because all the conditions of it had been violated: but “the better covenant” which was made with God in Christ, is “ordered in all things and sure.” and by it “the promise is made sure to all the seedp.” That covenant is “confirmed by the oath of Jehovah, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us.” This covenant God had engaged never to break; and therefore the prophet urged the inviolability of it as a motive with God to fulfil to his people, notwithstanding their unworthiness, all which of his own grace and mercy he had promised to them. In this view God himself had promised to regard his covenant: and in this view the plea in our text may be considered as expressing what is more diffusely stated by the Prophet Isaiaht.]

Having stated what may be considered as the import of the prayer, we proceed,

  II.      To point out some important lessons contained in it—

We shall confine ourselves to two;

  1.      The true nature of a sinner’s humiliation—

[Nothing can give us a more just idea of humiliation than the prophet’s expression of it in our text. It necessarily implies an ingenuous confession of our sins, and of our desert on account of them. Think of the expression, “Abhor us not:” what a sense of extreme unworthiness does it convey! Yet is it not at all too strong: we are all, both by nature and practice, exceeding vile; and ought, like Job, to “abhor ourselves in dust and ashesx”. Indeed this will be the state of every one that is truly penitent: he will look upon himself as “filthy and abominable,” and will “lothe himself for all his iniquities, and for all his abominationsz.” Every attempt to cloke or palliate our offences argues a want of humility, and operates to the exclusion of our souls from the Divine favour. We must be like convicted lepers in our own estimation, and justify our God in whatever sentence he may denounce against us.]

  2.      The proper grounds of a sinner’s encouragement—

[Though we may justly acknowledge the work of Divine grace in us, and may give glory to God for whatever change he may have wrought in our hearts, yet we must not regard any thing of our own as a ground for our confidence in God: we must look for all our grounds of encouragement in God alone, even in his infinite perfections, and in the covenant which he has made with us in the Son of his love. When David was overwhelmed with trouble, we are told, “he encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” And this is what we are to do. In the prayer which the prophet offered, he drew all his pleasures from the honour and fidelity of his God. And what encouragement can we want, if we only contemplate God as he is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures? As a mighty Sovereign, his grace is his own, and he may grant it to whomsoever he will; yea, and his sovereignty will be the more displayed and glorified, in the communication of grace to the very chief of sinners, and in making “his grace to abound, where sin has most abounded.” The comfort to be derived from the contemplation of his love and mercy need not be stated; because that is obvious to the most inconsiderate mind. But even justice itself affords rich encouragement to a repenting sinner: for, has not an atonement been made for sin? and has not the Lord Jesus Christ discharged the debt of all those who trust in him? No doubt then, the justice of God, which has been satisfied by the ransom which his own Son has paid for us, will liberate us from our bondage, and restore us to all the privileges which his own Son has purchased for us. As he can be “a just God and yet a Saviour,” so he will be just to his own Son, in shewing mercy to us for Christ’s sake. Above all, his fidelity to his covenant-engagements leaves us no ground for fear; for never, since the foundation of the world, did one sinner perish who laid hold on his covenant, and rested in it as “all his salvation and all his desire.”]

  Let me in CONCLUSION be permitted to ask,

  1.      Have you ever pleaded with God in this manner—

[Alas! if God were now to order those who have pleaded thus with him to be sealed on their foreheads, and all the rest to be smitten dead upon the spot, what an awful spectacle would this place exhibit! Yet such a distinction will be made in the day of judgment. Beloved Brethren, consider this: and “judge yourselves, that ye be not judged of the Lord” — — — Shall it be said, that such pleadings are not necessary? What! were they judged necessary by the prophet for the averting of temporal judgments; and shall they not be for the averting of such as are eternal? Truly they are necessary for every child of man: nor can we hope to obtain mercy with God, unless we seek him thus with our whole hearts.]

  2.      Have you ever pleaded thus with God in vain—

[Never did God turn a deaf ear to one who sought him in this manner: “Never said he to any man, Seek ye my face in vain!” If any say that they have prayed, and yet not received an answer, we reply, that either they have never pleaded in this manner the perfections and the promises of God; or, an answer has been given, but has been overlooked. God cannot refuse an answer to a broken-hearted suppliant. He may answer in a way that we do not expect; or be may delay his answer with a view to our greater good: but as he has promised to grant such petitions as are offered up in faith, so will we affirm, in the presence of the whole universe, that “every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”]

MLIV

THE WORD OF GOD PRECIOUS

  Jer. 15:16.

