AMOS

AMOS

MCLXXVII

THE FRUITS OF GOD’S FAVOUR

  Hos. 14:5–7.

I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

THERE are instances of beautiful imagery in the Scriptures equal to any that can be found in the works of the most renowned authors; they are enhanced too by the importance of the subjects they contain. In both respects the passage before us deserves peculiar attention. Imagination cannot conceive a richer display of divine blessings than God here vouchsafes to his church and people.

  I.      The favour which God will shew his people—

The metaphor of “dew” is at once simple and sublime—

[The benefits of the dew are but little known in this climate; but in Judæa the metaphor would appear very significant. Fur some time after the creation, dew supplied the place of rainb; and, after rain was given, it still remained of great use. The Scriptures speak of it as an important blessing: they represent the withholding of it as a calamity and a cursed.]

The communications of God to his people are fitly compared to it—

[It distils silently and almost imperceptibly on the ground; yet it insinuates itself into the plants on which it falls, and thus maintains their vegetative powers. In the same manner God’s visits to his people are secret; but he gains access to their in most soulsf. He cheers and revives their fainting spirits, and thus he fulfils to them his own most gracious promise—.]

Were his communications refreshing only, and not influential on the conduct, we might be afraid of enthusiasm; but his favour invariably discovers itself by—

  II.      Its fruits and effects—

The effects of the dew are seen by the progress of vegetation: the descent of God’s Spirit on the soul also produces growth, beauty, fragrancy, fertility.

  1.      Growth—

[The “lily” springs up speedily, but is of short duration. The cedars of “Lebanon cast forth their roots” to a great extent. Thus the soul that is refreshed with divine communications. The quickness of its growth often excites admiration. Its stability defies the assaults of earth and hell, while it “spreads its branches,” and displays its vigour in every good word and work.]

  2.      Beauty—

[There is peculiar grace and ld;beauty in the olive-tree,” and such is there in the soul that communes much with God. What a lustre was there on the face of Moses, when he came down from the mount! And how is the lively Christian “beautified with salvation!” His outward conduct is rendered amiable in every part. His inward dispositions of humility and love are ornaments which even God himself admiresi. He is transformed into the very image of his God; nor shall his beauty be ever suffered to decay.]

  3.      Fragrancy—

[Lebanon was no less famous for its odoriferous vines than for its lofty cedars: and does not the Christian diffuse a savour all around him? How animated his discourse when God is with him! How refreshing and delightful to those who enjoy his conversationo! How pleasing is it also to his God and Saviour! In proportion as he lives near to God, he fulfils that dutyq—.]

  4.      Fertility—

[The “corn and the vine” are just emblems of a Christian’s fruitfulness. They often wear the most unpromising appearance; yet are they “revived” by the genial influences of the sun and rain. Thus the Christian may be reduced to a drooping or desponding state; but the renewed influences of God’s Spirit will revive him. They make him “fruitful in all the fruits of righteousness.” They too, who “dwell under his shadow,” and are most nearly connected with him, will participate his blessings“.]

  INFER—

  1.      How honourable and blessed is the Christian’s state!

[Often is he favoured with visits from above, and glorious are the effects produced by God upon him. The whole creation scarcely affords images whereby his blessedness may be adequately represented. Who then is so honourable? who so happy? Let all endeavour to maintain a sense of their high privileges, and to “walk worthy of the calling wherewith they are called.”]

  2.      How hopeful is the state of those who wait on God!

[The promises in the text were given as an answer to prayer: and they are made to all, who, “like Israel,” plead with God. If the dew be withheld from others, it shall descend on themu. Its descent shall accomplish the utmost wishes of their souls. They shall soon experience the fulfilment of that word—.]

MCLXXVIII

GOD’S NOTICE OF PENITENTS

  Hos. 14:8.

Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir-tree: from me is thy fruit found.

THE conversion of a sinner is a work of infinite difficulty; no efforts of the creature can accomplish it: none but He who spake the universe into existence, can renew the soul: but when his time is come, the work is done both easily and effectually. As a ship, forsaken by the ebbing tide, can never be dragged along, but is easily put in motion when borne up by the returning waters, so the sinner is immoveable in his iniquities, till the Spirit of God flows in upon him: and then “old things quickly pass away, and, behold, all things become new.” This observation is verified continually before our eyes: persons who have been warned and entreated for many years, and have not only withstood all the most awful and endearing considerations, but have been more and more hardened by the means used to convert them, have at last been turned to God through a secret and invisible influence upon their souls, and have become burning and shining lights in their day and generation. Such were the effects produced on the day of Pentecost, when thousands to whom our blessed Lord had preached in vain, and on whom the most stupendous miracles had wrought no change, were constrained to renounce all their former habits and opinions, and to embrace a new, a spiritual, a despised, and persecuted religion. A similar instance we have in the passage before us. If we look to the account given us of Ephraim in chap. 4:17, we shall find, that he was “joined to idols,” yea, so glued to them, that neither warnings from man, nor judgments from God, could separate him from them; and therefore God said respecting him, “Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone;” it is to no purpose to use any further means for his recovery; he is incorrigible, and irreclaimable. But, behold the change, when once God is pleased to put forth his power! When once he says, “I will heal their backsliding, I will be as the dew to Israel,” “I will manifest my grace and mercy to his soul,” the obdurate heart relents; the abandoned sinner turns from his iniquities, and even with indignation and abhorrence renounces his most beloved lusts; “Ephraim saith, What have I to do any more with idols?” If God therefore have such pity on an impenitent transgressor, we shall not wonder at the gracious declaration which he makes for the comfort of this penitent and returning sinner; “I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir-tree: from me is thy fruit found.”

In discoursing on these words, we shall be naturally led to shew you,

  I.      The disposition of the true penitent—

[The unconverted man, though he may never have bowed down to stocks and stones, is an idolater: he “loves and serves the creature more than the Creator.” All indeed do not worship the same idol: one gives his heart to riches, another to honour, another to pleasure; and though all these find a higher place in our affections than we allow to God, yet each person has his favourite idol, to which he is in a more especial manner devoted: but when grace has renewed the heart, then the penitent says with Ephraim of old, “What have I to do anymore with idols?” His disposition is, To renounce all sins in general,—his besetting sin in particular;— and this too with indignation and abhorrence.

He renounces all sins in general.—A person who is not truly penitent may exchange one sin for another; he may exchange lewdness and intemperance for the love of honour and ambition: he may turn from prodigality to avarice; or from indifference and profaneness to Pharisaism and hypocrisy. But he never remits one sin without taking some other in its stead; yea, he frequently puts more into the scale of pride and conceit, than ever he took out of that of sensuality or profaneness. But it is not thus with the true penitent: he has commenced a war against sin in general; he endeavours to attack it in all quarters; he knows that sin is idolatry, in that it is a preference given to the creature above God himself; and therefore, without making any reserves, he determines to extirpate sin, root and branch, if possible, and says, “What have I to do any more with idols?”

But he more particularly devotes to destruction his besetting sin.—The besetting sin of the ten tribes was idolatry: and therefore when Ephraim is brought to repentance, he is represented as fixing his eyes more particularly on that sin. Indeed this was remarkably exemplified in the Jews, after their return from the Babylonish captivity: for though, before their captivity, they could never be kept long together from idolatry, they could not after their return be drawn to it; insomuch, that when it was proposed to set up a statue of Augustus in the Temple, the Jews determined to perish rather than submit to it. Now every man has some sin which more easily besets him: and it is oftentimes a very difficult matter to find it out, by reason of the various shapes which it assumes, and the deep recesses in which it lurks. But it is a distinguishing mark of the true penitent, that, whatever he imagines to be his besetting sin, he will be more particularly solicitous to mortify and subue it. The hypocrite and self-deceiver will plead for his darling lust; he will make excuses for it; he will cast the blame on his constitution, or his situation in life; he will palliate his guilt, and not endure to be admonished respecting it: but the truly upright soul will be exceeding glad to discover his secret enemy, and will by prayer and all other means labour to bring it into subjection.

Nor is this all: he will prosecute his lurking foe with vigilance, and cast him out with indignation and abhorrence. This is strongly intimated in the text: Ephraim does not merely resolve that he will not have any more to do with idols; but with an holy indignation against them, and an everlasting abhorrence of them, he says, “What have I to do any more with idols?” He determines never to join himself to them again: the folly and wickedness of such conduct appear to him now in such glaring colours, that he cannot endure the thought of ever relapsing into it any more. Thus it is with the true penitent: O! how does he lothe the sins that have led him captive, and the secret sins that have so defiled his conscience! How does he determine, if possible, to withstand the baneful influence of his in-dwelling corruption, and to watch and pray against it! How does he aggravate the guilt of his besetting lust, till he sees it in all its vileness and deformity! How unreasonable does it appear to him to harbour such an enemy in his bosom! How does he mourn because he cannot get rid of it! How desirable does the furnace itself appear, if it may but purify and retine his soul!

Say, Believer, are not these the thoughts of thy heart? Say, thou that weepest, like Mary, at thy Saviour’s feet, dost thou not hate thy sins, and thyself on account of them? Couldst thou but bring forth the lurking foe, and slay him utterly, wouldst thou not rejoice? Is it not thy grief that thou canst not get more complete victory over him? Is it not thy shame that thou art at any time deceived by him? Does it not make thee lothe thyself, to think how ready thou art to favour this enemy, and to be enticed by him before thou art aware? Art thou not often filled with indignation against thyself, to think that thou shouldst ever offend thy God through the solicitations of some base lust or evil principle within thee? Yea, I go further, and ask, Dost thou not hate thyself because thou canst not hate thyself more? I know thy heart vibrates; I know it is in unison; I know there is no discordant string; I know that these must be thy feelings, if thou be upright before God.]

It is with pleasure therefore that I proceed to set before you,

  II.      The notice which God takes of this disposition—

[It is impossible that there should be the smallest good in our hearts, and God not observe it: there was but “some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel” in the heart of young Abijah, and the Lord noticed it, and remembered him on account of it. The Prophet Jeremiah sets this in a striking point of view: he represents Ephraim as mourning over his sins in secret, and God as listening to him, and at last as breaking out into this soliloquy; “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus:” then, after repeating the substance of Ephraim’s complaint, he adds, “Is not Ephraim my dear son? is he not a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still; yea, my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy on him.” Exactly thus, in my text, God hears Ephraim saying, “What have I to do any more with idols?” and he adds immediately, “I have heard and observed him;” I have had my eye fixed upon him, though he did not know it; I have attended to every word he has been saying; he has not uttered a sigh, but it has entered my ears; he has not poured forth a groan, but it has pierced my heart; he has not shed a tear, but I have treasured it up in my vial: he thinks I will not regard him, but I have heard and observed him all the while: there is not a thought of his heart that has escaped my notice; and what is more, I now say respecting him, and respecting all that shall resemble him even to the end of the world, “I am, and will be, to him as a green fir-tree; and of me shall his fruit be found.”

I must here just observe, that the words of my text which are printed in different characters are not in the original, but are supplied by the translators; and that therefore the verse maybe read, and I think should be read, thus; “Ephraim saith, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him and observed him: I will be like a green fir-tree: of me shall thy fruit be found.” The sense is the same indeed either way; only in the latter it is more clear: and according to it we have two blessed promises of God to the penitent and contrite soul, namely, that he will afford him protection, and engage for his perseverance.

First, he promises protection to the repenting sinner, “I will be as a green fir-tree.” The fir-tree affords a remarkably thick shade, which cannot be penetrated either by sun or rain; so that it afforded a safe retreat, either from the rays of the meridian sun, or from the violence of the impending tempest. Conceive then a burthened sinner travelling towards Zion: see him either trembling from an apprehension of Divine judgments, even of that “fire and brimstone, storm and tempest, which God will rain upon the ungodly;” or fainting through the heat of temptation and persecution, What a reviving cordial to his soul is here! Let him come to me, says God; “I will be as a green fir-tree to him;” I will shelter him from the curses of my broken law; I will guard him from the fiery darts of Satan; I will hide him from the assaults of all his enemies; none shall hurt him: I will hide him in the secret of my tabernacle, even in my pavilion, where he shall have not only safety, but all manner of refreshing viands: “he shall sit under my shadow with great delight.” Hear this, ye who desire to renounce your idols; ye who long to be delivered from the attacks of your great adversary, and to find a place of rest unto your souls: to you God says, “Surely I will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence: I will cover thee with my feathers, and under my wings shalt thou trust: my truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” You know how our blessed Saviour complains of the Jews, that when he would often have gathered them, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, they would not. O! let him not utter the same complaint against you. They indeed would not flee to him, because they would not believe their danger; but you are in danger of keeping from him through a doubt of his ability or willingness to protect you. But, O! flee to him: he is a sure Refuge: only rest under his shadow, and you need not fear: none can ever hurt you, if you be found under the shadow of his wings: he promises that he will be as a green fir-tree to you; and he will fulfil his word unto all that put their trust in him.

The other promise which God here makes to the repenting sinner is, that he himself will engage for his perseverance in the ways of holiness; “Of me shall thy fruit be found.” The penitent no sooner determines to cast his idols to the moles and to the bats, than fears arise in his mind, and he says, “But how shall I do this? Who is sufficient for these things?” To silence therefore all such doubts as these, God himself undertakes the work; “Be not afraid, sinner;” I will take that work upon myself; “my grace shall be sufficient for thee;” I will furnish thee with strength according to thy day of trial; “Of me shall thy fruit be found:” “I will make thee fruitful in all the fruits of righteousness: the things thou desirest are the fruits of my Spirit; and my Spirit shall produce them in thee.”

Can we conceive a more comforting declaration than this? If the drooping sinner were permitted to dictate what God should say to him, could he devise any thing more calculated to comfort and refresh the soul? My dear brethren, behold your God undertaking for you, not merely to bring you to heaven, (for that would be a small matter, if you were not made holy,) but to deliver you from all your sins. Hear his gracious words, as they are recorded by Ezekiel; “From all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you: a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will cause you to keep my statutes and my judgments to do them.” Hear again what he says to the same purpose by Jeremiah; “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not depart from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me: yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.” Is it possible for God to express more earnestness in your cause, or a more full determination to preserve you in spite of all your in-dwelling corruptions; or rather, I should say, to deliver you from them? O! lift up your heads, ye drooping penitents, for your redemption draweth nigh: only commit yourselves into the hands of a faithful God and a loving Saviour: there is a fulness of all that you can want treasured up in Jesus; and out of his fulness ye may all receive, grace for grace. He is the Vine, from whom you must receive sap and nourishment continually; “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in him: separate from him ye can do nothing: but if ye abide in him, ye shall bring forth much fruit;” yea, ye may“do all things, through Christ strengthening you.” However inveterate therefore your corruptions be, fear not, but look unto Christ: instead of being terrified, as though they were invincible, let the sight of them remind you what great things the Saviour has undertaken for you: instead of despairing on account of your own weakness, rather learn to glory in it, as the means of displaying your Saviour’s strength. Do not misunderstand me, as though I would have you glory in sin: God forbid! sin is, and ought to be, your shame and aversion: but I say again, your inability to any thing that is good ought not to discourage you, because the Apostle says, “When you are weak, then are you strong:” and therefore, while you lament your sins, you may at the same time “glory in your weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon you.” Your extremity shall assuredly be the season of God’s interposition: “In the mount of difficulty the Lord shall be seen;” according as it is written in Deut. 32:36. “The Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.”]

  Here let us close, with one obvious REFLECTION—

Do ye not see from hence how excellent repentance is?

[Whether it be viewed in its nature or its consequences, surely it is a most inestimable blessing. What can be more desirable than to be delivered from those base lusts and idolatrous affections, which rob us of our happiness, and God of his glory? If we had discarded all our idols, and were determined to have nothing more to do with them, we should have a very heaven upon earth; especially if we found the grace of Christ sufficient for us; as we certainly should do, if we sought it humbly, and depended on it simply. God will never disappoint our expectations which are founded on his promises. If indeed we presume to limit him with respect to the time and manner in which he shall deliver us, we may be disappointed; but if we commit ourselves to him, to carry on his work in the time and manner that he sees fit, we shall never be disappointed: he will assuredly cover our defenceless heads, and make fruitful our withered branches: he will perfect that which concerns us, and fulfil in us all the good pleasure of his goodness; nor will he ever leave us till he has accomplished all the good things which he has spoken concerning us. And is this the nature, is this the consequence, of repentance? Shall every contrite soul have an experience of these things? O that God may grant us all, “repentance unto life, even that repentance which is not to be repented of!” May we thus experience the power and grace of Christ, and find everlasting rest unto our souls!

But let not those whose hearts are yet cleaving to their idols conclude themselves penitent. What repentance has the worldling, who is minding nothing but his earthly business? Surely Mammon is his God; and, till this idol be put away, there is no repentance, no salvation to his soul. Nor has the proud, passionate, carnal, worldly-minded professor any pretensions to repentance; for what repentance has he, when he is yet harbouring idols in his heart? No, professor, thou must be delivered from thine idols; thy besetting sin in particular must be lamented, lothed, and mortified: nor, till this be thine experience, wilt thou have any defence against the impending wrath of God: thou mayest talk of Christ, and have a clear head-knowledge of the truth; but knowledge will not serve instead of repentance: thou must be divorced from thy lusts, thine evil tempers, and every thing else to which thou hast been glued. Christ gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and therefore, if thou wouldst ever dwell under the shadow of God in heaven, see that this fruit be found on thee on earth. God is willing to produce it in you: look therefore to Him; and he will be as the dew unto you; he will heal your backslidings, and love you freely — — —]

MCLXXIX

SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE PECULIAR TO GOD’S PEOPLE

  Hos. 14:9.

Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

TO guide mankind into the way of peace, and to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to their souls, is certainly the most pleasant and honourable employment in the world: but it is an employment accompanied, for the most part, with heavy discouragements, and those peculiar to itself. If we labour to convey instruction in any branch of science, we find our labours attended with some degree of success to all: for though all make not the same proficiency, yet all reap some advantage. This however is very far from being the case when we would impart spiritual knowledge: some, blessed be God! receive benefit; but the generality of our hearers continue as ignorant and blind as ever. Many indeed get somewhat of head-knowledge; but as to any saving experience of the things we teach (and that alone is worthy the name of knowledge), few, very few, attain to it. Nor is this unteachableness peculiar to the present age: it is frequently represented in the Scriptures as a subject of lamentation, not only to the prophets, but even to God himself. How often does God call his people foolish and unwise; and, with a mixture of tenderness and disappointment, say, “O that they were wise, and that they understood these things!” Hence the inspired writers, as though they had no expectation that all should profit from their instructions, express themselves as looking for success only among those who were endued with heavenly wisdom. Thus the Psalmist, after expatiating largely upon the goodness of God, both in his works of providence and grace, concludes the psalm with saying, “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.” And in nearly the same terms the Prophet Hosea, having preached no less than seventy years with very little effect, and having comprised the principal and most important parts of the Divine messages in a book, concludes the whole with these most affecting words; “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right; and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein.”

