MICAH

[We must all begin with our own hearts. If all would labour for higher attainments in their own souls, the whole Church of God would revive and flourish — — — But an attention to others also is most desirable. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt with incredible celerity, because all, women as well as men, “repaired before their own doors:” and if we laboured, all of us in our own more immediate neighbourhood, what might we not effect! If only we “had a mind to the work,” “the work of the Lord should prosper in our hands,” and the kingdom of Christ “should come with power” in the midst of us.]

OBADIAH

Obad. 17.

MCXCVII

BLESSED EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL IN THE LATTER DAYS

Obad. 17.

Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

IT is curious to observe throughout the prophetic writings, that the richest promises relating to the Christian Church follow, and, I had almost said, arise out of, denunciations of vengeance against the enemies of God: the design of God being to display thereby, in a more abundant measure, the riches of his grace towards his chosen people. The great scope of Obadiah’s prophecy is to warn the Edomites of the destruction that awaited them. But, regarding them as representing all the Church’s enemies, by whatever name they are designated, he proceeds to declare, that the Church shall triumph over them, and, through the power and grace of Christ, be established in the full enjoyment of all her privileges. The time to which he looks forward for the accomplishment of these things is the latter day, when the Jews shall be restored to their own land, and be, in their national capacity, an emblem of the success that shall be given to the Christian Church throughout the world.

In elucidation of the prophecy, we shall consider,

I. The deliverance here spoken of—

It certainly, in its primary and literal sense, refers to the contest which shall take place, between the Jews at the time of their restoration, and their enemies who will oppose their settlement in the land of Canaan. But the spiritual sense is that which was most prominent in the writer’s mind. The deliverance is certainly that which the Lord Jesus Christ had undertaken to accomplish for his Church and people.

This has already come to Zion—

[The Lord Jesus Christ has come according to all that was foretold concerning him; and has entered the lists against the enemies of his Church, and has triumphed over them. “By his death, he overcame him who had the power of death, that is, the devil:” and having “spoiled principalities and powers, and triumphed over them openly upon the cross,” he, in his ascension, “led captivity itself captive;” and has left his people to fight only with a vanquished enemy. By his atoning blood he has delivered his people out of the hands of justice, which demanded the execution of the sentence denounced against them by the law. Having “found, and offered, a ransom for them,” he has authoritatively said, “Deliver them from going down into the pit” of hell. By his all-powerful grace, too, he has communicated this deliverance to thousands and tens of thousands, whom he has turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. To millions of prisoners he has said, Go forth, and shew yourselves; and they have broken their bonds, and come forth to light and liberty.]

It is also experienced yet daily—

[How many witnesses are there in this place, and wherever the Gospel is preached with fidelity, who can set their seal to this blessed truth! Many can say, ‘I was once a slave to sin, and led captive by the devil at his will: but now “the Son of God has made me free; and I am free indeed:” he has brought my soul out of prison, and set my feet at liberty. Nor am I any more “in bondage to the fear of death” and judgment; for “I know whom I have believed, and that He is able to keep that which I have committed to him” ’ — — —]

But it will be yet more largely experienced in the latter days—

[Zion shall then lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes; and all the nations of the earth shall flow unto her, as the centre of their union, and the treasury of their bliss. Then shall “Satan indeed fall from heaven like lightning:” then shall “the prince of this world be utterly cast out.” Then shall Dagon fall before the ark in every quarter of the universe: and all the slaves of sin and Satan be brought “into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.” Then shall the jubilee trumpet sound in every place: “the preaching of deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,” will then be accompanied with such power from on high, that it shall be to all, what the trumpet of the archangel shall be in the day of judgment, an effectual call, “as life from the dead;” so that all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”]

With this deliverance will be seen,

II. Its never-failing attendant—

In no place under heaven, but in Zion, is holiness found. The semblance of it may be seen in many places; its reality nowhere. Let us understand what holiness is—

[It is not a conformity to external rights, nor a practice of mere heathen virtues; but a real conformity of heart and life to the revealed will of God. It is the image of God upon the soul; and an exhibition of it in the whole of our spirit and conduct. It is “the mind that was in Christ Jesus,” and a “walking in all things as he walked” — — —]

This, from the time that deliverance is vouchsafed to Zion, shall be found there—

[It was the great design of our Deliverer to produce it in his Church: he “gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity:” and “he is called Jesus,” not so much because he saves his people from destruction, as “because he saves them from their sins.” Holiness is the characteristic mark whereby the people whom he has delivered are to be distinguished: they are “purified unto Christ, a peculiar people zealous of good works.” Whoever professes to have experienced his deliverance, without being truly and universally “righteous, even as Christ himself is righteous,” is declared by God himself to be “a liar.” Believers are “his epistles” to the world, that they who will not look into the book of revelation, may see in them a living exhibition of his will. In every department of the divine life, the heaven-liness of their minds, the sweetness of their spirit, and the blamelessness of their lives, they “shine as lights in a dark world:” the effulgence indeed is not equally bright in all: there are stars of a greater, and of a lesser magnitude; but in all it is manifest, both from the uniformity and continuance of their splendour, that they are upheld in their orbits by the power of God, and irradiated with the beams of the Sun of Righteousness: in a word, holiness is an essential part of the deliverance itself; and therefore must exist in every member of the Church of Christ. Deliverance, in this view, is most desirable: yet is its value greatly enhanced by,]

III. Its ultimate effect—

Here the reference to the restoration of the Jews, especially as connected with the destruction of all their enemies, is more marked: “The House of Jacob shall possess their possessions;” every tribe having the portion peculiarly allotted to them. That they will vanquish all who oppose them, and finally be established in the quiet possession of their own land, is so plain, that it cannot reasonably admit a doubte — — — But there is yet a higher sense in which the prophecy shall be fulfilled. The land of Canaan was typical of a far nobler inheritance, which all the House of Jacob shall possess.

Believers “do now enter into rest”—

[Our blessed Lord promised rest unto all who should come to him weary and heavy-laden with their sins: and this rest he now bestows: and the Canaan which the Israelites entered into, is but a shadow of it. That “land indeed flowed with milk and honey:” but who can tell what delicious repasts are provided for the soul that believes in Christ? Who but He who possesses “the white stone, can tell the name that is written on it?” Who can adequately inform us what the peace of God is, or what “the joy of faith?” The one, we are told, passeth understanding; and the other is altogether unutterable. These, with a multitude of other blessings, are even now the believer’s portion; and he so enters into the possession of them, as to be able to defy all his enemies to rob him of the enjoyment of them? It was not the power of their enemies, but the greatness of their sins, that expelled the Jewish people from their land: nor shall any enemy be able to prevail against us, if only we are faithful to ourselves. And, happily for us, that stability is ensured to us by God himself, who “will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it.”]

But the full possession of it is reserved for another world—

[There is an inheritance prepared for them from the foundation of the world: and in due time they shall enjoy it in all its fulness. The believer may now look forward to it with assured confidence. Here he is a minor only; and therefore, though the heir, he differs but little from a servant: he has so much of the inheritance as is suited to his condition, and sufficient for his necessities: but in the last day he will have the very same possession of his inheritance that Christ himself has: his vision of Jehovah will be most bright; his communion with him most intimate; his communications from him most abundant: and he will know that eternity itself will be the duration of his bliss. “He shall be a pillar in the temple of his God, and shall go no more out.”]

ADDRESS—

1. Those who oppose the Church of God—

[As in their journey to the land of Canaan, the Edomites and other nations opposed the progress of the Children of Israel; and as in the latter days there will be a confederacy of many people to prevent their re-establishment in their former inheritance; so now at this time, and indeed in every age, the men of this world “have evil will at Zion,” and exert themselves in every way to obstruct the progress of all who are going thitherward. But what success had their enemies against Israel of old? or what shall they have in the day spoken of in our text? Verily the strongest of them will be only “like sheep before a lion, who will go through, and tread them down, and tear in pieces; and none shall deliver them.” Thus shall it be with those who now oppose and persecute the Church of God. We say not that the people of God will be the instruments of God’s vengeance; for that they cannot be, seeing that “the weapons of their warfare are not carnal:” but this we say, that “no weapon formed against God’s people shall prosper;” and that all who seek their ruin shall be put to shame: they “fight against God:” they “kick against the pricks:” and in due time a suitable recompence shall be given them. God, when denouncing his judgments against Edom, reminds them of particular evils, which, however gratifying they were to their malignant spirits at the time, they should not have committed: thus also will he bring to the remembrance of his enemies all the evils they have committed, and especially the treatment they have shewn to his Church and people: and then they will find, that it would have been “better to have had a millstone tied round about their necks, and to have been east into the sea, than to have offended one of his little ones.” The Lord grant, that men may no longer make Christ a stone of stumbling, lest “it fall upon them, and crush them to powder!”]

2. Those who are looking for redemption in Jerusalem—

[It may be that some are discouraged, because they have not yet experienced deliverance to the extent they wish: they seem to themselves as if their long and willing captivity to sin and Satan precluded them from the hope of mercy: and they are ready to say with Israel of old, “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered?” But our answer is, like that of the prophet, “Yes; thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” Be not afraid: though you are but as “a worm, yet shall you thresh the mountainsk:” and the weaker you feel yourselves to be, the stronger in reality you are, because God has pledged himself to “perfect his own strength in your weakness.” Expect then deliverance, with all its attendant benefits: and rest assured, that none shall pluck you out of the hands of your great Deliverer. God has sworn, that “he will plant you in the heavenly land, assuredly with his whole heart, and with his whole soul:” and “what he hath promised, he is able also to perform.” “Faithful is He that hath called you; who also will do it.”]

JONAH

MCXCVIII

JONAH REPROVED BY THE MARINERS

Jonah 1:6.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

PERHAPS in all the sacred records there is not to be found a more strange and inconsistent character than the Prophet Jonah. That he was on the whole a good man, we have every reason to believe: but his spirit was on many occasions so contrary to what we might have expected to find in a prophet of the Lord, that, if we did not know from our own hearts what is in man, we should not have conceived it possible that such contrarieties could be combined in the same character. The very first we hear of him is, that he so conducted himself as to bring upon himself a severe and just rebuke from a heathen mariner. Having received from God a commission to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and there to proclaim the indignation of God against them for their impieties, he fled to Joppa, and from thence took ship for Tarshish. hoping that he should thus avoid the necessity that was laid upon him of delivering a message so replete with pain to them, and of danger to himself. But the Lord sent a storm to arrest him in his impious course: and so violent was the storm, that all hope of saving the ship by human efforts was taken away, and no resource remained to the mariners but prayer to God. Whilst all the crew were crying to the gods which they worshipped, Jonah was indifferent and unconcerned, and had fallen fast asleep in the sides of the ship. In this situation he was when the shipmaster came to him, and administered the reproof which we have just heard.

Let us consider this reproof,

I. As addressed to Jonah—

The occasion of the reproof you have already heard in few words. But there are two things which call for more particular attention; namely,

1. The state of Jonah at that time—

[How can we account for his being so supine in the midst of such imminent danger? One would have supposed that he, a prophet of the Lord, would have improved that occasion for the benefit of the mariners, (as the Apostle Paul did afterwards, in similar circumstances,) and that he would have employed himself in directing the poor ignorant heathens to Jehovah, as the true and only source of all good: or if, from the low state of his piety at that time, we might conceive him to be indisposed for such an holy exercise; and that, when in an act of rebellion himself, he would be ill fitted for the office of calling others to repentance; we should at least expect him to be alarmed with a sense of his own guilt, and to be deprecating the Divine displeasure on his own soul. Yet, behold! of all the ship’s company, he alone is unconcerned; and makes that, which was to all others a season of terror and dismay, an occasion for laying himself down quietly to sleep. That Peter was sleeping quietly on the night preceding his expected martyrdom, we do not wonder; because he was suffering for righteousness’ sake, and knew that death would be to him the gate of heaven. But we wonder that Jonah was able to close his eyes in sleep, when death was apparently so near at hand; and he must know, that, if he died, he would be cut off in the very act of wilful transgression. But his insensibility at that time shews us, in a very striking manner, the true effect of sin; which hardens the heart, and stupefies the conscience; brutalizes the soul, and renders it indifferent to all that concerns its eternal welfare. St. Paul tells us this; “Take heed,” says he, “lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” He speaks also of our “conscience being seared by it, as with a hot iron;” and of our being made “past feeling.” Thus it was with Jonah at this time: and all who are acquainted with their own hearts, will see that this stupidity of his was the proper effect of his wilful transgression. Repentance takes away the heart of stone, and substitutes a heart of flesh: and sin, in proportion as it is indulged, re-converts the heart of flesh to stone.]

2. The sentiments contained in the reproof—

[We are amazed to hear such sentiments proceed from the mouth of a heathen mariner: but we are convinced, that there are much stronger notices of truth remaining in the heart of fallen man, than is commonly supposed. There was not indeed in these people any distinct knowledge of Jehovah: but there was a belief in a superintending Providence, who ordered every thing according to his own sovereign will, and was able to interpose effectually in behalf of those who sought him; yea, moreover, that even though we sought him only in our extremity, there still was reason to hope that he would hear our cry, and vouchsafe to us the desired deliverance. What god the ship-master had an eye to, we do not know: but supposing him, though under some mistaken name, to be looking to Jehovah, his views are precisely such as were avowed and inculcated by the Prophet Joel, when he said, “Rend your heart, and turn unto the Lord your God: for who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him?”

This we consider as encouraging to those who go forth to convert the heathen: we consider it as shewing, that, however obscured by superstition, there are in the minds of the most ignorant heathen some notices of truth, which, if duly improved by an instructor, will greatly facilitate the admission of other truths, which can be known only through the medium of a special revelation. The existence and attributes of a Supreme Being are here acknowledged; and the duty of his intelligent creatures to call upon him is also declared: and whoever diligently improves these more obvious truths, will, we doubt not, be gradually guided into all truth. But when we behold a prophet of the Lord, who should have been a teacher of others, himself thus reproved by a heathen mariner, we blush for him; and blush also for ourselves, well knowing, how much we ourselves need to have these truths impressed more forcibly on our own minds, and how rarely they operate on us to the extent that they did on those uninstructed mariners.]

With these feelings it will be profitable to us to consider the reproof,

II. As applicable to ourselves—

We are not indeed altogether in the situation of Jonah; yet we approximate more nearly to it than may at first sight be imagined.

We are all in some degree sleeping in the midst of danger—

[God has given to us, as he did to Jonah, a work to do: and it is a work which we do not naturally affect: we are averse to engage in it: there are some considerations operating in our minds to deter us from it: we think it may expose us to difficulties, which we would gladly avoid; and subject us to troubles, which we care not to encounter. Hence we “flee from the presence of the Lord;” and are glad to go any where, and engage in any thing, that may afford us an excuse for our wilful neglect. In this state the curse of God follows us wherever we may go, his judgments hang over us, and “his wrath abides upon us.” The children of disobedience, wherever they are, are objects of his heavy displeasure.

Yet, whilst under these circumstances, what is the state of our minds? Are we striving like the mariners, to obtain mercy at his hands? Are we not rather, for the most part, like Jonah, sunk down into a deep sleep? Yes; this is the case with the generality altogether; with the better part of us, in great measure; and with the best amongst us, in some degree.

Behold the generality, how careless are they and indifferent, though on the brink and precipice of eternity! — — — Even the more considerate part have no such activity and earnestness as the occasion calls for — — — And where is there one amongst us, who does not fluctuate in his zeal for God, and sometimes, like the wise virgins, give way to slumbering and sleeping, when we should be watching for the coming of our Lord? — — —]

To all then may the reproof in our text be well administered—

[What meanest thou, O sleeper, whoever thou art? Art thou not in danger? Search the sacred records; and see, whether the wrath of God be not revealed against all the children of disobedience? What if thou be insensible of this danger? art thou therefore the more safe? Was Jonah’s life the less in jeopardy because he was unconscious of his peril? Neither then is thy ruin a whit the less certain, because thou art not conscious of thine exposure to it.

Is there any way for thine escape, but that of crying mightily to God for mercy? No other way is provided: all your own efforts will be as ineffectual as the mariner’s labour was. Thou must betake thyself to prayer; for none but an omnipotent arm can save thee: there is no deliverance from thy guilt, but through the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, no acceptance with the Father, but through his beloved Son; no other name given under heaven whereby you can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ.

Once more—Is there not abundant encouragement to pray? Look at the promises contained in Holy Writ: see how “exceeding great and precious they are;” and then say, whether thou hast any reason to despond. Hadst thou but a peradventure in thy favour, it were a sufficient reason for all possible earnestness and prayer. That was all the hope which these mariners had. But you have the strongest assurances, of a “God that cannot lie,” that you “shall not seek his face in vain,” but that “whatsoever you shall ask in his Son’s name shall be done for you.”

What meanest thou then, O sleeper? What excuse canst thou offer for thine unreasonable conduct? Art thou dreaming of future opportunities to call upon God, when, for ought thou knowest, the ship may sink with thee the next instant, and thy soul may be plunged into the depths of hell? “Arise,” I say, “and call upon thy God,” and lose not another moment in a concern of such infinite importance.

In the mean time, use all the means that thou canst for thyself. “Cast out all that thou hast” in the world, rather than suffer it to sink thee into perdition. If thou hadst all the wealth of the universe, it would but ill compensate for the loss of thy soul. Nor let it be thought that I speak to those only who are determined rebels against God: no: if there be a Jonah here; a professor of godliness, who is in a state of departure from his God, him I would more especially address. Know, thou unhappy fugitive, that God will not let thee pass unpunished: on the contrary, he will the rather follow thee with some tremendous storm, and send thee into the depths of hell (if I may so speak) in this world, to deliver thee from perdition in the world to come. “Awake then from thy slumber, that Christ may give thee light.” Surely “it is high time for thee to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Professors, “let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch, and be sober.” With the exception of the terror with which they were agitated, the state of the heathen mariners should be ours; nor should we cease from our pleadings, till we are brought in safety to our desired haven. We must not give occasion for that sarcastic reflection, “In trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them:” no: we must pray without ceasing;” we must “pray and not faint:” and then we may be assured, that, whatever storms or difficulties we have to contend with, “our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.” Only let us think upon God, and God will most tenderly “think on us:” he will maintain towards us “thoughts of good, and not of evil, to give us an expected end.”]

MCXCIX

JONAH RESTORED FROM THE BELLY OF A FISH

Jonah 2:6.

Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

IT is of the highest importance to have seasons of recollection for the more solemn investigation of the state of our souls. Not a day should be closed without serious reflections on our conduct through the day. On particular occasions it would be well to commit them to writing, with a view to our future humiliation or encouragement. Jonah’s example in this respect is worthy of imitation. Having received from God a commission to denounce his judgments against Nineveh, and being afraid, that, after all, God would exercise mercy towards them, and make him appear a false prophet, he declined the office that had been assigned him, and endeavoured to “flee from the presence of the Lord.” But a storm overtook him; and he was cast into the sea, and swallowed by a fish; and then, being preserved alive in that extraordinary situation, he thought on his ways, and cried unto his God for mercy. After his deliverance, he called to remembrance the exercises of his mind during his perilous confinement; and recorded them, for the benefit of the Church to the end of time. He tells us, that at first he began to despair; conceiving that “the Lord had cast him out of his sight.” But, knowing that nothing was impossible with God, he directed his eyes towards heaven, and prayed. His prayer was heard, and the desired mercy was vouchsafed to him. This he acknowledges in the words before us: in which we have,

I. An instructive history—

Every part of this history is replete with instruction. Other parts of Holy Writ inform us of the frailties of God’s people, and exhibit Noah, Lot, David, Peter, and others, in very humiliating conditions. But there is a peculiarity in the character of Jonah that distinguishes him from all others, and gives us a deep insight into the human heart. We cannot however stop to enter minutely into his character, or into the diversified lessons which his history would teach us. We shall confine ourselves to two observations, which are of a general nature and of universal importance:

1. Rebellion against God will surely bring upon us his heavy displeasure—

[Jonah might think lightly perhaps of the sin he had committed, when refusing to execute the commission he had received: and he certainly was unmindful of the danger he had brought upon himself, even while all who sailed with him in the ship were in the utmost terror. But God was visiting him for his iniquity; and, in order to the discovery of it, suggested to the minds of the mariners to ascertain, by a lot, who the guilty person was, for whose sake the storm was raised. The lot fell on Jonah: and he, being impeached thus by God himself, confessed his crime; and prescribed, as the only means of pacifying the Deity, that he himself should be cast into the sea. Thus did vengeance overtake him. And shall we sin with impunity? What though we think light of our sins, and sleep in security when we should be praying to our God; does God estimate sin by our standard? or is danger at all more remote, because we do not see it? Of this we may be assured, that “evil will hunt the wicked man, to overthrow him;” and, however long we may elude its pursuit, it will seize upon us at last, as its legitimate prey. The declaration of God to every impenitent person is, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”]

2. Whatever effects of his displeasure we may now feel, the prayer of penitence and faith will deliver us from them—

[A more desperate condition than that of Jonah cannot well be conceived. Yet from thence was he brought by the efficacy of fervent prayerb. Be it so then; we have sinned against the Lord in a very grievous manner; and we are at this moment under his chastising hand; still “Has the Lord forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” No: the Lord is merciful and gracious: and, if only we have a heart to pray, we need not doubt but that he has an ear to hear. Were we at the bottom of the sea, yet if we were able to look unto his holy Temple, we should not look in vain. We might not be delivered with respect to the body; but the soul should find acceptance at God’s hands, and be made a monument of his sparing mercy.]

We dwell the less on the historical view of Jonah’s deliverance, because we wish you to notice it more particularly as,

II. A glorious type—

We are always cautious of exceeding the bounds of truth and soberness in the explanation of types. On this account we altogether omit, what some have laid a stress upon, the idea of Christ’s offering up himself a sacrifice to God for the purpose of averting his wrath from us. And we should be inclined to limit the typical import of this history to the resurrection of Christ, if he himself had not given us a more extended view of it. But, in the place where he speaks of Jonas as being “a sign” to the people, he calls him “the Prophet Jonas,” and mentions the remarkable success of his ministrations. We are induced therefore to consider the whole of this history as designating the ministry of Jesus;

1. In its temporary suspension—

The casting of Jonah into the sea, and his being swallowed by a fish, effectually, as it should seem, put an end to his mission. Whatever gracious intentions God had formed respecting the Ninevites, they were now, to all appearance, frustrated; so that, unless God should send to them by some other prophet, his judgments would come upon them without warning, and without a remedy.

Such was also the distressful, and apparently irremediable, state, to which the world was reduced by the death of Christ. His enemies triumphed when they saw him dead upon the cross, and committed to the silent tomb. His friends and followers then concluded, that they had been mistaken in their expectations, and that the redemption of Israel which they had looked for at his hands was a hopeless phantom. To guard them against this erroneous conclusion, our blessed Lord expressly told his disciples, that “he should be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”]

2. Its speedy restoration—

[After three days, Jonah was, by God’s overruling providence, disgorged in safety upon dry land; and his commission to preach unto the Ninevites was renewed.

Thus by the resurrection of Christ were the hopes of a ruined world revived. Not only was the ministry of our Lord himself renewed, but all his Apostles also received afresh their commission to preach the Gospel to every creature. Could the Ninevites have foreseen the effect of Jonah’s deliverance, how would their hearts have leaped for joy! And well may all the nations of the earth rejoice in the tidings of a risen Saviour, through whom repentance and remission of sins are preached, and by whom the most abandoned of sinners may be brought to God.]

3. Its ultimate success—

[Wonderful indeed was the effect of Jonah’s ministrations! and we may well suppose that the relation of his miraculous preservation and deliverance contributed in no small degree to the success of his mission. The people of Nineveh would necessarily conclude, that he was sent of God, and that the denunciations delivered by him would be fulfilled.

And was not this the effect of Christ’s resurrection? The very point which all the Apostles most insisted on, was this: “they preached Jesus and the Resurrection:” they preached, “that he died according to the Scriptures, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” From hence the inference was clear that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world: and so rapidly did this truth prevail, that in one day there were converted to him three thousand souls; and, in a very short space of time, the whole Roman empire was filled with his acknowledged followers.]

We may LEARN from hence,

1. On what a firm basis our religion stands—

[The sign which above all others our blessed Lord laid the greatest stress upon, was his fulfilling of this type. Though he gave innumerable proofs of his divine mission, yet it was to this chiefly, yea, to this only, that he referred the confirmed sceptics. He said, in fact, “I shall die, and rise again the third day without seeing corruption, and shall live for evermore, to perfect the work assigned me. If I rise on the third day, then you will know that I am the Messiah: if I do not, I am contented that you shall account me an impostor.” Now, brethren, you know the means which his enemies used to prevent any collusion among his disciples; yea, and how incredulous his disciples themselves were; and consequently, you are sure that he did indeed rise, and that all which God hath spoken by him, or of him, is true; it is true that the impenitent and unbelieving shall perish; but that “all who believe in him shall be justified from all things.”]

2. What has been done for every believer—

[Though Jonah stands alone in his particular line of experience, there is not a believer whose soul has not been in as perilous a condition as Jonah himself was at the bottom of the sea; nor one who has not obtained deliverance by the very same means, humiliation and prayer. The experience of David was not unlike to Jonah’s; and that of the Church of old is painted in expressions precisely similar to those in the chapter before usf;. Happy, happy they, who have obtained mercy of the Lord, and can thus attest the efficacy of believing prayer! Let not your feelings, brethren, be forgotten; but get them written in the tablet of your hearts; and let your acknowledgments be suited to the mercies vouchsafed unto you.]

3. What the Lord will do for all who call upon him—

[Our blessed Saviour, by dying for our offences and rising again for our justification, has procured for us whatever we stand in need of. Even in the denunciations of God’s wrath there is an implied promise of mercy, if we repent and turn to God. However great therefore our guilt may be, or however imminent our danger, let us remember, that “with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.” Let us remember, that “Jesus is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins;” and that, though we were as much “in the belly of hell” as a living creature can be, our cry should come before him into his holy temple, and “he would bring up our souls out of the pit of corruption;” “after two days he would revive us; in the third day he would raise us up, and we should live in his sight;.”]

MCC

JONAH’S REFLECTIONS IN THE WHALE’S BELLY

Jonah 2:7–9.

When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

TO take a retrospect of our feelings, under circumstances of peculiar trial, is exceedingly beneficial. There are times when we realize in our minds truths which at other seasons have had no weight, and produced on us no effect. Thus Jonah, after his deliverance from the belly of the fish, called to mind, and transmitted for our good, the reflections which occupied his soul in that peculiarly awful situation, and in the near prospect of death. He here records,

I. The mercy vouchsafed—

This was such as never was vouchsafed to any other man, either before or since—

[The history you well know. But there are some points which we must particularly notice on this occasion. He was delivered, you know, from the belly of a fish. But mark the time when this mercy was vouchsafed to him: it was when he was in the very act of rebellion against God — — — Mark also the means: it was by a miraculous influence of God upon the fish, directing it to go to the sea-shore, and to vomit him forth upon the dry land. The occasion also must especially be noticed: it was in answer to a prayer offered from the bottom of the sea: “When Jonah’s soul fainted within him, he remembered the Lord: and his prayer came in unto God, even into his holy temple.”]

Though we have never been in a situation like his, have not we also wonderful mercies to recount?

[We have all of us, more or less, been in situations of danger, either by sickness or by accident, when we were in a state most unprepared to meet our God; and when, if we had been taken into the eternal world, we must have for ever perished in our sins. On some such occasion, perhaps, we have reflected on our state, and felt our need of mercy, and cried unto our God, and obtained mercy at his hands: and here we are living witnesses for God, that “he desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live” — — —]

Let us pass on to consider,

II. The conviction wrought—

Jonah had known, before, the folly of idolatry, and the wisdom of relying wholly upon God. But now he felt this in a way that he had not done before. Now too he felt, that to flee from the presence of God, as he had done, and to decline the service of his God, and to seek happiness in a way of disobedience to God, was folly in the extreme; and that the only way to be truly happy, was to serve, and honour, and obey the Lord.

And were not such our convictions, also, in the prospect of death?

[None of us need be told that the creature is but a broken cistern; and that “to forsake the fountain of living waters for cisterns of our own formation, is a great evil;.” But, whilst we acknowledge this as a speculative truth, who feels it practically, so as to act upon it, and to have his life regulated in accordance with it? In a time of health, we see perhaps what is right, but do it not; nor have in our souls any fixed purpose to carry into effect the dictates of our mind and judgment. But in the near approach of death these truths assume a reality and importance which we never discerned before. Once, perhaps, we could laugh at them, as the dreams of enthusiasm, and the peculiarities of a sect: but in that solemn hour when we are expecting to be summoned into the immediate presence of our God, we bitterly regret that we have given so little weight to these considerations; and we then are convinced, indeed, that “in observing and following lying vanities we have madly forsaken our own mercies.” The convict that is about to perish by the hand of the public executioner, however obdurate he has been in times past, feels this; and the public feel it for him. Would to God that, in our time of health and prosperity, we all felt it for ourselves!]

The result of that conviction we shall see in,

III. The determination formed—

Now would the prophet henceforth praise his God: and, having made vows to God in the hour of his extremity, he would now pay them; and be a living witness for God, that “salvation is of the Lord” for every soul that will seek it, however deep his guilt, or however desperate his condition.

These are the determinations, Brethren, which I desire you, in dependence upon God’s help, to form—

[Look to the mercies vouchsafed to you in the hour of your necessity, when you cried unto the Lord: look at your deliverance from death and hell: look at a resurrection vouchsafed to you, from death to life, from misery to peace, from hell to heaven; a resurrection like unto that of Jonah; or rather like to that which was typified by it, the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: and then tell me, whether you should not “sacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of thanksgiving,” and your every word be praise — — — Call to mind, also, the vows which you made in the hour of trouble; how you would live henceforth, not unto yourselves, but to your God; and not for time only, but for eternity. Now, beware that you forget not the resolutions then formed. Beg of God that they may not, as is too generally the case, vanish as the early dew that passeth away. They are all recorded in the book of God’s remembrance; and if violated by you, in return for all the mercies vouchsafed unto you, they will fearfully aggravate your eternal condemnation — — — Now, too, be living witnesses for God, for the encouragement of others. Shew to others what a salvation you have found, and found in your lowest extremity, in answer to the prayer of faith. Who can tell what a blessing you may he to those around you? Doubtless the mercy vouchsafed to Jonah was, under God, the salvation of all that great and populous city to which he preached. His miraculous deliverance gave, so to speak, an irresistible energy to his word; insomuch that all, from the king on the throne to the lowest of the populace, instantly turned in penitential sorrow to the Lord. So you, when you can say to others, “What my eyes have seen, and ears have heard, and hands have handled, of the word of life, the same declare I unto you,” may he instrumental to the honouring of God your Saviour, and to the saving of many souls alive.]

On a review of this subject, SEE,

1. How wonderful are the ways of God!

[Who would have thought to what even the rebellion of Jonah should lead; and how the punishing of that should lead to the salvation of his soul, and of the souls of many others? Truly, “God’s ways are in the great deep, and his footsteps are not known.” But from all this we may learn never to despond; but rather, however desperate our condition may be, to say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” — — —]

2. How marvellous is the efficacy of converting grace!

[See what a change is wrought in Jonah; though, indeed, far less than might have been expected. But to change our rebellious hearts into a frame of obediential love and gratitude; and to renew us in our inner man, so as to make us as lights in a dark world; this is, and must be, the effect of true conversion. See then, brethren, that ye offer unto God the sacrifice of praise continually; and especially for your redemption from all the penal effects of sin, through the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, too, that you live to God as his redeemed people, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of your life; and that you labour, in every possible way, to commend to others the salvation which you yourselves have found — — —]

MCCI

REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES

Jonah 3:8–10.

Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth; and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way: and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

MEN of profane minds pour contempt on national fasts, under an idea that they can be of no use for averting of national judgments. But in my text there is abundant proof that God will hear the prayers of the contrite, and be gracious to them at the voice of their cry.

Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, was an exceeding large city, so large, that it would occupy a man three days to walk round it and through its principal streets. The wickedness of it was great; and God, having determined that in the space of forty days he would involve it, with all its inhabitants, in destruction, he sent his servant Jonah to advertise them of their impending ruin. The prophet had proceeded but one day’s journey into the city, and behold, all ranks of people, from the highest to the lowest, having heard his message, trembled at God’s displeasure, and united in humbling themselves before him, if peradventure they might prevail upon him to “turn from his fierce anger.” The success of their efforts leads me to set before you the conduct of the Ninevites,

I. As a record for our instruction—

[Though addressed by a perfect stranger who belonged to a despised nation, the people believed his testimony, delivered to them as it was in Jehovah’s name; and, though they were heathens, unused to acknowledge the one true God, they set themselves to implore mercy at his hands, and to deprecate his threatened judgments. The king and his nobles proclaimed a fast; in the observance of which all his subjects cordially concurred: and so intent were they on a due observance of the day, that all put on sackcloth from the least of them to the greatest, and even the king himself “laid aside his royal robes, and clothed himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes:” nor did any of them so much as “eat bread or drink water” the whole day. Even the herds and the flocks were kept without any species of food or refreshment, that by their privations they might participate in the general grief, and by their moanings produce on the minds of the penitents an increased effect.

To their fasting they added prayer: yea, “they cried mightily unto God.” They were not content with formal unmeaning acknowledgments. They bewailed their guilt; they saw how deeply they had merited the Divine displeasure; and they strove by earnest supplications to ward off from themselves the judgments which the avenging Deity was about to inflict upon them. The sincerity of their repentance they manifested by an instantaneous reformation of their lives; all of them turning from their besetting sins, and engaging to consecrate themselves to Jehovah as a holy and obedient people. How many of them maintained their steadfastness we know not: but from the mercy vouchsafed to them in answer to their prayers, we are led to hope that many became true servants of the living God.

Thus, at all events, they sought for mercy; and thus they obtained the deliverance they implored.]

Now then let me call your attention to their conduct,

II. As a pattern for your imitation—

Sorry am I to say, that there is occasion for the same humiliation on your part, as you have seen in them—

[— — — ; And this I am authorized to declare, that, whatever the second causes may have been, the evil itself is from the Lord: for, “Is there evil in the city, and the Lord hath not dune it;?” Yes, it is a chastisement from God on account of our sins: and I call upon you not only to “believe” this, but to “hear the rod, and him that has appointed it.” If we will not view the hand of God in these dispensations, we can have no hope that they shall be exchanged for mercies: but to acknowledge him in them will be the best preparation for the reception of mercies from him, and the most certain prelude to his bestowment of them.]

I must add, too, that your humiliation must resemble theirs—

[In a season of affliction fasting is highly proper. We see all the most eminent saints in Scripture having recourse to this under the pressure of any heavy calamity: and, in the history before us, we behold the king, and his nobles, together with all the inhabitants of a populous city, approaching the Divine Majesty with this expression of their grief and penitence. This is a fit pattern for us at this time.

But with fasting we must engage in fervent prayer. Luke-warm petitions will never find acceptance with God. We must “cry mightily unto the Lord, even with strong crying and tears,” if we would obtain from him the deliverance which we so greatly need.

And, to prove the sincerity of our hearts, we must turn, everyone of us, from our besetting sins to newness of life. No fasting will be of any avail without this; no, nor will prayer be heard without it. If our humiliation be not accompanied with this, God will say to us, as to his people of old, “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness;?” Search out then the peculiar evils which you are most accustomed to commit, and cast them off even though they be dear to you as a right hand or a right eye: and then may we hope that God will be gracious to us at the voice of our cry, and turn away from his fierce anger wherewith he has visited our guilty land.]

If you will not thus turn unto the Lord, your guilt will be greatly aggravated—

[Who were the people to whom this warning was delivered? HEATHENS. By whom were they addressed? A perfect stranger. What hope was held out to them of averting the threatened judgments? None at all. Not so much as a constructive promise was given them by any exhortation to repent. All the encouragement they felt was derived from a mere surmise: “WHO CAN TELL, whether God will turn from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” On the mere presumption that the exercise of mercy towards them was possible, they, at the very first announcement of God’s displeasure, turned to him, as it were, with their whole hearts; and thus obtained mercy. But you, brethren, are the professed servants of God, and followers of Christ. And you have been warned ten thousand times, and that too by those whom you yourselves acknowledge as appointed of God, to watch for your souls. You have had exceeding great and precious promises also set before you, with most assured declarations from God, that no one of you shall ever seek his face in vain. Say then, whether these Ninevites will not rise up in judgment to condemn you at the last day, if you dissemble with God on this occasion, as too many of us through the whole land, it is to be feared, are doing? Look at our king and his nobles, and at his subjects throughout the empire, and say, Whether there be any resemblance between our humiliation, and that which we have noticed in these penitent heathens? In them it was produced at the very first instant: but we have been warned ten thousand times in vain. Oh! could we but see any measure of the penitence amongst us that was evinced by them, I should have no fear but that the judgments under which we labour should be removed, or sanctified to our greater good.

In the case before us, God, in reversing the sentence denounced against that city, might appear weak, or mutable, or unworthy to be feared: and, at all events his prophet would appear to them as a deceiver. But He was more careful of their welfare than of his own honour, or of his servant’s reputation: and having produced a change in the people, he instantly changed his dispensations towards them. Not that the change was in him: it was in them only: for the removal of his threatened judgments was rather an execution, than a reversal, of his own decrees, which from eternity have been to pardon the penitent, and to bless the contrite. But in your ease there is no such obstacle in his way: for he has told you, that if you confess your sins, lie will not only forgive them, but display and magnify his own faithfulness and justice in that very dispensation towards you.

To obtain national mercies, our repentance must be national: but if there be but one amongst us that truly turns to God, he shall surely obtain mercy for his own soul, and be a monument of God’s pardoning love to all eternity.

Let me however hope, that this occasion shall not he lost upon the nation at large: but that our fasting shall be sincere, our prayers fervent, our reformation radical, and our success complete.]

MCCII

THE MERCY OF GOD

Jonah 4:2.