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.

THE commission given to the prophets was often of a very painful nature; to harden, rather than convert, their countrymen; and to denounce judgments, rather than to proclaim mercy. Of this kind was the commission given to Jeremiahb: and for executing it, he was grievously persecuted and oppressed. Yet, notwithstanding the nature of his message, and the consequences resulting from a faithful delivery of it, he rejoiced in being honoured with an embassy from the King of kings; assured that, whatever might be the final result either to his countrymen or himself, God would be glorified. But when the prophets were sent only to denounce judgments, they knew that there was a secret reserve in the mind of God for the exercise of mercy, in case the people who were thus menaced should repent. When Jonah was sent to Nineveh to declare explicitly that in forty days the whole city should be overthrown, he had a secret suspicion, which in the event was verified, that God would, in case they repented, exercise mercy towards them. And in like manner, Jeremiah had a hope, that the faithful execution of his office, even though it should be unavailing to the generality, would be productive of good to some; and therefore on that account God’s word, which he was sent to publish, “was unto him the joy and rejoicing of his heart.” Under the Gospel dispensation, ministers are sent, not so much to thunder out anathemas against the rebellious world, as to proclaim to them “glad tidings of great joy.” And the scope of the inspired writings, as now collected into one volume, is to encourage the desponding, and to give rest to the heavy-laden. Well therefore may all, whether ministers or people, when they take the sacred volume into their hands, say, “Thy word was found, and I did eat it; and it was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.”

In order to elucidate these words, we shall shew,

  I.      How the word of God should be received—

In the days of Josiah the word of God had been lost: and, when it was found, it was received with avidity, as a gift from heaven. We do not however conceive that any similar event is referred to in the passage before us. The true light will be cast on our text, if we consult a parallel passage in the Prophet Ezekiel, where it was said to Trim, “Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel:” and then he ate it, and it was in his “mouth as honey for sweetness.” In both the passages the word is compared to food, which is to be eaten and digested as the proper nutriment of the soul. This image is just; since, like common food, the word,

  1.      Is necessary for all—

[Who can live without it? Who can have any just knowledge of God without it, or have any conception how sinful man can obtain mercy at the hands of his offended God? The greatest philosophers of Greece and Rome were entirely in the dark on all subjects connected with the soul; nor could unenlighted reason ever have explored those mysteries which the inspired volume alone has revealed to man. Even at this present day, notwithstanding the light of revelation, the great and learned amongst ourselves are still ignorant of divine truth, if they have not been taught of God by the effectual application of his word to their souls. It is by the word that the knowledge of salvation is still communicated to every one of us: and we must all study it for ourselves, receiving its testimony with a believing heart, and submitting both our reason and our passions to its enlightening and sanctifying influence.]

  2.      It is suitable to all—

[In the sacred oracles there is “milk for babes, and strong meat” for those of an adult age. The fundamental truths are written there so plainly, that “he who runs may read them:” and so clearly do they mark out the path to heaven, that “the way-faring man, though a fool, cannot err therein,” if only he receive its directions with an humble and contrite spirit. On the other hand, there are in the inspired volume mysteries which no finite intelligence can fully comprehend. Not only may the greatest proficients in sacred literature be always advancing in knowledge, but the very angels themselves acquire more enlarged views of the manifold wisdom of God, from the revelation that is made of it in the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, so infinitely diversified is the instruction to be gathered from the sacred volume, that we can be in no situation in which it does not contain the directions and encouragements most suited to our case.]

  3.      It is sufficient for all—

[“The Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus.” We need no acquaintance with any other book, nor with any other subject which is not contained in that volume. Other books doubtless are useful, and knowledge of many other subjects is desirable; but nothing is necessary for salvation which is not contained in the Holy Scriptures, and easily to be learned from them. A strange idea is maintained by some, that the Scriptures are unintelligible to the poor and illiterate; and that they are more likely to mislead them, than to guide them aright. But what a reflection is this on God himself, as having imparted to us a book altogether unsuited to the end for which it was given! But there is no ground for any such reflection. There are doubtless in the Scriptures some things hard to be understood, and which an unstable person may wrest to his own destruction: but we again affirm, that all which is necessary to be known is easily to be gathered from the word of God; and that, if it be “received with meekness as an engrafted word, it is able,” and shall be effectual, “to save the soul”.]