From these words we shall take occasion to shew,

  I.      Who they are that will understand divine things—

[The things which the prophet is speaking of in the former part of our text, are the same which he afterwards calls “the ways of the Lord.” Now we might be led to suppose that he refers to the sins against which he had guarded them, the duties he had inculcated, the punishments he had denounced, and the blessings which he had promised them in the name of God; seeing that these things are the general scope of the whole book: but he limits his own words to one particular sense, and teaches us to understand him as speaking, not so much of those ways wherein God had walked towards them, as of the ways wherein they were to walk before him: and therefore the things which the wise only can understand, are the things which pertain to vital experimental religion: and indeed this best agrees with the preceding context; for through the whole chapter, God delineates the experience of true penitents, and shews, that when he shall come down as the dew upon their souls, they shall resemble the olive in their beauty, the lily in their growth, the cedar in their stability, the wines of Lebanon in their fragrancy, and the corn itself, or vine, in their fruitfulness. These things, it must be confessed, surpass the comprehension of the natural man; and therefore the prophet adds, “Who is wise, and he shall understand these things; prudent, and he shall know them.”

But here we must attentively consider whom the prophet intends under the description of the “wise and prudent?” Is it worldly wisdom and worldly prudence of which he speaks in such high terms? Are these the great requisites for the right understanding of spiritual matters? Surely not; this cannot be the meaning of the prophet; for then he would directly oppose the whole tenour of the sacred writings. Carnal wisdom and prudence are universally represented in the Scriptures as most adverse to divine truth, and as the greatest obstacles to the attainment of spiritual knowledge. Hear how St. Paul speaks of the wisdom and prudence of this world, in 1 Cor. 1:18, and following verses; “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God; for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? for, after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Then, in ver. 26, he appeals to their own experience and observation; “Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, that no flesh should glory in his presence.” If any additional testimony were needed, we might take that of our Lord himself, who not only affirmed the same truth, but was exhilarated and comforted by the consideration of it, and made it the subject of his devoutest thanksgiving: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” God indeed has been pleased in all ages to enlighten and convert some who were reputed wise; because he would shew to all the world, that his truths, however despised, were consistent with the profoundest wisdom, and capable of enlarging the most refined understanding: nevertheless, the wise and prudent of this world have always been the foremost to reject the truth of God. None cavilled more at our Lord’s discourses than the Scribes and Pharisees; nor were any more contemptuous in their treatment of Paul than the philosophers at Athens. We may be sure, therefore, that such are not the persons intended by the prophet in my text?

Who then are the wise? who are the prudent? First, they are those whose understandings have been enlightened by the Holy Ghost. True “wisdom is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” We have not the smallest spark of it by nature: on the contrary, we are blind; and folly is bound up in our hearts: nor unless He, who first commanded light to shine out of darkness, shine into our hearts, can we ever see one ray of that divine glory which shines in the person of Jesus Christ. Hence they who are truly wise have learned that most humiliating lesson, to “become fools, that they may be wise:” they have been deeply convinced that they needed a divine illumination, and have obtained it in answer to their prayers: to them has been fulfilled that blessed promise, “All thy children shall be taught of God.” This therefore is the first part of the wise man’s character, that he has been taught by the Holy Ghost. But a further mark whereby the wise and prudent are to be distinguished is, that they view things in their proper colours; they no longer “call good evil, and evil good; they no longer put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter;” but they see things in the light of God’s word, and estimate every thing, in a measure, according to the judgment of God respecting it: the body appears to them of small value, when set in competition with the soul; nor do the enjoyments or sufferings of this present world appear worthy to be compared with the glory that shall ere long be revealed in them. Sin is now considered by them as a most tremendous evil, more to be shunned than death itself: and a life of holiness appears to be the perfection and happiness of man. But most of all, true wisdom and prudence discover themselves in this, that they unite their influence to govern our whole lives: “I Wisdom dwell with prudence,” says Solomon. They who are truly enlightened do not rest satisfied with clear notions, but desire to have their practice conformable to the convictions of their minds: they therefore take the word of God as a light to their feet and a lantern to their paths: they strive to walk in the fear of the Lord all the day long: this, I say, is the best evidence of their wisdom; for indeed it is the very beginning of wisdom; as Solomon has observed, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;” and as Job also says, “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is understanding.”

We see then who are the wise and prudent. Not they who boast of their intellectual powers, and abound with human learning, but those who are taught of God to judge and act agreeably to the sacred oracles.

Now these persons shall have a true knowledge and understanding of divine things: the ways of the Lord shall be clear to them from their own experience: they shall know how delightful it is to live a life of faith on the Son of God: they shall understand what it is to have fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ: they shall enjoy that sweet security which they possess, who are instructed in the Covenant of Grace, and who know the faithfulness of a promise-keeping God. These indeed are secrets hid from the natural man; but we are assured, that they are, and shall be, revealed unto those who are spiritual: David says, (and he himself had experienced the truth of it,) “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew them his covenant.”]

But this knowledge is peculiar to the persons above described; and this leads me to shew you,

  II.      Why this knowledge is peculiar to them—

[Two reasons the prophet assigns: one taken from the peculiar excellence of the things known, and the other from the use which different persons make of them.

The first reason is taken from the excellence of the things known—“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right.” There is a rectitude in a life of godliness; there is something in it which is fit and proper in itself; something which is agreeable to the mind and will of God; something which is calculated to promote the perfection and happiness of man. The most refined reason cannot conceive any thing more fit and becoming, than that He, whose loveliness and loving-kindness are infinite, should be the supreme object of our affections; or that He who is omnipotent, immutable, and eternal, should be honoured, trusted, and obeyed with our whole hearts. To a carnal eye, that views only the Majesty of God, it might appear unsuitable, that the Deity should condescend to commune with such sinful worms: but his condescension and grace reflect a lustre on all his other attributes, and overwhelm us with wonder and astonishment. As for the pleasantness and peace which are found in the ways of religion, or the effect of it on our hearts and lives, we have the united testimony of all who ever devoted themselves to it, that “in keeping of God’s commandments there is great reward.” Indeed it is this excellency which helps the godly to know and understand the things themselves; at least it helps to enlarge and perfect their knowledge of them. The Holy Spirit first leads them to a life of godliness, and then discovers to them how fit in itself, how honourable to God, and beneficial to man, such a life is: and then this discovery confirms them in their ways: confirms them, I say, beyond every thing in the world; so that though they began to walk in the Lord’s ways from the fear of hell, and from a desire after heaven, they now walk in his ways because they are right; they now see, that to “yield themselves a living sacrifice to God is the most reasonable service” in the world: and so much is their knowledge and understanding confirmed by this discovery of the rectitude and excellency of God’s ways, that they would wish to walk in them, even though there were no heaven to reward their obedience, nor any hell to punish their disobedience: they can say with David, “I esteem thy commandments concerning all things to be RIGHT, and I hate every false way;” that is, “My soul approves the way of duty, therefore would I walk in it, and not for the sake of the reward: I hate sin, and therefore would I avoid it to the uttermost, and not merely because I am afraid of punishment: I would not be excused from my duty, if I might; nor would I practise sin, though I might do it with impunity.” On the other hand, this very excellency is one reason why none but the wise and prudent can know these things. A weak and disordered eye cannot bear the light. This is true with respect to spiritual light, as well as to the light of the sun. Our Lord says, that the ungodly “hate the light, neither come to the light; they love darkness rather than light.” If we draw a picture of morality, the amiableness of it will commend itself to them; but if we set before them a life of godliness, they are dazzled by it; they are hurt with it; its splendour, like that of the sun, overwhelms them: it is so high above them, that they cannot comprehend it: not having a spiritual discernment, they account it foolishness: it appears to them more like the ravings of enthusiasm, than the words of truth and soberness: they know not how to annex a proper meaning to our words: being low and carnal in their apprehensions, they cannot rise above a carnal sense of our expressions. We see therefore, that the very excellency of these things is one reason why the true knowledge of them is peculiar to the wise and prudent. Thus it was in our Lord’s time: he told his hearers, that the reason they murmured at his words was, that their apprehensions were carnal, whereas his words were spiritual: “Doth this offend you? The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” At another time he said, “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my words.”

The other reason assigned by the prophet is taken from the use which different persons make of spiritual truths: “The just,” he observes, “will walk in them, but the transgressors will fall therein.”

Now the just and righteous, as far as they are acquainted with the ways of God, will endeavour to walk in them: they desire to reduce every truth to practice, and wish to have even “the thoughts of their hearts brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ:” and their knowledge is wonderfully furthered and advanced by this disposition: their apprehension is quickened by the previous disposition which they feel to embrace the truth; and their memory is strengthened by the love which they bear towards it, when once it is discovered. Hence unenlightened persons, who have studied the Scriptures critically for many years, are often not half so well acquainted with them as others of very inferior abilities, who, under the influence of such a disposition, have studied them but a short time: to the one, the Bible is “a sealed book;” its contents are dark, intricate, and unintelligible: to the other, it is clear, perspicuous, and easy to be understood: the one meets with nothing but difficulties and stumbling-blocks; the other has a clew to every truth contained in it. And whence is it that the one knows the mysteries of the kingdom, while the other sees nothing but dark and obscure parables? Our Lord enables us to solve this difficulty; “If any man,” says he, “will do my will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God;” his disposition and desire to do my will shall operate in such a manner as greatly to facilitate the understanding of my word.

On the other hand, the indisposition which others feel towards the ways of God will prevent the introduction of Divine knowledge into the soul: “the transgressors will fall therein.” The pillar and the cloud by which God led the Israelites, may serve to illustrate the operation of his word, by which he leads us: the cloud was a pillar of fire to give light to the Israelites by night, while it was a cloud of darkness towards the Egyptians, insomuch that they could not advance, but were obstructed in their march by means of it. Now so it is with the word of God: to God’s people, it exhibits a bright and luminous appearance, so that they can walk in the light of it: but to transgressors, who do not desire above all things to be conformed to it, it is an offence: to the former it is “a savour of life unto life;” but unto the latter it is “a savour of death unto death:” yea, Christ himself, who is the sum and substance of the Bible, is to the former “a sanctuary;” but to the latter “a snare and a gin, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence,” by means of which “many are snared, and taken, and fall,” to their more aggravated condemnation. Daily experience shews us that the strictness and purity of God’s ways are an offence unto many: they take occasion from what they hear to shew their enmity against God, more than ever they would have done, if the light had not been thus set before  them: Christ being set forth, they make him only “a sign to be spoken against; and thus the thoughts of their hearts are revealed.” And that this vile and wicked disposition blinds them more than ever, we are sure from the testimony of our Lord: the Pharisees had shut their hearts against conviction, and then were incensed against our Lord for intimating that they were blind; “Are we blind also?” Upon which our Lord answers them, “If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” It is evident therefore, that the very opposite uses which different persons make of the ways of God, must necessarily, and of themselves, as well as by Divine appointment, contribute greatly to enlighten the one, while the others are confirmed in ignorance and unbelief.]

  Let us now conclude with an APPLICATION of the foregoing truths;

  1.      To those who are unacquainted with the truths and ways of God—

[Many, it is to be feared, there are among you, who are wise and prudent enough with respect to the things of this world, but yet are miserably ignorant of the nature and excellency of vital godliness. Your own consciences testify, that you know not what it is to have God come down as the dew upon your souls: you know not what is meant by that beauty, that growth, that stability comma; that fragrancy, and that fruitfulness, which characterize the true Christian. Nay, some perhaps, instead of experiencing these things in their own souls, are hurt and offended by the very mention of them: instead of judging the ways of the Lord to be right, they are ready to condemn them as enthusiastic or righteous overmuch. To all such persons therefore, whether they be only ignorant of these things, or have taken offence at them, we must testify, that the ways of the Lord are right: whatever exception may be taken against them, they will assuredly prove right in the issue: “Wisdom will be justified of all her children.”We may challenge all the world to shew, that there is any thing unreasonable in a life of devotedness to God, or that such a life is not calculated to make us happy. Let me therefore entreat you to seek the knowledge of these things: your not having the wisdom and learning of this world will be no obstacle to your proficiency in divine knowledge: it is spiritual wisdom that you want: seek wisdom therefore from Him who has promised to “give it liberally, and without upbraiding:” seek prudence also; for “a prudent man,” says Solomon, “foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on and are punished.” But if you will not be persuaded, remember what God has said, “My people perish for lack of knowledge;” and again, “They are a people of no understanding; therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them, and He that formed them will shew them no favour.” Such declarations as these fully prove how awful it is to remain in ignorance: and therefore I entreat you all to improve your present opportunities. “Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and, with all your getting, get understanding.”]

  2.      To those who know and walk in the ways of God—

[What do you owe to God, my Brethren, for the divine wisdom and prudence which he has bestowed upon you! Surely you were once foolish and unwise, even as others; and perhaps were ready to say of those who felt what you now experience, “Thou art beside thyself: much attention to religion hath made thee mad.” Well, bless God that your eyes are opened, and that, though ye were once blind, ye now see. Yet rest not in what ye have attained: you know but little yet in comparison of what remains to be known: there are heights and depths in divine things, which will be opened more and more to your view to all eternity; and the promise is, that “you shall know, if you follow on to know the Lord:” therefore seek to “grow in knowledge and in grace: while others stumble at the word, and make the ways of God an occasion of falling, do you be pressing forward; and let “your profiting appear unto all men.” Pray more and more for “a spirit of wisdom and understanding;” and endeavour, with truly Christian prudence, to act up to the convictions of your conscience: so shall your knowledge and holiness advance each other, till you come to that blessed place, where faith shall be turned into sight, and hope be consuminated in enjoyment.]

JOEL

Joel 2:12–14.

Joel 2:26.

Joel 2:28–32.

Joel 3:13.

Joel 3:18.

MCLXXX

REPENTANCE URGED

  Joel 2:12–14.

Now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments; and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord your God?

THE season of Lent has, for many centuries, been set apart in the Church of Christ, for the purpose of promoting in the minds of Christians a deeper humiliation before God, and of preparing them for a more profitable celebration of those mysteries which we commemorate in the Passion-week. The utility of consecrating that season to the end proposed was felt by the fathers of our Church at the time of the Reformation; and they have enjoined on all the members of our community to employ it in a more than ordinary course of penitence and prayer. But, unhappily, the superstitions of the Church of Rome, from which we separated, have excited such disgust in the minds of the generality amongst us, that we have run to a contrary extreme, so that at this day we put scarcely any difference between this season and the other parts of the year. Our Church expresses a regret that she is not able to enforce the rites of penance on offenders, as the custom of earlier ages had sanctioned: and if, in the stead of penance, we put penitence, I can most cordially unite in that sentiment. For, so entirely are the duties of this season neglected, that it will appear to many strange that we take such a subject as that before us, unless indeed on that day with which the season commences, and which is still observed amongst us as a public fast. But, in reality, the exhortation before us is suited to all seasons: and therefore, without apology, I will call your attention to it, and set before you,

  I.      Our duty—

All acknowledge, in general terms, the duty of repentance: and here we are led to contemplate it,

  1.      In its outward expressions—

[“Fasting, and weeping, and mourning,” are the proper expressions of penitence in the soul. But “fasting” is grievously neglected amongst us; and all are ready to excuse themselves from it, as unprofitable to their souls. But why should it not be as profitable to us as it was to the saints of old? Or why should our blessed Lord have given us directions for the performance of this duty, if it were a matter of indifference whether we performed it or not? The truth is, that we are as far from observing those other duties, of “weeping and mourning,” as we are that of “fasting:” and hence it is that “fasting” is so little in request amongst us. Do but call to mind your state before God, my Brethren; and see how rarely, if ever, you have wept on account of your sins; and how rarely, if ever, you have so “looked on Him whom you have pierced by your sins, as to mourn and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born?” — — — Yet these, so to speak, are only the outward expressions of repentance. Let me call your attention to it,]

  2.      In the inward experience of the soul—

[“To rend the garments,” however passionately it were done, would be a small matter, if we did not at the same time “rend the heart.” But O! what an idea does this convey! We can easily conceive, and see as it were before our eyes, a garment rent: but who can conceive of a heart torn, and rent as it were to pieces, by distress on account of sin? Yet this is the experience of one who is truly penitent and contrite: this is what God requires of us; and any thing short of this he will utterly despise.

Further than this, God says to us in my text, “Turn ye unto me with all your heart, even turn unto the Lord your God.” And how shall I represent to you this duty? Methinks it would occupy a long space of time to enter particularly into this part of my subject. But I will set it before you, so that you may comprehend it perfectly, and in an instant. Who amongst you has ever seen a river that is affected with the tide? At one time you have seen the waters flowing with majestic force towards the ocean; and a few hours afterwards you have seen them returning with equal copiousness towards their fountain-head. This shews how all the powers of the soul have been engaged in the service of the world; and how they are to be employed in the service of our God. It is no partial change that will suffice; it must be entire: and all our faculties, whether of body or soul, which have been used as instruments of sin, must become instruments of righteousness unto God.”

Now think of this, my Brethren: dismiss from your minds those partial views of repentance with which you have hitherto been satisfied; and address yourselves to this duty in its full extent.]

And that I may prevail with you, let me proceed to set before you,

  II.      Our encouragement—

This arises,

  1.      From the general character of God—

[See God in his own essential perfections: “he is merciful and gracious,” and delights altogether in the exercise of mercy towards sinful men. See him also in his dealings with us: how “slow has he been to anger!” Against whom amongst us might he not have broken forth in anger a thousand times, just as he did against Korah and his company, or against Dathan and Abiram, or Ananias and Sapphira, whom he struck dead upon the spot? View him, also, when ready to execute upon us his wrathful indignation: how often has he, in his answer to the intercession of his dear Son, returned the sword to its scabbard, and “repented of the evil that he thought to do unto us!” And are these no encouragements to repentance? Can you willingly go on to insult so gracious a God, and to provoke him, till his anger break forth without a remedy, and “burn to the lowest hell?” I pray you, Brethren, “run not thus on the thick bosses of his buckler,” and defy him not thus to his face; but fall before him with the deepest self-abasement, and “seek his face whilst yet he may be found.”]

  2.      From the hope which this character inspires—

[God, in the preceding context, has threatened to send an army that should lay waste the whole land of Israel; and so destroy it, that the very worship of God should be set aside for want of an offering to present to him. At this day, also, he often visits sin with temporal calamities, till he has reduced us to the greatest imaginable distress. And, in reference to these visitations, it is uncertain whether God will remove them from us on our repentance, or not. David, though pardoned as to his soul, was visited with severe trials in his family. And so may we be visited: nor can we be certain, that, “though God forgive us our sins,” he will not “take vengeance of our inventions.” Yet may we hope for the removal even of these judgments: and “who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him,” even such a blessing as shall bring you into a state of sweet communion with your God?

But if the question be put in reference to the remission of sins, and the ultimate enjoyment of heaven, I will undertake, with reverence and humility, to say, “I Know.” Yes, the whole word of God declares that he will return in mercy to the contrite soul; and “blot out our iniquities as a morning cloud,” and “remember them against us no more for ever.” Even though he had given the command for our destruction, yet would he revoke it, even as he did in reference to Nineveh, if he saw us, in penitence and faith, returning to him: and though we had not an hour to live, he would hear our prayer, and take us, like the dying thief, to be with him in Paradise. This hope is founded on his perfections, as set forth in the Holy Scriptures, and on the word of promise which he has given to returning penitents. And therefore I cannot but urge and encourage every one of you to humble yourselves before him, and to “seek at his hands the blessings which he is so ready to bestow.”]

