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CORNELL ||
UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

MIDLAND FRIENDS
OF CORNELL
ENDOWMENT

 

 
TiiiiiT
MEMORIAL

or

REV, E. P. WILLIAMS,

LATE MEMBER OF THE *,

 

 

 

 

ONEIDA CONFERENCE

OF THE

- 08 ot soy AM, Ee onURCH tet

MAVOAD GA
et a BEING A CHOICE COLLECTION OF HIS.

at wo

SERMONS AND SKETCHES OF SERMONS,

oly oat} nT

WITH A BRIEF

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

 

“HE, BRING DEAD, YET eres.

SYRACUSE:
DAILY JOURNAL PRINT, POST OFFION BUILDING,
1859,
 

i: is Peytg eee yt .
Entered according 'to/wet ot Congress,in-the year 1859, by
A.J: GROVER,
th

In the Olerk’s Oifice of thé Distiict’ Court of the Northern District of
New York.

 
PREFACE.

 

The risks of this publication are great; but it has
been undertaken with the expectation that it would
be favorably received by the Methodist ministry and
membership. Some memorial, besides a mere obitu-
ary notice should be preserved of our best and ablest

men.

When the papers of Rev. E. P. Williams were put
in my hands, it was intended to publish a choice selec-
tion of sermons, essays, addresses and poetry. This
plan would perhaps have brought out a better repre-
sentative volume than the one now offered to the pub-
lic; but not one of more permanent value. His
strength of mind is most manifestin his sermons, and
especially in his sketches of sermons.

This volume cannot but be a desirable one to Meth-
odist ministers. It is a. memorial of one of their num-
ber; of one of the purest and ablest of men; and a
repository of rich and original thought.

Te laymen this volume will be valuable. Even the
iv Prerace.

sketches will be read with interest. They are not
mere specimens of frame work, but logic on fire.

Many will expect to see certain sermons in this book
which have necessarily been excluded. The selection
here given, it is hoped will be a good representation
of the man, as a preacher of the Gespel of Christ.

A. J. GROVER.
CONTENTS.

ae

Brograpwican SEBTCH, ...0..00.62-coeceeons emai sessed,

x

SERMON I.
Dury or Ons GExERATION TO ANOTHER,.....000cescecesssenedl

SERMON IL.
CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE,.....200.ccescceecesseae aejebe lejeiel 54

SERMON III.

InsTRUCTING CHILDREN IN THE SCRIPTURES,.......-05 pas 78
SERMON IV.

Gop Kap ro ram UNTHANEFUL AND EvIL,.......++4 po s00 000089
SERMON V.

Wat WE SHALL BE.cse cece ccc cccccccsccccsescccsenccskly

’
vi ConrTents.

SERMON VI.
Tue Recorp oF oon Names Iv HeAavEN,..csesescerecess es el lS

SERMON VH.
Toe ENp OF MAN,....ccccccccccecccenccecesceecccerere 142
SERMON VII.
To Die, GAIN,......--ceee neces arene eee neneereronescee 158
s SERMON IX,
Existence OF God). 000 cs ccssee cede cdensasasvses cccaress 170
SERMON X.
UNITY, OF GOD, i 'oie sink sic’ s\sinthais oinsiewre's erereltes Salsas stale 178
SERMON XI.
EvERNIry oF GOD,....ccceseesersrcesreveeensceesssceces 184

SERMON XII.
Power or Gop,......seeeees seks visinjele gv wees Teeeee s eatees 188

SERMON XIIL.
OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD,.... eee eceecees ac semiceueeaoceda 198

SERMON XfV.
WISDOM OF GOD, oc vecccice sevice’ sesinnces sts sadtsionsdaee 199
- SERMON! XV. :

TunoTantirry OF GOD)... eee ves sehen rcetrorsiee anes 0D

‘SERMON xvi

Vamacere 07 Gon,. 0s ss.vieeseve eee et cee she MDL

‘SERMON XVIL

Goovwess'OF GOD, ..e ses ee aves cveveees ee st eee eel ee ne MOT

- SERMON XIX. |
PARABLE OF THE SOWER,. oss evs coeecece ces eea tates lt B84

‘SERMON XX.’

Tar Terns ap WHEAT... osu vee eee ee E53 40
SERMON ‘XX. -
tra Lavayanr, 08 owes cetr hes Oe ET

SERMON XXII.
Tae GRAIN oF MUSTARD SEED,3..325-e00iieseetis ceeeed ‘t 961

SERMON XXII.
Tae Hinpex TREASURE) ...032ishascsassavadcecet Sete ee 964
SERMON: SEL.

Fae Puans ov Gear PRICE... ..eeeereeerecognsengnes ceDBE

SEBMON, KRY.

SOOO Peete ee te ee

SERMON AXVH.

Yam Two Sons,...+..ee0. sa secenccenoreres ceed neescne eee

SERMON, AAVHL

Tae Wise arp Foose VInGINS..... 0... csecccceee ver cnnne RO

Cee owe me eee cme ta re He

Tre UNPROWITABLE SERVANT, «000.000. ce ncngeseneceeas coe aQOB

TP THEN tee ee ee ee Ow oe

Tap Vinzyarp ann HusBANpMEN,........+ vee cece nanan nre ctet

ee tt One e ee bee oe ae .

Tse Barren Fie Tree, . és Cette eee am omen ng anne ne escee9.0 BOD

SERMON. X30

Tae Propicat SOW, cee eeeeeseeeseegeeneeeseees one og nin Blt

eeeeese
a
Contents, ix

SERMON XXXHI.
Tae Riow MAN AND LAZARUS... ee ccc eset enecnert essences Sal

SERMON XXXIV. ;
QONSCIENCH,.... 000005 seem e ee neem een eet eens neseanes 0406329

SERMON XXXV.

MEMORY,...csseecescesecerecevccceeseseeecsen snes see eB8T

SERMON XXXIX.
THOUGHTS, «cc cccccccccccccccceccecs steeee eevee eens eeB6Z

SERMON XL.

THE PENrrent. THIEF,....cccecccesscccccceccescese sees es SU
By aes wheats O yee

SERMON XLI.
Devine Nor REDEEMED, ......00sessccceecsgeccerors secon sBT5
x Conrewra.
SERMON XLIL

; bE a: Oaks
FADING AS THE LEAF, cecessee sev ece tite eda eeenaccs ses s00u

SERMON XLIII.
Prisoners OF HopH,'.'..6s's'ee vececeee ‘SBewiee s Cewiellis slate ee 88

‘AERMON XLIV.

Harvest Past,........'. BR SRS ot sav enuens Gee

2 _ SERN XLV.

Lukewannivnss, .’ Lee eo loan cs denise voslduiveiesea's nucicw see W BOO

6 1 oe?

SERMON XLVI. Ge ;
Smart THINGS, .....ee. cree cece eee Fee eaetdtea aan

‘SERMON XLVI

Whore dn Pande Want, c; wees vs wos 2d ovod soca eeeees 20n O08

SERMON XLVI,

ee aee setee

SprerrvaL SLUMBER, eee ee eee ee seen eee ee asco ee 5 B98

SERMON XLIX. nae
No Nigur ce Eeayaa et ce cc nee

ETL WOMSTSA

6 Ws saomairy bie. «ab of ety pale cctag paw age Tue TOS i
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Biography perpetuates the influence of a good ex-
ample. A holy life will reproduce itself in the lives
of other men, after the individual is gone; but biog-
ography perpetuates its direct influence ; it holds up
an image which will impress its own likeness on the
hearts of the beholders. The subject of these pages
was a man whose name will not soon be forgotten
and whose excellences deserve to be recorded ; it is
therefore a matter of ‘regret that the materials fora
full representation of the noble man and minister
are so scanty. This sketch must necessarily be a mea-
gre outline. ‘ .

Rev. Erastus -P. Williams was born June 20th,
1817, in the town of Pompey, Onondaga Co., N. Y.
In the Minutes of the Oneida Annual Conference ses-
ion of 1858, he is said to have been born in J anuary.
His parents, and his Journal affirm that it was in
June.

At the place of his nativity he spent his boyhood.
Perhaps the reader would be pleased to know some-
12 BioararuicaL Sxercs.

thing of that interesting period of life. We want to
know whether a man who has attained an eminent po-
sition was like other children, and whether he evinced
early the qualities which gave him prominence in af-
ter years. Many traditions are recorded concerning
his childish pranks which cannot be mentioned. It
appears that he was as restless as the winds that
played with his uncombed locks. It required the ut-
most vigilence to restrain his destructive propensities,
and prevent his “ mischief from returning upon his
own head, and his violent dealing from coming down
on his own pate.” He seems to have been a confirm-
ation of the current proverb that the most mischievous
boys make the best ministers. There was no malic-
ious element in his nature; but he must do some-
thing ; if he could not create he must destroy. This
restlessness was characteristic of the man. Who ever
saw him still? This incessant activity together with
firm purpose and unfaltering perseverance, made him
the superior man he became.

All was not sunshine during his boyhood. Many
an unhappy hour did he experience. His proclivities
subjected him to frequent annoyance. He was a boy
that many other boys would be constantly pecking at.
He sometimes thought all his schoolfellows in con-
spiracy against him. “ Often,” says he, “I took from
BroarapraroaL Sxrrou, 13

them a severe drubbing; yet I had the satisfaction of
seeing it returned by the teacher with compound in-
terest.” He was an eager and successful student 5
head and shoulders above his fellows in virtue and
knowledge ; yet he was not what is vulgarly called a
smart boy, that is, he was not proficient in the arts
and airs of “ Young America.” Never did he be-
come a man of fashion and polish. He was entirely
oblivious to all the whimsical laws of fashionable so-
ciety. But the very carelessness of his deportment
set off more perfectly the brilliancy of his mind.

From an early age he had a quenchless thirst for
knowledge. He wasagreatreader. He perused ev-
ery book that came into his hands with eagerness.
Frequently, aye, invariably his book was his compan-
ion, in his hours of toil as well as pleasure. In the
hay and grain ficld, while others would be enjoying
their luncheon, he would be enjoying his favorite an-
thor. He would follow the plough with book in hand ;
and however much this dissatisfied others; it is said
his team never complained of his tastes. Thus passed
his boyhood. At the District School in the winter ;
occupied with the labors of the farm during the sum-
mer.

In his sixteenth year, while yet at the parental
home, he was converted to God. This auspicious
14 Brograrnican SKerce.

event occurred under the labors of Rev. Charles Dan-
ning, now a Presiding Elder in the Black River Con-
ference, then an exhorter employed by the Presiding
Elder on a part of Pompey circuit. His conversion
was sound and satisfactory. It appears that from a
small boy he was accustomed to pious reflection. The
accidents with which he met were accompanied with
moral lessons which he appreciated and remembered.
He was once on a Sabbath day precipitated from the
scaffolding of his father’s barn upon the floor, and
was considerably, though not dangerously injured ;
concerning which he remarks: “ A well timed com-
ment on this circumstance was more eflicacious in de-
tering me from Sabbath breaking than a volume of
sermons.” When quite small he was impressed by a
serious illness. Little hope was entertained for his
recovery. Two of his school fellows died, while he
was confined to his bed. These circumstances faith-
folly and affectionately improved by a teacher, gave
a serious turn to his whole future life. These inci-
dents, not in themselves remarkable, show how early
his mind was oceupied with the greatest of subjects,
and with what readiness he realized the hand of a be-
nificent Deity in all the events of life. Here was the
germ of that simple faith which characterized the fu-
ture Christian man and minister. He also refers in a
Biograruioat Sxuton. 15

sermon, which the reader will find in this book, to the
instructions, of his: Sabbath, School. teacher as having
much to do in making:him a Christian. But not un-
til he heard the word of life: from; the young embassa-
dors, of the Cross did-he fully consecrate himself to
God. The work was genuine; and to his dying day
he walked worthy of his. vocation. |

.-At this period he ‘reluctantly entered upon » the
work of teaching which he continued for many years.
His conversion, as well as his scholarship qualified him
for the work. It does not. appear that he had at this
time any’ intimation of, the. calling of his life. But
God led him in a path « of preparation for that calling
though he knew it. not. His second term of teaching
was interrupted by an illness. that brought him to the.
very verge of the grave. Contrary to expectation he
recovered, but for a long time remained in a feeble
condition. Being unfitted for the labors of the farm,
he was permitted to attend the Academy at Manlius
village part of two seasons. Here he obtained a
knowledge of the higher mathematics, and the natu-
ral sciences ; also some: ‘acquaintance with ancient and
modern languages. This sickness was an important
event. It deepened his piety, and, as he says, gavea
a new turn to his life. It gave him advantages which
could not otherwise have ‘edn obtained. "nese oar
16 Brograrmiéat, Sxeron.

At this early period of life his talent began to be
appreciated. He wrote and read before the Manlius
Missionary Society a report full of interest, which, by
request, was published in the “ Western Banner.”
About this time, he delivered by tequest an oration
on the Anniversary of our countty’s natal day. On
this occasion he represented in powerful and glowing
language, the deadly influence of intemperance, slav-
ery, dueling and mobocracy on the institutions of-our
land. This was certainly a bold and good beginning.

He also attempted the composition of poetry. Many
of his poems were published. He was not born @
poet ; but all through life endeavored to write poetry,
and, perhaps, to some extent succeeded. He remarks
in reference to this habit, “ Almost from my child-
hood, I have endeavored to cultivate an acquaintance
with the muses; and though I found it hard to write,
*twas harder to restrain the impulse.”

Having arrived at the age of twenty-one, after
much deliberation as to his future course, he resolved
to fall in with the tide of emigration westward. He
left the parental home Sept. 13th 1838. Whether he
wept at his departure or. not, we cannot tell; but he
felt, and in the Journal which he commenced at this
time he gives a record of the feelings of his heart,
He writes: “ Farewell, kind and beloved friends—
BroszapnicaL SxeTou. 17

parents, brothers, sisters; ye haunts of learning, af-
fectionate children, my pupils and my friends —fare-
well!”

He passed through Michigan, Wisconsin, and final-
ly located in Illinois. This was before that country
was covered with its net-work of railroads, and its
broad prairies occupied by the hardy emigrants who
have made it the garden of the world. His first loca-
tion was on Indian Creek, about twelve miles from
Ottawa. Here he became the teacher of a very pleas-
ant school cf about thirty scholars. His Journal
shows that he was contented with his position and
prospects. To this western home he carried the relig-
ion which he had embraced. The West has perhaps,
more backsliders on its soil than any other portion of
the globe; but he elung to the religion of his youth,
and found it a delightful companion on his journeys,
and a comforter in his trials. His Journal contains
but little of his religious experience ; but a single en-
try is found in his account of his early life. That
will show that worldly interests did notso abserb his
attention, that the interests of his soul were forgotten.

“Here let me record,” he remarks, “my gratitude
to the Donor of every good and perfeet gift, for all
his mercies. My lot has hitherto fallen in pleasant

places. I have been surrounded by friends and com-
3 ;
18 BrograpuicaL SKETCH.

forts, and have enjoyed excellent health. Lord! may
I be consecrated to thy service—make me wholly
thine.
‘ The covenant I this moment make,
Be ever kept in mind;
I will no more my God forsake,
Nor cast his words behind.’ ?

He continued in the work of teaching during his
stay in the West. He had several fits of sickness, one
of which lasted four months and was very severe.
Having closed up his affairs, and recovered his health,
he returned to the East in the spring of 1840. He
was in Illinois a year and a half. Though sickness
frequently interrupted his employments, he was on
the whole successful.” This journey no doubt, had
much to do in making the successful and self-reliant
man.

He united with Oneida Annual Conference in
184%. His first charge was Chittenango, in Cazeno-
via District. The writer of these pages now resides
among the people whom he first served. Many years
have passed since his removal from this place; but
his name is yet as ‘ointment poured forth.” From
the first he took a high position as a Christian and
Minister.

Just before the Conference from which he received
his appointment to Chittenango, he was married to
BrograpuicaL Sxeror. 19

Miss Elizabeth Rice; a lady of superior excellence,
‘one well qualified to relieve the cares, and brighten
the path of the itinerant. But they were permitted
to walk together only two short years. God then
called her to receive her “recompense of reward.”
So interesting is the sketch of her life, written by the
pen of her surviving husband,. while his heart was
quivering under the severe stroke, that the reader will
pardon the insertion of its substance.

Elizabeth Rice was born in Ashby, Massachusetts,
Dec. 16th, 1814, two and a half years before the birth
of her husband. When she was three years old her
parents removed to the town of Pompey, Onondaga
County, N. Y. Bro. Williams’ acquaintance with her
began at the time she was converted to God. That
acquaintance soon ripened into something more than
friendship. They were married July 31st 1842, and
immediately entered into the itinerancy. In her new
sphere of labor as an itinerant’s wife, her excellences
were the observation of all. Her constant desire was
to prove a blessing to her husband, and serviceable to
the cause of Christ. Her desires were realized even
during her short stay. Her memory is still precious
among the people whom she sought to benefit.

But she was too feeble in body for the toils and tri-
als of an itinerant’s wife. Many think, perhaps, that
20 BiogRAPHIcAL SKETCH.

the wife of a minister has an easy life. Itis a mistake.
The hardships and privations of pioneer life which
romance has colored so highly, are not so wearing as
the excitement of constantly changing associations,
the unreasonable demands of unthinking persons, and
not least the constant exposure to scrutiny and criti-
cism. A preacher’s wife is not to be envied. Read-
er, encourage the care-worn wife of the itinerant; do
not by coldness or criticism pierce her soul with ma-
ny sorrows.

After the labors of their first removal to Marcellus,
Onondaga County, N. Y., she was quite prostrated.
The two years of itinerant life had greatly impaired
her constitution. Hemorrhage of the lungs, with oth-
er maladies, made her descent to the tomb rapid.
Twenty minutes before eight o’clock, November 234d,
1844, she breathed. out per life sweetly on the bosom
of her Savior.

From the first she was apprised that there was no
hope of her recovery. Her husband said to her,
“possibly the Lord may raise you up;” she replied,
“Ono, I am going my dear.”

Immediately she began to set her house in order.
With perfect composure she made all her arrange-
ments. She put her husband’s wardrobe in order, had
his study nicely fitted up, distributed her clothing
BrograruioaL SKETOH. 21

among her friends,—all the concerns of her house-
hold were thought of and adjusted. But with more
care she sought a preparation for death. Earnestly
she struggled fora more perfect purity. The joy that
illumined her emaciated countenance, the gracious
words that fell from her lips attested that she did not
pray in vain. Holiness was her theme. All who ap-
proached her were exhorted to attain it. Her soul
was exceedingly happy. Never, during her life did
she shout aloud; but in the intense joy of her last
hours, Glory! glory! was the burden of her utter-
ances.

Thinking herself dying at one time, she took an af-
fectionate leave of all present, and exhorted them to
fidelity; then after a pause, during which she seemed
lost to earth, she aroused and asked, “ Am I in heay-
en?” At another time, after being insensible for a
time, she asked, “ Has the day come when there is no
more time ?”

Her rapture was now inexpressible. “O, I want
to tell you but I can’t,” she would often say. Gath-
ering strength just before her departure she shouted
triumphantly, again and again, “ Praise God! praise
God!” These were her last coherent words. Blessed
words! There were broken expressions afterwards,
such as, ‘I have been there, I have been there,”—
22 BroGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

“Yes, yes ;” but her lips were too soon sealed in death
to allow an explanation of their import.

Thus passed away one of earth’s fairest daughters.
How complete a realization of the poet’s song:

“Hark! they whisper: angels say,—
Sister spirit, come away !
—What is this absorbs me quite,—
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,—
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death ?

The world recedes: it disappears ;
Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears
With sounds seraphic ring.

Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O grave, where is thy victory ?

O death where is thy sting ?

She was buried at Oran, in the town of Pompey,
beside her father, a sister, and a brother, who had gone
to the spirit land before her. Soon there was erected
over her grave a plain and appropriate memorial with
the following inscription :

ELIZABETH F.,
wife of

Rev. E. P. Wiis,

and daughter of
Tsomas and Cuartorre Riocr.
Born Dec. 16th, 1814.
Died Nov. 23d, 1844.
Her life is her monument.
“Who loved her living and laments her dead
Rears this memento o’er her lowly bed.”
Brocrarnican Sxeros. 93

Alone, Bro. Williams now continued his journey.
His own words will best represent his state of mind.
“Tt is now two weeks and a day siace my Elizabeth
died. Two gloomy weeks! I cannot confine myself
to my studies. My home is desolate; and so is my
heart. But in God do I put my trust.”

This affliction was not withont its spiritual advan-
tages. His Journal after this shows more earnest
prayer, more intense longing for a higher and richer
experience than at any former period. A few quo-
tations will illustrate the workings of his mind.

“The last year was made up like all others, of min-
utes and mercies. _ But, ah! an eventful year in my
history was 1844. O that the present may be a dis-
tinguished year in my christian and ministerial histo-
ry. Some few mercy drops are falling around us. O
that they might come in rich abundance, to render
fruitful the garden of the Lord.”

“The baptism of a young lady reminds me that the |
vows of God are upon me. O what solemn promises
have been made before God, angels,andmen. O God,
disclose to me the depths of my heart. Lnspire in me
a keener relish for the duties enjoined in thy word.
Make me an Israelite in whom there is no guile.”

“TI hope if God spares me this year, to make im:
provement in several respects.
24 BrograruicaL SKEtcH.

1.—In preaching. I mnst not preach so long nor
so loud (if he had kept to this resolution, perhaps he
might have been living to-day).

2.—In mind. I must be diligent and faithful as a
student. (This resolution he faithfully observed.)

2.—In spirit. I must bea better and holier man.
O Lord give me I beseech thee thy grace, that I may
perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy.
name.”

These are but specimen passages. Jt is only during
this period that he records the experience of bis soul.
And probably at no other period were his feelings
more intense, and his desire to promote God’s cause
morestrong. It illustrates the declaration that though
God cause grief, yet he will have compassion accord-
ing to the multitude of his mercies. And that alZ
things shall work for the advantage of those who love
God.

Jan. Tth, 1846, he was married again to Miss Fran-
‘+ ces North, of Marcellus. What he calls a parenthe-
sis in his history was now passed. She yet lives,
with a group of little ones around her, to mourn the
loss of a husband and father ; and now resides at Mar-
cellus, near her father.

Daring his ministry he served the following charges:

Chittenango, two years.
Marcellus, two years.
BrograruicaL Sxercx. 25

Manlius, two years.
Wyoming, one year.
Brooklyn, two years.

State Street, Utiea, one year.
Westmoreland, two years.
Verona, two years.
Stockbridge, two years.

Sixteen years in all.

His labors in his last charge were closing success-
fally. The work of God was reviving around him.
Precious souls were being converted. But he was
obliged to leave the pulpit for a bed of suffering. A
complication of. diseases had fastened upon him, and
medical skill could not check them. Anticipating a
fatal result, he arranged his temporal concerns with
remarkable precision and calmness. This done, he
resigned himself into the hands of the Savior. He
lingered about one week, suffering acutely, but bear-
ing his pains with great fortitude. On the third day
of April, 1858, he expired in holy triumph. Though
delirious a part of the time, in his last hours he was
permitted, with unclouded reason, to attest the power
of the gospel.

His death took all by surprise. He seemed least
likely of any to be taken away. He has frequently
said that he did not know what his brethren meant by
being fatigued. But the strong man was taken, while
many, to whom the grasshopper is a burden, are left.
26 BidgraruicaL SKETCH.

His body was made for toil. But there is a limit be-

-yond which the strongest may not go. He could not
be persuaded of the possibility of injuring himself;
and this no doubt was one cause of his unexpected
departure.

He seemed to have a presentiment of his death.—
During his meetings he boldly said to a small congre-
gation, that some of them would die that year, and
remarked that it might be him. At another time
while inviting persons to seek religion, he remarked
that it would be the last invitation he should give
them. It was thought presumptuous. But it was his
last ; he had predicted correctly. There can be no
doubt but that the spirit impresses the mind with the
approach of death in many instances; thus prompt-
ing to that preparation which the soul needs.

Death did not take him by surprise. His house was
in order, and he was prepared for the master’s sum-
mons. When told by a friend that he was dying, he
replied, “If this be dying, it is blessed dying!” Yes,
blessed dying! Butis it dying?

“Ts that a death bed where the christian lies?
Yes, but not his—'tis death itself that dies.”

His death was triumphant. He sung with remark-
able strength and fervor the following hymn:
Brograruicat SKetcu. 27

“ What’s this that steals upon my frame,

Is it death? Is it death?

That soon will quench this vital flame,
Is it death! Is it death?

If this be death I soon shall be,

From every pain and sorrow free,

I shall the king of glory see,
All is well. All is well.

“Weep not my friends, weep not for me,

Allis well. All is well.

My sins are pardoned. I am free,
Allis well, Allis well.

There’s not a cloud that doth arise,

To hide my Savior from my eyes,

T soon shall mount the upper skies,
Allis well. All is well.”

He also sung his favorite hymn,

“Rock of ages cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.”

Soon after, his articulation failed, and he “languish-
ed into life.” How blest the righteous when he dies.
Such a death was more glorious than Elijah’s transla-
tion. There is bliss in dying; and our dear Brother
felt it.

The funeral was attended by an immense throng.
Many of his previous charges were represented. Bro.
D. W. Bristol preached an eloquent and appropriate
sermon, which melted all hearts, from the words of
Paul to Timothy: “I have fought a good fight, I
28 BrograrnicaL SKETCH.

have finished my course, I have kept the faith; hence-
forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at
that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also
that love his appearing.”

He was borne to the grave by his brethren in the
ministry. He was buried from our sight. Soon we
shall follow him to the grave. But if we die as he
died, we shall rise with him in the day of Christ’s ap-
pearing. -

“He’s gone! the spotless soul is gone,
Triumphant, to his place above ;
The prison walls are broken down ;
The angels speed his swift remove,

And, shouting, on their wings he flies,
And gains his rest in Paradise.

Father, to us vouchsafe the grace

Which brought our friend victorious threugh!
Let us his shining footsteps trace;

Let us his steadfast faith pursue ;

Follow this foll’wer of the Lamb,

And conquer all through Jesus’ name.”

We close this sketch with a brief portraiture of our
departed friend.

He was a man of pure motives and sterling integ-
rity. He was an Israelite indeed, in whom there was
no guile. Guile was entirely foreign to his nature.
As a Christian he was uniform and consistent. “ His
BrograrnicaL Sxeros. 99

creed, his rich religious experience, and his conduct
beautifully harmonized.” A pure mind, a strong faith
and an unbending integrity were seen in all his de-
portment. By some he might be regarded as parsi-
monious; but it should be remembered that if he
_ dealt closely, and saved carefully, that he gave liber-
ally. ,, He gave more than others, because he saved
more than others. He was a good exemplification of
John Wesley’s maxim, “get all you can, save all you
can, give all you can.”

As a pastor, he was exemplary, diligent, and faith-
ful. He did not fail to admonish his flock of their
faults, in his private as well as public ministrations.
But few are accustomed to deal as faithfully with those
over whom God has made them overseers.

‘As a preacher, he was able and successful. His
sermons were uniformly characterized by sound sense,
luminous, original thought, and replete with Bible
truth. Indeed, so intent was he in his preaching, to
illustrate great principles, and illustrate mighty truths,
that he was perhaps too indifferent to the ordinary
rules of pulpit address. Nevertheless he was always
listened to with deep interest by all classes; his ser-
mons were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christ,
and their effect was sometimes overwhelming.”

The sermons collected in this book show him to
30 BrograruicaL SKETOH.

have been a great preacher. Had it not been for an
unmanageable voice, and a faulty elocution, he would
have had but few superiors in the pulpit. But in spite
of his manner, he frequently preached with overwhel-
ming power.

Brother Williams was a great and good man. May
Heaven vouchsafe grace, so that following in hig foot-
steps, we may share with him in heaven’s rewards.
Long will his name be remembered; long may the
salutary influence of his example be felt.
SERMON I.

DUTY OF ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

Psalms, cxlv: 4.—“ One generation shall praise thy works to an-
other, and shall declare thy mighty acts.”

This text is either the statement of a duty, or a pre-
diction of things yet future. It is either an announce-
ment of what ought to be, or a positive statement of
what will be. Viewed in either light, it unfolds in
brief but expressive terms the duty of one generation
to another. Whatever may be the condition of other
worlds, it is certain that we are dwelling in a valley
of death. They may be inhabited by a population as
unchanging as their mountains, but here one genera-
tion passeth and another generation cometh. Sixty
years is usually regarded as about the maximum lim-
it of human life; the average length of mens’ lives
is fixed at about half that period. Leaving out of the
account the concluding part of the present and the
ensuing century, and assuming the correctness of our
32 Dory or onz GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

received chronology, and two hundred generations of
mortals have lived, and labored, and groaned, and
died. At first a solitary pair sat down in Eden’s love-
ly bowers, and all around was an uninhabited waste.
From that central point the waves of population roll-
ed over the earth, the valleys and plains began to
swarm with life, and cities to lift their domes and tar-
rets tothe sun. During the first ages of the world the
life of man was counted by centuries, and in some in-
stance the history of one man’s life was the history of
a millenium. Asaresult of this extreme longevity
population rapidly multiplied, and the earth was re-
plenished and subdued. After the flood the three
sons of Noah established their families in the three
great divisions of the eastern continent, from which
streams of emigration flowed to the western world
and to the islands of the sea. But it is scarcely nec-
essary to follow down the stream of history, to impress
upon us the truth that we are strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. Two hundred generations speak to us
from the grave; to admonish us of our mortality. Un-
told millions hail our descent to the tomb, and with
mouldering tongues exclaim, “ Are ye also become
as we are?” And while beneath our feet and o’er our
head these equal warnings speak, each flying moment
plies its little sickle and thins the ranks of life.
y

Dory or onE GENERATION TO ANOTHER, 83

Now each generation being the precursor of the en-
suing one, sustains to it important relations, and owes
to it numerous and imperative duties. We cannot de-
tach ourselves either trom the past or the future, and
live only for the present. All that now surrounds us
in the way of physical improvements, intellectual ad-
vantages, domestic enjoyments, and religious institu-
tions, are the products of the thinkings and the doings
of a generation that has passed away. We dwell in
houses which our fathers built, we drink of cisterns
which they digged, we read the books they wrote, and
worship in temples which were erected by their hands
and sanctified by their prayers. The result of their
labors and their piety has survived them, not only in
the monuments they erected to transmit their names
and deeds to coming times, but in that invisible and
intangible influence they shed abroad, and which now
enters into and makes a part of all our intellectual,
social, and religious life. All the present is a result,
of which the causes must be searched for in the past;
and again, all the present is a system of causes, the
results of which will be read in the history of the fu-
ture. No man liveth to himself, or to his generation
alone. He lives for other men and other times; and
each generation ought so to live as to praise God and
his works to those which shall come after.
34 Dory or one GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

My text is figurative language. It represents the
current generation as speaking to one yet toarise. As
when Napoleon led his army o’er the Alps, each reg-
iment, as they scaled the height and looked down up-
on the plains of Lombardy, rent the air with shouts
to cheer their comrades who were toiling in the val-
leys and crossing the glaciers below,—so should each
passing generation speak to the succeeding, in the way
best calculated to praise God and his works.

This duty. of living for other men and other times,
will be entirely obvious by reflecting what the effect
would be of adopting the opposite system, and living
only for ourselves, and for the present. Suppose we
had entered upon the race of life as the successors of
men who had acted on this principle, who had enter-
ed upon and passed threugh life indifferent to the in-
terests and destinies of their children and their chil-
drens’ children. In such a case the most of the com-
forts and facilities we now enjoy would have been
wanting. No habitations designed to last for genera-
tions, would have been erected; no sanctuaries, save
what would have answered a present purpose, would
have been built; no schools or colleges would have
been endowed; no educational facilities would be en-
joyed. The thousands of libraries, where the wisdom
of the past is garnered up, would never have been
Dory or one GENERATION TO ANOTHER. 35

written. The Missionary cause would not have been
originated, and the thousand fires which now gleam
on the darkness of the pagan world would never have
been kindled. Washington had not drawn his sword ;
Asbury had never threaded our valleys and climbed
our mountains; Coke and Judson had not been buri-
ed in Indian seas. But these men of towering intel-
lect, and hearts of flame, stood on a prominence,
whence they glanced down the tide of time. They
saw teeming millions rushing towards the stage of life,
and forgetful of self, and of the selfish maxim that
“charity begins at home,” they went forth to lay the
foundation of happiness and salvation for many gen-
erations. Upon these foundations, laid deeply and
firmly by the hands, and cemented by the tears and
blood of our fathers, has been built the goodly edifice
of our political and ‘religious institutions. From the
wells they digged we have drank refreshing waters.
From the vine they planted with care, and watered
with tears, we have gathered delicious clusters. The
demands of reciprocity as well as of religion, then,
are, that, as others have labored and we have entered
into their labors, so we, in our turn, should have an
eye and a heart upon those who are so seon to occupy
our places,—not, however, upon those alone, but up-
on the wide world, so large a part ef which yet lies

in wickedness.
36 Dory or ons GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

This great truth is taught us most impressively by
the operations of the natural world. Nearly all these
Operations are carried on as means ; few or none of
them as ends. The heavenly bodies -emit their light,
and are steered in their courses for the purpose of
cheering the footsteps, marking the chronology, and
ministering to the wants, not of one, but of many gen-
erations. They shone on the original seats of the hu-
man race; they shine on us, and they will shine with
undiminished brightness upon our children. A large
part of the earth’s surface is by natural processes in-
creasing its fertility, and depositing in its bosom re-
sources to be developed in generations and ages yet to
come. The growth and prostration of a thousand gen-
erations of forest trees, is preparing the yet unbroken
soil to sustain a thousand generations of men. The
very death of vegetation thus becomes the means of
life and happiness to succeeding generations of mor-
tals.

Mark the movements of that insect army that builds
the coral reef, amid the blue waves of the ocean. It
rises, grain by grain, and inch by inch, until it reach-
es the surface and offers successful resistance to the
tides and currents of the deep. And now the lich-
en wafted on the wings of the wind, is deposited
upon the barren rock. Anon, moss and stinted her-
Dory or onE GENERATION TO ANOTHER. 37

bage cover its surface. A few generations fly by, and
I turn my eye upon the recent isle, and what do I be-
hold? A fair field of beauty and fertility lies before
me! The palm tree and the magnolia lift up their
heads, while underneath is a profusion of herbage, gnd
fruits, and flowers. All is prepared for the reception
of the first Robinson Crusoe, whose misfortunes, or
whose love of adventure shall conduct him thither.

Iam not advocating the theory of the progressive
scheme of creation, I have no idea that the planets are
the offspring of the sun, flung from her in malice or
eaprice, or that man has progressed up to his present
physical and intellectual condition from his primal .
state as ababoon or acabbage. But I do believe that
both nature and nature’s God look forward to the ri-
sing of successive generations and prepare for their
coming.

The christian may also learn a lesson of duty from
the children of this world, who are in their generation
wiser than the children of light. What wise father
does not look out for the physical and intellectual train-
ing of his children? What eagacious statesman does
not provide for the permanency of the political and
social institutions of his country, taking into account,
the prospective condition and wants of unborn millions?
We call upon the christians of this generation, in their

'
38 Dory or onz GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

higher and holier work, to imitate, and emulate, and
outdo such as labor for this life alone.

A desire for posthumous fame is one of the natural
aspirations of the human heart, and one of the evi-
dences of our immortality. Whatever is stately and
enduring in arehiteeture, from the pyramids, whose
summits have from an unpierced antiquity been kiss-
ing the clouds, to the mausoleum which was yesterday
erected over the grave of a fallen statesman or gen-
eral; whatever is brilliant in the forum or the field;
whatever is masterly as a production of the pencil or
the chisel, or sublime as an emanation of the warbling
muse,—evinces a desire on the part of the projectors,
artists and authors to be remembered and honored in
after times. Milton was not a solitary author who
has confessed a desire to produce a work which the
world will not willingly let die. Every volume filling
a place in the alcoves of a thousand libraries, had an
author, who, while inditing its pages, fondly said,
“my name shall live with this; this shall wed me to
immortality.” Many, despairing of being remember-
ed for their virtnes or virtuous deeds, and yet unwil-
ling to pass to the oblivion they ought to covet, have
preferred to covet a notoriety of infamy, and an im-
mortality of shame, rather than to be utterly forgot-
ten. Nero slew the noble and the excellent of Rome,
Dory or one GENERATION TO ANOTHER, 39

that there might be tears shed at his own funeral;
and Erastratus burned the Temple of Diana, which
had been adorned by the wealth of a hundred kings,
that his name might be remembered by coming gen-
erations. The tyrant and the incendiary both ac-
complished their ends. Both are remembered, and
their names, coupled with infamy, and loaded with
execrations, are passed down from generation to gen-
eration. Scarcely higher than this, is the ambition of
the heroes of history, whose monument is a pyramid
of human bones, once belonging to men whom they
prematurely consigned to death. They will veil their
ambition under the name of patriotism, and challenge
the admiration and homage of the world, for deeds
which should cover them with everlasting infamy.
But is there no sphere where this desire for posthu-
mous celebrity may find legitimate exercise? I an-
swer, yes; in the walks of usefulness. Here is a
sphere ample enough to employ every faculty and en-
list every talent of the most ardent and capacious soul.
Genius may have crowned her favorite sons with her
richest laurels; military skill and prowess may have
culminated in the great Corsican; Mammon may have
received and rewarded his most favored worshippers.
But there are untraveled heights and unsounded
depths, which philanthropy and humanity and piety
’
t
40 Dory or onE GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

may yet explore. And he who conéecrates his life to
these lofty explorations, shall not only receive the pre-
sent rewards which are awarded to Piety and useful-
ness, but they shall be held in everlasting remem-
brance by those who shall come after him; and bet-
ter than all, shall secure an honored name and high
place in heaven. The question of posthumous chari-
ty is one which requires more time than we can here
bestow upon it. We think well of the man who
crowns a life of active beneficence with noble chari-
ties, designed to bless. the world when he is sleeping
in the dust. But we think very poorly of him who
does nothing for the world while he is living in it, un-
der the plea that he purposes to make the cause of be-
nevolence his residuary legatee after he can use and
enjoy his wealth no longer. An Astor may have a
library, and a Girard a college, to transmit their
names to other generations; but these merchant prin-
ces might have built and endowed those institutions
a score of years before their death, realizing their own
ideal, at a vastly diminished outlay of means, and have
seen the salutary results of their bounty on multitudes,
whom it must now forever fail to benefit. Millions of
the wealth of MeDonough have already been absorb-
ed in litigation; and yet the cities he designed to adorn
and benefit with schools, have not received the first
dollar of the miser’s gold, while distant relatives, of
Dory or onE GENERATION TO ANOTHER. 41

whom he knew nothing and for whom he cared noth-
ing in life, seem likely to inherit what executors and
lawyers do not absorb. I was recently asked by a
man who had large wealth and no children, if I would
recommend him to leave a fund, the proceeds of which
should go to the support of the gospel, in the place
where he resided, after his death. I gave an opinion
adverse to such a bequest, and to that opinion I still
adhere. There are some things which each genera-
tion should do for the next, and there are other things
which each generation should do for itself. You have
no more right to do the legitimate almsgiving of the
next generation than you have to do their. praying.
It would be a positive injustice to the next generation
to deprive them of the privilege of supporting the
gospel, providing for their poor and educating their
young. We should be the worse, morally, and per-
haps pecuniarily, if our fathers had contrived to do
all this for us. A religious establishment, supported
by revenues independent of the people, is a moral in-
cubus on any nation. It inducesa hireling and world-
ly ministry, and breaks every bond of sympathy be-
tween them and the people. So, schools which cost.
the people nothing, will soon come to be accounted
worth nothing, while those will be appreciated which
demand effort and money to sustain them. Build
churches and school houses as you please, but let
42 Dory or onzE GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

those who minister at the altars of the one, or preside
over the exercises of the other, be sustained by those
who are to be immediately benefited by them. Nor
will the effect of what is thus done for the current
generation be confined to that generation. Like re-
storatives applied to an exhausted soil it will be felt
in years and agestocome. Every dollar thus expend-
ed, every effort thus put forth, will be like seed which
reproduces itself a thousand times; their words which
were intended for a solitary and humble audience will
pass down in awakening echoes from age to age.

A direct process then of praising God and his
works to the next generation is, by giving personal
attention to the moral and religions condition of the
generation springing up around us. Take heed that
ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say. unto:
you that they are to compose the men and the women
of the next generation. The moulding of their char-
acters and the determining of their destinies is with
you. I spoke of the demands of their moral and spir-
itual nature, for though I am not regardless of their
physical comfort, and mental advancement, yet my
persuasion is clear and strong, that the points demand-
ing attention are those I have specified. How many
parents are there who regard it as their chief business
to train up their children in the way they should go?
Dory or onE GENERATION 10 ANOTHER. 43

who begin the religious training of their children in
lisping infancy, and continue with tireless activity and
quenchless zeal, to labor for their salvation? How
many strive, through a whole life of toil, to accumnu-
late wealth for their children, but who say in reference
to the subject of religion “I leave them to judge for
themselves.” Forgetful of the fact that their native
tendencies are evil, and that the influences which sur-
round them are also evil, they abandon them to those
influences, that is, to certain destruction. Not unlike
this would be the folly of the man who should lay out
a flower garden in spring expecting soon to see the
modest violet peep forth, and the magnificent magno-
lia lift up its head; and after leaving it to its native
tenderness for the season, return in autumn and pro-
fess to be greatly surprised that no flowers or fruit ap-
peared, while burdocks and thistles abounded.

This is a result the wise man would. have foreseen,
and to have prevented it he would have applied him-
self, in early spring time to eradicate the weeds and
cultivate the flowers. I repeat it, the formation of the
morals and hearts of the next generation is with the
present. It is for ministers and parents, and Sabbath
School teachers, and all who are brought into contact
with youthful hearts, to do this great work. Let this
generation speak emphatiéally and effectually to the
44 Dory or onz GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

next, of the works of the Lord. You cannot do this
by secularizing their souls, and teaching them that
wealth is the “be all and end all” of life. You can-
not do this by permitting them to tread the mazes of
worldly folly and fashionable vice. Youcatnot do it
by introducing them into vicious society, or what is
almost equally pernicious, furnishing them with evil
books. But you may do it by the contrary process.
By talking with them of God, His works, His word,
when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest by
the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest
up. By bringing them to the house of God, not only,
when his word is preached, but when prayer is offered,
and when social worship is carried on. Let them wit-
ness the solicitude of the Christian as it develops it-
self in prayers and tears Leadathem to the altar

of prayer. Let the baptismal dew, which was sprink-
led on their. brows by ministerial hands, prefigure
their more frequent baptism with parental tears. I
have not mentioned the Sabbath School, not because
I depreciate its utility, but because I would not have
an institution which has never claimed a Divine war-
rant for itself, supercede agencies of God’s own ap-
pointment. No man thinks more highly than I do of
efficient, well-conducted Sabbath Schools. I yield to

none in my appreciation of them ; nor (to the extent
Doty or onz GENERATION TO ANOTHER. 45

of my capacity and opportunities,) in efforts for their
prosperity and success. But if the effect of them is
to induce the impression that they release parents
from one of their responsibilities, then even Sabbath
Schools may cease to be a blessing. These institutions
are established only in the more populous and favored
portions of the country, and in many places are in
operation only a part of the year. If they were uni-
versally established and constantly maintained, and
efficiently carried on, they could never take a higher
rank than an auxilliary to parental discipline and in-
struction. The Sabbath School teacher will labor in
vain if his labors are not seconded at the table and
the fireside. Bible and catechetical instruction should
be introduced into the daily arrangements uf domes-
tic life, and by every lawful means the minds of our
children should, be engaged upon the. high themes
which relate to duty and eternity. I need not specify
these processes more minutely. Parental and Christ-
ian love will find them out, and they cannot be em-
ployed in vain. In answer to your prayers, and as a
result of your labors, God will give you the souls of
your children. And thus your virtues, and your use-
fulness, will be transmitted like your name and your
blood to rising generations. And they, in their turn,
will pass the golden heir- loom to those who will come
after them. It is easy to see how Sabbath Schools
46 Dory or ong GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

may conserve these precious interests and secure these
great results. If not established for these definite ends,
they are employed, in our own country at least, main-
ly to promote them. The child is taken at that op-
portune period, when the mind is flexile, before opin-
ions have been formed, and habits contracted which
would interfere with subsequent efforts to reclaim and
save him. Faith in the statements of others is natu-
ral to childhood; hence it is easy for such a one to
comply with the great condition of salvation. The
heart of childhood is neither world-hardened nor gos-
pel-hardened. It is not pre-oceupied with the cares,
and riches, and pleasures of life; nor has it been edu-
cated by long familiarity with, and rejection of the
claims of the law of God. Taking the heart at this
inviting stage, it brings it into contact with the most
elevating truths, points it to the brightest destinies,
and plies it with the loftiest motives. Can such
diserpline, can such efforts fail.

It is only by slow processes that the world can grow
wiser or better. This reason is obvious. Each gener-
ation begins where the preceding began. It may be
furnished with greater facilities, but it has at the out-
set no nobler faculties, no loftier virtues. With his
first breath the infant commences a terrible and life-
long struggle with ignorance and depravity. You
Dory oF ont GENERATION TO ANOTHER. AT

may transmit wealth and titles to your children, but
knowledge and virtue

——‘Are gained not by surprise,
He that would win must labor for the prize.”

And with few and unimportant exceptions, there is
no distinction in the intellectual and moral endow-
ments and capacities of these infant immortals. That
cherub son of yours, fond father, is no wiser and apart
from influences which will surround him, is capable
of becoming no wiser than the son of a Hottentot. That
lovely daughter of yours, Christian mother, possesses
the same germs of depravity, and the same terrible
bias to sin which marks the offspring of the Bedouin
and the Choctaw. If learning ever expands its mind,
if grace ever warms its heart, if it is ever distinguish-
ed from the generation of them that know not God,
never forget that its superiority will be the result of
your labor, and of your representatives. Leave the
children of this generation under savage discipline and
they will grow up savages, as ignorant, as degraded,
as brutal as their preceptors. But though each gene-
ration must find the starting point of its eventful race
- far back in the regions of profound mental and mor-
al darkness, yet you may erect beacons and kincle
lights along their track, which will greatly facilitate
their improvement and multiply the probabilities of
48 Dory or ong GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

their salvation. A poet says that the evil that men do
lives after them, the good is buried with their bones;
but a prophet affirms that.the righteous will be held
in everlasting remembrance. Not only their names
but their influence shall survive them. Generations
to come shall reverently speak their names and bless
their memory.

But besides addressing oral instruction and remon-
strances to the heart of children, he who aims to ben-
efit and save coming generations, will not neglect an-
other mighty agency of which he may avail himself.
1 mean the presentation of truth to the understanding
and heart through the medium of the eye. The prin-
cipal means by which this is done is the multiplica-
tion and diffusion of religious literature. Words are
breath and are soon forgotten ; but when put into the
permanent form of books they may be indefinitely
multiplied and perpetuated. The author speaks not
to a solitary auditor, nor toa single generation, If
his production be a worthy one the world will not
willingly let it die. The press will invest his thoughts
with a kind of ubiquity, and a kind of immortality.
The desire of authorship, if prompted by a desire to
be useful, is highly laudable. Job, the earliest of the
patriarchs, expressed an earnest wish that his words
and history might be transmitted. to coming times.
Dory or onE GENERATION TO ANOTHER. 49

“Oh that my words were now written,” he exclaims,
“that they were printed in a book.” Well, his wish
has been granted. His words have been printed in a
book. The faith of millions has been strengthened,
and their souls nerved up in trial, as they have read
the story of his conflict and victory. Not Job alone,
but the vast array of moral heroes, whose names are
recorded in sacred story, and the still more extended
list outside the sacred canons, have spoken through
their works to us upon whom the ends of the world
are come. Philosophers and sages thus become my
instructors. Sacred poets warble for me their sweet-
estsongs. The great masters of eloquence pour around
me the light and beauty of their thoughts. From the
entire past, floods of oil and waves of incense are
poured from golden urns and censers upon this gene-
ration. All that has been great in conception, deep
in experience, elevated in devotion, and sublime in
expression, is bequeathed to me and to my children.
Wesley and Watson preach to me; Watts and Mont-
gomery sing for me; Fletcher builds up my faith, and
Carvosso comes and rehearses the éfficacy of faith in
God. Being dead they yet speak, and will continue
to speak until their voice is lost in the louder thunders
which proclaim the close of time. In this way may
one generation emphatically speak to the next, of the

works of the Lord, especially His works of providence
4
50 Dory or onE GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

and grace. None of these voices, however, fall on
the ear of him who never reads. They aré all around
him speaking words of love and instruction but he
hears them not. “He is driven from the porch of
science. He bids a long adieu to those intimate ones,
poets, philosophers, and teachers. He sees no record
of sympathies that bind him in communion with the
good. He is thrust from the feet of Him who spake
as never man spake. He lives as an Esquimaus, in
lethargy, and dies like a Mohawk, in ignorance.” In
this way the present generation is speaking emphatic-
ally and effectually to the next. A thousand presses
are throwing off their periodicals and their volumes,
very many of which are invaluable, and such as the
world will not let die. By spreading these and bring-
ing them into contact with the juvenile minds of the
land, you speak to coming ages. You swell the tide
of sanctified literature and holy influence, which will
last as long as time.

At the close of a Conference year, each one of you
who are ministers will have preached, at a very mod-
erate estimate, one hundred sermons, Dnring the
same time you may have put into circulation one hun
dred religious books. Now of those sermons, how
many fell on inattentive ears and unaffected hearts, to
begin with? How many were forgotten before the

_ year was gone? How many will be like seed cast by
Dory or one GEwERATiow TO ANOTHER 51

the way side, or upon a rock, or amid thorns? But
a different result may follow the diffusion of those vol-
umes of experimental and practical religion. They
will meet the eye and affect the heart of more than
one generation. After you have passed away from
sight and from memory they will remain, and be like
bread east upon the waters, to be gathered after ma-
ny days.

At this point, affecting memories gather around me.
Twenty-five years ago, I was a member of this Sab-
bath School. I remember with the freshness of yes-
terday, many who were its officers and teachers. A
aswell, a Peck, a Major, a Brown, have passed away,
but I seem still to hear their familiar voices. Upon
my leaving the school, the former of these honored
men presented me a little book, which I long retained
and frequently read. I have never doubted but that
it had much to doin making mea Christian. ‘Another
volume, read a little later, settled forever my denomi-
national preferences, and left no room to doubt where
the truth lay, between Arminian and Calvinistic the-
ology. ,

I spoke the name of Rev. James Major. I remem-
ber at a period later than that just reterred to, holding
consultations with him, and putting our dollars togeth-
er to enlarge our library. You all know that his dy-
ing thoughts were on this Sabbath school. Disease
52 Dory of oNE GENERATION TO ANOTHER.

smote him while in the Republie of Mexico, near the
bloody field of Buena Vista. While on his death hed
he remembered Manlius; he remembered this Sabbath
school and. its library. He took his pencil and with
a faltering hand wrote, ‘“ Due Manlius Sabbath school
$500.” His noble wife honored his draft, and his be-
neficence has for years accomplished the double pur-
pose of furnishing a home for your minister, and gm-
ply providing for every want of your school.

Other reminiscences gather around me. ‘The famil-
iar faces of Seymour, and Young, and Crowel rise up
before me. But they have passed to other spheres,
and for aught I know to their home in the skies. Ma-
ny who then manned this school, having served their
generation, by the will of God have fallen asleep.
But their familiar voices still seem sounding in my
ear. Personally they are praising God in heaven, but
you may so live, so speak, so pray, and so give, that
generations to come shall rise up and call yon blessed.

A belief has long prevailed in the church, that as
God was six days in creating the world and its furni-
ture and then brought on a peaceful Sabbath, so when
six thousand years shall be completed the seventh
shall be one great millennial Sabbath, when the na-
tions shall walk in the light of Jehovah’s countenance,
when ambition shall break its useless sword, war lay
by its crimson attire, and a redeemed world walk in
Dory oF one GENERATION TO ANOTHER. 53

holiness, and brotherhood, and love. Time will dem-
onstrate the truth or falsity of this ancient hypothesis.
Whether true or false, neither your eyes nor mine will
see that day. But you may leave some footprints in
the sands of time, to tell to generations to come that
you have lived. Oh! live for the future! Live well!
Send your voice and your influence down to the teem-
ing millions of the future, and as the renovated Phoe-
nix rises and sings from the ashes of its predecessor,
and as the richest flowers spring up from the brow of
the grave, so shall your usefulness reproduce itself
again and again, through allcomingtime. The world-
ly-minded man will call you.a fool, the votary of plea-
sure will regard-you as a cynic, but God will approve
your labor of love, and future generations will rise up
to call you blessed. And when you,are translated to
your peaceful home in heaven, you may be permitted
to look down upon plenteous harvests, which have
sprung from seed scattered by your hand. For he that
goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his
sheaves with him.

&

a
SERMON II.

CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE.

 

Luke xvi: 5.—‘ How much owest thou unto my Lord?”

If that precept of the great apostle “owe no man
“any thing” applies to pecuniary transactions at all, it
cannot be understood in its most general and absolute
sense ; for thus understood, it would nearly amount to
a prohibition of all business, especially in commercial
and mercantile communities. In the transaction of
business there will frequently remain a balance due
from one individual tq another; and even the con-
traction of debt tp be paid at a fature specified period
is not incompatable with the principles of reciprocity,
nor with the word of God, But it is yet possible, nay
it is indispensable, for the christian to obey the spirit
of the apostolic precept and “ owe no man anything,”
When the practice prevails in a community of allow-
ing an account to ron up upon the books of the mer-
chant or mechanic, and where there are specified
times of settlement agreed upon or understood be-
tween the parties, until such a period has come and
passed I cannot be looked upon in the light of a
debtor, or called upon forthe payment without a viola-
Curistian BENEVOLENCE. 55

tion of those conventional srrangements which exist
in the community. But when the designated or ap-
pointed period for the settlement of such accounts ar-
: rives and is suffered to pass without their satisfactory
adjustment, then the apostle’s precept is violated and
guilt incurred.