Let us now proceed to consider,

  II.      What effect it will produce—

As the roll, when eaten by Ezekiel, was as honey in his mouth, so to Jeremiah “the word was the joy and rejoicing of his heart.” In a man that is impenitent and unbelieving, we acknowledge that the word is calculated to inspire terror: but to one that is of a penitent and contrite spirit, it speaks nothing but peace and joy. This is the proper effect of every part of the inspired volume; of,

  1.      Its declarations—

[O, how wonderful are these! What an exhibition does the Scripture give us of God’s character, and of the way which he has provided for the salvation of sinful men! What a stupendous mystery does it reveal, of the incarnation and death of his co-equal, co-eternal Son! of Christ “bearing our sins in his body on the tree,” and “being made sin for us, that we may be made the righteousness of God in him!” Can such tidings as these reach the ears of a guilty and condemned sinner, and not fill him with joy? Can the voice of pardon reach the cell of a condemned criminal, and be received with indifference? or, if the offers of a free and full salvation, were now to be sent to the regions of the damned, would they excite no joyous emotions among the unhappy sufferers? If there be any, to whom the Gospel comes, that do not rejoice in the glad tidings, it is because they know not their lost estate, nor have any desire after reconciliation with their offended God. To those who know their guilty and undone state, the declarations of mercy sounding forth in the Gospel are “dearer than thousands of silver and gold.”]

  2.      Its precepts—

[It may be thought, that, because these are so strict and holy, they can afford no joy to any: but the very reverse is the case; for the true believer will say with David, “Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.” A redeemed soul is asking, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?” and in the precepts he sees what God requires of him, and how he may bring glory to the God of his salvation. He sees that an attention to these will perfect his nature, and transform him into the Divine image: hence “he esteems them concerning all things to be right;” and “because they are right, they rejoice his heart,” and are accounted by him “sweeter than honey, and the honey-comb”]

  3.      Its promises—

[These are justly called by the Apostle “exceeding great and precious,” more especially because “by them we are made partakers of a divine nature,” and are enabled to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of Godm.” Who can declare a thousandth part of the joy which a weary and heavy-laden sinner experiences in applying to his soul the promises of the Gospel? With what avidity does he devour them! They are like the first ripe fig which in the early spring a traveller sees, and devours, ere any one, however near to him, has time to claim it: and the man who knows not this by his own sweet experience, has yet “to learn what be the very first principles of the oracles of God.”]

  4.      Its threatenings—

[These to the believer are scarcely less precious than the promises themselves. It was one great excellence of the Scriptures in the estimation of David, that “by them he was warned.” He regarded them as a mariner his chart, by which he is warned of the rocks and quicksands on which he will infallibly be wrecked, if he deviate from his proper course. Is there a seaman, who, when in imminent danger, is instructed by that faithful monitor to avoid destruction, will not adore his God for the warning that taught him to escape it? So it is with all who truly fear God: they love to be warned: they desire to be put upon their guard: they are afraid of turning aside in any respect, or of relaxing their efforts in the path of duty. Like Paul, they contemplate the danger of a relapse as an incentive to fresh exertions, and “keep their body under, and bring it into subjection, lest, after having preached to others, they themselves should be cast-aways.” In a word, the believer views the threatenings, as the angels who took Lot and his daughters by the hand, and, by representations of their danger, accelerated their escape from the devouring element: he acquiesces in them as “just and holy;” and by their quickening influence he finds them to be “good.”]