  And now let me ASK,

  1.      Is not this repentance necessary?

[Yes, for every one amongst you. I readily grant, that many of you are free from any thing that comes under the character of gross sin: but who amongst you has not grievously departed from God? Who has not shamefully slighted our blessed Saviour? Who has not resisted the motions of the Holy Spirit? Who has not lived for time, rather than for eternity; and to himself, rather than unto his God? Here, then, is reason enough for every one of you to weep and mourn, and to rend your very souls to pieces before God. I entreat, therefore, you who are young, and you also who are moral, to reflect on these things, and to turn to God without delay; yea, to turn unto him with your whole hearts.]

  2.      Are not the considerations with which the duty is enforced sufficient encouragements to the performance of it?

[I might have enforced the duty with far different arguments, and “persuaded you rather by the terrors of the Lord” to turn unto him. But I greatly prefer the views of God, as he is exhibited in the text. It is in this light that he is revealed to us in the Gospel; even as coming down to this earth to seek and save us, and to reconcile us unto himself in the person of his dear Son. And these considerations have a far greater tendency to humble the soul; which, if terrified for a moment by the threatenings of the law, is ready, like fused metal, to return in a little time to its wonted hardness. “Let, then, the riches of his goodness and long-suffering and forbearance be duly regarded by you; and let the goodness of your God lead you to repentance.”]

  3.      Will not the mercies offered you amply compensate for all the efforts which you may make to obtain them?

[Truly, if there were but a “peradventure” that you should find mercy, it were worth all the labour of ten thousand years to obtain it. Think only what it must be, to be monuments of God’s righteous indignation to all eternity; and what it must be, on the other hand, to be everlasting monuments of his grace and love. Can you contemplate this alternative, and duly estimate its importance? No: you must go down to hell, and taste the misery of the damned, and be exalted to heaven, to enjoy the blessedness of the saints in glory, before you can form any just idea of what is before you, either to be suffered or enjoyed, according as your state shall be found before God. I pray you not to trifle with your souls; but now, while the opportunity is afforded you, “flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on eternal life.” Could you ask of Manasseh, or David, or Peter, or any of the saints, whether they wept too much; you can easily conceive the answer that would be returned you by them. To every one amongst you then, I say, “Begin, without delay, to sow in tears; and then expect, without a doubt, to reap in joy.”]

MCLXXXI

REMOVAL OF JUDGMENTS A GROUND OF PRAISE

  Joel 2:26.

Ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

MOST encouraging is that appellation whereby David addresses the Most High God: “O Thou that hearest prayer!” It is this view of the Deity which alone keeps men from despair, and prevents this sinful world from becoming a counterpart of hell itself. God doth indeed hear the prayer of the poor destitute, and not despise their desire. Of this there is a striking illustration in the passage before us. A plague of locusts had been sent, like an immense army, to destroy the whole land of Israel. The desolation spread by them had reduced the people to the deepest distress. But God encouraged them to humble themselves before him, and assured them, that, on their so doing, he would “be jealous for the land, and pity his people.” He even tells them what answer he would give to their petitions, even such an one as should secure to them the removal of all their troubles, and a complete restoration to his favour: instead of perishing by famine, they should “eat and be satisfied;” and instead of being put to confusion by him, they should “never more be ashamed” of their confidence in him.

The words thus explained, will lead us to consider in what light God would have us regard the removal of his judgments: it is to be regarded by us as a call,

  I.      To more fervent gratitude—

This it is, whether our trials have been,

  1.      Of a temporal nature—

[Temporal judgments, when heavy and of long continuance, are extremely afflictive — — — And the removal of them, whether they have been public or private, social or personal, is a just ground for joy and thanksgiving. In such a dispensation of mercy we may often behold “wonderful” efforts of Divine goodness: and our acknowledgments should be devout and fervent, in proportion to the occasion that calls them forth. As “the very land,” and “the beasts of the field,” no less than “the children of Zion,” were here called upon to rejoice in the mercies vouchsafed unto them, so should we call forth “all that is within us to bless God’s holy name” for the blessings which we now commemorate — — —]

  2.      Of a spiritual nature—

[Spiritual judgments, though less generally felt, are infinitely more grievous, than those which affect only our present interests. Say, ye who have been bowed down under a sense of guilt, and the fears of final dereliction, whether this be not a burthen too heavy for you to bear? How should you rejoice then, and bless your God, if he has removed it from you! Surely God “has dealt wondrously with you.” In providing such means for your restoration to his favour; (the death of his own Son, and the influences of his Spirit;) and in overcoming the reluctance of your hearts, and inclining you to embrace his proffered mercy; say, is not this wonderful? May you not behold wonders in every step of your way? Truly then there should be no bounds to your gratitude and love. The frame of your mind should be like that of the pious Hezekiah, “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the fathers to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments, all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”]

The removal of his judgments from us is also a call from God,

  II.      For more entire affiance—

Whilst we are under the pressure of our afflictions, we are ready to think that it is in vain to call upon God. But God assures us that it is not: he tells us that “his people,” namely, “those who wait upon him,” shall never be ashamed. They may assuredly expect from him all that they stand in need of. They shall never want,

  1.      The gifts of his providence—

[This is abundantly declared in the Holy Scriptures. “They that fear the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good.” There may be want to the lions; but there shall be none to them. “Those who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, shall have a due supply of all needful things added unto them.”

The extent to which these promises are fulfilled is little understood by those who have much of this world’s goods: but by the godly man who subsists by his daily labour, it is known and felt. He sees often in his small pittance such “wondrous dealings,” as fill him with utter astonishment, and constrain him to cry out as Israel after the passage of the Red Sea, “Who is a God like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders.”]

  2.      The blessings of his grace—

[Where shall we find one contrite sinner whom God ever refused to hear? Never was there one, from the foundation of the world. “Never did God say to any, Seek ye my face in vain.” Not even a Manasseh, who had filled the streets of Jerusalem with the blood of innocents, was rejected, when once he humbled himself before his God. And our blessed Lord has said without any exception whatever, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” “Where sin has abounded, grace shall much more abound;” and it shall prove sufficient for our necessities, even though our trials and difficulties be multiplied above the sands upon the sea-shore. The Christian’s hope is firm, and “shall never make him ashamed:” for God has said, that “Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: he shall not be ashamed or confounded, world without end.” This is repeated with yet greater emphasis in the verse following my text, in that it is associated with an assurance that his people shall be made sensible of his presence with them, and his relation to them as their God for ever and ever. This is the heritage of all who believe in Christ, and make him the one foundation of all their hopesi.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who are under any trouble—

[Whatever be your trouble, give not way to despondency; but betake yourselves to the remedy which God has prescribed, even that of “turning to him with weeping and with mourning and with fasting.” Were it a mere peradventure that God would hear you after a long trial of your faith and patience, it would be quite sufficient encouragement to call upon him. But his return to you in a way of mercy is sure, if only you seek him in a way of penitential sorrow: for he will be “the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” Only pour out your complaints into his bosom, and your prayer shall not go forth in vain. He will give you to eat of the bread of life and be satisfied, and turn all your sorrows into joy.]

  2.      To those who have experienced any great deliverance—

[Be not unmindful of your great Deliverer, but praise and magnify him with your whole hearts — — — Learn also to confide in him. Fresh troubles may arise, even heavier than you have ever yet experienced: but there is the same gracious God for you to go unto; and he will hear and answer you, as in the days of old. Nor is it to this world only that he will confine the tokens of his love: he will bear you, as on eagles’ wings, throughout all this dreary wilderness; and finally put you into the full and everlasting fruition of the promised land, where neither want nor pain shall be any more experienced to all eternity.]

MCLXXXII

SIGNS OF THE MESSIAH’S ADVENT

  Joel 2:28–32.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days, will I pour out my Spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.

IT is much to be regretted that the obscurities which occur in the prophetic writings (especially those of the lesser prophets) deter many from reading so large a portion of the inspired volume. If there are some parts hard to be understood, there are some parts plain and highly instructive: and the very figures, which from their boldness and sublimity appear intricate, will be found easy and intelligible, through the light reflected on them in the New Testament. The passage before us would, on a cursory perusal, be deemed incapable of any sober construction, or, at least, of any proper application to ourselves: but it plainly declares to us,

  I.      The signs of the Messiah’s advent—

Numberless were the signs by which the world were taught to know the true Messiah: we here notice only two:

  1.      The effusion of his Spirit for the conversion of his elect—

[The Spirit in preceding ages had been given to those of the Jewish nation only, and to but few even of those, and in a scanty measure; but was “afterward,” that is, in the times of the Messiah, to be “poured out” abundantly, on Gentiles as well as Jews, and without any distinction of age, sex, or quality, the meanest as well as the greatest being chosen to participate this benefit. This was literally fulfilled, as St.Peter affirms, on the day of Pentecost. We must not however limit the operations of the Spirit to the imparting of miraculous gifts: the terms used by the prophet import, that they who should receive the Spirit should be so instructed in the mind and will of God, as to be led to “call on” the Messiah, and enjoy “the deliverance” which he was coming to effect. Nor must the prophecy be confined to the apostolic age: for St. Peter also testifies that the promise is to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.]

  2.      The execution of judgments for the punishment of his enemies—

[As an Apostle has explained the former part of the text, so has our Lord himself that which now presents itself to our view. The immediate subject, to which these figurative expressions refer, is the destruction of Jerusalem: nor, whether we consider the prodigies that accompanied the sieged, or the devastation and bloodshed occasioned by the Roman armies, are they too strong to represent the scenes which occurred in that devoted city. But those calamities were only shadows of infinitely heavier judgments that shall fall on the ungodly in the last day. Then, while “the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works also that are therein are burnt up,” will all the contemners of the Messiah wail because of his wrath and fiery indignation. It is indeed in the former sense only that this can be a sign to convince the world at present; but in the latter sense it will hereafter be a demonstration to the whole universe, that all which had been spoken of Christ was true.]

To encourage an earnest expectation of the Messiah, the prophet declares,

  II.      The blessedness of those that believe on him—

The subjects of the Messiah’s kingdom are characterized as “calling upon his name”—

[To call upon Christ is, to give him all that honour and worship that are due to the Supreme Being. This was done by the first martyr, Stephen, and by all the Christian Church. It was that which rendered them so odious to the Jewsh, and so distinguished among the Gentiles. And, at this hour, it justly describes all those who are endued with the Spirit. All, without exception, regard Christ as the only source of life and salvation, and depend on him for daily supplies of grace and strength: “the life which they now live in the flesh, is altogether by faith in the Son of God.”]

Nor shall any of that description ever experience the calamities that were foretold as coming on the ungodly world—

[The “deliverance” mentioned in the prophecy before us, doubtless referred primarily to the escape of the Christians from Jerusalem, while the Jews, hemmed in on every side, were reduced to the greatest miseries. But we must extend our views to a more important deliverance, even from sin and Satan, death and hell: it is from these that the sincere follower of Christ will be saved, while all who reject him will perish under the displeasure of an incensed God. In this view St. Paul quotes the very words before us, expressly applying them to Christ as the object of our worship, and confining the blessings of salvation to those who call upon him. At the same time we must observe that none who comply with this direction are excluded; “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord,” whatever he may have been, or whatever he may have done in times past, provided he call in sincerity and truth, shall find the Lord rich in mercy towards him.]

  This subject will be found of USE,

  1.      To confirm our faith against the cavils of infidels—

[There have been in every age some, who have rejected Christianity as a cunningly devised fable. But we would ask, Was the effusion of the Spirit predicted? or could the accomplishment of that prediction be counterfeited? Was the destruction of Jerusalem foretold? Did Jesus apply the very words of our text to that event, and declare that they should be accomplished before that generation should pass away? And did this also happen within the time specified, attended with such prodigies as strictly corresponded with the terms of this prophecy? Then Christianity must be of divine original; Jesus must be the true Messiah; and salvation must be, as he has declared, through faith in him. Let us then “never be moved away from the hope of the Gospel,” but “hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.”]

  2.      To vindicate our experience against the calumnies of scoffers—

[St. Peter adduces this passage in vindication of those who had received the miraculous influences of the Spirit; and asserts that, what was profanely imputed to intoxication, was indeed a fulfilment of the words of Joel. Thus scoffers of the present day deride all pretensions to the enlightening and sanctifying influences of the Spirit, and, without any candid examination, impute them to folly or hypocrisy. Our professions of faith in Christ, our simple dependence on him, and assured hope of salvation by him, are also deemed enthusiasm. But if we can say, “This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel,” or by Peter, or by any other inspired writer, we need not regard their calumnies. If it was said to the apostles, ‘Ye are drunk,’ we may be content to have it said of us, ‘Ye are fools.’ Let us then seek more and more earnestly the operations of the Spirit, and be daily calling on the Lord Jesus for grace and mercy: so shall our experience accord with the sacred oracles, and our deliverance be completed, when the sufferings of infidels and scoffers shall commence.]

MCLXXXIII

THE FINAL JUDGMENT REPRESENTED BY THE HARVEST

             Joel 3:13.

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.

THIS is a remarkable prophecy of the destruction of God’s enemies. The prophet summons the executioners of vengeance to come up against them. They are represented as a field of corn; the command is given to cut them down; and the prophet instantly sees them fall; “multitudes,” &c. Our Lord delivers a parable resembling this in reference to the whole world. In a similar manner we shall improve the passage before us, by inquiring,

  I.      What it is that ripens men for the great harvest—

There is a ripeness to which every one must attain. The wicked have a measure of sin which they must fill up; the righteous have degrees of holiness for which they are reservedc: there are growing in the great field of the world both tares and wheat; and both are ripening for their proper end.

Sin is ripening some for vengeance—

[It unfits the soul for the enjoyment of God. It renders a person meet for destruction. It creates many horrors, which are foretastes of hell itself.]

Holiness, on the other hand, is ripening others for glory—

[It unfits the soul for the society of the wicked. It induces a “meetness for the heavenly inheritance.” It is a source of joys which shall be consummated in glory.]

The Holy Scriptures enable us to discern,

  II.      What are the marks of our being ripe—

Nothing can be more awful than the thought that a sinner is ripe for everlasting misery. Yet it may be justly apprehended that he is so,

  1.      When he is given over to a total insensibility—

[Custom in sinning will harden the heart and sear the conscience. When a person is arrived at such a state, he is fitted for destruction. This is both figuratively and plainlyf declared in the Scriptures.]

  2.      When he continues wilfully in sin against conviction—

[There are some who determine to hold fast their sins. These have reason to think that God’s Spirit will be taken from them. They may expect to be utterly given up to their own lustsh.]

Saints, on the other hand, may be judged ripe for glory,

  1.      When they simply rely on the Lord Jesus—

[We fix upon the lowest marks of true grace. Faith in Christ is exercised by the weakest saint. yet to that is eternal happiness annexed. Of consequence, he who possesses it must be fit for glory.]

  2.      When they unfeignedly desire to be conformed to his image—

[There is a great difference in the attainments of different Christians, and much allowance must be made for a difference in their respective advantages; but all desire to be “holy as God is holy.” “Vessels thus sanctified are meet for their Master’s use.]

While space is yet allowed us, it becomes us to consider,

  III.      What shall be done when we are ripe—

When the corn has attained maturity, the sickle is put to it; thus, when our measure of sin or holiness is complete, we shall be reaped down—

[Our existence in the world is entirely dependent upon God.” None can shorten or protract it beyond its appointed boundsm.]

The saints will be “gathered into the garner of their Lord”—

[Saints, at their departure, ascend immediately to God; but in the day of judgment their bodies also will rise. They shall then be carried to their eternal home.]

The wicked will be “bound in bundles, and cast into the fire”—

[They, who die in sin, immediately sustain their just punishment; but at the last day their bodies also shall be restored to life. Then shall they too be collected by the ministry of angels, and receive their final doom in fire unquenchable.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who are ripening for destruction—

[You may easily discern your real state, but who can express the misery of it? You ripen, however involuntarily, every day. Notwithstanding your security, you will quickly fall. The great husbandman will easily distinguish you from the saints; and he will most assuredly, yea, eternally, separate you from them. But, through the mercy of God, you may yet be changed. Though you be tares at present, God can make you wheat. Seek then this divine change ere it be too late.]

  2.      Those who are ripening for glory—

[What thanks do you owe to God for his distinguishing grace! And how well may you be reconciled to the afflictions of life! There is no event which does not promote your maturity. Look forward then for the blessed period of the harvest. Reflect on the happiness of the state for which you are preparing. Still seek the showers of the Spirit, and the influences of the Sun of Righteousness. Thus shall you, in due season, be transmitted to the mansions of eternal bliss.]

MCLXXXIV

THE MILLENNIUM

  Joel 3:18.

It shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the House of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

THE return of the Jews to their own land at some future period seems to be predicted so plainly and so frequently, that no reasonable doubt can be entertained respecting it. As for their future conversion to the faith of Christ, that is absolutely certain. But previous to their final settlement in their own land, there will be a violent contest with them in Palestine: but their enemies will be defeated with great slaughter: and after that will the long-wished-for period arrive, when all, both Jews and Gentiles, shall turn unto the Lord, and all “become one fold, under one Shepherd.”

Had the metaphorical expressions “of the mountains dropping with new wine, and the hills flowing with milk” been used alone, we might have supposed that the prediction related only to temporal prosperity, and the restoration of Canaan to that measure of fertility which it possessed in the days of old: but “the fountain coming forth from the House of the Lord” must have a spiritual import; and consequently the whole passage must be understood as designating and describing the Millennial period.

From this sublime passage we shall take occasion to consider,

  I.      The blessings of that day—

The terms under which these blessings are set forth, will lead us to notice,

  1.      Their richness and variety—

[There are no terms whatever that can give us a sublimer idea of the Gospel than these: its blessings are here represented as most reviving and comforting, most salubrious and nutritious, suited to every age, and every condition of the human race.

Let us contemplate them a moment. Reconciliation with God through the blood of the cross, is the first that obtrudes itself upon our notice: and O! who can tell how refreshing this is to a weary heavy-laden soul? With this, peace is introduced into the conscience, even that “peace of God which passeth all understanding.” Friendship being thus cemented between God and man, the person who was till lately an enemy to his God, and an object of his everlasting indignation, is now adopted into his family, and enabled to look up with a spirit of adoption, crying Abba, Father! To the Lord Jesus Christ he now looks as his friend and his beloved; and to the Father he draws nigh with confidence, saying “O God, thou art my God!” Now he has access to God at all times, with a liberty to pour out his heart before him, and an assurance that “whatever he shall ask shall be done unto him.” Now also he enjoys an union with the Lord Jesus Christ, even such an union as a branch has with the vine, or a member with the head: and, by means of that union, he receives constant communications from the fulness that has been treasured up for him in that living Fountain of all good. The Holy Spirit is now poured out upon him as a Comforter, and is imparted in all his sanctifying operations, to mortify all his corruptions, and to transform him into the Divine image. Assured prospects of glory are now opened to him, so that he has both the earnest and foretaste of his heavenly inheritance. But where shall we end, if we attempt to enumerate one hundredth part of the blessings which the Gospel makes over to us, and which are here characterized as “hills flowing with milk, and mountains dropping down new wine?” Suffice it to say, that all the blessings of the everlasting covenant, all that Christ has purchased by his blood, and all that are made over to us in the exceeding great and precious promises, all are ours, if we are Christ’s — — — But to declare fully their richness and variety exceeds the powers of any finite intelligence.]