Again, should I give my note or bond payable at
a future day, I cannot be regarded as a legal debtor
or held responsible for payment until the specified
day arrives. But should that day pass and find me
delinquent, { have violated a sacred promise, disap-
pointed my creditor, and perhaps set in operation a
train of disappointments seriously affecting and injur-
ing many individuals. These are principles which I
suppose are understood, admitted, and acted on by all
who claim the character of punctual upright men.

But the inquiry I have to make does not relate to
these pecuniary matters between man and man. I do
not enquire “how much owest thou to thy banker,
thy merchant or thy mechanic?” but “ how much
owest thou to thy Lord?” How stands thy account
with thy Maker? And when Linquire how much
are you indebted to God, I speak in a strict mercan-
tile sense. Most men will admit that they owe to
God, their services, their affections, their hearts, and
perhaps some portion of their time, but do not con-
56 CuristIAN BENEVOLENCE.

cede that they owe him any money. They do not un-
derstand how they have come under an obligation to
God which is to be met in cash. That some have
come to understand this idea and are seeking to act
upon it, we gratefully admit; that others have not
learned it all, or have learned it imperfectly will not
admit of doubt. Speak to them in general terms of
their obligations to God, of his claims upon them and
upon all that belong to them, and you will find no

difficulty in gaining their assent to your premises ;

but when you proceed to draw your conclusion, pre-
sent your claims and demand payment, in how many
instances is the draft dishonored, and while every
other claimant is satisfied, and every other demand
cancelled, the cause of God, after waiting long and
urging its claims vehemently at the court of con-
science, is courteously dismissed with a penny and a
promise, or turned unceremoniously into the streets.
In speaking of the debt you owe to God, its reality,
its amount, and the time and manner of payment will
demand attention.

There is then an actual debt due from you to God,
and adebt which can be discharged only in money
or its equivalent. This proposition will demand both
explanation and proof. The debt though due to God
is not of course to be paid to him directly, but is to
be applied to certain purposes which he has desig-
Curist1aAN BENEVOLENCE. 57

nated. This is no novelty, no deviation from es-
tablished business principles and habits amcng men.
Monies due to our Government are usually applied to
governmental purposes, and are paid over for internal
improvements, or for the support of those engaged in
the service of the state. Now God is the great Gov-
ernor of the Universe. He has commenced and is
carrying forward enterprises for the benefit of this
alienated province. He is aiming to recover earth
from its moral sterility, to make its wilderness and
its solitary places glad, and its deserts to rejoice and
blossom like the rose. He is constructing channels
by which to carry happiness to the hearts of men, and
thoroughfares on which earth’s teeming millions may-
travel to the skies.

Now on the system which God has adopted, all this
cannot be done without money. The agents exclu-
sively devoted to the work must be sustained. Having
left the usual tracks of industry and trade by which a
competency is secured, they have the promise that
they, and those depending upon them, shall be pro-
vided for by Him in whose service they are engaged.
Then Bibles are wanted with which to flood the world.
religious tracts like leaves from the tree of life,
should be sprinkled over the nations. Sanctuaries
must be erected and furnished. Bethel ships, and
sailor’s homes must dot our seaboards as asylums for
58 Curtstian BEnEvoLence.

the friendless sons of the ocean. The poor, the sick,
the blind, the deaf, the orphan and the slave, all have
their peculiar and pressing demands. It is idle to say
that these interests can be sustained without money 5
it is wicked to say then let them perish ; and it isa
despicable method of shuffling off responsibility to
say they must besustained by other hands than mine.
Equally idle is it to affirm that, money offered in a
right spirit and applied in a proper manner possesses
no adaptation to secure the contemplatedend. Money
it has been said given to benevolent objects at a dis-
tance, fritters away on itsjourney like rivers which lose
themselves in the sands of the desert. This, however,
will not be affirmed or believed by those who will
examine the process of their appropriation and ex-
penditure. Such are our facilities for observation that
every rill of benevolence can be traced from its foun-
tain to its termination ; and the amount of its fertili-
zing properties can be correctly estimated by the ad-
ditional beauty and greenness of that spot in the
garden of the Lord where its waters are discharged.
But it is demanded “If money is essential to carry
out the purposes of Christian benevolence, why has
not God provided, in some way “a fund for this
especial purpose ?” I answer, He has provided a
copious and abundant fund, sufficient to carry out
every one of His great designs of mercy ; but this
CuristiAN BEenEVoLENce. 59

must needs be committed to the guardianship of hu-
man agents ; and these agents it is quite conceivable
may be unfaithful to their trust, so that His treasures
may be withheld from their designed use, diverted
from their appropriate channel, and applied to pur-
poses their great Proprietor never intended. This,
to be sure, implies a grievous wrong on the part of
such agents ; but alas! such wrongs have become
fearfully common in this world of ours. Defalcations
on the part of government officers and agents, and
infidelity to trusts of a most sacred character, are no
novelties in the history of sinful men. And is it to be
supposed that men, not having the fear of God before
their eyes, and seeing no visible hand stretched out
to inflict a speedy retribution, will hesitate to appro-
priate to their own use the possessions he entrusted to
them for a far different purpose. Strange it may be,
but true it is, that “men will rob God,” and rob him
by withholding the tithes and the offerings which His
cause demands,

But: we pass to the proof of the proposition that we
are indebted to God!

I. In the first place the claim of God upon us is
founded in justice. On the principles of common
honesty we are bound to discharge it. I hold it as an
incontrovertible truth that the proprietorship of all
60 Cuaristian BenevoLencz.

wealth vests in God. Trace the history of that piece
of gold on which is blazoned the soaring eagle, and
which you call your own. Once it sparkled in the
mine or-lay concealed beneath strata of rocks in the
mountain side. When God built the stories of the
heavens, and laid the deep foundations of the earth,
he ribbed the earth with gold. He lit the flaming
mine and planted diamonds in their native beds. Now
when did God relinquish his claim upon these treas-
ures? When did he cease to be the proprietor of
he silver andthe gold? Was it when man dug it from
its native bed, cast it into his crucible, and stamped.
upon it his image and superscription? This it may
be said makes man at least a partner in its ownership.
He has excavated, refined, and furbished it; and this
increased value he has put upon itis surely His. This
would be admitted had not God the same ownership
in the man that he has in the gold. But it so happens
that the man himself ‘with all his skill, and his
strength, and-his capacity, belongs to God. Who
made man to know more than the beasts of the field,
to whom a rock of gold and a rock of granite are
equally valueless ?

The manner in which God puts us in possession of
his goods cannot affect His right in them, or his con-
trol over them. To one, He may entrust them in the
CarisTian BENEVOLENCE. 61

form of actual or representative wealth,.to another
in the form of health and strength, and to another in
the form of business habits; and it is certainly a mat-
ter of small moment whether he gives me wealth
already produced, or whether he gives me capacity to
acquire it. In both cases it is Ms, and in. both cases I
am His steward; and if in any hour of self-compla-
cency I look abroad, like Nebuchadnezzar on his cap-
ital, and say, “my hand hath gotten me all this,” God
answers in emphatic rebuke — “ Forgettest thou Him
who gave thee power to get wealth?”

Now, if that is a debt of justice for which I have
received an equivalent, and one which I am bound to
discharge, then are God’s claims on me most righteous,
and for me to refuse to admit them, is to take upon
myself the awful responsibility of mis-appropriating,
nay, of self-appropriating, my Master’s goods.

2. But the debt we owe to God is one of gratitude
as well as Justice. We all recognize the principle
that where justice has no legal claim, gratitude,
nevertheless, may have claims. On the principles of
justice, as usually understood, a child may owe his
father nothing—on the principle of gratitude, he
owes him everything. Gratitude always springs up
in the heart of every beneficiary who is not ‘dead to
every right moral feeling; and who of us are not
beneficiaries on the munificence of Heaven? If we
62 Caristran Benevolence.

were to estimate the number of the Divine benefac-
tions, who of us must not say “they are more in num-
ber than the hairs upon our head.” Now gratitude
always awakens a desire to please and serve,our ben-
efactor; and when that benefactor is God, it prompts
us to enquire with David —“ What shall I render to
the Lord for all His benefits to me?” Thus, when he
had gathered the treasures of his kingdom together,
and dedicated them to God, he felt that the offering
was justly due in consideration of mercies received
from Him: “ Who am I, and what is my people that
we should be able to offer so willingly after this man-
ner, for all things are of Thee, and of Thine own have
we given Thee.”

But there are higher claims upon owr gratitude,
who see the light and share the benefits of the reme-
dial dispensation — “Ye know the grace cf our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for our sakes
He became poor that we, through His poverty, might
become rich.” Oh! Christian, if ever thy heart be-
comes congealed with selfishness, bring it out of the
fogs and icebergs of a cold, calculating world, and
thaw it, melt it, at the foot of the cross.

3. This debt is also due to benevolence; or, in other
words, benevolence puts in a claim that entirely ac-
cords with that of justice and gratitude; justice
says, “pay to God that thou owest, becawse it is His
Crristian BENEVOLENCE. 63

due”: gratitude says, “pay it, because He hath dealt
bountifully with thee” : benevolence says, “pay it,
because of the good it will accomplish for others”.
God asks our money for a specific purpose. With it
He would staunch the bleeding heart of the world,
and raise that world to Heaven. Goand look out upon,
this smitten planet; survey the extent, sound the
depths, and analyze the bitterness of this ocean of
woe, and then let us ask, will we not cast into it what-
ever may have a tendency to purify and sweeten it,
even to the last fraction which rigid economy and
self-denial can spare? Will we not emulate the
generous feelings of Araunah, who, when an offering
was wanted to arrest the sword of the angel, which
had already cast down many ten thousands of Israel,
offered his oxen for a burnt offering, their implements
for fael, and his threshing floor for an altar?—“ All
these did Araunah as a peace offering to the Lord.’’
Imitate his example, ye Christian Araunahs, and God
may see the smoke of your sacrifice and stay His
hand. Thus, by the three-fold bond of justice, grati-
tude and benevolence, does God strengthen His claim,
not only upon our affections and our services, but
upon our money and our possessions.

II. The question now returns to us, how much owes
thou to thy Lord?” What is the amount of your
indebtedness to God? Before I answer this question
64 Curistran BenrvoLence.

directly, I must premise that you all owe Him some-
thing. His demands against some of you may be
verysmall. If some of you do anything for the cause
of God, you probably do your proportion; but I can-
not believe that any individual, who is not himself an
object of charity, is so near the point of absolute indi-
gence as to be justifiable in doing nothing for the
cause of God and benevolence. You may, if you
please, condemn Christ for not rebuking and restrain-
ing the widow who cast two mites into the offerings of
God, although it was all she had, even all her living;
but so far from rebuking, he commended her. You
may condemn Elisha for accepting the hospitality of
the widow of Sarepta in the time of the famine; but
revelation has embalmed her memory for the imita-
tion and encouragement of God’s poor, every where.
If you cannot give the two mites of the widow, give
one, and the blessings of the widow’s God will be
upon you. Jf you have but a handful of meal in
your barrel and a spoonful of oil in your cruse,
“make a little cake thereof first for the Lord, and he
will not suffer thy little store to become exhausted
until he shall visit the land with plenty.” From the
point which thus approaches absolute want, the debt
we owe to God steadily enlarges, not in sacredness, but
magnitude. The measure of the Divine requirement
is according to what a man hath, and not according-
Cueistian BrnevoLence. 65

to what he hath not. It proportions itself to every
man’s ability, of which he ‘alone, acting in the fear
of God and in the light of eternity, must judge.

We have said that the claims of God are enforced
by the three-fold consideration of justice, gratitude
and benevolence: Let, then, the question, “How
much owest thou”, be addressed to those virtues
respectively ; and let benevolence answer first. She
inquires, how much is needed — she makes the world’s
necessities the measure of her contributions -—she
points to the wide circumference filled with wretch-
edness, over which the Savior wept, to lessen which
he lived, to terminate which he died —she bids you
look until your eye moistens with sympathy and your
heart bursts with commiseration, and then bids you
determine for yourself how much you will do for God
and humanity. Very different is the process of par-
simoniousness in dealing with the matter —it sees no
opportunity of doing good, because it seeks none, and
closes its eyes on such as force themselves upon its
notice-~it hears no cry of want, because it has ad-
ders’ ears, or because it misinterprets the wailings of
the destitute and the cry of the prisoner into needless
appeals to sympathy, or the childish ebullitions of
imaginary distress. The greater proportion of cases
which ask his sympathizing tear and alleviating hand
are promptly dismissed, as bearing upon their surface

5
66 Carisrianw BENEVOLENCE.

the marks of imposture or exaggeration; or, because
in some similar case, somewhere in the indefinite past,
the poor man was made the victim of a deception !—
The discovery of that deception which was practiced
upon him has been of great service to him; it has
saved his heart from many a sympathizing pang, and
possibly his pocket from the loss of many a penny !--
it is a standing defence of avarice —a stereotyped
argument against benevolence!

Then, when the application is so dissimilar that no
use can be made of this invaluable precedent — when
the case must be taken into consideration and exam-
ined on its independent merits, it is interesting to watch
the analysis to which the claim is subjected. Never

.did anatomist proceed to the dissection of a subject
with nicer skill or more untrembling hand than this
small specimen of a philanthropist to the examination

of every claim upon his charity. He does not hesitate,
‘© When at the door
A starving brother stands,
To ask the cause which made him poor,
Or why he help demands.”

The palpitating heart must consent to be probed
and have its wounds opened afresh, before he can
dispense a balm. And when the case is not one of
individual distress, but one of world-wide benevolence
and world-wide notoriety, too, it must still be scruti-
nized, in hope of finding something in the object itself,
Gurigttan BENEVOLENCE. 67%

or something in the plan of its workings, which would
authorize a rejection of the appeal. In most cases
he succeeds, and his possessions and his conscience
are at peace. Oh! a peace how deceitful! His trea-
sures grow moth-eaten, his gold becomes cankered,
and the rust of it will eat his flesh, as if it were fire.
His conscience, too, which was so nearly asleep that
the gentlest opiate could throw it into its usual pro.
found slumber, will yet rouse up, like the lion from
his lair, and thunder its rebuke in his ears forever,
And then, when the case is so obviously right that it
must be admitted, the next curious thing in this pro-
cess, is to see him determine the amount he will ap-
propriate to it; and here the inquiry is not how much
can I give, but how little will answer my conscience
and meet the lowest expectations of those whom. I
desire to please? Thus pence are doled out where
pounds should be bestowed ; mites are given where
talents are demanded. It will not satisfy a well-
trained conscience to be able to say, “I have done
something”; but its demands will only be met when
we say, “I have done my duty”; or, as a venerable
minister recently said, “I have given to God all that:
belonged to Him these forty years.”

2. From this digression we return to-ask gratitude
to define to us the magnitude of the Divine claims
uponus- She will propose to graduate her offerings:
68 Curistian BENEVOLENOE.

according to what she has received. If this rule be
adopted we shall bring no despicable gift to the altar.
Enumerate the mercies which have crowned thy life.
Fathom the ocean of love which moves in the bosom
of Diety towards thee. Estimate the greatness of the
love wherewith the Savior loved you. And then en.
quire what will I do in the cause of a Savior who has
done and suffered so much for me? And-the answer
is, “ all I can bestow is an offering too poor to express
the depth of my gratitude and love.” As the wise
men of the East brought forth their choicest treasures
of gold, frankincense and myrrh, to bequeath to an
infant Savior, so had I the wealth of the world to of-
fer, I would lay it all at my Savior’s feet. Ingratitude
dwells not on what has been given, but on what has
been withheld. Instead of finding in every thing rea-
sons for giving, she finds everywhere reasons for with-
holding. Every appeal to her benevolence makes
the whole troop of her reverses and adversities pass
like a haggard procession through the mind; and
each in turn breathes a chilling blast upon the germs
of rising charities; and each turns another bolt upon
the heart dispcsed to open. Blessings being common
events are soon forgotten; misfortunes occurring only
at long intervals are ever remembered and ever on
hand when they can be turned to account. I know
of a means by which you may ascertain all your
Crrisitan BENEVOLENCRE. 69

neighbors’ poverty, their former losses and sickness,
their large families and poor relations, and in short, a
general history of all that has been unpropitious in
their lives. All this will generally be unfolded to you,
more or less in detail, if you circulate a subscription
for almost any benevolent object through a neighbor-
hood. Pity that the same occasion would not rather
call forth narrations of Divine goodness, and instan-
ces of good fortune in worldly enterprises. Pity they
do not remind us of smiling skies and fruitful fields.
Pity especially that they do not carry us with emo-
tions of joy and kindling gratitude to the foot of the
cross where our benevolent spirits found peace, and
then along the pathway of a natural and spiritual life
crowned with Divine goodness.

8, After what has been said, I need hardly wait to
hear what justice will bid me do. Benevolence and
gratitude going before have inscribed holiness to the
Lord upon all I possess. But justice inquires what
hast thou that thou hast not received of God, and why
we should hold and use it as though we were its irre-
sponsible proprietors? Her requirement is, after de-
ducting an economical support for ourselves and fam-
ilies, with an amount sufficient to carry on our busi-
ness whatever it is, that the entire balance be it more
or be it less, should be stamped with the name of God
its rightful owner, and sacredly devoted to His ser-
70 Crristian BenxvoLence.

vice. Not that I would teach that all this balance
should be paid over at once, or all given to one ob-
ject, but it should be regarded as devoted, and sub-
ject to the order of its great proprietor.

ILl..In regard to the manner of discharging this
debt I have two things to observe. Let it be done
systematically and conscientiously. In paying for a
farm, or in adjusting the accounts of a merchant, the
punctual business man will aim to make his payments
at the time they are due, and it is with him a matter
of conscience so to do. The wrong of postponement
may not be equal to the wrong of utter repudiation,
but it is still a wrong, and one which the upright man
will not willingly perpetrate. Systematic giving (or
paying as we have chosen to term it,) is a subject too
broad to be introduced here in its amplitude; but it
must embrace the ideas of amount to be paid, objects
to which and times when it shall be paid. If we are
guided in this matter by precedents which are entitled
to high consideration, if not to be viewed in the light
of absolute authority, one tenth of our entire income
will be as little as will satisfy the conscience of the
Christian or the claims of the law of God. The lan-
guage of the Patriarchs was “Of all that thou shalt
give me, the tenth shall surely be the Lord’s.” This
among the Jews was daw and a law which it might be
difficult to prove has ever been repealed, and which
CurisTIAN BENEVOLENCE. val

few Christians would attempt to show has been super-
ceded by a law lower in its requirements. The Jew-
ish religion was not a system of propagandism;
Christianity 7s. Judaism said to the nations “ Come
to us”; Christianity says to its heralds “go ye into all
the world.” The representatives of Judaism were
the stationary seraphs that hovered over the mercy
seat ; while Christianity is symbolized by the angel
flying through the midst of heaven preaching the ev-
etlasting gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. Will
any then affirm that Judaism made higher require-
ments of its votaries than Christianity, which is found-
ed in benevolence and which aims at the conquest of
the world to Christ? But it would be well if the
Christian world were brought practically up even to
the standard of Jewish benevolence. A thousand
new springs of charity would burst forth from hearts
now sealed, and springs would swell into copious foun-
tains, and fountains expand into broad rivers and
streams. Let usseek to ascertain what, by the work-
ings of this rule, we should give annually to the cause
of benevolence. Take just the case of the poor man
who has no capital but his hands and whose means of
livelihood are his daily toil. If there are three hun-
dred laboring days in the year, according to this rule
the avails of thirty days labor should be consecrated
to the Lord. If there are instances, as it is entirely
"9 Cartstian Benrvotrncey.

conceivable there may be, where some subtractions
should be made from this sum, it is certain also that
the instances are common in which there must be
large, very large additions to it. It is not common that
daily labor is a man’s only resource; and it is com*
mon to find instances where this constitutes only a
émall part of one’s income; and in such instances the
tenth of his receipts from all other sources must be
added to that which is devoted from his labor.
But as I have intimated the Christian should look up-
6n such rules rather as a standard beneath which he
must not fall, than one beyond which he must not go"

2. Having determined the amount to be devoted to
charity, the next thing is to settle wpon the objects to
which it should be devoted. These have been sug-
gested. The poor at our own doors must not be for-
gotten. The Gospel must be sustained at home, and
in heathen lands. Those who eannot be reached by
other agencies must be supplied with the productions
of a sanctified press. The Sunday School must be
sustained and the Bible put in the hands of all who
have it not. These are the principal demands which
the present age makes upon our charity; and they are
all, but different agencies for the accomplishment of
the same result, to benefit and save men, and thus to
glorify our Father in Heaven.

The ‘apostle enjoined it upon the christians of his
Ousristtan Brenevorence. "3

time to lay by sums of money weekly for benevolent
purposes. Some Biblical critics are of the opinion
that this was not designed as a temporary but as a per-
manent rule of christian duty, and should be literally
followed ; as much so indeed as any injunction given
by the same authority. We have not time to ex:
amine this point at length, but one thing is clear that
whether rendered weekly, quarterly, or annually, our
offerings should be made regularly or in many cases
they will be neglected altogether. Let then an in-
dividual who is disposed to treat this matter conscien-
ciously speak thus with himself: “I have so much
for charity. So much of it I must distribute among
the poor. So much must go to sustain the gospel at
home. So much for those who have spent their lives
in the ministry and are now the Beneficiaries of the
_ Church. So much for the Missionary, Bible, Tract
‘and Sunday School causes Do not be startled at the
multiplicity of the objects. I have usually observed
that those who excuse themselves from giving on the
ground that there are so many calls, are the persons
who treat each of these calls cavalierly and pass by
on the other side. There is more danger of our dying
from repletion than depletion ; more danger that at
the judgment we be found the holder of treasures for
which we can give no good account, than that we
74 Cuaristian BEnevoLtENce,

have transcended the limits of our duty in bestowing
them. Where an individual gives systematically it
is no cross, no hardship to give. Itis hard not to give.
He cannot deny himself this luxury though he should
deny himself many other luxuries. He feels that itis
more blessed to give than to receive. But the man
who gives spasmodically, occasionally, and grudg-
ingly, feels none of this blessedness. He is not
actuated by the true and proper principle of ben-
evolence, and he loses consequently the pleasures it
procures. Deprive an individual accustomed to give
systematically of the appropriate opportunies, and
-you have thrown him out of the line both of his duties
and his enjoyments. If detained from the sanctuary
when collections for benevolent purposes are made,
he will delight to forward them by another’s hand.
If the subscription papers are not presented to him,
xo far from regarding it as a fortunate oversight which
excuses him from all responsibility, he searches them
up, enters his name and pays what he owes into the
treasury of the Lord, estimating that debt not by
the scanty rule of human penuriousness, but by the
enlarged standard of Christian benefleence. It may
oftenjhappen to a conscientious man, who has been de-
prived of his ordinary opportunity of giving, that he
finds himself possessed of funds to which he feels that
he has no title, He feels thathe should have sux
Curist1AN BEenEevoLEnce, 45

rendered the proprietorship and guardianship of this
money to other hands. Legitimately held it might
be desirable and conducive to happiness, but held as
it is, it is a perplexity and an annoyance; and this is
true whether it is held in the form of cash, or whether
it has passed into the aggregate of his possessions.
Estimates have often been made of what amounts
would be raised for benevolent purposes on the sup-
position that each member of the church should give
a particular sum. For instance the effort has been
made to secure a penny a week from each member
of the M. E. Church for the missionary cause. This
would give to the treasury $350,000 per annum, asum
to which we have never yet approximated. Now let
this system be adopted and carried out, and a full
treasury would from its very overflowings, deluge the
world with light and salvation. Last year we sought
to raise 14 cts. a member for our superannuated min-
isters and although most charges fell greatly short of
the aggregate yet we were able to do vastly better
than in former years when we set no such standard. I
close with a few reflections : =

1. Benevolence brings its own reward. It does so
in this life. No man is poorer for giving to the cause
of God, Bunyan says:

“There was a man the people called him mad,
The more he gave away the more he had.’
76 OuristiAN BENEVOLENCE.

Nor was this a singular case. Anciently there was
an Obed-Edom who took upon himself the entire sup-
port of the ark of God, and the Lord blessed Obed.
Edom and all his household. There was a Zacheus, .
who offered the half of his goods to feed the poor, and
the approving Saviour exclaimed to-day is salvation
come to thy house. There was a Cornelius, who gave
much alms tothe people and an angel informed him
that they had gone up as a memorial before God-
And many a modern philanthropist, like Cobb
and Lawrence of Boston, Champion of Rochester,
and Wilkes, a citizen of the world, has proved that
there is that scatterth and yet increaseth, while
many a covetous Achan, and many a churlish Na-
bul, and many a penurious Ananias and Sapphira,
have found that withholding more than is meet tend-
eth to poverty and ruin. Men sometimes urge as a
reason for doing little or nothing in the cause of be-
nevolence, the blight of their harvests, or the tempo-
ral losses they have sustained, not reflecting that
these may be the frowns of God on their avarice and
that a return to the principles ané practices of benefi-
cence will be the most likely way to secure for them-
selves the returning smiles of Providence, In the days
of Malichi, the last of the prophets, God complains
that his people had robbed him and in answer to their
astonished inquiry “wherein”? He replies, “In tithes
Curtstian Benevotencr. 17

and offerings.” They had withheld their contribu-
tions from the cause of God; therefore they were
cursed with a curse even the whole tiation. They were
exhorted to bring their tithes and offerings into God’s
storehouse and prove him therewith. Yet how often
does adversity have a directly contrary. result. Instead
of retrenchment and self-denial their subscriptions to
the cause of benevolence must, be cut down, their re-
ligious paper must be discontinued, and it is well if re-
ligion itself is not given up as too costly to be retained.
To him who believes in the providence of God I need
not point out the folly of this course. How easy for
Him to make your harvests plenty, and to cause
streams of prosperity to roll up around you. Be be:
nevolent, and God shall answer the heavens, and the
heavens shall answer the earth, and the earth shall an-
swer the corn and the wine, and the corn and the wine
shall answer Jesreel. “ [Ionor the Lord with thy sub-
stance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase ;
so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy press-
es shall burst out with new wine.”

2. The remembrance of a life of heavenly charities
will sweeten the eup of death. Oh how hard fora
worldly minded man to die and leave all on which his
heart is set.” “My Lord!” said Wesley to a noble-
man who was pointing out to him his large estates,

us
78 CuristiAn BexEVOLENCE.

“ these are the things which make dying hard.” But
the good steward in dying, leaves the reaponsibilities
and toils of his earthy mission and goes to enjoy the
treasures he has laid up in heaven.

3. The mission of berievolence is to realize the bliss-
ful vision of prophecy and accelerate the triumphs of
the cross. Let the superfluous wealth of the church be
turned into the channels of benevolence, and earth
soon rising from its winter state shall be clothed in
vernal beauty. Evergreens shall spring from the
rocks, streams shall break ont in the desert, and the
voice of a ransomed world shall go up to heaven,

SERMON ITI

 

INSTRUCTING CHILDREN IN THE SCRIPTURES.

 

II Timothy, iii: 15.—“ From a child thou hast known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation,
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

The word “ Scriptures,” is said to be derived from
the Latin word “scribo,” which signifies ‘to write.”
When used in its most extensive signification it means
“ writings” or manuscripts in general. In our text it
evidently refers to those parts of the Bible then exist-
ing, and which had been so faithfully and profitably
Insteucrine Cuitpren In tHE ScrreTures. 79

perused by young Timothy. That it is applicable also
to the writings of the New Testament is evident from
the words of Peter, who, speaking of the epistles of
Paul, says, “In which are many things hard to be un-
derstood, which they who are unlearned and unstable
wrest, as they do, also the other scriptures to their own
destruction.” The word now invariably signifies the
Holy Bible the Book of God, of which Paul makes
two affirmations:

I. That they are able to make men wise unto sal-
vation.

If. That Timothy had known them from a child.
From which we infer,

TI. That children should be early instructed in them.
The sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, as a rule of
faith and practice in all things essential to salvation,
is a question of infinite moment; for if their insuffi-
ciency can be maintained, the question returns, what
additional light is needful? If the Scriptures be not
.a sufficient rule, what is? If driven from the firm
ground on which we have planted all our hopes, to
whom and to what shall we betake ourselves? To the
fathers, to tradition, to the decrees of popes and coun-
cils, say the Roman Catholics. Very well, we reply,
we have no objection to go to the fathers and tradition,
provided we are fairly unmoored from our position
80 — insrrvcrme Cimprey in rar Scrivropis.

that the Scriptures are sufficient; for it matters little
what course we steer when our chart is gone, nor up-
on what rock we split when we are drifting in a sea
where we shall certainly founder. But what disposi-
tion is to be made of our text meanwhile? That af-
firms that the Scriptures are able to make men wise
unto salvation, and the affirmation will stand like an
ocean rock, though a thousand waves may beat against
it, and the book in reference to which it is uttered, will
still maintain its Alp-like pre-eminence, though a thou-
sand little hills should claim to be of equal altitude.
That the Scriptures were given for the purpose of ma-
king men wise unto salvation is certain. The proph-
ets who have spoken unto us in the name of the Lord,
and the holy men to whom the Holy Ghost dicta-
ted the Scriptures, have not attempted to instruct us
in philosophy, but only in the science of salvation ;
not in the wisdom of this world, but in the manner in
which we may escape the wrath to come. That God
has not failed to embody all necessary information in
them we prove “a priori,” from his attributes, and
“ @ posterior” from the volume itself. God knew
the depth into which we had fallen. He was acquaint-
ed with the profundity of our ignorance, and the mag-
nitude of our guilt. He knew what light and what
assistance we required. With a full knowledge of
our eilments, He undertook our moral recovery, and
Ixstrrucrin G@ Cri~npREN IN THE Scrrerurees. et

if the undertaking failed, it cannot be for lack of pro-
visions made or light imparted. The Scriptures far-
nish us with explicit information upon the character
of God, the nature, ground and extent of His claims
upon us, and the means of securing His favor. This
information is ample, extending to every point of re-
ligious duty. It is explicit, leaving no room for con-
jecture as to its import. It is authentic, bearing the
stamp of God upon it. Authoritative, leaving none
at liberty to evade it, and inal, pronouncing a wo
upon any who presume to add thereto. Indeed, noth-
ing can be more absurd than to support a revelation
from God by the sayings and traditions of men. It is
like propping up the Andes with a rush, or fortifying
the rock of Gibraltar with a rampart of straw. But
the great evil is not that no positive support is thus
given to Revelation, but that its authority is thus
greatly diminished. If men are taught to rely upon
the Scriptures in connection with human traditien,
the great danger is that they will divide their confi-
dence when they agree, and misplace it when they
disagree. In the first instance, they give to man half
that is due to God, and in the second they will be in
danger of making their faith stand entirely in the
wisdom of man and not in the power of God. It is
this leaning upon human opinions that has engendered
82 Insteuctinc CHILDREN IN THE ScRIPTURES.

all the unscriptural doctrines and practices of the fol-
lowers of Antichrist.

II. But it will hardly be questioned that the Scrip-
tures are sufficient for salvation provided that their
true meaning can be ascertained, “ But they are so
dark and inexplicable that ordinary minds and espec-
ially children, are quite incompetent to the task of
understanding them.” So say the devotees of Rome,
and so said the great Origen who made the whole
volume a bundle of inexplicable mysticisms. It is
‘true that some portions of the sacred volume require
the most careful investigations, and the most rigid
analysis to fully understand them. Those who have
studied them longest and who have enjoyed the great-
est facilities for their elucidation have ever found
new beauties unfolding themselves, and difficulties
which required all the exercise of their mighty minds
to explain. But there are other parts of the sacred
writings which are adapted to the comprehension of
the most obtuse mind. If Timothy knew them, why
may not other children? If the son of Eunice was
made wise unto salvation by them, why may they not
have the same effect upon other infant minds? But
this is not a question which remains to be settled.
The experience of years has demonstrated that even
children of tender years can comprchend all the es-
sentials of religion. Ie who cannot calculate the
Insrructina CuILDREN IN Tue Scrirturrs. 83

area of a triangle, or discern the beauties and blem-
ishes of rhetoric ; who knows not whether

“The moon,
That nightly o’er him leads her virgin hosts,”

 

is an enormous world, or is no larger than his fath-
er’s shield, may nevertheless apprehend the cardinal -
truths taught in the Bible, have his heart affected by
its enunciations, and by it be made wise unto salva-
tion. Since the Sabbath School has flung out its re-
douts against Papacy and Infidelity, we may safely
appeal from the decisions of Popes and Synods and
Councils to the beardless Timothies of our land whose
minds are laden with a more correct Theology, drawn
from the living wells of inspiration. Yes, the Sab-
bath School—the nursery of the upper and the nether
church --that guide board pointing to heaven, stands
forth the wonder of the nineteenth century. And
what is aSabbath School? A place where children are
instructed in the truths of the Bible. It proceeds upon
the principle that children may understand those
truths; and the pungent convictions, the clear con-
versions and the triumphant deaths of many who
there received their moral training, attest that the
idea was not chimerical? Let Bible truth be present-
ed to the youtfful mind. Letit be mingled with their
daily_food and sprinkled upon them with the bap-
tismal dew. Select from thesacred oracles line upon
84 Instructing CaInDREN IN THE SCRIPTURES.

line and precept upon precept; bind them about their
necks and write them upon the hearts; and though no
fruit of all your toil and pain be manifested for a
while, yet in the sequel every word will prove bread
cast upon the waters. It will germinate after many
days, and bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, and a hnn-
dred fold.

Among the earliest of our remembrances is the ac-
count of the trial, condemnation and execution of three
brothers by the name of Thayer, in the western part
of this state, for the murder of John Love. To thoso
who are more advanced in years, this will appear as
a more recentevent; but it was among the first things
Lever read ; and this circumstance together with the
enormity of the crime; and the proximity of the dread-
ful scene, served to engrave it deeply on my youthful
heart. A fact connected with their early history, has
since come to my knowledge, which strikingly illus-
trates the importance of putting the Book of God into
the hands of the young. Elder Carey, often visited
these young men in their cells previous to their excu-
tion. He had been their playmate and early com-
panion, and now in their wretched condition, he sought
to benefit them by his instructions and his prayers.
It was the morning of their execution, and he was
bidding them his last farewell. They besought him
to attend them to the fatal place ; but on account of
Instructing CHILDREN IN THE SCRIPTURES. 85

his early associations with thei, and the dread he felt
at seeing the friends of his youth thus hurried into
eternity, he begged to be excused, and was about
leaving the prison when Isaac, the younger brother,
taking him by the hand, said, “ Elder Carey, tell the
young people you address, that if I had read my
Bible as much during my whole life as I have done
since I have been in this cell, I never should have
murdered Love.” Upon hearing this statement says
my informant, who is a successful Sabboth School
agent, the Rev. Mr. Towsley, I visited the unfortunate
mother, who gave me the following relation: “ When
I was first married I had a small Bible, but it soon
disappeared, and never since have I been permitted

to have a Bible in my house ;”

and I, he added, gave
her one. In these affecting statements there is con-
tained a volume of moral instruction. Those parents
had no Bible, and no wonder that their gray hairs
were brought down to the grave with sorrow. Those
children had no Bible, nor were their young minds
imbued with its sacred teachings, and no wonder that
the sun of their being went down at noon, and went

down in blood.
1. If the assertions of St. Paul, as contained in our

text are true, in what light shall we regard the efforts
which are made to exclude the Holy Scriptures from
our schools, and from every system of public instruc-
86 Instructing CHILDREN IN THE SCRIPTURES.

tions? We hesitate not to affirm that were such ef-
forts to succeed, our civil, social and religious institu-
tiens would be shaken to their fall. We look for their
perpetuity only to the diffusion of intelligent piety.
But what standard of piety will remain, and what
media for diffusing it when God’s great letter to man
has been either smothered or destroyed! Let us glean
lessons of wisdom from the history of the past. What
has been the history of other nations where the Bible
has been a proscribed book? Jfrance has passed
through the extremes of superstition and infidelity.
The former proceeded, the latter attended and follow-
ed her fearful revolution. Under both these states,
the Bible was anathemized ; first by the besotted
priests, and secondly by the infuriated Jacobins. The
first prohibited its perusal unless by express license
from the bishops, the latter denounced it-as the work
of imposture. It is easy to trace this hostility of the
revolutions to its source. They saw the corruptions
of Rome and charged them upon Christianity. They
groaned under the exactions of priestly domination,
and imagined that in resisting them they were op-
.posing the principles of the Redeemer’s kingdom.
Never was there a greater mistake. Yet this was the
issue presented to the people. Christianity was cari-
catured. Instead of appearing in its simple dress, it
was arrayed in the attire of man’s devising, the sur-
Instructing CuitpreN in THe Scriptures. 87

plice and the lawn ; and men despised it. No wonder
that in the whirlpool of that fearful revolution the altar
and the throne, the crosier and the crown, were alike
swallowed up. But Infidelity, like Romanism, had
no Bible. Hence its devotees had no control ; and
in the fearful carnivals that marked the reign of terror,
you may read the history of a nation without a Bible.
And if you covet such a destiny for your country, ex-
elude the Bible, that palladium of your virtue, your
institutions and your liberties, from those nurseries
of your citizens—“ the public schools.”

2. One other thought and we have done. If the
Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salva-
tion let its supremacy in all matters of faith and
practice be theoretically and practically acknowledg- _
ed. Is any opinion, of doubtful authority, or any
practice, of uncertain obligation? Decide it not by
an appeal to Augustine, or Chrysostom, to the Coun-
cil of Trerit, or the Synod of Dort, but to the law and
the testimony ; and when this appeal is made, let us
not receive its respouses as of doubtful import, which
may be fairly judged of by human reason. What is
allthis but an avowal that we are, already fully in-
formed upon every question, and are therefore in such
a state as to need no revelation from heaven? If God
had not spoken to us at all, it would indeed become us
in our dark and dependent state to be casting about
88 Instructing Curppren in THE SCRIPTURES.

us for some foundation for our sinking feet ; it would
then do for us to be talking about nature and reason;
it would be well enough to make appeals to the opin-
ions and practices of our ancestors and our contempora-
ries; but all this is now clearly at variance with right
reason—in the face of dn authoritative message from
God himself. Jet nssubmit our minds to the truths
We has communicated and curhearts and lives to the
discipline which He appoints. Could we all do this
sincerely and honestly, the asperities of discordant
and clashing creeds would be greatly softened; protest-
ané Christians would insensibly but rapidly approach
each other, and in true fraternal feeling grasp each
other’s hand; the advance of the seven-headed beast
of Rome, with his young bantling of Oxford, would
‘be arrested ; the Vatican would be disarmed of its
thunders, and the city of the seven hills would be pu-
rified of its abominations. Then dark and scowling
Infidelity too, would beat a retreat from earth; and,
discomfited and overthrown, hideits dark head in the
dens forgetfulness. Then, in the language of the
Psalmist, would our sons be as plants grown up in
their youth, and our daughters be as corner stones
polished after the similitude of a palace.
SERMON IV.

GOD KIND TO THE UNTHANKFUL AND EVIL.
(A THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE.)

Luke, vi: 85.—‘“He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

The relations which God sustains to his creatures
are so different from those which subsist between man,
and man, that it is impossible, aside from revelation,
to determine what will be his procedure toward an
individual distinguished for ingratitude and guilt.
Were we guided solely by analogy, our apprehensions
would be very much excited in view of the retribu-
tions to which we should stand exposed. Had we been
distinguished rebels against an earthly sovereign,
whose right to us and whose authority over us were
undisputed, and who had unbounded facilities for our
apprehension and punishment, there would be just
occasion for alarm. How much more when we view
ourselves in the light of rebels against Almighty God.

At that awful crisis, when I have just awakened to
a consciousness of my exposed state, the question,
“Flow will God deal with me?” is one in the de-
cision of which I am most deeply interested. Fee-
ble is the consolation which I can gather from all I
learn of the Divine character in this natural world.

6
90 Gop zip To THE UnTHANKFUL AND Evit.

Clouds and darkness gather in fearful thickness around
His throne, and impenetrable mystery veils His moral
character from my view. IfI call human analogies
to my aid, my anxieties are rather augmented than
dimipished. I know how men deal with their ene-
mies. If men are unthankful toan earthly sovereign,
the benefactions he has been accustomed to bestow
are withheld. If they rise in rebellion he musters his
steel-clad warriors, writes “vengeance” upon his ban-
ners, and goes forth, with fire and sword, to destroy
the murderers and burn up their city. And who can
assure me that some such destiny may not be awaiting
our guilty race? In the midst of so much that is
alarming, how grateful is the annunciation which falls
from the Savior’s lips, “‘ He is kind to the unthankful
and the evil.” Continued ingratitude has not ex-
hausted the Divine beneficence ; and though earth has
been the scene of a determined and protracted rebel-
lion, yet the loving kindness of the Lord has ever been
flowing earthward. We are assembled to-day under
interesting circumstances. At the invitation of our
chief magistrate we have suspended our usual pur-
suits, and, in connection with many of our citizens of
other States, have assembled at our place of worship
to offer up thanksgiving, and praise Him who has
crowned the year with his goodness.
Gop KIND To tas UnrHangruL ann Evm, 91

Let us endeavor to excite these grateful emotions in
our hearts by reviewing the kindness of the Lord mani-
fested to us as individualsand as apeople. This kind-
ness will shine forth in a more illustrious and cheer-
ing light, when our character and circumstances are
taken into the account. That God should be kind to
the thankful and the good, is not strange; but kind-
ness to the unthankful and the evil is what we have
little ground to expect or claim. But we trust a care-
ful survey will satisfy us that this has been our char-
acter, and that this has been the Divine procedure to-
ward us. If our text possesses the pertinency which
I think I discover in it, our first proposition will be
that,

J. We are an unthankfal people. Thankfulness is
a grateful emotion exercised toward a benefactor. It
pre-supposes favors conferred by another. No indi-
vidual can establish a well-grounded claim upon my
gratitude who has not in some manner befriended me, -
or in some manner promoted my interests. For an
individual who has not done this I may have Jove, re-
spect and reverence,.but not gratitude. This can only
glow in the bosom of a beneficiary, and can only be
cherished toward one who. has interested himself in
my welfare. Hence Gov. Everett, after saying, he that
neglects his children in their youth shall feel, in after
_. years, how sharper than a serpent’s tooth it isto have
92 Gop emp To tHE UntuangrvLt anp Evu..

a thankless child, corrects himself, and adds, “No! I
will not wrong even him. We may be everything
else that is bad,—an undutiful, a refractory, an incor-
rigible child; one that will pull down age, drag down
his father’s grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, buta
thankless child he cannot be. What has he to be
thankful for? Ifa child has been the recipient of no
favors, if he has grown up without parental solicitude
and parental care, he cannot, he ought not to be
thankful. And if it can be shown that we have re-
ceived-no favors from the hand of the Lord, His claim
upon our gratitude is ill-founded, and must not be
admitted. But if, on the contrary, He has done us
good and not evil all our days, if we have been the
objects of His unmitigated regards and gracious bene-
factions ever since our existence began, then will a
failure on our part to exercise toward Him the liveli-
est sentiments of gratitude, place upon us the broad-
est, deepest stamp of guilt.” Ingratitude is unlovely
wherever and by whomever it is exhibited. The child
who daily shares a parent’s care, but who forgets the
hand that feeds and clothes him,—the poor whose
wants are ascertained and provided for, by “the sun-
ny messenger of charity,” but who is petulant and
complaining to his benefactor,—the prisoner whose
chains are stricken off bysome philanthropic hand, ,
Gop kKriyp To tHe Unraangrut anp Evn. 938

bat who looks not with grateful, streaming eyes tow-
ards his deliverer, may jastly be compared to the fro-
zen viper, which being, through kindness, warmed
again into life, with returning energies stung his de-
liverer to the heart. Now let us enquire what occa-
sions have we for gratitude to God, and as they pass
in rapid review before us,

“Gh! that our thoughts and thanks may rise,
As grateful incense to the skies ;”

and let this be with us, not in name only, but in real-
ity, “a Thanksgiving day.”

1. Life is a blessing for which we should be thank-
ful.

If there is any individual of whom it may be said,
as of Christ’s betrayer, “good had it been for that man
if he had never been born,” it should be remembered
that his own conduct has rendered his existence a
curse. His crimes are the parents of his calamities ;
and with his crimes the author of his being is not
chargeable. To one who has reached a point of
wretchedness so extreme that life itself is loathsome, it
may usually be said, “Oh, man! thou hast ruined thy-
self.” But who courts annihilation ?

“Who would lose,
Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
These thoughts that wander through eternity
To perish, rather swallowed up.and lost
In the wide womb of uncreated night;
Devoid of sense and motion ?”
94 Gop gmp To Tar UsTHangrot snp Evit.

None but he from whose heart hope has forever fled
away, and who has reached, or imagines himself cer-
tain to reach, a land where souls forever wish to die
but cannot. Existence zs a blessing ; but like all oth-
er blessings, it may become a ¢errible inheritance to its
possessor.

2. Health is a blessing. It is that, indeed, without
which all other blessings are comparatively valueless,
and with which all afflictions are tolerable. They
who have never felt disease cannot appreciate health.
They possess a jewel of priceless value, but upon
which they do not, perhaps cannot, set a correct esti-
mate. They must lose it in order to appreciate it.

“Like birds whose beauties languish half concealed,
Till mounted on the wing their glossy plumes
Expanded shine with green and azure gold;

So blessings brighten as they take their flight.’

This is especially true of him whose constitution has
become impaired by disease, and from whose cheek
the rose of health has faded. To regain the blessing
he has lost he visits every genial clime, resorts to ev-
ery seat of medical skill, tries every famed panacea,
and drinks at every health restoring spring. One
truth, at least, was uttered by the father of lies when
he declared that “all that a man hath will he give
for his life.”

Now life and health are not only blessings, but they
Gop x1np To THE Unruanxron anp Eym. 985

are blessings of God. “Every good, and every per-
fect gift is from above and cometh down from the
Father of lights.” Obedience to the laws of our na-
ture, temperance, correct dietetic habits, are, to be
sure, the appointed means of preserving life and health,
—but they are only means and instrumentalities after
all. They are the secondary while God is the prima-
ry, and moving cause. Am I sick? it is because His
hand is upon me. Am Jin health? it is because He
healeth all my diseases. He sendeth forth His Spirit
and we are created. He withdraweth His hand and
we die, and return to the earth as we were.

3. To the blessings of life and health let us add those
common mercies which we every day enjoy, and
which, because they are conmmon, we are so prone to
undervalue. We raise the glass of water to our lips,
but forget it was God who watereth the earth from
His chambers, making the springs to gush out from
our hills, and the streams to meander through. our
valleys. We approach our tables groaning under all
the luxuries of the season, but forget the Being who
imparted fertility to our fields, and crowned the la-
bors of the husbandman with success. Like the Isra-
elites, who greedily gathered up their manna, but
forgot their God, we revel amid the benefactions of
Providence, while the God of Providence is not in all
96 Gop xinp To tHe Untraanxeron anp Evit.

our thoughts. The gift has stolen our heart from the
giver.

And what thongh these blessings come to us through
a sensible channel? Are they the less valuable on
that account? Are we less fed because God has ap-
pointed a visible hand to teed us? Are not the fruits
of Autumn just as delicious, though clustering on our
trees and vines, as though they fell from heaven %
And is not the produce of our fields just as nutricions,
though we behold first the blade, then the ear, and
then the full corn in the ear, as though, like the
prophet’s gourd, it sprang up in the night? And are
not our waters just as sweet and refreshing as though
gushing from a newly smitten rock? Now withdraw
these blessings for a single day, and we feel the need
of them ; and in a few. days we sicken and die.

A trayeler is on the burning desert. He is faint
and weary and famishing with hunger and thirst. On
and on he wanders, and with strained eyes he scans
the horizon for some sign of vegetation, in that desert
land. And now he sees some object which excites
hope. It seems a goat skin filled with water, lost by
some passing caravan.

“The heart of the wanderer beats high in his breast,
Joy quickens his pulse, all his hardships seem o’er,
And emotions of rapture arise in his breast—

Ob, God! thou hast blest me, I ask for no more.”
Gop xinp To Taz Unroayxron axp Evi, 97

But ah! a bitter disappointment awaitshim. Aghis
parched lips are almost swimming in the liquid ele-
ment, he discovers that it is filled with pearls and
diamonds, and costly coins. Despair is pictured on his
features. “They are nothing but diamonds” he ex-
claims, as he casts them on the sand and lays down to
die. i

If Esau returning famished from the chase, freely
gave his birth-right for a mess of pottage,—if David
in the heat of conflict, sighed only for a draught of
water. from the well of Bethlehem,—if the rich man
in the hoar-of his extremity would freely part with
all his treasures for one full meal, how grateful should
we be to that Providence which gives us all things
richly to enjoy. We ought especially to have our
gratitude to God excited for these mercies which
come to us abundantly, notwithstanding our evil au-
guries and apprehensions. Oh! how many impatient
glances have been cast this summer toward the clouds
less heavens, and when the showers have not descend-
ed we have had murmuring thoughts of Providence,
and indulged in bodings of want, if not of famine.
But though the heavens have held back their rain,
God who has control of nature’s most secret agencies,
has furnished us with a competency of the necessaries
and comforts of life. Our seed has not rotted under
the sod, but that which has been committed to the
98 Gop xxv to tan Unruanxrut anp Evr.

earth has reproduced itself thirty, sixty, and a hun-
dred fold. Let winter marshal its storms, and com-
mence its terrible reign. In our ceiled houses, with
our forests of fuel, and our well stored granaries and
cellars, God has rendered us well nigh invincible to
hunger or cold. No famine with gaunt form and
shriveled lips shakes his rod over our land. We hear no
tread of wasting pestilence ; the cholera which has
of late paid us an almost annual visit, has not this
year menaced our commonwealth ; and the yellow
fever just looked in upon us, but, like Dr. Kane, near
the pole, has found itself in too high latitudes and re-
tired. Europe has been stacking her arms and tieing
up her leviathan war-ships, and wrapping up her ban-
ners, and goes staggering on under her crushing debts,
and more crushing despotism, while we have been
extending our commerce, multiplying our manufac-
tories, developing the resources of our soil, and our
mines, electing Presidents, building churches and
educating our children. Had we time to dwell on
these common mercies of life; oh! in what thick
array do they pass before us. Who of us are ac-
customed to thank the Lord for sight and hearing ?
Yet are these faculties, inlets of rich and unremitting
enjoyment to every one of us. Who blesses God in
his heart for reason ? Yet, oh! what a calamity to
have reason eclipsed, to have the intellect pass into
Gop xKimp To THE UNTHANKFUL AND Evm. 99

the shadow of the great cloud of raving insanity.
Who appreciate as they should their domestic enjoy-
ments, their Eden home? Yet are they among the
nobler joys which have survived the fall. You need
not look away, O man, for remarkable deliverances,
for signal.and unprecedented mercies to awaken your
gratitude. Blessings gather around your steps by
day, and angels watch nightly by your pillow. Rol-
ling years bring fresh accessions of gladness to thy
heart. The upper and the nether springs combine to
bless thee.

Were I to give a little widersweep to my thoughts,

I might dwell upon the occasions of gratitude furnish-
ed by the Aéstory of our country ; a history as event-
ful, as wonderful, as the scenes of Arabian story ; 3 and
it is the truth of history which is thus stranger than
the dreams of fiction. :

He who cannot see God in the history of this coun-
try, cannot see him in the passage of the Red Sea and
the Jordan ; the discovery of the gunpowder plot, or
the defeat of the Spanish armada. God has prepared
in the wilderness of the western world, an asylum
where freedom erects heraltars, and religion builds her
temples. Education and civilization have made their
home on our shores. It is no light thing that you
live in a land where every citizen is a sovereign,
where liberty of speech and of the press are allowed,
100 Gop xinp To THE UNTHANKFUL AND Evin.

where no unholy wedlock exists between church and
state, where you may smile alike at the frowns of kings
and the anathemas of popes, where you own no su-
perior, but conscience and God.

Now I can have no object in fastening the charge
of ingratitude upon my countrymen; but if our grati-
tude should be excited in exact proportion to our
mercies, then are we not an uaothankful people? Has
our return of grateful praise, at all corresponded with
the benefactions of our Father’s hand? The sun has
shed its warm beams upon us, but we have forgotten
that it was God who made it rise on the evil and on
the good. The fertilizing showers have fallen upon
our fields, but we have forgotten the Being who sent
them upon the just and the unjust. We have reaped
our hanvests without offering up the first fruits to the
God of the seasons. The blessings of education and
religion, have fallen upon us like showers from the
summer cloud, and have been as little appreciated.
Freedom’s hosts speak out in thunder through the bal-
lot box, and determine who shall make, expound and
execute our laws, while Russian, Austrian and French
despotism, is crushing out the vitals of European
liberty, and while embruted gangs of human cattle

toil in hopeless bondage in a large portion of our own
republic.
Gop xInD To THE Unrnanxrvt anp Evi. 101

I find a farther and higher occasion of gratitude in
the gift of a Savior for the redemption of the world,
and for unnumbered religious blessings and hopes
which acerue to us through Him. And here divine
beneficence puts on new and strange aspects, and
rises to a height to which the mind of man in vain looks
up. It cannot reach the mystery, the length, the
breadth, the height. I will go as tar as the philoso-
pher of this world in admiring the Divine goodness as
displayed in Creation and Providence. 1 see the ex-
uberance of that goodness shining in every sunbeam
and sparkling in every rolling star. But the pleni-
tude of His goodness is not exhausted here. The high-
est exhibitions of the love of God will. elude your
gaze unless you travel on to Calvary. “ Heaven is
love, not that we loved God but that God loved usand
gave His Son to die for us.” Men have sometimes died
for their friends, never for their enemies. But while
we were yet. enemies, Christ died for us. He came to
an evil and thankless world. He subdued a world’s
animosity by His love. By submission He conquered.
He received the sword into His own bosom and then
rising from the scene of His humiliation he would fain
draw the world after Him to heaven. Such love de-
mands our highest gratitude our most fervent love,
As blessings thus come down to us from the sweet
heaven, earth ought to be perpetually returning exha-
102 Gop xtnp To Tan Untsanxrut anp Evi.

lations of grateful praise. Oh! are we not ungrateful
when we neglect so many means, and motives, and
mercies.