I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

IN the parable of the Prodigal Son, we read of as hateful a character as can well be imagined: it is that of the elder brother, who, instead of uniting with his family in rejoicing over the recovery of the younger brother from his evil ways, took occasion, from his father’s parental tenderness, to reproach him for partiality and unkindness; since, having “never rewarded his obedience with so much as a kid, he had killed for his prodigal and licentious brother the fatted calf;.” But a far worse character is portrayed in the history before us. Indeed, it is scarcely credible, that any person of common humanity, and still less that a good man, should be capable of acting as Jonah did; even reproaching God to his face for the exercise of his mercy towards a repenting people, and making his very anticipation of that mercy a ground and an excuse for his own wilful disobedience. But, beyond all doubt, the history of Jonah records a literal fact, without any exaggeration or poetical embellishment: he did, as he informs us, “know God to be a merciful God;” and he did make that very mercy a ground of wrathful indignation, and of acrimonious complaint.

The acknowledgment here made, will lead me to set before you the mercy of God,

I. As delineated by Jonah—

Jonah “knew” God to be a merciful God. He knew it,

1. From the description which God himself had given of his own character—

[In answer to the prayer of Moses, God had made his glory to pass before him; and had proclaimed his name, as “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;.” Here, for one single expression relating to his justice, there is a vast accumulation of rich and diversified terms to convey to our minds a just idea of his mercy; all shewing, that “judgment is a strange act,” to which he is utterly averse; but that mercy is the attribute, in the exercise of which is all his delight;.]

2. From the marvellous display which had been made of it, throughout the whole of his dealings with his people in all ages—

[Scarcely had the people been brought out of Egypt, before they made a golden calf, and worshipped it as the author of their deliverance. This greatly incensed God; and determined him to cut them off, and to raise up to himself another people from his servant Moses: but, at the intercession of Moses, he forgave them, and “repented of the evil which he had thought to do unto them;.” So, throughout all their stay in the wilderness, and in all their rebellions after their establishment in Canaan, he manifested the same compassion towards them; as David informs us: “Many times did he deliver them: but they provoked him with their counsels, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry: and he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his tender mercies;”

Well, therefore, might Jonah say, “He knew God to be a merciful God;” the very existence of his nation, after such long-continued and aggravated offences, being an ample proof of it.]

But my chief object is, to open to you the mercy of God,

II. As illustrated in the history before us—

View it,

1. In the preservation of Jonah himself—

[God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, and to proclaim to them his determination to destroy the inhabitants thereof for their iniquities; and to inform them, at the same time, that the judgment should be executed within the short space of forty days. Jonah, averse to execute the commission, fled from the presence of the Lord, and took ship, in order to go to Tarshish;. Commentators have invented I know not how many apologies for Jonah: for instance, that he was actuated by a jealousy for the honour of his own nation: for Nineveh, being a city of Gentiles, he thought that the going to prophesy to them would be to transfer to them an honour due to Israel alone. Others suppose that he was impelled rather by fear; since, to deliver so awful a prophecy, could not but involve him in great danger. But the real ground of his disobedience was, that which he himself acknowledges: “He knew God to be a merciful God:” and he was afraid that the people would repent; and that God, on account of their repentance, would forbear to execute his threatened judgment upon them: and that thus he himself would, eventually, be made to appear a false prophet;.

Whilst he was going to Tarshish, he was overtaken with a storm, which reduced the ship to such extreme danger, that all the mariners betook themselves to prayer, as their only refuge. The thought occurring to their minds, that possibly the storm might have been sent as a punishment of some great offence, they drew lots, in order that they might find out the offender: and the lot falling upon Jonah, he confessed his sin, and counselled them to cast him overboard, as the only means of pacifying the offended Deity, and of saving their own lives. Thus did judgment overtake Jonah, precisely as it had overtaken Achan in the camp of Joshua: and, like Achan, he might well have been summoned into the presence of his God. But, lo! God had prepared a great fish to swallow him up, not for his destruction, but preservation: for he preserved him alive three days and three nights in the fish’s belly; and caused the fish to carry him to the shore nearest to Nineveh, and to cast him on shore without any injury to his body; yea, and with unspeakable benefit accruing to his soul: nay, more; his offended God not only spared him thus, but made him in this way one of the most eminent types of Christ that ever existed in the world.

Now, if Jonah knew before that God was merciful, how fully must he have known it now! Here was a mercy so extraordinary in its kind, so blessed in its results, and so marvellous, as being vouchsafed to him in the midst of his most impious rebellion, that it may well be adduced as one of the most astonishing displays of mercy that have ever been vouchsafed to man from the foundation of the world.]

2. In the sparing of the whole city of Nineveh—

[The inhabitants of that immense city, the capital of the Assyrian empire, had filled up the measure of their iniquities. But, on the very first announcement of the impending judgments, they fasted and mourned, and cried mightily to God for mercy.—they had heard from Jonah nothing but the simple declaration, that in forty days the whole city should be overthrown. No hope of pardon had been held out to them; no idea had been suggested, that penitence, however deep or universal, would be of any avail: but they said, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” And upon this mere presumption they ventured to cry for mercy. And, behold, how graciously God listened to their prayers! No sooner did he see them turning from their evil ways, than he “repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them; and he did it notl.” This was the very issue that Jonah had anticipated. And what an encouragement does it afford to every living man, to humble himself for his iniquities, and to implore mercy at the hands of this gracious God!

But that to which I desire chiefly to direct your attention, is God’s mercy,]

3. In the enduring with such inconceivable forbearance the expostulations and remonstrances of this impious man—

[This act of mercy towards Nineveh, so far from exciting joy and gratitude in the bosom of Jonah, filled him only with wrath; yea, with such ungovernable wrath, that he broke forth into reproaches against God himself, on account of it. Whilst he was in the whale’s belly, he had repented; but now all his repentance had vanished, and he even vindicated before God the rebellion of which he had been guilty: and pleaded his anticipation of this very event, as a justification of it: “I pray thee, Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish.” He even went further, and “prayed to God to take away his life;” for that, since he must appear to that people as a false prophet, “it were better for him to die than to live.” How astonishing was it, that God did not strike him dead upon the spot! All the mercy that had been vouchsafed to himself, Jonah had quite forgotten. It was nothing now that he had been preserved alive in the belly of the whale, and been cast uninjured upon the dry land: no, his honour was assailed; and every consideration of gratitude for his own mercies, and of compassion for above a million of souls that had been spared, was swallowed up in the apprehension that he should suffer in his credit, by reason of the revocation of God’s threatened judgments. And behold how God deals with this daring transgressor! He calmly asks him, “Dost thou well to be angry?” And when the sullen rebel goes out of the city, and sits down in earnest hope that he shall see the whole city destroyed, God takes yet further means to convince him that his anger was unreasonable, and his complaint unmerited. Truly, Jonah, thou hast given occasion for such a display of God’s mercy as thou thyself couldst not previously have conceived to be within the reach of possibility, or to be consistent with the other perfections of the Deity!]

O, Brethren, let us SEE in this history,

1. What monuments of mercy we ourselves are—

[Who amongst us has not rebelled against the commands of God; and betaken himself to any place, any company, any employment, rather than fulfil the duties to which he was averse? Who amongst us has not betrayed a sad indifference to the welfare of his fellow-creatures; seeking his own ease, his own interest, his own honour, when he should have been labouring rather for the salvation of those to whom he might have gained access for their good? And who has not grievously overlooked, or with base ingratitude forgotten, the deliverances that have been vouchsafed to him, even from diseases or accidents that have been fatal to others, and that might have had a fatal issue with him also? Aye, who has not been unmindful even of that wonderful redemption which God has vouchsafed to us, through the death and resurrection of his only dear Son? — — — I may add, too, who amongst us, when crossed in any particular object that has affected his interest, and especially his honour, has not been so vexed, as to murmur, if not directly against God, yet indirectly, being irritated against those who were the means and instruments which he employed in the dispensation that we complained of? Possibly, under some grievous trial, where our pride has been wounded, we have even wished ourselves dead, when, alas! we were far from being in a state to appear before God. Yet, notwithstanding all our provocations, here we are still on mercy’s ground, when we might well have been made monuments of God’s righteous displeasure! Truly, then, we may say to God, “I know that thou art a gracious God, and merciful; yea, I am myself a living witness that thou art slow to anger, and repentest thee of the evil.” Yes, my dear brethren, flagrant beyond conception as was the impiety of Jonah, we, methinks, are not the persons to throw a stone at him; every one of us having indulged too much of the same spirit as he, and trodden too much in his steps. We should rather take occasion, from what we have seen in him, to humble ourselves before God; and, from the mercies vouchsafed to him, to adore our God for the mercies vouchsafed unto ourselves.]

2. What encouragement we have to return unto our God—

[If there were a mere peradventure only that we might obtain mercy from God, that alone were a sufficient encouragement to humble ourselves before God. So the Prophet Joel, using the very words of my text, informs us. Are there, then, amongst us those who are altogether ignorant of God, like the devoted Ninevites? I say, Humble yourselves before God, and you shall find mercy at his hands, especially if you seek it in the name of his only dear Son Jesus Christ — — — Or is there any professor of godliness, who, like the Prophet Jonah, has given way to sin, and grievously dishonoured his holy profession? To such an one would I say, Abase yourself before God in dust and ashes. We are not, indeed, told that Jonah repented, and was forgiven; but we have reason to hope that this was the case, from his being called “the servant of God:” and if he was forgiven, who has any reason to despair? Me-thinks I see one even in as vile a spirit as he; and yet I hear God addressing him in these tender terms: “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee up, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me: my repentings are kindled together: I will not execute upon thee the fierceness of mine anger.” Indeed, indeed, Brethren, it will be your own fault, if any of you perish. “God willeth not the death of any sinner; but that he turn from his wickedness and live.” I beseech you all, therefore, whatever guilt you may have contracted, never to flee from God in despondency, but to go to him, in an assured hope that he is still as gracious as ever; and that, how abundant soever have been his mercies in the days of old, they shall be renewed to you the very instant that you cry to him in the name of Jesus, who “was delivered unto death for your offences, and rose again for your justification.”]

MCCIII

JONAH’S GOURD

Jonah 4:5–9.

So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm, when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

WHETHER we look into the sacred volume or to the world around us, we are almost at a loss to say which is the greater, the depravity of man, or the tender mercy of our God — — — In the brief history which we have of the Prophet Jonah, they are both exhibited to our view in the most striking colours. Had Jonah been a professed heathen, we should have wondered less at his impiety: but being an Israelite, yea, a prophet too of the Most High God, and, we would fondly hope, a good man upon the whole, we are amazed at the very extraordinary wickedness which he manifested, and no less at the astonishing forbearance exercised by Almighty God towards him. In the former part of his history we have an account of his declining to execute the commission which God had given him to preach to the Ninevites, and, notwithstanding that rebellious conduct, his preservation in the belly of a fish. In the passage which we have now read, we see his perverseness carried to an extent that seems absolutely incredible, and God’s condescension to him keeping pace with his enormities. It relates his conduct in reference to a gourd which God had caused to spring up over him, and which withered within a few hours after it had comforted him with its refreshing shade. That we may place the matter in a clear point of view, we shall notice,

I. His inordinate joy at the acquisition of the gourd—

He was at this time in a most deplorable state of mind—

[He had preached to the Ninevites, and his word had been attended with such power, that the whole city repented, and turned to the Lord with weeping and with mourning and with fasting. This, instead of exciting gratitude in the heart of Jonah, filled him only with rage; because he thought that God, in consideration of their penitence, would shew mercy to them, and that, in consequence of the judgments with which he had threatened them not being executed upon them, he himself should appear an impostor. It was of small importance that there were above a million of souls in the city: the destruction of them was of no moment in his eyes, in comparison of his own honour: he hoped therefore that God would at least inflict some signal judgment upon them, sufficient to attest the truth of his menaces, and to support his credit as a true prophet. With the hope of seeing his wishes realized, he made a booth on the outside of the city, and “sat there to see what would become of the city.”]

Then it was that God caused a gourd to spring up suddenly, and cover the booth—

[What amazing condescension! How much rather might we have expected that God would have sent a lion to destroy him, as he had before done to a disobedient prophet! But instead of visiting his iniquity as it deserved, God consulted only his comfort; yes, this very man, who was so “exceedingly displeased with God’s mercy to the Ninevites, that he could not endure his life, and begged of God to strike him dead; this very man, I say, was such an object of God’s attention, as to have a gourd raised up over his head “to deliver him from his grief.” It should seem as if there was a contest between God and him; he striving to exhaust the patience of Jehovah, and Jehovah striving to overcome by love the obstinacy and obduracy of his heart.]

In the acquisition of this gourd Jonah exceedingly rejoiced—

[Had we been told that he was exceedingly thankful to his God, we should have been ready to applaud his gratitude: but he saw not God’s hand in the mercy vouchsafed to him: it was his own comfort only that he cared about: and in the gift alone did he rejoice, forgetful of the Giver. The idea of a million of souls being saved from perishing in their sins gave him no pleasure: but the being more effectually screened from the heat of the sun himself, made him “exceeding glad.” Had his mind been at all in a right state, his own comfort and convenience would have been swallowed up in thankfulness, for the preservation of so many souls, and for having been made the honoured instrument of their deliverance: but love for ourselves, and indifference about others, always bear a proportion to each other in the mind of man: and their connexion with each other was never more strongly seen than on this occasion.]

His inordinate joy at the acquisition of the gourd was more than equalled by,

II. His intemperate sorrow at the loss of it—

God, seeing the ingratitude of Jonah, withdrew the gift soon after it had been been bestowed—

[He prepared a worm, which smote the gourd, so that it withered as suddenly as it had grown up. And where is there any gourd without a worm at the root of it? Our comforts may continue for a longer season than Jonah’s; but there is in every creature-comfort a tendency to decay; and our most sanguine expectations are usually followed by the most bitter disappointments. Indeed God has wisely and graciously ordained, that abiding happiness shall not be found in any thing but Him alone: and the withdrawment of this comfort was in reality a greater blessing than its continuance would have been; since the gourd could only impart a transient comfort to his body; whereas the removal of it tended to humble and improve his soul.]

But the impatient spirit of Jonah only raged and complained the more—

[As soon as the heat became oppressive to him, Jonah renewed his former wish for death; and, when reproved by God for his impiety, he vindicated himself in the very presence of his God, and declared, that “he did well to be angry, even unto death.” Who would conceive that such impiety as this should exist in the heart of any man, but especially of one who had received such signal mercies as he, and been so honoured as an instrument of good to others? But hereby God did indeed shew, that the excellency of the power was of him alone, and that he can work by whomsoever he will. It seems strange too, that, when God appealed to his conscience, an enlightened man could possibly be so blinded by passion as to give judgment in his own favour in such a case. But man has neither reason nor conscience, when biassed by his own lusts: and his very appeals to God can be little more depended on than the testimony of a man who is deliberately deceitful. But this we may observe in general, that the more there is of unhallowed boldness in any man’s confidence, the more it is to be suspected; and the more ready he is to wish himself dead, the more unfit he is for death and judgment.]

Thus far our attention has been almost exclusively turned to Jonah: but. that we may bring the matter home more directly to our own business and bosoms. we would suggest a REFLECTION or two. arising out of the subject:

1. What selfishness is there in the heart of man!

[One would be ready to account this record a libel upon human nature. if we did not know assuredly that it is a true history. without any exaggeration or mistake. It appears incredible. that such inhumanity should exist in the heart of man. as that he should wish for the destruction of a million of souls. only that his own word might be verified; and that he should be so vexed by his disappointment. as to wish for death. and pray to God to terminate his life. Nor would one conceive it possible that a temporary inconvenience. which had in fact originated solely in his own absurd and impious conduct. should so irritate and inflame his mind. as to make him insult. to his very face. his almighty and all-gracious Reprover. But we know little of ourselves. if we do not recognize much of our own character in that of Jonah. We have had reported to us. time after time. the calamities of others. and have felt no more than if the most trifling occurrences had been related: or if we have felt at all. it has been only for a moment. and the tale has soon become as if it had passed before the flood. But. on the other hand. if any thing has arisen to thwart our own interests or inclinations. though it has been of less consequence than Jonah’s gourd. we have laid it to heart. and been so irritated or grieved by it. that our very sleep has gone from us. Particularly if any thing has occurred that was likely to lower our reputation in the world. how keenly have we felt it. so as almost to be weary even of life! Or if any thing wherein we promised ourselves much happiness have been withdrawn from us. as wife or child. how little have we been able to say. “The Lord gave. and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” Alas! we have more resembled Jonah. than Job: our every thought has been swallowed up in self: and neither God nor man have been regarded by us. any farther than they might subserve our selfish and carnal ends. Let us then in Jonah see our own character as in a glass. and let this view of it humble us in the dust.]

2. What mercy is there in the heart of God!—

[This is the improvement which God himself makes of the subject. Jonah had complained of God for exercising mercy towards the repentant Ninevites; and God vindicates himself against the accusations of Jonah. In doing this. he touches with exquisite tenderness the sin of Jonah; and represents him not as actuated by selfishness and impiety, but as merely “having pity on the gourd.” What a beautiful example does this afford us, who ought to extenuate, rather than to aggravate, the faults of our bitterest enemies! His argument on the occasion is this: ‘If you have had pity on a poor worthless gourd, for which you never laboured, and in which you have only a slight and transient interest, how much more am I justified in having pity on a million of the human race, (six-score thousand of whom have never done good or evil,) and on multitudes of cattle also, which must have been involved in any calamity inflicted on that large city!’ This argument is similar to one used in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and says in effect, ‘If you were right in pitying a thing of no value, how much more am I in sparing what is of more value than ten thousand worlds!’ This argument, especially as addressed to the self-justifying Jonah, was unanswerable: and the truth contained in it is consolatory to every child of man. God is a God of infinite mercy: he may, he will, spare all who truly repent. Whatever judgments he has denounced against sin and sinners, the execution of them depends solely on the sinners themselves: if they repent, sooner shall God cease to exist, than cease to exercise mercy towards them. Let this encourage transgressors of every class: let it encourage the abandoned to repent; and those who profess godliness to repent also: for all need this consoling truth, that “God willeth not the death of any sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live.” Know then, both from his dealings with the Ninevites, and his forbearance towards his perverse prophet, that He is abundant in goodness and truth, and that where sin has abounded, his grace shall much more abound.]

MICAH

MCCIV

BENEFITS ARISING FROM THE WORD OF GOD

Micah 2:7.

Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

GREAT and bitter prejudices are often entertained against the word of God; as though its only tendency was to pervert the judgments of men, and to disturb their repose. Hence, when the word is faithfully administered, many are offended at it; and say, as it were, to the messengers of heaven, “Prophesy not unto us right things; prophesy unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits.” But the real reason of their disgust is, that they will not part with those sins which the word condemns, or practise those duties which the word enjoins: “they love darkness rather than light: they hate the light, and will not come to it, lest their deeds should be reproved.” If they were willing to renounce their sins, they would find the word precious and delightful to them; for it is as full of consolation to the upright, as it is of terror to the hypocritical. To this effect God speaks in the passage before us. He represents the people as saying to the prophets, “Prophesy not.” Then addressing himself to them, he asks, Whether the messages which he sent them proceeded from any want of love and mercy in himself; or whether they did not arise solely from their obstinacy in sin? “O thou that art named the House of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings?” Then he appeals to them, whether his word would not be a source of unspeakable comfort to them, if they would turn to him aright? “Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?”