  2.      Their universality and abundance—

[These blessings will not be so limited as they now are, either in the measure of their communication, or the objects on whom they are bestowed: they will “flow” in all the abundance of the most majestic “rivers,” and that even “to the valley of Shittim;” which being situated on the borders of Moab, and the shores of the Dead Sea, may well be considered as characterizing the most distant and barren places of the earth. There shall not be a human being to whom its blessings do not extend: for “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” The high and the low, the rich and the poor, shall equally be partakers of them; for “all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.” “Kings will be the nursing-fathers of the Church, and queens her nursing-mothers:” and with “the lofty firs and pines shall be united the humble box, to glorify the house of God’s glory, and to make the place of his feet glorious.” So universal shall be the reign of Christ on earth, that “holiness to the Lord shall be written upon the bells of the horses” which the peasants use in agriculture: the smallest vessel in the sanctuary shall be as highly sanctified as the largest; and “there shall no more be the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts.” “All in that day will be righteous;” and so righteous as to need no addition to their happiness from any creature-comforts: “The sun shall be no more their light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto them; but the Lord shall be unto them an everlasting light, and their God their glory.” It is not in respect of universality only that “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea,” but of depth also; for “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.”

O glorious period! “May the Lord hasten it, in His time!”]

Whilst we behold such a period predicted, it becomes us to consider,

  II.      Our duty in the prospect of it—

This is doubtless,

  1.      To help it forward by all possible means—

[God works by means: and, however fixed the times and the seasons may be in the Divine mind, it is by the use of means that he will accomplish these most glorious events. The first advent of Christ was proclaimed by his Forerunner, John the Baptist, who by his ministrations “made ready a people prepared for the Lord.” And we in like manner are to act as heralds and harbingers of the Messiah’s second advent. As pioneers, we are to prepare his way. By us must his path be levelled, to facilitate his march: we must go before him, to “prepare his way, to make strait in the desert a highway for our God.” Through the instrumentality of men “shall every valley be exalted, and every mountain and hill be made low; and the crooked be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all flesh see it together:” yes, “by a voice crying in the wilderness shall all this be done: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

Is it asked then, What shall we do to advance this glorious work? I answer, God has already gone out before us, and shewn us what to do. The Societies which, by his gracious providence, have already been established, shew in what line we may direct our efforts to the best advantage. The Bible is now translating into the different languages of men, and circulating to the ends of the earth: that is obviously the first and most important method of diffusing the knowledge of of salvation through the world. Mission Societies also are in full activity, sending forth pious men to preach the everlasting Gospel, and to explain to the benighted nations of the earth the glorious mysteries which are there revealed. At last, too, attention begins to be paid to that “people, wonderful from their beginning hitherto,” the lost sheep of the House of Israel. They are the people spoken of more especially by the prophet, in the preceding context; and they are the people whom God will make use of for the bringing in the period described in our text: “the fulness of the Jews will be the riches of the world;” and “the receiving of the Jews will be to the whole world as life from the dead.” To aid these Societies, therefore, and to unite our efforts with them, and especially by prayer to bring down the Divine blessing upon them, is the most effectual way we can take to accelerate the arrival of that glorious day. And, if we should not live to see the temple raised ourselves, we shall at least have the satisfaction of having provided materials for it, and contributed towards it to the utmost of our power.]

  2.      To seek the foretaste of it in our own souls—

[All these blessings are to be enjoyed now, as well as at the period before referred to. They are all promised to us under the very same images: “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk, without money, and without price!” This invitation is given to all without exception: “Whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freelyi.” Nor is it in small measure only that these blessings may be now possessed: for our Divine Master says, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink; and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Let those who desire these blessings be in as unfavourable a state as “the vale of Shittim,” they have no need to be discouraged on that account: for “God will open for them rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: he will make the wilderness a pool of water, and dry land springs of water.” What hinders then, but that we should partake of all those mercies ourselves? If we really believe, as all profess to do, that the enjoyment of them will exalt man so highly in the latter ages of the world, and bring down, as it were, a heaven upon earth, surely we should now aspire after a foretaste of that heavenly feast; and “not give rest unto our God,” till he “bring us to his banquetin-house, and till his banner over us be loven.” To entertain an idea of the Millennium being a state of inconceivable felicity, and not to seek those graces and consolations which constitute its happiness, is a grievous inconsistency. Let all then be consistent: and now take their portion at that glorious feast which is spread for them in the Gospel, even “the feast of fat things, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined — — —]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      To those who think of religion as a source of melancholy—

[Does it wear that aspect in the passage before us? or can language be found to depict it in more lovely colours? Verily, if the transformation of a wilderness into the garden of the Lord be a joyful change, then is religion a source of unmingled joy and blessedness. But it may be said, that repentance and mortification of sin are painful works. True; but whence do they proceed? not from religion, but from sin, which must be repented of, and must be mortified. We are diseased, and must be cured, before we can enjoy health in our souls. If we were diseased in body, and needed a painful course of medicine, or the amputation of a limb, would any one ascribe our pains to health? Health would supersede the necessity of such a process: and when the soul is brought to the enjoyment of God’s presence, and the possession of his image, it shall “have beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” — — — Let this erroneous notion then be put away; and let religion be regarded in its true light, as an anticipation and foretaste of the heavenly bliss.]

  2.      To those who profess to regard religion as a source of joy—

[You are correct in your sentiments on this momentous subject; but you must remember, that religion is a source of joy to those only who live nigh to God, and devote themselves unreservedly to his service. To those who give to God only a divided heart, it can administer no solid comfort. Indeed they are less happy than the ignorant ungodly world; for, whilst their profession keeps them from enjoying the vanities of the world, their distance from God prevents them from having any delight in him: so that there is nothing but an aching void, or a corroding anguish, in their hearts. O ye professors of godliness, either follow not the Lord at all, or “follow him fully.” Live nigh to him, and walk with him, as Enoch did, and you shall never be disappointed of your hope: you shall never find that “he is a wilderness to you;” but you shall have the light of his countenance lifted up upon you, and “your mouth shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, whilst you are praising him with joyful lips.”

But we trust that many do really experience all the blessedness of true piety: and they will need no exhortation to diffuse the blessings which they themselves enjoy. The wine and milk which they find so nutritious and comforting to their own souls, they will gladly impart to others. Combine then, brethren, your energies for that purpose. The whole world, except a small inclosure, is at this hour a wilderness. The Jewish people, with all their advantages, have reduced themselves almost to a level with the Gentile world: for whilst the Gentiles are “without God,” the Jews are “without Christ, and therefore without hope” of ultimate acceptance before God. They believe not that Jesus is their Messiah; and therefore, as Jesus has said, “they die in their sins.” O! rise ye as one man, and hold out to them the cup of salvation; and labour by all possible means to lead them to the “living Fountain of waters,” that they may drink thereof, and live for ever.]

AMOS

Amos 2:13.

Amos. 3:3.

Amos 3:6.

Amos 3:8.

Amos 4:11, 12.

Amos 5:8, 9.

Amos 5:12.

Amos 6:1.

Amos 7:2, 3.

Amos 9:9.

Amos 9:11, 12.

Amos 9:13.

MCLXXXV

GOD’S COMPLAINT AGAINST US

             Amos 2:13.

Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

THE effect of long-continued provocations is to weary out our patience. Some few occasional offences we can easily forgive: but when they are repeated from time to time, they gall the mind, and produce considerable irritation, and stir us up, either by word or deed, to avenge ourselves. Something of this kind is represented as passing in the mind of God. We must not indeed conceive of him as if he had the same passions with ourselves; but yet he will so suit his dispensations to our conduct, that they shall bear the stamp of retributive justice, and accord, in a measure, with what is produced in the world by human passions. Hence he speaks of himself after the manner of men, in order to accommodate himself to our weak and carnal apprehensions: and, having told his people how greatly their transgressions had been multiplied against him, he declares, as one whose patience was quite exhausted, that he was “pressed under them, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.”

Let us consider,

  I.      What reason God has for this complaint against us—

We need not enter minutely into the particular accusations brought against the Israelites of old: in a general view, they may be reduced to three; which may with equal justice be laid to our charge:

  1.      Our disregard of his laws—

[God had given his people laws, which they violated without remorse. And has he not prescribed the moral law as the rule of our conduct? and is it not in all respects “holy, and just, and good?” Yet how have we obeyed it? Have we studied it with a view to find out the will of God? Have we been restrained and regulated by it as far as we knew it? Have we not, on the contrary, transgressed it in ten thousand instances? Have we not been swayed by the considerations of our worldly honour and interest, more than by a regard to God’s authority? Where our own will has stood in competition with God’s, have we not been ready to say, like Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?”

Do we then suppose, that the Governor of the universe is indifferent about the observance of his laws? Or, if he be not, must he not be “fretted,” “grievedc,” and “vexed,” with our rebellions, and even “broken with our whorish hearte?” Lot vexed his righteous soul from day to day, on account of what he saw and heard in Sodom: and must not He who is infinitely holy, and who sees all the iniquity in the world at one view, be overwhelmed, as it were, with grief and vexation at our iniquities? Surely the comparison in the text rather falls short of, than exceeds, the truth: for we have “drawn out iniquity as a cart ropeg,” continually adding fresh materials, and protracting it, without intermission, to an unknown length; and therefore well may God complain, that “we have wearied him with our iniquities,” and that he is “pressed under us as an overloaded cart.”]

  2.      Our mindfulness of his mercies—

[God particularly specifies the mercies he had vouchsafed to Israel, which had only served to aggravate their guilt. And what innumerable mercies has he conferred on us! How has he formed us in the womb, and made us perfect in all our members; when we might have been hideous monsters, that could not endure the light of day! How has he furnished us with rational faculties, when many of our fellow-creatures are idiots, yea, less rational than the beasts! Above all, how has he endued us with an immortal soul, capable of knowing, serving, and enjoying God to all eternity! How has he kept us through the helpless years of infancy, and brought us in safety to the present hour; while thousands have never lived to receive instruction, or been cut off in the midst of their iniquities! Yet in what manner have we requited him for all his mercies? Have we blessed and adored and magnified him for all his love? Have we endeavoured to improve our time and faculties in his service? Have not rather the multitude and continuance of his gifts been the occasion of our entirely forgetting the Donor?

Make this your own case. If you had a servant whom you were daily loading with benefits, and yet could never prevail upon him to testify the smallest sense of his obligations to you, would you not be wearied at last, and think it right to discard such a worthless person from your service? And do you imagine that your heavenly Benefactor is not grieved at your ingratitude? Hear how he complains of it; and judge for yourselves: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me: the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know; my people do not consider.” “What could have been done more for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” Do these complaints argue no weariness on the part of God? Do they not manifest that he is “pressed under us beyond measure,” and scarcely able to sustain any farther load? May we not soon expect him to say, “I am grieved with that generation; and swear in my wrath, that they shall never enter into my rest?”]

  3.      Our contempt of his blessed Gospel—

[The summit of Israel’s wickedness was that “they said to the prophets, Prophesy not. Now God has sent his prophets to us, to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, and to declare that all who believed in that Saviour should receive the Holy Spirit, as their Teacher, their Sanctifier, their Comforter. But how have we received their message? Have we cordially embraced the Saviour? Are we seeking yet daily and hourly the influences of the Holy Spirit? Are not many of us rather ready to despise the Gospel, and to dispute against its truths as over-righteous fancies and enthusiastic dreams? Do not even those who profess to embrace the Gospel, shew by their lives how little they regard it in their hearts? And do not the very services which they present to God, provoke him to say, “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them?” Is not such a contempt of his Gospel most painful to him, and most destructive to usq?

See then the grounds of complaint which God has against us; and say whether the assiduity of harvestmen in loading their carts with the sheaves does not too much resemble us, who are thus incessantly loading God with our iniquities, till he can bear no more? Yea, we help and encourage each other in the work, as if we were afraid that we could not otherwise heap up upon him a sufficient load.]

The manner in which this complaint is made, calls us especially to consider,

  II.      What reason we have to be deeply concerned about our state—

Wherever we see in Scripture the word, “Behold,” we may be sure that there is something worthy of our most solemn attention. And well may that word be prefixed to the declaration in the text, since an accumulating of such a load of guilt is a “treasuring up of a proportionable weight of wrath.” Let three things then be considered by all who are thus offending God:

  1.      God is able to vindicate the honour of his injured majesty—

[Survey the universe, and ask, Whether he who formed it out of nothing, be not able to avenge himself on such worms as we are? If that be not sufficient, cast an eye into the bottomless abyss of hell, and ask, ‘Who formed it? and, On what occasion? and, Who are the inhabitants of those dreary mansions?’ Or, if you choose rather to see what notices of his power and wrath you can find on earth, ask of the antediluvians, and they shall tell thee; or of the cities of the plain, and they shall warn thee; or of the Jews, who are scattered over the face of the whole earth, as living monuments of his indignation. As God said to his people of old, “Go to my place, which was in Shiloh, and see what I did to it, for the wickedness of my people Israel;” so would I refer you to all these instances, that you may know what a God “you have to do with;” and that “him who walketh in pride he is able to abase.” If any doubt yet remain upon your mind, go and provide an answer to that question which Job put to his contentious friends; “God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who hath hardened himself against him, and prospered”.]

  2.      As he is able, so is he determined, to avenge himself—

[God has warned us plainly, that “the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God.” But this is not all. He is like a man bearing with indignities for a time, under a pleasing expectation, that the vengeance which he shall shortly execute upon his enemy shall be signal and complete. See with what firm determination he prepares himself for his vindictive work, “whetting his sword, bending his bow, and making ready the instruments of death;” and swearing most solemnly by his own life and perfections, that “as soon as he has whet his sword, he will render vengeance to his enemies, making his arrows drunk with their blood, and causing his sword to devour their flesh.” See with what pleasure he looks forward to that period, when, like a man who has thoroughly avenged himself, his wrath shall be pacified by the entire destruction of his foe! “I have set the point of my sword against them, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: Ah! it is made bright, it is wrapt up for the slaughter.” “Mine anger shall soon be accomplished on them, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comfortedb:” “So will I make my fury towards them to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from them, and I will be quiet, and be no more angry.” Farther, see what delight he expresses when the time for vengeance is arrived! “Ah! I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemiesd:” “I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.”

Should not such declarations as these appal us? Should they not convince us what “a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God?”]

  3.      The time for retribution is fast approaching—

[When the cart is already overladen with corn, the heaping of sheaves upon it must quickly cease. And when our God is already “pressed under us,” so that he can scarcely sustain any further weight, we may be sure that “the measure of our iniquities is nearly full,” and that the hour of vengeance draws nigh. Methinks, God is at this moment saying, in reference to us, “My Spirit shall not strive with them any more.” “To me belongeth vengeance and recompence: their foot shall slide in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.” What a mercy is it that there is yet an hour’s respite allowed us! How should we redeem the time! How should we avail ourselves of the present moment, to flee from the wrath to come! How should we tremble, lest the order should be already given, not to take us to the granary of heaven, but to cast us into the flames of hell!

“Behold” then, brethren! “behold,” what a God you are offending, and in what danger you stand! One more sheaf perhaps may complete the load: and will you proceed to lay it on? O cease from your fatal work, and cry to your long-suffering God for mercy ere it be too late!]

  INFER—

  1.      What a burthen ought sin to be to us!

[You have heard what a burthen it is to God; that he even groans under it, and is weary to bear it. And ought it not to be a burthen to us who have committed it? Ought not we to be “weary and heavy-laden” with a sense of it? Ought we not to feel it as an insupportable burthen; “to be troubled for it; to be bowed down greatly, and to roar for the disquietness of our heartsi?” Turn then to God, ye people; “be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy into heaviness: humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God;” “and put your mouths in the dust, if so be there may be hopel.”]

  2.      What obligations do we owe to Jesus Christ!

[Jesus has borne the burthen of our sins, not only as our Creator and Governor, but as our Redeemer. Even in the former view, he has been “grieved at the hardness of our hearts,” and has groaned over usn, and found his burthen almost insupportable. But, in the latter view, O what has he sustained? the guilt of all the human race! the wrath of an avenging God! Go, listen to his cries and agonies in the garden of Gethsemane! See the blood issuing from every pore of his body! Trace him to Golgotha, and behold him expiring on the cross: Ask, What was the cause? and you will find that he was sinking under the weight of your iniquities, and if He was thus overwhelmed with the load, what must become of us, if we, after all, should have to bear the curse due to our sins? Let every eye be fixed on him with humble, grateful adoration. Let every one look to his vicarious sacrifice for pardon and peace. And, as he has thus graciously “borne our sins in his own body on the tree,” let us trust in him. Let us “go to him weary and heavy-laden, and we shall find eternal rest to our souls.”]

MCLXXXVI

REQUISITES FOR FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD

             Amos. 3:3.

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

IT is not always safe to judge of God, and the things which relate to Him, by the things which take place in our intercourse with men: for the distance between God and man is such as precludes all parallel between them. Yet, in a way of illustration, it is often of great advantage to consider what occurs in common life; because, from observations of that kind, we are enabled to attain a correct judgment with more facility than we could by any laboured process of rational investigation. Hence this mode of illustration is frequently adopted by the inspired writers. In the passage before us, the Prophet Amos had delivered this message from God to all the children of Israel: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities.” Then the prophet, anticipating an objection to this, proceeds to obviate itb. He supposes an objector to say, ‘Your alarm is groundless: for it never can be, that God should so act towards those whom he has chosen for his peculiar people.’ To this he replies, ‘There is good reason for you to be alarmed: for I appeal to you, Can there be any real friendship between persons (whether they be of the same family or not), if in their general views and habits there be no agreement? You may call yourselves the Lord’s people, if you will; but, “if you walk contrary to him, he will walk contrary to you:” and this he has both authorized and commanded me to declare. There is, therefore, abundant reason for you to fear and tremble. You well know, “that if a lion roar, or a young lion cry,” there is a reason for it. If “a bird fall in a snare, or a snare be taken up by the owner,” it is not without a reason: and “if the trumpet be blown in the city to sound an alarm,” there is a reason for it. So then is there reason for you to fear and tremble: for God, who reveals his secrets to his prophets, has revealed to me his determination to punish you: and, as sure as effects, whether amongst the rational or irrational creation, result from causes, and may be traced to them; so surely shall your punishment follow from the indignation which you have excited in the bosom of your God: “The lion hath roared: who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken: who can but prophesy?”

The prophet’s appeal is indeed very convincing: for as a congeniality of mind is necessary to the existence of friendship among men, so is a conformity of mind to God’s revealed will necessary to the maintenance of friendship with him;

  I.      In this world—

Without a correspondence of taste and sentiment, there can be no friendship amongst men—

[We may occasionally associate with persons, however widely they may differ from us: they may even be numbered amongst our most intimate acquaintance. But we cannot take them to our bosoms as endeared friends. In order to such communion as that, there must be some resemblance in our general habits, both of sentiment and pursuit; something whereon we can meet, as on common ground; something sufficiently important to us both, to form a bond of union betwixt us. Our favourite employment, whatever it be, will operate as an attraction to others similarly employed: but from persons who have no taste for these occupations we shall feel, comparatively, but little attraction. Those who are immersed in the study of arts and sciences will not very much affect the society of those who have no taste but for trifling amusements; nor will the votaries of pleasure desire an habitual intercourse with them. Still less will those in whom there is a great moral disparity affect the society of each other; the honourable with the base; the pious with the ungodly and profane. Each will form his connexions rather amongst those who are of a kindred spirit with himself, and walk most intimately with those who love to be found in his paths.]