  May we not then LEARN from hence,

  1.      What enemies to their own souls they are who neglect the Holy Scriptures!

[Notwithstanding the Scriptures are “the wells of salvation, from whence we are privileged to draw water with joy,” the greater part even of the Christian world pay but little attention to them: any other book of science or amusement is preferred before them, and, unless in a formal cursory way, they are never read at all. Now what folly is this! What man in his senses, when navigating his ship amongst rocks and quicksands, neglects to consult his chart? Yet, as if there were no dangers in the Christian’s way, or no great evil to be incurred by negligence, the generality are quite indifferent about that book which alone can conduct us safely to a better world. But lot it not be so amongst you: “Search the Scriptures, in which ye think, yea and know assuredly, ye have eternal life.” “Search them daily,” as the Bereans did: “search them as for hid treasure;” and lift up your hearts to God for the teachings of his good Spirit, “to guide you into all truth.” “He will open your understandings to understand them,” and will work effectually by them to your salvation. They are the rod of God’s strength, and the sword of his Spirit: and if you read them in humility and faith, you shall rind them “quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; and they shall discover to you the very thoughts and intents of your hearts.” If you will not sit thus at the feet of Jesus and learn of him, it is in vain for you to number yourselves among his disciples; but if you will come to him, you need not be discouraged at your weakness or ignorance; for he says, “Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”]

  2.      What an unspeakable blessing is the Bible Society!

[Though the Scriptures are not with us, as among the Papists, locked up in a language not generally understood, yet by the cost of a Bible it has been to a great extent kept out of the possession of the poor. True it is, that they who have known the value of the Bible would procure it at any rate: but those who were unacquainted with its treasures have found it too costly for them to purchase. But now he that is able to pay only a part, may have it for that part; and they who can really pay nothing, may have it for nothing. Now therefore the poor may well say, “Thy word is found: yes, it is found; and I will eat it.” O that there were in all of us such a heart! and that we were all determined henceforth to feed upon its precious truths; and that, like Job, we “esteemed it more than our necessary food!” Now God is sending it to all of us, the poorest as well as the richest, exactly as he did the manna in the wilderness: he sends it home to our very houses, and invites us to live upon it. The king upon the throne has no richer food; and the poorest amongst us has now a free access to it, so that he may “eat that which is good, and let his soul delight itself in fatness.” Let us bless God then, who has put it into the hearts of so many to provide for us such ample supplies of this invaluable treasure: and let us all, according to our ability, labour to promote the designs of a Society, which is the most honourable to God, and most useful to man, that ever existed upon the face of the earth.]

MLV

THE DUTY OF TRUSTING IN GOD

  Jer. 17:5–8.

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out, her roots by the river and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green: and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

EVERY created being derives its existence and support from God: yet man is prone to depend on the creature rather than on him. Though constantly disappointed, he still leans on an arm of flesh; but such conduct is justly reprobated in the strongest terms.

We shall consider,

  I.      The characters that are contrasted—

Every man by nature “trusts in man, makes flesh his arm, and his heart departs from the Lord.” We need not go to heathens or infidels to find persons of this description. We need only search the records of our own conscience.

[In temporal things, we never think of looking above the creature: if they be prosperous, we trust in uncertain riches, and take the glory to ourselves; if adverse, we lean to our own understanding and exertions, or rely for succour on our friends. In spiritual things, we seek to establish a righteousness of our own; we expect to repent and serve God by our own strength.]

The true Christian “trusts in the Lord, and makes the Lord his hope”—

[He trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of providence: he commits his affairs to him, expecting his promised aid. He trusts also in Jesus as the God of grace: he renounces all hope in his own goodness or resolutions: he cordially adopts the language of the Church of old—]

These marks afford a sure line of distinction between the nominal and the real Christian—

[Both may be moral, charitable, and attentive to religious duties; but the regenerate alone trust simply in the Lord. Not that all the regenerate are alike delivered from self-dependence; nor do the same persons always exercise their graces in the same degree. There are remains of self-righteousness &c. in the best of men; but the unregenerate allow these things which are abhorred by the regenerate.]

Nor is this difference between them of trifling import.

  II.      Their respective conditions—

Men’s eternal state will be fixed with perfect equity. The conditions of the characters before us are strongly contrasted:

  1.      Simply; “blessed,” &c. “cursed,” &c.

[What can be more important than these declarations? They are not the dictates of enthusiasm, but the voice of God; “Thus saith the Lord.” And may we not adopt Balak’s words in reference to God?—And what can be more reasonable? God has given his Son to be our Saviours; but while some confide in him, others, by not trusting in him, reject him: how reasonable then is it that a curse should attach to these, and a blessing to those! Such a difference in their conditions seems the necessary result of their own conduct. Spiritual life or death are dependent on our trust in the Lord, just as the life of the body is on our receiving or rejecting of animal food. Let every one then inquire, which of these conditions he has reason to expect?]