We propose to shew,

I. Who they are whom the word benefits—

Certain it is, that all are not benefited by the word. When it was dispensed by Him who “spake as never man spake,” many made no other use of it than to cavil at it, and to form it into a ground of accusation against him. And when St. Paul laboured at Ephesus for three months successively to establish the truth, many were only hardened the more in their prejudices and infidelity. While in every age it has been “to some a savour of life unto life, it has proved to others a savour of death unto deathc.” Those who alone are benefited by it, are “the people who walk uprightly,” or, in other words,

1. The unprejudiced—

[If we come to the word of God with prejudices against any of the doctrines which it is supposed to contain, it is scarcely probable that we should receive any material good from it: for as soon as the truths which we hate are brought to light, we shall set ourselves against them, and exert all our endeavours to invalidate their force. The plainest and most fundamental doctrines of our religion are very commonly treated in this way. Men like not to hear of the depravity of the heart, the insufficiency of our best works to recommend us to God, the necessity of divine influences, and the impossibility of being saved without an entire dependence on the merits of Christ, and an unreserved surrender of ourselves to his service. But if, instead of reprobating these things as enthusiasm, we would lay our minds open to conviction, and submit to receive instruction from God, we should find a reality in these things which we never imagined, and an importance which we were not aware of. God has promised that “the meek he will guide in judgment, the meek he will teach his way.”]

2. The diligent—

[Nothing is to be attained without diligence, in spiritual any more than in temporal concerns. If we read a portion of the Scripture in a superficial way, or hear it explained to us without ever reflecting on what we have heard, we cannot expect to get any good unto our souls. Our Lord has illustrated this by a man sowing seed by the way-side. Can any one doubt whether the birds will come and take it away? Thus will Satan take the word out of our hearts, if it be not harrowed in by meditation and prayer. Our Lord directs us to “search the Scriptures:” and St. Luke tells us, that saving benefit accrued to the Bereans from their diligence in this respect; “they were more noble than those of Thessalonica, because they searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so:” and then he adds, “Therefore many of them believed.” This indeed is agreeable to the established order of things throughout the world: for God has ordained, that while “the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, the soul of the diligent shall be made fatg.”]

3. The humble—

[Pride and self-sufficiency are insurmountable obstacles to religious instruction. If the knowledge of divine truth were to be acquired merely by mental application, then indeed we might become proficients in it, notwithstanding our dependence were on our own exertions. But we are blind, and must have “the eyes of our understanding enlightened,” before we can comprehend the mysterious truths of God: consequently, if we have not humility to pray for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we must remain in darkness, with respect to the spiritual import of the word, however carefully we may investigate its literal meaning. We must pray with David, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy lawi period;” We must confess ourselves fools, if we would be truly wise. When we are willing to learn with the docility of little children, then, and then only, shall “the things that are hid from the wise and prudent be revealed unto usl.”]

4. The obedient—

[We must have a disposition, yea, a determination, through grace, to obey the word, if we would receive any substantial good from it. If we have any secret lust which we will not part with, it is in vain to hope that the word, whether read or preached, can ever profit us. Our bosom sin will necessarily warp our judgment, and dispose us to reject whatever militates against the indulgence of it. Being determined not to obey its dictates, we shall be always ready to dispute its meaning or deny its authority. Hence our Lord lays so great a stress upon an obedient frame of mind: “If any man will do my will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.” It is self-evident, that if a man be visited by the most skilful physician in the universe, he can derive no benefit from his prescriptions, unless he follow them. So it is in vain that the Scripture shews us infallibly the way to heaven, if we will not forsake that path that leadeth to destruction.]

The character of the persons whom the word of God benefits, being ascertained, let us inquire into,

II. The good which it does them—

But who can estimate this aright? Who can enumerate the benefits resulting from the sacred oracles when thus studied, and thus received? We must content ourselves with mentioning only a few of those blessings which will flow from the word:

1. It will teach us—

[The inspired volume cannot fail of conveying information to every man that peruses it, whatever be the state and disposition of his mind. But there is instruction which none but those who “have an honest and good heart” can receive; and in comparison of which all other knowledge is only as dross and dung. An insight into the deceitfulness and depravity of the heart; a discovery of the glory and excellency of Christ; a view of the devices of Satan, and of the way in which alone he can be successfully opposed; a sight of the beauty of holiness, and of all those glorious privileges that belong to the children of God, are among those invaluable acquisitions which will reward the labours of the humble inquirer.]

2. It will comfort us—

[They who disregard the Holy Scriptures, are often so overwhelmed with their troubles, as to seek refuge in death from the calamities of life. But the person who “draws water from those wells of salvation,” finds in them an inexhaustible fund of consolation. He perceives that his trials are all appointed by infinite wisdom; that his Lord and Master drank of the very same cup before him; that tribulation is the way in which all the saints must walk toward the promised land; and that the storms which seem to menace his very life, shall only waft him to his desired haven. All the wonders of redemption also furnish him with additional grounds of consolation; and every promise is like the balm of Gilead to his wounded spirit. Such was the benefit which David experienced from the word in his trials; and such shall be experienced by all who “make it their delight and their counsellor.”]

3. It will sanctify us—

[The word of God is that which is made the means of our regeneration; and the same is useful for the carrying on of the good work within us. The Apostles were purified in an eminent degree: and our Lord ascribes their sanctification to that as its proper cause; “Now ye are clean, through the word that I have spoken unto you.” And St. Paul tells us, that Christ still makes use of it for that end: “He gave himself for the Church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” Indeed its natural tendency is to effect this, because it points out to us our sins; it makes us to see the guilt and danger in which they involve us; it directs our eyes to Him who will give us the victory over them; and it assures us, that, after we have vanquished all our spiritual enemies, we shall be partakers of endless glory and felicity. Having the precepts for our guide, and the promises for our encouragement, we shall “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”]

4. It will save us—

[The word makes us not only wise, but “wise unto saltion.” In this view St. Paul told the Corinthians that “he had preached the Gospel to them; and that they had received it, and were standing in it; by which also,” says he, “ye are saved.” And O! how many myriads now in heaven can attest its efficacy in this respect! How must they say, ‘That word taught me, when ignorant; quickened me, when dead; comforted me, when afflicted; strengthened me, when weak; and enabled me eventually to overcome all my enemies!’ And thus shall all of you say in due season, provided you “walk uprightly” in a diligent study of the sacred oracles, and in an humble obedience to the will of God.]

In IMPROVING this subject, we shall,

1. Guard it against misconstruction—

[It is possible that the foregoing statement may be misunderstood: we would therefore suggest some brief hints, by way of explanation.

First then, it is not the word that does the good; but the Holy Spirit, by the word. If the word itself wrought any thing, its operation would be uniform and universal, or, at least, in a much greater degree than it now is, and people would be benefited by it in proportion to the strength and clearness of their intellect. But the reverse of this is nearer the truth: for the poor and weak receive the Gospel, while the wise and noble reject it. And daily experience proves, that the word then only comes with power, when it comes in the Holy Ghostu.

Next, it is not the knowledge of the word that benefits us, but the knowledge of Christ in the word. We might be able to repeat the whole Bible, and yet perish at last. Christ must be known by us; and that, not speculatively, but experimentally: for “there is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ.”

Lastly, our “uprightness” is not the meritorious cause of the good we receive, but the qualification necessary for the reception and enjoyment of what is good. Nor is this a trifling distinction; for if we be not careful to disclaim all idea of merit, we shall make void the grace of the Gospel, and deprive ourselves of all the benefits to be obtained by it.]

2. Enforce it in a way of appeal to your consciences—

[The text is an appeal, an appeal of God to the consciences of his enemies. We therefore boldly appeal to you, and defy any man living to answer in the negative; “Do not God’s words do good to him that walketh uprightly?”

Judge ye, who have despised the word: look at those of your acquaintance who have obeyed the word; compare their lives with what you remember them to have been, or with what yours are at this present time; and say, whether the word have not done them good? — — —

But ye, after all, are very incompetent judges: we therefore appeal rather to those who have received the benefit. Ye know what ye have received: say then, whether ye would exchange it for all that the world can give you? Reflect on the good ye have obtained; the pardon, the peace, the strength, the holiness, the glory; and say, whether it do not exceed the powers of the first archangel to compute its worth? — — —

But we need not dwell on this: it admits not of any doubt: all that is requisite is, that you press forward for the attainment of more good. Let the ungodly world say, that the word has done you harm; but regard them not. Only let your growth in every thing that is amiable and praise-worthy confirm the truth in our text, and justify the appeal which God himself has made.]

MCCV

MINISTERIAL FIDELITY

Micah 3:8.

Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

TO all God’s servants this command is given: “He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully;” and “deliver it they must, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear.” The prophets have set us a noble example in this respect: and the Prophet Micah in particular.

Let us mark,

I. What the sins were which he was commissioned to reprove—

Most grievous was the state of the Jewish people in his day—

[All ranks and orders of men, from the highest to the lowest, were addicted to covetousness, and were ready to commit every species of iniquity for gain; princes, priests, judges, prophets, all were guilty of the grossest injustice, and made use of their respective offices only for the purpose of accumulating wealth. At the same time they professed a firm reliance upon God, and anticipated nothing but good at his hands — — —]

And there is but too much ground for similar complaints amongst us—

[True, the conduct of our governors and judges is the very reverse of that which the prophet here imputes to the Jews. I suppose that greater integrity is not to be found on earth, than in those who hold the government, and dispense justice, and minister in holy things, amongst us; and we have abundant reason to bless God for the high tone of morals which prevails amongst them. But, if we descend to common life, we find all the same iniquities abounding in our land as were complained of by the prophet in his day. Covetousness and injustice prevail to a fearful extent amongst us, as do indeed the whole catalogue of sins forbidden in the Decalogue — — — And precisely the same self-delusion is cherished in almost every bosom. “We lean upon the Lord,” just as the Jews did; and persuade ourselves that “no evil shall come upon us.” “God is merciful,” is a sufficient answer to every threatening contained in God’s word. As for his justice, or holiness, or truth, no regard whatever is paid to them: all are superseded, all are swallowed up in the one attribute of mercy; and no room is left for the exercise of any perfection that shall interfere with the happiness of an impenitent transgressor. As to “be a child of Abraham” was with the Jews a sufficient security from God’s wrath; so, amongst us, is baptism into the faith of Christ: we cannot perish, because we are Christians.]

Let us however notice,

II. The manner in which he administered his reproof—

“He was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord:” for he and all the other “Prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” With judgment, too, and with might, was he filled; so that, in all his reproofs, he shewed unquestionably that he was speaking under a divine impulse. And I too, my brethren, would execute my commission even as he did. With a mixture of tenderness and fidelity, “I pray you then, my brethren,” bear with me, whilst, under the influence of God’s Holy Spirit, I endeavour to shew you the folly of your ways.

1. Can you impose on God?

[You can, and do, deceive your own souls, and persuade yourselves that you have nothing to fear at the hands of an angry God. But if you make light of sin, can you convince Jehovah that it is so venial a thing as you make it, or that you have not committed it to an extent to merit his displeasure? — — —]

2. Can you prevail on God to cancel and reverse the threatenings of his word?

[See if you can prevail on him to change day into night, or to alter for you any of the common laws of nature: and if you cannot prevail in things which would involve no contradiction, how can you hope to obtain a revocation of his word, which would involve in it a sacrifice of truth itself? For, I scruple not to say, that to hope for heaven in an impenitent and unbelieving state, is to “make God a liar” — — —]

Can you, when your self-delusions have ruined you, come back again to rectify your errors?

[Verily, between God and the soul that perishes in its sins, there is a great gulf fixed, a gulf that never can be passed. The soul that has once passed into the eternal world has its state for ever fixed; and the man who dies impenitent will bewail his folly in irremediable and everlasting misery.

I ask then, Is it wise to continue in sin, saying, “No evil can come upon me?” — — — Not that I would dissuade you from “leaning upon God;” but only from leaning upon him in a way which he has never authorized; and from expecting at his hands what he has never promised, and what he cannot give without violating his most solemn declarations. Repent of sin, believe in Christ, and obey the commandments of your God; and then let your confidence be as strong as you please. Then will I also assure you, that God shall be with you of a truth, and that to all eternity shall no evil ever come upon you — — —]

MCCVI

UNIVERSAL ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY

Micah 4:1–4.

In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

THE Prophet Micah was contemporary with Isaiah; and most probably had seen his prophecies. The prophecy before us is almost word for word the same as that in the second chapter of Isaiah, except indeed the concluding part of it, which is peculiar to Micah. The mode in which the prophecy too is introduced is different. In Isaiah, it is the commencement of a new prophecy; but, in Micah, it is the continuation of a prophecy of a very different complexion. Micah was a man of singular fidelity and courage. He declared to all the elders of his nation, and in a way that made a deep impression upon all, that on account of their iniquities God would give up their city and temple, to be destroyed and “plowed up as a field.” But, whilst he announced to the Jews God’s determined purpose to punish them in this awful manner, he foretold also his intention at a future period to restore them to his favour, and to make them a source of blessings to the whole earth.

This is the substance of the prophecy before us; in elucidating which we shall notice,

I. The universal establishment of the Christian Church.

Here it will be proper to notice,

1. The prediction relative to it—

[The temple of Solomon was built on a lofty hill: the altars also which were consecrated to false gods, were built on high places: hence the Christian Church is called by the prophet, “the mountain of the Lord’s House,” and by the Apostle Paul, “Mount Zion.” Of this Church it is said, that it “shall be established on the top of the mountains,” that is, on the foundations of the Jewish Church, and on the ruins of all idol worship. It is the superstructure for which alone the foundations of Judaism were laid: and, when this edifice shall be complete, all idols shall fall before it, as Dagon before the ark. The period for its completion is in the last days, the days of the Messiah; a period yet future, though, we hope, not far distant. The terms of the prophecy are such as evidently to shew, that the prediction has never yet been fulfilled, and consequently, that its accomplishment is yet to be expected by us in the appointed time.]

2. The mode of its accomplishment—

[“People,” or, as Isaiah expresses it, “all nations,” “shall flow unto it.” Yes, this “mountain shall be established on the top of mountains,” and all nations, like a majestic river, “shall flow unto it.” By this metaphor, which is indeed a most extraordinary one, it is intimated, that all nations shall be united in one common sentiment and purpose; that their progress towards its completion shall be irresistible; and that the whole shall take place under a preternatural and divine influence; since the natural progress of a river is downward, whereas this shall be upward, to a mountain on the top of other mountains. What a grand idea does this convey! The natural propensities of all men checked in their course, and their affections directed into a channel, in which Omnipotence alone can uphold them!

But the mode in which this shall take place is more fully stated by the prophet himself. The people of different and distant lands shall suddenly become penetrated with one common principle, and shall call on one another to unite in one common cause, the cause of true religion. “Come,” they will say, “let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, the House of the God of Jacob.” Just as, in the days of old, the Jews from every part of their land went up thrice a year to worship at Jerusalem; so will the Gentiles in every quarter of the globe go up with one consent to the mountain of the Lord’s House: “God will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear him for ever.”

The motives too by which they will be actuated are here distinctly specified. They will not go from regard to a particular ordinance which they feel constrained to obey, nor from a mere carnal partiality, such as the Jews evinced for their native land; but from a real desire to know, and do, the will of God. It is this which they will contemplate with such peculiar pleasure. In the Christian Church they will have an opportunity of becoming more deeply acquainted with that “great mystery of godliness, God manifest in human flesh,” and dying for the sins of men; and they will have ampler means of knowing the whole extent of their duty, which it will thenceforth be their one labour to perform: to attain these things, I say, will be the one object of their ambition; and they will be alike filled with this one desire, to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

This is the change which we expect assuredly to be wrought on the Gentile world in due time; and by this shall the predicted establishment of Christ’s Church be fulfilled.”]

Yet simple, and as it might be thought weak, are,

II. The means by which it shall be effected—

The mere preaching of the Gospel is the appointed instrument which God will make use of for the attainment of this great end; “The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

The Gospel is here called “a law”—

[It is “a law,” because it is authoritatively enjoined to be obeyed by every creature under heaven. And it is so called by the Prophet Isaiah, who characterizes it as “God’s judgment which he would make to rest for a light of the people (the Gentiles;) even as his righteousness (or method for making people righteous before him,) and his salvation, for which all the isles shall wait, and in which they shall trust.” St. Paul also calls it “the law of faithd.”]

And by the publication of that shall the great work be effected—

[It was that which produced such wonderful effects in the apostolic age; and it is still a “weapon mighty through God to the pulling down of the strong holds” of sin and Satan. It is “the rod of God’s strength which was to go forth of Zion,” and by which all his enemies are to be subdued before him. If we look into the discourses of the Apostles, we shall find nothing of that high-wrought eloquence for which the orators of Greece and Rome were famed: we shall see little else than a simple exhibition of Christ crucified, and a solemn declaration, that there was “no other name given under heaven whereby any man could be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ.” This is the truth which still approves itself “quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,” and still is “made the power of God unto salvation” to many souls. This began to be preached at Jerusalem; and is from thence come forth; and will in due time be “preached unto all nations.” No human power shall be called to its aid; no human policy shall cooperate with it: this alone, accompanied with power from on high, and “preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,” will do the work: conviction will flash upon the consciences of thousands, as on the day of Pentecost; conversion will instantly ensue: Christ being erected as “an ensign, all will flock to it,” and “a nation will be born in a day.” He shall be acknowledged by all as the “Shiloh that was to come: and to him shall the gathering of the people be.” The doctrine of the cross being universally proclaimed, the universal flow shall take place, “and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.”]

From the work itself let us turn to the contemplation of,

III. The fruits that shall every where proceed from it—

The Lord Jesus Christ will reign in the hearts of all—

[As judges of old swayed the sceptre of Israel, so will the Lord Jesus rule over the whole earth; and whatever is contrary to his will, he will “rebuke” and subdue. Nothing will be able to withstand his power: “He will work, and who shall let it?” As in former days, when he brought his people out of Egypt, and planted them in Canaan, he made them triumphant over every enemy, so will he do in the day to which we are looking forward: he will “go on in the chariot of his Gospel, conquering and to conquer,” till all his enemies and theirs be put under their feet.]

Then shall peace and happiness universally prevail—

[The distinctions between nations will then be no longer accompanied with rivalry and hate: all will be as children of one common Father, all as members of the same body. War will then no longer be a science, which even the most peaceful nations are constrained to learn for their own preservation: the cultivation of peaceful arts will be the one desire of all; “they will beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and they will learn war no more.” Then also personal and domestic peace will abound throughout the world: “every man will sit under his own vine and fig-tree,” as in Patriarchal times, none attempting to molest him, and not so much as the fear of molestation existing in his mind. Doubtless the internal peace which all will enjoy in their own heart and conscience is also to be included under this beautiful image: for the very character of Christ himself is, that he is the Prince of peace; and the character of his reign is, that it diffuses “an abundance of peace” throughout his whole empire, so that “the peace of all floweth clown like a river.” Blessed, blessed state! May “the Lord hasten it, in his time!”]