Nor can friendship with God exist, where there is no conformity to his image—

[Enoch and Noah “walked with God:” and “Abraham was called the friend of God.” But in them there was a love to his revealed will, and a desire to be conformed to it. The most difficult commands from God did not excite rebellion or murmuring in their hearts. They loved holiness; and were therefore prepared to move in sweet accord with him. But, had their minds been averse to his holy ways, they would rather have fled from him, like Cain, than have walked habitually as in his presence, and sought all their happiness in him. God has informed us how hateful sin is in his sight; and what is that way in which alone he will receive returning sinners; and what is that heavenly conversation which he expects from all who come to him by Christ. But, suppose a person to think lightly of sin, and to doubt whether it have really subjected him to God’s everlasting displeasure: suppose him to disapprove of salvation by faith alone, and to prefer establishing, either in whole or in part, a righteousness by the law: suppose him, further, to complain, of God’s requirements as too strict, and to plead for indulgences which he forbids; can we suppose that God will come to him, and find pleasure in him; or that he can really delight himself in God? The point is clear: the diversity of their mind and will forms an insurmountable barrier to their union, and must of necessity produce an alienation of heart from each other; as God has said by the prophet, “My soul lothed them; and their soul abhorred me.” To the same effect he speaks also by the Apostle Paul: “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?”

Here, then, the point is clear. The services of God and Mammon are incompatible with each other. Whichever we most affect in our minds, his servants we areg: and friendship with either precludes a possibility of union with the other.]

Nor is a resemblance to God less necessary for an enjoyment of him,

  II.      In the world to come—

There cannot, even in heaven, be any union between God and an ungodly man—

[“There is no repentance in the grave.” What a man, in his decided character, is at the time of his death, that he will remain to all eternity: “As the tree falls, so it will lie:” “He that is unjust, will be unjust still; and he that is filthy, will be filthy stilli.” Suppose a man to have had no love for holiness here, but rather to have felt an alienation of mind from holy men and holy exercises; how can he, all at once, feel delight in a holy God, and in the employment of the heavenly hosts? How can he, who has never for one single hour been filled with love and gratitude in this world for all the wonders of redeeming love, how can he, I say, join in the songs of the redeemed to all eternity? If there were nothing more than a consciousness of his own state to affect him, he would be glad to recede from a place where there was not a being like-minded with himself, or an occupation suited to his taste. He had a dislike to the exercises of devotion here; and he would dislike them there: he fled from God’s presence here; and he would flee from it there. Like our first parents after their fall, they would endeavour to hide themselves from him, instead of going forth to meet him; and Paradise itself would be to them a place of torment.]

The manner in which the prophet declares this truth greatly augments its weight—

[He does not utter it in a way of simple affirmation; but he makes it the subject-matter of an appeal: “How can two walk together, except they be agreed?” He constitutes every man a judge in his own cause. We need not any of us be told, that to the existence of real friendship there must be a similarity of taste: those who are perfectly opposed to each other in the things that are most agreeable to themselves, can no more become united with each other, in the bonds of endeared friendship, than light and darkness can coalesce. Observation and experience prove this beyond a doubt; nor can any one be so ignorant as not to know it.]

  Well then, may this TEACH US,

  1.      The necessity of true conversion—

[“The carnal mind,” says the Apostle, that is, the mind of every man by nature, “is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” “A new heart, therefore, must be given us, and a new spirit must be put within usl.” We must become altogether “new creatures; old things passing away, and all things being made new.” This, as our Lord tells us, is so necessary, that “except it take place we can never enter into the kingdom, no, nor ever see it.” To speak of this as necessarily attendant on baptism, is contrary to fact; for there are thousands who are baptized, as there were thousands circumcised amongst the Jews, who have never experienced this change. But this change must be wrought in us, if ever we would behold the face of God in peace. “That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.” The former being altogether carnal, is incapable of enjoying a spiritual kingdom: it is the latter which alone can fit us for the exercises and enjoyments of the heavenly world. You well know, that if a man had no taste for music, he could not, for any length of time, feel pleasure in the melodies which, to a lover of music, afford the highest gratification. So neither can we, without a taste for the employments of heaven, or, in other words, without “a meetness for heaven,” ever hope to participate in the blessedness of the just.]

  2.      The importance of separation from the world—

[The world wonder at the saints, for standing aloof from them; and often impute it to pride: as though the Lord’s people said to them, “Stand off; I am holier than thou.” But the godly, in associating with the world, do not meet on equal terms. All the sacrifice must be on their part. The world will propose to them to join in every vanity: but if, in return, they were asked to join in reading the word of God and prayer, for the sake of spiritual edification and comfort, they would regard the proposal almost as a symptom of insanity. And, if you were to wait till such a proposal were made, or even approved, by them, you would wait till the sun had ceased to run its course. It is not for nought that the Apostle says, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate.” There is abundant occasion for it: for friendship with them is constructively nothing less than enmity itself against Godr.” We must “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed in the renewing of our minds, if ever we would prove, to the satisfaction of our God, what is his good and acceptable and perfect will.”]

  3.      The happiness of real piety—

[Where the soul is really in accordance with the revealed will of God, there will God delight to “dwell, as in a temple.” To such persons “he will manifest himself as he does not unto the worldu;” “He will come unto them, and make his abode with them;” and “they shall walk in the light of his countenancey.” O! who shall adequately declare the blessedness of friendship with God? — — — And if in this world the saints have such great advantage, what shall they have in the eternal world? Who shall declare their felicity, when they shall stand in his immediate presence, and behold the full brightness of his glory in the person of his dear Son? If it be so sweet now to have “the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,” what shall it be to behold the Saviour “face to facea?” If a taste of the waters of life, though taken from polluted cisterns, be so sweet, what shall it be to drink of them at the fountain-head? Let those who walk with God in this world know, that they shall, ere long, “walk with him in white,” where distance and parting shall be no more.”]

MCLXXXVII

GOD THE SOURCE AND CAUSE OF ALL THINGS

             Amos 3:6.

Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?

IT is a generally acknowledged truth, that every thing proceeds from God; and we have the authority of God himself for affirming it: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” The same truth was put in a way of appeal even to the enemies of God; and that, too, at a time when he was denouncing against them the heaviest judgments. As surely as the roaring of a lion betokens that he has seized his prey; or the capture of a bird that the snare had been set for him; or the blowing of a trumpet the approach of danger; so surely should the evils coming on his disobedient people mark the indignation of God against them: “Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?”

But as, on the incursion of evil, we are apt to trace it almost exclusively to second causes, and to overlook the hand of God in it, I propose,

  I.      To confirm the truth which is here intimated—

There is a great variety of evil in the world: but God is the author of it all. From him proceeds all evil;

  1.      Moral—

[Of course, we are not to imagine that moral evil proceeds from him in a way of actual efficiency: for “God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” But, as no man would be in a capacity to perpetrate evil, if God did not invest him with the power, and allow him the opportunity to commit it, the Scripture uniformly represents God as concurring in it, even where the agency of men or devils is most manifest in the production of it. For instance;

In the selling of Joseph into Egypt, the envy of his brethren was manifestly the first moving cause: yet, what did Joseph say concerning it? “Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life. God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” “Ye indeed thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.”

In the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, we must look further than to the innate depravity of that impious monarch; for God had raised him up to the possession of royal power, that so he might have full scope for the display of all that was in his heart: yes, and he gave him up, too, to the unrestrained exercise of all his evil dispositions; as he had before declared to Moses that he would do. And thus God himself is said, in a qualified sense, to have “hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” yea, and to harden in like manner the hearts of all whom he is pleased thus to give up to the unrestrained indulgence of their own lusts.

Above all, in the crucifixion of our blessed Lord, where shall we find human depravity so active and so combined as in that tremendous scene? And can we trace any part of that to Almighty God? Yes, the whole of it: for St. Peter says, that “Jesus was delivered up to his murderers by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God; and that “Herod and Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel that were gathered together against him,” in all that they perpetrated, “did only what God’s hand and God’s counsel had determined before to be doneg.”

What, then, must not be traced to God, if we are taught to refer to him such transactions as these?]

  2.      Political—

[By political evil, I mean such as arises, whether to nations or individuals, in the common course of human events.

The defection of the ten tribes from Rehoboam may well be considered as originating in the tyranny of that weak monarch, and in his following the infatuated counsels of the young men, rather than the judicious counsels of the old. But God himself declares, that it was altogether ordained of him, for the accomplishment of his own designs: “The cause, it is said, was of God, that the Lord might perform the word which he had spoken.” And when Rehoboam had raised an army of 180,000 men to reduce the ten tribes to subjection, one single word spoken by Shemaiah, a man of God, to Rehoboam and his army, saying, “Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: for this thing is done of me, saith the Lord,” was sufficient for the satisfying and disbanding of the whole army: so universally was God’s agency in human affairs acknowledged by them at that day.

The captivity of Israel by the Assyrians might well be traced to the pride and ambition of the Assyrian monarch; as the captivity of Judah by the Chaldeans might also to the resentment and cupidity of the Babylonish monarch: but both the one and the other are traced to God himself, as stirring up the enemies of his people to execute upon them his sovereign will. Respecting the former, it is said, “The God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, to carry them away.” And respecting the latter, it is said, “The Lord sent against Jehoiakim bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight:” so entirely are men, even when following most freely the dictates of their own minds, unconscious agents of the Deity, to execute his will; “the sword in his hand, and the staff of his indignationm.”]

  3.      Penal—

[Sometimes God is pleased to send trials in a way of paternal chastisement, as when he stirred up enemies to disturb the peace and quietness of Solomon’s reign. And he has told us, that he will deal thus with his children in every age, “visiting their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes, even when it is not his intention utterly to take away his loving-kindness from themo.” But sometimes he executes his judgments upon men in a way of righteous retribution. Go to Sodom; and behold the cities of the plain; and tell me, whose hand was there? See Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with all their families, swallowed up in the earth at the word of Moses; and say by whom was that judgment wrought? Or tell me by whose hand Ananias and Sapphira fell, for lying to the Holy Ghost? Was there any one of these evils which the Lord did not inflict and execute?]

Methinks, I have spoken enough for the confirmation of this truth; and may proceed,

  II.      To shew how it is carried into effect—

God is pleased to work in a great variety of ways: for instance,

  1.      By a visible display of his own Almighty power—

[It was thus that he caused the sea to divide its waves, and to leave a dry path for the children of Israel; and presently afterwards to close again, and overwhelm every individual of the hostile army that pursued them. By a similar display of his power, he opened a passage also for his people through the river Jordan, at a time when it had overflowed its banks. Afterwards, in like manner, he caused the walls of Jericho to fall down, at the sound of rams’ horns. In such instances as these, no means were used that had the slightest tendency to effect the end; that so his own interposition might be the more manifest, and that he might have all the glory.]

  2.      By the instrumentality of second causes—

[David was informed, that, notwithstanding his heinous sin was forgiven, it should yet be visited in this world with evils in his own family, which should embitter all his remaining days. In the conduct of Amnon and of Absalom, we see how God marked David’s sin in its punishment. These sons only followed the dictates of their own corrupt hearts: but God wrought by them, and made them his instruments to punish their parent’s crimes. So, by the instrumentality of Jehu, he destroyed the whole house of Ahab, when Jehu himself desired nothing but to advance his own gloryq.]

  3.      By the most trivial, and, as we call them, accidental, occurrences—

[Who can read the Book of Esther, and not stand amazed at the trifling circumstances by which the destruction of Haman, and the consequent deliverance of all the Jewish people, were brought to pass? The Persian king cannot sleep—he calls for the records of the nation to be brought, in order to amuse him—a record of a conspiracy, that had long since been defeated, was read to him—he inquires whether the person who had discovered the conspiracy had been suitably rewarded—this, with a multitude of other unlooked-for circumstances, brought Haman to the gallows which he had erected for Mordecai, and were the means of delivering the whole Jewish people from the ruin that had been prepared for them. No one can conceive how minute are the links in the chain of Providence, the failure of any one of which would have defeated the counsels of the Most High. But “his counsel shall stand; and he will do all his will:” and it will be found, at last, that “no one thing has ever failed, of all that he, in his eternal counsels, has ordainedt.”]

  4.      In direct opposition to all the means that are used to obstruct his will—

[He will confound all the Jews by the resurrection of his dear Son. They, on the contrary, are determined to prove Jesus a deceiver. For this end, having put him to death, they roll a stone to the door of his sepulchre, and seal it with Pilate’s signet, and set a watch to guard the place; that so it may be impossible, as they think, for Jesus to be taken away, or for the expectations of his followers to be realized. Had they succeeded in this effort, they had proved to demonstration, that Jesus was an impostor. But Jehovah “laughed them to scorn;” and, at the predicted time, restored the Lord Jesus to life, and “proved him to be indeed the Son of God with power, by his resurrection from the dead.” This was in strict accordance with what David had foretold: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed; saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. But He that sitteth in heaven laughed; the Lord had them in derision.” In a word, “He doeth according to his will, in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; nor can any stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thouy?”]

  Has any kind of evil then occurred to us? Let us LEARN,

  1.      Submission to God’s will—

[God says to us, “Be still; and know that I am God.” And if once we learn to see the hand of God in every thing, what peace will it bring into the soul, even in the midst of the heaviest trials! You will not find anywhere a greater sufferer than Job: men, devils, elements, all conspired against him. But in all his trials he saw the hand of a gracious God; and that composed his mind: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord! Shall we receive good at the Lord’s hands, and shall we not receive evil?” Let us then, in all our trials, the smaller which occur in. social or domestic life, as well as in those of a more overwhelming nature, habituate ourselves to see the Lord’s hand: and to say, “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.” This would greatly tranquillize our minds; and take out the sting from ten thousand little occurrences, which wound our feelings, and often pain us far more than heavier afflictions. Let us reply to the revilings of a malignant enemy, “The Lord hath bidden him curse me;” and there will be an end of all the anguish that his hostility has for a moment occasioned us.]

  2.      Inquiry into the design of God in the trial sent us—

[“Trouble springs not out of the dust:” “nor does God afflict us without a causef.” “Every rod,” which he sends, has a voice, which we ought most attentively to “hear.” Peradventure there is some sin which God designs to correct; some corruption to mortify; some grace to improve; or, at all events, some important lesson which he intends to teach us more perfectly. We should, therefore, go to God under our trials, and ask him “wherefore he contendeth with us.” “In the day of adversity we should consideri;” and be more anxious to derive benefit from the affliction, than to obtain a premature deliverance from its pressure. If we may but be purged from our dross, and come out of the furnace purified as gold, it should be deemed an ample compensation for all our pains; and should make us thankfully to acknowledge, that “God in love and faithfulness has afflicted us.”]

  3.      Amendment of life—

[This should be our object, under all the diversified circumstances of our lives. Nothing should be of any importance to us in comparison of this: nor should any pain be deprecated, which may be sent to “purge away our iniquity, and which may render us, in a more perfect manner, “partakers of God’s holinessm.” If our “tribulation may but work patience, and experience, and a hope that shall not make us ashamed, and prove an occasion of the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts, we should even rejoice and glory in it.” Nor is it merely the mortification of any besetting sin that we should aim at, but an entire conformity of mind and will to God. We should desire to be “made perfect through our sufferings,” even as the Lord Jesus Christ himself waso: and, whether our tribulation be more or less painful in this world, we should be contented to pass through it as “our appointed way to heaven;” and be well pleased to “suffer with Christ, that we may hereafter dwell with him, and be glorified togetherq.”]

MCLXXXVIII

GOD’S VOICE TO SINNERS

             Amos 3:8.

The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

THERE is not any thing more strange and unreasonable than that utter disregard which is shewn to the word of God. If we see appearances in the sky, we can form some judgment of the weather: if we take notice of common occurrences in the world, we can draw plain and obvious conclusions from them. The prophet justly observes, that if a lion roar, we conclude he has taken, or is about to seize, his prey: if a bird be caught in a snare, we take for granted that the snare was laid with that design: if an alarm be given in the city, we suppose that there is reason for that alarm: or if any disastrous event have taken place, we consider it as ordered by an overruling Providence. Yet when God speaks in his word, we imagine that there is no occasion for it, nor any need to regard it. But it becomes us to attend with reverence to all his messages, whether of wrath or mercy. Whatever he has revealed to us by his servants the prophets, he will surely do: and they are commanded to make known his determinations, “whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear.” Hence the prophet Amos, desirous at once to expose the obstinacy of the unbelieving Jews, and to vindicate his own faithfulness towards them, addresses himself to their consciences in this animated expostulation, this convincing apology.

To bring home his words to our own hearts, we shall consider,

  I.      What God hath spoken to us—

[There is no description of persons whose character God has not delineated, and whose end he has not determined. And it would be a pleasing task to exemplify this remark in the Divine declarations concerning the righteous: but God’s voice in the text is compared to the roaring of a lion: on which account we must confine ourselves rather to his denunciations of wrath and vengeance which he will execute on the ungodly.

What then hath he spoken to profane sinners? Alas! how numerous their classes! how dangerous their self-deceptions! how awful their endc! And is not such a declaration more terrible than the roaring of a lion? Let us then hear and “fear.”

To self-righteous Pharisees his voice is not less tremendous. In the parable addressed to those who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous,” the preference given to the self-condemning sinner is strongly marked; and God’s determination to “abase the self-exalting” is plainly declared. Yes; before God, and angels, and men, shall such characters be abased in the day of judgment, when publicans and harlots shall be admitted into heaven before them. Is not this a just ground of fear to those, whose hearts are not broken with a sense of sin?

But more dreadful still are the threatenings denounced against hypocritical professors of religion. Their doom is characterized as the most severe of any: and the wrath which they heap up to themselves, while they hold the truth in unrighteousness, is beyond measure greath. Let the proud and passionate, the malicious and revengeful, the worldly and covetous, the impure and sensual professor, hear this: and let them know, that the Lamb of God will be a lion to them, if they walk not more worthy of their high calling.

There is however one description of persons, against whom God’s threatenings are more awful still. He declares that negligent and unfaithful ministers shall perish under the accumulated guilt of destroying the souls committed to their charge. The blood of all whom they have neglected to warn shall be required at their hands. Surely if the voice of God to others be as the roaring of a lion, to these it is rather as the voice of thunder. O, that it might be for ever sounding in the ears of all who are in the service of the sanctuary, till there should not be found one negligent or unfaithful minister in the Christian church!]

  II.      What effect it should have upon us—

[With respect to ministers, should they not fear? Does it become them, in the very face of such warnings, to indulge a slothful spirit, or to withhold the truth from their people through fear of offending them? Ought they, however their hearers may wish it, to speak smooth things to them, and to prophesy deceits? Should they be intent on feeding themselves rather than the flockm; and be more studious to establish a reputation as preachers, than to save the souls committed to them? Surely, when it is considered whose ambassadors they are, and to whom they must give account, and what must be their doom if any perish through their neglect, they can never study too earnestly to approve themselves to God, that they may give up their account to him with joy, and not with griefo.

With respect to others, of whatever description they may be, it becomes them well to fear, when “THE LORD GOD,” the almighty and immutable Jehovah, speaks to them such momentous truths

What is there that can justify any man in casting off the fear of God? Can we deny that he hath roared as a lion? or are we stronger than he, that we dare to provoke him to jealousy? Or can we elude his search, when he shall summon us to his judgment-seatr? Or have we any reason to doubt whether he will execute his threatenings?