II. But inviting as is this field I must leave it and
pass on. I am called upon to contemplate my coun-
try in other aspects than those which relate to her
mercies and her ingratitude. The unthankful and
the evil are the individuals to whom God is said to be
kind. That we are ungrateful, we have seen, that we
are evil in another and higher sense is equally appar-
ent. Oh! yes, we cannot disguise the fact to our-
selves, we cannot disguise to the nations of the earth,
we cannot disguise it before God, that we are an evil
people. Ilove my country with all the ardor of a son,
with all her faults I love her so well that were the
map of the world spread before me, and were the
stream of all time flowing by, there is no spot on the
ane, or period in the other, where I would rather
pass the measure of my days, than in these United
States, and in the midst of the Nineteenth Century.
But because I love her, I must be faithful in the exhi-
bition of her faults, for while the kisses of an-enemy-
are deceitful, the wounds of a friend are faithful.

Ishall not feel called upon to-day to confine my
thoughts to any section of our common country nor
allow State lines to interrupt the field of my view.
Upon some Nebo that overlooks the whole land I take
Gop «inp To THE Unraanxrun ann Eviz. 108

my station. My first look is southward and it isa
pleasant land Isee. I seeitsrich plantations of rust-
ling cane, its snowy cotton, and its tropical fruits rip-
ening under the warm breath of an eternal spring.
Surely these are Arcadian bowers. Surely these are
fairy haunts where love and purity abide, where peace
has her halcyon home, “where sports the warbling
muse and fancy roves sublime.” But what mean
the groans of sable millions who bow down in unre-
quited and everlasting toil? What mean the oaths, -
the menaces, and the lash by which they are driven
to their weary and wasting labors? Ah! my friends,
the cupidity and the pride of man has introduced.
this anonialus institution in a republic which boasts of
freedom and equality ; and still the dark inhumanity
of the system makes countless millions mourn. This
is the peerless sin of our nation, rising up in terrible
distinctness among the sins that darken our history
aud invite the judgments of God. I have no heart to
dwell on its darkening details, no wish to aggravate
them, and no ability to extenuate them. These evils
are obvious to the eye of the whole world, they are
felt by the millions who are the victims of the system,
they are deplored by all who love humanity ; and it
requires the eagle eye of faith to sec the day of deliv-
erence. For myself, I see little ground of human
hope, Northward and southward the mighty evil
104 Gop xinp ro Tax Unraanervt AND Evi.

seems destined to spread; virgin plains and untrod-
den mountains seem destined to be blighted by its lep-
rous touch, and millions yet. unborn to be its devoted
victims. The issue at our recent election may have
been ignored at the north, but at the south it was well
understood to be a struggle for the supremacy of the
slave power, and the result is without doubt regarded
as a triumph of that interest. In Nicaraugua, the
brigand Walker is preparing new territory for slavery,
with the evident connivance and approval of men
high in power among us. The Islands in our West
Indian Archipelago are eagerly watched and coveted
by the minions of the slave power. The revival of the
African slave trade is openly advocated in the south,
and the Supreme Court of the United States are men-
acing the constitutionality of our State laws which
prohibit masters from. bringing their slaves to the
north and retaining them in bondage. With such
facts before us men may bless themselves with the il-
lusion that slavery is destined to a speedy overthrow,
if they choose,-but for myself, I gee small ground
for hope. God may interpose for our slave popula-
tion as he did for the Israelites in Egypt, and by
means as remarkable effect their deliverance,—but it
will be by a process which human sagacity cannot
foresee,—perhaps by a whirlwind of wrath which will
Gop kInD To THE Unruanxrct anp Evi. 105

scatter the defences of the oppressor like autumnal
leaves before the tempest.

That other giant evil, intemperance, which we al-
ways associate with slavery, if not equally in the as.
cendant, is yet luxuriating in atemporary triumph. I
have no confidence in the philanthrophy of the man
who clamors about slavery in the south or the west,
but who cannot see, or does not deplore a kindred
abomination which riots in our own streets, and
menaces every thing which is lovely in our own midst.
And yet after years of effort, where are we in regard
to this great reform? Tirst, an executive veto par-
alysed the efforts of the friends of the cause, then a
judicial pronunciamento appalled our hearts, and ac-
cording to the judges it zs constitutional to catch the
panting fugitive from slavery and hurl him back into
its horrors, but for a legislation to prohibit the traffic
in intoxicating drinks for drinking purposes, ¢hzs is
unconstitutional! Proseribed in New England, out-
lawed in Canada, prohibited in various scctions of the
west, it yet finds toleration in this the greatest and
richest of the confederated states. Icannot, I will not
believe that this evil is destined to endure through all
generations. _ The hosts of temperance though beaten
down in many a hard fought field, have a recupera-
tive power which ensures their final triamph. Truth
has an inherent immortality, and it must ultimately
106 Gop xmp to roe Unrmanxrcy ann Evi.

prevail. This at least’ is the language of hope and
should be the burden of our desires and efforts and
prayers.

Sins, like misfortunes generally go in groups, and.
as the steam-boat takes under its wings a whole con-
voy of lesser craft, so these monster evils foster and
perpetuate every other evil. Slavery, naturally leads
to oppression, cruelty, licentiousness, duelling, and
theft ; and intemperance is the parent of a similar
progeny. Profanity is its attendant murder is in its
train. It converts the holy Sabbath into a day of
revelry and sin. It gives perpetuity to the den ot
licentiousness and feeds with fresh victims the hell of ©
the gambler. Each of these evils admits of great
amplification, but the bare enumeration of them aided
by your reflections, abundantly demonstrates that we
are an evil people. But though I thus see and de-
plore evils, I am neither a croker or alarmist. I will
still cling to the conviction that the Gospel will work
out the redemption of onr country, and of the world.

We have come to look hoary error in the face and
demand by what right it claims toleration or life. We

have determined to throttle wrong wherever it can be
found. We purpose to extend and strensthen the
lines of freedom, of education and religion. The Sab-
bath School is flinging out its redoubts against the ad-
varice of Popery and infidelity. More governors are
Gop xinp To tar Unraanxron anp Evi. 107

sending out proclamations for thanksgiving days, and
many of them like our own governor’s, pervaded by
a highly religious tone. These are harbingers of bet-
ter times. Like the beams of early morning, which
glance and dance upon the mountain tops, they be-
token the dawnings of a brighter day. Upon you,
sons and daughters of this happy land, rests the re-
sponsibility of retarding or hastening its coming.

Iii. But the cheering sentiment of our text remains
unchanged, that though evil and thankless, God is
still kind to us. His exuberant bounty surrounds us
still, the garnished heavens and the green earth, still
have beauty for our eyeand music for our ear. Our
fields are still fertile, and propitious gales still sweep
to our shores the productions of other lands. - Our
institutions still shed their kindly influence on us and
our children, and the Gospel still tenders to us its
gracious and ample provisions. Do we ever ask, “ Oh
why does not his anger burn against our guilty race ?”
the answer is, “ I am God and not man, therefore, ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed.” The spirit of for-
bearance and forgiveness which prompted the prayer,
“ Father forgive them for they know not what they
do,” still restrains the sword of justice, and showers

blessings and benedictions upon us. -
IV. The two emotions which should be especially

f
108 Gop xmp To tHe Untsangrun and Evit.

inspired by these views of the Divine goodness, are
gratitude to God and benevolence to man. If we
stand convicted at the bar of conscience of past in-
gratitude, oh ! let us be ungrateful no more. Let the
remembrance of God’s past mercies “ dissovle our
hearts in tenderness, and melt our eyes to tears.”

The governors of perhaps one half of our states have
invited their fellow-citizens to observe this day asa
day of thanksgiving and praise. Would that it were
a national thanksgiving ; that from the St. Lawrence
to the Rio Grande, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
all our churches were crowded with worshippers, and
that the song of grateful melody were rising from
twenty millions of hearts.

But gratitude is an emotion of soul and not an ex-
ternal act, and unless our hearts rise in unison with
our tongues, the loudest, sweetest songs we raise will
be in the ear of Him who discovereth our thoughts,
but as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Our
gratitude should be sincere, orivinating in a heartfelt
sense of favors received ; intense, commensurate, if
possible with the greatness of the occasions exciting
it ; and constant, running through all the measures
of our days.

“ Through every period of our life,
His goodaess we'll pursue, .
And after death in distant worlds,

The glorious theme renew.”
Gop xInD to THE Unraanxrut anp Evin. 109

2. The other sentiment which should be excited in
view of this subject is benevolence to our fellow-
men. This is indeed the deduction drawn by our
Saviour from these words,—“ Be ye also merciful even
as your Father in heaven is merciful.”

Some of you as you go from this place, will sit
down to your thanksgiving dinners, which your mo-
thers, your companions, and your sisters, know so
well how to prepare ; but in the hour of your feast-
ing, think of your pcor neighbor, who has none,—
who hears the clamorous call of his children for
bread which he has not to bestow. It is hard to be
poor at any time. It is hard even in the warmth of
summer, and amid the plenty of harvest. But oh! it
is harder to be poor in winter

* He who has seen and felt it knows,
It is hard, very hard to be poor when it snows.”

The school boy may rejoice as he counts the descend-
ing flakes and builds his snowy castles ; the young
man and maiden, may laugh at the storm as wrapt in
furs and buffalo robes they take their new year’s ride ;
but it is a far different thing with him on whose
hearth no cheerful faggots blaze, around whose habi-
tation the storm moans and howls, and who is with-
out protection and without bread. Oh! how often
has my heart been affected with alternate emotions of
110 Gop xmp To THe Unraanxrot AnD Evit.

pity and indignation, as I have read those affecting
lines in the beggar’s prayer :
Yon house erected on the rising ground,
With tempting aspect drew me from my road,

For plenty there a residence has found,
And grandeur a magnificent abode.

Hard is the fate of the infirm and poor;
Here as I craved a morse! of their bread,
A pampered menial drove me from the door,

To seek a shelter in an open shed.

Oh! take me to you hospitable dome,

Keen blows the wind and piercing is the cold,
Short is my passage to the friendly tomb,

For I am poor and miserably old.

You may not have turned away the aged or the
poor when to your ear the voice of supplication came,
but you should sometintes go abroad in quest of mis-
ery that pines unseen and will not ask. The poor man
who was lying stripped, and wounded, and half dead,
by the way side, did not ask charity at the hand of
the priest or the Levite, and they passed him by on
the other side. But did this justify the hard-hearted
men in their neglect. Why every wound he had was
eloquent, and his very destitution had atongue. The
fact that men are needy, and that we have ability to
supply their wants fixes upon us the obligation to be
merciful to them even as our heavenly Father is mer-
ciful unto us.
Gop K1IxnD To THE UNTHANKFUL AND Evi. 111

Oh! how many of us in rendering up our final ac-
count cay san with him of Uz, “‘ When the ear heard
me then it blessed me and when these saw me it gave
witness to me because I delivered the poor that cried,
the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came
upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for
joy. I was eyes to the blind, feet was I to the lame.
I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew
not I searched out.”

Nor will it answer the purpose at all to say “ Be ye
warmed and beye clothed” and there stop, but in the
language of Dean Swift, we must “down with the
dust,” and if we want security for its repayment here
we have it, * He that giveth to the poor lendeth to
the Lord, and that which he hath given Him will He
repay him again.”

But gratitude to God, and benevolence to man can
only be inspired by rational and consistent piety.
We would be glad to see these sweet waters gushing
forth: from every heart, but this cannut be expected
while that heart remains the seat of corruption, and
all uncleanness. When from purified hearts, snch of-
ferings go to God they will be more acceptable in his
sight than hecatombs of slaughtered victims. And
when this work of regeneration is universal and com-
plete, Christianity may rise from the greatness of her
112 Gop xinp 10 THs UntoanxkFUL AND EVIL.

achievements and look down with complacency on a
ransomed world. Then shal! we be that happy peo-
ple whose God is the Lord, whose sons are like plants
grown up in their youth, and whose daughters are like
corner stones fashioned after the similitade of a pal-
ace. Then peace shall dwell on earth, and righteous-
ness look down from heaven.

‘¢ The dwellers in the vales and on the hills,

Shout to each other; while mountain tops

From distant mountains catch the flying joy
Earth rolls the rapturous hosannas round.”

SERMON V.

WHAT WE SHALL BE.

 

i John iii: 8.—“‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but
we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we
-shall see him as he is.” _

Aside from revelation man is.a mystery to himself.
Though furnished with the light of nature and sci-
ence, and all the means of information which lie with-
in himself, he must yet remain in a state of helpless
ignorance. Of his origin, of the purposes of his be-
ing, of the right use of his intellect and passions, of
the relations he sustains to other intelligences, he
must forever remain uninformed. How much more
Wuart we Suatt Bz. 113

profound then will be his ignorance of a future state.
Indeed, in regard to the existence of another world at
all, his profoundest reasonings and most elaborate con-
clusions, will be vague conjectures made up of al-
ternations of hope and fear.

And if the ntmost stretch of human reason fails to
demonstrate the fact of a future state, muchless will
her fire-fly flashes so far illumine the future, as to dis-
close to man the position he shall there occupy, orthe
relations he shall there sustain. As the sailor far out
on the stormy deep, with a cloudy sky above, and a
“wilderness of waves” around him, must remain in
awful suspense as to his position and destiny, until
the clouds disperse and he can lay his course by those
light-houses of heaven, the unvarying stars; so we
must remain in a state of awful uncertainty of the fu-
ture, until our ignorance be dissipated by the bright
shining of a light from heaven. All we know on this
deeply absorbing theme, we know from therev elation
which God hath given. This discloses to us the fact
that if a man die, he shall live again; and furnishes
us with some information respecting the glorious state
of those who have passed the first resurrection.

But while with strained gaze wesearch for more ex-
tended, and definite communications, the volume sud-
denly closes with the pride-humbling, but hope-inspir-
ing annunciation, “It doth not yet appear what we
114 Wuat we Saat Be.

shall be.” It becomes us to bow to this withholding
of additional light, and betake ourselves to the study
of what is imparted. The pen of inspiration has
drawn the bold and distinct outlines of the great pan-
orama, and in tracing and admiring these we shall
find sufficient employment for time, reserving the
sketching of minuter scenery, and the coloring and
finishing of the whole as the work of eternity. As
the voyager cruiging in unknown seas, and reaching a
continent unknown to the map of the mariner, can
only ascertain its general position and extent,—and
as he sweeps along its shores can only mark here an
indentation, and there a jutting promontory, unable
to mark across its length and breadth, to survey its
mountains and its plains, and familiarize himself with
its productions and inhabitants; so man, cruising in
the darkness of time, can only catch some dim and
distant glimpscs of his future self, and read the preface
to his fature intellectual and moral history. Fora
fall view, and an entire perusal, he must wait until
that which is perfect iscome. “It doth not yet ap-
pear what we shall be.”

The analogies of the present state lead us, however,
to anticipate no inconsiderable change. When the
insect lies dormant in its chrysalis state, “it doth not
appear what it shall be” when it shall burst its tomb,
rise on its gilded wings and soar away in the bright
Wuat we Sart Be. 115

sunshine. When the little shrub springs up beneath
our teet, “itdoth not yet appear what it shall be,”
when it has grown to maturity and strength,—an
“oak of Bashan” or a “cedar of Lebanon.” When
the sun first lights up the east with its scarcely per-
ceptible blushes, “it doth not yet appear what it will
be,” when it mounts its car, rides at highest noon, and
sends its successive tides of light o’er land and ocean.
But if the analogies of the intelligent creation, seem
‘to point out for redeemed and immortal man, a lofty
destination ; much more do the changes and improve-
ments which he undergoes in the present life.

How marked the transition from the embryo to the
infant, from the infant to the man. The difference be-
tween a mind in which the learning of Newton, the
zeal of Paul and the love of John are blended,—the
difference I say between such a man and an infant, is
probably as great as between such a mind and an an-
gel. If man undergoes improvements as great in
passing from time to eternity as he does in passing
from the infantile to the mature state, how marked
and mighty will be the change.- Look at the child!
how imbecile! how helpless! It is conscious of no
other want than that of the present moment, and hag
no other desire than its gratification. Let one or two
score years pass and that child has become a man;
and now in stature how erect and noble! in beauty
116 Wuat we Sarr Bs.

how perfect! in strength how mighty! in comprehen-
gion how angelic! in purity, perhaps, how godlike!
Mark his achievements, compared with those of the
infant. Does he tread the fields of military fame?
Earth is too contracted a field for his ambition. Is
wealth the object of his search? He traverses earth’s
burning plains, doubles its stormy capes, and dives
deep into its gold-ribbed bosom. Does his soul go
forth in song? ‘He seizes the loftiest thoughts that
mortals know, molds them into harmonious numbers,
and imprints them on the burning page. At pleasure
he makes the universe and eternity the play-ground
of his thoughts. Man has laid the universe under
contribution, made the solid earth and the starry
heavens yield up their secrets at his bidding, harness-
ed the elements to his car and made the lightnings
his messengers. Now do not the improvements of
which man is capable in the present life, furnish us
with data from which to infer his advancement in an-
other ? Is this capacity for mental and moral growth
an element or accident of the sonl? If death puts a
final period to its aspirations, then is all discipline a
mockery, human nature a lie, and man’s loftiest at-
tainments in the present life, mighty beginnings of
nothing.

But what is thus the evident teachings of analogy,
is revealed with far greater distinctness in the second
Wuar wr Suauty Br. 117

and more clearly authenticated message of God to
men. Guided by this light which emanates from
heaven, let us humbly inquire after the future condi-
tion of good men. This inquiry is natural, and if not
prosecuted beyond the sober bounds which revelation
has set up, is both proper and laudable. We cannot
say of a loved and valued friend, as is reported to
have been said over an infidel’s grave,

“Where he has gone to, and how he fares

Nobody knows, and nobody cares.”

We see them moving in swift procession to the
grave. Solicitude we cannot but feel ; and some de-
gree of information we may obtain respecting the
condition of the departed saint.

1. In regard to his physical condition, (if we may
employ a phrase perhaps unknown in heaven, where
sprit may be the only object of cognizance,) scrip-
ture assures us, it will undergo very considerable
modifications. He will be divested of all those por-
tions of his system which are peculiarly adapted to
- his present mode of existence. Members which are
necessary appendages of the body here, would be ex-
crescences there. Tence the sentence of destruction
is gone forth against them. ‘Meats for the stomach
and the stomach for meats; but God shall destroy
both it and them.” All these organs by which the
118 Wuar we Saat Be.

various processes of mastication, digestion, secretion
and re-production, are carried on, being unnecessary
under the new laws of his being, will not be found in
the resurrection body of the saints. But over and
above all these minor and partial transformations and
improvements, we shall be changed; for flesh and
blood doth not inherit the kingdom of God. These
material and corruptible bodies are to be changed
into the image of Christ’s most glorious body. Does
any one enquire, how the mighty transformation can.
take place? We answer, “Ye do err not knowing
the Scriptures nor the power of God.” In the Scrip-
tures it is affirmed, and by the power of God it shall
be accomplished. The body we now inhabit, and
that of the resurrection are identical. To suppose an
annihilation of one body and a creation .of another, is
to strip of all meaning those passages which speak of
a change and a resurrection ; and any objection spring-
ing from a possible clashing ownership of dust, is
readily answered by remarking that God can prevent
any such assimilation, either by original law or by
especial providence.

A most consoling fact respecting the glorified bod-
ies of the saints, is their perfect exemption from suf-
fering. This might be fairly inferred from their free-
dom from all these curses whi¢h induce disease; but
we prefer to place it on the plain assertions of Reve-
Waat we Swart Br. 119

lation, And oh! how consoling to him who has never
known any thing but pain is the assurance ‘they
shall suffer no more.” No! suffering saint. Thy last
agony goes forth with thy last breath; that hollow
cough shall give way to the deep bass of heaven’s
eternal music ; that hectic glow upon thy cheek, shall
give place to the bloom of eternal youth and beauty.
The atmosphere of heaven is never vocal with groans,
its streets are never bathed in tears, its inhabitants
never say “I am sick ;” everlasting joy is the diadem
with which they are crowned, their days of mourning
shall end, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away for-
ever. To press our inquiries farther in this direction
is manifestly improper and unnecessary. To such as
are disposed to inquire beyond the Scriptural assur-
ances that the saints shall come with incorruptible and
immortal bodies, free from all deformity and like the
glorious body of Christ, our answer is, “It doth not
yet fully appear what we shall be, nor will it, until
we shall see the King in his beauty, and our ears be
entranced by the song of seraphims.”

2. Heaven is ascene of social delights. Man is a
social being here, and a Jarge part of his pleasures
flow from the indulgence of his social powers. These
pleasures must be vastly enhanced, when the soul
ascends to society perfectly congenial, and all the im-
pediments are removed which now interrupt the har-
120 Wuat we Suart Bee

mony and permanency of our intercourse. What
means of intercourse exist among beings purely spir-
itual, through what media the correspondence of
heaven is carried on, and what is the precise nature
of the socialities of heaven, are among the things
which do not perfectly appear; but that such corres-
pondence exists is among the things which are re-
vealed.

The question has been frequently agitated, whether
saints on earth will recognize each other in heaven ?
‘Aside from that hope which ardently anticipates such
& tecognition, and aside from the absurdity of sup-
posing that any one of our intellectual faculties is
either stricken from being, or shorn of its strength
by exchanging earth for heaven, we think the af:
firmative of this question is favored, at least inferen-
tially, by weighty Scripture testimony. Moses and
Elias were recognized on the holy mount by the won-
dering disciples. Lazarus, in his lofty estate, was re-
cognized by tormented Dives. Those who shall come
up from the four quarters of the earth are represented
as sitting down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in
the kingdom of heaven. Now what signifies it that
we sit down in the company of these great lights of the
church, unless they are known unto us, and we be-
come known unto them. As little satisfaction would
such association yield, as is experienced by the servile
War we Soary Br. 121

minions of royalty, or by him who pines unseen in
the shade of the autocrat’s throne. And what else did
the apostle in the close of that inimitable chapter, the
thirteenth of First Corinthians? Employing the same
analogical argument which we have adopted, he tells
us that when he was a child he had the understanding
of a child, but that these had vanished with advanc-
ing years; so “now we see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face, now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known.” .
We conceive, then, that this avenue of joy is not
closed up, and that the joys cf Christian friendship
belgw are but the preludes to a changeless “ commu-
nion of saints” in heaven. These ties are, however,
purely spiritual, and must be distinguished from those
natural attachments and affections, which result from
our present mode of existence. These are but the ac-
cidents of our nature, and their necessity ceases, when
they have answered the purposes for which they were
given. The parental, the conjugal, and the filial re-
lations are known only on earth. Such was the teach-
ing of Christ to the tempting Sadducees. But they
who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world
and the resurrection frum the dead, neither marry nor
are given in marriage, but are like to the angels of Gode
It matters not, then, whether there did, or did not,
exist any rélationship or intimacy on earth. Two
129 Wuar we Suaut Br

spirits, the one coming from the zenith, the other from
the nadir of creation, will cherish toward each other
the same holy affections, as though they had sprung
from the same ancestry, had been united in life, and
undivided in death. And let no one exclaim that we
are drying up the sources of their anticipated joy.
Instead of this, we are augmenting the resources of
their felicity a thousand fold, by assuring them of the
existence of attachments in heaven purer and stronger
than are known to earthly consanguinity; and exer-
cised, not toward the contracted group of a fireside,
but toward the whole redeemed family of the Lord.
Thus if we close the nether, we open upon you,the
upper springs, whence gush forth fountains of Jperen-
nial joy. And at the same time. that this is done, an-
other object is accomplished. If all the affections of
earth survive the prave, and live in heaven, while one
is entranced with joy at finding one secure to whom
he was attached by merely animal ties, will not the
spirit of another shrink with anguish as he makes an
opposite discovery? If attachments, other than spir-
itual are immortal, when the absence of their object
is discovered, would there not be mourning in heay+
en? But as this is evidently incompatible with the
delineations of the heavenly state given in the word
‘of God, we are brought to the conclusion that the af.
fections existing in heaven ere purely spiritual, and
Wuart we Saati Br. 123

their object moral goodness. These attachments are,
of course, mutual. There exists no unrequited love
in heaven. The apostle who exclaimed, “the more I
love you, the less I be loved,” was not the first or last
who has felt the pangs of unreturned attachment ;
but no one need cherish an apprehension of being cast
out from the sympathies of the redeemed.

“That ghastly thought would drink up all their joy,
And quite unparadise the realms of light.”

3. But what shall we say of the intellectual powers
and employments of the finally saved? Are the for-
mer so improved, and the latter so eanobling as to
render man in heaven materially different from man
onearth? Are the transformations of his mental con-
stitution sudden or gradual? Are new powers con-
ferred upon him, or are his former ones simply im-
proved and expanded? The most that we can reply
is, that “it doth not yet appear what we shall be.”
And it is not because we see any improbability, but
because we lack positive information on the subject,
that we cannot subscribe to the theory so confidently
advanced, and so elaborately illustrated and support-
ed, by the modern philosopher of Scotland, (Dr. Dick.)
There is no impropriety in supposing that new exter-
nal senses, and new internal powers, may be conferred
upon immortal man,--that he may possess facilities
124 Wuat we SHary Ber:

for visiting distant worlds with greater ease than we
can distant cities,—pass to the frontier stars that burn
upon the suburbs of the system,—and fully understand
the laws which govern their complicated movements.
All this, we say, looks exceedingly plausible, but we
dare not invoke conjecture to our aid because God
has not seen fit positively and fully to inform us what
we shall be. One thing is certain, that in the world
of matter and of mind, there will be no lack of objects
to investigate; and if such investigation be adapted
to the nature of the saint in heaven, and productive
of felicity, there will be spread out before him an in-
tellectual banquet in every part of the creation. And
angels high in nature, and saints high by redeeming
grace, will be at hand tolead him into the very depths
of wisdom. To all this add the fact that the lamp of
life will not go out in its socket, just as his investiga-
‘tions have commenced; but will blaze in quenchless
brightness, being fed from the river of life, and no
reason can be offered why the humblest among you
may not become like an angel in intellectual vigor, as
well as in moral purity.

4, But man’s highest felicity in the fature world is
to be wrought out by the perfection of his moral na-
ture. In many respects we know not what we shall
be; but one thing we know,—we know that we shall
be like God,—not like him in power, not like him in
Wuart we Suatt Br 125

wisdom, not like him in those lofty and incommuni-
cable attributes of his nature—ubiquity and eternity,
—but like him in purity. Transporting thought! we
shall be like God, and drink forever at the fountain of
holiness. This is the highest good after which mor-
tals can aspire ; one compared to which we “call the
astonishing magnificence of’ unintelligent creation
poor.” This is the good to secure which we relin-
quish our hold on earth. This is the good, to realize
the full blessedness of which, “we bear to live or dare
to die.” Who then would make eartly his long and
last abode? Who would wage an eternal war with
earth and hell and sin?

“Who would not die to vanity, pain, death ?
Who would not die? Who would not live forever?”

But from these consoling and inspiring views, we
must turn to the reflection that we are still men, frail
children of the dust, dwelling in a world of probation,
temptation and sins. Though we may be princes elect,
our coronation day has not yet come. Though can-
didates for a higher life, the certainty of attaining it
hinges upon a fearful contingency. If we know not
the full measure of heavenly felicity, neither do we
know of a surety that we shall participate init. A
question, then far more particular in its nature, and
more important for our consideration as regards our
128 Wuat we Sua Bu.

individual preparation for heaven. What consequence
can it be to you and me, that heaven is thus all glori-
ous, if while the redeemed are to be admitted, we-
shall be thrust ont? What matters it to us that heaven’s
pavements flash with heavenly light, if there is re-
served for us the blackness of darkness forever?
Heaven can only be reached by passing through the
gates of death, and a triumphant, peaceful death can
only be ensured by a life of righteonsness. My heart
is affected when Ilook over this congregation and 1e-
mark how soon they will pass away. Remember the
heroes of a thousand battles, and ask, can military
prowess save you? Think of Sampson, and enquire,
can physical strength avail? Callto mind Absalom,
and demand, is beauty an effectual defence? Turn to
Solomon’s vacant throne, and learn that wisdom is no
security. Look upon this sable pall, and learn that
youth, and purity, and the fond hopes of friends, and
the most determined attempts of medical skill, are no
obstacles to the march of the “king of terrors,” On,
with ceaseless tramp he spurs his mighty steed, nor
will he cease his work of death, until the last of hu-
man kind has fallen; and then in ghostly triumph will
he rear his throne, on shattered hopes and broken
hearts, exulting in the conquest of the race. But vain
his triumphs! A stronger than the strong man
armed has seized and bound him! Death is van-
Wuat we Ssati Br. 127

quished in his own dominions, his charncl houses are
unlocked, and his countless victims awaked from their
slumbers — ‘‘ the good to a resurrection into life, the
evil to a resurrection of damnation.” Jesus “is the
resurrection and the life,” and he that believeth in
him, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” “If
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so also
they that sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.”
Then shall be answered the Saviour’s prayer, “ Father
I will that those whom thou hast given me shall be
with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.”
Then shall be more fully and perfectly revealed, that
which now so dimply appears. The star of hope
now glimmering over the grave, shall expand to a sun
which shall fill the whole view in the radiance and
glory of which the spirit shall bask away eternity.

But how with those who do not believe in Jesus ?
Flow with those who finally neglect and reject him ¢
To such, I bring no message ef hope. To such I can
only say that as it doth not fully appear what the
righteous will be ; so the bitterness and aggravation
of the sinner’s doom, are doubtless such as words are
too poor to. paint. Die, temporally, you must; die
eternally you need not. Choose the portion which
pious Mary chose ; love the Saviour she loved ; and
then when your flesh aud your heart shall fail, God
128 Tue Recorp or ovr Namzs in Heaven.

will be “the strength of your heart and portion for-
ever.”

SERMON VI.

ee

THE RECORD OF OUR NAMES IN HEAVEN.

 

Luke x: 20.—Rather rejoice, because your names are written in
heaven.

Besides the twelve disciples originally selected by
our Lord as the witnesses of his life and death, and
the propagators of his religion, seventy were subse:
quently employed to go upon a special and tempora-
ry mission. They were instructed to go into those
cities and villages of Judea which Christ proposed
soon to visit, as so many John the Baptists, to “ pre-
pare the way of the Lord.” They were armed with
miraculous powers, and while in one sense they were
the heralds, in another they were the representatives
of the Savior; for in his name they cast out devils
and performed many wonderful works. Elated be-
yond measure at their newly acquired powers, they
hastened back and informed Jesus that even the dev-
ils were subject to them through His name. Our Sa-
vior evinces no surprise at their success, but calmly
informing them that he had seen Satan fall as lightning
Tux Recorp or our, Namesin Heaven. 129

from heaven, and his usurped power broken, reinvest-
ed them with their power over fallen spirits, empow-
ered them to tread serpents and scorpions beneath
their feet ; but at the same time mildly reminds them
that they should not find their highest occasions of joy
in their power and dignity, but rather in the fact that
their names were written in heaven. This language
has been usually regarded as metaphorical ; and we
must array ourselves against all Biblical critics were
we to contend for its literal interpretation. The num-
ber of passages which speak of the “ book of life” is
so great that it requires no great stretch of the imag-
ination or faith to conceive that a book, a real bona-
fide book, may be kept in heaven, in which are record-
ed the names cf all God's children. Mén may smile
at the idea as a novel one, but may they not with
equal reason smile at the idea of literal palms, and
crowns and threnes—of literal bodies, and of a local
heaven? To our own mind the idea that there are no
books in heaven is by no means an agreeable one,
while to one who has derived rich revenues of enjoy-
ment from the volumes of human and divine wisdom,
it is a grateful and elevating thought that many a li-
brary shall open to him its capacious alcoves, and that
many a blissful hour will be passed, book in hand, be-
neath the spreading palms that flourish on the hills of
immortality. The idea may be a fanciful, but it is a
130 Tse Recorp or ovr Names In Heaven.

pleasing one; and especially so far as it relates to an
actual registry of the names of God’s children in a
volume called by way of eminence the book of life.
The following are some of the Scriptures which con-
vey this or a similar idea.

Psa. Ixix: 28.—“ Let them be blotted out of the

book of the living, and not be written with the right-
eous.”

Phil. iv: 3.— And I entreat thee also, true yoke-
fellow, help those women which labored with me in
the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fel-
low laborers, whose names are in the book of life.”

Rev. xx: 12 and 15.—“ And I saw the dead, small
and great, stand before God; and the books were open-
ed; and another book was opened, which is the book
of life.” “ And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

But if a literal interpretation of these passages be
not admissible, the sentiment still remains, that all the
children of God are known in heaven, and are dear
to the heart of the Savior.

“High on his everlasting throne,
The king of saints his works surveys;
Marks the dear sons he calls his own,
And smiles on the peculiar race.”

This fact is presented to us in the text as the foun-
Tue Recorp or our Namesty Heaven. 181

dation of our most extatic joy, as the theme of our
loftiest songs.

To rejoice is at once the duty and the high prerog-
ative of the child of God. Though mourning be the
common language of mortals,—and though there be
written on the earth’s broad surface, and on the skies
which spread their canopy over it, as was written on
the scroll which Ezekiel saw, “mournings and Jam-
entations and woe,” yet his privilege is still to rejoice.
“No changes of season or place,” no vicissitudes of
fortune, no fluctuating friendships, no possible combi-
nation of circumstances, have power to abate the in-
tensity of his joys. . As earth cannot kindle, so it can-
not extinguish this flame. As circumstances do not
create, so they cannot destroy his happiness. As none
but God can write my name in heaven, so none but
He can blot it out. “ Rejoice in the Lord alway, and
again I say rejoice,” is the exhortation of one whose
experience cemonstrated its practicability. Mark his
imprisonment at Phillippi. With his back bleeding
from recent inflictions of the lash, immured in the re-
cesses of a dungeon, with his feet confined in the
stocks, yet did he make the night vocal with his songs
of praise. Howstrangely does this contrast with that
piety which alternates with every varying breeze,
which is elevated or depressed as the thermometer ri-
ses or falls, which can live only in the sunshine, but is
132 Tuer Recorp or our Names In Heaven.

blighted by the frost, and prostrated by the storm.
Why should our enjoyments be the sport of cireum-
stances, when God, who is our refuge, and Hope: which
is our anchor, and Heaven which is our home, remain
unalterably thesame? Asspiritual joy is the offspring
of spiritual considerations and influences alone, why
may not the Christian “‘ rejoice evermore?”

Has Providence with a bountiful hand spread bless-
ings around you? Have there been opened before
you avenues leading to wealth and great prosperity ?
Has everything succeeded according to your wish ?
Rejoice not that thy barns are filled with plenty, that
thy presses burst out with new wine, that the fatness
of the earth and the increase of silver and gold has
been thine,—rejoice not at this; for riches take to
themselves wings and fly away. Rather rejoice that
your names are written in heaven. Have you been
honored with the friendship of the great and good?
Do kind friends wait like ministering spirits along
your path, and anticipate your every wish? Are you
every where saluted with a smile of welcome, with
greetings in the market places, and are you called of
men “ Rabbi, Rabbi.” Rejoice not in this, for human
friendship is an ephemeral thing; but rather rejoice
that your names are written in heaven.

Has the volume of wisdom been spread before you,
Tue Recorp or our Namesin Huaven. 133

and have you gleaned large revenues of knowledge
from its ample pages? Lave you had access to seats
of science, and to all the treasures of knowledge which
past ages have accumulated? Exult not at this, for
“tongues shall cease and knowledge shall vanish
away ;” but rather rejoice because your names are
written in heaven. 7

Does the glow of health flash upon thy cheek’? Is
your constitution vigorous and unimpaired? Has no
fierce disease, no wasting pain made inroads upon your
system? Rejoice not at this, for this trial ye¢ awaits
thee. Thou art yet to experience all this.

Thy sparkling eye, and rosy cheek,
Shall wither like the blasted rose ;
The coffin, shroud, and winding sheet,
Shall soon thy active limbs enclose.

But lift your heads rejoicing, and clap you joyful
hands, for you are redeemed forever from death’s tri-
umphant hands,” if your names are recorded in the
Lamb’s “ book of life.”

Are you happy in your domestic relations? Have
you a kind husband, an affectionate wife, indulgent
parents, or dutiful children? Does affection glow at
your hearth-stone, and sparkle around your “table ?
Are your sons like planis grown up in their youth,
and your daughters like corner stones fashioned after
the similitude of a palace? Rejoice not, for that hap-
134 Toe Recorp or ovr Names in HEAVEN.

py-cirele will be broken up. ‘I'hose streams issuing
from a common rock shall rol] to opposite oceans—
those leaves flourishing upon a common twig, shall
be borne by conflicting winds to the ends of the earth.
Death, too, will thin those happy ranks; that promis-
ing son, that blooming daughter is marked for the
grave ; but though the grass wither and flowers fade,
and friends die, yet the “ word of the Lord abideth
forever,” and the saint may still rejoice because his
name is written in heaven.

Are you a member of the Church of Christ? Do
you in company with them that keep holy day, fre-
quently find your way to the house of prayer? Are
you ofttimes refreshed with the waters that gush up in
the sanctuary ? The records made in the book of life
may not exactly correspond with those made in the
registers of the militant church. It is comparatively
easy to secure the recording of our name here. The
applicant deals with fallible man, who, in numerous
instances, cannot judge of his qualifications, who must
take many things upon trust, look with a lenient eye
upon many delinquencies, and hope that though the
head is wrong, the heart is essentially right. Let no
one then, particularly exult that his name is written
on the records of the earthly church, nor even that he
has secured its chiefest offices and honors. Distin-
Tux Recorp or ovr Names in Heaven. 135

guished as is this honor, exalted as are the privileges
to which it introduces him, yet let him rejoice with
trembling. Though he may havesaid “Lord! Lord!”
prophesied, and done many wonderful works in the
Saviour’s name. Yet fruitless search for Ais name
may be made in the records of the upperchurch. But
if his name be written there, he may “rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Is the Church of your choice in great prosperity ?
Is the banner of the cross advancing and winning
bloodless victories over the empire of darkness? Do
the harbingers of the millenial morning begin to
gleam upon the darkness of time? Itis well; but do
not forget your individuality while exulting at the
triumphs of the Church, nor merge your piety in that
of the multitude. Still be it the occasion of your
highest joy that your names are written in heaven.

Nay, are the devils subject to you through the Sa-
vior’s name? Can you without harm drink of#the
poisoned cup, and on the scorpion tread? Obedient
to your word are the mountains uprooted from their
base and buried in the distant sea? Prompted by
holiest sympathy, do you give all your goods to feed
the poor, and is your zeal so great that you can give
your body to be burned? Ground not here your most
rapturous joy, but rather that your names are writ-

ten in heaven.
136 Tae Recorp or our Names rv [eaven.

Men have even been ambitious to make their names
immortal. They have erected monuments of brass
and granite as memorials to coming generations that
once they lived. Go to Westminster Abbey, and you
may read the names of Heroes and Philosophers, of
Orators and Poets which the world will not let perish.
The tomes of a thousand libraries evince the desire of
their respective authors to make their names travel
down to coming generations. The Kings of Egypt
recorded theirs in the time-defying pyramids. Napo-
leon wrote his on the cloud-piercing Alps. Newton
made his immortal by wreathing it in the prismatic
hues of the rainbow. Herschel climbed higher and
with star light wrote his own among the constella-
tions.

But oh! ye Lazaruses and Dorcases, ye sons and
daughters of adversity, ye chosen of the Lord, whose
names have never traveled beyond your firesides, who
livfg are unknown and dying are forgotten—rejoice!
for though uneulogized mortals, your names are writ-
ten in heaven.

Are you a child of sorrow? Did misery steal you
at your birth and cast you helpless onthe wild? Has
misfortune tracked you through all your life? Has
poverty haunted you with its gaunt torm, and want
invited you to set down to an empty board? does
famine blow mildew from between his shriveled
Tae Recorp or our Names iw Heaven. 137

lips, and the storms of winter find you uusheltéred
and unclad? still with the exulting prophet you 1 may.
exclaim, “Although the fig-tree ious wor Bia
and there be no fruit in the vine, though the-labor of
the olive should fail, and the fields yield no meat,
though the flocks be cut off from the fold and the’
herds from the stall, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and
joy in the God of my salvation.” 7 ee
Have you been disappointed in your pursuits “after

knowledge? Have you lamented that “learning to
your eyes her ample page, rich with the’ spoils of
time, did ne’er unroll?” Or when the long sought
prize was plucked from your grasp by a stranger’s
hand, have you exclaimed,

“Oh, who can tell how hard it is to climb

The steep where fame’s.proud temple shines afar,
Oh! who can tell how many a soul sublime

Hath felt the influence of malignant star,
Or waged with fortune a perpetual war?”

i Be not dispirited. If you have entered the school of
Christ you shall soon graduate to immortal honors, :
and stand associated with the general’assembly and
the church of the first born, whose names are written’

ra

 

coetiticen aaa

in heaven. Have you proved,

“How hard it is to find a friend _
On whom you always can depend ?”

Have those who hung like parasites around your door
8 %
138 Te Recorp or ovr Names iw Heaven.

in the days of your prosperity, abandoned you in the.
hour of trouble, and those who did eat bread with you
lifted up the heel against you? Be comforted, “There
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” “Your
adversities so far from abating His affections, or alien-
atng His regards, will draw around you, yet closer,
His protecting arm, and you shall be His in the day
when He makes His jewels up. Do anxieties accu-
moulate? Do cares multiply? Do storms of sorrow
fall? Well, let them come,

“So we but safely reach our home,
Our God, our heaven, our all.”

Has death entered our circles and borne away our
cherished friends? Well,

“Let sickness Liast, let death devour,

If heaven shall recompense our pains.”
Cordial shall be our congratulations and sweet our
union on the other shore.

Does.age bow your spirit down, or is fell disease
making fearful drafts upon your strength, and have
you waded down into Jordan, yet ? look away across
the turbid stream. Behold those blooming mountains.
Survey the golden city; and on its jasper walls
read, oh! read thy humble name. Cry ont, and
shout, as you survey your glittering crown. Do men
revile you, and persecute you and say all manner of
Tar Recorp or our Names Iv Heaven. 139

evil against you falsely for Christ’s sake; rejoice, and
leap for joy, for great is your reward in heaven, for so
prescuted they the prophets which were before you.”
In view of this subject, it is apparent that real hap-
piness, such as lays the foundation for the most
rapturous bursts of joy, is the result not of. external
circumstances, but of internal qualifications. — ‘Tt has has
its empire in the heart of its subject.

2. Our names are written in heaven, or they are
not. It is evident that no inquiry can approach this
in interest and magnitude. It is a matter of small
concern whether my name be blazoned in the records
of human greatness, whether men of other times shall
drop a tear oe’r the tomb where my dust reposes ; but,
oh! it is a matter of infinite moment, to know whether
my name is written in heaven. But is this a matter
of which I can gain any knowledge before the Lion of
the tribe of Judah shall open the book, and loose the
seven seals thereof? Oh! must I wait in awful un-
certainty as to my destiny, until the “ great day of
revelation ?” No! I need not wait; for the Spirit
takes of the things of God and shows them unto us,
Do not say the book of life is not open to thy inspec-
tion. Look within. Dost thou discover the image of
thy Saviour? Doyou feel an identity ofinterests with
those of his cause? Do you pant to behold his glory ?
Are you living a life of practical godliness, of prayer,
140 Tar Recorp or our Namzs iw HEAvEN.

self-denial, faith, patience, charity? Does the spirit
attest that you are a child of God. Then is yourname
and memorial on high. Even if your names are re-
corded in the Lamb’s book of life, they may be blotted
out. If metaphors or literalities, teach any thing on
this great point, they teach that our names though
written in heaven may be erased, that others may
take, and forever wear, our crowns. The Scriptures
which indicate this possibility should fall with em-
phasis upon our ears, and go down to the depths of
our hearts. As one’s name is written at his birth in
the public registry, and upon his death, it is blotted
out ;. so at conversion our names are written in heaven,
but will be blotted out in the day of our apostacy.
“ Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.” “When
the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and com-
mitteth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.” By
holy vigilence, by incessant prayer, by patient con-
tinuance in well’ doing, seek for honor and glory,
and immortality, and thus secure eternal life. Hear
the precious promise of the Saviour, “ He that over-
cometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment,
and I will not blot out his name out of the book of
life, but I will confess his name before the Father and
before the Holy Angels. He that hath an‘ear to hear
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Do you want riches ? not in the clods of earth, nor
Tar Recorp or our Namms in HEeAven. 141

in the sparkling mine, nor in the marts of trade can
it be secured ; but only by having your name recorded
among the heirs of an immortal inheritance.

Do you desire honors? Seek not the honor which
cometh from man. ‘Titles and honors must be laid
aside to find true dignity.

“The crown that decks a monarch,
Is not the crown for me,
It dazzles but a moment,
Its brightness soon will flee;
But there’s a crown laid up above,
The purchase of my Saviour’s love,
Oh! that’s the crown for me.”
It is.a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsover things are of good report, if there be
any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these
things.” or the things which are seen are temporal, |
but the things which are not seen are eternal.
SERMON VII.

THE END OF MAN.

(A NEW YEAR'S SERMON.)

 

Jer. v: 31.—What will ye do in the end thereof.

Prudence has always been reckoned among the car-
dinal virtues of life. Destitute of it, ruin, temporal
and eternal, is certain to overtake anyman. <A young
man may come into the possession of the amplest for-
tune, but if he has not forecast and caution, and a dis-
position to look forward to the ultimate issue of things,
poverty and want will settle down upon his age and
his feebleness. The fairest prospects will be blasted,
and the best opportunities for doing good will be lost,
without prudence and consideration. - To see the end
from the beginning, is alone the province of Omnis-
cience; but to look toward the end, and seek to secure
a final good, is the duty of all who have a futurity
before them. At least this seems to be the duty of
all rational beings to whom God has given a knowl-
edge of things future, and who have the responsibili-
ties of providing for their coming. It is an unfortu-
nate state of things when a man will allow the cur-
rent of his calculations, and plans, and purposes, to
Tar Env or Man. 143

be arrested “in medias res”—to stop short of the
point where his interests and destiny ultimates.

The requirement “take no thought for the morrow”
forbids the cherishing of inordinate anxieties in refer-
ence to our temporal interests—as to what we shall
eat and drink; while the whole current of Scripture
admonition and precept summon us to make adequate
provision both for the life that now is and for that
which is to come. The sluggard is exhorted to take
lessons of the provident ant, which builds its house in
summer and gathers its food in harvest; and in look-
ing still farther on in the race of human life, God is
represented as saying “Oh, that men were wise, that
they would remember this, that they would consider
their latter end.’ We are now dwelling in the midst
of an eventful life; a portion of it has become histor-
ical. It mingles with the irrevocable and changeless
past. A moment, which passes while we think of it
and speak of it, alone is ours. And while the future
is in the main shaded in impenetrable haze, there are
great bluff points lying along our course, rendered
visible by light from eternity. These future events
ate dimly revealed by our spiritual intuitions; but
clearly and definitely by the light of inspiration. It
is only towards one of these events and that the most
certain and important, I mean the end of life, that I
direct your thoughts. Let me earnestly invite the va-
144 Tue Enp or Max.

rious clagses which compose my congregation to patse
with ne, and look forward to the swiftly coming close
of life, with all its interests and affairs, and enquire
“what shall we do in the end thereof?”

The present is a suitable period for such reflections
and enquiries, We have come to the last day of ane-
ther year.

1.—Let me speak in terms of tender and affection-
ate interest to the young. Ido this the rather because
Ihave hardly yet ceased to regard myself as among
you and of you; I have not yet passed on so far in
Jife as to have lost my interest in and my sympathy
for young men. My heart throbs with your heart, the
things which interest you interest me, and if God shall
spare us we may float on into age together, and in
places contiguous and at points of time not remote
from each other, may make our descent into the tomb
and our entrance into the eternal world. It is possi-
ble then that the things which have come to interest
me should interest you also, that the course which on
the whole I have judged it wise and right to pursue
ought to have attractions for you also. But if Iam
wrong in my selection, if the current of my thoughts
and habits be open to real objection, I desire to be set
right, and to choose that path which true wisdom and
discretion indicates, and which will be seen to be the

‘
Tar Env or Man. 145

fitting one when experience shall have sharpened our
perceptions and corrected our errors.

It is one of the infelicities of our condition that we
cannot, or do not, avail ourselves largely of the expe
rience of others; but require an experience of our own
before we are fully assured of what is right and best.
Would we allow the voice of our predecessors in the
race of life to reach our ears and affect our lives, it
might save usfrom many false and perhaps fatal steps;
from many keen and perhaps unavailing regrets.
Would the sons of probation listen to the voice of the
rich man in hell they might be saved from going to
that place of torment. Would they observe the death-
bed scenes of the princes of infidelity, they would es-
chew skepticism and believe in Christ. Would they
allow the voice of the dying drunkard to fall upon
their ear, they would look only in disgust upon the
wine when it isred, when it giveth its color in the
cup, knowing that at the last it “biteth like a serpent
and stingeth like an adder.” Did they know the end
of those who follow the voice of the strange woman
they would escape asa bird from the snare of the fow-
ler, knowing that the dead are there, and that her
guests are in the depths of hell. But ruin results by
looking only upon the beginning and progress of
things and not at their final issues.

Sin sometimes takes the name of Pleasure, She
146 Tur Exp or Max.

stands at the head of the highways of life, the portress
of the wide gate, the patroness of the broad way. She
is dressed in a flowing robe, a wreath of flowers is on
her brow, and a wine cup in her hand. Winning is
her smile and enticing her words. “Follow me (says
the syren) and I will lead you in pleasant paths. In
this road are bowers of ease and halls of pleasure;
there are jovial companions and social delights ; there
are pleasures for the scnses and pleasures for the soul,”

And at first appearance it really seems that these
are truthful representations. Those who have just
entered the path seem tobe happy. Their lond laugh
falls on the ear, and the flowing bowl sends exhiler-
ating sensations through all their frame. But judge
earefully. Appearances are often deceptive. Could
you look into those hearts you would see care and
trouble and sorrow there; and were their workings
embodied in actual acknowledgments, your pi ty would
be elicited where your envy is now excited. But
granting all that appearances indicate, and we have
still to say “all’s well that ends well.” Said the phil-
osopher to the king, “Let no man account himself
happy watil he is dead ;” rather we would say until he
is prepared to die. That is not a safe or a pleasant
voyage which is taken amid rocks, peering to the su
face, and whose terminus is shrouded in eternal fogs,
Tue Exp or Man. 147

and lashed with ceaseless storms. Nor is that a safe
or pleasant path pursued by the lover of pleasure.
Thorns spring up in his road, pitfalls multiply at every
step, the basalisk hisses in his path, and in an unex-
pected moment his steps slide, he takes a final and a
fatal plunge, and disappears forever. There is a way
that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof
are the ways of death.

Again: I see a company of youth sit down to a
game of chance. An innocent thing it seems to rattle
a dice-box or shuffle a pack of cards. But what shall
be in the end thereof? The love of play grows by
indulgence to such dimensions, and acquires such
power, that fortunes will be staked upon the throw of
a die ; and while the blood boils with excitement, and
the brain whirls with phrenzy, the wretched, ruined
man goes forth into life a maniac, or down to his grave
a suicide.

The licentious youth commences what seems to him
a course of gayety and enjoyment. He puts no re-
straint upon his passions; but, allows his principles to
be vanquished, his body and his mind to be enerva-
ted, and his soul polluted and poisoned; but he shall
mourn at the last when his flesh and his body are con-
sumed, and say “how have I hated knowledge, and
my heart despised reproof, and I would not listen to
148 Tae Enp or Man.

the voice of my teachers, nor incline my ear to them
that instructed me.”

But take now the case of the young man of honor-
able associations, who shuns the company and the
course of the inconsiderate classes referred to, and
proposes to enter into honorable competition with his
peers for the riches and pleasures of the world. Would
it not be well for him tuo, to look forward and inquire
what shall be in the end thereof. I meet a young
man just at the entrance of the world and ask him of
his employment. He is perhaps an apprentice at a
trade, or a student in mercantile or commercial life.
I ask him what course he intends to pursue when his
noviciate is ended? To enter business on his own
account. And what then? To prosecute with in-
dustry and enterprise his chosen calling. And what
then? To settle in life, build him a house, gratify his
taste and educate his children. And what then?
Why, retire from business and pass the evening of
his days in ease and plenty. Well, and what then?
Why, of course, at last to die. Now the question I
have to propose is, why allow your provisions to fail
just at that point? Why provide even for the contin-
gencies of life, and not for one of its absolute certain-
ties? You provide for living, why not for dying ?
If death be the finality of every human enterprise—
if all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave is perish-
Tur Env or Man. 149

ing—if every path of joy or sorrow, of fancy or glory
leads but.to the grave, why not take this into the ac-
count from the beginning? If death (as Dr. Chalmers
says) is “a tremendous necessity,” why not prepare
for it from the moment when it was announced to
you as a possible event? Is it because death is re-
mote. It may not be remote. It is not remote from
all young men and women. It is awfully near to
multitudes.
“ Foremost at the banquet and the ball

Death leads the dance and stamps the deadly die
Aud never fails the midnight bowl to crown.”

Death is oftimes present when least expected. At
a moment when we look not for it, its gaunt form
stalks into our midst to cut off our young men from
without, and our children from the streets. A ubig-
uitous thing is death, But what if death were re+
mote? True discretion requires that you provide for
the remote as well as the proximate. It is none the
less real because it is distant, and the interests of a
thousand years hence should be as sacred in your re-
gar'ds as those of to-morrow. That distant future will
become a present, possessing all the consciousness, all
the sensibility, and all the earnest wants which belong
to the passing day. You call that person very incon-
siderate who cares and provides only for the present
150 Tue Enp or Man.

moment. You condema him not only by your words,
but by your conduct, which is all regulated with ref-
erence to prospective wants. The very sagacity
which enables you to lay the foundation of a fortune,
to pave your way to success in life, would, if rightly
employed, lead you to provide yourselves bags wliich
wax not old, a treasure in heaven Where no moth cor-
rupteth and no thieves break through and steal.