From this subject we may clearly SEE,

1. What an unspeakable blessing the Gospel is—

[Wherever the Gospel has come with power, these effects may be already in a measure seen. True it is, they are not seen to the extent that they will hereafter be, because real piety is at so low an ebb, even amongst the professed followers of Christ. But from what is partially seen, we may know what shall hereafter obtain throughout all the world. The hateful passions which produced so much hatred and contention in the world, are slain, wherever the Gospel has its due effect; and peace, and love, and every amiable disposition, have an habitual ascendant in the soul. O professors, judge yourselves in relation to this matter: see whether ye be “putting off the old man, which is corrupt, with its deceitful lusts; and be putting on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness:” and look to it, that, in these and all other respects, ye walk worthy of Him who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.]

2. How we may ensure to ourselves all its glorious effects—

[The Gentiles, in the latter days, may well be proposed as a pattern for us in the present day. Let an entire conformity of heart and life to God’s revealed will be the one object of our pursuit. Seek knowledge, not for its own sake, but for its influence upon the soul: and seek grace, not for the aggrandizement of yourselves, but that God may be glorified in the whole of your conversation. If you come up to the House of God with such dispositions as these, you will find that there is a power in the word to enlighten and sanctify the soul; and, in proportion as you cultivate these dispositions, you will “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

It will also have a good effect to animate and encourage one another. This will characterize the Christians in the latter day: and the influence of social piety will be found most beneficial to your souls. Be careful, however, when exhorting others to come up to the House of the Lord, never to omit, in spirit at least, if not in word, “I will go also.”]

3. What glorious times are hastening upon us—

[We do hope that the times here spoken of are not far distant. Multitudes of us who are here present can remember when the Church was by no means what it now is: even twenty years have made an immense difference; so great, comparatively, has been the out-pouring of God’s Spirit, beyond what it has been for centuries before. And we account it no small privilege to live in a day when some of the greatest Potentates upon earth are uniting, with their subjects of every denomination and description, to disseminate throughout the world the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. By this we may form some little judgment what to expect in that day, when, in every nation under heaven, kings shall be the nursing-fathers, and queens the nursing-mothers, of the Church. O blessed times! May God accelerate them! and may we all exert ourselves, as his instruments, to accomplish his will, and to hasten forward these glorious events! If it be thought that these prospects are too good to be ever realized; let any one only compare Britain as it now is, with what it was before the banners of the Cross were erected on our shores; and then he will see no reason to despair of those nations that are yet “sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.” But were the change far more beyond the reach of human probability than it is, there would be no resason to doubt of its ultimate accomplishment, since Omnipotence is pledged to effect it: It shall take place, “for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”]

MCCVII

THE WORLD’S AND THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD CONTRASTED

Micah 4:5.

For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

IT has been objected to Christianity, that it creates divisions in families, and in the world at large. But how should it not produce these effects, when the whole world is immersed in idolatry; and the direct end of Christianity is, to “turn men from idols, to serve the living God?” See the prophet’s account of “the last days:” “It shall come to pass, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains; and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people, even all nations, shall flow unto it.” What can this import? What, but a general conversion to Christ; and, as far as that change shall extend, the determination here formed; “Every one will walk in the name of his God: and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever?”

Let us notice here,

I. The practice of the world—

Every unregenerate man is an idolater—

[Idolatry may be found no less amongst the professed servants of Jehovah, than amongst the worshippers of stocks and stones. Idolatry, in fact, is “the loving and serving of the creature, rather than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore.” Now it is a fact, that every man, in his unregenerate state, is under the dominion of some lust, which leads him captive. All are not governed by the same lust: the desires and appetites of men differ amongst different persons, and in the same person at different periods of his life. In youth, we are chiefly impelled by a love of pleasure and sensual indulgence. In middle age, we aspire after honour and advancement in the world for ourselves and our children. In more advanced life, the love of money not unfrequently gains an ascendant over us; and, at all events, a love of ease and quiet. Now, wherever these, or any other dispositions, operate upon us more powerfully than the love of God, they become, in fact, our god. As the sensual man is said to “make a god of his belly;” and the covetous man to make an idol of his goldd; so the votaries of any created being or enjoyment are, in reality, despisers of the one true God, and worshippers of idols.]

Whatever be the supreme object of a man’s affections, “in the name of that he walks”—

[The young men are never weary in the pursuit of pleasure. Behold the gay, the dissipated, the voluptuous! From the nature of things, they cannot always be in a direct pursuit of their object: but it is never out of their minds, at least never so far removed, but they can revert to it with delight, and renew, in contemplation, the feelings which have already been indulged even to satiety. Of this the records of the whole world will testify: and he can know little of himself, who needs be told that it has been his own experience. The Apostles themselves confess this to have been once their own course; nor has there been an exception to it, in the state of unconverted man, from the fall of Adam to the present moment.]

In direct opposition to this is,

II. The determination of the true Christian—

He also has his God—

[Yes, the Lord Jehovah is his God; and him alone is he disposed to serve. The Christian sees that Jehovah alone has any claim upon him. As his Creator, his Governor, his Redeemer, and his Judge, Jehovah demands of him all the affections of his soul, and all the services of his life: and he not only accedes to this demand, but accounts it his highest honour, and his truest happiness, to fulfil the duties imposed upon him.]

And in the name of this God he walks—

[This God he confesses before men; and for him determines to brave all the contempt and hatred of an ungodly world. He sees that the servants of Satan will cast every obstacle in his way: but he resolves, by the grace of God, to go forward, and to serve his God even unto death. Look at the saints of God in every age: they all united in devotion to one God, even to Him who made them, and to Him who redeemed them by his own most precious blood. The voice of every one of them was, in fact, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth that I desire besides Thee.” And in the name of this God they walk; proceeding continually from grace to grace, from strength to strength, from glory to glory.]

And now, Brethren,

1. Choose ye whom ye will serve—

“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” “To whichever of the two ye cleave, ye must, of necessity, renounce and despise the other.” And can ye doubt whose ye shall be, and whom ye shall serve? What can the vanities of the world do for you? — — — On the other hand, what cannot, or will not, the Lord Jesus do for you? — — — Take him then as your God, and serve him faithfully with your whole hearts — — —]

2. Be not out-done by the votaries of this world—

[Are they constant? Be ye also firm, uniform, unreserved. Let there not be a worldling in the universe so faithful to his god, as you to yours. Let the Apostle’s counsel be the entire rule of your life: “As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

MCCVIII

THE MESSIAH TO BE BORN AT BETHLEHEM

Micah 5:2.

Thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Jutdah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me, that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

IN estimating the degree of credit due to prophecy, we naturally ask, Of what kind the prophecies were? Were they numerous? Were the persons who delivered them unconnected with each other? Were the things which were foretold unlikely of themselves to be accomplished? or were they such as might easily, by the united efforts of interested persons, be brought to pass? If they were such only as might be the subjects of reasonable conjecture, or such as might by a confederacy of persons be easily devised and easily fulfilled, they would have but little weight; but if they were inconceivably varied, and absolutely incapable of being either feigned by impostors or fulfilled by friends, they will then carry proportionable evidence along with them. Such then were the prophecies relating to our blessed Lord: they were such as no deceivers could invent, and such as no confederacy whatever could cause to be fulfilled. Many of the most important of them were fulfilled by persons who sought to disprove the pretensions of Jesus to the Messiahship, and who unwittingly established what they laboured to overthrow. Others were accomplished through the instrumentality of persons who could have no conception whatever of the ultimate consequences which their actions would produce. Of this kind was the prediction before us; it declared that the Messiah should be born at Bethlehem; not at the Bethlehem in the land of Zabulon, but at that which was in the land of Judah. This, as will be seen presently, was so generally known, that the parents of our Lord might have known it, if they had been at all anxious to make the inquiry. But so little did they advert to it, that they never thought of going up to Bethlehem, till they were compelled to it by a decree of Augustus Caesar. They were living at Nazareth, and would, if no such unforeseen edict had been issued, have continued there till the birth of Jesus. But the Scripture could not be broken; and God was at no loss to provide means for its accomplishment. He wrought therefore on the ambition of the Roman emperor, and prompted him to exercise his authority over the Jewish people, and to order that all of them should go and be enrolled in the different cities to which they belonged. This constrained Joseph (who was of the house and lineage of David) to go up to his own city, Bethlehem, to be enrolled there: and during his stay there (some unforeseen occurrences probably having necessitated him to continue there longer than he had originally expected), the time for Mary’s delivery arrived, and, contrary to all human expectation, Jesus was born in the city which had been specified by the Prophet Micah seven hundred years before. Thus, whilst the decree of Caesar shewed that “the sceptre was now just departing from Judah,” and, consequently, that the time for the advent of the heavenly “Shiloh was come,” it unwittingly on his part caused the Messiah to be born in the very city which Micah had foretold.

The prophecy itself gives us such a glorious view of Christ, that we shall do well to enter more fully into it. It declares to us,

I. His advent in time—

Two things the prophet mentions respecting him;

1. The place of his birth—

[Bethlehem was of itself but a small city, and of little importance when compared with many other cities in the land of Judah; but it was the place of David’s nativity, and the place therefore which God ordained for the birth of David’s Son, the Lord Jesus. The prophecy respecting it, we have before said, was generally known, especially among those who were at all conversant with the prophetic writings; so that when Herod sent to the chief-priests and scribes to inquire where the Messiah was to be born, they all with one consent declared that Bethlehem was the destined place, and, in confirmation of their opinion, they cited this very passage which we are now considering. And it is curious enough, that many years afterwards, when the enemies of Jesus insisted that, notwithstanding all his miracles, he could not possibly be the Messiah, they adduced this very passagec; which, if their premises had been correct, would have fully supported their conclusion; they knew that Jesus had been brought up at Nazareth; and they supposed he had been born there: and, if they had been right in this conjecture, he certainly could not be the Messiah; since it was ordained of God, that the Messiah should be born at Bethlehem.

This will account for the remarkable care which God in his providence took, that the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem should be placed beyond a possibility of doubt. Perhaps no other event, scarcely excepting either his death or resurrection, was marked with such a variety of evidence as this. First, it was enrolled in the public records of Bethlehem, in consequence of Caesar’s edict. Next, it was attested by an angel announcing it to the shepherds as they were guarding their flocks by night. Next, this testimony was confirmed by a host of angels, who celebrated it aloud in the hearing of the shepherds. Next, it was marked by a star in the east, which conducted the Magi from a distant country to the very spot, and caused those wise men to carry the report of it back to their own land. Next, it was ascertained by the inquiries of Herod, and the united testimony of all the chief priests and scribes, that Bethlehem was of necessity to be the place. And lastly, it was marked by that most extraordinary act of cruelty, the slaughter of all the infants in and around Bethlehem, “from two years old and under;” which measure king Herod adopted, in order to ensure the destruction of Jesus, whom he dreaded as a future rival.

What a confirmation all this is of the Messiahship of Jesus, it is needless to observe.]

2. The character in which he should appear—

[He was to be “Ruler in Israel.” If we look only at the external circumstances of his birth, we confess, he had not much the appearance of a “Ruler,” seeing that his parents were in so low circumstances as to be able to get no better place for their accommodation than a stable, (though one would have thought that a person in Mary’s situation would have found a thousand females ready to receive her into their houses;) nor any better receptacle for the new-born infant than a manger. Nor in his subsequent life did there appear what we should have expected in a “Ruler.” To the age of thirty he wrought at the trade of a carpenter: and during the three years of his ministry, he went about as a poor man who “had not where to lay his head.” Least of all, in his last hours, did he look like a “Ruler;” since he was treated with nothing but scorn, and put to death as the vilest of malefactors.

Yet even at all these periods, if we look more narrowly, we shall find circumstances that sufficiently declared his dignity. The songs of the heavenly choir at his birth, the miracles he wrought in his life, and the testimony borne to him by universal nature at his death, all proclaimed, that, under the veil of his humiliation, there was a character more than human, and that he was not only a “Ruler,” but “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

The Jews, fixing their eyes only on his external appearance, deny that this prophecy was fulfilled in him. But we answer, that “his kingdom was never intended to be of this world:” it is a spiritual dominion that he was sent to exercise; and such a dominion as no mere creature ever can exercise. He came to establish his throne in the hearts of men, and to bring their very thoughts into captivity to his holy will. And this empire he has established over millions of the human race, even over the whole Israel of God, in every age, and every place. To all of them without exception his will is both the rule and reason of their conduct. If only a thing be declared to be his will, that is a sufficient reason for their doing it, though they should see no other reason: and, rather than not do it, they would all without exception lay down their lives. This dominion he is now exercising over a willing and obedient people: and though Satan’s vassals are infinitely the more numerous at the present day, the time is coming, when “all the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdom” of this great Ruler, when “all kings shall fall down before him,” and “all nations shall serve him,” and “his name shall be great unto the ends of the earth.”]

For submission to this great “Ruler” the prophet prepares us, by declaring,

II. His existence from eternity—

The terms in which this is declared are as strong as the prophet could well use: they are equivalent to what the Psalmist says of Jehovah; “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.” That Jesus did exist from all eternity is abundantly declared,

1. In the Old Testament—

[There is a remarkable passage to this effect in the book of Proverbs, where, under the name of Wisdom, Jesus is represented as having been, by the “Father, as one brought up with him, as being daily his delight, and rejoicing always before him” — — — This passage is generally considered by the best commentators as relating to Jesus Christ; and its exact correspondence with the passage just quoted in reference to Jehovah, and with other passages in the New Testament, leaves no room to doubt, but that Jesus is the person there described. In the book of Psalms, we know infallibly that Jesus is the person spoken of, as “of old laying the foundations of the earth,” and as continuing immutably the same to all eternity. We know this, I say, infallibly, because St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, assures us that it was spoken of, and to, the Son; whom the Father addresses also in these decisive terms; “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”]

2. In the New Testament—

[Our blessed Lord himself frequently speaks of his pre-existent state. To Nicodemus he speaks of himself as having come down from heaven, and as actually existing in heaven even whilst in his bodily substance he was on earth. To the Jews who thought of him as a mere man like themselves, he says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” And, in addressing his heavenly Father, he prays, “Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world wask.” His Apostles uniformly maintain the same language: “In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God: the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was nothing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us.” This is the testimony of St. John: and that of Paul accords with it, that, whilst “according to the flesh Jesus was of the seed of David, according to the spirit of holiness he was by his resurrection declared to be the Son of God,” even “God over all, blessed for ever.” In the book of Revelations there is a remarkable passage, where, speaking of our blessed Lord, the beloved Disciple attests his character in these expressive words; “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, THE ALMIGHTY:” and then he introduces that same Jesus speaking personally to him, and saying, “Fear not; I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore; Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

From all these testimonies then, we are prepared to welcome the advent of this august Ruler, in the language of the Prophet Isaiah; “To us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and his name shall be called the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace: and of the increase of his government arid peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever.”]

That we may suitably IMPROVE this subject,

1. Let us adore this divine Saviour for his condescension and love—

[How wonderful is it that such love should ever be shewn to the children of men! that the Son of God, “Jehovah’s fellow,” who was “one with the Father,” “the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person,” who “was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, should yet make himself of no reputation, and take upon him the form of a servant, and be made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, should humble himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross!” How wonderful, I say, is this! and scarcely less wonderful, that we, towards whom this stupendous effort of love and mercy has been exercised, should feel so little, even whilst we profess to believe it, and to make it the foundation of all our hopes. But let us muse upon it; let us muse, till the fire kindle, and we speak with our tongues the wonderful works of God. Nothing but this is heard in heaven: and nothing but this should he heard on earth. Methinks there should be but one song heard amongst us day or night; “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”]

2. Let us submit to his government—

[Do we look for salvation through our adorable Emmanuel? Let us not forget that he came to be “a Prince as well as a Saviour,” a “Ruler” as well as an Instructor. Let us willingly receive him in this character, and cheerfully dedicate ourselves to his service. Let us be his subjects, not in name, but in truth; not by an external profession only, but an internal surrender of our souls to him: let us do this, not by constraint, but willingly; not partially, but wholly, and without reserve. This is our first duty; this is our truest happiness; this is the way in which he expects us to requite him for all his condescension and love; and it is the only way wherein we can manifest our sense of the obligations he has conferred upon us. “He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works:” let him find in us such a people; and he will then “see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.”]

MCCIX

STABILITY AND EXTENT OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM

Micah 5:4.

He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

OF whom the prophet speaks, there can be no doubt. The preceding context indisputably refers to the Lord Jesus Christ — — — Till he should come into the world, the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah should never be re-unitedb: but after he should have come, and finished his course on earth, he should establish his empire over the whole earth; and unite all, both Jews and Gentiles, in one body, as one fold under one Shepherd. Of this the prophet speaks in our text, even of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ: and he declares,

I. Its first establishment—

[Christ is “the Shepherd of Israel.” As such, he feeds and rules his people. In his appearance, indeed, he was mean; but he established his kingdom with power. It was announced as at hand by his forerunner, Johnd: and was declared by himself as already come. By all his words and actions he shewed himself entitled to establish itf. And at the judgment-seat of Pilate he confessed himself a King. For this, indeed, he was put to deathh: as the superscription on his cross proclaimed. On the very cross he acknowledged himself a King, and promised to the dying suppliant a participation of his thronek. Indeed, it was upon the cross that he triumphed over his enemies, and established his kingdom. After his resurrection, he gave commission to his disciples to go forth in his namem: on the day of Pentecost he subdued multitudes to himself; and from that day he has been enlarging his kingdom in every quarter of the globe. Through the whole of his ministry on earth, he acted with authority, as here foretold; “standing and feeding in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.”]

From its first establishment, the prophet goes on to speak of,

II. Its subsequent preservation—

[From the first instant that the establishment of Christ’s kingdom was announced, it was assailed from every quarter. The question asked by the eastern Magi was, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” And instantly was Herod’s jealousy moved to such a degree, that, to ensure the death of Jesus, “he sent forth and slew all the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding country, from two years old and under.” From the time that he entered on his ministry, his life was sought; till at last his enemies accomplished their cruel purpose, unwittingly accomplishing, at the same time, the very end for which he came into the world. The same opposition has been made to his kingdom in every age and every place. The history of the Acts of the Apostles is one continued illustration of this fact. But greater was He that was in them, than he that actuated his malignant foes. In different places, indeed, his interests have been subverted, as in the Seven Churches of Asia; but if the candlestick have been taken from one place, it has been sent to another. The Church itself has stood, as a rock in the midst of the ocean, and has defied all the waves that beat upon it. Our blessed Lord said, that “it was founded on a rock, and that the gates of hell should never prevail against it:” and this saying of his has been fulfilled: for though, like the burning bush, it has been continually immersed in flames, it never has been, nor ever shall be, consumed by them. “It shall abide,” as the prophet has saidp: “it shall break in pieces, and consume all other kingdoms; but itself shall stand for ever and ever.”]