Let every one rest assured, that it were far better that a roaring lion should rush out of a thicket to devour him, or that the artillery of a whole army should be pointed at him, than that one single threatening of Almighty God should be in force against him: for as his destruction is more certain, so will it be infinitely more tremendous.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Be not averse to hear the terrors of God’s law—

[Though, of themselves, the threatenings of God’s word will never produce true contrition, yet it is necessary that all should know what the Lord God saith concerning them, in order that they may feel their need of a Saviour. In this respect, the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ: and if, by hearing of the wrath to come, we be induced to flee from it, we shall have reason to bless the watchman that sounded the alarm.”]

  2.      Be thankful to God for the promises of the Gospel—

[Blessed be God, the Gospel is full of “exceeding great and precious promises:” and “to him that trembleth at God’s word” these promises are made. Let not then a slavish dread of God’s wrath keep us from embracing the overtures of his mercy. Let us rather flee to Christ the more earnestly, in proportion as we see our guilt and danger. The Israelites were commended by God himself for making this improvement of his terrors. And, if we have Christ as our mediator and advocate, we have nothing to fear from heaven, earth, or hell.]

MCLXXXIX

INCORRIGIBLENESS REPROVED

  Amos 4:11, 12.

Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

THE various dispensations of providence are intended to awaken our concern for our best interests, and to bring us back to God. But the generality of mankind, satisfied with tracing events to second causes, neglect to make the improvement of them which God designs. Judgments and mercies in constant succession pass unheeded; and, instead of promoting our spiritual welfare, too frequently enhance rather our eternal condemnation. It is certain that God notices the effects which his dealings produce upon us: and, if we continue incorrigible under all the means which he uses for our good, he will sooner or later call us to a severe account. To this effect he speaks in the passage before us; where, having recapitulated the various methods by which he had sought to reclaim his people, he complains, after each, that “they had not returned unto him;” and then he bids them prepare to answer for it at his tribunal.

We may with too much reason apply to ourselves the words originally addressed to Israel, and consider from them,

  I.      The complaint alleged against us—

God has used various means to bring us to repentance—

[In the context he specifies several judgments which he had inflicted on his people Israel, intimating, at the same time, that in the midst of judgment he had remembered mercy. His judgments had been successive, and partial, not universal, or combined. We too must confess that he has visited us with heavy calamities — — — But yet “he has staid his rough wind in the day of his east wind,” insomuch that we have been like “a brand plucked out of the fire!” War, famine, and pestilence have raged in different parts of the continent; but we, though slightly affected by them all, have escaped without any material injuryb.

For a long time also has God spared us from that awful pestilence which has raged both in Asia and Europe: but now has it reached our shores, and is spreading widely both in Britain and Ireland, and carrying off multitudes with fearful rapidity into the eternal world.]

But in the midst of all we have continued impenitent—

[We can see nothing of national reformation. Fasts indeed have been appointed from time to time during the late war, and even on the present occasion: but it will be well if these be not numbered amongst our greatest sins; seeing that they have been little else than an empty form, a hypocritical service, a solemn mockery. As for national repentance, what evidence can be adduced to warrant the hope that it has ever taken place? What national sin has been put away? Have we less pride and arrogance, when speaking of our fleets and armies? Have we ceased from traffic in human blood? Does not the land groan as much as ever under the load of sabbaths wasted, oaths violated, and sacraments profaned; or, if any slight alteration in relation to oaths and sacraments have taken place, has it not been through a political concession to popular clamour, rather than from any regard for the honour and authority of God?

Nor can we boast much more of personal improvement. Are not the young as gay and dissipated, as if they had no occasion for mourning and weeping? Are not the worldly as intent upon their gains as if this world were their all? Do not the formal still continue as regardless of the life and power of godliness, as if the service of the heart were not required? Is there any considerable change even in the people of God? Is there much of a spirit of prayer and intercession found among them? Are they pleading, like Abraham for Sodom, or like Moses for the worshippers of the golden calf? In truth, there are few, if any, who lay to heart the iniquities of the nation, or inquire, “What have I done” to increase the sum of our national guilt?]

Surely then, since we must plead guilty to the charge, we may fitly also apply to ourselves,

  II.      The admonition founded upon it—

God threatened the utter extinction of the Jewish nation: and he bids us also to “prepare to meet him,”

  1.      In increased calamities—

[What God has already inflicted on us, is nothing in comparison of what we may expect at his hands, if we continue to provoke him. “Go to Shiloh, and see what he did to it for the wickedness of his people Israel” Look at the Jews at this day, whom he has dealt with “as a man who wipeth a dish, and turneth it upside downf.” He hath only smitten us with rods at present; but, if we repent not, he will “chastise us with scorpions:” yea, he will continue to “punish us seven times more for our sins.” O that we might cease from our wickedness, before we oblige him to “come forth against us as a man of war,” and “his fury burn to the lowest hell.” “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”]

  2.      In the day of future retribution—

[In this world God calls men into judgment in their national capacity. It is in the eternal world only that he will reward and punish the different individuals. Then all of us must appear before his judgment-seat. And if we die impenitent, every dispensation which God had appointed for our good, shall be brought forth to aggravate our guilt and condemnation. ‘I sent you affliction; yet you returned not unto me: I sent you mercies; yet you returned not unto me: I gave you my Gospel to enlighten your mind, and my Spirit to affect your heart; yet you returned not unto me: I continued these mercies to you for so many years; yet you returned not unto me.’ Alas! how unanswerable will be his accusations, how just his sentence, how terrible his award!

For this account we must prepare: we must be ready to meet him whensoever he shall summon us: and if he call us unprepared, it were better for us that we had never been born.]

  There are yet two or three CONSIDERATIONS, which we would impress upon your minds, to strengthen those which have been already proposed:

  1.      If you return not to God, there is no hope for you—

[From one end of the Bible to the other we cannot find one word which countenances the idea of any person being saved, who dies impenitent. And should not this thought lead us to repentance? O let it have due influence on our minds! and let us be sufficiently on our guard against self-deception. Let us remember, that it is not a sigh, a tear, an acknowledgment, that will suffice: we must return unto God; we must return to him with our whole hearts: we must return in deep contrition, in lively faith, in unreserved obedience.]

  2.      If you return to God, you will find him ever ready to receive you—

[As, on the one hand, no one ever found mercy without repentance, so neither, on the other hand, was any true penitent ever rejected. Search the Scriptures; not a syllable will be found to discourage a sinner’s return to God. Nations have always found mercy when they sought it earnestly; and of individuals, not one was ever rejected who turned unto God in sincerity and truth. What greater encouragement then can any man desire? There is the word, yea the oath, of Jehovah pledged, that none shall seek his face in vain. Beloved brethren, only seek him with your whole hearts, and he will assuredly be found of you.]

  3.      Inconceivable will be the difference between those who are prepared to meet their God, and those who meet him unprepared—

[Think of an impenitent sinner, when summoned into the presence of his God: how glad would he be that the rocks should fall upon him, and the hills should cover him from his sight! But this cannot be. He must appear; he must answer for himself; he must receive his doom; he must take his portion “in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” View, on the contrary, the true penitent, the humble believer: behold him coming forth with joy to meet his reconciled God and Saviour: he stands before his tribunal with unshaken confidence: “he knows in whom he has believed.” While the other anticipates in the frowns of his Judge the miseries of hell, he receives in Emmanuel’s smiles an earnest and foretaste of the heavenly felicity. This alone is sufficient to shew the importance of being prepared. We need not follow them to their different abodes: their comparative happiness at the first meeting of their God is abundantly sufficient to enforce this exhortation upon all, “Return unto the Lord, from whom ye have deeply revolted!”]

MCXC

GOD’S CONDESCENSION AND GRACE

  Amos 5:8, 9.

The Lord is his name; that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

IN our public addresses, we feel peculiar satisfaction in entering upon subjects which admit of no dispute, and on which all considerate persons are agreed. That we ought to seek after God, is universally admitted: and as that is the one duty inculcated in the passage before us, the whole scope of our present discourse will be to recommend the performance of it. In the preceding context, Jehovah, speaking to the whole house of Israel says, “Seek ye me, and ye shall live.” Immediately afterwards, the prophet himself enforces the exhortation, and adds, “Seek ye the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it..… Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion..… the Lord of Hosts is his name; that strengthened the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress:” that is, ‘Seek Him, who, being the Creator and Governor of all things, possesseth all power to avenge himself upon you for your neglect of him, or to give success to your feeble endeavours.’

To enforce yet further the prophet’s admonition, I will set before you,

  I.      The character of Jehovah, as here portrayed—

Let us notice,

  1.      His condescension—

[There is no person so low or so despised among men, but God will condescend to look upon him with tender compassion. Human beings can scarcely be conceived in a more degraded situation than the Hebrews in Egypt were: yet of them God says, “I have seen their affliction; I have heard their cry; I know their sorrows.” And at a subsequent period, when they were reduced to the utmost distress by the Ammonites, we are told, “His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.” The same compassion does he exercise towards his oppressed people in every age. So “afflicted is he in all their afflictionsc,” that “the touching of them is like touching the apple of his eye; and he will interpose for them, however low they be: “he will raise up the poor out of the dust, and lift up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit a throne of glorye.” Notwithstanding “he is the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,” and “humbleth himself when he beholds the things that are in heaven;” yet will he “look upon him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” yea, and “dwell with him too, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

But that which we are more particularly to notice, is,]

  2.      His power—

[As he is Almighty in himself, so is he “the strength of his people;” even “the saving strength of his anointedh.” “He is a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall:” nor does he ever interpose for his people with greater pleasure than when he sees them reduced to the lowest possible state of want and miseryk.

Perhaps the particular occurrence referred to by the prophet may be that of the victories granted to Joash over the triumphant and oppressive Syrians. Hazael, king of Syria had so reduced the power of Israel, that “he had left to king Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen.” To Joash, the son and successor of Jehoahaz, God promised deliverance from Syria: and if Joash had expressed that zeal in his country’s cause, and that confidence in God, which became him, his victories over Syria would have been complete. As it was, we are told that “he took out of the hand of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which Hazael had taken from Jehoahaz by war; that three times did he beat Benhadad, and recovered the cities of Israel.” To this event, I say, the prophet is supposed more particularly to allude. But, in the history of Israel, such instances were without number. The deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the destruction of Jericho by the sound of rams’ horns, and of Midian by the lamps and pitchers of Gideon, clearly shew, that God can save equally by many or by few, and that those who trust in him shall never be confounded.

If, on the other hand, we suppose this exercise of God’s power to be mentioned with a view to awe the Israelites into submission, it may well be interpreted in that view. The whole nation, both of Israel and Judah, placed an undue reliance on their relation to God, and could not conceive that their enemies should ever be suffered finally to prevail against them. A remarkable instance of this occurred in the days of Zedekiah, king of Judah. The Chaldeans besieged him in Jerusalem: but, on Pharaoh’s coming from Egypt to succour him, the Chaldeans raised the siege. This departure of the Chaldean army raised the confidence of Zedekiah, that he had no just ground for fear. But Jeremiah was commanded to tell him, that the Egyptian army should soon return to their own land; that the Chaldeans should immediately resume the siege; and that, “though he had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans, so that there remained none but wounded men amongst them, yet should they, the wounded soldiers, rise up every man in his tent, and burn Jerusalem with fire.”

This latter interpretation of the words seems countenanced by the menace which has been before mentioned; where the prophet says, “Seek ye the Lord, lest he break forth like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el.”]

According to this twofold view of the character of Jehovah, we must state,

  II.      The ends for which it is adduced—

And,

  1.      As a warning to those who seek him not—

[To every creature under heaven must we declare, that “God is very greatly to be feared:” “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord: thou art great, and thy name is great in might: who would not fear thee, O God of nations?” If he is “able to save, he is able also to destroy.” In whatever fortresses any be entrenched, “their refuges of lies shall be swept away, and the flood of Divine vengeanee shall overflow their hiding-place.” They may in their own conceit “make a covenant with death and hell;” but “their covenant with death shall be disannulled, and their agreement with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, they shall be trodden down by it.” What is said in relation to Moab may be spoken in reference to all who cast off the fear of God; “they shall be trodden down by him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill: and he shall spread forth his hands, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim; and he shall bring down their pride, together with the spoils of their hands: and the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.”

To those, then, who are living without God in the world, I would suggest this awful consideration: God is “of great power and of terrible majesty;” and when he riseth up, who then can resist him? or who can stand in his sight when he is angrys? Verily, “He is a consuming fire.” Who then would set briers and thorns against him in battle? He would go through them, and burn them up together. “Seek ye, then, his face:” seek him as he is revealed to you in the Gospel of his Son: seek him as reconciled to you by the blood of the cross: seek him also speedily, and with your whole hearts: for I must declare to you, that “there is no escape to those who neglect his great salvation;” and that, “though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunishedx.”]

  2.      As an encouragement to those who desire his favour—

[Many are ready to despond on account of their own weakness, and of the power of their enemies. But if God be our strength and our salvation, whom need we fear? “If he be for us, who, with any prospect of success, can be against us?” Hear how he chides the indulgence of a desponding thought: “Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding? He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Let not any one then shrink back from the contest, how weak soever he himself may be, or however potent his enemies. Aided by God, “a worm shall thresh the mountains:” and the weakest creature in the universe may say with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth mea.” In truth, a sense of weakness, so far from being any ground of discouragement, is rather a ground of hope; because “God will perfect his own strength in our weakness.” We are told that God bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.” But whom does he employ in this work? The strong and mighty? No: it is added, “The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.” Whoever then ye be, go forward. Though seas of difficulty be before you, I say to you, as God did to Moses, “Wherefore criest thou unto me? Say unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” Do you doubt whether success shall attend your efforts? Look at the example of David: see his triumphs, and his acknowledgmentsd — — — and doubt not, but that if you seek God, and confide in him as David did, like him you shall be more than conquerors, through Him that loveth you.]

MCXCI

GOD KNOWS OUR SINS

             Amos 5:12.

I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins.

MANY passages of Holy Writ appear to refer to a particular people only; whilst in reality, they are applicable to all mankind. Whoever shall consult the passages cited by St. Paul in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, in confirmation of the total depravity of mankind, and compare them with the places from whence they are taken, will be particularly struck with the truth of this remark. The Prophets David and Isaiah speak of certain individuals whose iniquities were of a most enormous kind; but St. Paul proves from them the depravity of human-nature in general: and this he does with great propriety: for, though all persons do not run to the same extent of wickedness, all have the same propensities within them: and if persons enjoying all the advantages of revelation abandoned themselves to such wickedness, it must arise, not from the peculiarity of their trials, but from the inward depravity of their hearts. This observation was applicable to the passage before us. The prophet, or rather God by him, is addressing a people who violated all the duties of social and civil life; and is denouncing his judgments against them for the sins which they so openly committed: but the same address may be justly made to every child of man: for all are corrupt and abominable in their doings; “all of which are naked and opened before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Let us consider,

  I.      The information here given us—

Men conceive of God as not noticing their sins: “They say in their hearts, The thick clouds are a covering to him, that he cannot see.” But he does see the sins of all mankind: he sees them,

  1.      In all their extent and variety—

[From infancy to age his eye is upon us. Scarcely do we draw our breath, before we begin to shew what fallen creatures we are; how irritable, how self-willed, how querulous, how addicted to every evil which we are capable of committing. As our powers of acting are enlarged, our habit of sinning is proportionably increased; every faculty displaying those corruptions which are most suited to its powers, and to the exercise of which it can most easily contribute. As reason expands, we might hope that it should assume the government of our lives: but it is soon overpowered by passion; and its voice, if heard at all, is lost amidst the pleasures and vanities of a tempting world. So universal is this, that all expect, as a matter of course, to behold increasing corruptions with increasing years; the exhibition of them varying with the successive periods of life: in the young, the passions pleading for indulgence; in maturer age, the desire of distinction urging and impelling us; and, in our latter years, the cares of this life, or the deceitfulness of riches, occupying all our time and thoughts. All this has God beheld; and not a disposition or desire has been hid from him.

The sins of body and of mind have been alike open to him. Each of these has its appropriate lusts: there is a “filthiness both of the flesh and of the spirit,” from which we are alike concerned to “cleanse ourselves.” Intemperance, lewdness, sloth, have, in different men, their sway, according as education or constitutional propensity incline them. And in the mind, what an inconceivable mass of iniquity resides, ever ready to start forth into action, as occasion may require! Oh the pride, the envy, the malice, the wrath, the revenge, the uncharitableness, which shew themselves in our daily life and conversation! Add to these the murmuring, and discontent, and covetousness; the self-confidence and self-dependence; and the entire devotion to self-gratification in the whole of our conduct. What an accumulation of wickedness must arise from a life so spent, when, in fact, “every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is evil, only evil, continually!”

Of omission, too, as well as of commission, does he behold our sins. He tries us by the standard of his perfect law, which requires that we should love him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength; and that we should live in an entire dependence on his care, and for the purpose only of advancing his glory. But in our whole lives there has not been one single moment in which we have conformed to his law, or come near to the line which he has marked out for us. To his dear Son, also, what gratitude, what affiance, what devotion have we owed! Yet have we been almost strangers to these holy feelings; and, even at the present moment, possess them in no degree comparable to what his love to us requires. Nor have we obeyed the motions of his Holy Spirit, but rather have done despite to him every day we lived. What have the interests of our souls and of eternity demanded? Yet, in what way have we discharged the debt?

Surely, if we put together these things, we must confess that our “transgressions” have been “manifold;” yea, more in number than the hairs of our head, or “as the sands upon the sea-shore innumerable.”]

  2.      In all their heinousness and aggravations—

[Our sins have been committed against light and knowledge. Though we have not known the extent of our duty to God, we have known far more of it than we have ever practised. No one of us has been so ignorant, as not to see the importance of eternal things, when compared with the things of time and sense; and, consequently, the duty of giving them a precedence, both in our estimation and pursuit. But have we felt the same ardour in relation to them that we have in prosecuting the vanities of this present world? Alas! If we had paid no more attention to our temporal concerns than we have to those which are spiritual and eternal, we should have had very little prosperity to boast of; or rather I should say, there would have been but one sentiment respecting us, among all who knew us.

Against vows and resolutions, too, we have proceeded in this mad career. I conceive there is not any one amongst us so obdurate, as not to have formed some purposes of amendment. At the death of a friend or relative, or in a time of sickness, when our own dissolution seemed to be drawing near, or perhaps after an awakening sermon, we have thought that to humble ourselves before God, and seek acceptance with him, was our duty: but the impression has soon worn away, and, like metal that has been fused, we have soon returned to our wonted hardness. Possibly we may have begun and made some progress in religion, and given to our friends hopes that we would really turn unto our God: but we have been drawn aside by temptation, and have “turned back with the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”

Above all, we have sinned against all the mercies and the judgments of God. We have seen his judgments upon others, yet have not returned unto him ourselves. We have perhaps felt them in some measure ourselves, yet have made no suitable improvement of them. As for mercies, they have followed us night and day, from our youth up: yet to how little effect, as it regards our souls! That greatest of all mercies, the gift of God’s only-begotten Son to die for us, one would suppose that that should have altogether constrained us to live unto our God. But that stupendous mystery has appeared to us only as a cunningly-devised fable, which might amuse us awhile, but which merited no practical regard. Indeed, if Christianity had been altogether false, few of us would have materially differed from what we have been; for we have neither been allured by its promises, nor alarmed by its threats, so as to comply with its dictates in any essential point.