2. All these reasonings apply in’a modified form to
the man in middle life. With him the heyday of
youth has passed. As a sober autumn succeeds a
blooming spring and an ardent summer, so an earnest,
ripened manhood, treads hard upon the heels of smil-
ing infancy and joyous youth. Manhood differs from
youth not only in the more perfect development of
the pliysical man, and in the maturity of judgment,

-acquired by observation, study and experience, but
also in the great objects of its desire and pursuit.
There are some passions, which from their very na-
ture cannot always be indulged; or being indulged
cannot be ministers cf happiness. “Iam,” said Bar-
zillai, “this day fourscore years old and can I discover
between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I
eat or what I drink? can Ihear any more the voice of
singing men and singing women?” Youthful blood
will not always throb in thy veins. As surely as gray
hairs will flourish on thy brow, aud time plough wrin-
Toe Enp or May. 151

kles on thy cheek, so surely will your imaginations
droop, your fancies and preferences undergo changes,
and life be presented to you in altered and sobered
aspects. “Life is real, life is earnest.’ It has earnest
duties, earnest cares, earnest sorrows, and many have
earnest joys. The pressure of these duties and cares
begin to be felt as you cut loose from your childhood
home; just as the sailor feels the heavings of ocean’s
bosom when he weighshis anchor and strikes from the
shore. And now I see you, fellow voyagers, a whole
fleet of you, out midway on the waters of life. I hail
you and inquire whither are you bound ? and coming
back from many a deck, and halyard, I hear the re-
ply, “we are bound to Ophir the land of gold.” Fel-
low navigators of life’s great ocean, let us reason to-
gether. Let us inquire after the fate of the multitudes
who have preceded us in this direction. A large
number of them we may safely assert never reached
their destination ; of those who have, few have found
their expectations answered; and of those few, only
‘a fraction have long reta‘ned and enjoyed their long
sought boon. To drop-figures, let me ask how many
of the earnest laboring multitudes around us attain
the object of their pursuit? Not that many do not
not reach the goal of their early aspirations; but new
wante have been evolved 3 new desires have been awak-
ened, the eye now measures other leagues, and the
152 Tor Ewp or Man.

muscles are strung for another race. Tell me who of
you have reached the limit of your desires, who of
you have no further favors to ask of fortnne? Does
not he who is already filled to repletion still cry like
the daughters of the horse leech, giwe, give? I have
said that there are some passions which soon become
seated; but love of power and of wealth are in
their nature insatiable. They grow by what they feed
on, so that while Alexander could weep that there
was no other world to which he could extend the
terror of his name and his arms, the rich man still
sighs for added riches, and already laden down with
earth’s thick clay he piles heavy burdens upon his
back and upon his heart. “ What shall be done in
the end thereof.” Why, “the end of all these things
is death.” And how unfortunate the condition of him
who “heaps up treasures here below, and dying, leaves
them all behind.” I have particularly specified the
matter of gain because this is supposed to be the sin
to which middle life is prone, particularly in this ul-
tra-utilitarian-age. But whatever be the manner in
which you employ and expend your energies, still the
inquiry is relevant “ what shall be in the end thereof.”
Autumn with you is passing away, winter is coming
on. Yoursteps approach the graveyard. Cast about
after the final issue of things, Your sun is declining.
It will descend very rapidly. It will not roll back:

f°
c
Taz Enp or Man. 153

ward like the shadow in the dial of Abaz, nor hang
suspended in the heavens as in the days of Joshua.
On rolls the golden orb strong as a giant to run a
race. Soon it will go down behind the darkened west
and disappear forever. Shall it set in everlasitng
darkness, or shall it reappear again and shine forever
in the kingdom of heaven ?

An aged man was once gathering boughs in the for-
est. He laid a load upon his shoulders and found it
very heavy. He laid it off for a moment, cut other
boughs, added them to the heap, and then resumed
his burden. But now his bending frame could scarce
sustain the added load; he staggered on a little way,
and then throwing down his burden he plied his axe
and added the thickly falling branches to the ‘enor-
mous heap. Once more he succeeded in lifting the
crushing load, but soon it bore him down, his steps
failed, and he sunk to rise no more.

You say this is an allegory ; I admit it; but does it
not correctly indicate the conduct of the sinner who
knows that he must repent or perish? A load of sin
presses him down. He pauses and surveys with con-
cern his enormous burden, and then adds to it the res-
ponsibility and sin of another year; he binds sin to
him with cords and iniquity with cart-ropes, until
overborne with the intolerable load, he sinks lower

than the grave.
154 Tae Enp or Man.

Shall I then say to the business man, suspend or
abandon your business? No! If it be a lawful and
honorable business, I say to him, attend to it and be
diligent in it. Dismiss your over-anaieties, but by
diligence and economy gain and save what is necessa-
ry for life and godliness, and to enable you to exercise
that crowning grace of charity, without which no man
e’er entered heaven. But let me further enquire what
is the business of a man bound to eternity, and destined
to live forever? Evidently not to neglect the spiritual
while providing for the physical man, not to ignore
God, and his law, and the judgment day, and the
eternal world, while providing for the interests of this
fleeting life. These things ought to be done and not
to-leave the other undone. Come, then, ye strong
men. Devote your manly energies to the service of
God and the good of your race. Labor not alone for
the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth
to eternal life.

3. Have I failed to. command the assent of the
young and the middle aged to the rectitude of the Di-
vine claim? have I failed to awaken a purpose in their
hearts to give to God the things which are God’s?
then will I turn with sorrowing steps to that aged
pilgrim band that I see far down the vale of life. They
are a small company ; the greater proportion of their
number have passed on before. Those that remain
Tar Enp or Man. 155

are but the wrecks of what they were. Evil days
have come upon them, and the years draw near when
they find no pleasure. The keepers of their house
tremble, their strong men bow themselves, their win-
dows are darkened, the sound of the grinders ceases,
and their head blossoms like the almond tree. Their
pitcher is being broken at the fountain, and the wheel
at the cistern ; their dust is just ready to return to the
dust as it was, and the spirit to God, who gave it.
Surely they will heed my voice; surely the ties of life
hold feebly here, and those so near to the eternal
world will be induced to enquire what shall be in the
end of a life so nearly completed? “ But the tree of
deepest root is found.”

Another fact, an alarming fact, here also discloses
itself. I allude not so much to the fact that age is a
second childhood, a driveling dotage, which is incapa-
ble of forming or executing any great achievement
either physical or moral; but to the fact that habits
have then acquired such strength, the mentalities have
become not only so impaired but so obstinate, and the
affections not only so languid but so wayward, that
nothing less than Almighty Grace can vanquish the
perversities of a will so long indulged, restrain the
vagaries of an imagination so long allowed to run riot,
purify that great charnel house of impurities—the
156 Tar Env or Man.

memory —and turn the tide of the affections from
earth to heaven. ‘Can the Ethiopian change his
skin or the leopard his spots, then may one long accus-
tomed to do evil learn to do well.” In some palmy
day of the church yet future, it is announced that a
child shall die an hundred years old; but it is added
that the sinner being an hundred years shall be ac-
cursed. If yonth has its strong excitement, and man-
hood its multiplied cares, age has its accumulated
transgressions and its invincible habits. And yet we
must not renounce all hope nor suspend our efforts for
their salvation. I call to you aged pilgrims, standing
just at the mouth of the opening tomb, “ What will
ye do in the end thereof.”

And inasmuch as the time of our death is an un-
certainty, as it may be as near to one of you who are
young as to the middle aged, and to both as to the old,
all are concerned to to know how it shall be with them
at the end of life. Are you anticipating a peacefal
death? What is the foundation of this anticipa-
tion? Do you possess a renewed heart, and are you
leading a holy life? Remember that what a man
soweth he shall also reap ; that he that soweth to the
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that
soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life ever-
lasting. Plant yourselves for one moment in the
midst of the judgment scenes. Dare to anticipate and
Tue Enp or Man. 157

provide for an event which is so certain and so near.
You need not wait to know what will be your sentence.
You can determine and wild determine this in ad-
vance. You know now whether you are prepared for
the judgment day or not. You will know when you
come to die whether you are ready for that tremend-
ousissue. Ina little while the last of earth will come.
In a few days the clods of the valley will cover you.
But not even your bodies will forever slumber in the
grave a voice louder than ten thousand thunders speak-
ing in emphatic concert, shall pour its thrilling Jarum
on the dull, cold ear of death, and all that slumber in
the earth or in the sea, shall come forth. The dust
reposing beneath the gorgeous monument, that which
fills the sculptured urn, and that which is marked by
no memorial, shall all become animate ; all the dead
shall be raised, and all the living changed. Nor is
the resurrection scene a finality in human history.
We shall be raised that we may be judged, and
judged, that we may be rewarded or punished. Only
when we shall have been swept on to, and beyond
the judgment day, shall we have reached results
which are final. Nor are any of these scenes which
lie on the frontiers of time, and which are embosomed
in great eternity, things to be dreaded. Death is the
means by which God colonizes heaven. The resur-
rection is the processs of becoming immortal. The
158 To Dw, Gain.

coming of Christ, the triumphant advent of our heav-
enly bridegroom. The judgment is our coronation-
day.

SERMON VIII.

~_

TO DIE, GAIN.

 

Phil. 1 : 21— To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

In whatever enterprise man engages, he is mainly
stimulated by the hope of promoting his interests,
widening the field of his usefulness, or enlarging the
resources of hishappiness. Prompted by these mighty
impulsions, there are no labors too great to be under-
taken, no dangers too appalling to be encountered,
and no obstructions too,formidable to be overcome.
But of the three motives enumerated, probably that
of interest is far the most potent in its influence, and
by far the most general in its operation. A few may
be mainly desirous of being useful ; a still larger nuin-
ber inquire, “ where can pleasure be most successfully
sought ? while the masses, greedy only after gain are
prepared to sacrifice npon the altars of mammon their
ease, their health, their homes.

To secure ‘“‘ gain” every avocation has been re-
sorted to, every sea has been crossed, and every
To Die, Gary. 159

mountain barrier scaled. The miner has penetrated
the bosom of the earth, and the diver has brought up
the treasures of the sea. And when the ordinary
sources of gain prove unproductive, man has not
scrupled to resort to the more sanguinary measures
of rapine and violence. The hope of gain not only
sweetens the labors of the peasant, but sharpens the
dagger of the assassin, and the sword of the conquered.

But there is one process of securing “ gain” of
which men have seldom thought, namely the process
ihe prooess of “ dying.” Men have said “ to live is
gain,” “ to labor is gain,” but who have ever thought
or said “ to die is gain?’ Mobb, when about to die,
said, “I am going to take an awful leap into. the
dark,” and Socrates when sentence of death was pro-
nounced upon him, exelaimed, “ And now, oh! ye
judges ! you are going to live, and I am going to die,
but which of these conditions is best, God knows, but
I suppose no man does.” But far different the joyful
and confident exclamation of the Apostle, “ For me
to live is Christ, but to die is gain. I have a desire to
depart and be with Christ which is far better.” Let
us endeavor to trace this feeling to its origin, and
learn what that principle is, which thus grapples suce
cessfully with death, and not only holds the pale king
in abeyance, but obtains a conquest over him.

The sentiment of my text is not a dictate of natu-
160 To Drs, Gam.

ral religion ; nature teaches no such truth. It makes
death the greatest possible calamity. I look upon
the dying man. I mark how disease has reduced him
to a mere wreck of what he was. The strength of his
arm and the beauty of his countenance are gone. I
hear his husky and scarcely articulated tones. I watch
his slow and scarce returning breath, and I ask what
can be gained by passing through agonies like these?
What great end can be wrought out by these dying
struggles? And when the stillness of death has set-
tled down upon those wan features, I renew my in-
quires and ask “ what has been gained?” With Cic-
ero I exclaim “tell me how there is no evil in death.”
The torch which ancient revelation held over the
grave was a flickering one. So dim and uncertain
was the light it emitted that while the Sadducees ac-
knowledged the truthfulness of the Jewish Scriptures,
they yet denied the resurrection of the dead, although
the resurrection and future state were doctrines which
were inwronght into the very texture of the writings
of Moses and the prophets, and were great first truths’
the admission of which was essential to religion ; yet
the faded lines which portrayed immortal man, had
to be drawn afresh before life and immortality were
revealed. And this is done in the New Testament.
This sheds'the light of certainty over the grave It
holds a clear and steady torch at the portals of-the
To Diz, Gam. 161

tomb which shines into eternity. It not only confirms
the fact stated in the old dispensation, that if a man
dic he shail live again, but it makes such glorious dis-
coveries of the state of the blessed as to justify the
yearning desire of the apostle to depart and be wlth
Christ.

_ But what has all this to do with others? Paul
makes this assertion of himself alone, “ for me to die
is gain.” All that the Scriptures tell me of a resurrec-
tion and of a future state, it is quite conceivable may
be a death-knell to all my hopes. Prove to me thatI
am immortal and you have conferred a very equivo-
cal boon. You have put me in possession of a terri-
ble secret. The poor privilege of sinking away into
annihilation was all that I had before, but of that you
have robbed me by demonstrating that I am to live
on, but without informing me where or under what
circumstances I shall continue my existence.

“To die is gain”—but to whom? _Is it gain for him
to die who looks upon death as the extinction of be-
ing, whose motto through life has been “ Death is an
eternal sleep’? This is the heaviest calamity which
can overtake him. Not but that annihilation would
be preferable to eternal woe; but it is far less desira-
ble than life. A gloomy prospect at best it is to be
hid forever in the grave. A melancholy thopglit it is

9 .
162 To Dr, Gaw.

to have the lamp of life extinguished in eternal dark-
ness. But this is not al! that makes death unlovely
to the sceptic. There is a certain undefined but yet
resistless impression on his mind that “it is not all of
death to die.’ Conscience makes cowards of us all
by whispering about something after death. Add
these two ideas together and you can readily under-
stand how it is that to the infidel “It is a dread and
awful thing to die.” ;

Take now the case of the mere man of the world,
the individual who has made this world his ideal, and
has his affections and his heart exclusively set upon
it. Is it gain for him to die? How can it be? His
interests all lay here! His hopes are bounded by
time, and whatever lies beyond is without the range
of his interests. They consist of things visible and
tangible; and to lose ¢hese is all that he accounts val-
uable. Well, now, the dying man must quit his hold
on all these earthly possessions. He brought nothing
into this world, but his capacities. He can carry
nothing out but his character.

“ Earth’s proudest trophies end with “ here he lies,”
And “dust to dust” concludes his noblest song.”

™ Jf now he has never had any other God than this.
world, how is death any gain to him? It is said that
Creesw, a Lydian king, who was famous for his love
To Dm, Gain. 163

of money, having been made prisoner by Cyrus, was
put to death by having molten gold poured down his
throat, his tormenting captor standing by and ex-
claiming “thou who couldst not be satisfied with
gold have now thy fill.” Earthly possessions to the
dying man are valueless as chaff, which the wind
driveth away. Nay, wealth makes dying hard, not
only because to Jeave it is to leave all which has been
accounted valuable, but because it has disqualified its
possessor for the enjoyment of purer and loftier joys.
He is better fitted to admire
“The riches of heaven’s pavement, trodden gold,

Than aught Divine, or holy, else enjoyed,
In beatific vision.”

But to whom then is it gain to die? To him around
whose dying bed clusters the sweet visions of eternal
life. To him whose ear is ravished with eelestial har-
monies. And not only to the saint thus honored with
an extatic death ; all who die in the Lord are blessed,
for they rest from their labors and their works do fol-
low them.

Now life and death are both blessings to the chris-
tian. Both are antecedents to heaveuly rest. Life is
the stadium, death the goal, and heaven the reward
of the good man. Life is the vestibule, and death is
the gateway to the skies. Hence the christian
164 To Dm, Gam.

Thanks God that e’er-he drew his breath,
And triumphs in the thoughts of death.

A love of life is natural to man. It was implanted
in his bosom by his Creator. But for this, suicides
instead of being strange and unwonted events, would
be the common and early outlets of life. And it is
generally observed that this attachment to life loses
nothing by the rush of years.

Age, with its feebleness and its pains, still holds on
to life.

“The tree of deepest root is found
Least willing still to quit the ground,
Twas therefore said by ancient sages
That love of life grows strong with years,
So much that in our later stages,
When pains grow sharp and sickness rages,
The greatest love of life appears.”

But this reluctance to die, grace can overcome. In
thousands of instances it has overcome it, not only in
cases. of the bright names that adorn the ancient
church, but in every age has the Christian proved
himself the hero of the grave. It enabled him to em-
brace the stake and exclaim, “Welcome, cross of
Christ! Welcome, everlasting life!” The hissing
and flickering flame had no power to intimidate such
fearless spirits. And this is not the effect of dogged
resolution forcing itself up to the point of submitting
to inexorable necessity. It is not the marshalling of
To Drs, Gai. 165

the soul’s natural fortitude, a yielding when resistance
ean no longer avail. It is the trusting of the soul in
the hands of Christ, where its weakness becomes the
source of its strength, and its submission the means of
its conquest.

But what does the Christian gain by dying? He
secures two great objects, namely, a deliverance from
present evils, and positive and permanent bliss in
heaven. ‘The evils escaped and the blessings secured
by death we are very inadequate to enumerate. Some
of them, however, may be briefly stated.

1. He secures a deliverance from all those physical
evils and inconveniences which are necessarily con-
nected with his present mode of existence. ‘He finds
a secure asylum from the storms and tempests of
earth. He is eternally housed in the mansions where
the heats of summer and the colds of winter affect
him not.

2. He secures a retreat from dominions where suf-
fering and death hold usurped, but universal domin-
ion, and effects a retreat to the land where disease has
lost its power to annoy, and death is swallowed up in
victory.

3. He passes from a world of uncongenial society
to the pure and elevated companionship of the spirits
of just men made perfect.

4. He exchanges the ephemeral friendships of earth
166 To Dm, Gain.

for those which, instead of waning with advancing
years, and wearying with intimacy, acquire strength

and depth while eternity makes its endless revolu-_

tions.

5. He is freed from those earthly employments
which, though essential to his present mode of exist-
ence, tend to secularize the soul, and make such large
demands upon its time and its energies.

6. The clogs upon the intellect, which incapacitate
it for lofty attainments, will be thrown off, and the
soul be at liberty to pursue its investigations without
impediment or restraint.

7. Disappointments, which were so frequent and so
severe in this life, obscuring his brightest hopes and
embittering his sweetest cups, are things unknown in
that bright world to which he has ascended.

8. But these are the lesser evils from which he has
escaped. There is a class of obstacles that dampen
his faith, clip the wings of his devotion, and clog the
spirit in its attempts to hold communion with God.
Who has not been conscious of hindrances to a growth
in grace? Who has not felt how hard it is at some
times to bring the soul into communion with its Ma-
ker? The wing of the soul is so unfledged, the obsta-
cles thrown in his path are so frequent and so formid-
able, that he is constrained to mourn over the tardy
To Dm, Gam. 167

movements of his soul, and that his advances in 1 holi-
ness are slow. He oftimes sings, sas
“Look how we grovel here below,
Fond of these earthly toys,
Our souls how heavily they go,
To reach eternal joys.”

But complete deliverance from these impediments
will be secured by exchanging mortality forlife. The
soul, now so slow in its movements, will enter at once
into rapt communion with its God, never to be bro-
ken off again to all eternity.

9. The soul of the Christian, even of the best Chris-
tian, is here subject to temptation from the devil.
What though we see not the fell spirits that lurk
about us. They are around us still. They track us
while we wake and when we sleep, and seek oppor-
tunities, at every unguarded moment, to pierce our
hearts with their poisonous arrows. Cruel as the
grave, sleepless as the fabled Argus, subtle, powerful
and numerous, they throng around us, bent upon our
ruin. No escape from their temptations except by
eressing the river of death. “There the wicked cease
from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.”

But all the Christian gains by dying is not of a
negative character. There are fountains of positive
and permanent felicity that gush up all along his
pathway through eternity. God will see to it that
the Christian’s heaven is all that is needful to consti-
tute him blessed. In the presence of God there is
fallness of joy, and at his right hand there are pleas-
ures forevermore.

Heaven is the concentration of every joy—the re-
alization of every hope—the full answer to ten thou-
sand prayers—the satisfying portion of the soul. Jn
its duration it knows no other limits than eternity ;
and, during the mighty sweep of ages unending, shall
cothmunications of grace be made to the redeemed
spirit. We may learn,

1. That high moral and spiritual qualifications are
necessary to secure a peaceful and triumphant death.
Philosophy may boast of its fortitude in calamity—
courage may nerve the heart of the warrior on the
field of carnage and of death, but Christian principle
and spiritual endowments only, prepare the heart for
a tranquil and joyful exchange of mortality for life.

2. The Scriptures make an obvious distinction be-
tween the death of the Christian and of the sinner.
“The wicked shall be driven away in his wickedness,
but the righteous hath hope in his death.” “(Mark
the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end
of that man is peace.” But “when a wicked man
dieth his expectation shall perish.” Such Scriptures
look like the cloud which lay between the Israelites
and the Egyptians, presenting a dark side to the lat-
To Diz, Gam. 169

ter, to trouble and bewilder them, and to the former
an aspect luminous and brilliant, to encourage and to
guide them. They represent death as Pharaoh’s goal-
er, leading forth the chief butler and the chief baker,
one to dignity and honor; the other to ignominy and
death. God has ever honored the death of his people

with consolation and hope, and not unfrequently with
raptures of joy. Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of his saints,

“How sweetly sets the Christian's sun,
Just as the summer monarch sets

Midst cloudless skies, his journey run,
To rise in higher regions yet.

Oh! when the Christian ends his days,
Lingers a lovely line of rays

That speaks his calm departure blest,
And promises to those who gaze

The same beatitude of rest,”
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

SHRIENS«~TEN SERMONS:

SBERMON IX.

—_—oe

EXISTENCE OF GOD.

 

Psalms xiv: 1.—The fool hath gaid in his heart, there is no God,
1. I shall begin this series of discourses by a remark
going to vindicate the practice of doctrinal preaching,
Any objection to this will be obviated by the reflec:
tion that doctrinal preaching is not necessarily contro-
versial, but is in its tendencies necessarily practical.

The sublime doctrines of the Holy Scriptures have
not been revealed to gratify curiosity, but to affect
the hearts and influence the lives of men.

2. The doctrines of religion are nothing but state:
ments of facts. The present seems to be ground com-
mon to both doctrines and facta, Here they meet
and blend and lose themselves in identical elements
and principles, while the past is the exclusive domain
of facts, and the future of doctrines,

The Creation is a fact ;

The conflagration, a doctrine,
Existence or Gop. 171

The flood of Noah is a fact ;

The final judgment, a doctrine.

And as we are more concerned with the future than
the past,—as we are to be swept into the scenes of
coming time, it does not become us to ignore or dis-
regard the revelation of them.

3. By doctrines we mean of course the doctrines of
revelation; and hence the Scriptures must be the
source of all our information. To be sure, after God
hath spoken in his word, if nature utter a confirma-
tory voice, we gladly listen to it. But how unwise
to interrogate uncertain analogies, and follow reason
first, and then press revelation into the service of
theories learned elsewhere. The only appropriate
question for a believer in revelation, when searching
for truth, is, “What is written in the law?’ All
other informants are bidden to wait until God hath
spoken.

4, Objection is sometimes made that the doctrines
of revelation are not unfolded in their order, but are
scattered through the Bible. This accords with God’s
general manner of teaching truth. ‘We need the dis-
cipline which it requires. :

5. In prosecuting our inquiries we should discard
all prejudice and come with the docility of pupils to
an infallible preceptor. We are not to sit in judg-
ment on the word of God; but to receive with meek-
172 Esastence or Gop.

ness the ingrafted word which is able to save our
souls,

If in demonstrating the divine existence we do not
regard the Scriptures as our great source of proof, it
is because none who admit their inspiration need an
argument at all The atheist of course repudiates the
Bible, and we can otily come to him with the book of
nature. The Bible indeed never proves, nor even
asserts the being of a God; it always assumes it, as
an anterior and unquestioned truth. The first verse
ascribes creation to Him, as though the evidences of
his being had been presented in some “ clear Scrip-
ture writ by God’s own hand.”

The heathen gives no heed to the Scriptures of
which he knows nothing, nor the atheist to a Book of
which he believes nothing. In dealing with each I
must point to the primal proofs of Jehovah’s being
and power, which his works furnish, and having dem-
onstrated that there is a God of Infinite Attributes it
at once becomes both a possible and a probable thing
that he has spoken to men. We are then prepared
to attend to the evidences which affirm that he has
thus spoken, and this proven, we have in our hands
the infallible standard of truth; the unfailing foun-
tains ot saving knowledge gush up around us.

‘If our attempts to demonstrate the existence of God
ehould fail, it is consoling to know that every attempt
Existence or Gop. 173

to prove that there is no God must also fail. Theism
can never be proved false; Atheism can never be
proved true. On this subject man can never travel
beyond the regions of unbelief into those of positive
disbelief. He may be dissatisfied with the evidence
that there is a God; but he must admit that there is
no positive evidence that there is no God. It is
always difficult to prove a negative; and in this case
it is plainly impossible to do so. He who can affirm
this, and prove it, must be a God himself. For,

1: He muet be certain not only that no evidences
of the divine existence surround him, but that they
do not exist any where. (One human footprint on an
island) To know this he must go every where. He
must leave the green earth, the pale moon, the bright
sun, or a family of stars, study each and all, sweep to
the frontier stars, and mount the wall that overlooks
the vale of non-existence. He must be prepared to
say he has been every where, seen every thing, con-
versed with every spirit—that there is absolutely no
evidence, any where, that there is a God. If his tour
were less extensive, or his ubservations less critical,
his conclusions cannot be admitted; for on that un-
visited world may be concentrated the proofs of a
first great Cause.

9. And these observations must be carried on in
every place at the same tune. For sufficient proofs of
174 Existence or Gop.

the Divine existence may be presented at some assign-
ed point, if the enquirer were only present to exam-
ine them. But before he reaches that point these
evidences may be shifted to a remote part of the Uni-
verse. He must then be in all places at the same pe-
riod ; or what would answer the same purpose, he
must occupy some post of observation, whence he can
sweep across the entire fields of space with a single
glance of his eye. Then only could he say there is
now no evidence any where for the being of a God.

8. Again, he must be able not only to survey all
the present but absolutely to know all the past. What
if no proof of the existence of God can now be fonnd,
how do I know but they may have been furnished to
all past generations.

He must traverse the plain which stretches back-
ward to the birth of time, and be able to affirm that
never since the first morning star awoke, and sang
its matin song, did one proof exist of the existence of
a Great First Cause. For if such evidence ever ex-
isted, the great truth is established, even if the wine
dow of Heaven whence the outbeaming glory em-
anated were that moment closed forever.

4, He then who can affirm that there is no God
must possess these qualifications; an ability to visit
every part of the universe, to be present in all places
at the same time, power to know the records of every
.  Exisrznoz or Gop. 178

past event; to which must be added, an ability of
tracing causes and consequence, without the possibil-
ity of error. In other words, he must have existed
from the beginning of time, he must know all things,
be able to do all things, dwell in every place, in short,
possess every natural attribute of Diety. So true is
it that he who can say “there is no God” is a God
himself. He who does say it (says David) is a fool.

5. Compared with the arduous task of the Atheist,
ours is easy. We have but to examine some definite
territory and by a most direct process demonstrate
the eternal power and Godhead of Him who scattered
there such a profusion of glories.

(1.) We insist not here on the thousand combina-
tions of matter which surround us; we dwell not on
evident adaptations and designs everywhere appar-
rent. But we point to the things which are made,
and ask, “who made them?” ‘Take the smallest par-
ticle of matter, the small dust of the balance, and
tell me whence came it? Not all the combined pow-
er of man, aided by ail the mechanical and chemical
processes of science, could create that grain. The ar-
gument with the Atheist is short and simple. Here
are effects. It is inisted they must havea cause. A
design implies a designor.

(2.) Look now at matter in some of its combina-
tions. Here is a fower, It sprang but yesterday
176 Exisrence of Gow.

from the earth, yet Solomon was not thus arrayed.
Here is a bird; how bright its plumage, and how
sweet its soig. Here is a world, with its mountains
and its oceans. In its bosom is the untold wealth of
the mineral kingdom; on its surface, waving har:
vests, and flocks, and herds, and multitudes of men.
Above me is sun and moon and stars. At night, there
is spread before me a scene of wondrous beauty and
grandeur. “Oh! what a confluence.” And yet man
can lift himself up in this great temple of Jehovah
and deny the being of its builder !

Sir Isaac Newton once invited a sceptic to examine
a pair of beatitiful artificial globes and affirmed that
they were chance work. Suppose I take you toseea
palace in a forest and profess to believe that it
chanced to be erected.

This argument is so convincing that heathen of.
ten see its force. The Arab—and camel tracks in the
sand. The Indian—pfaying to the maker of the sun.
And it requires only some instructed hand to touch
the appropriate chord ina heathen’ssoul and his hoary
systems melt away and @od is throned in his breast.
See the great movement in China. “The heavens
declare the glory of God to them as well as unto us.”
To all thesong of nature is, “the hand that made us
is divine.” “Q@od’s hand unseen sustains the poles.”

We have but just hinted at the evidence which
Existence or Gop. 177

meets our gaze wherever we look. Nature pleads for
this truth with a thousand tongues. Every little flow-
er discourses of God. “Every thing that has breath,”
from the grasshopper that sings, &c., to the Behemoth
that draws up Jordan, is a volume of Theology; and
man is the supplement with one thousand additional
arguments. The sculptor can never equal the origi-
nal. He may make an eye, an ear, a vein, &c. Let
the Atheist read—and be an Atheist still. Let him
read the poetry of heaven. Who guides their mo-
tions and prevents such concussions as would set the
universe ajar? “Do world’s unguarded in their or-
bits fly ?” Thus the heavens declare the glory of God.
Man’s moral nature demands a God.

1. If Atheism even be true, a future and immortal
existence for man may also be true. This world exists--
so may another. Man now is-—he may be hereafter.

2. In either case the wicked may well tremble. If
earth is by chance—Aell may be also. If God is—
and is the avenger of sin, “It is a fearful thing to fall
into his hands.” “I am afraid there is a God,”
“rocks, &.”

3. But to the righteous the name of the Lord is his
delight. Passing through the valley of death the rod
of his shepherd comforts him ; and in heaven his ey-
er growing joy will be to join the swelling diapason,
Hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
SERMON X.

UNITY OF GOD.

 

I Cor. viii: 4,— There is none other God but one.”

The fact that there is a God being established the ques-
tion arises, may there not be more thanone? Though
Atheism is certainly false, ma ynot Dualism or Polyth-
ism be true? To us this question may seem to be of
very easy solution, and yet it is certain that large por-
tions of the world, even of the learned world, have
wandered bewildered here in endless mazes lost.
Idolatry is traceable to a very high antiquity. The
first form of it was the worship of the sun. This was
natural, regarding the sun as the beneficent source of
light, and heat and fruitfulness. The sun might at
first have been regarded as an emblem of deity and
worshipped subordinately ; but the tendency of idolatry
is to degeneracy, and soon the sun was the supreme
object of worship ; and fire as its representative was
also worshipped. This is the present form of worship
in Persia. re is regarded as sacred, and worshipped
as divine. The first account of idolatry in the Scrip-
tures ig among the ancestors of Abraham of whom
Joshua says that they served other Gods beyond the
flood. They, however, renounced their idolatry and
Untry or Gup. 179

accompanied Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to
Haran, on their way to Canaan.

Laban, the father-in-law of Jacob, appears to have
been an Idolater, for Rachel in her flight, stole his
“images ” which he calls his “Gods.” Every account
which we have of the nations of those early times re-
presents them asidolaters. The Moabites worshipped
Chemosh, the Ammonites, Moloch, the Philistines,
Dagon, while Baal was worshiped hy the Canaanites,
the Phenicians, Sidonians, Carthagenians, Babylon-
ians, &e.

The Israelites, early fell into Idolatry, and for this
sin they were often and sorely punished. The two

first commands of the Decalogue are against Idolatry,
the first that of the mind, the second against image

worship. Egypt the parent of the sciences, was one
of the most idolatrous of nations. They not only had
their celestial divinities as Osiris and Iris, but they
worshipped beasts, reptiles and vegetables. The more
refined but no less idolatrous Roman, lampooned
Egypt as the holy nation where gardens bear a crop
of Gods, &e.

Greece and Rome are regarded as standing high
in the rank of civilization. Never did the world pro-
duce superior orators, poets, sculptors, or scientific
men. But how humbling to admit that they were all
idolaters. They had their superior Gods, twenty in
180 Unity or Gop.

number and lesser divinities were almost innumerable.
Jupiter thundered in the heavens, Neptune controlled
the waves, and Pluto held dark dominion beneath.
Every forest had its nymph. Every fountain its naiad.
Every mountain and glen had its local divinity. Every
breeze had its guiding God. Every passion which
invades the heart and every employment of man had
its patronizing deity. This was the state of things in
those palmy ages when Rome was mighty and when
Greece was classic. Rome, indeed, adopted the Gods
of every nation she conquered, and even proposed to
give Christ a place in her Pantheon.

Nor is the state of modern paganism in advance of
this. If it might be said of Judea “ according to the
number of thy cities, &., it may be said according to
the number of thy population are thy Gods, oh Asia !
according to thy sands, Africa, according to thy waves,
Polynesia.

In Semi-civilized China, the temples are filled with
images. In Africa, every one carries his Gree-Gree.
The ancient Magian doctrine that there there are two
Gods—one good, and the other evil, is still held among
some nations, who worship the devil through fear,
more than God through love,

The doctrine of divine unity is then exclusively a
doctrine of revelation, and one which when embraced
by the nations, will cause them to cast their idols to
Unriry or Gop. 181

the moles, and like vanquished followers of Baal, to
exclaim the Lord he is God.

1. In adducing the proofs of the divine unity, it is
almost superfluous to adduce the Scripture evidences.
Their language is explicit, “ The Lord our God is one
God.” “The Lord, he is God and there is none else.”’
* Thou art God alone,” Psalm lxxxvi, x.

Now some things are one in kind, but yet admit
many individuals as angels and men, but God is so one
that there are no other. Some things are one, because
there are no other, and yet there might have been.
But God is so one, there can be no more.

#2. Two Gods are impossible. There may be two
beings of great power; not of almighty power, ex-
tensive dominion, but not universal dominion. The
question has been asked what would be the effect if
an érresistible body should strike an immovable one.

We answer, the case supposed is an impossible one.
For if there be an ¢rresistible body, no wmmovable one
could impede its course, otherwise it would be resist
able. So it is impossible there be two Gods, for one
has aid power and perfection, and none is left for the
other. :

3. Multiplied Gods are unnecessary. The hypothesis
of Theism accounts for every thing. Magianism sup-
poses two are necessary to account for good and evil.
But there is more good than evil, and evil is ofttimes
182 Unrry or Gop.

overruled for good. The one he has ordained, the
other permitted. We are not obliged to furnish more
than adequate cause for any thing. One God accounts
for all things.

So in the earth and the heavens there is ever-grow-
ing evidence of a common Creator and Governor.
No other God but the God of the Bible calls us His
creatures or claims our love and service. Wesee but
one will, one intelligence. One system of laws gov-
erns all things. In obedience to it an apple falls and
worlds sweep through space. We have day and
night. So do‘ other planets. Our light is the same
as theirs. We discover new lands, but the old laws
are found there. The elements act, electricity oper-
ates, the tides rise, the needle vibrates, &c. One sun,
one moon, one atmosphere. Each could they speak
would trace their origin and acknowledge their alle-
giance to the same “Tord of all.” —

A Finally, the idea of a plurality of Gods is incom-
patible with all true worship. True worship must be
supreme, and undivided. If our affections are divid-
ed and each shares only a part, the God of the Bible
would reject His as unworthy His acceptance. He
will not set in the Pantheon and share the praises of
‘His creatures, with rival Divinities. He claims to be
a King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” and He will not
give His glory to another. If there be many Gods to
Unrry or Gop. 183

whom shall I pray? Whom shall I praise? Whom
shall [love? Whomshall Iserve? My mind roves
distracted, and amid the mazes and mysteries of Pol-
ytheism, I sink into practical if not theoretical athe-
ism.

Let not the doctrine of Divine unity be regarded as
purely speculation. It is stated, and reiterated, and
insisted on in the Scriptures for some good reason.

1. It is possible that though not a theoretical Poly-
theist you have yet many Gods, and though not an
-avowed Atheist, you are yet without God in the
world. Gold, fame, pleasure, appetite may be your
God, but in the God of the Bible you may have no
saving interest.

9. If this God, be not your friend you have no oth-
er refuge to flee to. You always must be under his
hand, always in his dominion—in heaven, earth or
hell.

3. But if He be with you, you need fear no other,
none shall pluck you out of His hand.
SERMON XI,

ETERNITY OF GOD.

Psalm Ix]: 2.—"From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”

The next attribute of Deity which we shall notice
is His eternity. By this we mean that God had no
beginning, and will have no end. What was figura-
tively true of Melchisidic is literally true of God—
that He is without beginning of days or end of life.

This great fact that pertains to the very nature of
God, has given rise to a discussion which we do not
think worth while to introduce here, except barely to
state it and leave it to be opposed by the general ten-
or of Scripture. It has been said that past, present
and future are not appropriate terms, as marking the
Divine duration,—that with God is no past, no future,
but that all is one eternal now,—that as He fills the~
universe with His presence, so He fills eternity with
His duration. These representations may be sublime,
but they are hardly intelligible, and, if they mean any
thing else than that God is eternal in His duration,
unscriptural. The Scriptures speak of God’s being
before other events, as before the mountains were
brought forth, or earth formed. They represent His
Erernrry or Gop. 185

being as a continued, unceasing flow of existence.
He was, and és, and zs to come. :

This phrase, from everlasting to everlasting, is de-
signed to mark the absolute eternity of God. There
never was a time when God was not; that is His past
eternity. There never will come a time when He will
not be; that is His future eternity. In His future eter-
nity angels and men will share His immortality, but
they must be heldinbeing by Him. In His past eter-
nity He existed alone. These preliminaries being stat-
ed, we hasten to adduce the Scripture evidences of this
doctrine.

1. In numerous Scriptures this attribute of Jehovah
is pointed out by some expressive adjective prefixed
to His name. Deut. xxxiii: 27; Rom:i: 20; Gen.
xxi: 33: Isa. xl: 27; Rom. xvi: 26.

2. In other passages this doctrine is stated incident-
ally. This is the strongest proof. Isa, lvii: 15; Mak
iii: 6; 1 Tim. i: 17; James i: 17.

3. In other places this attribute is directly ascribed
to God. Ex. iii: 14—“I AM hath sent me unto you.”
This denotes His self-existence. Ex. vi: 3—I appear-
ed unto Abraham by, &c. The name “Jehovah,”
was, with the Jews, an “ineffable” name. It denotes
His past and future eternity. Deut. xxxii: 40—T lift
up My hand and swear, &e. Psa, cli: 11-12--Hy:
days sar the shadow, &c. Psa. cit: 25-27-—-Of
186 Erzentry or Gop.

old hast Thou laid, &c. Here the fleeting nature of
this earth is.contrasted with the permanency of the
Divine throne and the Divine being.

-4, Aside from this Scriptural argument it will not
be difficult to establish the eternity of God to all who
admit his being.

(1.) In relation to His past eternity, if He has not
existed from everlasting there was a time when there
was no God. If there was no God, and now is, He
must have created Himself, i. e., He mnst have acted
before He existed.

(2.) His existence can never be terminated by any
external agent ; such have not power. Nor by Him-
self; because being perfectly blessed in Himself, He
can never desire to cease to exist.

Our existence had a beginning and a cause, and
may have an end; God had no beginning, no cause,
and can never end.

Il. Let us seek to impress this great trath upon our

minds, and learn the practical lesson it imports. The
ephemeral fly lives six hours. Brief, compared to

our seventy years. This short, compared to Methu-
saleh’s life. This only a fraction of our earth’s histo-
ry. This may be but a brief part of the years which
angels and archangels have lived. But away in the
dateless years of an eternity which had absolutely no
beginning God dwelt supremely blest.
Ererniry or Gop. 187

By and by, the sun will grow dim with age, the
stars will wane and disappear, the earth shall be wrapt
in its winding sheet of fire, and God and angels come
to lay it in the grave ; but God remains the same and
His years shall not fail. From everlasting to ever-
lasting.

III. This view of the Divine eternity explains many
dark ways of providence.

1. Infidelity has asked why did not God make man
&c., earlier. Had He made them ten thousand ages
earlier this cavil would have been just as forcible.

2. The same thing has been asked in reference to
redemption. This cavil is made on the false supposi-
tion that Christ’s death had no retrospective efficacy.

3. It has been said that amid the vast universe
which claims the Divine notice, He has not the time
to devote to this earth which the Scriptures represent.
We answer, He has no lack of time. All eternity. is
at His disposal, “and a thousand years are with Him:
as one day.” :

4. Here is the foundation of security and joy to the
people of God. Who would love and trust in objects
in their very nature fleeting and dying? Wealth is
transient, honors fade, friends die, the earth will per-
ish, but the foundations of the Christian’s joy and
hope can never fail, And because He liveth, His
188 Power or Gop.

people shall live also. Engrafted upon the tree of
life, they shall flourish in immortal youth.

5. The same fact carries no alleviation to the heart
of one unreconciled to God. Oh! ifGod were to cease
to be, or were to cease to be God, then might I, amid
the chaos which would ensue, or, at least, in the anni-
hilation into which I must fall, find a refuge from the
inexorable justice of the Almighty.

SERMON XII.

POWER OF GOD.

 

Psalms lxii: 11.—“‘ God hath spoken once; twice have I heard
this ; that power belongeth unto God.”

The great design of this Psalm is to show the au-
thor’s confidence in God. Verses 1 and 2 strongly
express this. Verses 11 and 12 show the ground of
his confidence.

The peculiar phraseology of the text may be de-
signed to point out the two revelations God has made,
or to proclaim the two attributes of God—his power
and his mercy. Taking the first exposition the text
indicates the double process by which God proclaims
his power.
Power or Gop. 189

Power is ability ; omnipotence is almighty power,
and this is what we claim for God. To this broad
statement two qualifications must be made.

1. In morals God can do nothing which is contrary
to his moral nature. This is truth—lence, God can-
not lie. He is pure—he cannot sin. This fact heigh¢.
ens his perfections.

2. In nature he cannot do what is not an object of
power. No eye can see what is invisible. No ear
hear what is inaudible. No power do what is impos-
sible. True, the Scriptures affirm that “ with God
nothing is impossible.” But this is of course limited
by the principle stated. For instance: He cannot
cause a thing to be, and yet not to be. But this isno
disparagement of his power, any more than it is of
an eye that it cannot perceive nonentities. But with
these limitations there is nothing which lies outside
of the ability of God to do.

I. “ Once hath God spoken,” viz: In his word,
“that power belongeth, &c.” To that voice -let us
incline our ear. Gen. xvii: 1; Isa. xxvi: 4; James
xxvii: 5; Dan.v.: 85; Actsxxvi: 8; 1 Cor. vi: 14;
Rev. xix: 6. Of the evidence furnished in nature
of this fact the Scriptures take notice. They ascribe
ereation to him. “The heavens declare the glory,
&c.” “He spreadeth out the heavens.”

All this was done with utmost ease. He made
190 Power or Gop.

for the sea a decreed place. “Who hath measured
the waters ?”

These descriptions are often derrible. The pillars
of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
He divideth the sea by his power. He removeth
mountains and they know it not; he overturneth
them in his anger ; he shaketh the earth out of her
place, and the pillars thereof tremble; he command-
eth the sun and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars.

The Scriptures also represent spirits as equally sub-
ject to his power. The good veil their faces in his,
&c. The evi he casts down to hell.

By and by he will blow out the sun, sweep his hand
across the heavens and brush sun and stars aside, burn
up this world, possibly building others of its materials,
and will be ever and everywhere giving forth new
evidences of his power.

II. The second voice heard by the Psalmist is that
of nature itself. For a moment we too will listen to
this voice, seconding the voice of Revelation.

There are points on the earth where the eye sweeps
over vast extents of land and sea. But let this earth
pass in panoramic swiftness before an observers eye,
and death would come e’er his observations ceased.
The sun would contain 1,300,000 such worlds. Some
500 worlds make up our system. To reach another
system we must travel 20 billions of miles. A com-
Poweg or Gop. 191

mon ball would require four millions of years. Of these
suns 1000 are visible to the eye. With these may be
connected 50,000, But this is but the beginning. The
telescope shows us that we are lingering as yet in the
suburbs of the empire of the Most High. The milky
way contains twenty millions. These are the centers
of 1,000 million. Beyond this are many thousand
nebulew. Each of these is another milky way. I
might state the number of worlds composing these
nebule, but the mind would fail to comprehend them.
And all this is not the Universe. Outside this other
worlds may be. The Universe has bounds, but finite
being will never reach them. None shall reach the
frontier stars, or mount the wall that overlooks the
vale of nonexistence. None can ever say I have seen
all the works of God. And all these are moving with
inconceivable velocity through space. The moon
sweeps around the earth. The earth (68,000 miles
per hour) around the sun. What we call jiwed stars
doubtless move with velocity far greater. What
power is required to hold them in their mighty career.

It will heighten our conception to remember that
they are the abodes of life. Other worlds are more
than masses of matter,—the homes of intelligent
beings. ‘These spirits may dwell in purity.

J. Such views should humble us. “ When I con-

sider the heavens.”
492 Power or Gob.

2. They should excite humble trust. Great as are
the works of God he takes care of themall. “He
paints the insect’s wing, &e.” If the telescope humbles
tne, the microscope encourages me. He provides for
the animacule, and I shall not be overlooked. “The .
God that rules on high.” “Though the sea roar and
the earth be moved.”

We have epoken mainly of God’s physical power.
But there is a moral power equally deserving con-
sideration,

Here, as before, there are limitations. God governs
matter by force. ‘“ Doubtless the sailing of a cloud.”
He governs mind by motives. He makes man a part-
ner in the work of redemption. It is no derogation
to his moral power to say he cannot save a sinner in
his sins, in impenitence and unbelief.

But to every true penitent there is ground of strong
hope and confidence. He who can lift up the pillars
of the universe can build up the ruined soul for
heaven. He who can create worlds can re-create thy
soul in righteousness.

Come hide thee under his wing. Make his truth
thy shield and buckler. His power shall be thy de-
fence. But if his mercy be rejected, that same power
shall be exerted to bow thee down to ruin.
SERMON XIIf.

OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.

ee

Psalm exxxix: 7,—‘ Whither sha'l I go from thy spirit? of

whither shall I flee from thy presence ?”

The builders of the Egyptian pyramids must of né«
vessity have been long employed in laying their broad
and deep foundations. Vast labor must have been
bestowed upon the lower strata which were to sus-
tain the weight of the vast structures. So that
after years of trial the laboring hosts saw only a plain
covered with granite which rose but to an insignifi-
cant height above the surface. Yet the second layer
had a less circumference,—and each one as it rose
contracted still, and thus the enormous pile was lifted
up, until its crowning apex stood far up in the heavens,
the wonder and admiration of all coming time. So
it must be with the builders of theological systems.
Time must be taken with the foundation work. Each
step must be examinéd with care so that when the
system is complete, we may feel a sense of security
as we commit our eternal interests to the truth of the
views we haveadopted. “God” says one “ is never
in a hurry,” and we in studying the Divine character
should at least take time for a careful survey of His
194 Omunipresence or Gop.

attributes, and a study of our relations to Him, and
the duties resulting thence. We being (to resume our
figure) another stone for the foundation of our theo-
logical temple to place beside those already laid.

The doctrine which our text asserts in language the
most sublime, and most lucidly illustrates, is the doc-
trine of Divine omnipresence. This doctrine needs not
only to be established as a great fact of revelation,
but to be separated from creed and erroneous opinions
respecting it,

1. First, there is the pantheistic idea that-God is
every where, because every thing isa part of God.
The idea of a personal God is repudiated, and God is
said to be the aggregate of all things. Thus, “ beast,
bird, fish, insect,” are elements of Deity. “ He warms
in the sun, refreshes, &c., &c.” These are his works,
the evidences of his power ; but they are not Aemself.
If so, we (and not heathen) are idolaters.

2. A second error is that God is present every
where only as a sovereign is présent throughont his
dominions. As Queen Victoria is said to be present
by her authority, by her power, and by her repre
sentatives throughout that great empire on which the
fun never sets,~or as the Czar makes himeelf to be
known and feared from his capital to tho wilds of
Siberia ; so on thie view, God is only present every
Omnirresenoz or Gop, 195

where, because every where his authority and sover-
cignty extend. But this does not approach the Scrip-
tural view, which is that God is really every where,
as truly as he is any where,—thatin Him we live and
move and have our being—that He fillcth all things.

8. Another erroneous or at least defective view, is
that although God is really everywhere, yet He is not
present to the same extent, or as fully in some places
as in others, on earth for instance as in heaven.

This view may seem authorized by some passages
of Scripture. The idea doubtless is that heaven is the
place in which He reveals himself, manifests His glory,
and becomes an object of adoring contemplation to all
the “pure in heart.” Heaven even the heaven of
heavens cannot contain Him, the earth is filled with
His glory, and the universe is His boundless home,

This then reveals the sublime, and as to its mode,
the incomprehensible doctrine of the divine ommipres-
ence. That God is present in some parts of the ma-
terial universe, and in some portions of space, will be
admitted by all who believe in his being.

As no being can act where he is not, and as we can
see the traces of his workmanship in all places within
our view, we conclude that God is at least in many
places at the same time. I look in one direction and
I seo a cluster of fruit trees. The sap passes up their
trunks, permeates every branch, and nourishes: the
196 OMNIPRESENCE oF Gop.

foliage and the blossoms, and brings to perfection the
luscious fruits of autumn. I turn my eyes in another
direction and I see flocks and herds grazing op. the
plaiii, insects buzzing in the air, and birds singing
among the branches. Every one of them is a monu-
ment of creative skill, and each lives and moves and
has its being in God. I look upward and the sun as
it sheds its waves of light over a hundred worlds
seems to say “God is here and my light is but the
shadow of Deity.” The stars look down from their
blue and beautiful homes in the heavens and exclaim,
& God is here, He holds us in his home.” The winds
which are His steeds, and the clouds which are His
chariot, utter deep their voice, “God is here ;” and
at His bidding they navigate the heavens and send
down & showers upon earth’s thirsty fields.” The
heavens which are His throne, and the earth which is
His footstool, are covered thick over with characters
written by the hand of an ever present Divinity. The
thunder is the utterance of His will, and the lightning
the glancing of His eye. The rainbow which spreads
its bright arch across the heavens, the mystic fires
which stream up the northern sky, the sleepless ocean,
and the teeming earth, all show forth not only a creat-
ing, but a conservative hand, not aremote and un-
concerned, but a present, all-pervading Deity.

Nor will this obvious truth be done away by resolv+
OMNIPRESENCK OF Gop, 197

ing all these evidences of the Divine presence into
_ the results of the laws of nature. Laws are not effix
cient, They refer us to an agent. They presuppose
a law-maker, and executor

Now if it be thus evident that God is actually pre«
sent in all places open to our inspection, is it not clear
that he is equally present in all other places had we
access to them. If evidences of the Divine presence
flash upon us from every point which eye or thought
can reach, what folly to imagine that the regions
which lie beyond our view are also outside Jehuvah’s
dominions, that the limit of our knowledge is also the
limit of the power and presence of God. “If this be
marvelous in your eyes, should it also be in mine?”

IL. Of this attribute of Deity, the Scriptures speak
in their usual style of elevation and sublimity,1 K.
viii: xxvil.

When we remember that this is no philosophical
abstraction, but a great truth which the Bible an-
nounces and nature confirms, into what solemn rela:
tions does it introduce the human race, and what
mighty motives does it urge to induce obedience and
holiness.

Said one, if I were sure that spzrits were about me,
it would exert 4 #estraining influence. But ye are
spectacles not only to angels and to met, but are mov»
ing under the notice of the Omnipotent’s eye. Breathe
198 OmnrprEsesce oF Gop.

softly child of eternity; for your every whispered
word, unwhispered thought, are uttered and formed in
the presence of Him who is to be your final judge.

Tread carefully heir of eternal retribution ; for God
seeth the way you take and the echoes of your foot-
steps are audible in His ear.

Be circumspect in all the movements of thy hand
and heart, for God is around you like the vital air, and
thou art standing in the midst of Deity. No distance
is between you and God. Do you ever say, no eye is
near to see? Darkness, or utter seclusion, shuts out
all observation? Yet, still thy heart should say with
Hagar, “‘ Thou God seest me.”

Oh! do no act, you would not, could you see an
incarnate God standing by your side. Utter no word
you would not speak were the world a great whisper-
ing gallery, where each whisper multiplies itself into
a thousand emphatic voices, centering in the ear of
your judge and prolonged through eternity.

Cherish no thought unfit to be graved on a record
to endure forever.

Finally, how consoling to every sincere disciple the
thought of a God thus constantly near at hand. You
have not to go to heaven to Lrieg, & “ Where is
your God ?” said an infidel to achild. “ How large
Wispom or Gop. 199

is he 2” said another. Though now we sce him not,
yet believing in him earnestly, and loving him per-
fectly, ye may rejoice with joy unspeakable.

SERMON XIV.

WISDOM OF GOD.

 

Psalm cxlvii: 5.—His understanding is infinite.

The injfinitude of understanding here ascribed to
the Most High is another of the Divine attributes
proclaimed alike by nature and revealed religion.
The name usually given to this attribute is omniscience,
by which we mean that God possesses knowledge ab-
solutely perfect. ‘ Past, present, future to his sight,
&e.”