  2.      Figuratively—

To mark the contrast more clearly, it is further observed, that both the blessing and the curse shall be

Abundant—

[The unbeliever “shall be like the heath in the desert;” he shall be left in a state of extreme barrenness and wretchedness: and this too amidst all his boasted fulness. The believer “shall be as a tree planted by the waters,” &c.; he shall be made flourishing and happy by rich supplies of graced.]

Unmixed—

[The unbeliever “shall not see when good cometh:” he receives none of the heavenly dew that falls around him. The believer “shall not see when heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green, nor shall he be careful in the year of drought:” he may experience “heat” and “drought,” i. e. heavy afflictions; he shall, however, not be injured, but benefited by them: free from all anxiety, he will say as the Church of oldf—]

Eternal—

[The unbeliever “shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited:” he shall be an outcast from God in the regions of misery. The believer “shall not cease from yielding fruit:” his present enjoyments are the pledge and earnest of eternal happiness.]

  INFER—

  1.      How glorious a person must Christ be!

[If he were a mere creature, it would be ruinous in the extreme to trust in him; but we are expressly commanded to trust in him. He must then be “God over all, blessed for ever.” And this renders him worthy of our fullest affiance: on him must “hang all the glory of his Father’s househ.”]

  2.      How are we all concerned to trust in Christ!

[God regards, not merely our outward conduct, but the frame of our hearts: on this our present and everlasting happiness depends. Let us then trust in him for all temporal and spiritual aid; so shall we receive his blessing, and escape his curse.]

MLVI

NECESSITY OF KNOWING OURSELVES

             Jer. 17:9.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

A MORE important subject than that before us cannot occupy the human mind. The knowledge of ourselves is fundamental to all true knowledge of religion. Religion is no longer to us what it was to man in his primeval state, the natural expression of all the feelings of his soul: it is a remedy, devised for the restoration of his soul to the favour, and to the image, of his God: and we must see in what manner, and to what extent, we are fallen, before we can understand aright the provision made for our recovery: we must know our disorder before we can appreciate the remedy. Behold then what the Scripture speaks concerning us! The expressions in our text are not an eastern metaphor, that must be softened down; or a complaint uttered against one particular individual, whose impieties far exceeded the common standard of mankind: they are a plain exposition of the state to which the heart of man is reduced by the fall of Adam: and, however we may wish, for the credit of human nature, to put a lenient construction on the terms, we cannot by any fair means explain them away: they are absolutely inflexible; and we must bow before them, as containing the infallible testimony of God concerning us. But it is not without a considerable measure of fear and diffidence that we enter upon the investigation of a subject so deep, so vast, so occult. When God himself says, “Who can know it?” we seem presumptuous in undertaking to explain it. But we hope that the acknowledged necessity of every man’s attaining some knowledge of it will plead our excuse for any attempt which we may make to throw light upon it; and that you will supply our defects by lifting up your hearts to God in prayer, and entreating him to give you that self-knowledge, which, even a heathen saw, must descend from heaven.

The subjects then for our present consideration are, the deceitfulness, and wickedness, of the human heart:

  I.      Its deceitfulness—

There is perhaps no stronger proof of the deceitfulness of the heart than the power it possesses to hide its deceits from us. But, that we may present somewhat of its deceitfulness to your view, we will distinctly mark it in the three following particulars:

It misrepresents the nature of all things;

It keeps out of view their tendency; And

It deceives, not others only, but itself also.

Of course, when we say, “It misrepresents the nature of all things,” we must be understood as speaking only of the things which concern the soul. To advert to other things, and to consider how far the powers of the human mind are enfeebled in relation to matters of mere science, would be altogether beside our purpose.

But where shall we begin our illustration of this point? If we look up to God, there is not a perfection of his nature which the unenlightened mind views aright; and as for those perfections which he exercises as the moral Governor of the universe, they are even held in abhorrence by the carnal mind: his absolute sovereignty is denied, as though the exercise of it were an injustice to man: his holiness and justice are supposed capable of winking at the commission of sin; and his veracity is impeached, to make way for the salvation of those who rebel against him. Some are so foolish and infatuated, as to “say, There is no God:” and, of those who acknowledge his existence, there is not one, unless he have been previously converted by Divine grace, who entertains worthy conceptions of him in his heart.