My text yet further declares,

III. Its ultimate extension—

[Its limits hitherto have been narrow and contracted; but the time is coming when they shall extend “to the very ends of the earth.” Yes, indeed, “He shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high.” “All kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve hims.” All the kingdoms of the world shall be his;; and under the whole heavens “there shall be but one Lord, and his name oneu” — — —]

EXHORTATION—

1. Let the kingdom of our Lord be welcomed by you—

[Verily his subjects are happy; for “his yoke is easy, and his burthen light.” Not so the subjects of sin and Satan. No: “they are in sore bondage: for the way of transgressors is hard.” Submit ye then, Brethren, to his sceptre: “obey his voice; for God’s name is in him:” and know assuredly, that if you still continue to rebel against him, the time is coming when he will say, “Bring hither those that were mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me.”]

Let his name be dear unto you—

[“To them that believe, he is precious.” And he deserves to be so: for he “delivers his subjects from the powers of darkness,” and makes them kings like unto himselfz. He will be dear, and his name will be great amongst all nations. O let him be so to you! Receive him into your hearts as your Saviour and Redeemer, yea, and as your Lord and Governor.]

MCCX

CHRIST OUR PEACE IN TROUBLE

Micah 5:5.

This man shall be the Peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land.

IT is of the very nature of prophecy to be dark and intricate: for, if it were perfectly plain, men would either labour to defeat the counsels of heaven. or ascribe the accomplishment of them to second causes. Among the various things which tend to obscure the predictions of the prophets, we notice more especially their complicated allusions to things temporal and spiritual, present and remote. In the prophecy before us, considerable difficulties occur, because it is so expressed as to comprehend several distinct events, and to be accomplished in a variety of ways: nevertheless the general scope of it is sufficiently plain; and the truth which we shall deduce from it, is obvious and indubitable; it is none other than this, that Jesus Christ is the one source of peace to his people, under all their calamities, temporal or spiritual.

Christ then will be the peace of his Church,

I. Under all temporal calamities—

God may, for wise and gracious reasons, suffer his people to be reduced to the greatest straits and necessities; just as he did in the days of Hezekiah, when all Judæa was subdued by Sennacherib, and the capital itself was besieged by the Assyrian army. We must not therefore conclude that God has given us up, even though we should see our land invaded, and many strong places taken, and the capital itself in the most imminent danger of being plundered and destroyed. God may suffer it, in order to wean us from confiding in our fleets and armies, and to glorify himself in our deliverance. Supposing such a calamity to come upon this land, Christ will be our peace,

1. Through the instrumentality of others—

[In the words following the text, he promises to raise up for his people “seven shepherds and eight principal men,” that is, an indefinite number of eminent and useful men in all the departments of state, whom he would endue with wisdom and courage; and through whose instrumentality he would effect their deliverance. And is it not in this way that he has most marvellously interposed for us? Was there ever a period within our remembrance, when all ranks and orders of men were so unanimous as at the present? In the last war, some doubted whether we might not have avoided war; and others, whether we might not have terminated it long before. But is there a man in this whole kingdom who doubts whether our inveterate enemy would suffer us to be at peace; or whether if we were to make all the sacrifices that his ambition could dictate, he would not speedily find some fresh pretext for insult and exaction? No; we are unanimous in our conviction of the unavoidableness of war; unanimous too in our determination to maintain it with vigour, and to die rather than become the vassals of France: and this is a source of much peace and comfort to us in the midst of our impending dangers. And to whom can we ascribe this astonishing unanimity, but to Him who “has all hearts in his hand, and turneth them whithersoever he will?”]

2. Through his own immediate agency upon our minds—

[The Lord Jesus Christ is the Governor of the Universe; and he makes his people to know, that their enemies derive all their power from his commission, the limits of which commission they cannot exceed, and the effects of which power shall be overruled for good. These are sources of unspeakable peace to their souls. Suppose “the Assyrian to be come into our land,” and to be bearing down all before him, our murmurs will be silenced by that reflection, “Is there evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?” The enemy is no more than “the axe with which HE hews, or the saw with which he saws;” “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him goodf.” Suppose the enemy to be vaunting like the blaspheming Rabshakeh, and to be regarding the riches of the capital as a nest of eggs on which he is just going to lay his hands; even then, if the plunder of the capital be not within his commission, “God will put a hook in his nose, and a bridle in his jaws, and will cause him to return to his own land” ashamed and confounded. Suppose he be suffered entirely to prevail, yet if it be over-ruled for the good of immortal souls, and the glory of our God, no temporal trials, however great, can counterbalance the benefit derived from them. It was by sending his people to Babylon that he cured them of idolatry; and if he may but cure this nation of its manifold impieties, all will be well. In these views then Christ will surely be the peace of his people, yea, he “will keep them in perfect peace, whose minds are stayed on him.”]

But these observations apply to us yet more forcibly,

II. Under all spiritual troubles—

There is not in all the sacred volume one single prophecy that more clearly speaks of Christ than that before us. It is repeatedly applied to Christ in the New Testament, as marking out with precision the very place where he should be born. In explaining it therefore as referring to his spiritual kingdom, we cannot err.

The enemies of God’s people of old were typical of those spiritual enemies with which his people have to contend in every age. And it is certain that the enemies of our souls may prevail for a season in a very alarming degree. But when sin and Satan make their fiercest assaults, even then will Christ maintain our peace,

1. By the merit of his blood—

[This it is which enables us to behold all our guilt without terror or despondency: this it is which enables us to answer the accuser of the brethren, “Who is he that shall condemn, since Christ has died?” In this view especially is Christ called “our peace,” since “he made peace for us by the blood of his cross;” and every one of us by believing in Him shall have peace with Godm.]

2. By the prevalence of his intercession—

[The prayers of Hezekiah and Isaiah were effectual for the peace of Jerusalem, even while the besiegers encompassed it: and in answer to them, one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army were slain by an angel in one nighto. What then may not be expected from the prayers of our adorable Redeemer? Shall not he prevail, seeing that “He ever liveth on purpose to make intercession for us?” To this, as to an inexhaustible source of consolation, we are taught to look, under the conflicts which we are called to sustain; “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also the propitiation for our sins.”

3. By the sufficiency of his grace—

[We may be reduced to a more perilous condition than even Jerusalem itself, and yet find peace in the consideration, that Christ is all-sufficient, and that “through him we shall be more than conquerors.” We can scarcely conceive a more distressing experience than that of Paul under the buffetings of Satan: yet this word, “My grace is sufficient for thee,” was able to turn his desponding sorrows into joy and triumph. In like manner we also may go forth with confidence against all our enemies, saying with him, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”]

4. By the inviolableness of his promise—

[To all his people is that word addressed, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee?” And can we find one instance wherein he has ever violated that blessed promise? May we not then adopt that inspired inference, and say, “I will not fear what flesh can do unto meu?” If the Apostles, when almost overwhelmed in a storm, were blameworthy for entertaining fears while Christ was with them in the vessel, much more must we be faulty, if we give way to discouraging apprehensions of ruin, when the word of Christ is pledged for our security. Relying on his word, we have an anchor which will keep us steadfast in the midst of all the storms and tempests that can assault our souls.]

APPLICATION—

[Let every one then seek to know this “Prince of Peace.” To “acquaint ourselves with him is the way to be at peace.” If we know him not, we cannot flee to him for refuge: but if we “trust in him, he will keep us in perfect peace.”]

MCCXI

THE JEWS A BLESSING TO THE WORLD

Micah 5:7.

The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

IN this chapter we have as explicit a prophecy respecting Christ, as any that is to be found in all the sacred volume. His person is described in terms that can belong to none but Jehovah himself: “His goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” The place of his nativity is expressly foretold, and so plainly mentioned, that all the Scribes and Pharisees at the time of our Saviour’s birth considered it as an indisputable point, that their Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem; and not in the Bethlehem that was in the land of Zabulon, but in Bethlehem Ephratah, which was in the land of Judahc. The establishment of his kingdom over the face of the whole earth was farther predicted; and not only is the final restoration of the Jews to a participation of it declarede, but their agency in the conversion of the Gentile world is distinctly asserted. Whatever accomplishment the words of our text received in the apostolic age by the preaching of the Apostles and their immediate converts, they have respect to a period far remote from that age, a period yet future: they refer to a time, when Jehovah will gather his people from the four winds, and reign over them in their own land; a time, when they shall vanquish all their enemies, as easily as a young lion prevails over a flock of sheep; but shall be as rich blessings to others, as the dew or rain is to the thirsty earth.

To place this subject in a proper point of view, it will be necessary to shew,

I. The original design of God in their dispersion—

Once they were numerous as the stars of heaven: but now they are reduced to a small “remnant;” and are scattered over the face of the whole earth. This judgment is designed of God,

1. To punish their iniquities—

[Great and manifold were their transgressions, which caused them to be carried captive to Assyria and Babylon: but greater far has been their guilt in rejecting their Messiah, and “crucifying the Lord of glory:” and for that they have now been carried captive amongst all nations, and been reduced to the lowest state of degradation for the space of more than seventeen hundred years. The punishment inflicted for this crime is such as was foretold by Moses himself, and such as our blessed Lord also warned them to expect. The Jews themselves see and acknowledge, that the hand of God is upon them on account of their sins: and it is God’s intention that his dispensations towards them should be viewed in this light by every nation under heavenl.]

2. To bring them to repentance—

[In this present world the judgments which God inflicts are all intended for good. It was “for their good” that God sent his people into captivity in Babylon: and for their good he has now scattered them over the face of the earth. The punishment inflicted on Levi for his cruelty to the Shechemites, was, that he and his family should have no lot among the tribes of Israel, but be scattered amongst them alln: yet was that overruled for their greater honour; they being appointed to minister in the sanctuary before the Lord; and pre-eminently honoured, as having the Lord himself for their portion. In like manner, though the present dispersion of the Jews is a heavy judgment, God inflicts it, not as the sentence of an inexorable Judge, but as the correction of a loving Parent: and the very circumstance of his transferring his regards from them to the Gentile world, is a yet farther expression of his parental love, it being designed to provoke his deserted people to jealousy, and thus to bring them to a renewed enjoyment of their forfeited inheritance. “They are cast off only for a seasonq;” and, “if they abide not in unbelief, they shall yet again be grafted on their own stem,” from which they have been broken off.]

But in the prophecy before us, our attention is particularly called to,

II. The ulterior purposes which they are destined to accomplish—

The dew and rain are sent by God to fertilize the earth: and in like manner are the Jews dispersed throughout the world,

1. As witnesses for him—

[Whoever beholds a Jew, beholds a witness of the proper Deity of Jehovah. The whole of his history attests, that the Lord Jehovah is Lord of lords, and God of gods. Who amongst the gods of the heathen could ever have done for their votaries what Jehovah has done for his chosen people? Who amongst them could have predicted every thing that should befall them during the space of many thousand years? Who could have preserved their worshippers, as Jehovah has preserved his, unmixed with the people amongst whom they are scattered, and as distinct from all other people as they were when embodied in the land of Canaan? Other nations, that have been subdued and carried captive, have been blended at last with the inhabitants of the countries where they sojourned; but the Jews still, as formerly, “dwell alone” in the midst of the earth, as it was foretold they should do. Hence they, above all people, are witnesses of his godhead. And in this view God himself appeals to them, yea, and appeals to the whole universe on the authority of their testimonyu. We may say then of the Jews in every place throughout the world, that they are living epistles from God to man, yea, are “epistles known and read of all men;” so that, whatever be the language of the country where they live, they do unwittingly, yet most intelligibly and unquestionably, proclaim, “The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God.”

They are witnesses also of all his glorious perfections. Who that sees a Jew can help seeing in him the power and love, which God manifested to his fathers in all the wonders of his grace; in their very origin from parents, who, according to the course of nature, could have had no children; in bringing them forth also out of the land of Egypt, and carrying them in safety to the promised land, and, in short, in all his other dealings with them to the present moment? Who can but see also the purity and holiness of Jehovah, as marked in the judgments inflicted on them? Is it not evident, that they are monuments of God’s wrath; and that, though God may spare long, he will at last visit the offences of his rebellious people? Above all, Who that sees a Jew, does not see in him the truth and faithfulness of Jehovah? God promised, that for Abraham’s sake he would not utterly cast them off: and, notwithstanding all their provocations, he still preserves them, in order to their future restoration to their own land, and their renewed enjoyment of his special favour. David, expatiating on all the glorious perfections of God, interrupts, as it were, his song by what appears, at first sight, to be an unsuitable and irrelevant observation; “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” But this one observation speaks more than the whole psalm besides; for it embodies all that is more particularly expressed, and gives, what we may call, a graphical exhibition, or picture, of the Divine character; and in the fewest possible words shews us, what will be God’s conduct towards his people to the end of time. Precisely thus the sight of a Jew gives us a compendious view of all the Divine perfections, and sets God himself, as it were, almost visibly before our eyes.]

2. As instruments in his hands to dispense his blessings to the world—

[The dew that floats in the air, and the clouds that are carried over the surface of the globe, are unconscious of the end for which they are sent; but they perform the most invaluable offices for the sons of men. In like manner the Jews are scattered through the world, unconscious of any particular good which they are destined to perform: but God designs to use them as his instruments, and by them to communicate the blessings of salvation to the whole world. This is plainly intimated in our text, and expressly declared by the Prophet Isaiah; “They shall declare my glory among the Gentiles, and shall bring them for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations.” Then shall be fulfilled, in its utmost extent, that prophecy of Zechariah, “It shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the Heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing.”

For this office they are fitted, having their own Scriptures in their hands, and understanding the language of the different countries where they sojourn: so that nothing is wanting but to have the veil removed from their hearts, and they are ready at this moment, each in his place, to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation through a crucified Redeemer. And with what energy will they proclaim the Gospel, the very first moment that their eyes are opened! How deeply will they themselves be affected; and how much therefore will they affect others! How will they, when they “look on Him whom they have pierced, mourn, and be in bitterness, even as one that is in bitterness for his first-born!” And how ardently will they love, when they see how much has been forgiven themc! How will they emulate the example of their fathers, the Apostles, in their zeal to spread the knowledge of their Messiah! and, when they hear that their brethren in every country under heaven are engaged in the same blessed work, how will they vie with each other in their endeavours to serve the Lord! With what effect too will they deliver their message! They are known every where to be the bitterest enemies to Christianity. They will not therefore be regarded, (as Christian preachers would be,) as a people endeavouring to propagate their own religion, but as people renouncing their own religion from conviction, and calling upon all other people to follow their example. This will create an interest which no other people could hope to excite: and the simultaneous efforts of their brethren in every quarter of the globe, accompanied as they will be by the operations of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of men, will bear down all before them, like another Pentecost, and produce, as it were, a resurrection from the dead. “THEN shall the heathen fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth his glory:” and then shall be literally fulfilled those words of the prophet, “A nation shall be born in a dayf.’

Now in all this they will be, not as the canals which were made by man, to water the earth, but as the dew or rain, “that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.” As the clouds are not formed by man’s device, or sent by the command of men, but owe both their original and their operations to God alone; so the Jews have gone to the ends of the earth, unsolicited, unsent, unconscious of their destiny; and in due time will exert such a genial influence on the souls of men, that “the wilderness shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”]

From hence we may SEE,

1. In what light we should regard the Jews—

[It cannot be but that God, in dispersing the Jews over the face of the whole earth, has designed, that we should gather instruction from his dispensations towards them, and subserve in some secret way his purposes towards them.

Wherever we see a Jew, we should regard him as an object from whom we are to derive good, and to whom we are to do good. There is no creature under heaven from the sight of whom we may derive greater good than from the sight of a Jew. We have before said, that, whether intentionally or not, he proclaims to all, in the most convincing way, both the nature and the perfections of God. But there is one lesson in particular which we may learn from him, namely, the guilt and danger of neglecting the Lord Jesus Christ. It was for rejecting and crucifying their Messiah that God’s wrath fell upon that whole nation; and that it has now abode upon them for the space of almost eighteen hundred years. They knew him not; for “had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory:” yet, notwithstanding their crime admits of this extenuation, it has been visited with a punishment unprecedented in the annals of the world. What guilt then must we contract, and of what punishment shall we be thought worthy, if we “crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame,” by continuing in our sins! We profess to know him, and to honour him, and to expect salvation from him: our conduct therefore in pouring contempt upon him is aggravated in a ten-fold degree. O! how shall we escape? If such things were done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If such judgments have been executed on them, what must be the end of us, if we obey not the Gospel of Christ? — — — Brethren, I entreat you never to look upon a Jew, without recalling to your minds this salutary and important lesson — — —

Yet be not content with deriving good from him, but put forth all your powers to do good to him. He, notwithstanding all the chastisements that are upon him, is still “beloved of God for his fathers’ sakes. And, if he is beloved of God, should he not be beloved of you? If God have designs of love towards him, should not you seek to be an instrument in God’s hands to accomplish towards him those gracious purposes? Can you think of the obligations which you are under to the Jews of former days, and not labour to requite them in their posterity? Or can you reflect on the purposes which are to be accomplished by the Jews in the present and future generations, and not endeavour to fit them for the work to which they are destined? If you have any love to the Gentile world, you should bestow all possible care on the instruction of the Jews, since it is by the Jews chiefly that the Gentiles will be brought into the fold of Christ. O! delay no longer to make this improvement of the circumstances before your eyes; but awake to all the calls of duty, of gratitude, and of love — — —]

2. What ends we ourselves should endeavour to answer in our respective spheres—

[Doubtless we should not live for ourselves, any more than they: we should all be inquiring, What can I do for God? or, what can I do for man? This is truly Christian; or, rather I should say, it is god-like. God himself is represented as resembling the rain, and being like the dewk: and O! what glorious effects does his descent upon the soul produce! Would to God that we might live for the same ends, and produce, according to our measure, the same effects! Let every one know, that all his faculties, and all his powers, are the Lord’s. Let all regard their time, their property, their influence, as talents committed to them by their God, to be improved by Him who has entrusted them to their care. If it be thought by any, that their talent is only as a single drop or two upon the barren ground, and too small to be of any use, let them remember, that a cloud is but an assemblage of drops; and that, if we only contribute according to our power, we may hope soon to see this “wilderness of ourszbecome as Eden, and this desert as the garden of the Lord” We look for such a season both among Jews and Gentiles: and may we not expect it also amongst ourselves? Yes surely: if we were all, ministers and people, to unite our efforts for this end, God would be with us; our labour should not be in vain: children should be born to God in this our Jerusalem, which is the mother of us allo;” her children should be numerous as the piles of grass;” yea, “the birth of her womb should be as the dew of the morningq.” May God give us to see such a season of revival in the midst of us, and throughout our whole land, for Christ’s sake!]

MCCXII

GOD’S CONTROVERSY WITH HIS PEOPLE

Micah 6:2, 3.

Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

WHENEVER we call on men to serve the Lord, they have some excuses to offer, either for the deferring of their duty, or for the neglecting of it altogether. They will complain that the things required of them are too strict; that, by reason of the weakness of human nature, they are impracticable; or, at all events, that, under their present circumstances, it were better to postpone the observance of them. In these excuses, they do not intend directly to reflect on God: but, in reality, they do cast the blame of their iniquities on him: on him, I say, as a Lawgiver, that he has required too much of us; or on him as a Creator, in that he has formed us incapable of obeying his will: or on him as a Governor, who, in his providence, has assigned us a lot which does not admit of our fulfilling his commands. On these grounds God has a controversy with us; and appeals to the whole creation that he is greatly wronged by us. The whole process of his appeal is here stated.

We have here,

I. The court summoned—

[Sometimes God makes his appeal both to heaven and earth: “Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth; for the Lord speaketh.” At other times he calls to the earth alone, as in the passage before us: “Hear ye, O mountains, and ye strong foundations of the earth!” But what amazing condescension is here, that he should summon his own creatures, to sit, as it were, in judgment upon him! He has a right to do whatsoever he shall please: and to presume to question any thing that he does, is the height of impiety. Has not “a potter power over the clay, to make of the same lump a vessel unto honour or unto dishonour,” as he shall see fit? Or has the “clay any right to say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” If the Maker choose to mar the vessel the very instant he has formed it, he has a perfect right to do so: nor would the vessel have any reason to complain. So has God exactly the same right over usc. He has not injured us, because he did not make us of the highest rank of created intelligences: nor would he have done us any injury, if he had made us devoid of reason, like the beasts? If, when he endued us with reason, he had again bereaved us of it; or if he were at this moment to deprive us of all the advantages we enjoy; we should have no ground of accusation against him: he has “a right to do what he will with his own;” nor is he called to “give an account to us of any of his matterse.” But when we arraign his conduct, he is willing to have his cause tried before a tribunal of his own creatures, and to place sinners themselves upon the seat of judgment. His permission, yea, his entreaty, to them is, “Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.”]

Viewing now the court assembled, let us hear,

II. The pleadings opened—

[Here is evidently an accusation implied; namely, God has both injured us, and even “wearied” us, by his oppressive conduct: and to this the Almighty, standing as a defendant before the court, answers, by challenging inquiry; and, with conscious rectitude, he says, in the face of his accusers, “Testify against me.” Declare wherein I have injured you: “declare it, that ye may be justified.”

Have I injured you by any undue strictness in my laws? Point out one that could have been dispensed with, or one that could have been lowered. They are all reducible to love: they require nothing, but that you should “love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength; and, that you should “love your neighbour as yourselves.” Wherein could any abatement have been made? Point out, in any one particular, wherein these requirements are too strict; or whether they be not, in every respect, “holy and just and good.”

‘Have I injured you at all in my providential dealings? You may not be so elevated in rank and affluence as others: but the human race is a body; and the body cannot be all eye, or all ear: it must have hands and feet; and every member must have its proper office: every member, too, must seek its happiness in the good of the whole; and be as willing to contribute, in its place, to the welfare of the rest, as to have its own welfare furthered by the rest. But it may be, that you have been peculiarly afflicted, in mind, or body, or estate. Be it so: but have you been afflicted beyond your deserts? “Can a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?” Hadst thou had thy desert, thou wouldst long since have been “in hell, without so much as one drop of water to cool thy tongue:” and thy sufferings are infinitely short of that; yea, and are mitigated also by numberless consolations. And art thou aware of all the ends for which these afflictions are sent? What, if they have been sent to call thee to repentance, and ultimately to save thy soul? Thou shouldst, then, be rather adoring me for them with the liveliest gratitude, than be complaining of them as injuries wantonly inflicted on thee.

‘Perhaps it is of the sanctions of my law that thou complainest: they disquiet thee; they appal thee; the dread of them makes thy life a burthen to thee. But what less than heaven wouldst thou appoint for the reward of my faithful servants? or what less than hell for the punishment of those who rebel against me? The object both of the reward and of the punishment is the same—to make thee flee from sin, the only true source of misery; and to make thee follow after righteousness, which is a certain prelude to glory. Both sanctions are intended equally for good: the one, to operate on thy hopes; the other, on thy fears: and both together to secure thine everlasting happiness. But it is of the threatening only that thou complainest: thou thinkest it hard that such a punishment as death, eternal death, should be annexed to one transgression of my law. But I have told thee, that “the wages of sin is death.” The provisions which were the payment of a Roman soldier were surely no very extravagant remuneration for his services: nor is eternal punishment an undue recompence for sin: the penal evil of damnation does not in the least exceed the moral evil of sin. Only let it be considered what sin is, and against whom it is committed, and its turpitude and malignity will be found perfectly to justify the judgments denounced against it.

If there be any other matter which mine accuser has to lay to my charge, let him bring it forth: I am prepared “to plead with him:” let him “testify against me;” and let the court, before which we stand, judge between us.’]

The charges being thus, for want of an explicit statement on the part of the accuser, inquired into, let us attend to,

III. The replication made—

[As far as relates to a vindication of Jehovah, in reference to some particular points, an answer has been provided in the allegations themselves: and, as nothing more specific is stated as the ground of complaint against him, all further vindication of him is waved: and now the complaints on his side must be brought forward. This is done in another part of Scripture, where the very complaints which are preferred against God are retorted by him on his accusers. “Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not (as thou pretendest) caused THEE to serve with an offering, or wearied THEE with incense; but THOU hast made ME to serve with thy sins, and wearied ME with thine iniquities” Thus, also, in the passage before us, God prefers his charge against his accusers: “I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, consulted; and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord:” that is, ‘Call to mind the mercies I have vouchsafed to you, from the time I brought you out of Egypt, till your entrance into Canaan; and then say, whether you have cause to complain of me as acting unkindly towards you; or whether I have not rather reason to complain of you, for your base ingratitude, and your multiplied transgressions against me?’ To the same effect may God well reply against us. ‘You complain of me as acting oppressively towards you. Look at the redemption which I have vouchsafed unto you; and not by power only, but by price, even the precious blood of my only dear Son;— a redemption, too, not from a mere temporal bondage, but from sin and Satan, death and hell. Look also at the counsels which your great adversary, the Devil, has given, and at the efforts which he has made for your destruction; and see how I have preserved you in the midst of all; “from Shittim,” where the counsels were given, “to Gilgal,” in the very land of your inheritance. Look at these things, and then say, whether thine accusations against me are just; and whether there be any terms too strong wherein to state thy baseness and impiety?]

To this reply nothing is added. The truths contained in it being undeniable, not a word is spoken by way of rejoinder: the righteousness of Jehovah is admitted; and, by the consent of all parties, we have,

IV. The cause adjudged—

[As in the case before us, so in all cases “will God be justified when he speaketh, and be clear when he is judged.” Brethren, you may now offer your complaints as you please; and, whilst God is not permitted to be heard, you may have it all your own way: ‘You are quite as good as you need to be; and God is unreasonable in expecting you to be better. The denunciations of his wrath are a mere fallacy: they will never be executed: he would be unjust, if he were to proceed in accordance with them: you have nothing to fear: you act in a very rational and justifiable way, whilst you live to yourselves and to the world, rather than unto him: and whatever he may have said to the contrary, “you shall have peace, though you walk after the imagination of your own hearts,” and trample under foot his holy laws.’ Of all this you may he confident, whilst God is not heard: but let him be heard, and even you yourselves shall be judges in your own cause. Let him be heard, and not one of you will have a syllable to offer in your own defence, and much less in crimination of your God. If the man that had not on the wedding-garment was silent (was muzzled, as the word means,) much more will you, if you will bring your matters to a trial here; and, at all events, when standing before the judgment-seat of Christ. Indeed I am persuaded, that the cause between you and your God is already adjudged, even in your own consciences: for, where is there one of you who will venture seriously to arraign the conduct of his God, and not acknowledge, that “God’s ways are equal, and that it is his own ways only that are unequal?”]

Conceiving then the cause terminated, I will offer a few words,

1. In a way of candid appeal—

[Is there one amongst us that will still persist in “charging God foolishly?” When God asks, “What iniquity have ye found in me, that ye have gone far from mes?” will any of you venture to accuse him as the cause of your miscarriages? When he further asks, “Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?” will any one amongst you dare to maintain the charge that is here supposed? No: you all know that the fault is altogether in yourselves. You know, that God is worthy to be loved and served; and that to consecrate yourselves to him is “a reasonable service.” You know well, that you can neither substantiate your own accusations against him, nor rebut his accusations against you. I will, therefore, proceed to address you,]

2. In a way of salutary advice—

[Offer not excuses now, which will not avail you in the day of judgment. That time is quickly coming: and then God will be heard, whether ye desire it or not. You will not then have to make your cause good against a man like yourselves, but against the Omniscient and Almighty God. Cease, then, to determine from your own statements alone. Let God be heard speaking to you in his word. Try your case fairly, according to that book which you have in your hands, and by which you will be judged in the last day. Be candid in weighing both sides of the question, and in giving “judgment according to truth.” Then you will surely acknowledge, that by the law you are justly condemned; and that “God is true, though every man be made a liar.” But need you, on that account, despair? No. “If you have sinned, you have an ADVOCATE with the Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ; who is also the propitiation for your sins.” Put your cause into his hands; and though condemned by the law, you shall be acquitted by the Gospel: for through this Saviour you shall have all your past “iniquities blotted out,” and a righteousness given to you that shall be perfectly commensurate with all the demands of law and justice. Then, in the presence of the whole assembled universe, shall you stand approved; and “God himself be just in justifying” and rewarding youb. To that day, so terrible to the impenitent and unbelieving sinner, you may look forward with confidence and joy: for though guilty in yourselves, you shall be “accepted in the Beloved;” and, though in yourselves deserving of the heaviest condemnation, you shall receive “a crown of righteousness that fadeth not away.”]

MCCXIII

THE SUM OF PRACTICAL RELIGION

Micah 6:6–8.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

IN human judicatories, offenders are arraigned, witnesses examined, sentence passed, in order to the punishment of crimes. But God has raised a tribunal, to which he summons his offending creatures, in order that when their mouths are stopped, and they plead guilty before him, he may pardon their iniquity, and restore them to his favour.

We have, in the chapter before us, God bringing a charge against his people, and calling upon the hills and mountains to judge between them. He first challenges them to allege any thing against him that can in any respect excuse their disobedience, or extenuate their guilt: and, when they are unable to do it, he proceeds to set forth his conduct towards them as the greatest aggravation of their guilt. He instances this in two particulars; in his exertions for them when he brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness; and in his kindness to them just when he was bringing them out of the wilderness into Canaan; when he overruled the evil purposes of Balaam, and constrained him to bless those whom he had been hired to curse. This having produced on some the desired effect, a repenting Jew is introduced, anxiously inquiring how he may be reconciled to his Maker, and serve him acceptably in future? and God, instead of inexorably consigning him over to the punishment he has deserved, prescribes to him the way wherein he must walk, and wherein he shall obtain the favour he desires.

Some have understood these words as proceeding from Balak and Balaam: but Balak had no such wish to please God: on the contrary, he wanted nothing so much as to destroy his people: and Balaam expressed no such solicitude to lead Balak to a holy life; but, on the contrary, taught him how to ruin the souls of God’s people, by tempting them to an illicit intercourse with the daughters of Midian.

The view before given seems to be the more just: and agreeably to it we shall consider,

I. The inquiries of an awakened soul—

A person convinced of his lost estate, cannot but desire to obtain peace with God—

[The most abandoned sinner, previous to the illumination of his mind by the Spirit of God, will be regardless of his state, and unconcerned about the account which he must give of himself at the judgment-seat of Christ. But, when once his eyes are opened to see his guilt and danger, he can no longer be indifferent about his eternal interests: he feels that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God; and, however hardened he may have before been, he will cry out with agony of mind, “What shall I do to be saved?” — — —]

But the ways he devises for his restoration to the Divine favour are invariably erroneous and absurd—

[The Jew, like all others of his own nation, first proposes a compliance with the ordinances of the ceremonial law; then, if that will not suffice, he will multiply them, so us to offer, if possible, thousands of rams instead of one, and “ten thousands of rivers of oil,” instead of about one or three pints, prescribed for the meat-offerings. If this be not of sufficient value, he is ready to offer even his first-born son; determined, that neither the heathen deities shall be more honoured than Jehovahc, nor Abraham himself perform a more self-denying act of obedience than he.

Such are the means whereby men still hope to recommend themselves to the Divine favour. They will multiply rites and observances far beyond what God himself has required: they will very readily submit to penances, and mortifications, and all manner of painful discipline: but to part with their bosom lusts, and to obtain a thorough renovation of their souls, they have no wish: they rest in external services; and substitute them in the place of an inward change of heart, and a thorough conversion unto God. And though we are not shocked at such views, as we are at the proposals of the Jew, yet are they, in fact, as derogatory from the Divine honour, and as unsuitable to the end proposed, as the grosser conceptions that are expressed in the text. The inquiries may be considered as twofold; first, How shall I obtain reconciliation with God? and next, How shall I walk so as to please him? Now is there any thing in external ceremonies, of whatever kind they be, calculated to answer either of these ends? Can superficial penitence, and ritual observances, worthless as they are in themselves, and still further debased by a presumptuous affiance in them, stand in the place of deep contrition, humble faith, and universal obedience? — — —]

Their futility will appear from,

II. The answer of God to them—

God “has shewn to every person what is good”—

[It is true that God did require offerings and sacrifices under the law: but he did not require them in lieu of obedience; nor in preference to obedience; nor at all for their own sake: when used in any of these views, they were even hateful in his sighth: and on account of the abuse made of them, he calls them “statutes which were not good.” He had declared by Moses, that the thing which alone he required, and to which all the ceremonial ordinances were subservient, was, the obedience of a humble and devoted heart.]

And the things specified in the text have an exclusive title to that character—

[Our blessed Lord, apparently referring to these words, throws the true light upon them. He shews that the Pharisees substituted ceremonial in the place of moral obedience: and that, while punctilious and exact in outward observances, they neglected those things which God principally required, “judgment, mercy, and faith.” These are the very things mentioned in the text: for the “walking humbly with God” evidently implies a humble and believing dependence on him.

Behold, then, what the Lord our God requires of us. First, we must “do justly.” It is in vain to think that we can ever please God, if we be not honest and just in all our dealings. Truth in our words, and integrity in our actions, are so essential, that a man may as well call himself an angel as a Christian, if he be allowedly defective in either. An adulterous Christian, or a murderous Christian, is not a greater contradiction in terms, than a lying Christian or a dishonest Christian. Hear this, ye professors of religion; and examine whether in your several trades and callings a dependence can be placed upon your word; and whether you are careful to “keep a conscience void of offence towards God and man:” and let it never be said of you, “They will talk about religion indeed, but they will lie and cheat as much, and perhaps more, than other people: a man of the world is more to be depended on than they.” O, if you give occasion for such a scandal as this, cast off your religion at once; or else get it purified from these base and damning defilements.

Next, We must “love mercy.” Justice admits of no degrees: we must be just or unjust; and therefore we are told to do justice. But mercy has gradations that are of an unlimited extent: and therefore we must love mercy; or we shall never attain such a measure of it as will adorn our holy profession. Mercy includes every act and office of love, at least as far as relates to the distressed, the indigent, or the offending. And this disposition must be cultivated in all its branches with assiduity and delight. This constitutes the image of God upon the soul: and therefore we are exhorted to “be merciful, even as our Father which is in heaven is merciful.” Indeed if we shut up our bowels of compassion from a needy brother, all pretences to the love of God are vain and hypocritical. Hear then again, ye who profess godliness; and bring your experience to the touchstone. See whether you are filled with tenderness and compassion towards the bodies and souls of your fellow-creatures? See whether you not only do a kindness when called upon, but whether you “devise liberal things,” and deny yourselves with a view to the more extensive exercise of benevolence? Look at a professor that is hard-hearted, griping, covetous, vindictive; what a monster does he appear! How unlike to that adorable Jesus who laid down even his own life for his very enemies! Are there such people in the world? O “tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askclon.”

Finally, We must “walk humbly with God.” We have already shewn the construction which our Lord puts upon these words, and that without any force, they include the most essential doctrines of the Gospel. Indeed this requisition comprehends all our duty to God, as the two foregoing do our duty to our neighbour. Now our duty to God is, to “walk with” him, as Enoch and Noah did; and to walk “humbly” with him in a believing dependence on his grace to help us, and his mercy to pardon our defects. Without this, our attention to relative duties will be of no avail. This chiefly distinguishes the true Christian from a proud self-righteous Pharisee. There certainly are people of the world, who are eminent for their honour and integrity, their benevolence and liberality: but when we inquire into their secret walk with God, they are found miserably defective; and especially with respect to the humiliation of their souls, and their exercise of faith on Christ. It is in the relative duties, that the hypocrite fails; and in the duties to God, that the defects of the moralist appear. But both of them, though in different ways, are departed from God, and in the high road to destruction. Examine yourselves, therefore, ye decent and externally blameless characters; search and try how it is with you in your secret chambers; see whether you be not habitually and allowedly wanting in respect of brokenness of heart, and a steadfast cleaving unto Christ? And remember, that, while you cherish such pride and self-sufficiency in your hearts, you are as far from heaven as the most abandoned profligate; for “God will resist the proud, and give grace only to the humble.”]

We shall conclude with a word of CAUTION,

1. To the careless and secure—

[We hear this passage quoted by many, with a view to subvert all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity: ‘Tell us not,’ say they, ‘about regeneration, or faith in Christ: this is my religion; “Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” ’ But can it be supposed that the prophet intended to contradict every other part of the inspired writings, and to tell us that morality was all, and Christ nothing? It has already appeared, from the words of Christ himself (wherein he seems to have referred to the very passage before us,) that “faith is one of the weightier matters of the law;” and that an acknowledging of ourselves to be lost sinners, and a believing in Christ for salvation, are absolutely essential to a humble walk with God. Let not then this mistaken confidence deceive you. Rest not in such an interpretation of the textas directly opposes the whole tenour of Scripture. But, if you will persist in this perversion of God’s word, inquire, Whether you have perfectly, and at all times, complied with these directions? and know, that if you have not, you shall be judged out of your own mouth, and be condemned by your own law.]

2. To those who are concerned about their souls—

[As you must shortly appear before God, it becomes you to inquire, “wherewith you shall come before him with acceptance?” and in answering this important question, there are two things against which you must guard with equal care, namely, a self-righteous dependence on your own works, and a presumptuous hope of salvation, while you live in any known sin, whether of commission or of omission. Nothing but Christ’s obedience unto death can form a proper ground of your hope: yet nothing but a life wholly devoted to God can evidence your interest in Christ. If your faith be productive of good works, it is lively, and saving; if not, it is dead, worthless, delusive. Seek then a humble faith in order to a holy life. If ye will offer sacrifices, let them be “those of a broken and contrite spirit:” if ye will “give a first-born for your transgression,” let it be God’s First-born, yea, his only-begotten Son. But never forget that your duties to God and to your neighbour are of equal and immutable obligation; and that according to your performance or neglect of them you will be acquitted or condemned at the last day.]

MCCXIV

PRAYER OUR GREAT PRESERVATIVE

Micah 7:7.