1. He knows all that ever has been. He can with
profound glance look backward to the moment when
the first speck of matter rose into being at His word,
and when, at His bidding, the first spirit sprung inte
life. He knows the history of every world, the phys-
ical changes it has undergone, the laws by which it
is governed and the destiny which awaits it. He
knows the fortunes which have come to every spirit,
the character they have formed, the good and evil
they have done.
200 Wispom os Gow.

2. He knows all the present. His eye sees all that
transpires in his mighty empire. Every sun that
shines, every world that revolves, every spirit that
sings in heaven, or groans in hell, every bird that flies
in the air and fish that _passeth through the sea, every
lilly that blooms, and every mote that falls or rises,—-
they are all under the notice of His eye and known to
His all-grasping mind,

With the world of thought He is equally conversant.
He sees it start from its birth-place in the soul, and
His eye darts through all its sinuous course. Hesees
the conception, the resolution and the will in all its
haltings and advances until it ripens into action.
These have a moral character which He understands.
A purpose seen by God is murder. An amorotis
glance is adultery. A covetous desire is theft. The
heart is 4 region which He fully understands, and to
it Ile is wont to trace every act and word.

3. The future is.open to His eye. He throws His
penetrating glance upon futurity as well as antiguity,
He traces every particle of matter through all ite
changes and combinations to the moment when it
shall cease to be if any such moment shall ever come,
and every spirit, their good and evil, their doings,
and omissions, and, in short, thei whole coming his»
tory. All prophecy is evidence of this. He who
could call Cyrus by name a century before his birth,
Wispox or Gop. 208

whoin the infaney of the Jewish race could describe
their history as it is this day? who could predict of
Nineveh and Babylon a doom which is verified by
the remains of ancient grandeur which would come
to light after centuries have gone by, must be entire-
ly familiar not only with the physical and civil histo-
ry of the tuture but also with the moral history and
everlasting condition of man.

And here the question arises if God knows all this
has He not determined it? So far as matter is con-
cerned “ yes,” so far as mind is concerned “no.” He
has bound nature fast in fate, but left free the will.
Moral events happen not because God knows them;
but He knows them because they will happen. They
arise not from Divine knowledge but from human
freedom. Knowledge is not influence, it is not causa-
tive. It has no effect on events past or future. Un-
foreknown, they would be just as certain.

A modified form of knowledge is wisdom, which is
knowledge under the control of goodness, or knowl-
edge directed to benevolent ends. “ Knowledge is
power,” not only to do good but evil; and knowledge
controled by malevolence is characteristic of evil
spirits, directed by infinite goodness its product is the
happiness of its object. This is Divine wisdom, of
which man, and nature, and the Bible, furnish innu-

merable illustrations.
202 Wispom or Gop.

I shall not weary you with elaborate views or
lengthy statements of the evidences furnished by na-
ture of the wisdom of God. Look ever so superfici-
ally at the heavens and the earth and man, and you
will be constrained to exclaim with the Psalmist,
“Oh Lord how wonderful are thy works, in wisdom
hast thou made them all.” Look at man! his eye
designed to scour the horizon is located at the point
most elevated, and easily rolls in its socket. The ear
so constructed as to catch each audible sound, The
mouth with its delicate taste to determine the ali-
ments, the teeth to masticate, and the gastric juice to
digest them.

Then outwardly the light is prepared for the eye,
sound for the ear, food for the taste. So our moral
and social nature find their external corresponden-
ces.

1. Wisdom is evinced when an important and wor-
thy end is apparent. The end of the creation was to
show forth the Divine perfections and to bestow on
man the largest happiness.

2. When its effects are produced by a few elements.
Here we have few elements, and few laws. These
produce all we see of magnitude, beauty and variety.
Divine wisdom conceived all that Divine power has
executed. At His bidding the clouds charged with
showers navigate the heavens and call forth beauty
3 Wispom or Gop. 203

and impart fertility to a hundred fields. Under the
beneficent outworkings of Divine wisdom nature re-
joices, the valleys langh and sing, and all the trees
clap their hands.

With these: views the Scriptures entirely agree. In-
spired with lofty conceptions of His knowledge, one
cries, “Oh, Lord! thou hast searched me; thou
knowest my down sitting,” &c., Psalms exlix: 1, 4.

The wise man surveys nature and cries out, “The
Lord by wisdom hath founded.” Prov. iii: 19, 20.

The apostle taking a combined view of nature and
grace, of knowledge and wisdom, cries out, “ Oh the

depth of the riches both,” &c.
INFERENCES.
1. It is this attribute of God which eminently qual-

ifies Him for the position of natural governor of the
universe. Under the government of one less wise,
fearful derangements would take place. No regular-
ity would attend the seasons, or the return of day and
night. The heavenly bodies uncontrolled by wisdom
would run at random through heaven, and we should
soon “see worlds unbalanced from,” &c. Vow no
accident can happen. Nothing is left to blind chance,
but everything controlled by wisdom. Every volcano
and earthquake have their use. Every particle of
rain, and every flake of snow is sent to its destined
place by a wisdom which cannot err.

2. This attribute of God is the foundation of the
204 Wispom or Gop.

comforting doctrine of Divine providence. There are
dark scenes ia every man’s life where no light shines
save from onhigh. But I look heavenward and there
islight ; God is still at the helm, and the ship though
laboring and groaning, shall yet sweep into port. Am
I in need? My heavenly Father knoweth. Am I
sick? His hand ison me. We see but a little part
of the great plans of providence, and with our lim-
ited views it becomes us to spare our censures and
wait for more perfect developments, when the wisdom
of the whole will be fully unfolded.

8. Finally we see how perfectly competent is Al-
mighty God to act as our final judge. Human judg-
ments are often erroneous on account of the ignorance
of witnesses, counsel, orjudge. But theentire history
of every man’s life is known to God.

(1.) Are you a true christian? Man may traduce
you, but “the Lord knoweth.”

(2.) Are you tempted? “The Lord knoweth how
to,” &e.

(3.) Are you deceived? God is not.

(4.) Are you a hypocrite? Your heart is open and
naked in His sight. You have deceived others, God
never ; and now in the grave your mask is left.

(5.) Are you unconverted? God knows all your
sins with all their aggravations. Make the Judge
your friend.
SERMON XV.

IMMUTABILITY OF GOD.

Mal. iii: 6.—''I am the Lord, I change not.”

We have spoken thus far of those attributes of God
which are denominated His natural attributes, because
they are either directly taught or strongly confirmed
by the teachings of nature. One of these remains to
be spoken of, and one which crowns and perpetuates
the whole, and that is His Zmmutability. We have
said God is omnipresent, &c., but what guarantee
have we that this will be always the case? Change
characterizes everything human. We, our works, and
the earth are undergoing constant changes. Amid
this vascillating scene, how charming this announce-
ment. When we say God is immutable, we mean
that He is subject to no change in the mode of His be-
ing, none in his attributes, his desires, his determina-
tions, &e.

J. But several remarks are important.

1. His very unchanging principles require frequent
changes both in his views of, and conduct toward, the
work of his hands. When God created the world, he
created it for a specific purpose, and when the end is
£06 iumcorasitiry or Gop.

attained it is entirely compatible with stability of pur-
pose to destroy it. When man is holy and walks in
ways well pleasing to God, God regards him compla-
cently-and approvingly. Turning from his righteous-
ness, he forfeits the Divine favor. Is God therefore
vascillating ? Nay, His very immutability requires
Him to have those different views of man in his dif-
ferent moral states. is regards are for principles,
not men; for character, not individuals. He is thus
acquitted of impartiality, and this is the ground of His
earnest pleadings with Israel, by the prophet Ezekiel.
They charged Him with inequality or mutability in
His ways. But God exclaims, “When a righteous
man turns away,” &c.

2. Here, also, is the true explanation of those Serip-
tures in which God is said to repent, &c. It repented
God that He had made man. He repented of His
purpose to destroy Nineveh.

3. Hence, also, the non-fulfilment, in certain in-
stances, of the Divine promises. To Eli He said, “I
said, indeed, that thy house,’ &¢ To David He
promised a permanent throne. But promises are con-
ditional.

4. God’s immutability must be distinguished from
obstinacy, from inexorable adherence to a purpose
which penitence and prayers cannot change. This is
an element of His immutability,—He is immutable
Immourasiiiry or Gop. 207

in His purpose to hear prayer, and to be inflénced by
‘it, to forgive the penitent, save the believer, and damn
the uubeliever. He is immutably exorable, and im-
mutably and infinitely disposed to take into his favor
every rebel against his government, who will come to
him.

II. The evidences of the Divine immutability, like
his other attributes, is partly derived from His word,
and partly from His works.

1. The Scriptures place the permanency of God in
contrast with the variable and passing things of earth.
Psa. cii: 25; James i; 17; Rom. xi: 29.

2. This truth may be argued from the general sta-
bility of the order of nature. The sun that knoweth
the time of his rising, the stars which move in their
appointed paths, the regular flow cf the tides, the an-
nual springing of the flowers, the permanency of the
mountains and the stability of the earth, speak of an
immutable creator and governor. The same mutual
laws run on from age to age, showing that God is free
trom all caprice. He is the Lord, therefore he chan-
ges not. The Father of lights, therefore with him no
variableness. There have been deviations from these
laws—in the case of miracles——but these only prove
God’s power, as a general uniformity in nature’s laws
establishes the uniformity of nature’s God. This uni-
formity of nature is the foundation of our confidence
208 Imuurapwiry or Gop.

and the source of our security. Scoffers appeal to it
as an argument aga‘nst Christ’s coming. ‘Where is
the promise of his coming?” But this only proves,

(1.) That God is long suffering.

(2.) That He acts on an extended plan.

8. The Divine immutability may be argued from
the uniformity of His moral laws. The unchanging
laws of the Medes and Persians but faintly adumbrate
the perpetuity of the Divine law. True, the patri-
archal, prophetieal and evangelical dispensations had
diverse institutions; but all were developments of the
law requiring supreme love. “Upon these two hang
all,” &c.. This law is perfect and can never change.
It comes to an angel, man, child. If the capacity be
a drop, it demands it and accepts it; if it be an ocean,
it demands it all, down to its profoundest depth, and
oat to its furtherest shore.

Til. Tue argument for the Divine immutability may
be applied to each one of the Jehovah’s attributes.

1. He is immutable in intelligence. If be could
experience any change here, it must be either by way
of tnerease or decrease, by acquisition or by lose.
Either supposition is fatal to His claim as a perfect
God. One pre-supposes previous ignorance ; the oth-
er possible future ignorance.

2. By the same reasoning it is plain that God is
immutable in holiness. If holiness is essential to His
ImMurTaBiuity or Gop. 209

«

nature it cannot be increased nor diminished. If it
be in the ascending or descending scale, it is rising
from or verging toward positive impurity.

3. God is immutable in power. He has no greater
power now, even with His enlarged empire, than He.
had prior to the birth of the first world or first angel.
And when suns go out and systems perish, his power
will undergo no abatement. “They shall perish, but
Thou shalt endure.” 3

IV. The practical uses of this dectrine.are such as *
these—~

1. To inspire confidence in Him as our natural pro-
tector and provider. Were we living under the gov-
ernment of a capricious being, a sense of insecurity,
and actual anarchy, would pervade the universe, But
we may dismiss all these gloomy apprekensions when
we remember that the reins of universal “government
are held not only by the strong but steady hand of
Almighty God. Under his direction nature will pur-
sue her uniform career. “Seed time and harvest, cold
and heat, summer and winter will continue.”

2. From this subject we may determine the light in
which God regards us. Aside from this we could
never know what was pleasing to God. The cour-
tiers of a capricious monarch will be caressed to-day

and beheaded to-morrow, and know no cause. Burt
11
210 Tnacoraprmiry or Gop.

the love of God is not a fondness awakened by no
reason and subsiding for no cause ; He has no favorit-
isms to indulge; but He unchangably loves holiness
and unchangably hates sin. And holiness and sin are
the same in every age, and their manifestations awak-
en the same emotions in the heart of Deity now as
they did when angels fell or man transgressed.

(1.) Here true penitence and obedience find their
highest encouragements.” The Lord is of as great
mercy now as in ancient days. He is near to all that
call; His heart has not grown insensible, His ear is
not heavy, His hand is stillstretched out. To you be-
long the promises. You may hide yourself under the
same shield which protected the saints in ancient days.

(2.) Impenitence and disobedience may well trem-
ble under these views of the Divine immutability.
We know how God has dealt with sinners in other
years. Swift judgment has often traveled in the wake
of transgression. Korah, Sodom, the flood, &e. You
haye the same occasion to tremble as sinners of old.

(3.) When we have emigrated to our final home in
the eternal world, and have entered upon our final
destinies, still will be heard the declaration, “I am the
Lord, J change not.” None will lift the condemna-
tion from the sinner’s soul, and forever shall the hap-
piness of the holy be secured. “When we’ve been
there ten thousand years.”
SERMON XVI.

VERACITY OF GOD.

 

Num. xxiii 19.—God is not man that he should lie.

Few characters have given more perplexity to readers
of the Bible than that of Balaam the prophet of Midi-
an. Onur subject will not allow us to speak lengthily
on this subject, but we will indulge in a few remarks.
The whole history evinces that Balaam was at first a
true prophet of God, but blinded by the glare of Ba-
lak’s gold he sought to. curse God’s people. This in-
clination he was not permitted to indulge, butin spite
of himself he uttered lofty predictions of the rising
prosperity of Israel. He then induced the Israel-
ites to sin and thussecured their overthrow. I shall
quote several passages of Scripture illustrating this
view of his character: 2 Peter ii: 15; Jude xi; Rev.
ii: 14; Deut. xxiii: 3-6; Josh. xxiv: 9-10. But
while these Scriptures confirm our view of Balaam’s
character, they do not affect the truth or importance
of his predictions. Through him God attests His
truthfulness. ‘God is not man that he should re-
pent.”

1. In establishing the truth of God we observe that
God can have no motive to be otherwise than truth-
912 Veractry or Gop.

fal. Men use duplicity to accomplish ends which they
have not power to accomplish by direct means. But
God need use no prevarication for all power and wis-
dom are His.

2. God is good and therefore true. The ends sought
to be accomplished by deceit among men are malev-
olent ends. Men deceive that they may defraud, but
infinite Benevolence delights only in good and needs
no such means, for it aims to accomplish no such ends.

8. God is immutable—therefore true. Falsehood
changes its position, makes contradictory and variant
statements—affirms and denies. Immutably false
is the same in effect as immutably ¢rue, for he who
always speaks falsehood if understood conversely
will always convey truth. He who is immutable
cannot be sometimes true and sometimes false but al-
ways true or always false.

4. God must be true because he demands our love our
respect and our worship. Now He hasso constituted
us that we despise falsehood, we rank it among the
lowest and meanest vices, and banish the liar from
our society. If God were not true He has so consti-
tuted us that we must despise Him; and yet he claims
our highest regards and love. He mnst then be true ;
or at least this must be the lovely character in which
He reveals -himself to His creatures.

5. His truth is evinced by all that overpowering
Veractry or Gop. 213

evidence which demonstrates the truth of the Bible.
This is His-word ané& whatever affirms it affirms His
general.veracity.

On some other occasion this evidence may be ad-
duced, it cannot here be even glanced at. But. the
Bible has an external authentication. History and
tradition, and all science, and fulfilled prophecies, are
witnesses of the truth of God. His promises which
have never been broken, His faithfulness which has
never failed, His threatenings which have always been
executed, His predictions which time in its mighty
sweep has been accomplishing, all prove him true.
The antiquarian digs up the foundations of buried
cities, the traveler ranges over the scenes of Scripture
story, climbs the steeps of Hebrew mountains, and
everywhere finds attestations of the truth of God.

5. Truch is a most amiable virtue. Falsehood a
most odious vice; and the higher the position of the
individual the more despicable is this vice. If we des-
pise a peasant who has no regard for his word, much
more do we despise a prince who is faithless to his en-
gagements; and what must be the view which the
universe must have of God if he be found untrue.

Nay, the liar is not only despised by others, but he
dispises himself. He has not even self respect; and
if God be destitute of this element he can behold
214 Veracrty or Gop.

himself with no complacency. He forfeits the regards
of his creatures and himself.

7. If the Bible be admitted as evidence—it speaks
out in lofty and strong assertion on this point. It de-
clares that “‘it is impossible for God to lie,” that “he
is abundant in goodness and truth,” that “his truth
reacheth unto the clouds,” that “he is plenteous in
mercy and trath,” that “his truth endureth to all gen-
erations” that “he keepeth truth forever,” that “he
abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself,” that “he is
faithful that promised” that “his counsels of old are
faithfalness and truth.” Such are but specimens of
the testimony of the Scripture on the veracity of
God, and the Scriptures themselves are an enduring
monument of his truth.

If. And now that that great doctrine of religion
stands affirmed both by reason and revelation, we
have still before us the startling fact that some of the
children of men not only distrust but positively dis-
believe God, but some are found whe fear God will
lie and others who hope he will.

1. Some are afraid God will ite.

(1.) The penitent who is seeking pardon. He hears
God say “the broken and contrite heart: he will not
despise,” that “every one that seeketh findeth,” that
“ye shall find me when ye search for me with all your
Veraciry or Gop. 215

hearts,” and yet he fears that God will lie, and ling-
ers unblest around the mercy seat.

(2.) The Christian in tribulation. He reads “when
thou passest through the waters I willbe with thee.”
“In six troubles I will be with you, and in the seventh
not leave you,” and yet he relies timorously on the
divine promises, and hesitates to appropriate the of-
fered deliverance.

(3.) The church is passing through the wilderness of
trial and affliction. The waves of worldliness roll
even to the threshold of the sanctuary, and wickedness
triumphs in all our streets. Oh! how apt to distrust
God, and hang badges of mourning on the ramparts
of Zion, instead of joyfully committing every interest
to Him whose faithfulness cannot fail, and crying out
with Luther, come let us sing the 46th psalm, “ God
is our refuge.”

(4.) There is a saint about to die. The wheels of
life are moving slow. Shadows from Eternity fall
around thedying bed. Jordan rolls close by its heav-
ing flood. Oh! how often, instead of at once throw-.
ing himself upon the immutable promise of Divine.
support and joyfully trusting God to fulfill his pro-
mise of being with him, does the dying christian ex-
claim “ all thy waves and thy billows go over me, I
shall never enter the goodly land. a

But God is not man that He should lie. Hath He.
¥16 Veractry or Gop.

spoken aud shall He not do it? Hath He said it and
shall He not make it good ” « Feaven and earth
‘shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle of his word.”

2. And while there are some who fear God will lie,
there are still others who hope He will. Although if
‘He be found untrue, the ultimate hope of the world
fails, and all foundations of eonfidence give way, yet
they would have God prove a liar.

(1.) God has said that “the wicked shall be turned
into hell ;” but all the wicked hope He will lie and
take them up to heaven. .

(2.) He has said wo to the wicked it shall be <7
with him, but sinners hope it will be well with them.
__(8.) He has said that He will not hold the swearer
guiltless, that liars shall have their part in the lake that
burneth, that He will by no means clear the guilty.
But they hope He will clear them.

These are no false alarms sounding through the
word of God. He utters no unmeaning promise or
threat,

INFERENCES.
ide We can see the philosophy of that great peculi-
arity of religion which gives to faith so great import-
ance and so striking a prominence. You may have
supposed that this was a mere arbitrary law, that an
undue importance was attached to it by God. But
Veractry or Gob. a17

what is faith? It is believing God, taking Him at
His word. Now he that disbelieves God makes Him
a liar, you charge upon the God of truth a crime fit
ting only to him who is a liar and the father of it.

2, We see in a striking light the exceeding wicked-
ness of falsehood in man. Satan is the father of lies.
Man bears his image as far as he indulges this odious
vice. No crime has ever called down quicker ven+
geance than this on men; instance Achan, Gehazi,
Ananias and Sapphira ; and no class of sinners are
more severely threatened. What a thunberbolt from
heaven against the liar, is the text already quoted,
‘all liars, &c.” Cultivate an inviolable habit of
truth. Hold it fast and never let it go. It will be to
you an ornament of grace and a chain of gold about
thy neck.

8. This attribute of the Most High, leaves sinners
{n a condition of most fearful danger. Even if nas
tural religion were our only guide, there would be
ground of fearful apprehension. But the Scriptures
come with their clearer light and declare that it is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

And now the sinner’s only hope is that God may
after all have secret reasons, and that what He has
uttered may have another, rather than its obvious
meaning, or as a last resort He hopes that He will re
218 Veraciry or Gop,

tract His threatenings, and save the world. But this
view of the Divine veracity crushes his hopes and
lands him out in the sea of despair.

4. No, not in despair if he will repent and turn to
God, for then the same Divine veracity which con-
fronts the sinner with terrors, will be the source of his
security and his hope, and the pledge of his salvation.
The pillars of His throne would sooner fall than His
promise to such as truly repent and tnfeignedly be-
lieve the Gospel.

5. Here, too, is the foundation of all the hopes of
the righteous. “If the foundations are removed what
tan the righteous do?” but the word of the Lord
standeth sure, all His promises are faithfulness and
trath, and he that trusteth in Him shall be as Mt.
Zion which cannot be removed:

Here then are exhaustless resources, made available
for the child of grace. It flows in copious and un=
failing streams from that exhaustless fountain, the
mercy and the trath of God.
SERMON XVII.

MYSTERY AND JUSTICE OF GOD.'

 

Psalm xiv: ii—Clouds and darkness are around about Him: right-
eousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.”

A prince onze asked a philosopher to give him a
definition of the term God. A day for reflection was
asked, then two days, then four, because the question
rose in vastness before the inquirer’s mind, and ever
seemed more difficult and mysterious as he advanced.
So has it seemed to us in the course of our inquiries
into the character and attributes of the great God we
worship. But we settle down at last into the conclu-

_sion of the Psalmist, that though mystery clings to
the Divine character, he is righteous and just. This
Psalm opens with the affirmation that “the Lord
reigneth, (not Fate or Chance,) and by calling upon
the Earth to rejoice and upon the Jsles to be glad,
Onr hearts will join in this chorus of praise when we
rightly understand the nature of Jehovah’s reign.

I. But let us at the outset acknowledge our inabili-
ty fully to comprehend the great Jehovah. No cre
aied being can ever do this, St. Chrysostom and the
boy emptying the ocean. This unfolds the reasons of
this inability, viz: our contracted powers and His tn
220 Mystery anp Justice or Gop.

jmity. As matter of fact we know this to be so, and
it is what might have been inferred im advance.

1. Such ability would lower our estimate of His
greatness. ‘That is iot complicated machinery which
a child can understand; nor a stupendous world which
I can scan. A mountain which loses itself in the
clouds, an ocean which rolls through every zone, ex-
eltés emotions of sublimity and ‘awe. And this must
be the effect on the minds of all who contemplate that
gréat Being whose pavilion is darkness.

2. Such knowledge of God as shuts out all obscurity
would preclude the possibility of walking by faith.
The father does not disclose all his reasons to his son,
he chastens him, gives nauseating medicines, cuts off
the gangrened limb, and probes the shrinking wound,
atid bids him trust the result to his superior wisdom.
So God takes our health, our wealth, our friends,
away.. Some of His reasons may be apparent; for the
development of others we must wait for eternity.
“Where we cant unriddle, learn to trust.” But the
1ysteriousness of God’s ways will be in some degree
abated if we remember that,

(1.) Everything is not to be attributed to God.
Such are wars, which come from your lusts—and, ine
deed, all sins,

(2.) Then physical evils are the result of moral, and
God is their dispenser in judgment or for human dis-
Mystery anp Justice or Gon. 991

cipline. Sin is only permitted not enjoined ; and with-
out this permission there could be no probation for
man. These evils he ofttimes overrules for good.“ All
things.”

II. When now we have admitted that God’s ways
are incomprehensible, if we have not demonstrated
His justice, we have at least shown that He can never
be pronounced unjust. My verdict cannot be adverse
to the Diviim rectitude after I have admitted my ina-
bility to comprehend Him. But we are enabled to
do more than show that no man can prove God un:
just. He can be shown to be just and right, both in
His character and in His acts.

1. From His other attributes,

(1.) He is independent, and can be under no neces-
sity of resorting to injustice for the attaining of His
ends,

(2.) He is benevolent, and, under the promptings
of benevolence, is ever giving and doing more than
inexorable justice demands, and it is not to be pre-
sumed or imagined that He will doless. Benevolence
and injustice cannot inhere in the same character.

2. The justice of God is evident from the fact that
in none of His recorded or known acts has he been
guilty of injustice. The nearest approach to this
4g seen in the affliction of good men. But such men
are always ready to exonerate God from the charge
222 Mysrrry anp Jusricx or Gop.

of injustice, and declare that He has punished them less
than they deserve. Nor can any individual affirm
this until the whole scheme of the Divine administra-
tion shall be unfolded, which, it is evident, can only
be done in eternity. ‘What thou knowest not now.”
Eternity will settle the misadjudgments of time, rec-
tify its wrongs and harmonize its discords.

3. We know enough of the reign of Jehovah to
know that he discriminates between gogd and evil,
and even here the beginnings of a perfect adminis-
tration are apparent. He deals with nations in this
life, because they will not exist in a national capacity
in any other life. And has not virtue always been
followed by national prosperity, and has not vice al-
ways paved the way for the overthrow of nations ?
Individual offenders, too, have ofttimes been selected
as subjects of an earlier retribution, and held up as
terrible examples to others. But eternity alone will
complete that reign of justice, of which we see only
the beginnings. And now, who are they who exclaim
against Divine Justice? Plainly, those whom that
justice condemns, upon whom it has claims.

Who finds fault with the laws of the land? Those
who violate them. The criminal exclaims against
penalties to which he is exposed. The forger writes
his name in @ moment, and suffera ‘in prison long
years, as the result.
Mystery anv Justice or Gop. 923

Who finds fault with the laws of his physical nature,
and with the natural laws of God? The maniac.

Who with God’s moral law, with its requirements
and penalties? To the sinner, His way is hard. To
the righteous the law of the Lord ‘is perfect—“holy,
just and good.” ‘Then, there are times when the
Christian will need to call into exercise all his faith,
and summon all his fortitude, to acquiesce in the ways
of the Lord. Sickness and death invade his dwelling,
but he knows that great moral ends are answered by
the discipline God has adopted. However continued
felicity might do fur other beings, it would not do for
us. Remove all these afflictions from man, restore
antediluvian longevity, and the world would soon
need to be purified by a second flood. But while the
justice and goodness of God are apparent in the gen-
eral arrangements of providence, there are some dis-
pensations where our sagacity is at fault; there are
clouds which our dim eyesight cannot pierce; there
are mysteries which, in our infantile years, we cannot
explain.

I see a Rachel weeping over her children. Jacob
exclaiming, “Joseph is not.” David mourning for
Absalom. The minister falls amid hia years and his
usefulness. The missionary who was just planting
his banner on heathen shores. Oh! earth is dark,
but look up—God reigneth still. What though thou
994 Mysrery and Justice of Gov,

rulest not? Unbeléef cries out, “clouds and darkness.”
Faith chimes in, “righteousness and judgment.” On-
belief’ says, my grief is great. Faith replies, ’tis my
Father’s hand. Onbeligf exclaims, earth is a dark
and cheerless abode at best. with responds, yonder
are serene and tranquil heavens. Unbelief affirms
that earth is all deranged, and blind, imperious fate
is making havoc in an orphan world. Faith exults
ingly sings, “The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice.”
And this voice of submission and adoration that sounds
along the shores of time, and rolls down from genera+
tion to generation, shall gather into richer cadences
and break forth into more rapturous songs when it
meets the anthems of the celestial harpers, and to-
gether they shall shout, “Alleluia !”

Thus, with as much brevity as the lofty nature of
the subject would admit, we have contemplated the
character of the “high and holy One who inhabiteth
eternity.” It is true, we have but planted our feet
upon the threshold of this great subject, but here we
must pause, and wait until we are permitted to enter
that glorious world where God will more fully and
clearly reveal Himself to the nations of the saved, and
where the stile of the Lord shall be the satisfying
feast of the soul.

But eternity itself will never fully lift the veil from
eharacter of the Deity, so that any created being can
Mysrery AND Jousticé or Gop. 225

say, “I have found out the Almighty to perfection.”
Radiant clouds will etill form themselves in glorious
wreaths around His throne,—He will forever dwell in
light unapproachable. And when the spirit nearest
the throne shall have completed his profoundest and
most protracted inquiries, he will still be in the posi-
tion of Newton lingering on the shores of an ocean
which no reed can measure and no plummet sound.
He will still be a God that hideth Himself, still clouds
and darkness will be round about Him, but on the
crest of every cloud, and standing out from the thick
darkness, in lines of light, shall be read, “God is love;”
and voices from the uncounted armies of the skies
shall shout in blessed response to the acclamations of
earth’s redeemed, “There is none like unto the God
of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven of thy help
and in His excellency on the sky.” The Eternal God
is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting
arms. [lappy art thou, Oh! Israel,—who is like unto
thee, Oh! people, saved of the Lord.

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth
wondrous things, and blessed be His glorious name,
forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His
glory. Amen and Amen.”
SERMON XVIII.

GOODNESS OF GOD.

‘

Psalms xxxiv: 8.—‘* Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.”’

Were we to dismiss our inquiries into the attributes
of the Most High at this point, we should be over-
whelmed, it may be with the loftiness and sublimity
of His character, but should still be without those
views best calculated to inspire love, awaken grati-

‘tude, and beget confidence. A bare belief in God is
insufficient to allay human anxieties, and inspire joy-
ful confidence in men. The consideration of God’s
natural abilities is rather speculative than otherwise :
the inquiry “<s God good?” is one that comes home
to every man’s business and bosom. If God has
moral character at all it is of course good or evil; he
is benevolent or malevolent. Independent of those
more obvious proofs on which the Divine benevolence
rests, the following remarks have an important bear-
ing on the subject.

1. God can have no motive to be malevolent. That
malevolence is in itself more desirable than benevo-
lence, cannot be asserted or believed. Nor can God
desire to be malevolent for the purpose of crushing
any mighty rival who should rise up against him ;
GoopneEss or Gop. 997

nor yet for the purpose of grasping any good which
only injustice could extort from others.

2. He has every possible motive to be benevolent.

(1.) From what we know it is evident that good- .
ness and happiness are closely allied, and that malevo-
lence always accompanies misery. And as happiness
is an object of universal desire, God’s motives for
goodness are as strong as his desire for happiness.

(2.) If God requires the love and attachment of his
creatures it is necessary that he be benevolent in his
character. Evena Nero desired to be loved, but
failed to learn that love only can beget love. If he
be malevolent he must disguise this fact from his
creatures, or rest ‘satisfied with their hatred.

.8. Our condition in this world is incompatible
with the idea that God is malevolent. Here we are
at a loss for a point to commence our views.

(1.) The position of our earth with respect to the
sun is a strong proof of Divine beneficence.

(2.) The two motions of the earth.

(3.) The productions of the earth adapted to our
physical wants.

(4.) The eye adapted to the light.

(5.) The ear to nature’s harmony.

(6.) Our social nature to Society.

(7.) The heavens and the earth are covered with
evidences of Divine benignity. These blessing are
228 Goopness oF Gop. .

either constant or are continually recurring. They
are matters of course. In every age and in every
land these benefits are diffused. God leaves not him-
self without witness, but does good giving rain from
heaven, and fruitful seasons filling us with food and
gladness. A consideration of mercies like these will
awaken in us the earnest wish of the Psalmist, that
men would praise the Lord, &c.

4, That there are evils in the world is here admit-
ted, and will hereafter be more particularly attended
to, but I find another evidence of Divine goodness in
the alleviations which misery here finds, and the
remedies which are furnished. There are diseases—
there are medicines. There is cold—there is fire.
There is heat—and cooling shade. Pain itself is a
merciful provision, without which more serious inju-
ries would happen. So is fear which throws out its
defences and puts us on our guard.

5. The original and main design of every thing is
benevolent. That there are evils we have admitted,
but, these seem to be incidental, and were no part of
the original plan. Nature is in a state of confusion.
Revelation tells us how it became so, and itis but fair
to let in the light of revelation to explain the dark
enigmas and clear up the mysteries which surround
us. A traveler passing over the ruins of Palmyra or

‘Ephesus might say there are here no traces of grand-
Goopngss or Gop. “999

eur or greatness, all isa heap of rubbish and confu-
sion. It would be replied, “ You see tbe city only
in its ruins, and yet amid its very ruins are evidences
of its ancieut greatness.” Yon waste where roaming
lions heave its colored dust, its broken architraves,
its fallen columns, attest its primitive glory. So earth
and man areinruins. Larth’s sterility, its briars and
thorns, have come in the wake of transgression. Does
man bow down in toil? Must he fructify his. fields
with the sweat of his brow? This is a result of sin.

But still the main design is apparent, and that de-
sign is beneficent. Were it otherwise it is evident
that ease would have been only the casual and occa-
sional state of man, while pain would have been his
usual or continual allotment. Every sight would
have been Aorrid. ‘Every sound a discord. Footid
air would have filled our lungs, and perpetual storms
howled along our sky. Our food would have been
bitter and rancid, and every touch would have been
the sting of a scorpion Every nerve would have
been a telegraphic wire along which lightning pains
would shoot, and social converse would be mutual
howlings of rage and pain.- The anatomist in dis-
secting the human body, instead of finding the evi-
dences of beneficent design in every part of the body,
would see the existence of members formed on pur-
pose to irritate, to inflame, to obstruct the passage of
230 Goopyzss or Gop.

the food or the flow of blood; he would find glands
which were designed to originate disease, &c., foun-
tains whence veins as naturally and freely rose as
springs from the mountain side. But he finds none
of these. Pain is caused by the interruption of natu-
ral healthful life. Disease and death are grafted upon
scions of native excellency and of original immor-
tality.

I have not yet mentioned the Bible, nor will I now
undertake to recite the numerous texts which affirm
the goodness of God. But,

-1. Its very intent is beneficent. Why else its in-
formations, its accumulation of prophecies, and pre-
cept, and promises, and prayers. The Bible brings
blessings wherever it comes. It is the harbinger of
civil liberty, of benevolent inatitutions, of social
amenities and domestic joys. Blessings spring in its
train like flowers in the steps of fabled fairies.. And
this book, so full of benevolent interests, is the book
of God.

2. Descending to a little closer view I find in this
volume exceeding great and precious promises. They
are addressed to the youthful and the aged, to the
orphan and the widow, to the penitent and bereaved,
to the sick and the dying. Benevolence certainly in-
spired and uttered them, as benevolence fulfills them
from age to age.
Goopniss or Gob. 934

3. There are also threatenings in the word of God.
They are designed to hold man back from ruin. They
are obstacles thrown in the sinless path to hell, bul-
warks built up around the pit. God threatens that
he might not strike, and strikes that he may not de-
stroy.

4. The Scriptures prove the benevolence of God by
their positive assertions. “Thou art good and doest
good.” “The Lord is good to all.” “Oh give thanks
unto the Lord.”

5. By the works ascribed to Him Creation affirms
it. Providence reiterates it. Redemption crowns it.
Here Divine love finds its brightest manifestation.
“ God is love.” Calvary and the cross is where
Divine beneficence conveys, and from which it ra-
diates over the world. And this benevolence of God
takes higher rank when it is remembered that it is
exercised toward man asa sinner. How He has dealt
with the inhabitants of other worlds we may never
fully know. But we know of one world which has
strayed from its orbit. And we know that while the
ninety ninesecured sheep were housed in the heavenly
fold, the good shepherd came to seek the one which
was lost. .Six thousand years have flown by. Sin
has held high its hand in hostile attitude against the
heavens. But for all this, his hand laden with bles-
sings, is still stretched out.
232 Goopness or Gop. .

Under the head of the “ goodness of God” should
be included Hig mercy which is not a separate at-
tribute of God, but a modification of His goodness.
Mercy flows from His goodness as the stream from the.
fountain. If there had been no suffering and no sin,
there would still have been goodness ; but could have
been no mercy. But when sin entered the world, mercy
gushed up in the heart of Deity. Mercy framed the
scheme of redemption.. Mercy seeks out the wand-
erer, and pardons all who are truly penitent. God is
called “the Father of mercies,” he is said to be “ rich
in mercies,” “very pitiful and of tender mercy.”
Under these views, David cries out, “ Bless the
Lord,” &e.

1. His goodness and mercy are infinite. “ His
mercy as great as His power.”

2. Being infinite it is ¢mmutable. It flows not like
the tide, not like wet weather springs, but like the
river whose streams flow along, whose banks are al-
ways full. |

3. Being immutable it is eternal. It went forth
toward the first creature of His power, it has run on
from generation to generation, and will flow on
for ever.

4. It is active. His love is not like an ocean that
forever sleeps, but it is employed in diffusing hap-
Goopness or Gop. 238

piness among all worlds, and all their inhabitants.
“ Like the sun.”

5. God being infinitely good, views with compla-
cency only such characters and acts as resemble His.
Hence, “saints are lovely in His sight.” Sinners He
loves with the love of pity ; but He can exercise tos
ward them no complacent regard. Moral purity can
alone secure His favor.

6. “ God-is love,” and He demands your love. Such
love should be reciprocated. Let a tide of holy af-
fections set in toward the heavens.

7. The Lord is of great mercy, “ Be ye therefore
merciful.” Go forth on errands of mercy to the lost.
Relieve the distressed, comfort the mourner, instruct
the ignorant, visit the fatherless, relieve the widow. So
shall ye be like your Heavenly Father, and be re-
warded with His smile.

12
PARABLES OF JESUS.

SERIES.-FIFTEEN SHRMONS.

SERMON XIX.

PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

 

Matt. xiii: 3-9.—Behold a sower went forth to sow,” &c.

When the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. The adaptation of the means to
the end, is exhibited both by the reason of the thing
and by actual experiment. But while those who be-
eve are saved, those who reject are hardened.

Our Savior embodies these principles in the beau-
tifal parable before us. He divides the hearers of the
Gospel into four general classes.

1. The way-side hearers.

These are such as hear the Gospel not statedly, and
of principle, but casually and under the promptings
of low motives. They come to the house of God as
they would to a play or a lecture. They would pre-
fer the latter, but then a sermon is- better than noth-
jng, and the sanctuary better than no place.
PARABLE OF THE SowERr. 235

And as low motives prompt them to hear the word
at all, they itinerate from Church to Church as incli-
nation or fancy leads. A more popular preacher, a
finer choir, or gayer company is a sufficient induce-
ment to leave the house where their fathers worshiped ;
and a gust of wind or a threatening cloud, the ab-
sence of a fancy article of dress, or the visit of a
friend is sufficient to detain them altogether.

Now the absence of this first and lowest class ef
hearers could be hardly a cause of regret, did not the
same causes work the same results, in many who pro-
fess to belong to another class. Our Savior says of
such that they hear the word and understand it not.
The human mind is composed of three departments,
the understanding, the sensibilities and the will.

Now the highest results of the preached word can-
not be reached without laying hold of each of these
departments. But here it falls short of the first. It
reaches not to the understanding. It falls upon the
ear like sounding brass. Neither the sermon or text
is remembered. Why? the attention was not arrest-
ed. The understanding not exercised. This was the
condition of the hearers in Ezekiel’s time, Ezek. xxxiii:
30, “ Also thou son,” &c., “ The fowls devour the
scattered seed.” The devil has no objection to men’s
hearing the word in this manner.
236 PARABLE oF THE SowER.

II. The second class of hearers are represented by
the thorny ground.

These rank higher than the former because they at-
tain an understanding of the truths and the duties
taught. This is where the operations of the Spirit
commence, but alas! in the case of this class here
they also close.

The judgment apprehends the truth, admits its ra-
tionality and there stops. If the truth do not travel
back beyond the judgment it will be attended by no

sanctifying results.
Not unfrequently will the heart reject what the

understanding has approved. The sublime enunci-
ations of Scriptures are admitted as verities but treat-
ed as fables. Such persons present not only asad
specimen of the inconsistency of an unrenewed heart
but they are in a nearly hopeless condition. With
the truths and motives of the word of God they have
made themselves familiar. Tell them religion is im-
portant and they admit it. Truth has long been wel-
come to the understanding but has been resolutely
excluded from the heart: Their religion is one of pure
intellect. ‘They see the right and they approve it
too.” “They know their duty but they do it not.”
In this case no fault is found with the soil. That
which will produce thorns would also produce wheat.
But it is preoccupied with cares, riches and lusts. Oh!
Papasie or THE SoweEr. 237

the “deceitfulness of riches,” they smile to betray,
they promise only to deceive. These are the thorns
which choke the word.

III. We pass to the stony ground hearers. Although
there was not much earth there wassome. ‘The seed
was the same. It found a welcome admittance to the
heart. It sprung up in hopeful precocity and gave
promise of anearly and large crop. But when the
sun of persecution arose, &c. Here the judgment
subscribes to the truth and the sensibilities embrace it
and warm it into a hopeful condition. But alas! there
is unbroken rock beneath.

True, he receives the word with joy. Perception
of truth makes him happy. Its relation to his
salvation makes him happy. He rejoices, and his
friends rejoice. But is this religicn ? He has joy,
and his joy is the product of operative truth. As far
as he has gone he has goneright. But there has been
no self-crucifixion. The understanding and the affec-
tions have both been influenced, but the will has been
unbroken, a rock of selfishness underlies the promis-
ing surface. Demand sccrifice and suffering at his
hand. ‘Touch the idols enshrined in the heart and
you discover the dominion of the world. Selfishness
which had secreted itself in the soul, starts into sight
with malignant opposition to God and holiness. Now:
what we condemn in these hearers is that they bring
238 ParaslE or THE SoWER.

no fruit to perfection. The judgment did its office:
well. The sensibilities were duly awake. But the
root of the matter wasnot inthem. Persecution found
them unprepared to breast the storm. When the floods
arose and beat upon their house it fell.

IV. The last class of hearers specified in this para-
ble and those commended by Christ are such as hear,
approve, are affected by the word, and bring forth
appropriate fruits.

It convinces the understanding.

It arouses the sensibilities.

It subdues the will.

“ The gospel came not in word only but in power.”
It leads on to holiness of heart and life, frepentance,
faith, humility and love. A cordial acquiescence in
God’s will characterizes him who has rightly embraced
the gospel.

He brings forth fruit thirty, sixty and a hundred
fold. He has his fruit unto holiness. and the end ever-
lasting life.

INFERENCES.

I. We learn the inutility of hearing the gospel in
the manner in which the first three classes do.

1. The first has ears but does not hear.

2. The second hears, and is convinced, but those

mighty springs of action, the passions, are not allowed
to stir. ,
Parasite or THE SoweEr, 239

3. The third class receives the word with joy, but do
not so fully receive it as to be prepared for times of
trial. They want a religion to save them from hell,
not from their sins. The heaven they desire is a heav-
en of ecstacy and not of purity.’

4. There is no safety then but in so receiving the
Gospel as’ to make it the only and eternal portion.
You must have root in yourselves, That strata of rock
in the heart must be broken up, and the roots of the
Gospel seed penetrate to the depths of the soul.

II. We see the danger of resting satisfied witha
state of experience below what the Gospel requires.
You may believe much, feel much, and enjoy much,
and yet be on unsafe ground.

“III. We discover the reason why many who in times

of religious revival appear engaged, subsequently
lose their interest and become assimilated to the
world. They have no root in ¢hemselves.

Rest not satisfied with mental illumination, nor
with emotional experience. Venture on a warfare
with every sin. The struggle I know may be severe.
But the result cannot be doubtful. Victory after vic-
tory will be achieved. Idol after idol will fall and
the Holy Ghost dwell in his own purified temple and
victory sit crowned in the centre of the heart.
SERMON XX.

THE TARES AND WHEAT.

Matt, xiii: 24-80.—" The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto 4
man which sowed good seed in his field ; but while men slept
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went

* his way,” &c.

The parable of the tares and the wheat is a history
of the world in miniature, reaching backward to the
creation, and forward to the judgment day.

‘It is replete with instruction, and is interpreted by
Christ himself. It unfolds the great facts in rela-
tion to the moral history of our world, and in rela-
tion to its evertful destiny.

1. Man was originally created in astate of moral
purity. This theory alone is compatible with the doc-
trine that God is perfectly and absolutely good. The
offspring of his goodness, the monument of his power,
man could not have been corrupt at the outset of his
history. The source whence he springs the benedic-
tion pronounced upon him, and the distinct assertions
of revelation, attest man’s primeval purity. This
parable clearly announces this.

(a) The sower is the Son of Man. This one of the
titles of Christ, and Christ is the maker of man.
Te Tarrs anv’ Wuear. O41

(2) The field is the world, not (as some say,) the
church.

(c) Good seed was first sown. Tares were of a
later introduction, and were scattered by the hand of
an enemy. What alovely scene did earth at first
present. How worthy of its author!

2. We come to consider the painful fact that evil
found its way into these fair regions which the Crea-
tor’s hand had made. Among the good seed, tares
were scattered by the hand of an enemy. That evil
has in some way found entrance into the world is
matter of fact. How and whence it came are ques
tions long discussed in the world.

(a) Some heathen philosophers have teach that
matter was essentially corrupt.

(b) Some that there are two Gods. -

(c) Some that man existed i in a pre- -existent state,
and that this world is a great moral hospital fitted up
for His recovery to purity and holiness.

The Scripture account is, «An enemy hath done
this and that enemy is the Devil. ” Tt traces the sors
rows and sins of our race to the temptations of the
devil, and the abuse of moral freedom. But how i ia
this compatible with the goodness of God? Let us
Bee.

(a) Evil is the absence of some good. This is
essential to vardety as variety ie to perfection, Int this
249 Tur Tangs anp Wutat.

pense there is none good but God. The heavens are
relatively impure in His sight, and His angels He
charges with folly. /

(6) It is natural, flowing from moral evil, and is
either disciplinary or penal, and in either case it may
be better for us than unmixed good.

(c) It is moral, arising from an abuse of moral free-
dom, which is a necessary elementin a being capable
of knowing, loving, and serving God. If it be asked
could not God have made beings incapable of sin-
ning? I answer, He could have peopled earth with
stocks, and owls, and beasts of prey, but these could
not have admired his works, nor offered him worship
and praise. ‘A horse,” says Augustine, “ who goes
astray is more noble than a stone which cannot go
astray.” So it pleased God to make a being who could
transgress, and the mournful history of man is that he
did transgress Thus evil exists without any impeach-
ment of the Divine character.

8. There is disclosed to us the fact that the rights
eous and the wicked will exist together until the end
of the world. The servants upon beholding the tares
sprouting in the fair field of their Lord, proposed to
_ root them tp. This seems natural. Separate the evil
from the good is the hasty judgment of man: Wilt
thou that we catise fire to come down from heaven.”
But the great Proprietor judges otherwise, “Let
Tae Tares anp Wueat. 243

both grow together.” We look, to be sure, for the
gospel to prevail gloriously, but evil though restrained
on earth will only be destroyed by the brightness of
Christ’s coming. |

4, The reasons of this are also unfolded by the par-
able.

(a) To secure the continued existence of the good.
If the work of extirpation were assigned to men, they
could not know the tares, nor spare the wheat. So
without a miracle, a famine or pestilence which should
destroy the wicked would also cut down the good.
Two causes saved Ninevah.

(1.) Its penitence. (2.) Its 120,000 infants.

(®) They are spared as illustrious proofs of the long
suffering of God. They are monuments of his mercy.

(c) To furnish them every possible facility for re-
pentence. Some say I have had no time. What has
become of your Sabbaths?

'(@) Finally, the wicked live in answer to prayer.
Ten righteous men would have saved Sodom. Moses
saved the Israelites.

5. This parable proves that the world is to have an
end. “Theharvestis the end.” That this world was
created to last but for a time and then be consumed,
is clearly asserted by the apostle Peter. The great
harvest of the world will soon be reaped. Descend-

ing angels shall sing the requium of earth and pro-
244 The Tares awn Waeat.

claim that time was, time is, but time shall be no
longer.

6. The parable gives a fearful intimation of the
sinner’s doom. The parable says, “ Gather the tares
into bundles and burn them.” The interpretation is,
“God will send forth his angels and gather,” &c.
Men have sought to interpret away the meaning of
the Divine Interpreter, and rob these words of all their
meaning and force. Yet here stands the unweakened
testimony of Christ himself.

%. We have exhibited before us, finally, the lofty
and glorious state to which the righteous shall be ex-
alted. ‘Then shall the righteous,” &c. The sun is
the most magnificent object within the range of our
vision, and is to us the source of unnumbered bene-
fits and blessings, and this is the lofty object by which
the Savior represents the glory of the finally saved.
And after that sun bas spent its fires and veiled its
face with sackcloth, and all its sister planets cease to
shine ; ; still shall the righteous soar, and sing, and
shine in the kingdom.

There with the righteous exalted to the homes and
the joys of heaven, and with the wicked burning per-
petually, yet unconsumed in the “ furnace of fire,”
we leave the lofty theme. True, man will then only
havé commenced the race of life, his road of being
stretches before him and will never haveanend. But
Tes Loaven. 945

to what heights he may arise, or to what depths descend
will only be unfolded as we sweep on into its mys
terious realities.

SERMON XXi.
THE LEAVEN.

_—

Matt. xiii : 88.—“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which
8 woman took and hid in three measures of meal,” &c.

The parables of Christ, although truthful represen:
tations ot the great facts and doctrines which Jesus
proclaimed, yet contain some phrases and allusions
which are mercly incidental to the main design, and
not intended to receive an illustration as though they
were an essential part of the parable. If we can reach
the main design of the parable, it is not wise to push
our inquiries into the meaning of what is merely inci:
dental, thrown in to give symmetry and completeness
to the parabolic representation. Forgetting this rule,
men have speculated upon the meaning of the woman,
the three measures of meal, &c. A woman is the
actor here, because it is her more especial work to
have to do with the culinary art, and three measures
designated, because this wes abotit the quantity ust
246 Tue Laven.

ally prepared for the oven at once. Leaven is an ar-
ticle of such constant use in the culinary art that I
need spend no time in speaking of its nature and ef-
fect. On account of its diffusive, assimilating and
transforming principles, and on account of the changes
which it produces on the mass with which it is min-
gled, it is chosen by Christ to represent His grace ;
and the effect which leaven produces, is made to rep-
resent the effect of grace upon the heart.

For similar reasons, in the Old Testament leaven is
made to represent sin, which is also an active, assimi-
lating and transforming principle. On the Passover
week the Jews were not permitted to eat leavened
bread, and on some of their most holy days were not
permitted to have it in their houses. On reference to
this fact, and to the fact that leaven is made to repre-
sent sin in the Old Testament, the apostle says, “Purge
out the old leaven.”

What thus, on account of certain properties, repre-
sents ein working in the heart, with equal propriety
represents grace, the opposite of sin. Both are opera-
tive, but they work in opposite directions ; both are as-
similating, transforming the soul to its own nature;
one draws downward, the other upward; one vitiates
and destroys, the other sanctifies and saves.

We have now before us a general exposition of this
parable. While the preceding one illustrates the tri-
Tar Lraven, = 247

umphs of the Gospel in the world, this points out the
workings of grace in the soul. The appropriateness
of the parabolic representation is seen in the following
respects ;

1. Leaven is a foreign element. It belongs not to
the mass to be affected by it, but it is introduced into
it by a living agent. So the grace of God inheres not
in human nature. In our hearts are lodged the seeds
ofsin. If not counteracted the result will be that the
man will be utterly vitiated and ultimately over-
whelmed in everlasting ruin. The grace of God comes
in with its restraining, converting and saving power,
to prevent results so ruinous. It comes from God,
through Jesus Christ as its dispenser. If, Christians,
you are holier and happier than other men, never
forget that “by the grace of God you are what you
are”-—that “it is God who maketh you to differ.”

2. I have observed that leaven is an active and an
assimilating agent. Introduced into a heavy, un-
seemly and unpalatable mass, it at once commences
to work, and it continues its processes until it has
modified the entire mass. So grace in the heart is ac-
tive. If you see one who is professedly a renewed
man, but one whose heart and whose life have not
been modified and improved by his religion, you bee
hold either a deceived man or a deceivers—ene who
948 Tie Leaver.
holds @ lie in his right hand, or one who has stolen the
livery, &e.

83. Again: the changes wrought by leaven are be-
neficent changes. I need not speak of the chemical
action and effects of leaven, but it is introduced tose-
cure a good end, and its legitimate effect is to convert
an almost putrescent mass into man’s most necessary
food. By such means we have our daily bread. So
grace in the heart always produces benevolent chan-
ges. It takesa sinner and changes him from sin to
holiness—it turns him from Satan toGod. It reverses
the current of his thoughts, his sympathies his affec-
tions, and his enjoyments.

4, Now, while these changes are thus marked and
beneficent, they are nevertheless produced by pro-
cesses invisible to the eye and sometimes inscrutable
to the mind of man. Leaven works gradually, silent
ly and insensibly, and yet ceaselessly and strongly—=
works until the whole is leavened. Pardon, regener:
ation and adoption are, of course, instantaneous works,
But all the processes which are antecedent to, and
consequent upon, justification are gradual. Every
Christian’s experience, however bright and glorious,
had a humble beginning. See that mighty river!
It had a humble fountain away among the hills, I
zee a patriarch Christian! He is passing home with
& character tipe for the skies and his bosom laden
Tae Leaven. 249

with sheaves,—all is the result of some little seed
dropped in his heart away back in childhood, Mark
the similes of Scripture. ‘First the blade, then the
ear,” &c. “The path of the just is asa,” &c. See the
prodigal son! After long waywardness and sin he
returns a humble penitent. What has produced such
aresult? Ah! he thought with himself. The infidel
calculating the dimensions of the New Jerusalem.
Despise not the day of small things. Crush not out
thy serious thoughts! Entertain them. It may be
saving leaven which shall transform thy nature and
save thy soul.