If we turn our thoughts to the world around us; what is there, that the heart of man views in its proper light? Its pleasures? its riches? its honours? All these, instead of being regarded as snares and worthless vanities, are perfectly idolized, and are sought after as constituting the chief happiness of man.

Look we to morals? How erroneous are our conceptions even of the plainest duties! Pride, anger, revenge, are held forth as noble and honourable; whilst the virtues of humility, meekness, forbearance, and forgiveness, are despised, as indications of a weak and cowardly disposition. As formerly neither the Greeks nor Romans had a word in their language whereby to express the true notion of humility, so now the very idea of humility, as enjoined in the Christian code, never enters into the mind of an unconverted man, unless it be to load it with ridicule and contempt.

Go we, further, to religion? That is considered as consisting in little more than a profession of certain tenets, and an observance of certain forms. The entire devotion of the soul to God is deemed a foolish and culpable excess, the effect of needless timidity or of enthusiastic ardour: and, to countenance these ideas, harsh and offensive names are used to characterize all true piety; whilst every thing contrary to the Divine commands, is palliated with soft names and plausible excuses.

In a word, the Scripture itself describes the heart of man in this precise view, as “calling evil good, and good evil; as putting darkness for light, and light for darkness; as putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.”

Proceed we then, next, to observe, that the heart keeps out of view the tendency of things. Let us instance this in relation to sin. Who, on his first entrance on a sinful course, imagines whither his vicious propensities will lead him? He thinks of a present gratification, but does not consider that sin is “like the letting out of water;” and that the smallest breach in a bank opens the way for the most extensive inundation. It a thought of our final account occur to the mind, the heart suggests, that the sin may be repented of with ease, and that there is no just reason to be afraid of its consequences; notwithstanding its uniform tendency is, to harden the heart, to sear the conscience, to grieve and quench the Holy Spirit of God, and to rivet upon our souls the chains which have been forged by the great destroyer of mankind. Ask any man who feels the burthen and the bitterness of sin, whether, when committing it, he had any idea of its tendency to distress the soul, and to create, as it were, a very hell within him? He will tell you, that, in following his lusts, he dreamed of nothing but pleasure; and that whilst he was tempted with the bait, the hook was only faintly suspected, or kept entirely out of view. Whatever be the sin to which we are tempted, the heart suggests, that there is no great evil in it; that God is too merciful to punish us eternally for such a trifle; that it is not possible for us to perish, since all around us are in the same state with ourselves; or that, at all events, a dying hour will be quite time enough for the indulging of any melancholy reflections; and that a few prayers, then offered, will answer every end that we can wish. Thus the delusions of sin, and the wiles of Satan, are all countenanced by our own evil hearts; and the awful consequences of transgression are kept out of sight, till it is too late to avert them. Against this propensity of the heart we are warned in the Holy Scriptures: If, says God, a man hearing the curses denounced against him in my word, “bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, then I will not spare him; but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.”

The third mark which we mentioned as shewing the unparalleled deceitfulness of the heart, is this, that it deceives, not others only, but itself also. It is said in our text to be “deceitful above all things.” Riches and other things are said to be deceitful; but they are so called, only because the heart makes them occasions of deceiving us: they are themselves altogether passive in the matter. Of active agents, Satan is beyond all comparison the greatest deceiver, except the heart: but he, when he is deceiving, is conscious that he is deceiving: he does not for a moment imagine that he is speaking truth: but the heart persuades itself that it is not guilty of any imposition: it is as confident of its own integrity, as if it were really upright; and as fully convinced of the truth of its representations, as if they were really true. This is the case universally amongst those who are yet in a carnal and unconverted state. Those who imagine that religion consists in the observance of certain forms, are often as free from doubts as any people upon earth; and if it be insinuated that they are blind, they ask with surprise and indignation, “Are we blind also?” In like manner a ferocious bloody-thirsty persecutor will actually think, that, whilst he is killing the Lord’s people, “he is doing God service:” just as the persecuting Saul “verily thought with himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus.” But further, even the Atheist, who reduces God to a level with man, persuades himself that he is right; “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” Indeed the same propensity of heart shews itself even after that we are converted: the Apostles themselves, when they would have called fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan village, thought, undoubtedly, that their proposal was at least an acceptable expression of their zeal: but our Lord told them, that “they knew not what spirit they were of:” and Peter, when dissuading his Master from entertaining any thoughts about sufferings and death, supposed that he displayed most unexceptionably the tenderness of his love; whilst in reality he was, as our Lord himself told him, no other than an agent of the devil.