Is this matter over-stated? Do we not know it to be true? and has not God witnessed it in all its parts? Yes: as he has seen “our manifold transgressions,” so has he also known “our mighty sins,” and recorded every one of them in the book of his remembrance.]

Such is the information given us in our text: and it becomes us to consider,

  II.      The use we should make of it—

Certainly, in the first place,

  1.      We should beg of God to discover to us the real state of our souls—

[We know it not, though it is so plain and palpable. We are ready to account ourselves, if not positively good, yet far from bad. The sins of which we are conscious, appear only like the stars in a cloudy night, few in number, and at great intervals; whereas, if we saw ourselves as we really are, the whole extent of our lives would present to us but one continuous mass of sins, of a greater or lesser magnitude. But who can open our eyes? Who can shew us to ourselves? Who can bring us to a becoming sense of our extreme vileness? None but God. It is he alone who can open to our view “the chambers of imagery” which are in our hearts; and shew us, that instead of our being, as we vainly imagine, “rich, and increased with goods, and in need of nothing, we are indeed wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”]

  2.      We should entreat him to humble us in the dust before him—

[It is God alone who can “give repentance:” he alone can take away the heart of stone, and give us a heart of flesh. Who was it that made the difference between Lydia and the other hearers of St. Paul? It was “the Lord, who opened her heart to attend to the things that were spoken by him.” And it is the same power alone that can turn us from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. And let us remember, that humiliation for sin is necessary: it is indispensably necessary for our acceptance with God. God himself has declared, that “whoso covereth his sins shall not prosper; and that he only who confesseth and forsaketh them, shall find mercy at his hands.”]

  3.      We should look to our Lord Jesus Christ, as our only hope—

[If we conceive our sins to have been only light and venial, we shall easily persuade ourselves that we can make compensation for them by some works of our own. And it is owing to men’s ignorance of their own hearts, that they so generally hope to establish a righteousness of their own by the works of the law. But that vain thought must be discarded with abhorrence. We must renounce all hope in ourselves; and “flee for refuge to that hope which is set before us, even to the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that he might atone for our sins, and effect a reconciliation for us with our offended God. Be assured, Brethren, that there is no other way unto the Father than by Christ. If you were to shed rivers of tears, you could never wash away one sin; nor, if you could walk ever so holily in future, could you ever atone for the smallest sin. How then can you hope to wash away or make atonement for all your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins? Indeed, you must look to Christ as your only hope, and transfer to his sacred head the sins you have committed, exactly as Aaron transferred to the head of the scape-goat the sins of all Israel. It is in this way alone that they can ever be removed from your souls: and if not so removed, they will sink your souls into everlasting perdition.]

  4.      We should walk with all possible circumspection before God—

[Having so long exercised the patience of our God, we ought to determine, through grace, that we will offend him no more. However careful we may be, imperfection will pervade our very best services. But let it be imperfection only, and not wilful sin, that God shall see in us in future. Let there be no allowed guile in our hearts. Let us search out our duty in its full extent, and endeavour to fulfil it; attending to it in all its parts, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Let it henceforth be the one labour of our lives to “keep a conscience void of offence before God,” if by any means we may approve ourselves to him, and “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”]

MCXCII

CARNAL EASE AND SECURITY REPROVED

             Amos 6:1.

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.

ONE would scarcely conceive it possible, that the Jews, with so many instances of God’s displeasure before their eyes, could indulge in security, whilst they were evidently, in the whole course of their lives, provoking him to anger. But the blindness both of Israel and Judah was almost incurable. The ten tribes having wholly addicted themselves to idolatry, were the first monuments of God’s indignation. Yet on them the divine judgments fell at first but partially, in order that they might be stirred up to penitence, and avert, by timely reformation, their impending fate. But they continued obdurate, under all the chastisements that were inflicted on them: nor did Judah make any suitable improvement, either of the judgments inflicted on others, or of the forbearance that was exercised towards themselves. God, by the Prophet Jeremiah, complains of Judah thus: “I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.” A similar complaint was made by the Prophet Amos in our text. God had “begun to cut Israel short;” but neither did they nor Judah lay it to heart, as they should have done: they saw what had been done to nations less guilty and more powerful than themselves; to Calneh, in Chaldea; to Hemath, in Syria; to Gath of the Philistines; and yet “they put away the evil day” from themselves, as though the cup of bitterness should never be put into their hands. But the prophet denounces against them the heavy judgments of God: “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion!”

It is my intention from these words, to shew you,

  I.      The evil which is here reproved—

We are not to suppose that the mere circumstance of a person’s being “at ease” is sinful: on the contrary, it is the privilege of God’s people to enjoy that very state, and that, too, in relation both to their temporal and spiritual concerns. In reference to temporal matters, God has said, “Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and be quiet from fear of evil.” And in the book of Job, Eliphaz states this point at large: “He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine, he shall redeem thee from death; and in war, from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth: for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee: and thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace.” Nor is spiritual peace a whit less the portion of the godly: for it is expressly said, “What man is he that feareth the Lord? His soul shall dwell at ease.”

Yet, that there is a sinful kind of ease, is evident, from the woe denounced against it. The state, then, that is here condemned, is a state,

  1.      Of carnal confidence—

[“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria!” Both Judah and Israel were ready to place an undue confidence in the capitals of their respective countries, as being well fortified both by nature and art: and when they had been made to see how weak such fortresses were, when defended only by an arm of flesh, they would “say in the pride and stoutness of their hearts, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.” In their outward relation to God, also, they trusted; as the reproof administered to them shews: “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are weg.” Because “they had Abraham to their father,” they thought that no evil could befall them.

And is not this a common evil amongst ourselves? What is there in which we do not trust, rather than in God? In all our concerns, whether personal or public, we lean on an arm of flesh, and find it altogether foreign to our habits to “cast all our care on God.” Even in relation to our eternal interests we find it exceeding difficult to realize our dependence on God. Our own wisdom and strength and righteousness are, for the most part, the objects of our reliance, and the grounds of our ease. But the whole of this is most displeasing to God; according as it is written, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is; but cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and that maketh flesh his arm.”]

  2.      Of sensual indulgence—

[To possess indulgences, or to use them, is no ground of offence; for “God has given us all things richly to enjoy:” But to place our happiness in them, is to provoke God to jealousy; since HE ought to be to us the one only fountain and source of bliss. The Jews, whom the prophet reproves, were greatly guilty in this particular. When both the sins which they committed, and the judgments which they suffered, were rather “calling them to mourning and to fasting and to weeping,” they were living in all the indulgences of the most luxurious ease: as the prophet says: “they lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; they chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David; they drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointment.” Now this is the very state in which happiness is supposed to consist: it is universally spoken of as the very summit of human enjoyment; and is held forth as an object greatly to be envied and desired. But how different are these things in God’s estimation! To all who spend their lives in such a way as this, our Lord, no less than the prophet, says, “Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall weep.”

Let it not however be imagined that this woe attaches only to the opulent: for the lower classes of society are equally obnoxious to the same condemnation; whilst, with less refinement indeed, but not an atom less of sensuality, they gratify themselves with those indulgences which every public-house supplies. I forbear to specify their enjoyments with the same minuteness as the prophet does the gratifications of the rich: but your own minds will present you with a detail of the accompaniments of carousals amongst the poor, and of the gratifications wherein they consume their time, their property, their health, their souls.]

  3.      Of selfish apathy—

[Swallowed up with their vain amusements, the Jews “were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” They laid not to heart the miseries of others; nor considered either from whom the judgments had come, or for what cause they had been inflicted. “The harp and the viol, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, were in their feasts; but they regarded not the work of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands.” And this constitutes a very essential part of that wickedness, which a state of self-indulgent ease invariably brings with it. None feel so little for others, or for the Church of God, as those who are immersed in worldly pleasures. The chief butler, when restored to his office in Pharaoh’s household, forgat the interests of the suffering Joseph; as all in prosperity are but too apt to do: so that it is well said by the apostle, “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. In truth, such persons are dead to all holy feelings, whether towards God or man. But this is a state of grievous criminality. We ought all of us to consider ourselves as members of one body, and to have the same care one for another, every member participating in both the joys and sorrows of all the rest. We should all be able to make to God the very same appeal as Job did: Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? and was not my soul grieved for the poors?” But in a more especial manner ought we to be concerned for the souls of men: and when we view the lamentable condition of Jews or Gentiles, or of the souls of nominal Christians, without pity and compassion, we may well tremble, as obnoxious to the displeasure of our God, as being most unreasonably and unmercifully “at ease in Zion.” If we would have any evidence that we are right with God, we must be able, like St. Paul, to appeal to the all-seeing God, that for our perishing brethren, whoever they may be, “we have great heaviness and continual sorrow in our heart.”]

That we may not think lightly of this evil, I will proceed to shew,

  II.      The equity of the judgments denounced against it—

We are ready to think that nothing but gross and flagrant immorality deserves God’s wrath. But the habit of the mind may be as offensive to God as any overt act whatever: and we hesitate not to say, that the evil which is here reproved, deserves the woes that are denounced against it.

The judgments which are threatened in the Old Testament are chiefly of a temporal nature. In truth, nations, as nations, are incapable of sustaining any other. But individuals, so far as they are implicated, will have to bear that wrath of God which, in the New Testament, is fully “revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”

That the evil which we have been considering deserves this, will be seen, if we reflect that it implies,

  1.      A total alienation of heart from God—

[How impossible would it be to conceive of an angel in heaven, or of Adam in Paradise, in such a state as our text imports! Not one of them could for a moment forget his dependence on God. However crowned with comforts suited to their nature, not one of them would rest in those things as his happiness, or cease to seek his happiness in God. And, if we suppose any part of the creation reduced to a state of suffering, not one of them would be indifferent to their welfare, or indisposed, if it were in his power, to promote it. It is in consequence of our departure from God, that all this evil is come upon us; and that we resemble rather the devil in pride, the beasts in sensuality, and the very stones in an insensibility to all around us. And let me ask, Docs not such a state as this deserve the wrath of God? And is not a woe most justly denounced against it? Look at the Saviour; do you find any symptom of such a disposition in him? Was not the very reverse manifested by him, when for our sakes “he made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross?” If we are so far from his image, and so far from seeking his glory, as my text implies, it is in vain to hope that we shall have any part with him in the world above.]

  2.      An utter insensibility to all the wonders of Redemption—

[Among the ends for which our blessed Lord came into the world, one of prime importance was, “that we should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again.” But the sensual life, which we have before described, is altogether foreign from this, or, rather, directly opposed to it. Shall one then “in Zion” be thus at ease? It would be bad enough for those who have never heard of redeeming love to rest in such a state; but, for those who profess to have “come unto Mount Zion,” and to belong to the Church of Christ, to be thus lost to all that is good, is an abomination that merits, and will assuredly be visited with, God’s heavy displeasure. If we would dwell with Christ in a better world, we must “have the mind that was in him,” and “walk as he walked” — — —]

  3.      An entire forgetfulness of the future judgment—

[Could any man living on the borders of eternity rest in such a state as is here described? What if we were to see a dying man immersed in carnal confidence, and sensual indulgence, and selfish apathy; should we think such dispositions suited to his state? Would not even an ungodly man judge it better for him to rise above the things of time and sense, and to have his mind occupied with the concerns and interests of eternity? Think, then, of an immortal being thus occupied; not knowing, but that, before another day shall arrive, he may be summoned to the judgment-seat of Christ, and receive his doom, either in heaven or in hell, for ever: is it not almost incredible that a human being of this description should be found? But so it is, even with the great mass of mankind: they “put far from them the evil day,” and scarcely think of eternity till they are constrained to meet it with all its horrors. What, then, shall I say to such persons? What can I say, but “Woe unto them?” I am aware that it must appear harsh; and that it would be more pleasing to the generality, if we were to “prophesy unto them smooth things, and prophesy deceits.” But we dare not do so. Our blessed Lord, when addressing such persons—even persons in Zion, who, whilst they “professed to know God, in works denied him”— repeated no less than seven times, in one short chapter, this solemn warning, “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” and then closed his address with this terrible denunciation: “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how shall ye escape the damnation of hell!” This, by the way, shews us what is meant by the woe denounced in my text. Yes, it is nothing less than “the damnation of hell” that must be the portion of such self-deceiving professors. I pray you, Brethren, be not satisfied with having it supposed that ye belong to Zion, whilst ye really “belong to the synagogue of Satan.” To “have a name to live,” will be an awful state, if ye be found “dead” at last. Indeed, if you would obtain the prize, you must “run as in a race:” if you would gain the victory, you must “fight the good right of faith:” if ever you would have eternal life, glory and honour and immortality must, to the latest hour of your lives, be the one object of your pursuit.]

MCXCIII

GOD’S CONDESCENSION TO PRAYER

  Amos 7:2, 3.

Then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord.

IT is very instructive to see, amongst all the servants of Jehovah, whether Prophets or Apostles, how love was blended with fidelity in the whole of their ministrations. They were constrained to declare all which “God had shewed unto them.” But did they “desire the woeful events” which they predicted? They could appeal to God that they did notb. The Prophet Amos had been commanded to foretell that the fruits of the earth, with the exception of those which had been gathered in, should be eaten up by grasshoppers. But he immediately betook himself to prayer, and, by his importunity, prevailed on God to suspend the threatened judgment. He was directed afterwards to foretell the destruction of a part of the land by fire: and again, in the same terms as before, he interceded for the land; and obtained for it a similar relaxation of the impending calamity. The judgments had been begun to be inflictede; but at his request they were removed. It is probable that these judgments were also threatened in a figurative sense; and related to the invasions of Pul, king of Assyria, who contented himself with imposing a tribute of a thousand talents of silver; and that of Tiglath-pileser, who took several cities, and carried away the inhabitants captives to Assyria. But, without entering into the history of these events, I wish to fix your attention on the repeated intercessions of the prophet, (for the repetition of them in the same words, and the repeated answer to them in the same words, render them peculiarly deserving of our attention;) and to shew you from them these blessed truths;

  I.      That the judgments we fear may be averted by prayer—

Judgments of the heaviest kind are denounced against us—

[Temporal judgments, such as those referred to in the passage before us, would be very terrible: yet are they nothing, in comparison of what we have cause to fear. “The wicked,” says David, “shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” In another psalm he is more explicit still: “Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cuph.” Who amongst us has not forgotten God, days without number? and who, therefore, has not reason to tremble at these awful declarations?]

But they may all be removed by fervent and believing prayer—

[Look into the Scriptures, and see the wonderful efficacy of prayer! If ever there was a person that had reason to fear his prayers could not be heard, it was David: because he had long known the Lord; had received the most distinguished favours at his hands; and yet committed adultery and murder, and continued impenitent for a long period, till his sin was charged home upon him by the Prophet Nathan: yet, behold, he, the very instant he acknowledged his transgressions, was forgiven. “I have sinned against the Lord,” says he: and instantly the prophet replies, “The Lord hath put away thy sin: thou shalt not die.” Hear the prayers which he offered on the occasion: “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation!” Hear with what confidence he prayed: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snowl.” What! you clean! you whiter than snow? Yes, I, even I. Hear how particularly he himself notices the speed with which his prayer was answered. “When I kept silence (and refrained from prayer), my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. But at last I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity I hid not: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and (instantly) thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”

We may notice, also, the instance of Manasseh, who was perhaps the most daring in his impieties of all the human race: “He built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he reared up altars for Baal, and worshipped all the host of heaven; he built altars for them all, even in the house of the Lord itself, and set a graven image there; he made his son to pass through the fire; he caused his subjects to do more evil than had been committed by the nations whom God had driven out before them; and to all these impieties he added this, that he shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem with it from one end to the other. Now can we suppose that such a monster of impiety as this could ever be forgiven? Yes: not even his prayer was shut out, when he besought the Lord. We are told, that “in his affliction he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him; and He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.” Repeatedly is this noticed in the history respecting him; “his prayer unto his God, his prayer, and how God was entreated of himp:” and no doubt it is thus repeated in order to shew us, that, whatever be our demerits, we shall not be cast out, if, with humble, fervent, and believing supplications, we betake ourselves to the prayer-hearing and sin-pardoning God.

The whole people of Nineveh attest this blessed truth. There was no call to repentance suggested by the Prophet Jonah: the judgments denounced by him were altogether unqualified with the smallest hope of mercy: the Prophet himself seems scarcely to have contemplated a possibility of forgiveness to them; yet were they, even the whole population, spared at the voice of their cry.

I say then, without hesitation, to all the sinners of mankind, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord; and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon,” and multiply his pardons above all the multitude of their sins.]

My text leads me to notice another most important truth; namely,

  II.      That the weakness we feel may be urged by us as a plea—

The state of Israel at that time seemed indeed to be very desperate: for “God had already begun to cut them short.” But the prophet, instead of desponding, twice urged this very circumstance as a plea with God to grant him his request: “O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee! by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.” And each time the success of his plea is mentioned, “The Lord repented for this: it shall not be, saith the Lord.”

Now such may be our plea before God—

[We are ready to make our weakness a ground of despondency before God: “How can I turn to him? How can 1 effect a reconciliation with him? How can I hope ever to emancipate myself from my cruel bondage?” “There is no hope:” ‘I may as well continue as I am: I can but perish at last.’ But all this is wrong: for God often delays his interpositions for this very end, that he may bring us to see how destitute we are of help or hope in ourselves: nor is he ever better pleased, than when, with a total dereliction of all hope in ourselves, we cast ourselves wholly and unreservedly on him. Let us once be brought to say with king Jehoshaphat, “We have no might; but our eyes are unto thee;” and we may be sure that our deliverance is nigh at hand. The prophet succeeded thus.]

And such success shall we also obtain—

[I have said that God orders his dispensations, for the most part, so as to bring us to self-despair. Hear his own words: “The Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left. If there were any power in ourselves, we should be ascribing our deliverance to our own arm: but when we see how destitute we are of all strength, then are we willing to give God the glory of all that he effects in our behalf. See this in the Apostle Paul. He was assaulted with some grievous temptation, which he calls “a thorn in his flesh.” Thrice he cried to the Lord to remove it: and by his repeated entreaties he obtained this answer; “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” And what was the effect? His fears are dissipated; his sorrows are dispelled; and instantly he bursts forth into these triumphant exclamations: “Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” Here is the great truth which I would impress upon your minds; “When I am weak, then am I strong.” It is not possible to have too deep a sense of your own weakness.” Perhaps in the whole world there does not exist another passage comparable to that in the Prophet Isaiah, where he represents whole mountains of difficulty to be encountered, and Israel, as a mere insignificant worm, groaning under them: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob: I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff: thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.” Endeavour to realize this idea. Place mountains before your eyes: then look down upon a poor helpless worm; and then see, through his exertions, the whole mountains beaten to dust and scattered as by a mighty whirlwind; and then you will have some faint conception of the truth inculcated in my text; sins, that reach unto the heavens, scattered to the winds; and judgments, deep as hell, removed for ever from your sight. Bring every threatening which the word of God contains: and to every one in succession I will say, “Respecting this the Lord hath repented: and this shall not be;” “neither shall that be.”]