5. Mark, finally, the completeness of the leavening
process, “ till the whole.” As the leaven continues to
diffuse itself until the whole inert mass feels its quick-
ening and transforming presence and power, so grace
really possessed, and unresisted, will work on the
great deep of the soul until all its powers and all its
affections are transformed into the image of Christ.
It comes to the dark wnderstanding and illuminates
it. It comes to the perverted judgment and rectifies
it. It comes to the accusing conscience and purifies it.
It comes to the obstinate wid and subdues it. It will
spread its hallowed reign over all the soul, and bring
every thought into captivity to thelaw of Christ. But
leaven does not always produce these results. Here
the explanation is that some of the conditions are lack_
250 Tse Leavin.

ing, or some neutralizing agent is present to prevent
the desired and expected result. So, if you cherish
worldly mindedness, sensuality or pride, you neutralize
the grace of God. Hence, we are exhorted not to
“receive the grace of God in vain.” “Grieve not the
Holy Spirit.”

Now, by this token, you may surely know whether
the grace of God has been a living and operating
principle in thy heart. Leaven is not for long years
producing its results; it does so in a few hours or in a
single day. Now, I will not say that grace will ina
day or year produce these results ; but there will and
must be a tendency and progress towards it. There
must be an approximating towards entire purity,—a
growing moral resemblance to Christ. You must be
holy or you cannot be happy, you cannot be useful,
you cannot enter heaven. You have professed to
have the leaven of grace in your heart for many a
year. Is it true that it has been thus operating in thy
heart so long, and not yet produced a heart “perfect,
and right, and pure, and good?” Has not the salt
lost its savor? Or do you still feel the operations of
the sacred leaven? Oh! yield to its transforming
power, and it will work in you until your whole soul
and body be sanctified wholly. And, finally, deliver-
ed from earth, your probationary abode, you shall be
translated to heaven, your immortal home, where glo-
ry shall crown what grace on earth begun.
SERMON XXII.

_

THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED.

 

Matt. xii : 81-32.—* The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of
mustard seed.” :

“T have used siméilitudes by the ministry of my
prophets,” said God by Hosea when communicating
the processes He had employed to instruct His people.
He had not only spoken plainly, but had employed
symbols, types and figures, to illustrate the truth.
Christ adopted the same plan; and He selected his
illustrations from facts and things with which they
were well acquainted. By this means He secured
their attention, rendered His addresses pleasing and
instructive, held the prejudices of His hearers in check,
and fixed great truths in their minds.

This parable, like the two preceding, is taken from
agricultural life. In the parable of the sower, He had
classified the hearers of the Gospel, &c., in that of the
tares and wheat, He had unfolded several great facts
in the moral history of the world, and in this He
sketches prospectively the progress and final triumph

of His own Gospel in the world.
The mustard seed is small, and it would seem might
252 Tue Gram or Moustarp Sexp.

be lost and forgotten when cast into the soil, but in
the East it literally became a great tree. A Jewish
Rabbi,.says one grew in his garden into which he
climbed as into a fig-tree. And as the insignificant
and unpromising mustard seed expands into the tree,
so the Church of God on earth is destined to grow to
vast dimensions, spread over all lands, and like the
waters of the ocean, to cover the earth.

We shall leave here the parable proper and take a
rapid view of the Church of God, retrospectively as
furnished in history and prospectively as sketched in
prophecy.

We are standing on the stream of history, whether
far up among its fountains, or down near where its
waters lose themselves in the ocean of unchanging
being, a cursory glance will not enable us to deter-
mine.

The light of history falls backwards, and some of
the transactions of the past are revealed, but others
lie hid in the deep dark valleys. But if the past be
only partially unfolded the future is more unknown.
The wave of current events laves our footsteps and
then sweeps on, and no Awman eye can trace it to its
end. Analogy indicates what may be, presentiment
utters her voice ; but we are not left to these, for
there are beacons kindled on the shores of eternity, ke.
Tue Graw or Musrarp Seep. 253

Christianity is a fact which history must not ignore,
a vast actuality of which philosophy must give an ac-
count. It is a kingdom among the kingdoms. In its
organized form it stretches through all time.

It is apparent, too, that the power of Mahomedan-
ism is wellnigh broken. The recent events in Europe,
have demonstrated that there is no inherent vitality
in the system. The Ottoman Empire, the great shield
of Mahomedanism is held together by the influence
and arms of Protestant England and Catholic France,
and while these allies are pledged to preserve the in-
tegrity of the empire, neither are pledged to perpetuate
the Mahomedan faith. Neither can have any motive
for upholding a system founded in imposture, which
was propagated by the sword, and which stands in
the way of all human progress and elevation, as well
as of the salvation of men.

Accordingly before entering upon the recent strug-
gle with Russia, the allies demanded of Turkey, the
civil emancipation of the Christian subjects, which
amounts in effect to the abandonment of Mahomedan-
ism as a state religion, and having a fair and open
field for Christian effort. The mufti, the ecclesiastial
head of the empire, foreseeing the effect of this con-
cession of the Sultan, entered his protest against it,
but the Sultan knowing it to be a necessary, step to
254 Tue Hippen Treasure.

secure the adhesion of his allies, dismissed the mufti
and appointed to that high office a man of more lib-
eral views, if not of more facile conscience.

Thus while the fifth angel shall pour out his vial
upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom shall be
full of darkness, the sixth may be just at hand to pour
out his, upon the great river Euphrates, that the wa-
ters thereof may be dried up, or in other words that
Turkish and Mahomedan domination may cease for-
ever.

(This sketch left incomplete. The drift of the argu-
ment‘is easily seen.)

SERMON XXIII.

THE HIDDEN TREASURE..

 

Matt. xiii: 44." The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure
hid in a field,” &c.

’ There is room for some diversity of opinion on the
question whether the treasure referred to was one
which had been lost or concealed by men, or whether
it was a natural treasure as a mine cf gold, or some
other precious metal.

The weight of authority, if not evidence, is in favor
Tae Hiwpen Treasure. 255

of the latter idea. He who buys a field acquires a
right to all the natural treasures which that field em-
bosoms, but not to the developed wealth deposited
there on purpose, or lost by accident. Gold, like
granite, unless retained, goes with the soil. There is
at this moment, a man whose name is familiar to the
lips of every person in the land, whose history at one
period of his life may be brought to illustrate this
parable.

He found a rich treasure in the gold regions of
Maraposa, and he went and sold all and bought that
field, and thus it is said bought exhaustless wealth.

A general exposition of the parable may now be
given thus.

I. The Gospel is a great treasure.

II. It is hidden from many.

III. It is found oy some.

IV. It is secured by those who sell all.

V. Such are constituted rich and happy for both
worlds.

I. The Gospel is a treasure.

No pursuit among men is so engrossing and general
as the pursuit of wealth, and it is usually pursued not
as a means, but as an end. Nowif the legitimate end
of wealth be happiness, protection of our rights or
usefulness to others,—I submit that religion secures
256 Tar Hivpen Treasures.

these ends, and that thus it is really great wealth. But
particularly.

1. It is a treasure of precious truths. California
may contain may a golden nugget, but the Gospel
reveals golden truths, the knowledge of which makes
men wise unto salvation. Take these truths from the
world and the great light of intellect and Christianity
are extinguished. Many in their thoughtlessness have
said that the heathen are as well off as we are. But
at what price will you part with all you know of
God, Christ, duty and immortality, and take in place
the profound ignorance of the heathen world? The
Gospel is the great sun that pours down light on the
nations. It is the grand apperture through which
voices from Eternity speak to us. Itisa revelation
of mysteries which have been hid from the foundation
of the world. It isa disclosure of the mind and will
of God. .

2. It isatreasure of enjoyment to the individual
possessor. That is a real treasure which brings peace
and happiness in its train. Wealth does not do this.
However ample one’s possession, “Still unenjoyed
the present store, still endless sighs are breathed for
more.” In complaining and longing his days and
nights pass away, and, “A cruel something unpos-
sessed, corrodes and poisons all'the rest.” But trae
religion is an unfailing fountain of joy.
Ture Hippen Treasure. 257

3. It is a treasure to the world by the practical
blessings it brings. In its wake spring up social
amenities, domestic joys, educational facilities, char-
itable institutions, neighborhood and international
peace. From its general reception spring the virtues
of justice, reciprocity, mercy, everything which makes
life pleasant, which adorns the character and garnishes
the soul for heaven.

4. It is a treasure of eternal life. It plumes the

fi Bo a ==
spirit for an endless sweep of duration and blessed-
ness in the kingdom of heaven.

IL. When now it is said that this gospel treasure is
hidden, it is meant that it is concealed from those who
have no knowledge of, or care forit. It is hidden
from the heathen world where its light does not shine.
Tt was hidden from the Jews in their types and sacri-
fices ; for to them “The spirit was in the letter lost,
the substance in the shade.” And now, if our gospel
be bid it is hid to those who are lost, whose eyes are
blinded by the God of this world. It is hidden from
them because they are not persuaded of its truth, or
impressed with its vast impor tance. Itis hidden from
them because its motives and principles are such as
are inscrutable to them. The man of the world can
comprehend the man of the world, but ‘the natural
man receiveth not the things of the spirit for they are

13
258 Taz Hipen TREASURE.

foolishness to him, neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned.”

These things are hid from the wise and prudent, but
are revealed to babes. The princes of the world
know them not. Prejudice, worldliness and careless-
ness conceal the preciousness of the gospel, and not
until these are penetrated or removed, does its truth
and glory appear.

IIL. But the man in the parable found this treas-
ure; and blessed be God, many men have found the
treasure of salvation. To find it requires,

1. Careful consideration and inquiry. The gold
fields of California had been traveled over by stupid
Indians and Mexicans for generations, but they had
not found the precious metal; but as soon as they be-
came American possessions, curious eyes discovered
what had been hid from the foundation of the world.
And there are men living amid the gospel’s blazing
light, who are in darkness, and, when exhaustless
treasures are at hand, who are poor.

Bow down thine ear, oh! proud man, to hear the
truths which so deeply concern thee. Pause amid
the storm of worldly strife, and step aside from the
rude jostlings of the world, and see if there are not
interests more precious than any which have hitherto
occupied thy thoughts! Beneath: the rubbish of
eaithly interests is a mine of virgin gold, to possess
Tar Hippen Treasvre. 259

which will enrich you for eternity. ‘Here may the
wretched sons of want,” &e.

2. It requires diligent search. We are command-
ed to search for it as for hid treasures. The woman
seeking her lost silver.

IV. The parable unfolds the condition on which
this heavenly treasure may become ours. When we
become so impressed with asense of its value, and
so earnest in its pursuit, as to seld all, in order to ob-
tain it, we are sure to become its joyful possessors.
Multitudes live in sight of the blessings, and with
some desire to.secure it, but they do not seek it with
all the heart, they do not seld all to obtain it. One
cannot sell his farm, another cannot sell his friends,
another cannot sell his reputation, the drunkard can-
not sell his drink, the proud beauty, her vanity. Each
has some cherished treasure. “Some cursed thing
unknown,” &c. You say it is hard to part with all
these. Well, you can retain them, but you cannot
buy the priceless pearl. I tell you it will take all you
have to buy it. If you are as poor as poverty you
can buy it, if you will give a// you have. Andif as
rich as Creesus you can’t buy unless you give all
you’ve got. Oh! I am anxious that all my hearers
should buy this treasure and buy it at this price, for
I know that there is no man who hath left father or
mother, or houses or lands, but shall receive a hun-
260 Tae Hoven Teeasvre.

dred fold more in this present time, and in the world

to come life everlasting.
V. We remark finally, that the man who buys this

heavenly treasure is constituted rich and happy for
time and eternity. I do not envy the man who owns
a mine of gold, if he has no Christ with him, and no
good hope of heaven before him. The world is poor
from shore to shore. Its honors, wealth, and pleasures
are poor and mean, not worth a wish or thought, but
“ Religion! what treasures untold.” This joy is spirit-
ual and increasing, and at the grave it melts away
nto the light and joy of heaven.

INFERENCES.

1. How thankful we should be for the Gospel. Our
gratitude should be proportioned to the greatness of
the benefaction conferred upon us.

9. We should be greatly anxious to be assured of
the validity of our title to our treasure. Many a man
has accounted himself rich, but found in the upturn-
ing of things that his title was defective. Your title
may once have been good to your farm, but it may
now be covered with mortgage and jadgments, and
your title be embarrassed if not utterly vitiated. Oh!
beware lest while you exclaim, “Iam rich,” God
say, “thou art poor and miserable.”

3. Unlike all other treasures, all may be proprietors
of it. You may enjoy it yourself and distribute it to

.
Taz Peart or Great Priors. 261

others. It will not diminish in va\ue though other
share it with you. Recommend it to impoverished,
perishing sinners around you.

4, Finally, “ Buy the truth, but sell it not. Hold
it fast, let it not go, for it is thy life.

SHRMON XXIV.

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.

 

Matt. xiii : 45.—“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant-
man seeking goodly pearls,” &c.

Pearls are rare and beautiful precious stones, which
have an animal origin, being found in certain species
of oysters and muscles. They have been found most-
ly in the Caspian Sea and adjacent waters, and are
brought up by divers, at great peril of health and life.
In our own country pearls have recently been found,
in considerable quantities, in the shallow streams
along the Atlantic seaboard, and the discovery has
awakened the liveliest interest among such as aspire
to great and sudden wealth. Perhaps by goodly
pearls, our Saviour intended to speak of precious stones
in genera!, of which there are several varieties more
valuable than the pearl, the most rare and costly of
262 Tus Peart or Great Paice.

which is the diamond. There is one diamond, now
the property of Queen Victoria, apon which a fabu-
lous price is set, which has been the pride of the old
monarchs of India, and to gain possession of which
fierce wars have been waged, and much blood shed.
It is called the “Koh-i-noor,” or “Mountain of Light,”
and formed one of the attractions of the World’s Fair
at London. Such a precious treasure the “merchant-
man” of the text found, and, selling all that he had,
he became its opulent and happy possessor. To this
pearl “the kingdom of heaven” is compared, which
embraces the two ideas—of grace in its. commence-
ment, development and triumphs in the heart of man
on earth, and the full measure of his perfected joy in
heaven. These, indeed, are but parts of one compre-
hensive system ; they are the beginning and results,
the Alpha and Omega.

The pearl, then, is piety, with all its antecedents,
its adjuncts, and its everlasting and glorious conse-
quences. If you can trace this principle to its source,
if you can mark its benign operations, if you can as-
certain its full results, you can approximate the value
of “the pearl of great price.” You cannot do this by
an arithmetical calculation. All the world would be
no price for a jewel like this, whose maker is God, and
and the possession of which loads one down with en-
during riches. Anterior to the possession of this jewel,
Tue Peart or Great Price, 263

there must be light shed upon the understanding and
conviction inspired in the son]. A desire, as ardent
and quencliless as that of the miser for gold, must be
inspired in the heart. And such a desire, when it
becomes supreme and overpowering, overriding every
counteracting propensity and desire, is a certain pre-
monition of the attainment of the blessing desired.
But the genuineness of this desire will be subjected
to very searching tests. If, after every test, this de-
sire maintains its supremacy, if the favor of the Lord
be sought and desired at the sacrifice of every other
interest, then, as the Lord liveth, that man is not far
from the kingdom of God. He is prepared to do as
did the merchantman in the parable, who, in his
searches, finds a pearl of great price, and to secure it
parts with all he has. We should account a man
reckless who would literally part with everything to
secure a single pearl, and yet there are few men in
the world whose wealth would purchase the more
costly precious stones which are known to exist.

The pearl which Cleopatra dissolved and drank to
the health of Mark Antony, was estimated by Pliny
at $875,000. The great Russian diamond is valued at
$1,500,000. The celebrated Regent diamond, among
the crown jewels of France, is estimated at $2,000,-
000. One in the Austrian diadem at $450,000. The
largest diamond known is that of the King of Portu-
264 Taz Peart or Great Price.

gal, and is valued at $250,000,000, [and the famous
“Mountain of Light” of Queen Victoria is said to be
equal in value to half the daily expenses of the whole
world. "

And yet these jewels which eparkle in the diadems
of the monarclis of the earth, the estimated value of
which staggers our belief, and almost our conception,
are ¥eally and inherently worthless. In a utilitarian
point of view they are not worth, the whole of them,
a brass pin, for a pin is useful, but pearls meet not
one of the demands of life or godliness. They will
neither clothe us nor feed us; they can be wrought
into no fabric or utensil needed by man; they pro-
mote neither intellectual improvement nor social re-
finement nor moral clevation. They do at best only
gratify the lust of the eye and the pride of life, they
feed the flame of vanity, they widen the breach in the
brotherhood of the race, they secularize the soul and
turn it away from God.

It is believed all through India that the possession
of the “Koh-i-noor” is the presage of evil to the owner.
So it has proved to the sovereigns of India, and so it
may prove to Queen Victoria, who, in the possible
loss of India, sees the brightest jewel of her crown
jeopardized. But however this may be, we know
that the “kingdom of heaven” is the harbinger and
procurer of happiness and safety; a talisman against
‘fam Peart or Great Prior, 265

every real ill; a shield against every enemy } a mag:
net that attracts to itselt every excellent thing; an in-
heritance that endows its possessor with more than
princely possessions here and constitutes him an heir
of heaven. “Zhe white stone,’ with a name written
on it known only to its possessor, is a title of sonship
to the King of kings, and of heirship to ‘an inherit-
ance incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not
away.” For what is this “kingdom of heaven” to
which the goodly pearl is compared? “It is right-
eousness and peace and joy.’ Can you desire, can
you conceive aricher inheritance than this? “J2ight-.
eousness,”—rectitude of heart and life, not according
to a human and fallible standard, but according to the
decisions of the great searcher of hearts. “This lics at
the foundation of every excellence, and all safety ;
and this is the robe of fine linen, clean and white,
with which the saints shall be arrayed at last.

This kingdom is peace. I would that I could cons
vey to your minds the deep significance and blessed
import of this word, peace. I do not speak of peace
in the nation, in the neighborhood, in the family, al-
though all these are in the train of piety, but I speak
of peace in the soul. There may be storms around,
but as the lake slumbers on when the tempest wars on
the surrounding hills, so the soul, in communion with
God, maintains its calm, deep, blessed peace, amid all
266 Tae Peart or Great Prictt.

the storms and commotions of life. This is a peace to
senstial minds unknown. It is the great peace which
they have who love the Lord} it is the peace which
Jesus gave to His disviples as His last best legacy ; it
is the peace of God whivb keeps the soul in the knowl-
edge and love of God, and which passeth all under-
standing. It blesseth its possessor in the morning, it
cheers him amid the labors of the day, it illumines
him amid the darkness of the night. It is a substi-
tute for the world’s wealth and favor and smiles.
Kings cannot buy it with all their wealth, the epicure
cannot find it among his viands, it is sought in vain in
the halls of fashion and pleasure, But it blesses the
widow in her desolation, the poor man at his toils, the
navigator on the swelling seas; it enables the dying

saint to rejoice and makes the tongue of the martyr
sing when the flames leap and hiss around him. And
at times, at least, it swells out into overpowering and
rapturous joy. As the mountain range hoids on for
many a league in its mighty elevation, but now and
then sends tip a peak to an altitude above the eagle’s
boldest flight, so religion’s peace is always above the
fogs and clouds of a cold and stormy world, but some-
times it swells upward toward the excellent glory,
where the traveler seems to hear the intes of angels,
and then we call it “joy in the Holy Ghost.” Or, as
the river flows on with full banks through many a
Tae Peart or Great Prices. 267

smiling clime, and now and then swells out into crys-
tal lakes, and then mingles with the waters of the
boundless ocean, so the peace of the Christian “‘is like a
river,” his joy is like the spreading and deepening
waters of the lake, and his “righteousness is like the
waves of the sea.” “The work of righteousness is
peace, and the «fect of righteousness i is s quietness and
assurance forever.” Tees

Do you, my fellow man, desire this goodly pearl ?
Then go and sell all you have and buy it. This im-
plies nothing less than te surrender of your all to
God. Let your judgment yield to the claims of God;
let your affections let go their grasp on the world and
cling to the cross; let your will be surrendered: to
Christ. Part with every idol, however cherished,
give up every sin, however dear. Break away from
every unholy zxtimacy ; renounce utterly and forever,
every sinful habit; “sell all that you have,” keep back
no part of the price, and then thou shalt become the
joyful possessor of the pearl of great price and be a
happy heir of the kingdom of heaven. And this
kingdom, begun thus on earth, culminates in heaven,
There it swells out to its full proportions, its righteous-
ness shall be as the noonday light, its peace shall be
amplified and made permanent, its joy shall be un-
commenced and unending. Each bearer of the good-
ly pearl shall be admitted through the gates of pearl
and walk the streets of gold.
SERMON XXV.

——

THE NET AND FISHES.

—

Matt. xiii: 47-50.—The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that
was cast into the sea,” ke.

Not only are the heavens and the earth full of the
goodness of the Lord, but so also is this great, sea
wherein are things creeping innumerable.

It was meet that the Savior in illustrating the na-
ture and workings of His kingdom, should select His
illustrations from all the avocations of men. And as
multitudes do business in the great waters and draw
their treasures from the bosom of the deep, it was not
to be expected that they would be passed over.
Especially since several of his disciples were fisher-
men.

We come now to a general exposition of the parable.

1. The sea (like the field) represents the world. It

is so used in many other places. John saw a beast
come up out of the sea.

2. The fishes are the earth’s inhabitants. Among
the Jews, the fish as well as other animals were ac-
counted clean or unclean, and when the latter were
Tur Nur anp Fisnes. 264

taken by Jewish fishermen, they were immediately
cast away and left to perish on the shore.

3. The net isthe Gospel. As the former is designed
to catch fish the latter is designed to catch men.

4. The fishermen are ministers and others whe pre-
sent the motives of the Gospel. “Follow me and{I will
make you fishers of men.”

5. The fact is stated that fishermen gather both
clean and unclean into their net, and this implies that
different characters are here gathered into the visible
church. You ae probably familiar with the process
of fishing with nets. The net furnished with sinkers
and floaters, is carried around an area of the waters,
and many within its sweep are entangled in’ the
meshes of the net and brought tothe shore. The fisher-
men, then assort them, reserving the good for the
market and the king’s table, while the vile and the
worthless are (not returned to the waters,) but cast
away and destroyed.

And this brings out the fact already stated, the
lamentable, the alarming fact that, comprehended in
the visible church, reckoned its membership, and com-
ing to its altars, are men of unrenewed hearts, and
when it can with impunity be done, leading unholy
lives. These individuals have different names ac-
cording to their character and motives. We mention,

(1.) Hypocrites. These have always had a piace in
270 Taz Ner anp Fisues.

the church. They assume an air of sanctity, nay of
superior and exclusive sanctity. Such were the Phari-
sees whom Christ so severely admonished and threat-
ened. “ Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees.” They
are found in every church. Their motives are various.

(a) One to secure respectability.

(0) One to get patronage.

(c) One to get friends.

And having once assumed the profession of religion,
they dislike to admit direct villainy, to admit low or
unholy motives, and hence remain in the church until
the great trying day.

(2.) Formalists. These are such as have the form
of Godliness only. They are mostly deceived persons,
who bring the standard of religion down instead of
elevating themselves to the standard of true piety.
They satisfy themselves with the performance of a few
duties while the religion of the heart is ignored and
opposed. “ They are at ease in Zion.”

(3.) Backsliders. These were once truly converted.
They remember now the day of their espousals, but
their joy and love are gone, and they sing mournfully,
“Where is the blessedness I knew.” They hold on
to some forms of piety, but their faith is eclipsed, their
zeal has expired, and their hearts are filled with sor-
row. Now, I atm not of course saying that all these
classes have been caught in the Gospel net, that is,
Tan Ner anp Fistins. yal

saved by the Gospel, but this virgin gold, has given
currency to much base alloy, the Gospel has affected
them, and it has become to them a system of defence
against the accusations of their own conscience, and
the onsets of such as would save them. They make
use of it, or rather they abuse it, by misapplying its
promises, by passing its denunciations over to others,
by vainly hoping that because the system and its
author are merciful, therefore, they are safe.

But in the net of the Jewish fishermen, were not
only the ceremonially unclean who forind their way
into the net, but many that were clean and valuable,
So, in the church are not only the classes named, but
also a vast number of true believers. The net is
spread only to catch fish suitable for food, others come
in incidentally, and the fishermen have no meaus to
prevent it, so the Gospel net is thrown to enclose only
such as shall be saved, but others intrude, deceiving
the ministry and the church, and thus for a time, the
precious and the vile exist together.

6. But the parable teaches that a day of discrimina-
tion and separation shall come when the wicked shall
be separated from the just, and cast into a furnace of
fire where shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. This
momentous truth is tanght not by a shadowy parable
alone, the meaning of which may be perverted, but
272 Tor Ner any Fisnes.

by the positive announcements of Him who came
down from heaven, whose knowledge cannot be ques-
tioned, and whose veracity cannot be impeached. The
parable of the tares had taught us that the righteous
and the wicked will dwell on earth together down to
the end of time, and this one teaches us, that even the
hallowed precincts of the church will frequently be
invaded by the tread of unhallowed feet until the eye
and hand of an all-discriminating Judge shall effect a
complete separation. Ifthe Bible bad not taught us
this alarming fact, if there had been no Judas among
the apostles, and no Simon Magus, or Demas, or
Diotrephes among the membership of the apostolic
churches, if Christ had not sent His warning letters to
the seven churches of Asia, laying open their mixed
character, still the experience of the church attests this
alarming truth. Alas! alas! there are deceivers and
deceived men, there are formalists and backsliders in
every church. De their doctrines ever so pure, their
discipline ever 80 rigid, because men cannot know
the heart, and kecause it is the duty of the church to
“ believe all things, to hope all things, and to endure
all things,” a church of which the entire membership
are holy, can never be expected to exist on earth. She
can expel the openly corrtpt, the thief, the liar, the
Sabbath breaker, and the drunkard; but the un-
b elieving, and the proud, and the avaricious, may re-
Tac Ner anp Fisuzs. 278 -

main. The evidences of their unregeneracy may not
be apparent, or if apparent, the proofs cannot be
brought to bear, and thus they Jive on in the church,
long after they have ceased to live for God. But the
day of scrutiny and separation is coming. ‘The fires
of the last day will search through the church, and
while the gold and silver, &c., will only be refined,
“hay and wood, and stubble,” will be destroyed.

1, The Savior tells us that this discrimination shall
be made at the end of the world. Sometimes it is
made on this side of death, but surely then. Let us
pass in the swift transition of our thoughts to that
eventful day. I am not concerned to inquire after its
physical grandeur, but, oh! it will have moral in-
terests to adjust, and there will be transactions so mo-
mentous that the ears of every one in the universe
that heareth them shall tingle. .

(a) Where is the hypocrite now. In the grave he
has left his mask and stands in hative uglincss.

(6) Where now is the formalist, alas! the illusion
of his false hope has vanished, and he awakens to the
terrible conviction that he has no hope.

(c) ‘The poor backslider now remembers how he cast
away his confidence, how through unfaithfulness he
alienated his Savior, and put the interests of lis soul
in fearful peril. All who have held a lie in their right
274 Tar Nerv anp Fisues.

hand, all who have held the truth in unrighteousness,
all who having a name to live, and yet been dead,
shall be assigned to their dread places on the /eft
hand of the Judge, and hypocrites and unbelievers
together, shall reap their harvest of vindictive fire.

2. The angels shall sever the wicked from among
the just, and in so doing the line of separation will be
drawn between families and neighborhoods and
churches. Parents will bid an everlasting farewell to
their children, husbands and wives will be separated,
old neighbors will look at each other for the last time,
and ministers and members see some of their numbers
for the last time, as they recede towards the thick
darkness where they are to spend their eternity in
weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth No
sanctimonious professions, no earnest protestations, no
repentant tears can now avail, but they must obey
their fearful sentence, “depart,” a sentence never to
be revoked, followed by a ruin never to be relieved.
Hands which have been clasped in prayer in earthly
temples, will be wrung in despair while the billows of
everlasting death dash over them. Brows which
have been sprinkled with baptismal dew, will burn
with ceaseless baptisms of fire. yes which once
wept tears of penitence, will shed streams of woe.
Lips which have tasted the symbols of a Savior’s
broken body and shed blood, will utter. everlasting
Tar Lasorers. 275

imprecations. Hearts which once throbbed with
hope, will be filled with despair furever. The sepa-
ration will be complete and eternal. “If the righteous
are scarcely saved,” &c.

SERMON XXVI.

THE LABORERS.

Matt. xx : 1-16.—The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that
is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire
laborers into his vineyard, &c.

A reference to eastern customs sheds light on many
portions of the word of God. One of their customs
was for persons seeking employment to go into the
market places and those needing workmen to seek
them here.

" Imagine some Jewish householder to need many
laborers as the hurrying season of the year came on,
and he goes to the nearest village and enters the mar-
ket place, makes his selections and bargains and des-
patches them to his fields. Others continue to arrive
during the day and all on their coming are offered
employment and wages, and many of them enter his

service.
276 Tar VaBoreRrs.

Several different methods of exposition have been
employed in relation to this parable.

1. Some have made the day to represent human life,
and the different hours its various periods, and thus
make the parable teach at whatever age an indivicual
enters the service of God hisreward will be the same
at last. A bad use has been made of this exposition,
even that of authorizing a postponement of the duties
of life and the entrance upon the divine service by the
assurance that repentance in old age or at death will
ensure a reward as great asa life of piety. Surely
the Savior did not intend to inculcate this sentiment.
Surely he did not intend to encourage spiritual sloth
and virtually warrant the postponement of the great
work of life until life was almost gone.

2. Asecond exposition makes the parable refer to
the various eras in man’s moral history preceding the
Savior’s time. According to this view Abel and
Enoch entered the vineyard at the first hour, Samuel
and the prophets further on, while those converted
under the ministry of John the Baptist came in at
the eleventh hour. The objection to this is that the
parable was to illustrate the kingdom of heaven.

38. Weagree then with those who hold that the
parable illustrates the times of entrance into the king-
dom of Christ, and shows that those living further
down the stream of time have equal advantages with
Tae Laporers. QiT

those who lived in the first dawnings of the gospel,
that the Jews who believed in Christ had no advan-
tages over the Gentiles who subsequently believed,
and that the last heathen who receives it from coasts
where the gospel is not yet proclaimed will as surely
be saved by it aswe to whom it came earlier; in
short, none shall be placed at a moral disadvantage
on account of the age in which they lived.

But without spending more time here, we learn
several valuable lessons.

I. The parable unfolds the actual condition of un-
renewed men. They “stand zd/e in the market pla-
ces.” Idleness would be excusable if

(1.) There was nothing to do, or if

(2.) We had no facilities or ability to labor,

(3.) Or if no motives were furnished.

But neither condition is true.

1. The physical and moral condition of man is such
that labor and effort are constantly demanded. “In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread” was
the primal curse, and the Apostle declares that such
as will not work ought not to eat. Physical idleness
induces di-comtort and vice, mental inactivity is ful-
lowed by ignorance and prejudice, while moral sloth
perils the interests of the soul. Life is no mere holi-
day, but a scene of earnest and continued labor.

“ Nothing to do” is the motto of indolence, but one
278 Tue Lasorers.

which can never be urged by those who will survey the
magnitude of their responsibilities and the vastness of
the interests which are at stake.

3. Equally fallacious is the plea that men have no
faculties for labor.

(a) You have time, and time is a very precious
boon given for this very end.

(0) You have physical strength to enable you to
reach sinners and the sufferers of earth.

(c) You have influence, or power to shape the course
of others.

(zd) You have means which have been placed at
your disposal for this very end.

(e) You can pray and thus enlist the energies of the
Lord in your behalf.

And yet with all these faculties of labor men are
idle. “Yeare idle,” cried the Egyptian taskmasters,
but the poor bondmen had none of the materials of
labor in their hands. But when God accuses his ser-
vants of indolence it is amid the amplest facilities
and the most abundant opportunities, and therefore,
men are without exense.

3. Nor can a paucity of motives be urged by way
of extenuation. We blame not the slave for his lan-
guid toil in the absence of every motive. No bene-
fit can accrue to himself from all his labors. But
heaven and earth are full of motives urging us to dil-
Tsar Lazorzrs. 279

igence in the great work of getting ready to die, and
of rescuing our fellow men from the thraldom of sin,
and from exposure to everlasting ruin, death and
judgment. —

II. We greatly wonder at this infatuation of sin-
ners in regard to their eternal interests, but more do
we marvel at the languid and dilatory manner in
which many professors of religion work in the vine-
yard of the Lord.

i. There are in the Churches many men pro-
fessedly called to the sacred office, and furnished with.
many requisites for usefulness who are standing idly
in the ecclesiastical market places and when enquired
of “why stand ye all the day idle?” are constrained to
give the humiliating answer “because no man hath
hired us.” I love the system which remands every
man to the vineyard, which assigns him work, with
or without wages.

2. There are others who possess eminent qualifica-
tions as teachers in the Sabbath School, who are nev-
ertheless passing idly away the day of life, their pow-
ers wasting, their faculties becoming impaired, and
the vineyard which they should cultivate left to be
overrun with briars and thorns.

3. Ochers are fitted for stations of usefulness in the
official ranks of the Church who yet stand idle and

like the nobles in Nehemiah’s time.
280 Tue Lazorzgs.

4, Others point back to labors done and hardships
endured in other years and claim exemption from la-
bor now, because they entered the vineyard early and
have borne the burden and the heat of the day.

III. But upon all, whether in the vineyards, or in
the market places the obligation to labor is imperative
and the burden of my entreaty is

1. To those in earth’s market places to enter the
vineyard of the Lord. You are now on the enemies’
ground, just where the attractions of hell are strong-
est, jast where the deadly snare is spread. From the
market places of earth hell is mightily replenished,
and remaining here you are assure of being engulph-
ed as is the navigator who is drawn within the
charmed circles of the Norwegian maelstrom. Some
have already heard and obeyed the summons to enter
into the Lord’s vineyard. Some entered in the first hour
of morning, and with earnest and unceasing toil have
been devoting a life to the service of God. Others
entered as the san of their being was ascending or
culminating or declining, and I am glad that I may
come to strong manhood and to bending age and in-
vite each to labor in the vineyard of the Lord. I do
not say that your reward will be the same, (the parable
teaches no such sentiment, but exhibits the partially
enlightened Jew clamoring after peculiar privileges,)
but I promise that all who really enter the vineyard
Tar Lazorzss. 281

and fathfully labor until the going down of the sun
of life shall enter into the joy of their Lord. -AJZ
will shine like the glowing firmament; but as stars
spangle the firmament of night, so those who turn
many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever.
But even “one star differeth from another in glory,”
so higher and brighter stations are reserved for such
as enter the vineyard early and continue faithful unto
death. Your happiness, your security, your salvation
depend upon your abandonment of sin and the world
and your devotion to the service of the Lord.

(1.) Do first, the work of reflection.

(2.) Do the work of repentance.

(3.) Let me exhort you to the exercise of faith in
Christ.

2. But let no one feel that a bare entrance into the
vineyard will meet the demands of the great proprie-
tor. You are éxpected to labor diligently until the
going down of the sun. “Be thou faithful unto
death.” ‘He that endureth to the end.”

(J.) Aged pilgrim, bending on thy staff, toil on yet
awhile. As the laborer in the harvest sees his shadow
lengthen on the plain and knows that the sun is going
down, wipes his sweating brow and bends to his toils
anew, so do thou gather strength by remembering
that thy life passeth away.

(2.) mone Christians, now is your time to work, and
289 Tar Lazorers.

now is the time to form your own character for all
future time.

(3.) Children, you may at least glean a little, and
gather out a few weeds and God will not let your
humble labors go unnoticed or unrewarded. While
then God has a right to us and our services, and.can
never come under obligation to us, he has yet promis-
ed great and magnificent rewards to his faithfal ser-
vants.

1. Part of these are dispensed in time.

2. But the fall measure is reserved to be shed on
the soul through the uncounted ages of eternity.
Each will receive all that he can in the Divine war-
rant claim, and many abundantly more. Every re-
ward shall be great and all shall be eternal. Our
toils will be over and the day of full perfect gladness
and deliverance will come.
SERMON XXVII.

THE TWO SONS.

 

Matt. xxi: 28.—‘But what think ye? A certain man had two
sons,” &c.

Outward appearances and promises are often decep-
tive, and where the brightest hopes are cherished
the most bitter disappointments often succeed.

To counterbalance this, results of a blessed charac-
ter are often secured where not expected. While
some prolific soil brings forth only a rank growth of
weeds and briers, sterile fields do sometimes produce
a goodly crop.

Had the inquiry been made, when Jesus was about
to open His commission, who will be the first to re-
ceive the gospel, the answer would doubtless have been,
“the Scribes and Pharisees.” They knew the law and
were blameless as regards its righteousness, they were
scrupulous as to its most minute observances, they
were acquainted with the prophecies which proclaim-
ed Messiah’s coming, and, possessed of all these ad-
vantages, it was a rational expectation that they would
hail His advent and become His first and most devoted
disciples.
984 Tux Two Sons.

Were it again inquired, who will mest likely ignore
the Reedeemer’s presence, scorn His warnings, and
clamor for His blood ? the answer would be “the pub-
licans and sinners,” the ignorant and the vicious of
the land. And yet you know the remarkable fact
that the tormer were His most bitter enemies ; that
they rejected, persecuted and crucified Him; while
“the common people heard Him gladly,” and the
publicans and harlots became His anditors, disciples
_and worshipers.

So it would have seemed likely that the Jews, as a
people, would gladly have welcomed Christ as their
glorious prince, and that the Gentiles would promptly
reject His religion as the latest phase of Jewish super-
stition; but the great mass of Jews, cried out we will
not have this man to reign over us, and to this day
the great body of that nation abjure Him, while the
most precious harvests have been gathered from Gen-
tile territory.

And who has not seen this same principle illustrat-
ed i in the workings of religion in modern times? Zion
travails, the church groans and weeps, and prays,
“Oh, Lord! revive thy work,” the indications increase
that God is about to pour out His Holy Spirit, and
eyes begin. to look around to see where the expected
shower will fall. And individuals are selected whom
Tue Two Sons.! 285

the church regards as sure and speedy subjects of the
work.

1. Among the objects of her hope and her prayers
are the children of the church. These have been
the subjects of great solicitude on the part of parents
and friends. They have been the subjects of pray-
er and counsel long, and now all eyes are turned
to see the evidences of their penitence and their turn-
ing to.God. They have been familiar with the claims
of God and the duties of religion ; they have been in-
structed in the Sunday School, and their knees have
been taught to bow in prayer; but, alas! their hearts
are obstinate now, and the revival passes by and many
of them remain unsaved of the Lord.

2. There is another class, who, at such times, are the
objects of great anxiety to the church. They are the
amiable and virtuous classes in society. They have
never formed the grosser habits of vice, they have
never mingled in the society of the profane, nor joined
in the songs of the drunkard. They never walked
openly in the ways of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the
scornful. On the contrary, they have been thought-
ful, distinguished for sobriety, integrity and veracity.
They have been regarded as living just at the gate, and
it has been supposed they had but to knock and enter
into the kingdom of heaven.

3. Many of these have been regular attendants upon
286 Tar Two Sons.

and earnest listeners to the Gospel of Christ. They
have freely given of their money to sustain the insti-
tutions of religion, their seat has rarely been vacant
in the house of God, and now all suppose that those
who have lingered at the pool so long will step in ; that
those who have lingered in the porch of the Gentiles
for years will come into the porch of the worshipers.
But alas for the calculations and hopes of the church ;
they remain like fixtures in their old positions. The
gospel to them has been like moonbeams playing on
icebergs.

4, And there is another class to whom God has
come very near, against whom adversity has lifted its
rod, and around whose door sickness has lingered.
Death, too, has entered their dwellings and ravished
their cherished ones from their sight, and hid them in
the dark grave. They have friends in heaven, and
while the cords that bound them to earth are loosen-
ing fast, their attractions heavenward are gaining
strength. Oh! surely these smitten ones will flee to
the Comforter! But they do not in every case, but
turn their eye and their feet again to the world.

Thus the father said to his eldest son, the one who
should be an example to the other, the one who had
shared most largely in his father’s counsels, who by
right of primogeniture inherited his father’s substance,
“Go work in my vineyard.” The reasonableness
Tue Two Sons. 287

of the command is admitted. The father had a
right to command the on, (as God has to com-
mand us,) and he gave a ready reply, “I go, sir;”
but when the day waned and his father sought him
in the vineyard, no traces of his presence or his in-
dustry wasfound. “He went not.” But the Church
is not left to labor in vain or spend her strength for
nought. She casts her bread upon the waters and
after many days she finds it when and where she had
not expected. She sows beside every stream, and
somewhere the precious seed springs up and bears
abundant fruit. In one direction, and perhaps in the
most promising directions her hopes are cut off, but
signs of promise arise in other quarters, showers come
down from cloudless skies, and flowers spring up
from desert soil.

Many a man when first approached on the subject
of his salvation will meet you with roug’ and repel-
lant words. But his very asperity may be caused by
an arrow in his heart. When Moses besought his
father to go with him to Canaan saying, “ We are
going to the land,” &c., he was met with the rough
reply, “I will not,” &c., but there is some reason to
think that he did retract and go after all. So the
younger son with the petulance of a spoiled child,
said, “I will not,” yet the sequel was, he repented
and went. You cannot judge of all that one feels by
988 Tur Two Sons.

what he says. At my last appointment during a séa-
gon of revival a lady gave asharpreply to an inquiry
about her soul.. That same lady asked pardon for her
language, was converted, and soon after I saw Har-
riet laid in her grave. In every extensive revival,
some of the most unlikely in the community are con-
verted. Anciently the gospel saved a penitent thief.
It saved Paul. From a swearing drunken rowdy, it
made John Bunyan a prince in Israel, and a blessing
to thousands. From a pirate and a slave-trader it
made John Newton a profound Theologian, a wondet-
fal writer and a giant in the pulpit. What triumphs
the gospel secured in Corinth. 1 Cor. 6-7. In Wes-
ley’s time he was often beset by infuriated mobs, but
his words often changed the lions into lambs, and
those just ready to devour him became his body guard
against all his enemies. The same Savior who tamed
the demoniac of Gadara stil! lives, and is still all po-
tent to subdue his enemies, and still good to forgive
the chief of sinners. And this of course implies that
he can save offenders, and while life remains prayer
and effort may and should be employed for all.

1. We may learn from this subject the comparative
inutility of good resolutions and promises never exe-
cuted.

Of what use are right views of duty, if those views
lead to no practical results ?
Tun Two Sons. 289-

Conviction itself is of no value, unless it lead to
conversion; and multitudes resolve and re-resolve, then
die the same. Dr. Johnson said long ago—what has
so many times been said since— that “the way to hell
is paved wtth good resolutions.” It will avail nothing
to say “I go, sir”; if you do not actually “go,” your
admitted duty will be neglected, and the vineyard of
the Lord left uncultivated.

The great reason why so many resolutions are made
which are never executed is, that men postpone the
fulfillment of them to a future period. They throw
every thing into the future, and the sad result is, that
when the sun of their life goes down, it goes down in
darkness and sorrow. Life is gone, but its great ends
are defeated.

2. The second reflection which I deduce is, that we
should never hastily regard any individual as helpless,
and dismiss him from our solicitudes and our prayers.
Men may repel our approaches and despise our tears,
but God may see invipient repentance in their hearts.
We may say of many, as Annanias did of Saul, “we
have heard of théir persecuting nature, their bitter.
nese against all that is good, and we cannot approach
them”; but God may rebuke our timidity and unbe
lief by saying, “fear not, for benoid he prayeth.”—
Many, when esked to go into the Lord’s vineyard,
290 Tar Wisz axnp Fooriss Viratns.

have answered, “I will no!,” but afterwaids they have
repented and gone.

The drunkard has re‘-rined; the swearer vecame a
man of prayer; the iuer an active laborer for God.

Father! have you a graceless son? Your closing
eye may witness his return. Sister !- have you an ob-
stinate brother? Baptize his steps with tears, and you
may see lim in the vineyard of the Lord.

SERMON XXVIII.

 

THE WISE AND FCGOLISH VIRGINS.

 

Matt. xxv. 1-18.—Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened
unto ten virgins, &.”

The stand point from which this parable will find
its true elucidation, is the last and great judgment
day.

" ‘There can be no rational doubt but that the parable
sweeps over the entire field of human probation, and
reaches onward to the retributions of Eternity

The scenery was borrowed from the manne of cel-
brating marriages in the east, which was well under
stood by the leurets of Ohrist. These customs have
underone glittls modification since that period. Trav.
elers describe them as Chriat represented them: —
Tue Wise ann Fooutsa Vireuvs. 291

1. By the five wise virgins, all agree are to be un-
derstood true Christians. Their wisdom was apparent
in the fact that they took oil in their vessels with their
lamps — evincing sagacious foresight, a wise regard
to their future wants and welfare. The lamps area
religious profession. The oil represents the grace of
God. These are each important—each may exist
apart from the other — their highest utility is reached
only in their union, while a profession, apart from
grace, is of no more consequence than a lamp in thick

darkness, with no oil to create a light.

2. By the jfwe foolish virgins, some understand the
formalist in religion, others regard them as typifying
the apostate. That backsliders are intended, seems
evident from’the fact that they were called virgins,
like the others, that is, so far as appears they Aad oil
in their lamps, and that this had been exhausted.—
Their folly is seen in the fact that they made provi-
sion only for the present. They were not far-reaching
in their plans—they manifested indecision — they
were not bold and persevering, but hesitating and
vascilating in their course, and at last died, estranged
from God.

8. The Bridegroom is the Lord Jesus Ohrist, so
called from the intimate relation He sustains to the

Church.
292 Tue Wise axp Foousn Viroms.

The marriage relation is a Divine, intimate, perma-
nent relation—the source of highest happiness for
man, and fitly points out the union between Christ
and His people.

4. The next noticeable circumstance is that the
“Bridegroom tarried” longer than the virgins expected.

And so our heavenly bridegroom has tarried in the
heavens much longer than the church has anticipated.
The early church expected him soon to appear. To
correct this impression, Paul wrote to the Thessaloni-
ans that the day was not at hand. So in every age,
expectation of His coming has been cherished. We
all remember how it has been in our times, and yet
He tarries, and the church waits, with lighted or
extinguished tapers, for His coming.
~ 6. It is said they slumbered and slepts or, rather,
they bocame drowsy, and fell asleep.

This has been supposed to signify spiritual drowsi-
hess; but this cannot be admitted: —~
0) For aiz slumbered and slept.
~ (2.) None are blamed for it.

(3.) This would be the same thing as the lamps going
out — making the parable tautological.

The sleep was the sleep of death, which a/Z must

sleep. This is the word frequently used to denote
death, Pees ear
Tae Wise and Foousn Viratnys. 903

Stephen “fell asleep.” “TI would not, &e., concerns
ing them that are asleep.” “Shall not prevent those
that are asleep.” “ Asleep in Jesus, Oh, how sweet.”

6. And then, after generations had rolled by and
slept in the tomb, is heard a voice exclaiming, “ Be-
hold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out,” &c.

(1.) This cry was made at midnight, the time the
bridegroom usually came with torches gleaming in
the darkness.

(2.) Christ may come when it is éerally midnight
in those places where the gospel has been more gen-
erally diffused. “At midnight when mankind,” &e,

(3.) It may be moral midnight among the nations,
as it was in the days of Noah and Lot; so when Christ
shall be revealed. Death is always sudden, and the
coming of Christ will be sudden. “ Ass the lightning
lighteneth, &c.”

7. The virgins arose. This points out the resurrec-
tion scene. At the blast of the trumpet the praves
shall open and all the generations of the dead come
forth. The crisis now comes on. Both classes arise.
The righteous dead arise and find their lamps replen-
ished with grace. The foolish arise and find them-
selves with empty lamps. Their fatal deficiency is
just discovered, but quite too late to be remedied.
They turn to their acquaintances and ask for help,
they cling to the saints but they can give them no te-
294. Tue Wise anv Foorisa Vircrss.

lief. They have no grace to spare, and can furnish
none.

8. And then comes on the final separation, when
the foolish and infatuated who have dreamed of
heaven while walking in the way of death will awake
to a fall conception of their dreadful state, and with
hopes shipwrecked, and heaven lost, they shall lie
down in sorrow. While the banqueting halls shall
be filled with joyful guests, and joy shall crown the
marriage of the Lamb, the foolish virgins and slothful
servants shall be excluded and remanded to outer
darkness, where is weeping and wailing. ‘ Watch,
therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour.”

If this parable teaches anything, it teaches that an
individual may labor under delusion all his life in
reference to his religious state only to be undeceived
on his entrance into the eternal world. “ Ignorance
in Pilgrim’s Progress.”

Thus do Formalism, and Hypocricy, and Apostacy
lead directly to hell, and not only so but they draw
multitudes in their fearful wake to the same terrible
result. Godless professors of religion neither enter
heaven themselves, and those who would enter in they
hinder. For lack of light their own feet stumble, and
all who follow them will assuredly perish.

Can I close my subject better than by exhorting
others as J exhort myself, to make sure work for eter-
Tae Wisz ann Foouisa Virors. 295

nity. If you rest on an ancient experience, if you
trust to a formal piety, if you make others the models
and exemplars after which you copy, you may be
leaning on a broken reed at best, ofttimes a spear on
whose sharp point you may die. The living power of
grace in the soul, regulating its affections, destroying
its relish for worldly joys, and kindling.a deep anxiety
for the coming of the bridegroom, can alone ensure
safety when the day of trial comes.

When Tigranes a prince of Armenia and his family
were taken captives by Cyrus, and had been gene-
rously dismissed, all were lavish in their praises of
the Persian monarch, but the wife of Tigranes was
silent. When her opinion was asked, she replied I
did not see him, but only him who offered his life for
my ransom. Christians ! Christ has given his life for
thee, and can you look upon the pleasures and honors
of the world as desirable while he ceases to attract
thee by his love and ravish thee by his glories? And
let every one understand that swift judgment shall
overtake the Formalists soon and cut him assunder,
and appoint him his portion with unbelievers.
SERMON XXIX.

THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT.

 

Mait. xxv: 30.—Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer dark:
ness } there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,

I wish to fix your thoughts upon the character of
the servant upon whom this terrible sentence was pro-
nounced —“ wnprofitable.”

_ High-handed offenders are properly estimated, and
their. doom correctly anticipated ; but great allowance
is made for the mere dedinguent.

But all the admonitions of this chapter are point«
ed at this Jast class of individuals,

1. The five virgins condemned for deficiency.

2. The steward for not improving.

8. Those on the left hend for not doing.

‘I. The ground of our accountability.

The obligation of the servant to obey arose from
the fact that he belonged to his master. Ours rests in
this: we, and all we have belong to God. The
strength of my arm, the speed of my feet, my pow-
ers of body and mind. All my capabilities are of
God. Upon nothing can I lay my hand and call it
mone,

Men say they may do what they will with their
Tar UwprorirasLte Servant. 297

own. Choose their ocewpation, employ their time as
they will. God, to be sure, permits us to use or
abuse these talents at will. Herein lies our probation.
But after a time the Lord of these servants will come
and reckon with them.

II. With these’premises it is easy to learn the ex-
tent of our accountability. Each servant was respon-
sible for all the talents committed to him.

Talent is a general term, comprehending not only
all we are, and all we have, but all we may attain,
and all we may become. Bodily powers, mental ac-
complishments, influence, time, opportunitics of use-
fulness, are all included.

EXCEPTIONS.

1. I am not to answer for original sin. That Iwas
born depraved is my misfortune, and not my fault.
No rightous tribunal will hold me to answer for the
sin of my father.

2. For original mental deficiency. \Ve are not all
born with talents alike. Some five, some two, some
one. As in the forest, some trees from the very laws
of their nature are made to rear themselves on high
and others to bow near the earth. So in the world of
mind and influence.

3. For early disadvantages. My location and re-
sources may have been unfriendly to success. The
298 Tax, UnrrorrrasLte Servant.

favored sons of: fortune have higher responsibilities
than. others.

Under these modifications, God’ has a right to, re-
quire, and actually does require perfect obedience—
the full conformity of all our powers to his-will,

However Hig will is indicated, we have no path
open to us but obedience. If lowe Him anything I
owe everything. What part is exempt? If I ever
owe it, I always owe it. ‘Where is the limit of His
claim ? :

And this responsibility is constantly augmenting
through all the stages of natural and spiritual life. It
is greater on a man than on a child, greater on a
mature Christian, than ona babe in Christ. The child
reads his Bible, attends Sunday School, hears preach-
ing, isa subject of gracious influence, and at each
step a new grasp is on him. -He may strive, but heis
powerless to evade his responsibilities. He may bury
his talent, but he cannot destroy his accountability.

So also our expanding graces impose upon us new
obligations. And not only where an advanced piety
is attained, but where it might have been secured by
the best use of all the facilities at our disposal. We
are responsible for all we might have been, if we had
been diligent and faithful as we might have been and
ought to have been. Here is one mighty to do good.
He is under obligation to doit. Another is powerless,
Tar UnproritasLte Servant. 299

his duty is the same. One acquires new graces; these
in turn become falents to be used. Another with
equal facilities fails: to secure them. But for their
use (though he has them not) God holds him responsi-
ble. Thus want of talent may be guilt, and the
ground of our condemnation.

Take the case of two twin brothers. One (while a
babe) goes to Sabbath School. Becomes a teacher, a
preacher, a Howard. He goes a missionary to the
ends of the earth. Does he do more than he ought. to
do ? Had he done Zess would he not have been guilty
and condemned? The other takes an opposite course..
In childhood a truant, in youth profligate and disobe-
dient, in manhood a moral pestilence, cursing the
world with infidel sentiments and a pernicious exam-
ple. Great in intellect only to be great in iniquity.
Shall he be judged by another law? If so how did
he win the boon? How gain exemption from respon-
sibility? By his first, his tenth, or his ten thousandth
sin? He ought to have been a missionary too.

Oh! says one if I were a Christian I would set one
example of Christian attainment, and give one illus-
tration of Christian life. Well, I will not apologize for
the defective experience or life of any. But you ought
to be aChristian. It is your sin that you are nota
Christian.