I will look unto the Lord; 1 will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

IF we mark the discriminating character of the Lord’s people, we shall find, that from the beginning of the world it has consisted in this: The ungodly “call not upon God;” but the “godly are a people near unto himb.” Abraham, the father of the faithful, built an altar to God in every place where he abode. Moses, David, and all the saints, familiarized themselves with God, if I may so speak; and carried their every want to him, as their Father and their Friend. The Prophet Micah, in his own conduct, well illustrates this. The awful state of the world around him he declares in very pathetic terms; crying, in the view of it, “Woe is me!” And having represented this with the fidelity that became him, he declares, with no common measure of complacency, the manner in which he proposed to occupy his mind: “Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me:” that is, the more others depart from God, the more will I seek his face.

From these words I shall take occasion to shew,

I. In what circumstances the godly are placed—

St. John expresses in one word all that can be said: “We are of God; and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” To the same effect, the prophet here speaks of the godly, as living in a world,

1. Where iniquity abounds—

[So universal was the reign of sin in Judæa, that scarcely was a person of real piety to be found. And what is the state of things at this day? Is there not occasion for the same lamentation now? If you go into any place where the Gospel is not preached with power, and wish to refresh your spirit with the society of those who are truly alive to God, will you not find yourselves like a person in a vineyard after that the fruits have been gathered, where he can scarcely obtain a cluster to satisfy his longing appetite? There is nothing but a small remnant to which he can get access; and that, alas! of stinted growth, and destitute of the luscious flavour with which he had hoped to be regaled. If we look at Christians of more favoured times, it seems as if “the good man had now almost perished from the earth;” so few are there who resemble the saints and martyrs of former ages.

In the administration of the laws, I confess, we widely differ from the Jews of old. The rich cannot oppress the poor; nor could they, amongst us, find judges corrupt enough to pervert the laws for gain. But in every other species of iniquity all classes of the community will uphold each other; insomuch, that, whether we notice the more refined sensuality of the rich, or the more degrading habits of the vulgar, all have their advocates; all are declared innocent, or treated with indulgent connivance: and “so they wrap it up.” Nothing is suffered to disgust us by its own proper character; but false names are imposed on every thing, to hide from us its deformity, and to give it a title to our regard. Not even palpable wickedness goes unexcused: licentiousness is made to wear the garb of piety; and worldliness of prudence. The rich and the poor, the old and the young, all shall have their appropriate gratifications; and all agree to hold each other innocent. “So (I say again) they wrap it up.”

And if we take persons of a better character, we shall find, that, however they may wear a good appearance at a distance, as a hedge of thorns or briers may do, the more closely you come in contact with them, the more you are pained by them; “the best of them proving as a brier, and the most upright of them as a thorn-hedge:” insomuch that he is really the happiest man who has least dependence on, or, except in a very distant way, communication with, his fellow-man. Such was the state of society in that day: and such, alas! it is at this very hour.]

2. Where piety is discountenanced—

[At different periods of the Jewish history, it was at the peril of a man’s life to espouse the cause of the God of Israel; so entirely had idolatry superseded the worship of the one true God. At those seasons it was dangerous for a man to “trust his friend, or even the wife of his bosom,” if he was inclined to serve the living God. “A son would rise up against his father, and a daughter against her mother; and a man’s greatest enemies were often those of his own household.”

It is remarkable, that our blessed Lord has cited this very passage, not only as applicable to, but as particularly characteristic of, the dispensation which he came to introduce: “The brother,” says he, “shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes shall be those of his own household.” Such times have been in the very country in which we live: and such they would be again, if popery were to regain its ascendant. Not that we need go back to times of popery for acts of intolerance in reference to religion; for the same hatred of piety exists at the present day: and it not unfrequently happens, that persons are obliged to conceal from their parents, or from those under whom they live, their attachment to the Gospel of Christ; knowing that a disclosure of it would infallibly expose them to hatred and contempt.]

Such, then, are the circumstances under which the godly are placed: and, as they are confessedly arduous, it will be proper for me to shew,

II. To what measures they should have recourse—

Here the prophet’s example will point out to us the precise line which every Christian should pursue. Mark,

1. The determination of his mind—

[Difficult as it was to maintain his integrity in such a time as that, he determined to spread his case before the Lord, and to look to him for “strength according to his day.” And, if the Lord should not instantly impart all the succour he could desire, he would “wait for the Lord,” and tarry his leisure, and expect from him all that an indulgent Father can bestow.

Here is the line of conduct which all the godly must pursue. If they attempt to contend with these difficulties in their own strength, they must fail. The direction which God himself gives them is this: “Call upon me in the time of trouble; so I will hear thee; and thou shalt praise me” What then should we do, but adopt, every one of us for ourselves, the determination of David, saying, “As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall hear me. Evening, and morning, and at noon-day, will I pray, and cry aloud; and he shall hear my voice.” Indeed David proposes himself to us as an example in this particular: “My soul,” says he, “wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times, ye people: pour out your hearts before him: God is a refuge for us.” In the New Testament, the directions to this effect are numberless: so that we may conclude, that humble, fervent, and persevering prayer is the true remedy for every saint, against all the evils which he either feels or fears.]

2. The conviction of his soul—

[There is something very imposing in that declaration of the prophet, “My God will hear me.” He speaks not of God’s assistance as a matter of hope, but as what he could not fail of obtaining: so great, so irresistible, was the efficacy of believing prayer. And what says the Apostle John on this subject? “This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us. And, if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” Nor is this a rash assertion: it is confirmed by actual experience. “I sought the Lord,” says David; “and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Yes: this poor man cried; and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troublesn.” I hesitate not, then, to say to all of you, that this measure shall be crowned with the desired success. “Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass: he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.” God may not indeed interpose precisely at the time, or in the manner, that our impatient minds may dictate: but, “though he tarry long, he will come at lastp;” and in the event will surely shew himself “mighty to save.” “Wait, then, on the Lord, every one of you; and be of good courage; and he will strengthen your heart: wait, I say, upon the Lord.”]

As a further IMPROVEMENT of this subject, learn,

1. The benefit of trials—

[Trials of every kind are painful to flesh and blood: but they are, in reality, blessings in disguise. See the effect of them on the prophet’s mind. Were they unserviceable to him? Neither shall they be unprofitable to us. I will suppose that they are heavy: yet, if they bring you to God, and God to you, tell me, Have you any cause to complain? — — — God deals with you as a skilful person does with a wheel and engine that is under his controul. He lets down upon it so much water as will accomplish his own purposes; but whatsoever is superfluous, and would injure its movements, he turns off in another course. So does God deal with his people; permitting the wrath of man to prevail against them so far as shall be conducive to their best interests, but restraining the remainder, which would counteract his views. He has promised, that you shall not be “tempted above that ye are able; but shall, with the temptation, have also a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear its.” And, “if you lose father or mother, houses or lands, for his sake, you shall receive an hundred-fold more in this life, to supply their loss; and in the world to come, eternal life.” To exchange the creature for the Creator, need never be to any a subject of regret.]

2. The blessedness of those who have the Lord for their God—

[The world know not where to go in a time of trouble: but the righteous have God himself for their refuge. Perhaps a person viewing the ungodly in their prosperity, and the poor persecuted prophet in his troubles, would be ready to envy the wicked, and to regard the persecuted saint as an object of compassion. But who that turns aside the veil, and beholds the saint in communion with his God, will be of that opinion? Who that should see God attending to the supplications of his afflicted child, and giving his angels charge concerning him, and sending down the Comforter into his soul, and preparing for him a weight of glory proportioned to his trials, would not rather congratulate the saint, and say, “Blessed is the man whose God is the Lord!” Seek him, then, as your reconciled God in Christ Jesus; and then all things are yours: “whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”]

MCCXV

ADDRESS OF THE JEWISH CHURCH TO HER ENEMIES

Micah 7:8–10.

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

IT is a matter of general complaint, that the minor prophets are difficult to be understood: and this is true to a considerable extent: but we apprehend that it arises very much from our not sufficiently bearing in mind the subjects on which they wrote. We do right in looking for many things applicable to the Messiah, and to his Church and kingdom: but we err in not having more respect to the Jewish Church as it existed in the times when the prophets wrote; and as it shall exist at a period yet future, when that people shall be gathered in from their present dispersion, and be restored to their own land. We complain that we cannot unlock those Scriptures; but we neglect to take the key that alone will fit the wards. If we kept the Jews more in view, many of the difficulties would vanish; and innumerable beauties would be seen in passages that are now passed over as devoid of interest. We believe verily that the day is fast approaching, in which “God will shew them marvellous things,” not a whit inferior to those which he wrought for them when he brought them out of Egypt: and it is their privilege to be looking forward to that period, with earnest and assured expectation of the blessings prepared for them. In the prospect of that period, the Jewish Church is represented by the prophet as consoling herself with the reflections which we have just read: in our further consideration of which we shall notice,

I. The address of the Jewish Church to her enemies—

Bitter in the extreme was the enmity of many surrounding nations against the Jews; far more bitter, we apprehend, than in any of them against each other. The favours conferred upon the Jewish nation by Jehovah, and the entire separation of the Jews from all other people by the ordinances of their religion, tended to call forth this enmity, and to keep it, as it were, in continual exercise. In like manner at the present day, when they have ceased to exist in their national character, and are blended with the different nations where they dwell, they are still hated, and despised above any other people upon earth. This, no doubt, is a judgment inflicted on them for their murder of their Messiah: and under their present sufferings they may well adopt the language of our text. It is the language,

1. Of deep submission—

[Great were the iniquities of the Jewish people at the time that the prophet wrote; and heavy were the judgments which God inflicted on them in Babylon on account of them. But far greater is the guilt which they have contracted in rejecting their Messiah, and in crucifying the Lord of glory. For this they have been punished now these seventeen hundred years, and been made a bye-word and a hissing amongst all nations. Under these circumstances, what will be the reflections of a pious Jew? He will say, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.” Indeed, this, we apprehend, is, in words at least, the language of the Jews at this time generally, or perhaps universally, through the world. It is on account of their sinfulness that they suppose God has not yet sent them the Messiah that was promised to them so long ago, and who, but for their wickedness, would have come to them at the appointed time: and they submit to the dispensations of God towards them from this very consideration, that they are not yet in a state fit to receive his promised mercies. This is a favourable circumstance for their future conversion: and when this submission to the Divine chastisements shall be accompanied with suitable penitence and contrition, their deliverance will be speedily vouchsafed.]

2. Of patient hope—

[As the Edomites, the Ammonites, and others, formerly exulted over Jerusalem, and rejoiced in her calamities, so at this time her enemies regarded her as forsaken by her God, and doomed to interminable degradation. But the believing Jew knows that God has not forgotten to be gracious; nor so far shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure, as to be merciful to him no more. He knows, that even in the midst of all his troubles God is able to support and comfort him, and that in due season he will interpose to rescue his people from their oppressors. Hence he “encourages himself in the Lord his God;” and comforts himself with the hope, that, though his night of sorrow may be long and dreary, there is a morning of joy awaiting him, when he shall “put off his sackcloth, and gird him with gladness.”]

3. Of joyful assurance—

[The Scriptures everywhere denounce the heaviest judgments on those who oppress the Jews, and who shall labour to obstruct their future restoration. Their enemies will be as incapable of offering to them any effectual opposition, as Pharaoh and his armies were of preventing the departure of their forefathers from the land of Egypt. Their enemies will indeed gather together for the purpose of preventing their re-establishment in their own land: but they will be only as “sheaves” collected into the barn “to be threshed out by men, or trodden out” by oxen. Before them their adversaries will be only as sheep before the devouring liond. An universal terror will seize on them, such as filled the Canaanites when Joshua invaded and subdued their land. Though they appear weak and contemptible as a worm, yet says God to them, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and 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.” To this period the believing Jew may look forward with confidence, assured that his present degradation shall be more than equalled by his future exaltation.]

But if we would improve this passage aright, we must consider,

II. The lessons it teaches to the Church of God in all ages—

The Church of Christ bears a strong resemblance to the state of the Jewish Church: it is hated and despised by an ungodly world: it is “a speckled bird; and all the birds round about are against her.” All who truly follow the Lord Jesus, and “walk as he walked,” are “for signs and for wonders;” “nor can they live godly in Christ Jesus without suffering persecution.”

But from the address of the Jewish Church they may LEARN,

1. Submission to God’s chastisements—

[From whatever quarter our trials may come, we should view the hand of God in them, and receive them as from him. We must always however distinguish between the inflictions of judicial wrath, and the chastisements of paternal love. As a Father, God chastens his most beloved children: and they can never err in saying, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.” When Shimei cursed David, and Abishai desired permission to go and inflict on him the punishment he deserved, David would not suffer it, but with holy meekness submitted to the indignity, saying, “Let him alone; and let him curse: for the Lord hath bidden him.” It is surprising what composure this will bring into the mind amidst all the sufferings that can be inflicted on us. The consideration that they are sent by a wise and gracious God will reconcile us to them: but the thought of their being chastisements for sin, and means of purifying us from our corruption, will make us to “kiss the rod, and to say, “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.”Let us only see that he is “chastening us for our profit, and however we may, under the pressure of our anguish, deprecate the dispensation, we shall from our inmost souls refer ourselves to his all-wise disposal, saying, “Not my will, but thine be done.”]

2. Hope in his mercy—

[However severely God may see fit to chastise his people, there are two things which he gives them for their support; namely, a sense of his presence with them in their affliction, and the prospect of a happy issue out of it. They may, by reason of his dispensations, “sit for a time in darkness: but he will be a light unto them.” They may, like St. Paul, be “troubled on every side; yet shall not be so distressed” as not to know what to do: they may be “perplexed; but shall not be in despair:” they may be “persecuted; but shall not be forsaken; and cast down, but shall not be destroyed.” He will “hide them, as it were, in his pavilion,” or rather, as it is yet more beautifully expressed, “in the secret of his presence;” so that, though in the fire, they shall not be burned; and though in the lion’s den, they shall not be hurt. Besides, when his dispensations have produced their desired effect, he, as a refiner watching over the vessels which he has put into the furnace, will take them out, and shew that they have been purified by means of it, and have lost nothing in it but their dross. Under our afflictions the ungodly are ready to triumph over us, and to conclude, that God is visiting us in anger for some iniquity, which, though hidden from men, has been seen by him: but he will appear for us in due season, and “bring forth our righteousness as the noon-day.” Thus he did for David, under all his persecutions from Saul: thus he did also for his only dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he raised him from the dead: and thus he will do for all who put their trust in him. If we only “humble ourselves under his mighty hand, he will in due season lift us up, to our greater comfort, and to the everlasting honour of his own name.]

3. An assured expectation of final victory—

[Even in this life the enemies of his people are often put to shame, and constrained, as Job’s friends were, to confess that they had erred in judgment respecting us. But O! what shame will seize them in the last day, when they shall see those whom they once despised and persecuted for their religion, openly acknowledged by their Lord as good and faithful servants; and they themselves be bidden to depart from his presence, and to take their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone! Then will “their day come;” and “the righteous shall see it: they shall sit as assessors with Christ in judgment, and shall approve of the sentence denounced against them. Such is the honour reserved for all the saints. “No weapon that is formed against them shall prosper; but every tongue that rises against them in judgment shall they condemn.” Sooner or later will justice be administered both to the friends and enemies of Jehovah; and that which is spoken by the prophet, be verified in all its extent; “Behold, my servants shall eat; but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink; but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice; but ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart; but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and howl for vexation of spirit.” Well may this prospect compose the minds of all God’s afflicted people; and well may they be contented to go on their way weeping for a season, when they have a prospect of such a harvest, and an assurance of bringing with them such sheaves into the garner of their God.]

MCCXVI

THE MERCY OF GOD

Micah 7:18–20.

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon its; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

TO acquire the knowledge of God we must study his word; but we should mark also particularly his works: e.g. of creation, providence, and redemption. The passage, if taken separately, is grand; but with the context it is infinitely more sublime. The prophet has been contemplating the glory of the latter day, and it is with an especial reference to that that he breaks forth into these strains of grateful adoration.

Let us consider the words,

I. As uttered by the prophet in the prospect of the mercies that await his people in the latter day—

To enter fully into his views we must mark,

1. The dispensation which he has been contemplating—

[He opens the subject of the Millennium, first, in a large and general view, (ch. 4:1–4.) He next shews the blessings of which the Jews shall partake in that day, (ver. 6, 7.) This, though accomplished in part at Babylon, (ver. 10.) is certainly posterior to Christ’s advent, as the events (ver. 11–13.) shew. It is to take place under the Christian dispensation, (ch. 5:2–4.) At this time the Jews are destined to act an important part, as God’s instruments for the conversion of the Gentiles, (ver. 7.) and for the subjugation of all opposers, (ver. 8, 9.) In the chapter before us, he represents, in moving terms, the Jews anticipating this period, (7:8–10.) Then, confirming this expectation as certainly to be fulfilled, (ver. 11–13.) he prays for it, (ver. 14.) To this prayer God returns a gracious answer, to the utter surprise and dismay of surrounding nations, (ver. 15–17.)]

2. The soliloquy in the contemplation of it—

[Picture to yourselves the prophet, or any other Jew, contemplating this event. He breaks forth into a devout ascription of praise, in a general view of the dispensation, (ver. 18.): in a view of the particular mercies that shall be vouchsafed under it, (ver. 19.) — — — in a view of the great result, (ver. 20.) — — —]

Now we may with propriety consider the words,

II. As uttered by a Christian in the review of his own daily experience—

Let us contemplate God in,

1. His mercy and loving-kindness—

[His people are a remnant, (Rom. 11:5.) Towards them he exercises most stupendous mercy, “passing by their transgression,” “not retaining his anger,” “pardoning their iniquities.” He does so, purely because he “delights in mercy.” To him judgment is a “strange act.” He “waits to be gracious.” He deliberates long before he casts off any, (Hos. 6:4.) He never casts off but with reluctance. (Luke 19:41.) If he prevail over any, he rejoices. (Luke 15.) How can we but exclaim, “Who, &c.”]

2. His power and grace—

[He continues with astonishing forbearance. They are prone to backslide from him; but he leaves them not to eat the fruit of their misconduct. He “turns again,” after hiding himself for a season, (Isai. 54:7. and 57:16–18.) He restores to them the light of his countenance; nor does he pardon only, but “subdues their sins.” His very hidings are with a view to embitter sin. He renews their strength when faint, (Isai. 40:29–31.); and gradually “perfects the work he has begun.” To complete all, he “casts their sins into the sea;” “all,” without exception, into “the depths” of the sea. Who can survey all this, and not exclaim, “Who, &c.”]

3. His truth and faithfulness—

[His promises, as made to Abraham and his seed, are “mercy.” As confirmed to Jacob and his Church, they are “truth.” They have been established with the sanction of an “oath.” And they will be fulfilled “to all the seed.” How will every glorified soul admire the Divine procedure in that day! — — — What energy will the sight of sins forgiven, of backslidings healed, of glory bestowed, give to the exclamation in the text!]

APPLICATION—

Let the careless, consider against whom their sins are committed—

[Will they never pause, and exclaim, as Joseph? (Gen. 39:9.]

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