  Let me now, in my APPLICATION of this subject, adress,

  1.      Those who despise the judgments of the Lord—

[Many there are who look upon the threatenings of God with as little concern as if there were no truth in them; and who, like Amaziah in the chapter before us, condemn the preachers as exciting groundless fears; and say to them, “Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Israel.” But to all such persons I must say, that the word of God shall stand, and not one jot or tittle of it shall ever fall to the ground. Look back, and see, “Did not God’s word take hold of” the disobedient Jewsb? Go to Assyria, and see; or go to Babylon, and see; or look upon them in their present dispersion, and see. You may put far from you the evil day; but it will come at last; and with augmented terror, in proportion as it has been despised. I call upon you, then, yea, on every one amongst you, to turn unto the Lord, and to cry, “O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee!” For where is there one amongst you that does not need forgiveness? or who can obtain forgiveness, if he will not ask? But, “if ye will not turn to God, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and rundown with tears, because of the ruin that awaits you.”

If you would ask, “How shall I arise?” gladly do I declare, that there is One able to save, and as willing as He is able. “God has laid help for you on One that is mighty:” and you shall have no want of grace or strength if only you will flee to him for succour.

But this leads me to address,]

  2.      Those who are sinking under discouraging apprehensions—

[Beloved Brethren, what is that which you are saying? “How shall I arise? for I am small.” Hear the answer which God gave to his Church of old. Zion of old laboured under your very infirmity: “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? Yes, saith the Lord; even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee; and I will save thy children.” You see how readily God interposed for Israel, at the cry of Amos; and that too for an obstinate and rebellious people: and will he not hear your cry, which is offered for yourselves? Moreover, you have a better intercessor than Amos: the Son of God himself “ever lives” in heaven, whither he is gone on purpose “to make intercession for you.” Put your cause into his hands: commit yourselves entirely to him, and you have nothing to fear: for “HIM the Father heareth always.” Say to him, as Hezekiah did under the most desponding apprehensions that could be conceived, “Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me:” and be assured, that if, with a renunciation of all self-dependence, you cast your care on Him, he will speedily interpose for your relief: “he will, in love to your souls, deliver them from the pit of corruption, and cast all your sins behind his back.”]

MCXCIV

THE SECURITY OF ALL GOD’S PEOPLE

  Amos 9:9.

Lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

THOUGH God does not see fit to preserve his people wholly from national calamities, yet he interposes, either to lighten their afflictions or to sanctify them to their good. Daniel and the Hebrew youths were carried captive with their nation; yet were they eminently protected by that God whom they served: and Jeremiah, though not raised to any exalted station, was on many occasions marked as an object of God’s incessant care and attention. The Prophet Amos was commissioned to foretell the dispersion of Israel which began in the Assyrian captivity, and was completed at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans: but the God of Abraham promised by him, that he would be mindful of “his hidden ones,” and deliver them from the evils to which the profligate and secure should surely be exposed.

There are now, as well as in former ages, sifting times, (if we may so speak,) both to the Church at large, and to the individual members of it: and the same distinguishing regard is still, though less visibly, manifested by God to his dear children; not the smallest of whom shall ever be overlooked. To illustrate this truth we shall shew,

  I.      By what methods God sifts his people—

God sees that a state of perfect ease would by no means conduce to his people’s welfare: and therefore he suffers them sometimes to be agitated,

  1.      By outward afflictions—

[Persecution is the common lot of all who live godly in Christ Jesus: and this, together with other trials common to the world at large, is made use of to separate the godly from the ungodly, and to purify them from the corruptions that cleave to them in their present state. While the world smiles upon us we are too ready to seek its friendship by sinful compliances; and when we enjoy an entire freedom from troubles, we are apt to grow careless, and to relax our diligence in seeking “the rest that remaineth for us.” God therefore causes us to he “emptied from vessel to vessel, that we may not be settled on our lees.]

  2.      By inward temptations—

[By far the sorest trials which Christians experience, are, for the most part, of an inward and spiritual nature: Satan wounds them with his fiery darts, and harasses them with many painful suggestions. That wicked fiend indeed desires to sift them as wheat, that he may prevail against them to their destruction; but God permits him to do it for a very different end, namely, that he may root out all their self-confidence, and stimulate them to greater exertions in their spiritual warfare. This was the effect which it produced on Peter; and it is with the same benevolent intent that our Almighty friend gives licence to our adversary to make his assaults on us. Doubtless such “tossings to and fro” are very distressing to us at the time; but they are overruled for good, in that they separate us move effectually from an evil world, and render us more meet for the heavenly garner.]

Doubtless many who make a fair appearance, perish by these means: nevertheless we are assured of,

  II.      The security of all those that are truly upright—

There is an essential difference between the hypocrites and the sincere—

[As chaff and corn may to a superficial observer resemble each other, so may the real and merely nominal Christian. But as there is a solidity in the corn which is not to be found in the chaff, so the truly converted person has something, which clearly distinguishes him from the most refined hypocrite: he is not contented with an appearance of religion, but seeks to possess it in truth: nor can he rest in the performance of duties; but labours to have his heart engaged in them. To be high in the estimation of men is, in his eyes, a poor matter; he would approve himself to God in all he does: nor is there any measure of perfection with which he would be satisfied, while there remained a hope and prospect of attaining more.]

Moreover, God will infallibly distinguish the true professors from the false—

[Man may easily be mistaken in his estimate of characters: but God will form an unerring judgment: he discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart: he weighs the very spirits of men no less than their actions: “he needs not that any should testify of man, for he knows what is in man:” he will discover sincerity under the most unfavourable circumstances, and hypocrisy under the most artful disguise. Abijah alone of all the house of Jeroboam had some good thing in his heart towards the Lord God of Israel, and God did not fail to notice it with tokens of his approbation, while he poured out the vials of his wrath on all the family besides. If we were less than the least of all saints, if we were only as “smoking flax,” having but one spark of grace and a whole cloud of corruption, God would assuredly observe the latent principle, and discover the workings of his own Spirit amidst all the infirmities of our fallen nature.]

Nor will he ever suffer the weakest believer to perish—

[From the violence with which corn is agitated, an ignorant person would imagine that much of it must be lust with the chaff: in like manner many that are weak in faith may be ready to cry, “I shall one day perish.” But God pledges himself for the preservation of every the smallest grain. lie represents himself under the image of a woman, who, having lost a small piece of silver, lights a candle, and sweeps diligently till she find ite; and he assures us, that “it is not his will, that any of Ins little ones should perish. We have no reason then to fear: for whilst he continues possessed of omniscience to discern his people, and omnipotence to preserve them, we shall be as secure amidst all our agitations, as if we were already lodged in the granary of heaven.]

  INFER—

  1.      How much are we concerned to be found sincere!

[There is a day quickly coming, when Christ, the Judge of (piick and dead, shall sift and winnow us all. Nor will he merely cause a separation of the precious from the vile, but such a separation as shall be followed with endless happiness or misery. Should we not then diligently inquire whether we be wheat or chaff? To what purpose is it that “the tares grow up with the wheat,” and sometimes are mistaken for it, if, at the harvest, they must be separated for ever? So it will be of little avail to have been reputed Christians, if, the very instant we die, we are to take our portion with hypocrites and unbelievers. Let us then turn to God now with our whole hearts, that we may “have confidence before him at his coming.”]

  2.      How may we welcome afflictions, provided we be truly upright!

[What are afflictions but the sieve in our Father’s hand, whereby he takes us from among the ungodly, and “purifies us unto himself a peculiar people?” And shall we distrust his skill, or doubt his love? If the countryman, instructed by him, knows how to suit his threshing-instruments to the nature of his corn, shall God be at a loss how most effectually to produce his ends on us? Let us then leave ourselves in his hands, and submit cheerfully to the means, that we may at last attain the end.]

  3.      How important a grace is faith!

[Under the various trials with which we are harassed, it is faith alone that can keep us steadfast, or afford us any solid comfort. If we be destitute of faith, we shall be tormented with ten thousand fears: but if we be strong in faith, we shall, under all circumstances, “stay ourselves on God, and be kept in perfect peace.” However sensible we be of our own weakness and unworthiness, we shall expect the accomplishment of God’s promise, and shall dismiss our fears, “knowing that he is able to keep that which we have committed to himl.” May we all be enabled in this manner to trust ourselves in his hands, and to wait quietly for that salvation which he has prepared for us!]

MCXCV

CONVERSION OF THE JEWS AND GENTILES

  Amos 9:11, 12.

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build if as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this.

PROPHECIES are of necessity involved in some measure of obscurity; so that the full extent of their meaning cannot be seen at first, nor the precise period for their accomplishment ascertained. To many of them is affixed an apparently determinate, but really indeterminate, date; “In that day.” The expression, “In that day,” always refers to some signally important time, but not always to the same time: it sometimes refers to one advent of our Lord, and sometimes to another; so that we cannot determine, except by the passage itself, whether it relate to his coming in the flesh, or his coming to destroy Jerusalem, or his coming to reign in the Millennium, or his coming to judge the world. The context however will generally enable us to fix the period intended, if it relate only to one; or to specify the different seasons, if its reference be more extensive. It is with these words that the prophecy before us is introduced: and in it the diversity of their meaning will appear.

Let us consider,

  I.      The import of the prophecy—

It evidently has different seasons of accomplishment. It speaks of,

  1.      The return of the Jews from Babylon—

[All the prophets who lived before that event spake of it; to some it afforded very ample scope for the minutest predictions. By their captivity in Babylon, the Jews were reduced to the lowest state of degradation: their polity, both civil and religious, was destroyed; and there were no remains of that grandeur to which they had been elevated in the days of David. But, on their return from Babylon, things were restored, in a measure, “as in the days of old;” and their inveterate enemies of Edom became subject to them. This however is certainly only a subordinate sense of this prophecy; for it refers much more strongly to,]

  2.      The conversion of the Gentiles—

[When we speak of David’s kingdom as typical of the Messiah’s; and his enemies, of the Messiah’s enemies; we perhaps may be thought to lean rather to the side of fancy than of judgment. But fancy should find no scope for exercise in interpreting the word of God: truth, and truth alone, should be the object of our research. The propriety of such representations is strongly marked by an inspired writer; who, when determining a controversy of the utmost importance to the Jews, adduces this very passage against them, to shew, that God had, many ages before, decreed the reception of the Gentiles into his Church, without subjecting them to the rite of circumcision: and if that Apostle had imposed a sense upon the passage foreign to its real and received meaning, the Jews would doubtless have objected to his interpretation of it. Here then we have one sense at least, (and that the most doubtful one,) of this important passage, fixed by undisputed and infallible authority. That in this sense it was accomplished, is too plain to stand in need either of proof or illustration: we ourselves, as of Gentile extraction, are living monuments of its truth.]

  3.      The future restoration of the Jews, and their union with the Gentiles in one universal Church—

[Though myriads of Gentiles have been converted to Christianity, we are far enough from having seen “all the heathen” subjected to the yoke of Christ; yet it is of all the remnant of the unconverted heathen that the prophet speaks. Nor have the Jews been so brought back to their own land as to be driven from it no more: yet it is to such a restoration of them that the prophet refers. Both of these events will take place together, or in the nearest connexion with each other: “the fall of the Jews has been the riches of the Gentiles,” and the fulness of the Gentiles will be as renewed life to the Jewsd: then will both be united under one Head, the Lord Jesus Christ; and he, as the true David, will reign over them for ever. All his enemies then, whether Jewish or heathen, will he put under his feet; and all the kingdoms of the world become his undisputed possession.]

Nor is this a speculative subject merely, but one replete with comfort: this will appear by considering,

  II.      The encouragements to be derived from it—

Every prophecy admits of practical improvement; and this especially. It affords us rich encouragement,

  1.      In relation to individuals—

[The state of multitudes is altogether as desperate as was that of the Jews in Babylon. What hope is there of the proud infidel—the abandoned sensualist—the cruel persecutor—the hardened backslider?—We should be ready to say concerning them, “There is no hope:” but there is nothing impossible with God; and he who restored the Jews from Babylon, and converted so many Gentiles by the instrumentality of a few poor fishermen, can at any time reclaim the prodigal, convert a Saul, or restore a David — — — Let none then despair of themselves, as though they were beyond the reach of mercy; nor of others, as though God could not subdue them to the obedience of faith. Though they are “dry bones, very dry, the Spirit may yet enter into them, and they may live.”]

  2.      In relation to the world at large—

[Who that sees the state of the world at this moment, would conceive it possible that truth and righteousness should one day universally prevail? Yet God has ordained that the little grain of mustard seed which has sprung up, shall become a tree that shall extend its shadow over the whole earth — — — If we look at the work indeed, we shall sit down in despair: but if we recollect who it is that says, “I, I will do it,” we shall see not only the possibility, but the certainty, of that event. Many, from not adverting to this, laugh at the idea of missions: and many whom God has fitted for missionary labours, are afraid to engage in them. But “is there any thing too hard for the Lord?” and has he not “ordained strength in the mouths of babes and sucklings?” Has he not said too, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this?” Let us then look with pity both on Jews and heathens; and, in humble hope that the time of God’s effectual interposition is fast approaching, let us labour, according to our ability, to extend the kingdom of our Lord, and to advance his glory.]

MCXCVI

THE MILLENNIAL STATE

  Amos 9:13.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop street wine, and all the hills shall melt.

IT is gratifying to see what a harmony there is in all the prophets, in their descriptions of the glory of the latter day. The representations which heathen poets have given of what they call the golden age, are more than realized in their predictions. They appear indeed to speak of earthly things; but it is of heavenly things that they speak: and by earthly images they embody truth, and present it to our minds with incomparably greater force than it could by any other means be conveyed. The idea of fertility, for instance, in all its richest luxuriance, is calculated to make a strong impression on the imagination: it is tangible, as it were; and we can apprehend it; and, when it is set before us in glowing language, we can with ease transfer to spiritual things our perceptions with all their clearness, and our impressions with all their force. Most striking is the picture drawn by the Prophet Hosea. He represents the people uttering their complaints to the corn and wine and oil; and they to the earth; and the earth to the heavens; and the heavens to Jehovah: of them in succession conceding to the other the blessings solicited at their hands; Jehovah granting clouds to the heavens; they pouring out their contents upon the earth; the earth yielding its juices to the corn and wine and oil; and they nourishing the famished people. The Prophet Joel goes further, and describes the effects produced, the mountains dropping down new wine, and the hills flowing with milkb; whilst the Prophet Amos proceeds yet further, and represents the productions of the earth as so abundant, that there will scarcely be time to gather them in; “the plowman overtaking the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth the seed:” in other words, that the successive operations of husbandry will, by reason of the abundance, press so closely upon each other, as almost to interrupt the regular execution of them.

It is with the spiritual import of these images that we are more immediately concerned. It seems indeed highly probable, that agreeably to the promise given by Moses, there will be, as nearly as possible, a literal accomplishment of these things in Palestine, after that the Jews shall have been restored to their own land; (for that event shall certainly take place in the appointed timed:) but infinitely richer blessings await them in that day; for that period shall be distinguished by,

  I.      Frequent ordinances—

At the first establishment of the Christian Church, the people “continued daily in the temple with one accord, and brake bread together from house to house, eating their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Thus also will it be in that blessed day, when apostolic piety shall again prevail throughout the Church: there will be no “famine of the word,” but frequent ordinances in every place:

[In public, ministers will then “give themselves wholly to their work:” they will be “instant in season and out of season:” they will live only to fulfil their ministry, and will “count their lives dear to them” for no other end. The people too will be as eager to receive instruction, as the ministers to convey it. As many followed our blessed Lord for days together to hear his word, and forgot, as it were, the very wants of nature through the insatiableness of their appetites for spiritual food; so, methinks, in that day the people will, as it were, “dwell in the house of the Lord, that they may flourish in the courts of our God.”

Then also will social ordinances abound. Friends, when they meet together, will then seek to edify each other in faith and love. In families, all will look for the returning seasons of divine worship, as much as for their regular meals. Parents will “command their children to fear the Lord;” and masters will universally adopt the resolution of Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

In private, too, men will delight in approaching to their God, and in pouring out their souls before the throne of grace. “At morning, and at evening, and at noon-day will they pray,” as David did in the times of old; yea, they will be ready to say with him, “Seven times a day will I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments.”

Thus in the public, social, and private ordinances there will be such a rapid succession, that the “plowman will overtake the reaper; and he that treadeth out the grapes, the sower.” Not that temporal things will be neglected: men will “not be the more slothful in business, because they are fervent in spirit;” but they will carry the fear and love of God into every thing, so that they will “be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.” “The fire on their altar will never go out.”]

From this state of things there will arise,

  II.      Numerous converts—

[Now ministers may fish all the day, and take scarcely any thing; but then the Lord will direct them where and how to cast their nets; which they shall scarcely be able to drag to land, by reason of the numbers that they shall catch. The days of Pentecost shall be revived. From a small handful of corn shall spring up a crop waving like the trees of Lebanon, and standing as close upon the ground as piles of grass upon the earth. Fresh converts shall be continually hastening forwarsd, as “doves flying to their windows;” yea rather, they shall be like a majestic river “flowing together to the goodness of the Lord,” and that too, not as in an ordinary course, but upward, “even to the mountain of the Lord’s house that shall be established on the top of the mountains.” The church itself shall be perfectly astonished at the increase; which will be so vast and so rapid, that places shall be wanting for their receptiong. In a word, “the fields will be always white ready to the harvest;” and one crop will not be gathered in, before another is ripe for the sickle.”]

Nor will Christianity be a mere profession then; for all who embrace it shall be distinguished for,

  III.      Exalted virtues—

[All will then “live, not unto themselves, but unto their God; even to Him who died for them, and rose again.” The fruit which individuals will then bear will not be thirty or sixty-fold, but an hundred-fold. It will appear as if all the most eminent saints that have ever lived had risen again; on which account it is called, “The first resurrection.” So subdued will be all the evil passions of men in that day, that “instead of the thorn will grow up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier will grow up the myrtle-tree:” “for brass there will be gold; for iron, silver; for wood, brass; and for stones, ironk.” It will be truly the reign of Christ upon earth: nothing but his will will be done; and it will be done on earth, in good measure, as it is done in heaven. Godliness will then be, not an act, but a habit; so that one act of piety will be only as a prelude to another; “the very mountains dropping with sweet wine, and the hills melting” into rivers of wine.]

Resulting from this state of piety, there will be,

  IV.      Abundant consolations—

[This is doubtless intimated in our text, as in the parallel passage in the Prophet Joel. Truly “God will then comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord: joy and gladness will be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” The world at this time is only a vale of tears: but then “there will be new heavens and a new earth: yea, God will make all things newn.” What will be the state of men’s minds at that time, may be gathered from the description given of it by the Prophet Isaiah — — — Blessed and glorious state! “lthe peace of all will flow down as a river,” and the joy of all be unspeakable and glorifiedp — — — “God will cause them universally and without ceasing to triumph in Christ;” and to live as on the very confines of heaven itself.”]

  IMPROVEMENT—

Let us inquire,

  1.      Whence it is that we are comparatively in so low a state?

[It is manifest that religion, though perhaps flourishing in comparison of what it was a century ago, is still but at a low ebb. If we look at the ordinances, public, private, and social, they are far from being attended with that life and power that they were in the apostolic age. And whence is this? Are we straitened in our God? No: “we are straitened in our own bowels;” we do not pant after the life and power of godliness, as the first converts did: and “we have not, because we ask not.” O that we were more earnest and constant in prayer, forgetting all that we have received, and pressing forward for higher attainments! — — —]

  2.      How we may attain a greater measure of that prosperity which the saints will enjoy in the latter day?

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