Tf I were a Christian I would be a man of prayer,
300 Tue Unrzomrasie Servant.

of benevolence, &c. You ought to be now. You
may do nothing I may not do, omit nothing I may
not omit. Your responsibility will cleave to you like
a part of your being. You may build a Babel to
heaven, but you cannot climb from it. You may dig
a pit as deep as hell but you cannot bury your obliga-
tions. They will have a resurrection some day. Is
this hard? 1s God’s law too rigorous? Hard as it is
itis God’slaw. Your complainings will not soften its
rigor. ,

So thought the unprofitable servant. “Lord! thou
art a hard master”; and I have brought thy talent
take it and be satisfied. But was the plea valid? Let
us see. “Thou knewest that Iwasa hard master?”
“ You knew it did you?” “Thou oughtest therefore,
to have put my money to use.” Have you come to
insult me now? “Take the unprofitable servant.”

Let us apply this subject --

(1.) To the Christian: Are you employing all your
talents for the glory of God? Have you all the talents
you might have had? Have you not ,dwarfed your
powers and fallen behind in the race of holiness?

(2.) To the sinner: Your condition is terribly alarm.
ing! You fancy all is well, but it is only the obtuseness
of your moral perceptions which induces the fearful
delusion. While you sleep, the tempest is abroad in
itsrage, While you congratulate yourself that all
Toe Vingyarp anp HuspanpMen. 801

may end well, you are treasuring up wrath against
the day of wrath.

(3.) To the young: You alone can give to God His
own, with due improvement. With us that day has
gone by. We can never return to palmy youth and
do what we have failed to do. Children of the Sab-.
bath school, begin. Would it not be a noble resolve?
And then, when the drama of time shall close, the
Master shall say, “‘ Inasmuch as ye have been faithful,”
&e.

SERMON XXX.

THE VINEYARD AND HUSBANDMEN.

 

Mark xii: 1-12.—‘ A certain man planted a vineyard,” &c.

In this parable we are taught the great privileges
and great wickedness of the Jewish people. By as-
serting this parabolically, He secured a hearing,
whereas He would have been interrupted had He said
these things plainly and directly. The purport of the
parable was not seen until it closed. In opening the
parable, we take up the characters and statements as
they are laid down. ;

1. The man represents God. In Matthew, he is
called a householder, or a master of a family, and God
802 Tue Vinzyarp anp HusBanpmen.

is the head of all the families of the earth, especially
of the Jews.

2, Of this man it is said that he planted a vineyard,
A vineyard is a plantation of vines which produces
grapes from which wine is made. These require great
labor in preparing the ground, cultivating the grapes,
&c., and by this figure God represents the pains He
took for the good of the Jewish people. In the Old
Testament, the same figure is frequently used—Psalm
pees: 8, .

Three of the Evangelists record this parable, and
they all state that it awakened the wrath of the Jews,
“for they perceived that he had spoken it against
them.” And how true the parable in its application
to the Jews. Look at the exodus from Egypt, their
passage of the Red Sea, their sustenance in the wild-
erness, the dividing of Jordan, the conquest of their
enemies. Look at their spiritual benefits, the giving
of the law at Sinai, the instruction provided, the Sab-
baths appointed, the sanctuaries erected, the prophets
sent, All this is pointed out by the building of a
hedge, the digging a place fcr the wine fat, the erec-
tion of a tower, &c. What more saith God, “ could
T have done,” &e.

3. The next circumstance is the sending of the ser-
vants to receive the fruit of the vineyard. This the
proprietor had aright to expect. It was Acs vineyard,
Taz Vinevarp ann HuspanpMeEn. 808

they were only tenants, and a proportion of the pro-
duce belonged to the owner of the vineyard. This
points out the messengers whom God sent to the Jews
to instruct, reprove, and.warn them. There were
only brief periods when no prophet’s voice was heard
sounding through Zion. Moses and Joshua, and the
judges, and Samuel and the earlier kings, were not
only magistrates, but religious teachers. The prophets,
John, and Christ, were exclusively so.

4. The treatment which these messengers received
is next narrated. This was most shameful. They
were beaten, stoned, slain. How true of the mes-
sengers sent to the Jews. Moses says of his people, “they
be almost ready to stone me.” They often rebelled,
and but for the fact that God was so manifestly with
him, they would have followed the example of Korah,
&c., and made them a captain and returned to Egypt.
They stoned Jeremiah, Isaiah was sawn asander,
Ezekiel was imprisoned and Zechariasslain. ‘“ Which
of the prophets have not,” &e? “Take my brethren the
prophets,” &c. ~John was beheaded, Jesus crucified.
This filled up their cup.

5. The retribution inflicted. Matthew says that
Jesus asked the Jews what under these circumstances
the husbandman ought to do? And they not remem-
bering that they were passing sentence on themselves,
answered, He will miserably destroy those murderers.
304 Tue Vineyvarp anp HussanpMeEn.

As David had said “the man who hath done this shall
die,” and thus pronounced his own death warrant, so
did they indicate what was their fit doom. And this
doom was inflicted upon this people in less than forty
years, or before the generation had entirely passed
away.

Never did a people under the sun endure such snf-
ferings as did those Jews. They were pent up in
Jerusalem where they had come to the feast of un-
leavened bread, and were shut in by the Roman army
and all their supplies cut off. They obstinately re-
fused to surrender, strangely expecting help from the
Lord. Famine rioted in the streets. Intestine war
kept up horrid carnivals in the city, while foreign
legions thundered at their gates. 1,100,000 perished in
the siege, and every stream of Judea ran blood, and
the remnant were sold as slaves to Egypt,-and carried
in triumph to Rome.

Thus were the Jewish husbandmen visited with a
terrible retribution. And now for 18 centuries, Jeru-
salem has been trodden down by the Gentiles. The.
Romans held it for a time, then the Saracens became
its masters, and (save a brief period when it was held
by the Crusaders) it has been for ages a part of the
Turkish empire. The spot where the temple stood is
occupied by a Mahomedan mosque, from the minarets
of. which a Muzzin daily cries “there is no God,” &e.
Tur Vineyarp ann HussanpMen. 805

But the Jews where are they? They are given like
leaves to the gales, and are scattered in every land.

1. I come now to apply this parable to our own
times and to ourown land. Who cannot trace a strik-
ing parallel between the history of the Jews and of
our own nation. The psalmist declares “ God hath
not dealt so with any nation,” and Moses inquires,
“when hath God taken a nation out of another na-
tion by signs, by wonders, and by war, as He hath
done by you?” All this He has done for us. His
providence had to do with the me of its discovery.
Tt guided the May Flower across the trackless waters.
It directed the sword of Washington. Our country
stretches across the continent and sweeps from the
frozen North to the tropic climes and contains all the
elements of a great empire.

We have educational appliances, we have an un-
fettered press, freedom of speech, and freedom to
worship God. All that could be done to build up a
great and virtuous republic, has been done for us by
God. If ever we fall, it will be the judgment of God
upon us for our wickedness. See how identical were
the sins of the Jews to those of our people and our
own age.

(1.) “ Because of swearing, the land,” &c. ; and the

voice of profanity is heard all over our land.
15
306 Tar Virzyvarp anp HusBANDMEN.

(2.) “ Wo to the drunkards of Ephraim ;” and drunk-
enness revels in our streets.

(3.) “ Because ye have not proclaimed liberty, every
man to his brother;” and the wailing of millions is
heard.

(4.) “ Ye have profaned my Sabbaths ;” and lightly
do we esteemthem. To us, indeed, might God say as
to that people, “ By lying and swearing, and stealing,”
&c. For these things the wrath of God is in danger
of being poured out, and it becomes us to proclaim a
fast like the Ninevites, and pray for pardon.

2. Apply the subject ecclesiastically. The Jewish
people were a covenant people. Their government
was a theocracy, with them church and state were
identical. But, for their backslidings Zion was
covered with a cloud in the day of the Lord’s anger,
and the beauty of Israel was cast down to the ground.

And how has the pall of desolation been hung over
the Christian Church. When kings became her sup-
ports, when she began to covet human glory, then
was the Church shorn of her strength, and the judg-
ments of heaven rested on the unfaithful husband-
men. And let any particular branch of that Church
forget her calling, become proud and formal, and con-
formed to the world, and fail to bring forth the fruits
of holiness and usefulness, and just as true as the
Tae Vineyvarp anp HuspanpMen. 3807

principles of God’s government are unchanged, that
Church will be supplanted. God will take away the
name and memorial of that Church and give the keep-
ing of His vineyard to more faithful husbandmen.
Though she may count her membership by millions,
and multiply her altars and her temples like the sand
of the sea, yet if God be not in her, she shall be ut-
terly overthrown.

3. Finally, let the subject have an individual ap-
plication. States and churches are made up of indi-
viduals, and what is true of masses is true of the
atoms composing them. You have each been the ob-
jects of Divine attention and love. God’s spirit
created you. HisSon@iedforyou. Allyour life He
has followed you with mercies, and let me assure you
that every one of those mercies will turn to swift
judgments if they are rejected. “ You only have I
known saith the Lord, therefore, will I punish you for
all your sins.” “ But they grieved his holy spirit,
therefore, he turned and became their enemy. ”
But you say that you have not imitated the conduct
of these husbandmen. Let us see.

1. They withheld the fruit. Have not you done
this? Have you rendered to God your hearts # your
services ?

2. They ill-treated the messengers. You say “I
have not done this.” Let us see. Is it treating them
308 Tue Vineyarp anp Hussanpmen.

well when you refuse to hear their words? Is it treat-
ing them well to disregard their counsel, to grieve
them by delinquency and apostacy ?

3. Bear with me while I add that you have had to
do with the crowning guilt of the world, the death of
the son of God. ‘ You have been the betrayers and
murderers.” If all the blood of the martyrs came
upon the generation to whom Christ spake, who shall
say that the guilt’ of his murderers has not been
adopted and re-enacted by the men of this generation.

“ Yes! thy sins have done the deed,
Driven the nails that fixed Him there,

Crowned with thorns His sacred head,
Plunged into his side the spear.

Wilt thou let Him bleed in vain;
Still to death thy Lord pursue,
Open all his wounds again,

And the shameful cross renew ?
No! with all my sins I'll part,
Savior take my broken heart.”
SERMON XXXI.

THE BARREN FIG TREE.

 

Luke xiii: 6-9.—*" A certain man hada fig tree planted in his
vineyard ; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found
none,” &c.

The occasion of this parable was the relation to
Christ by the Jews, of Pilate’s slaughter. In general
it applies to the Jews. They had been especially
cared for by God. But continued barrenness wrought
theirruin. The Jewish fig tree long pruned, culti-
vated and borne with, at last was cut down, and its
scattered leaves are now floating in every land.
There are several interesting views to be taken of this
parable, a parable which we cannot but feel is appro-
priate to us and especially at the present season of
the year. =

I. Observe the favorable condition of the fig tree
for productiveness. It was not by the way-side nor
left uncared for, but in a vineyard under the care and
culture of wine-dressers. God selected Israel from
among the nations, gave them their laws, the prophets,
and spread over them His shield. But more, far more,
has He done forus. We have the crowning benefit
of Messiah’s death. We have his bright example.
310 Tue Barren Fie Tree.

We live under the dispensation of the Holy Ghost.
The requirements of God take higher range. Now
He commandeth all men to repent. Mark His gracious
dealing with us as a nation—as a church.

IL. Under these circumstances it was to be expect-
ed that the proprietor should expect the fig tree to be
fruitful. Let us inquire what fruits God requires us
to produce.

1. Fruits of repentance. This is a result of right
views of God and our relations to Him “Ihave seen
God, therefore I repent.” Impenitence ranks high in
God’s scale of crimes. It repeats and re-acts every
other sin, and until its heinousness is seen, it tinges
every other moral act and makes all partake of its
vileness. A minister was once asked why he preach-
ed so much on repentance. Repent! repent! comes
sounding all along the sacred pages.

2. He expects us to produce all the fruits of holi-
ness. This is more than negative. Many will prop-
erly estimate flagitious offenders, while he who simply
neglects God and avoids great crimes is looked upon
with lenient and tolerant views. But let us take the
Bible view of our obligations to God. His claims
cover all our time and all our talents. What part of
either is exempt from this claim. These are con-
stantly augmenting as the mind expands. At every
step a new grasp ison him. Our struggles to evade
Tae Barren Fig Tren, 811

are ineffectual. So also our expanding graces place
us in new relations and impose upon us new obliga-
tions. Every acquired grace becomes an additional
endowment for which we are responsible.

God holds us responsible for all we might have
been, Take the case of two brothers ; one becomes
greatly good and greatly useful, the other evil and de-
moralizing. Wiil they be judged by different laws ?
“Tf I were a christian I would set such an example.”
But God requires this of you. For what was the fig
tree doomed. The foolish virgins excluded. Theun-.
profitable servant condemned? And their claims are
not arbitrary, but just. Whogave you your power?
Whose hand is over you ?

III. But observe now the disappointment of the
proprietor. No fruit. There may be a goodly trunk
and spreading branches, but there is no fruit. Oh,
how true of myriads who live under the gospel dis-
pensation. How true of many professors in the
Church, The fruits of holiness will. be sought after in
vain. Let an angel come down at the hour of prayer
and inquire, is Jesus here? Some must say no, he
was here but not now. Some, we hope He will be, but
He is not now. So ministers are disappointed. So
they will be at the last.

IV. And then the command of the proprietor went
forth, “ cut it down.”
812 Tae Barren Fie Tree.

I. This was not hasty. “Three years.” How did
He bear with the Jews? How has He borne with us?
He has tempered his judgment. He might have cut
us down in our sins. He might have launched His
thunder against us while we were secure. Intima-
tions of coming judgments have been seen. Everand
anon the ground has opened and a familiar form has
disappeared. But we live on. And yet “the axe
may be laid at the root of the tree, for every tree that
bringeth not forth good fruit,” &e.

_ 2. For this sentence a sufficient reason is assigned,
“Why cumbereth it the ground.” A dead treeis not
only useless, but is actually unsightly and cumber-
some. A Formalist in the Church cumbers the vine-
yard of the Lord. “He enters notin himself,” &e.

V. But at this crisis an intercessor appears and
pleads for a short respite. He vindicates the sentence
in its justice, but prays to have the execution post-
poned. Spare it for one year, one round of the sea-
sons 3 one year’s sun and rain. But his pleading is
accompanied with the assurance that if it then bears
no fruit it shall be ent down.

This pleading of our advocate in heaven, and of
pious friends on earth has procured the lengthening
out of our lives, and we see another year die. We
are here to bury the passing and to hail the incoming
year, Fall brightly it will dawn on many a happy
‘fur Barren Ita Trén, 813

heart that will cease to throb e’er its round of seasons
is run.

Youth, the first season, is gone. With buoyant hopes
we have entered the second or third year. Justice
may have cried cut it down, but the voice of mercy
has hitherto prevailed. Now how shall we employ
the moment of respite? It is a moment of awful
interest. The case stands thus.

1. If it bear fruit—well. Brief but expressive
word. Well for the tree and thevineyard. Well for
the fruit-bearing Christian —well in time, in death, in
eternity. Well for him when from city full, and des»
ert wide, God’s ransomed saints shall come and hear
the joyful word, “ Servants of God, well done.”

2. If not, eutit down. Your intercessor will be-
come your judge. Mercy will plead no more. And
as sure as the year will close, so sure the threatening
will be verified. That awful day will surely come.

1. Let the subject lead to serious self-examination.
Am [in the vineyard of the, Lord a fruitful tree, or
am Ia cumberer of the ground.

2. Let the Formalist be awakened to a deep con-
cern for his soul’s salvation.

3. Let all remember, the great end of life is to
glorify God and obtain final salvation,

If thou‘art here a fruitful tree in the Lord’s vine-
yard, after bringing forth a few harvests more, you
814 Tue Propicat Son.

shall wave your boughs cn heaven’s sunlit hills and
drink life-giving dews, and be fruitful in holiness and
happiness forever.

e

SERMON XXXIT.

THE PRODIGAL SON.

 

Luke xv: 11-32.—A certain man had two sons, &c.

Among all the parables of our blessed Lord there
is none more tender and impressive than that of the
Prodigal Son. ;

The great design of the parable is to illustrate the
solicitude of our Heavenly Father towards His way-
ward and wandering children, and the joy with
which we He welcomes their return. The two sons
in the parable doubtless indicate the two great branch-
es of the human family, the Jews and the Gentiles,
and the petulancy of the elder, at the warm reception
of the prodigal indicates the envy of the Jews at the
salvation of the Gentiles.

I fancy now that I look in upon the home of a Jew-
ish patriarch, who has, perhaps, buried the mother of
his children, but who has supposed that while passing
down the vale of years he could confidingly lean on
the shoulders of his two noble scns. His house may
Tue Propieat Son. 815

have been in one of the secluded valleys of Judea,
and, occupied with home joys and rural occupations,
he knew little of and cared little for the great world
around him. But the younger and favorite son had
heard of the outside world, and like many a spoiled
child, he became restless under parental restraints
and set up a presumptuous claim to be invested with
his portion of his father’s wealth and to be permitted
to go out and seek his fortune in the wide wide world.
You know the fearful issue. His substance wasted
like the frost, harpies and harlots made him their vie-
tims, and at last we see him with his patrimony squan-
dered, his health undermined, his character in ruins,
subjected to the most menial employments, thrown in-
to the most degrading associations, starvation staring
him in the face, friends alienated, and all his fair pros
pects blasted forever. Before noticing his return to
his home and his father, we will attend to the exposi-
tion of this part of the parable.

Man once dwelt in Eden, happy in himself, in har-
mony with the universe, high in favor with God.
But he wandered from his Eden home, alienated him-
self from God and plunged into the lowest depths of
misery and ruin, And during all these rolling centu-
ries man has been following in the fearful wake of
his ancestors, choosing banishment from God, and
816 Tur PropiegaL Son,

all the misery attendant upon and all the ruin foilow-
ing a life of sin.

Did the prodigal go into a far country? Oh! how
for youhave wandered from God, not physically, for
He is always near you, but morally ; the distance is
immeasurable, as far as hell from heaven.

Did he waste hissubstance? So the sinner has for-
feited the knowledge of God, and joined himself to
his rivals and his enemies; he has forfeited happiness,
and with guilt on his conscience and remorse in his
heart, he looks forward to the retributions of another
life where in a fixed state of sorrow and despair he
must dwell forever.

From this state of guilt and misery it is evident
the return must be a matter of some difficulty. The
Prodigal could not go to sleep and awake at homein
his father’s arms and house, but there were prelimina-
ry stages of desire, resolution and effort, betore that
glad result was attained. ~

And no sinner ever happened to get converted, or
found religion by accident. The facts of conviction
and conversion are too momentous, taking too deepa
hold upon the feelings, requiring too important sacri-

fices, to transpire without the knowledge and highest
efforts of one seeking and attaining salvation.

The return of the prodigal was preceded by reason
resuming her throne. “He came to himself.” Re-
THe Propican Son. 8le

‘Jigion is a reasonable system, and it addresses itself to
man’s rational nature. “Come, let us reason togeth-
er” is the affectionate expostulation of the Lord.
But man is strangely demented, “ he is mad upon his
idols,” insanely wedded to his sins. He magnifies the
trivial interésts of time but neglects the momentous
concerns of his immortal soul. Bat reflection and
consideration came to the prodigal’s rescte, so must
the sinner “come to himself.” Consideration is the
harbinger of repentance and salvation.

The second step in the reformation of the prodigal
was the resolution which he formed to arise and go
to his father’s house. He had no reason to expect a
gracious reception, his conduct had been so unfilial,
and his whole career had been so reckless that he on-
ly dared to seek a servant’s place, and was by no
means certain that he should not be sternly remanded
from the presence of that father, whose goodness he
had so abused. But if to go back was probable re-
jection, to remain was certain death. Like Queen
Esther he resolved to go, and like her he said “ If I
perish I perish.”

And need I gay that no sinner will seek and find
the Lord who does not first resolve on this. You can
do norarne until the resolution to do, or attempt it,
has been formed and fixed in the mind. This resolu-
tion must not be vague but definite, not hampered
818 Tue Propiaat Son.

with conditions, but fully formed ; not formed in our
own strength, but in the strength of the Lord ; not to
be executed sometime in the indefinite future, but to
be put into prompt, immediate execution.

And now the prodigal youth after long years of
waywardness, and after descending deeply into the
depths of misery, after considering his wretchedness,
and deliberately takicg his purpose, sets out on his
return. No doubt he had difficulties to overcome,
but the emergencies were great, everything was at
issue, and with firm purpose he set his face toward his
father’s house and went forward. He not only started,
but he persevered, and though fear and shame and
pride stood in his path, yet on he went until he came
to the brow of the hill that overlooked his native
valley.

Time had wrought its changes since the prodigal
departed. It had written the cheeks of the old man
over with wrinkles, it had whitened his locks, and
shaken him rudely by the hand. I have fancied that
on this morning he had gone forth from his mansion
leaning on his staff, and thinking on his long lost
son. His locks sway in the breeze, his step is feeble,
and his bosoms heaves long deep sighs as he exclaims,
“oh! my son, my son, my Benjamin, my Absalom,
wilt thou never gladden my old eyes again, shall I go
Taz Proptean Son. 319

down to my grave mourning and see thee no more for-
ever ?”

But who is this approaching? A young man he
seems, and yet the marks of premature age are on
him. His countenance gives evidence of deep sorrow
andapprehension. His clothes are tattered and filthy,
his hair is disheveled, his beard, the pride of the
Hebrew youth is matted, and his whole appearance
is that of utter wretchedness. And yet inthis wretched
wanderer, the intuitions of parental love discern some
traces of that one so long mourned over as one dead.
The old man gazes with intense scrutiny, belief rises
unto certainty ; and with the joyful ery “ it is, it is
my son—he runs to salute him and embrace him,
And then the richest attire ef the wardrobe was
brought, and the fatted calf was killed, and the viol’s
voice awoke the joyous pulses, and there was joy in
the house of the Jewish Patriach because the dead
was alive and the lost was found.

And oh! how many times has this scene been re-
enacted, as the Great Father of all, has looked out on
his returning children, who tremblingly and peni-
tently have come to him exclaiming, “Ihave sinned,”
&e., &e. All the wealth of his love has been shed
pon them, and notes of joy have sounded in all the

courte of Zion.
820] Tux Propiaan Son.

The Prodigal Son came with words of confession on
his lips, “Father, I have sinned, sinned against heaven,”
is his language. ‘He that covereth his sin shall not
prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them
shall find mercy.”

He came praying, “ Make me as one of thy hired
servants,” take me into thy favor, even if the lowest
place be assigned me. And God has declared that
every one that calleth upon the name of the Lord,
shall be saved.” Oh! penitent one! burdened with
guilt and bowed down with sorrow, “ Come to the
mercy-seat, pensively kneel. Your Father will meet
you while yet you are afar off.”

And did the return of the son make the old family
mansion resound with songs and rejoicing? So the
Savior has twice told us in this chapter that there is
joy in heaven among the angels when a sinner re-
penteth. The man who found his stray sheep on the
mountains, and the woman who found her lost . piece
of silver rejoiced more over those than over all their
secure treasures, and doubtless the return of one sinner
is occasion of bigher joy in heaven, than the steadfast+
ness of unfallen multitudes. I assure you my friends
there is not one of you, not even the humblest and
most unworthy, whose repentance would not send a
thrill of delight through all the high orders of beings
in heaven. And now the momentous inquiry returns,
Ricu Maw anv Lazarvs. 321

if God is so deeply concerned for the sinner, if angels
so earnestly desire to see him saved, if the Church in
heaven and on earth sympathize in this solicitude,
how can the sinner himself remain unconcerned? You
know the emotions of your Father’s heart. You
know the Jentitude of His love, and you know that
remaining away from Him, you will miserably perish.
God help you to choose the good part which can never
be taken from yon,

SERMON XXXITII.

RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

—_—

Luke xvi: 19 —31.— “ There was a certain rich man,” &c.

If the parable of the Prodigal Son is the most affect
ing, that of the rich man and Lazarus is the most
awful of the Savior’s parables. In the one he exhib-
its the greatness of the love of God to sinners, and
urges this motive to repentance; in the other he holds
up the tremendous retributions of another life, to
warn men to flee the wrath to come.

By introdncing two characters upon the stage, Jesus
avails himself of the helps which contrast furnishes —
a contrast which is begun in time, and which extends
322 Rion Man anp Lazarus.

into Eternity. So natural, so life-like, are the charac-
ters,so minute the circumstances, that many have
regarded this as a narrative of facts, rather than as a
parable. In either case, the same momentous truths
are taught. The principal characters introduced are
well-known. The name of the rich man is not given,
while that of Lazarus is as familiar as a household
word, This may be an illustration of the Scriptural
assertion, that the righteous shall be held in everlast-
ing remembrance, while the name of the wicked
shall rot.

The moral character of the two men must be infer-
red from the destiny to which they passed ; for it does
not appear in the record of their lives. The only clue
we have to this, is the apparent voluptuousness and
hard-heartedness of the rich man. The former charac-
teristic is inferred from his attire and his table. Pur-
ple was the peculiar attire of kings and grandees, and
“fine linen” was produced among the orientals, so val-
uable that it was sold for its weight in the finest gold.
While his person was thus adorned, his table was
daily replenished with the most costly and delicious
viands, and every desire which wealth could meet
was promptly satisfied. But the circumstance which
fixes the deepest obloquy upon his character, is that a
beggar starved and rotted and died at his gate, with-
out awakening especial concern in Ais bosom. Com-
Rice Man anp Lazarus. 823

pletely absorbed in self, how should he know, or why
should /e care what others suffered. “ Every man for
himself” was Ais motto. And yet it is possible that
this man laid to his soul the flattering unction that he
was benevolent. His fame may have gone abroad as
aman of wealth and charity, and hence the beggar
may have been laid at his gate. And perhaps he was
in a@ way sheltered and fed; and Dives may have
passed as a very respectable gentleman, well to do in
the world ; and, as the world goes, as good as his neigh-
bors, and hoping all would be well at last. The Sa-
vior does not exhibit him as a monster of vice, but
simply as a man of the world.

On the other hand, we only infer the moral excel-
lence of the beggar from the distinguished honors he
received from angels, and from the high seat he reach-
ed in heaven. Poverty is no evidence of virtue —
wealth no certain proof of vice. The man who gave
Jesus an honorable burial was a rich man, and those
who persecuted His most illustrious Apostle were
“lewd fellows of the baser sort.” Outward circum-
stances are no evidence of one’s character. Wealth
and poverty are mere accidents in man. Both are
evil — neither necessarily sinful. Nero on the throne,
Paul in the dungeon, is often seen.

The contrast relates especially to their earthly condi-
tion. One was rich, the other very poor. One had
824 Rich Man anp Lazarus.

an opulent. home, the other no home at all. One
had gorgeous attire, the other rags. One had sump-
tuous fare, the other fed on precarious crumbs. One
was petted by the great, the other was pitied by the
dogs.

But time rolls on, the scene changes:

1st. The beggar dies, was relieved of wretchedness,
thought the Pharisee; annihilated, said the Sadducee;
borne by angels to heaven, say the Scriptures. He
leaves his wearisome body in the grave, and his soul
ascends to its celestial seat in the kingdom of heaven.

The rich man also died, as all must die at last; and
now the contrast really begins. His body, of course,
was duly honored with a lordly burial, but the soul
went to hell. Men sometimes object to the use of this
awful word in the pulpit-—we leave them to adjust
the question with the Son of God. He was in misery,
so Jesus said; “ being in torment” ‘so himself said —
‘being tormented in the flame.” The elements of his
misery were —

2, An accusing conscience ;

2. Awful memories ;

. Deprivation of former comforts ;

3

4, Unsatisfied desires ;

5. Direct ‘inflictions of wrath ;
6.

Contrast with heaven and despair.
Rich Man anv Lazarus. 825

Without tracing the history farther, we turn our
thoughts to some of the great truths which are here
brought out by our blessed Lord:

1. I notice the fact that human condition, as regards
wealth and poverty, affords no criterion by which to
judge of character. Wealth may contribute to pers
sonal piety and usefulness; or it may clog the soul
and wed it to the dust; it may hasten the triumphs of
the Gospel, or secularize the spirit, and sink it in de-
struction and perdition. Soin poverty, precious graces
may be developed, resignation, and patience and faith;
or petulency, discontent and fretfulness against the
Lord.

Are you rich ? Use well the trust committed to you
Remember that this is no proof of God’s favorable
regard ; remember that it will not fence off death, nor
procure acceptance for the Lord.

Are you poor? Providentially so, and not as the
result of indolence, imprudence or intemperance? Be
resigned to your humble lot; you have not to answer
for what has been denied you. Your poverty will not
alienate the affections of Jesus; for you the brotherly
angels may come down, and in the day of your death
may bear you on their strong wings to glory.

2. Again I learn that truth every where taught in
the New Testament, but everywhere forgotten in this
insane world, that there is a future life. I learn that,
826 Rich Maw anp Lazazus.

“beyond this vale of tears,” &c. To that bright world
Abraham arose, thither Lazarus soared, and there all
the spiritual seed of Abraham will dwell forever. But
Talso learn that “there is a death whose pang,” &c.
For long ages the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah
have been suffering the vengeance of eternal fire,
there the rich man still lifts his eyes in torment, and
there all who die in their sins will spend a miserable
eternity.

3. I learn that the retributions of that futurity com-
mence at death. This is a tremendous thought,
“Soon as from earth I go.” Some have strangely
supposed that there was no conscious existence be-
tween death and the resurrection. Others have sup-
posed that souls have an allotment and locality before
the judgment different from what they will have af-
terward. Both of these ideas are rebuked by this
parable. A saint dies and he goes to heaven. Ina
moment he is amid the radiant armies before the
throne. A wicked man dieth and in that very day all
his hopes perish. There will, of course, be ajudgment
day, but the object will not be to examine witness-
es, array proofs, and reach conclusions, but to certify
to the universe the fidelity of God to His engagements,
to exhibit the justice which condemns the wicked and
the grace which saves the righteous. There willbe a
judgment day, and Dives will come up from the fiery
Rica Man anp Lazarvs. 827

pool and meet and possess again that old body, raised
and made immortal, thus both death and hell deliv-
ering up their dead, and when the final word is uttered
he shall again be cast into the lake of fire. Lazarus
will be there, his spirit etherealized by its long abode
in heaven, and his old diseased body resplendent now
as the flashing diamond.

4.-The judgment passed, all will enter upon their
joyful or dreadful allotments, and those allotments will
be everlasting. This is the most tremendous truth I
have yet announced, the most momentous man ever
heard. None question that the joys of the righteous
will be eternal. But men have dared, in defiance of
all that God has said, to teach, and build houses to
teach it in, that hell will be only for a time, that the
gulf will be bridged, and all the lost escape. They
tell us that the terms “everlasting” and “eternal” are
sometimes applied to things which have an end. We
answer, when this is so the things themselves are lim-
ited in their duration, but the eternal God and the
immortal soul are not among the things to perish.
But is there to be 2 more willing Savior, a more at-
tractive cross, a more precious Gospel, more pungent
appeals in hell than intime? Who is deputed to pro-
claim such a Gospel? I dare not promise the sinner
emancipation from hell, nor even alleviation there, no
not so much as a drop of water would give. Better
328 Rica Man anp Lazanus.

steer clear of those dark coasts and give no heed to
the lullaby, “‘ye shall not surely die.”

Personal mercies being denied, this wretched spirit
asks that a special messenger may be sent to warn his
five brethren, not that he had a benevolent regard for
their welfare, nor an earnest. desire for the glory of
God in their salvation, but he knew that their coming
would enhance his own misery. One, a Sadducee
scouting futurity. One, a Pharisee trusting to forms.
One, a drunkard ruined at his table. One, rich, fin-
heriting his wealth. One, a child whose character
and course are not determined. Oh! he dreads their
reproaches!! Be careful of the influence you exert,
of words, example, writings which may sink others to
ruin.

Finally, T learn the all sufficiency of the Bible for
instruction in the way of righteousness. The rich
man insinuates that a further message would avail,
and now men tell us that spirits come back to supply
the lack of light imparted by Moses, &c., &e. To all
such demands we reply, “to the law and the testimo-
ny,” “if they believe not Moses,” &c. Such an appa-
rition might startle and overwhelm us, but it would
form no firm basis for faith to fall back upon. It
could not command the faith of another at all, nor my
own only for the moment. But here is everlasting
ConscleNor. 329

Rock. Believing and obeying it I shall share the
bliss of Abraham and Lazarus,—denying or disobey-
ing it I shall dwell forever with the rich man in hell.

SERMON XXXIV.

CONSCIENCE.

 

Acts. xxiv: 16,--And herein do I exercise myself, to have always
a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward man.

By conscience, I mean that faculty by which we
make moral distinctions, and which when properly
educated, discerns good from evil.

That men have such a faculty is evident from the fact
they do make such distinctions. Men see, hear and
taste, hence we infer that they have a faculty for so
doing.

Men see a difference between right and wrong,
hence we argue that they havea os to do so; and
this faculty we call consciexce.

A defective, untrained conscience does not imply
the absence of sense, only its imperfections.—
True, ne Lease speak of an evil, hardened,
830 Conscrence.

seared, conscience. And we see instances where the
conscience seems to be torpid. and perverted, where
men put light for darkness, and good for evil

This very apostle said he had lived in all good con-
science &c. Hence, we may learn that the con-
sesience is not an unerring rule of duty; but only an
educated, rectified, and enlightened conscience. It is
amatter-of common observation that up to a certain
point, conscience is the antagonist of vice, a guardian
sentinel at the heart to scrutinize all its motions; but
that beyond that point it ceases to warn, to smite and
to frown.

The pirate Gibbs, who had shed the blood of four
hundred persons, declared that his conscience never
troubled him, save in one instance. He had smoth-
ered its voice, and amid the tempest of stormy pas-
sions and fiercer encounters, its monitions were un-
heard and disregarded. Conscience can be trained so
asto be an unerring index of right, or it can be se-
duced to act a treacherous part against God. and your
ownsoul. If regulated by revelation and religion, if
its voice be heard and heeded, it will be virtue’s most
faithful auxiliary, or if so taught it will allow you to
indulge in all evil, and furnish apologies and vindica-
tions for every sin.

I. [propose to point out the characteristics of the
conscience here described.
ConsclENcE. 331

1. It is keen in its discriminations. Itis the oppo-
site of those obtuse moral perceptions which are slow
to see moral good and evil. To some eyes everything
looks alike. Again, a connoisseur will detect at a
glance the beauties or blemishes in a work of art.

So, a well trained conscience is quick to see moral
distinctions. It promptly says zis is right, that is
wrong. Sin isseen, detected, and expelled from the
soul as a Gentile from the sanctum sanctorum of the
temple. Its possessor has often prayed “ Quick as the
apple of an eye,” and his prayer is answered.

2. It is strong in its impulsions,—that is—having
seen the right it cordially accepts ‘it, strongly embra-
cesit, and firmly adheres toit. It is not enough that
the heart is keen in its perceptions, it is equally im-
portant that it have strong affinities for the right,
readily gravitates toward it, and strongly and steadily
embraces it. This is not what is usually called an
impulsive nature, which catches up every imaginary
wrong, but it is that frame of soul which out of a
multitude of objects and interests selects “whatsoever
is honest,” and utterly discards the opposite. It
knows no stronger word than duty. Its voice is heard
and obeyed jirst. Interest, pleasure, &c,, must wait.

3. It is lively in its sensibilities. Conscience has a.
three-fold office to perceive, to impel, and to reward or
332 Conseritivon:

perish according as we have obeyed or. disobeyed
her.

You may judge: of its state by the manner in which
it speaks to you after some moral action is done.
Have you done a wrong thing, one which the Bible
condemns, which injures sie violates your word,
or have you neglected a duty and does conscience ut-
ter no rebuke? . Then. you have the greatest reason to
be alarmed. The sentinel is asleep at his post. The
clock. has run down in the night, and its larum note is
heard, and its fingers point . at-random. Does your
conscience accept of any excuse which may be sug-
gested by chance, by ill. judging friends, or by the
devil. Can you easily compromise matters with your
conscience by saying that others are equally criminal
or delinquent with yourselves 2 Can you silence its
remonstrances by’ a mental promise to do better in
the future or to devote a portion of the ill-gotten gain
to charity @ 7 7

On other the hand is your conscience quick to feel
pain over the slightest wrong, and can you give
yourself no rest until that wrong is rectified? Can
you take back the ill-judged word? Confess the
wrong desire ? Correct the practical error? And
must you. do it, and do it promptly? And is your
conscience quite as quick too see the wrong in your-
self asin others? ‘Will you give yourself a greater
ConscreNncr. 833

latitude than you allow others to take? Do you say
to your brother “let me pluck the mote out-of your
eye,”? ‘Conscience indeed has mainly to do with
the individual heart. It may, indeed, see wrong in
others, but it cannot understand themotive, nor sound
its depths, nor apply the remedy. And when em-
ployed in surveying others it can only employ its per-
ceptive powers, but on ourselves the freest range is
given to its perceptions, its ¢mpulsions its sensibilities,
and the perfection of these is the perfection of con-
science. This is the conscience void of offence.

II. Aninquiry of equal interest and more impor-
tance relates to the manner in which such a con-
scienee may be secured and retained.

1. To secure a conscience void of offence toward
God His pardoning mercy for past sin must be secured.
No individual of well-instrncted .conscience can feel at
peace unless God has written pardon on his heart. Do
you recognize God and His government, and is your
conscience void of offence toward Him, then you
claim either never to have violated His law, nor:to
have obtained His forgiveness. Oh is thy conscience
toward God burdened? Hasten to lay thy burden off
but be sure to accept of nothing but Jesus’ voice say-
ing “ thy sins be forgiven,” &c.

2. And then this can only be retained by maintain-
inga justified relation to God, and this can only be
334 ConscrENoz.

held by the avoidance of every sin and the discharge
of every duty.

If at any point conscience lifts up its warning voice,
beware! there are breakers ahead. If it reprove, oh!
search for the cause and remove it at once, and rest
satisfied with no heaven but an approving conscience
and dread no hell more than its upbraidings.

“‘ What conscience dictates to be done.” Such an
individual must pray “Oh may the least omission pain
&c.” He must live near to God, discharge all the du-
ties resulting from his relations to Him, and maintain
a holy and ceaseless vigilance over his own soul.

8. The process of keeping a pure conscience toward
man is similar. He must be converted to his fellows,
as truly as to God. He must and he will make every-
thing right between himself and the whole world.
He must take everything out of their way and leave
none with just occasion to question his piety. Has
he wronged any in their feelings, their interests or
their reputation? He must make everything right,
make every atonement in his power, and make full
restitution to every one whom he has wronged. I in-
‘sist upon it, no conscience can be pure where this ob-
ligation is not felt. It is only pacified, not purified.
As it is, you cannot die in peace or hope for heaven.

4, And this, too, can only be retained by a persis-
tent adherence to the principles and practice of justice
Consclenor. 835

and benevolence. A dishonest man, a man who will
deceive, overreach, or in any way defraud his neigh-
bor has no right to talk about a pure conscience. It
is a jewel he does not bear on his heart. He may have
a false brilliant, resembling the genuine, but it will
not bear the testsof the great assayer. He who will
gain this blessed consciousness of rectitude, the peace
surpassing earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience?
must be all vigilance, all eye, all ear, all watch-
fulness. If off his guard, if he admit evil, or refuse
good, he may awake in consternation to find his treas-
ure gone.

5. It will aid us still further if, with the apostles,
we exercise ourselves herein.

(1.) By reflection on the moral quality of our ac-
tions.

(2.) By reflection on characters of distinguished ex-
cellence, as God, Christ, or the most excellent among
men. So, we become “changed into the same image.”
In the same proportion, the conscience will be per-
verted, by bad precedents, company, books, &e.

(3.) Especially should its voice always be regarded.
Being the highest attribute of our moral nature its
voice possesses an authority which interest and pas-
sion cannot have. If you are obedient to its voice it
will, like a faithful monitor, always speak, and its

words will guide and cheer and bless you.
386 CoNnsclENcE.

There is no greater comfort to a man in his emer-
gencies than to be able to throw himself upon his
conscious rectitude and to feel that his heart is at
peace, Property may be gone, health may ‘be gone,
friends may be gone, all but his quiet conscience and
his approving. God, Yet still he has a treasure of
which the world cannot rob-him worth more than all

the world besides. But if it be tampered with it will
only remoustrate and upbraid,.and at last will cease
even to do this, but allow the individual to pass on to
be punished. It will seem to go to sleep, but it only
retires from view, it takes its pen of iron, and, keep-
ing its eagle eye on all that passes, and fills its dread
diary with horror. We have not had a final settle-
ment with conscience when it ceases to clamor about
our ears. It acts the part of the creditor who, des-
pairing of securing payment from his debtor while
living, contents himself with the thought that he will
indemnify himself from his estate after his death. It
keeps its accounts open for the day of final audit.
And oh! what a day will that be when the books shall
be opened! when ‘the entire record shall be produced
and the enormous debt presented. “Some men’s sins
go beforehand to judgment,” this man’s follow after.
The sins ot his early youth, and the growing crimes
of his manhood, and the delinquencies of his whole
. life, rise up in terrible array to confront and accuse
Memory. 337

him. Sometimes this is doné in time, on the death
bed, on which the coming events of eternity cast their
dark and baleful shadows. But it willacquirea pow-
er to torment, when the alleviations of time are over.
“Conscience, the torturer of the soul.”

SERMON XXXV.

MEMORY.

Luke xvi: 25.—“‘Son, remember.”

Very noble and very excellent are the faculties of
the human mind. He who was created “a little
lower than the angels,” has retained even amid the
desolations of his nature much to give him kinship to
angels. Memory is the mental secretary which takes
down and preserves the entire history of man. It is
the portable repository in which is preserved the
thoughts we conceive, the words we utter, and the
actions we do. It differs from recollection in that the
one retains and the other recalls, the one keeps what
the other bringsback. Now, although this distinction
may be admitted to exist during the mind’s abode in
the body, yet we think it susceptible of a high degree
of probability, if not of actual demonstration that
838 Memory.

ultimately they will be identical, nay that the mind
will be found to have retained in invisible custody
everything which has heen consigned to its keeping.
We remember much of the past, and much we say
we have forgotten, and it is certain -that if all our
earlier mentalities and history are retained in the
mind, they are not at all times at command, they have
hid themselves in the recesses of the soul, and they
come not forth at our bidding, but it lies in the range
of high probability that’ every impression made on
the mind is indelible, is ‘made for eternity. Now,
the events of yesterday areswallowed up in the trans-
actions of to-day, and the scenes of to-day will be ab-
sorbed and lost in the cares of to-morrow. But con-
ceive that this may be a result of physical causes, of
an imperfect medium through which the mind acts,
and it will be evident that when the mind is left free
to act, independently of a physical medium, it will
act perfectly and reproduce with the accuracy of a
daguerreotype, every former impression. It is a com-
mon cause to have the apparently long-forgotten
events of years recalled by a train of associations, and
sometimes they seem to start up spontaneously in the
soul. Knowledge, which has fled from the mind on
the invasion of terrible disease has gradually or sud-
denly returned when the invader has passed away.
And who can tell but that when our physical disor-
Memory. 339

ders and life have fled, the mind may grasp every
truth with which it has been acquainted, and the
minute and stupendous blend like light and shade on
the tablet of the soul. The epitaph on the marble.
The reading of a book. But we were to trace espe-
cially the effects of memory on the condition of men
after they are disrobed of mortality and have entered
upon the scenes of eternity.

We assume that mind retains its identity and pow-
ers, and attainments, after it has left its partner in the
grave. Especially will it remember all the events of
its moral history.

I. Take first the case of one dying in his sins, and
passing to eternity. IJ leave out of the acconnt all
the positive inflictions of justice. I make no refer-
ence to the fearful imagery employed in the New
Testament, to devils, “fire and brimstone,” and the
“undying worm.” I look at a soul having lived out
its probation, and summoned to its account, and, being
found unfit for heaven it is just thrown upon his own
resources to enjoy or suffer as he can. Imagine, now,
his memory to be perfect, and the entire past to come
rolling up before him, what will be the effect of this
upon his happiness or misery. The punishment of
sin will of course be partly mental, for

1. It is the soul that sins. The body is but the in-
strament of the soul’s covetousness and lusts.
340 Memory.

2, Mind is more susceptible of pain thaw the body.
Every instance of suicide proves it. Good reasons
can be given why the mind suffers no more in this
life, It has -eniployments, alleviations, and hopes,
Business and pleasure beguile it of its sorrows. But
imagine these removed.

1. Such an individual will of course remember his
ping, . .The sins of his youth and his age, his secret
and open sins, with all their circumstances and agera-
vations. _ These he will recognize as having laid the
foundations of his ruin. Could he forget all his sins,
it would be like extracting thorns from his soul. But
he will remember. them all,

2 He will remember his virtues. He knows the
motive whence they Sprung. He remembers that
from a point near heaven he sank to hell.

3. He will remember his possessions, This was
what Dives was especially enjoined to remember.
Oh! I think - hear him say, “T would not remember,
I would forget. 2 But he must remember his gold,
how gained, how used, now lost.

4, He will remember his pleasures. The pleasures
of the table, of the wine cup, the ball, the theatre—
of domestic life. With those five brothers of his he
gamooled in childhood, dallied in youth, and gathered
gold in wasting age. All are now lost. :

5. Especially will he remember his privileges. Have
Memory. 341

these been great? His sorrows will be propor rtionate.
He will remember the father who prayed, the mother
who wept, the minister who warned him. Thetamily
altar will loom up. The sanctuary will be remem-
bered. Calvary will come to mind. That night when
prayer sought entrfnce, when conviction flashed, when
conscience smote him sore. He will remember how
many sought and found salvation. And now perhaps
he s sees them on the plains of light as he sees Lazarus
on the bosom of Abraham. All these remembrances
will be to him ministers of terror. I submit now that
this single fact being conceded, (and no one believing
in our immortality will question it,) that the mind
will retain all its acquisitions and impressions for ever,
and we are furnished in our own mental structure
with elements, which, when developed and combined
as they may hereafter be, can work out for the soul
aruin, a desolation, an intensity of horror, such as the
mind can searce conceive. External and superadded
torments there may, and doubtless will be ; but if there
were not, the sinner shut out of heaven and shut up
to eternal communion with himself will find in his
own heart a hell.

II. We turn now to the more grateful inquiry, how
will the everlasting remembrance of all earthly things
affect the fiually saved? And here we are prepared
to believe that as memory will be to the lost one, of
842 Memory.

the bitterest, so to the saved it will be one of the
sweetest elements in their cup.

1. It would seem, indeed, at first view, that the re-
membrance of sin must always be painful; that none
but sorrowful contemplations could be had of the
transgressions and delinquencies of, our life. So far
as we know, it is so to some extent through the good
man’s life, even when God is pacified towards him.
It is a fitting confession which we make in our ap-
proaches to the table of the Lord. “ We do earnestly
repent and are heartily sorry for our manifold sins and
wickedness ; the remembrance of them is grievous
unto ns. But even here our sorrows if not neutral-
ized, are at least modified by remembering the mercy
of God and the love of Christ. In heaven we shall
remember our sing, but we shall remember them as
pardoned. At the same time that we remember them
we shall remember the atoning blood. And as he
loveth much to whom much is forgiven, supreme shall

be our love, and loud our praises to our redeeming
Lord.

‘ 9, The saved will remember with gratitude the
privilegesthey enjoyed and which they delighted to
improve. They will cast glances of delighted inter-
est along the path where gushed up streams which
now make glad the city of God. They will remem-

ber those who were instrumental in their salvation,
Memory. 843

and meeting them on the plains of light, will revert
with ever-growing interest to the solicitude they felt,
the warnings they uttered, and the prayers they
offered in their behalf. The scenes in the sanctuary
and the grove, in the closet and at the family altar,
will be cherished among the holiest memories of the
soul,

3. Life’s elevated and sanctified pleasures, too, will
be contemplated with interest in heaven. Very
pleasant now in our remembrances are the scenes of
our childhood. We remember the familiar haunts
and familiar faces of our youth. We remember when
our infant intellects took in the rudiments of educa-
tion. We remember our youthful loves. The aged
man who has forgotten the events of yesterday re-
members these. And from our distant home on the
fields of heaven, our whole life on earth will be re-
garded as our infantile history ; and the remembrance
of these scenes will quicken the pulses of the patri-
archs of heaven.

4, The sorrows and trials of life will also be re-
membered in heaven; but they will be remembered
as past forever. They will be remembered as the
sailor remembers the treacherous ocean over which
he shall ride no more, as the Israclites remembered
the howling wilderness. The souls under the altar
will remember the dungeon and the rack, and great
344 Reason.
Babylon shall come into remembrance, but be re-
membered as destroyed.

From the whole subject we deduce this practical
admonition. We should store cur minds and memo-
ries with stich thoughts, facts and principles that we
ean joyfully contemplate them forever. Our cham-
bers of imagery should be filled with beautiful tab-
leaux written over with whatever is pure and chaste,
and holy. Oh! remember that every thought is
graven on the heart as with the point of a diamond;
that tears however fast they fall can never cease.
Every word shall echo in thy ears forever. God hélp
thee so to live that life may be pléasant in its retro-
spections, and death -prove the beginning of endless
life and endless joy in the kingdom of heaven. ~~

BERMON XXXVI.

REASON.

 

Tsaiah i: 18—“ Come now, and let us reason together saith the
Lord.”

I have not chosen this passage designing to enlarge
upon it in its interesting connections, but as the found-
ation of some remarks upon the proper tige of human
Reason. 845

reason in matters of religion—the boundaries within
which it may exercise jurisdiction, and the perfect
harmony of its legitimate deductions with the revela-
tion God has given us. Reason is that faculty of the
human mind by which it distinguishes truth from
falsehood, which from premises deduces conclusions,
which compares facts with each other, and mental
impressions with external things. It distinguishes
man from the brute, and marks the different stages of
human advancement in knowledge and civilization.
Under its control, the passions are mighty incentives
to virtue, but without its guidance they are head-
strong and dangerous.

To this faculty all truth must be addressed, and es-
pecially all truth which concerns our moral natures
and immortal destiny. Hence the language of God
is, “Come let us reason together,” “ Bring forth your
strong reasons,” “ Present your bodies a living sacra-
fice,” “ Be ready always to give a reason.”

I. Reason when employed in religion (like every
thing else) has its use and its abuse, and to assign it its
just use, and its true Limits, is a point of some delicacy
and difficulty. Upon few points have men more
widely differed.

(a) Many great and good men, struck with the

“sublime nature of the truths of religion, have depre-
cated the approach of reason. They have stood at
346 Reason.

the threshold of the temple of religion and beckoned
back the approach of the rationalist, and cried “ do
not reason, only believe.”

(6) Roman Catholicism especially substitutes faith
for reason, and the more monstrous the doctrine, the
more ridiculous the mummery, the greater the merit
of the faith which subscribes to the one, and the com-
plaisance which bows to the other. ‘TI believe it be-
cause itis unreasonable,” is only equalled by its kindred
monstrosity, “I believe it because it is impossible.”
What though reason remonstrate at the doctrine of
the real presence? At the legends of the saints? At
the multiplied relics, ¢. e. the wood of the true cross,
&e., &e., &e. Whatthen? Why reason must retire
and leave the ground to faith.

(c.) So with every fanatic who would have us take
his vagaries on trust. The very essence of fanat-
icism is belief without reason and against reason.

(d) More widely still have men strayed into the
opposite region of error, viz: making reason to sit in
judgment on Deity, and affirm what is proper for Him
to propound or require of us. Ancient Socinianism,
and modern Rationalism, Unitarianism, &e., insist on
bringing revelation to the test of reason, and boldly
strike from the Bible and from their creed, every thing
which cannot be discovered and demonstrated by it.
Reason. 8347

They cannot comprehend many of its facts and many
of its doctrines, and these aro explained away or dis-
carded. Both these classes equally err. One deifies
reason, the other ignoies it. One assigns it no office,
the other exalts it above all that is called God. The
truth lies between them. [Reason has its Use, but it
has its limitation too. It is supreme, but its su”
premacy is limited to its own dominions. Where it
has a right to speak its voice is authoritative, but its
domain is limited. God has assigned it its bounds
and said, “thus far shalt,” &e. .

1, The first great use of reason in matters of reli-
gion, is to ascertain whether indeed God has spoken
to men at all. If it be determined that he has not
spoken, then her sphere will be greatly enlarged for
the entire work of determining what and where truth
is, will then devolve on her, but if reason decides that
God has spoken, his voice must of course be heard.
Lt is claimed that God has spoken, and the office of
reason is to examine this claim and determine its
truth. Jt is claimed that the Bible comes to us at-
tested by evidences and authentications. Reason
must look at these evidences and decide whether they
do determine this book to be from God. Méracles
confirm that claim. J2eason must examine these mi-
racles. Did the facts transpire? Were they miracles ?
348 Reason.
If.so, how do they authenticate the Bible. Prophecy

is appealed to. eason must pronounce upon its pro-
phetical character, and also its fulfillment, &e. She
must also examine the internal and collateral. evi-
dences. And then she must sum up the case and
render her decision. But let her not transcend her
sphere and say “truly this bears the sign manual of the
Great King, but it is unreasonable notwithstanding,”
for this is to exalt reason above God, and preclude
Him from speaking anything we did not know, or
might not have known before.

2. A second use of reason is to determine (if God
has spoken) what He has said, in other words to ascer-
tain what are the doctrines and daties contained in
the Bible. If Reason decides God has not spoken, she
need proceed no further in this direction, but if He
has, she must humbly advance to inquire what “God
the Lord” hath said. And it must be remembered
that this book was written in languages no longer
spoken among men. The Old Testament in Hebrew,
from 5 to 15 centuries before Christ, the New in
Greek, eighteen hundred years ago. Here in the de-
partment of language, grammar, criticism, history and
geography, is a wide field for reason to-explore, and
all her researches may bear upon the sacred page to
elucidate it and apply its truths.