Of this power of the heart to deceive itself, all men are conscious, in relation to others; but all overlook it in relation to themselves. Nothing is easier than for a spectator to form a tolerably correct judgment of the motives and principles of others, and to see the obliquity of them, whilst the actors themselves imagine themselves actuated by the purest feelings. Justly therefore is it said by Him who cannot err, that “the heart is deceitful above all things,” not excepting even Satan himself, the great deceiver of mankind.

We are now to consider,

  II.      The wickedness of the heart—

But how shall we state it, so as in any measure to correspond with the description in our text? We are almost afraid that we shall be regarded as libelling human nature: yet we must declare the truth, “whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear.” Know then, that the heart by nature is universally wicked, unsearchably wicked, and incurably wicked.

It is universally wicked, both in all its powers, and in every exercise of each. We do not say, that there may not be a considerable portion of comparative good in men, so that they may be more amiable, and more worthy members of society than others; (for doubtless there is by nature a great difference in men, as well in their moral dispositions as in their intellectual powers;) but there is nothing positively good in them, in the strict acceptation of the word: for in the Book of Job it is said, “How can he be clean that is born of a woman?” “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” And our Lord says, “There is none good but one; that is, God.” The understanding of man is darkened by sin; the will is rendered perverse and obstinate; the affections are sensualized: the conscience is made partial and insensible; and the whole man is altogether become abominable; his heart being the seat of every lust, the womb from whence every sin proceeds. It must be remembered, moreover, that man sins by defect, as well as by a direct and wilful opposition to his duty; so that even if we should suppose human nature to be possessed of all the excellencies which its most sanguine advocates can imagine, still we must all adopt for ourselves the confession of St. Paul, “In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” We are aware that this may appear to go beyond the truth: but, if any be disposed to entertain such an opinion, we would ask, What is the meaning of that declaration, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually?” This testimony, though spoken of men before the flood, was renewed in reference to men after the flood: and what can be conceived more decisive of the point than this? Not only the thoughts of men, but the imaginations of their thoughts, yea, and every imagination of their thoughts, was evil, and only evil, and only evil continually. This was the testimony of Him “who searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins:” we may be well assured, therefore, that this record is true.

Again—The heart is also unsearchably wicked. Not only are we unable to discover all the evil that is in the hearts of others; we cannot even in our own. Suppose a man to have discovered ever so much of his own depravity, there will yet be depths within him unfathomable and unexplored. As Ezekiel, in the chambers of imagery, saw on every successive search more and greater abominations than before, so will a man to his dying hour find in his heart many and great evils which he had not so clearly seen before. Times and occasions will call them forth; so that a man will often wonder how such evils could remain within him, or, if within him, how they should have continued so long undiscovered. The truth is, a man could not bear a full sight of his own heart at once; it would drive him to utter despair: nor is any man capable of seeing it all at once: its deceits are so subtle, its corruptions so various, and its abominations so inconceivably great, that none but an infinite capacity can grasp such immeasurable heights and depths. Well therefore has God said, “Who, except the heart-searching God, can know it?”

But once more;—It is incurably evil. Whether or not, as some have thought, this is the precise import of the word, it is plain that the idea is strongly conveyed in our translation, as it stands. Verily our case, as to any human remedies at least, is desperate. We call not any case desperate in relation to the Gospel; because there is no sin from which the blood of Christ cannot cleanse us, nor any corruption, which the Spirit of Christ is not able to subdue. But to human means the wickedness of our hearts bids defiance: they can no more overcome it, than Elisha’s staff in Gehazi’s hand could raise the Shunamite’s child to life. No resolutions of ours, no exertions, can banish it from the soul. We may on many occasions restrain its actings; for even the presence of a fellow-creature will often impose a more effectual restraint than the presence of our God: but we cannot subdue it, we cannot mortify it, we cannot purge it away: it is like the leprosy in the house, that could not be in any way removed, but by pulling down the house altogether. This, it must be confessed, is a melancholy picture: but it is the very truth of God, and is known, and felt, to be so, by all who are taught of God.

  Now from this view of our subject we may clearly SEE—

  1.      The true ground of the doctrine of the new birth—

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