3. But having gone thus far, reason has reached
Reason. 349

her limits. She has identified the voice of her God
and understood His meaning, and she has only to re-
ceive and obey it. Like a humbled Job, she must
not answer again. This is the frontier of her empire,
and she may not invade the province of heaven so as
to pronounce on what God hath spoken.

(a.) “ But must I believe what is contrary to reason ?”
I answer no, yet do not confound reason in the ab-
stract, an all perfect reason, with the reason of man.
Reason must have knowledge for its data and its basis,
and the reason of God, who has all knowledge, may
not be identical with ours who know so little. Why
then should we demur, if God has seen proper to give
us information concerning things of which we were
ignorant and which we could never have found out.

(6) Again, many things transcend our reason which
are not contrary to it; a multitude of things we know,
where we know not the reasons. We see the move-
ments on the chess-board, while the philosophy of the
game may be unknown. Reason and Revelation are
not antagonisms. They speak the same language ; one
is an infant, and one an angel. They move in the
same direction, one with a crippled wing, and the
other on strong pinions which never tire until they
bathe themselves in heaven. And ifone has uttered
trath which the other never knew, so far from com-
plaining that reason did not tell it too, I will thank
350 Reason.

God that it has been made in a way so satisfactory
and well authenticated.

(c) “ But there are some particular facts and doc-
trines which I cannot believe.” But why can he not
believe them ? Because they conflict with certain
antececent principles which he has adopted, such as
the analogy of faith, the reason of the thing, or the
character of God. But what knows he of the character
of God, &c., save from that very revelation. And
what right has he to make a messenger of heaven
wait for his answer, after his credentials are accepted
because he bears new intelligence ? What other is
of any value! IfGod has told us nothing new, why
has he spoken at all, How is His message a blessing ?
How are the words of Christ, spirit and life, if they
are but echoes of Socrates and Confucius? The fact
is, man is no more competent to decide on this message
than to weigh mountains or measure oceans. These
very doctrines and facts, may be among the corrobo-
rations of religion. They point to a Divine hand.
My faith then is reasonable, and if the Bible is true,
it is reasonable that you should believe it too.

II. Again, we present experimental religion as emi-
nently entitled to be regarded as reasonable. This
has a double basis, viz., revelation (already passed on,)
and ecperiment. The former propounds it — the latter
demonstrates it.
Reason. 351

The chemist tries experiments, and rests satisfied in
his results. We try experiments in religion. Thou-
sands have repeated them in every age and clime ;
and it is unreasonable to reject their voice. The most
unreasonable man in the world is the man who
admits God’s word to be true, and yet rests satisfied in
his sins. He degrades his reasun, by refusing to hear
its voice — by disregarding its most urgent remon-
stiances. The beast follows his highest impulses —
man obeys his lowest! With an attribute so angelic,
how can he ally himself to the brute?

JI. Every duty enjoined by religion, is a rational
duty. To live and serve God, to do good to our tellow-
men, is right and reasonable. We, who will believe,
attain and do all that reason requires, will not greatly
err.

Thus Revelation and reason give concurrent testi-
mony. One shines like a distant star — the other like
the sun of eternity. One labors, step by step -—the
other leaps to sublime conclusions.

I love to believe the Bible, and my assent is cordial
and reasonable. Could I not believe it, I should rise
dejected and sad ; Ishould weep that my Maker had
thus cast me adrift on a stormy sea; life, death, and
eternity would be full of awful mysteries.

But how changed the scene, when I can lay my
hand on God’s great Message, and say, “God, the Lord,
352. Tae Suapow or Derry. ,

hath spoken”: Here let me plant my feet, and I am
secure. I subscribe to its doctrines; I believe in its
facts; I am consoled by its promises ; I would hasten
to conform to its requirements; I would secure the
favor of God, as a supreme good.

1. Do I address a sceptical one? Come, let us rea-
son together: You have almost worshipped reason
“Oh, I believe, and share the reason of a man”.

“ Believe, and taste the pleasure of a God.”

2. Christians, let us reason: This Word is the basis
of your hopes; Oh, make it the guide of your life.

8. Backsliders, let me reason with you: Why your
base desertion ?

4. Sinner, let us reason together: We are walking
to eternity; hear the voice of Reason, Conscience,
and God, and “ whatsoever thy hand findeth,” &c..

SERMON XXXVII.

Th
THE SHADOW OF DEITY.

Psalms, xci: 1.—‘'He that dwelleth in the secret place of the
Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

This Psalm seems to be a colloquy, in which three
persons participate, who (say the Jewish Rabbins), are
David, Salomon and Deity.
Tur Saapow or Derry. 853

The first makes the broad assertion of the text.

Lhe second seizes on the great encouragement, and
cries out, “I will say of the Lord,” &e., &e.

The first responds, “Surely he shall deliver thee
from,” &¢., &.

The reason of this is given in verse 9th.

In the 14th verse God appears to verify the state-
ment of the first speaker, and applies these promises
to the second ;

“ Because he hath set his,” &e.

This is the phrase from which Satan made his cele-
brated quotation in his contest with our Savior; but
he both misquoted and misapplied it.

In quoting it, he omitted the important clause -—“ to
keep thee in all thy ways” ; and in applying it, he refer-
red it to Christ, although equally applicable to all good.
men.

This text is figurative language, and finds its expo-
sition in the structure of the temple and in various
parts of its worship.

“The secret place of the Most High” is typified by
the innermost recess of the temple, called the “ sane-
tum sanctorum”, or “holy of holies.” Into this sacred
retreat only the high priest might enter, and he only-
on the great day of atonement. This entrance was an
act of thrilling interest to himself and the assembled

multitude.
17
354 Tae SHapow or Derry.

Having entered here, he finds himself covered by
the “Shekinah”; which, though radiant and glorious,
is called the “ shadow of the Almighty.”

But what was once the peculiar prerogative of the
high priest, has become the common privilege of every
believer— each of whom has access into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus. We do not pass behind the
mystic veil, where the Shekinah blazed, but through
the rent veil we may come to God, even to His seat ;
and he who comes to Him in the way He has appoint-
ed, comes to Him in faith and penitence and prayer—
who not only cometh, but dwelleth there — who lives in
communion with God, and abides hard by the mercy-
seat, even he “shall abide under,” &e.

Divested of its lofty imagery, this text designates
a eertain character, and makes to that character a pre-
cious promise; Or, rather, gives to it a glorious assu-
rance.

I. In reference to the character, I briefly observe
that, dwelling in the secret place of the Most High is
characteristic, not merely of a Christian, but of an
emiment Christian — of one who lives near to God —
makes God the great object of his faith, and love, and
hope — who sets God always before his face —who
has a practical conviction that “thou, God, seest me,”
and who waits upon him in earnest, pebering) and
continual prayer.

-
Tar Saapow or Dery. 855

Such an individual is, in an eminent sense, a holy
man; one set apart to be the Lord’s; whose eye is single
and whose whole body is full of light. He is not like
the Jewish high priest, who makes an annual visit to
the secret place of God —not like the formalist, who
makes a weekly call at the sanctuary a substitute for all
other inward and outward acts of piety; but he is one
who dwells near the great source of holiness, and is
changed into the same image. The closet is this man’s
“sanctum sanctorum” ; here he oft retires from the
gaze of the world, and communes with the Invisible;
and here “God comes down his soul to greet,” &c.
His visits are to the world — his business is with God.
Like angels, whose home is heaven, but who speed
their way to every part of Jehovah’s empire, on the
errands of the Almighty, his dwelling is in the secret
place of the Most High; but his feet run swiftly in all
the walks of duty, delighting, like Christ, to be about
his Father’s work.

IL. Tosuch an individual is made the precious prom-
ise, “he shall abide,” &c.; ¢. ¢., he shall secure His
Almighty protection, and be heir to all His promises
and all his grace. We cannot so well appreciate this
promise as could those who dwelt in a sultry clime
where the sun was wont to smite by day, and where
a shelter from the heat was earnestly desired by the
“356 Tun Suapow or Derry.

laborer or the traveler as the greatest luxury which
could be desired or imagined. The traveler on the
great desert, pines for the shadow of a tree or rock or
cloud, as intently as for food or drink or sleep.

But shadows cast by terrestrial objects are variable
and transcient. That cast by a clowd, fails when the
cloud ‘glides by; that of a rock, is limited: to a con-
tracted area; that of a ¢éree, changes its position as the
sun wheels on; that of a tabernacle, is imperfect, at
best; but the shadow of the Almighty is permanent,
enduring through all generations; it is unchangeable,
being incapable of enlargement or contraction ; it is
capacious, so that the universe may gather under its
protection ; and perfect, hiding from every enemy, pro-
tecting from every danger, and offering an asylum in
every emergency. Dwelling under the shadow of
the Almighty, this individual is secured -—

1. From the sun of prosperity. Men greatly mis-
judge when they suppose that the sun of prosperity is
‘less baleful than the blasts of adversity —that their
piety, and peace, and salvation are necessarily secure
when wealth rolls golden streams upon them — when
friends smile around them, and success crowns every
effort. ‘More the treacherous calm I dread,” &c.
The traveler will wrap his cloak about him in a win-
ter’s day, but will loosen and throw it off when the
Tar Saapow or Derry. Bhyé

sun shines warmly ; so men may, in the day of their
calamity, flee to the mountain of their refuge, and
hide under the shadow of Jchovah’s wings, but may
remain at ease in Zion, in the hour of prosperity.

The natural and, unless contracted, the inevitable
result of worldly success, is to secularize the soul, and
make man forget his God.

Ob! how many have said, in the hour of their suc-
cess —“T shall never be moved”; but have found,
while walking the high places of earth, that the cold
breath has chilled their hearts, and their feet have
well-nigh slipped.

But who suspects danger nigh while the heart is de-
lighting itself in fatness? Who in the hour of his suc-
cess and triumph seeks the counsels and prayers of
the pious lest he should be exalted above measure?
Who is alarmed for his soul when it is well with the
body, or is concerned about eternal things when all the
interests of time are secure? And yet in this season
of real though unappreciated danger, (all the more
real and more eminent because unappreciated.) “He
who dwelis in the secret place of the Most High,” &c.
In the hour of greatest peril God will be his defence.
It is difficult to multiply examples of eminent piety
in high places, and yet there are enough of such ex-
amples to show the practicability of the thing. There
is Daniel, the prime minister of the Persian king.
358 Tar Suapow or Derry.

Honors hang thickly around him, parasites wait on
his steps, and all rise up to do him homage. But he
dwells in the secret place of the Most High. Thrice
each day he secks his closet to commune with God,
and he so abides under the shadow of the Almighty
that fierce lions shrink back admonished that they
may not harm him whose head is shielded by Jeho-
vah’s wing. A Wilberforce has adorned the British
Parliament, a Matthew Hale has graced her bench,
and a Lady Huntingdon has shone in the ranks of her
nobility; and all maintained their piety and usefal-
ness, though surrounded hy the honors and emolu-
ments which office and station confer. Pious princes
have sat on thrones founded in righteousness; and
among the merchant princes of our own and other
lands are many who consecrate their wealth and tal-
ents and services to the Lord. Has God prospered
you? Has everything succeeded according to your
wish? Do your children gather like olive branches
around your table? Oh! hide in the secret place of
God, and His shield and arm shall be your defence.
Then the gifts of God shall not alienate thee from, but
bind thee to the giver.,

2. But the more familiar, and, perhaps, the more
important truth remains to be stated, that, covered by
the shadow of the Almighty, you shall be safe from
the storms of adversity also. Let it not be supposed
Tae Saapow or Derry. 359

that piety, even in its highest forms, exempts us from
the usual trials of life. On the contrary the Scrip-
tures assert, and experience proves, that “the Lord
trieth the righteous,” that “whom he loveth he chas-
teneth,” and that they who will “live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution.” The extent of the
promise, then, is, that the Lord will sustain His people
in, sactify them under, and deliver them from all their
trials when they have accomplished all their disci-
plinary purposes, and make all things work together
for their good. We may not remove the thorn in the
flesh, but His grace will be sufficient. Run your eye
along this precious psalm and mark the calamities
from which God proposes to deliver His people. These
promises comprehend providential deliverances and
gracious interposition in behalf of the righteous.

(1.) Who would willingly part with the precious
promises which speak of temporal deliverances to the
people of God ?

(a.) The snare of the fowler or the machinations of
Satan.

(b.) The noisesome pestilence which is the scourge
of God; and it shall gleam harmlessly on the threshold
of the righteous, or be the commissioned agent to bear
his emancipated spirit to a higher and better life.

(c.) The terror by night. He lies down and sleeps

securely, for God maketh him to dwell safely. Wight
360 Tee Saapvow or Durry.

is usually the season of danger. At night the angel
of death passed over Egypt. At night the hosts of
Sennacherib were slain. Screened by darkness from
human observation, and emboldened by the defence-
less and unconscious state of man, the thief, the mur-
derer and the incendiary go forth to their unholy
work. But to God the darkness shineth as the light,
and He can intercept the steps of the sinner, or cover
~ with His wing the head of His people.

(d.) Deliverance from lions; adders and dragons,
and all “noisome beasts is here promised,

On the high road of Providence is safety, and God’s
people are “immortal till their work is done.” Iknow
that this whole matter of Providence is held very
loosely, that itis hard for Christians to bring God near
to them, to see him concerned in the matter of lillies
and sparrows, and guarding the minutest interest of
the childen of men. But the Scriptures reveal God
as the author of the laws of nature, and represent all
these laws as under His control; and who is he that
can harm-us while followers of that which is good ?

But especially are all spiritual blessings secured to
those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High.

' Art thou tempted ? Of old was it written, “the Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly,” &e. Are you
poor? Of many an heir of heaven has it been writ-
ten, “this poor man cried and the Lord heard him,”
Tar Suapow or Derry. 361

&e. Are you persecuted ? Jesus spoke of his glori-
ons benedictions for your encouragement, ‘“ Blessed
are ye when men,” &c. God will either palsy the
arm that is lifted against you, or He will make your
bed of fire like a bed of roses. Always and every
where His grace shall be sufficient for thee. He will
give His angels charge over thee. On their wings
they shall bear thee up in the day of calamity, and in
the day of thy death will bear thee to thy home in
heaven. With songs of deliverance He will compass
thee about; He will be with thee in trouble to deliver
thee and honor thee; with long life will He satisfy
thee and show thee His salvation.

But outside of the shadow of the Almighty how
great is your exposure. The very cloud which was a
light to the Jews, was a menacing sign to the Egyp-
tians, charged with thunder and death. So all God’s
attributes are terrible to sinners.
!
SERMON XXXVIII

—

THE EAGLE.

 

Deut. xxxii: 11.— As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth
over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them,
beareth them on her wings.”

Natural history furnishes some of the most appro-
priate and tender illustrations of the moral truths man
“should know, the duties he should do, and of the en-
couragements given us to aid us in working out our
‘salvation. The cotiduct: of the eagle towards her
young is a beautiful illustration of,
I. The discipline God appoints for us.
Il. The example he places before us.
III. The help which he vouchsafes to us.

I. Of discipline, “ Stirreth up her nest.” She would
have her eaglets fly, ’tis time they should. Other
means failing, she stirs up their nest and makes it so
uncomfortable they gladly leave it.

1, By sending conviction for sin. Man is naturally
careless respecting his state, and at ease in his con-
dition. He cries “peace! peace!” tohis soul. He
says Ishall never be moved. God knows we are
awfully deceived, that we must be humble, wounded,
THE Eaeie. 863

slain. What does He do? He arouses our conscience.
He troubles us with apprehensions. He shakes us
over the pit. What for? Because he hates us? Nay,
verily. Because He would torment us before the time,
and give us foretastes of eternal vengeance ? Nay,
but because He would redeem us, cleanse us, and save
us. He stirs our nest that we may gain strength of
wing to scale the eternal hills.

2. By unsettling our earthly plans and drying up
our earthly joys. See the Jewsin Egypt. Why their
bitter bondage? Manasseh in his pride and power.
The prodigal son in distress. How many can say,
“It is good,” &c. You had breath. You prospered
in business. You had a wife of your bosom. You
had a favorite child. Why this stirring up of your
nést. God would prepare you to quit it.

3. By sending apon us the infirmities and pain of
age, and thus diminishing our attachments to life.
This world is not our home, and yet we form strong
attachments to life. To teach us that this Js not our
rest, and weaken our hold on earth, our tabernacle is
shaken, e’er it falls. This world comes to be regard-
ed as a rickety house, liable to be shaken down at any
moment, and the eye turns away to an enduring one.

Jl. There is intimated the example God has set be-
fore us, “Fluttering over her young,” to teach them
how to use their wings, and encourage them to fly.
864 Tue Eaaur.

‘Pity that the examples of this world are so generally
pernicious. We are imitative beings, taking shape
and character from those about us. The father teaches
the son. The mother the daughter. Have you good
‘examples? God is teaching you by these. Here are
the examples of the pious. Here the biographies of
good men. Here the histories of the Bible. Those
who have gone before have left the record of their
lives. Look to God’s conduct to us. Would He teach
us mercy, benevolence, forgiveness, holiness? Look

“at Jesus’ perfect example. Parents, learn the mighty
power of example! As the kéen eye of the eaglet
watches the movements of the parent bird and then

“copies the motions, and in turn becomes the teacher
of its own offspring, 80 your little one remembers all
you say and will copy all youdo. “And as the bird
each fond endearment tries, &e. .

III. But when the infant bird puts forth its effort,
ventures out upon only a foundation of air, and its
feeble and untrained wing flags and fails, then the
parent bird quick. as thought darts under its falling
charge, and receiving it upon her back, bears it safely

‘to its perch or nest. The object of letting the eaglet
try its utmost strength is to improve its powers. See
the mother teach her babe to walk. There are many
who know not their own weakness because their
strength has never been tested. Love and faith, and
Tur Eacte. 865

patience, and integrity, will all be tested, and tested
that they may be improved. When we are tried we
shall come forth as gold purified seven times. In
these seasons when we are trying our spiritual wings,
and feel their strength, well nigh failing, how cheering
the promises and how unfailing the grace of God.
Assistance is promised and grace vouchsafed for every
time of need. The eagle has two objects in spread.
ing, &e.

1. To support the tender bird. It cannot fall, while
the strong pinions are spread beneath. But youhave
the promised supports of divine grace.

2. Again, the object is to protect the eaglet from
all enemies. Is there an enemy in sight? She soars
where no foe can follow. Would the archer shoot
from below. The shaft must pierce the parent bird
before it can wound her tender charge. Are you
beset by enemies ?

(1.) Does satan tempt you? Well he can do noth-
img roore.

(2.) Does the world press hard on you? Does a cloud
of arrows fly from the fortress of your foes? You
have a shield.

(3.) Are there found internal enemies? You may
triumph over them. Mark in all this, the deep and
tender interest of God in behalf of His people.

Tis no especial mark of the Divine disfavor when
366 Tae Eacte.

God stirs up our nest, takes away the light of our eyes
and the joy of our hearts, and sends us forth on a pil-
-grimage of sorrow.
(1.) Mourner, with a heavy heart! I am not sorry
that you are-disturbed, for your sorrow shall be turned
to joy.

(2) Are you troubled on every side? Is God stir-
ring up thy nest and pouring upon thee a tide of sor-
row #

“ When tempest clouds are dark on high,
His bow of love and peace,

Shines sweetly in the vaulted sky,
A pledge that storms shall cease.”

(3.) Are youabout todie? Is the struggle hard and
the valley dark? Yet what is it todie?. To die is to
begin to live. ’Tis to quit our earthly nest, and seek
our Aome., Where is the eagles home? Not in a
narrow cage! Notin the naked bough. But away
in the clear sunlight, beyond the changes of the ele-
ments and the accidents of life. And where is the
Obristian pilgrim’s home? “ His home is in heaven.
Does death remove me from earth? It introduces
me toa mansion. Does it separate me from friends ?
It takes me to a dearer family and links me in eternal
union to all the nations of the saved. Let us not
despisé his chastening, nor faint at his rebuke,
SERMON XXXIX.

THOUGHTS.

 

Phil. iv: 8.—“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsover things are just, what-
soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be
any praise, think on these things.”

Our holy religion bas the peculiarity of not only
regulating the lie, but of purifying the very thoughts.
Nay, it gives moral character to actions only because
of the thoughts whence they spring. The abused as-
gertion of Solomon, “as a man thinketh,” &c., does not
teach that a man may think and do what he chooses ;
but only that the thoughts are the index of the man.
So our Savior asserts, “it is from within, ont,” &e.
We are responsible for them as far as they are volnn-
tary. This is true in the following cases:

1. When we go forth in pursuit of them and invite
them to exter.

2. When we leave the heart open and unoccupied,
so that they may enter.

& When they are stiggésted by external agencies,
and ate not properly repelled from the soul.
868 THouarts.

This responsibility is not a trifling one, from the fact
already adverted to, that they lie at the foundations
of all characters and conduet. No sin was ever com-
mitted that did not have its fountains here. It was
conceived in thought, its elements and tendencies ex
amined, it ascended to the region of the desires and
the will, was adopted by the purposes and resolves,
and finally it ripened into results; and now the man
whom God had long ago marked as a murderer, a thief,
an adulterer, stands forth in his true character before
the world. In many cases these results may not be
teached, and yet the man’s guilt remains the same.
If prevented only by external causes, or by fear of de-
tection, exposure and punishment—the brand of Cain
and Achan is still on his heart.

Tt is said that “Nature abhors a vacuum” and the
all-encompassing air permeates every open space, and
occupies every vacancy. So the great storehouse of

‘thought must be ever full. Working or sleeping, in
dreamy revery, or in keen contact with world,—from
the time that the curious eye of infancy glances around
its nursery, to the hour when our earthly palace tum-
bles into. ruin around the death bed of worn-out hu-
manity,—thought is ever active ; it flows in unfailing
streams, forming the character, uttering itself in words,
and moulding the whole life. :

Thinking is what the soul does—just as seeing {s
Tuoveuts. 369

the function of the eye, and walking of the feet ; and
it ts what the soul will do Forever, when separated
from the body, and connected with one which is spir-
itual and immortal. Surely to govern our thoughts
is nosmall part of our work on earth. Surely we
should keep our heart with all diligence. Uncon-
trolled, they run riot in the soul, wedding it to all un-
holy things, and trailing its holiest powers and affec-
tions inthe slime and dust. Like mutineers on board
a ship, they bring on anarchy and confusion and ruin
to the soul.

I. The well-being and even the salvation of the soul
requires that some classes of thought should be prompt-
ly expelled from the heart.

1. Those which arraign the providence of God, as
employed in determining our circumstances and des-
tiny. Besides being directed discontentedly to our
present allotments, these thoughts look murmuringly
upon the past, and glance apprehensively npon the
future.

(1.) They look petulantly upon the past and arraign
that Providence which appointed their lot.

(2.) They survey the present, and repine at their
circumstances and state. They have not “learned to
be content.”

(3.) They glance upon the future and permit anxiety
and apprehension to fill their hearts. Oh, restless
870 THOUGHTS.

heart! dismiss thy complainings and quiet thy ap-
prehensions! God reigns! “Praise Him fer all that
is past,” &c. Write “Ebenezer” on the past, and
“Jehovah Jireh” on all the future.

2. We should dismiss all evil thoughts towards our
fellow men.

(1.) Angry thoughts must not be cherished. By
anger I do not mean a holy displeasure against sin,
but that anger which “resteth in the bosom,” &c.
Oh! repress it! Cherished, the habit will grow, and
then farewell to thy own quiet and of all others about
thee!

(2.) All malignant and revengeful thoughts. These
are like a demon in the soul, and as a volcano’s ener-
gies send forth a lava stream which consumes the
vineyards and scathes the orange groves, so such
thoughts despoil the soul of all that’s green and lovely
and turn it into one great wilderness. Universally
cherished, they transform men into devils, and earth
they turn to heil.

(3.) Allimpure and lascivious theughts. These are
evil in themselves and evilin their tendencies. They
enervate the intellect and debase the affections. They
lead to grossness and obscenity of language, to “fuolish
taking,” &c. They have caused many to “mourn at
the last when their flesh,” &c,
THOUGHTS. 371

3. I pause to mention only one or two other classes
of evil thoughts.

(1.) Avoid all trifling thoughts. Give not over
your intellect to be the play-ground of vain fancies,
nor let truant imaginings run riot through thy heart.
Such thoughts keep out better company, for as the
learned take no pleasure in the suciety of the fool,
or the refined in the company of the clown, so pure
and elevating thoughts can have no intimacy with the
vulgar herd that throng the trifler’s brain.

(2.) Closely allied to these are extravagant thoughts,
sometimes called castle-building! This isa wicked
waste of the mentalities. In this direction the minds
of the young are very prone to run! They throw
their fancies into futurity, and imagine what they
would like fo be, to have, where to go; and allis on
a plan of wild improbability.

(3.) Unseasonable thoughts should not be indulged.
They will crowd into your closets and sanctuaries.
Expel them as a Jew would expel a Gentile from the
holy place. Drive them away as did Abraham the
birds that came down on his sacrifice. ‘They vitiate
thy offering and send thee away unbenefitted. “Keep
thy foot,” &c.

(4.) All profane and blasphemous thoughts. This
is the culmination of evil.

II. Having spent so .much time in negations,
372, Troverrs

we hasten to take a brief affirmative view, of this sub-
ject. Here our text shall guide us.

1. Whatsoever things are true.

The whole field of truth is thus thrown open to us.
Whatever is true in nature, science, history and
revelation is-thus permitted. Moral truth, especially,
should employ our thoughts. God is true, His word
is true, religion is an everlasting truth, and thus re-
demption, purity, and eternal life are the appropriate
themes of our contemplation, and great Eternity be-
comes the play-ground of our thoughts.

2. Whatsoever things are honest.

These two clauses seem to be identical but in the
original the meaning is different.

It means what is becoming or appropriate in what-
ever station we are called to fill.

Are you a son or daughter? Honor, duty, love and
obedience.

Are you a parent? Kindness tempered with au-
thority, &e.

Are youa companion? Fidelity, love and forbear-
ance.

Are you acitizen? Obedience to law, a rendering
to Cesar &c., should characterize thee. From all
your relations spring duties &c., to be pondered well.

3. Whatsoever things are just.

This is not retributive justice which belongs to God ;
Tuoucuts. 3873

but rectoral and commercial justice which regulates
all our dealings with one another. Think! have I
been just, scrupulously and exactly honest? "Tis
worth many an earnest thought! Set memory to
work to trace out any possible delinquency. Think
of the great laws of justice, not laid down by Black-
stone, but as founded in right and ordained of God,
and seek to shape thy life by its most inflexible rules.

4, Whatsoever things are pure.

Invite: into thy heart all pure conceptions, inten-
tions and motives. There is no greater or more ubiq-
uitous source of misery than an impure imagination.
“To the pure all” &c. Ags the diseased eye makes
nature’s lovely face dark and unlovely ; so an impure
fancy sees in every countenance, in every book, in ev-
ery landscape view, that which feeds the depravity of
his heart. Wraparound him the darkness of night
or immure him in a lonely cell, and he will still be
drawing forth frorn the chambers of his heart, images of
obscenity. Thus “Just when it hath conceived,” &c.

5. Whatsoever things are lovely.

This opens to us the whole world of sweet charities,
and blessed amenities and kind reciprocities. It bids
us admire whatever is amiable, pursue whatever is ex-
cellent, practice whatever is benevolent, and love
whatever is good. It opens the soul to the sunlight
of the affections and graces. As the sunshine dances
’
4

3874 THouents.

and glances among the northern hills when it makes
its annual visit to Cancer, causing the snow to vanish
and the flowers to come forth; so, before pure
thoughts, gloomy dejection, and scowling misanthropy
flee away and love and joy and peace set down in ev-
erlasting council in the soul. ‘

6. Whatsoever things are of good report.

The Christian is required not only to avoid all evil,
but the very appearance of evil, and we are to wel-
come to our thoughts not only what is good but what
is of good report. Are evil reports in circulation ?
Let the morbid fancy feed on them as the crowon
his carrion “but thou oh! man of God! flee these
things,” &c. Bunt “if there be any virtue, any praise
think on these things.” Thus from the abundance of
the heart the mouth will speak ; and the very thoughts
of our hearts being cleansed by the inspiration of
God’s Holy Spirit we shall worthily magnify the
Lord.

*
« SERMON XL.

THE PENITENT THIEF.

 

Luke xxii: 43.—‘‘ Verily I say unto thee, to-day thou shalt be
with me in Paradise.”

The history. -Paradise. Doctrines of the text:
1. Immortality of the soul.

2. Immateriality of the soul.

38. Salvation by faith, not works.

4, Instantancous conversion.

5. Saints immediately go to heaven.

6. Divinity of Christ.

7. None need despair.

8. But none should presume.

SERMON XUI.

—

DEVILS NOT REDEEMED.

 

Heb. ii: 16.—* Verily he took not on him the nature of angels.”

That Christ has redeemed men to God by his own
blood, is the great central truth of religion. As in
a master piece of music the same idea is worked out
376 Devus not REDEEMED.

through all its changes of measure and key, dimly in-
timated in the prelude, more fully developed in the
subsequent stages, now whispered in the treble, ani and
now thundered in the bass, and brought out com-
pletely in the sublime and triumphant conclusion ; so
redemption by Christ is the Alpha and the Omega of
the scriptures, the great idea revealed in the word of
God. .

At the fall this redemption was promised, in ail the
ceremonies of the law it was typified, and in all the
prophecies it was announced. - Christ was the shield
of Ji acob, the star of Balaam, the prophet of Moses,
the redeemer of Job, the beloved of the song of songs.
Each successive prophet desired to see his day, and
they saw it afar off ; as the time drew near the vision
was clearer, until at last the angels concluded the
grand concert by the sublime doxology, “Glory to
God,” &c. Evangelists and apostles speak and know
of nothing save Christ.

But in the development of this great idea, some in-
cidental information is given us of the existence of an-
other order of beings, for whom Christ has made no
provision ; but who, so far as we have knowledge, are
under the sentence of everlasting condemnation.
There is only one passage of Scripture (namely, 1 Pet.
3-19,) which has been supposed to teach their pos-
sible salvation; but this evidently teaches no such
Deviis wor Reprrmep. a «STF

sentiment, but only that Christ preached through
Noah to the inhabitants of the eld world.

The text I have read, at first view, seems to teach
’ that when Christ came to our world he did not assume
an angelic, but only a human nature. But it will be
difficult on this exposition to show why the name of
Abraham rather than that of Adam is employed by
the apostle. The true idea of the text is brought owt
in the marginal reading, namely: that he undertook
_ the redemption of human beings, but not of fallen
angels.

We shall assign some reasons for their non-redemp-

tion. “

1. It was not because they had not sinned. They
Aad sinned, and pioneered the ways of transgression
where other feet were to wander, and stumble, and
fall.

2. Not beeause they were not unhappy, for they
were. Itis in the nature of sin to make its subject
wretched. It must work out this result in any state,
and in any world. Every fallen spirit must feel and
say, “ Me miserable which way I fly,” &e.

3, Not because he had grown more henevolent be-
tween the times of the two great apostacies. Hie
heart had net grown more tender, nor did the stream
of His benevolence flow from a fuller fountain wher

Adam fell than when Lucifer sinned.
18
378 Devus nor Rupemwep.

(a) This would imply previous imperfection.
° (6) It would leave him now at liberty to seek their
recovery.

4, Not capriciousnéss.

5. Not because human nature was more excellent
than angelic. On the contrary,man was created a
little lower than the angels. But this diversity of pro-
cedure on the part of God and Christ can be accounted
for on one or all of the following grounds.

1. The angels were first in the transgression. They -
first passed the Rubicon that separated between vice
and virtue, they led the way into the world of trans-
gression, and guilt, and misery. Instances analogous
to this are found in all human governments where the
leaders in rebellion have been condemned while their
associates have been pardoned, and taken into favor,
or at least had an opportunity of restoring themselves
to the favor of their sovereign. Hancock and Adams
in the United States, Kossuth in Austria. Thus God
may have made these everlasting warnings to others.

2. Man fellin the infancy of his being. The lights
of history had not kindled about him. He had just
started on the high road of existence. Protracted
acquaintance with the laws, and government, and
character of God, had not had time to operate upon

his hopes and his fears. We have no positive infor-
Devirs wot Reveemm. 379

mation on the subject, but it is probable that the
angels fell from a state of more perfect knowledge
and of larger experience, and in the same proportion
their guilt is greater and their punishment more ex-
treme.

3. Man fell through-foreign solicitation. Hé was
waylaid by a terrible enemy while on his way of duty,
Temptation, in Adam’s case may be urged as a cir-
cumstance calculated to mitigate his crime, for he
may have been ignorant of a tempter, as he was until
now innocent of crime. But the angels feil without
foreign temptation. They never could say “ another
deceived and beguiled me, took advantage of my
ignorance, and inexperience, and led me on to ruin.”
Unseduced they led the way to ruin.

4, Each angel fell for himself. There subsisted
among them no federal relations. One did not fall
for the rest, nor the rest fall in one; but each one had
the issue distinctly presented to himself. Each chose
the way he would take, and that was the way of trans-
gression and ruin. On the other hand, Adam fell for
his posterity. We have all “sprung from the man
whose fatal fall,” & ‘By one man, sin entered,”
&ec. It seems meet then, that a Savior should be
provided for us, through whom the evils of the fall
may be averted.

These reasons seem to justify the universal Sove-

|
380 Deviis. yor RepEemep.

reign in providing for the redemption of man, and in
withholding offers of pardon from rebel angels. And
if our inquiries. respeeting the reasons for Jehovah’s
doings in reference to. fallen spirits seem irreverent
and irrelevant, it is surely always reverent and always
proper to adore that grace which saves us —to have
our hearts kindled with gratitude and fired with love
for the salvation rendered possible for us through
Christ.

Whatever may be the ultimate purposes of God
toward fallen angels — by whatever reasons He may.
have been influenced. in leaving them in a state of.
absolute hopelessness, and whatever may be the. exact
teachings of our. text, it isa faithful saying, “ Art
thou come to torment us before the time ?” was the dep-
recating inquiry of some of the fallen spirits. They
never inquired whether He had come to save them,
and only feared.the doom, which they knew to be cer-
tain, was just at hand——-that the respite they were
enjoying before “judgment, should come upon them
to the uttermost,” was about. to be abridged, and they.
tormented before the appointed time. They seemed
to know that the coming of Christ portended no good.
to. them, or their kingdom. Hence, they met Him at
the threshhold with stern, opposition —raged during
the time of His abode on earth with unprecedented.
fury, and, by the aid of a treacherous disciple and

e
Dervis wor RepremEp 881

opposing Jews and obsequious rulers, brought about
His eruel death.

But his death was our life. Through His blood
alone have we access to God, and an entrance into the
kingdom of Heaven.

And let me speak an earnest*word —'a word which
cannot be too often spoken—that whoever rejects
Christ, steps over from that salvable ground on which
he now stands, and comes into the exact position and
relations of those fallen spirits for whose recovery
there is no provision in the Gospel, and for whom
there is no place in heaven. Rejecting this only hope,
you ally yourself with the unredeemed enemies of the
Lord; and, in the issue of things, will have part and
place with them in outer darkness, and in “ everlast-
ing fire.”’ And it seems quite evident, both from the
reason of the thing, and from Holy Scripture, that
the doom of lost men will be more severe than that
of the fallen angels. They have never rejected Christ
—- they have never turned a deaf ear to the invitations
of the Gospel; but you do this every day ; and all the
while a deadlier sword than Damocles saw, hangs over
your head.

In your eternal communings with lost spirits in the
far-off world of wo, you may encounter a thunder-
scared fiend, who was once an angel of light. And
882 Fapine As THE Lear.

when he tells how, pure and happy he once was, and
you enquire how he could fling such happiness away ;
oh! with what keen invective might he not retort —
“how could you reject Christ — neglect His great sal-
vation, and come to this place of torment?” And
the upbraiding of your own conscience will intensify
your sorrow, and render you speechless!

SERMON XLII.

FADING. AS THE LEAF.

e

Isaiah Ixiv: 4-6.—“ We all do fade as a leaf.”

 

The Scriptures always avail themselves of the illus-
trations which nature, science and art, supply to un-
fold the condition, duty and destiny of men. The
autumnal leaf and human beings have several points
of analogy which we shall point out.

1. They are alike the objects of Divine skill and
Divine care.

2. This analogy holds in the gradual development
and growth of each to a state of maturity. .

3. This brings us to the point of analogy which the
text suggests, viz: both are fading and passing away.

4, That limit is soon reached. The season of bloom
in both cases is very short.
Pesoners or Horr. 383

5. And what is true of individual man is true ot
successive generations.

6. But here the analogy fails, as all analegies do
when pushed to extremes. We can caleulate with
much precision when the ‘leaf will fade, but we ean
make no such calculation with regard to men.

7. The analogy also fails between the fallen leaf,
and the fallen body of men in their ultimate consdi-
tion,

8. The leaf possesses no principle of everlasting life.

SERMON XLITII.

PRISONERS OF HOPE.

 

Zech. ix: 12.—‘ Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of
hope ; even to-day do I declare that i wili render double unto
thee.” :

I. Man a prisoner.
. To habit.

. Appetite.

. Passion.
Pleasure.

tr HR od BD bt

. Interest.
&. Sin.
7. The Devil
384 Harvusr Pasz.

IE. A prisoner of hope.

i. An allusion to the Hebrew captives waiting for
the year of Jubilee.

2. The cure of man is not remediless ; had it been,
no exultations would have been given.

Hit. Tarn ye to the “ strongholds.” City of _Yefage.
“ The Lord is my rock and fortress.”

IV. He will render double unto you.

i. Deliverance from ehains.

2. Protection from enemies.

OBSERVE,

1. The transforming power of grace on the heart.

2. The security of the Christian.

3. Alarming state of the sinner.

SERMON XLIV-

———=

HARVEST PAST.

‘Jer. Vili : 20,—The harvest is past, the summer js ended, and we
are not saved. :

This is the language of the Jews when their lovely
land was laid waste.

It appears to be the language of mourning over
p'ivileges gone.
LuxEWwARMNESS. 385

Proposirions.

1. Every human being is destined to an eternity
of conscious being.

2. The character of that existence depends upon
the decisions and conduct of this life.

3. There are seasons peculiarly favorable for secur-
ing @ preparation for heaven.

(1) Youth. (2) Revivals. (8) Afflictions.

4, The condition of those who allow these gracious
seasons to pass, is most deplorable.

(1) The loss of everything.

(2) Irreparable loss.

(8) Inexcusable loss.

5. Many will take up this lamentation who now ex-
pect salvation.

SERMON XLV.

_—

LUKEWARMNESS.

 

Rev. ifi: 15, 16.—I know thy works, that thou art neither cold
nor hot; I ‘would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee

out of my mouth.

The messages sent by Jesus through John to the
seven churches of Asia were brief, but replete with
386 LvuxEWARMNESS,

stirring statements, threatnings, promises, and exhor-
tations. It is remarkable that these churches had de-
generated even in their infancy into such a condition
that strong rebukes were demanded, and only thesin-
gle churches in Philadelphia and Smyrna were found
worthy of entire approval. .

The final epistle is to the Laodiceans, who were
lukewarm.

1. Christ commences by assuring them that he knew
them. And Christ knows us. He sees not only our
conduct but our hearts... ’

2. He declares their state neither cold nor hot, but
lukewarm.

3. He expresses His dislike of this. “I would thou
wert either cold,” &e.

4, Expresses His purpose respecting them. “I will
spew thee,” &e.

I. What is lukewarmness ?

1. Not positive hostility to Christ.

2. Not absolute indifference.

3. Not fervent love and zeal.

4. But such an interest in the subject as leads us to
desire its advantages without its sacrifices or duties,—
itis the form of Godliness without the power,—it is
being at ease in Zion.

IL. Being thus a reprehensible state it will seek dis-
guises.
- LuKEWARMNESs. 887

1. One covers up a lukewarm heart amid the forms
of religion.

(1) The Roman Catholic makes a great virtue of
Friday, fasts and Lent, and bowings, and crossings ;
but of regeneration, faith and holiness, knows nothing.

(2) The Churchman thinks that baptism and con-
fiimation and the sacrament about the whole of re-
ligion; and he has “ Devotions every grace except
the heart.”

(3) The moralist is astickler for “annis mint and
cummin”; but neglects “the weightier matters of
the law.”

2. Another disguise of lukewarmness is zeal for
denominational views and usages.

3. A lukewarm heart is sometimes disguised by a
multitude of words. Generally out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh, but sometimes men’s
words are smoother than oil, but inwardly they are
drawn sword...

4, Lukewarmness sometimes puts on deep humility
and great modesty. A man is too diffident to confess
Christ, to warn sinners, to pray in his family. Oh,
my brother, dukewarmness not diffidence is your great
disorder.

. 5. Great zeal against certain forms of sin.
388 LuxkEWARMNESS.

IL But there is nothing hid which shall not be
revealed; and lukewarmness, although covered up in
many disguises, has modes of developement which
renders its presence apparent to the eyes of spiritual
man. We need not wait till the day of judgment, it
can be known now.

1. And here the Scripture proverb I have quoted,
holds true, “Out of the abundance of the heart,” &e.
A worldly conversation is a sure evidence of a luke-
warm heart..

2. Neglect of the Bible.

3. The manner in which it is read, will aid one in
determining the state of his soul.

4. He is lukewarm as a Christian, who has no family
altar.

5. Who neglects secret prayer.

6. Who neglects prayer-meetings and other social

means of grace.
7. if a man be lukewarm in religion, he will be

indifferent to the souls of others.

8. In short, by a lack of deep interest in the things
of religion. God is earnest, angels.are earnest, heaven
is full of earnest joys, and hell.of earnest woes; and
oh, wha: is the state of that man’s heart who is deeply
interested in everything else, but in whom you can

awaken no interest on the subject of salvation,
{
LuxewarMNess. 889

IV. The evils of the state are numerous and great.

1. It evinces a low estimate of the character and
claims of God.

2. An undue exaltation of the interests of this pres-
ent world.

3. If not essential hypocrisy, it fast tends to that
result.

4. It neutralizes the power of the ministry.

5. It evinces a reprehensible indifference to the
prosperity of the Church and the.salvation of souls.

Of such, the Scriptures draw a dark portrait, which
it is unpleasant to contemplate and re-produce.

1. They are wells without water.

2. Clouds carried about by winds; they give pro-
mise, but produce only disappointment.

8. Lamps without oil, which when most needed
will fail.

4, Another figure. There dwell on some danger-
ous coasts a class of men called “wreckers.” It is
their business to decoy ships upon the rocks to plun-
der them. On a dark night they kindle lights at dan-
gerous points, the vessel comes toward it as to a bea-
con of safety ; it sweeps on and strikes the rocks, and
then the wreckers begin their dreadful work. Luke-
warm and backslidden souls are spiritual wreckers.
They say we are light — follow us.
SERMON XLVI.

SMALL THINGS.

——

Zach, iv: 10.—‘Who hath despised the day of small things ?”

For seventy years the Jews had pined: in bitter
bondage in Babylon. At length a royal edict was
issued by Cyrus permitting their return. They found
Jerusalem a heap of ruins—their holy and beautiful
house burned up withthe fire. As when our pilgrim
fathers touched this wilderness they first built a tem-
ple to their God, so the first care of the returned Jews
was to erect their ancient temple. There were great
obstacles in their way arising from,

1. The greatness of their work.

2. Their own feebleness.

3. The malice of their enemies.

4. The prohibition of the king.

Zachariah and Haggai encouraged them by assur-
ing them of the favor of the Lord. They assured the
feeble Jews that the house should be built; but “not:
by might,” &c. “ Who art thou, O, great mountain ?”
To answer their doubts they inquired, “who hath de-
spised the day of small things?”
Smart. Tares. 891

The great truth taught by this text is, that God
does not despise the day of small things, or set a low
estimate on humble efforts in a good cause. The
Church frequently needs the encouragements which
this view presents. Obstacles dishearten us and our
own weakness alarms us. It is cheering to know that
God can conquer by few or by many; that small
means and humble endeavors will secure the notice
and blessing of God.

Men adapt means to ends. But the ways of God
are unlike the ways of men. He can thresh a moun-
tain witha worm. A poet asks, “has not God still
wrought by means?” &e. I answer, yes; but itis His
chosen plan to work by small means.

1. See this illustrated in creation.

2. In the seige of Jericho.

3. Gideon. ‘

4, David.

5. The establishment and spread of Christianity.

“God hath chosen,” &c. .

1. Small means accomplish great results by combz-
nation. Every great object is composed of elements,
The shower, light, earth, ocean. Suppose each ele-
ment should separate itself from the mass on account
of its smallness. “What if the little rain should say.”
“What if the shining beam of noon.” Now apply

‘this morally. As separate soldiers eompose the ar-
392 Smartt Tarnes.

mies of kings, so the hosts of God are made up of in-
dividaal Christians, Every Christian isa ray of light,
and together they are the light of the world. See the
power of concentrated influence, united prayer, gath-
ered contributions.

2. By the especial blessing of God. It has pleased
God to promise and often to give His especial blessing
to humble means and efforts. The philosophy of this

-is, that it takes away all chance of attaching virtue to
the instrument. It puts honor upon God, instead of
attaching praise to man. The occulist may restore
sight by remedies; Christ by a word. Armies may
dig down a mountain; God ean hurl it down by a
breath. Man lays his magazines and mimics the earth-
quake ; God springs His mine and desolates a nation
at a blast. Man can burn London or Moscow} God
can kindle a bonfire of worlds. |

So in the department of morals and religion. “Ex- .
cept the Lord build,” &c. Here is the only rational
foundation of hope for the chureh. The Lord of hosts
is with us. Long ere this, “If it had not been that the
Lord was on our side,” hope had fled, and the last ray
of light had gone out. But ever in the extremity of
the Church has the voice of God been heard saying,
“fear not, fur I,” &e.
Smart Tues. 393

INFERENCES.

1. If God does not despise the day of small things
we should not.

2. Observe how little anos contribute to form the
character.

3. Conviction has small beginning.

4, The work of grace in the heart usually has yin
ble beginnings. Two cautions are necessary to the
young disciple,

(1.) Do not despise and throw away the light and
joy you do have because it is not greater. As well
may the studert despise the rudiments.

(2.) Do not suppose the height attained. Many
backslide by supposing that they kiiow and have all
there is.

B Despise not the humbler walks of usefulness.

(1.) Labor in the Sabbath School.

(2.) Labor directly for the salvation. Are you dis-
heartened? ‘Who art thou, oh! great mountain %”

(3:) In the walks of benevolence. Both the pro-
cesses by which small means produce great results are
seen here.

(a.) We make little offerings to the missionary
cause, small ih ‘themselves, but vast in the aggregate.
The little rills become a river, and roll in waves of

joy forever.

(6.} Azd upon each little offering prayerfully laid
894 Trur anp Farse ZEA.

on God’s altar an especial blessing may be expected.
I see a widow throw a farthing in.

And thus the Jeaven is at work in the world. Soon,
like the morning light, it shall flash across the earth
and wrap the kingdoms in a blaze. “Saw yenot that
cloud arise?” The grain of mustard seed shall throw
its branches aloft, and shake its fruit like Lebanon.
The stone cut from the mountain shall fill up the
whole earth.

SERMON XLVII.

TRUE AND FALSE ZEAL.

 

WK. x: 16.—“ Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.”
This is part of a conversation between Jehu and
Jehonadab, the former a selfish, ambitious, and un-
scrupulous demagogue, the other a staunch teetotaller,
a great reformer and the true author of the Maine
law. These chapters contain what is known of Jehu,
and Jer. xxxiv, gives much information of Jehonadab.
This conversation took place when Jehu was driving
in hot haste to Samaria to secure the throne of Israel.

' Just at this time he needed the assistance of the old
teetotaller ; at an other time he would have spurned

‘him from his path. But now he needed friends. Did
TrRvuE anp Fatse Zea. 395

you ever see a man exceedingly polite and accom-
modating just before election? He is every body’s
good friend. He can dispense a bow to all and a dol-
lar when necessary. See Absalom in the king’s gate.
Like a true politician he shakes hands with every one
who comes and says “see now thy. cause is good, and
“oh! that [ were made judge,” &c. I seldom have
beer near a political gathering, but I confess I have
sometimes just looked in to see Jehu and Absalom.

The hypocrisy of Jehu Jays in the fact that while
he was actuated by sheer selfishness, he professed to
have a supreme regard for the public good and to be
fired with zeal for the Lord. While true zeal for the
Lord is demanded by every relation which we sustain
to Him and to the world, while it is good always to
be zealously affected in a good thing, there is a zeal
which is not according to knowledge or according to
truth. Ishall aim to expose the counterfeit eed point
out the genuine article.

1. True religious zeal is not a personal zeal. It
aims not at the exaltation of self. It makes not per-
sonal ambition and aggrandizment the. great object.
Every religious impostor professes to be actuated by
a regard to the Divine glory and to have received il-
lumination from God, to be sent on a special mission
by Him, and actuated by zeal in his cause. Were he
to announce his true character and plans, he, of course,
396 True anp Fausze Zeau.

would-defeat his object. Hence, he conceals his ul-
terior purposes, and while actuated by nothing but
personal ambition, he cries “ come see my-zeal.” | So.
cried Jehu when his sword was dripping alike with.
guilty and innocent blood. So cried Henry VIIT,
when he threw off the authority of the Pope, only to
be a Pope himself.

2. It is not denominational zeal. This is but a
widening of personal zeal, a transfer of one’s energies
from self to a sect or party. It is ‘possible for a zeal-
ous man who is employing every energy to build up
the parti¢nlar dendmination of his choice to suppose
it'is all for God, while he stops far short of Him. To
win souls is highest wisdom ; but it should be to ‘win
them not merely to the church but to God; nor from
a kindred church, but from the world, and sin, and
Satan. The triumph of a party may not be the ad-
vancement of the public good—the swelling of the
membership of a church—the peopling of the skies.

3. It is not a zeal for forms and things compara-
tively indifferent. No greater zealots can be found
than the Roman Oatholics ; but it is'a zeal for forms,
for crucifixes rather than Christ ; for wafers and wax
candles, and beads.and bowings; for confessions, and
crossings, for penance and Peter-pence, while high
and holy interests are ignored and forgotten.

' 4, It is not a perseouting zeal. “I was zealons to-
Trog anp Fatsz Zmat. 397

ward God,” says Paul. It was zeal that gave birth

to the crugades, and left the bones of millions to.
bleach under an Asiatic sky. It was zeal that enact-_
ed the slaughter of St. Bartholomew’s day, and kin-

dled the fires of. Smithfield.

Il. We are now crepared to state the nature and
workings of true religious zeal. It is.no less ardent
than the spurious, but it selects worthier objects and
pursues them by directer processes.

1. There is the abnegation of self. The cause she
advocates absorbs all personal considerations.

2. But while se/f sinks, God and his cause, Ate OX
alted.

3. And this enables us to see more fully the nature
of zeal. Itis nothing else than fervent and active
love. He who excuses his passions, his intolerance,
his implacability on the ground of his zeal makes as
great a mistake as he who should account for light by
darkness, or for good by the fact and presence of evil.
True zeal is true love in its higher forms. It is love
in its active forms. .

4, Such zeal is necessarily militant. Michael and
his angels fought in heaven, for Jehovah’s throne was
invaded, and Christ’s true soldiers on earth must also
fight, not with carnal but spiritual weapons.

5. True zeal being thus based on everlasting prinei-
ples, and aiming at stupendous results will of course
398 Srirrrvay SLUMBER.

operate uniformly and permanently. It only requires
that this zeal become universal, and like ten thousand
fires kindled in a prairie they will blend into one and
wrap the world in a blaze of light, and earth become
& preparation for, and a counterpart of heaven.

°

SERMON XLVIII.
SPIRITUAL SLUMBER.

 

Scfiah ie-6,'—“ What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon
thy God.”

The history.
Text indication,
I, Of the sinner’s situation.
1. Not in the path of duty.
2. He is conscious of it.
3. In great danger.
4. Unconscious of that.
5. May be awakened.
II. Of the sinner’s duty.
1. Survey the extent of danger.
2. Entertain just alarm.
3. Anxiously inquire for ways of escape.
4, Call earnestly upon God.
SERMON XLIX.

NO NIGHT IN HEAVEN.

 

Rev. xxii: 5.—There shall be no night there.

This cheering announcement unfolds one blessed
feature of the saints’ final rest.

Heaven is not only a state but a place having boun-
daries and limits.

Its location is not revealed. Dr. Dick supposes it
is at the central point of the material universe.

1. The causes of night do not there exist.

2. No necessity for it exists.

3. It may be the center and fountain of light.

4, God is the light of heaven.

II. No mental night of ignorance. At its best es-
tate, humanity is shrouded with ignorance and mys-
tery.

1. There will be no lack of objects to investigate.

2. No lack of mental capacity. Ido not hold that
all will have equal capacity. All will have enlarged
powers. :

3. No lack of opportunity. The clogs to the intel-
lect will be removed. Time enough. The fatigues
and wants of the body will not press.

4. No lack of facilities and hopes. The elder sons

o
400 No Nieut ww Heaven.

of lieaven will delight to lead forward the infant in-
tellect.

III. No moral night of sin. This is the darkest

cloud that ever settled on the habitations and hearts
of men.
_ IV. No penal night of wifes) Suffering is a
“result of sin. Look over the earth, Oh! what a laz-
ar house do T inhabit. I see age with its infirmities
and pains; disease in a thousand protean forms; bat-
tle-fields where the war horse trails his fetlocks in
blood; hospitals, death beds and graveyards, But all
causes of suffering cease in heaven.

Ihave not entered upon a consideration of the pos-
itive immunities and j joys of heaven. Ihave only in-
sisted that it is free from natural: darkness, mental ig-
norance, moral disorders, and physical sufferings.
Who is competent to enter upon the affirmative view
and tell us what heaven is. We know what earth ¢. a8,
and can thus infer what heaven will be.

1. Heaven is a motive toa holy life. “The pleas-
ures of sin” (make the most of them) are but for g
season.”

. 2. Form characters adapted to heaven.

8. Bear with submission and fortitude the various
ills of life. To one ripe for the skies death is gain,
and sudden death is sudden heaven