V 
 
 V S s 
 
OF THE 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 RR INC ETON, N. J. 
 
 <^«*«. ^r?r*^:^^... Division.. . . . _ 
 
 'S?^^^/,...^..4fe.....?^ Section 
 
 Book, N( 
 
 
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SERMONS AND ADDRESSES, 
 
32\\UttXf, according to Act of Congress, in the. year 1846, l)y 
 D. L. Carroll, in tlic Clerk's Office of the District Court 
 of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Wm. S. Vot'No, Pi inter. 
 
SEEMONS 
 
 ADDRESSES, 
 
 VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 
 
 REV, D. L. (JARROLL, D.D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, 
 
 184 6. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Prefaces are seldom read, because they are ofieii 
 unnecessary. They are generally of an apologetic 
 character, with a large sjricing of mock modesty ; 
 craving, in behalf of the author, the indulgence of the 
 public for the defects that may appear in his work, 
 and recounting sundry disadvantages under which he 
 has laboured in its preparation for the press; from 
 all which it is presumed that it will be inferred how 
 much better he would have done in more propi- 
 tious circumstances. No man in health, and with the 
 ordinary allotment of life, is entitled to the privilege 
 of making an apology, or of being heard in it, for 
 any thing that he chooses to publish voluntarily, and 
 not by necessity. 
 
 The author of this volume feels justified in giving 
 a reason for that lack of accuracy and polish which 
 will be found in the style of some of these sermons 
 and addresses. Ills health has been so feeble for 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 nionlhs past, that lie has not only not been able lo 
 rc-\vri(c the discourses, but has with difliculty borne 
 the confinement and labour of looking them over, 
 and rendering them legible by correcting the chiro- 
 graphical and other trifling errors. Written amidst 
 all the cares of pastoral life, and in the hurry of 
 weekly preparation for the pulpit, these sermons are 
 now published with little alteration of the original 
 drafts. 
 
 In the prospectus it was intimated, that the work 
 would mainly consist of occasional sermons, and of 
 addresses and lectures, &c. The desire of com- 
 prising in the volume what might promise to be the 
 most extensively and enduringly useful, has induced 
 the author to change his original purpose, and to in- 
 clude fewer occasional, and more strictly practical 
 sermons in the work, and to exclude several addresses 
 and lectures which he intended to insert. Having 
 made the selections with this design, and acting ac- 
 cording to the best judgment he could form in the 
 case, it is quite possible that the volume may disap- 
 point some of his former parishioners who may re- 
 member sermons which they have heard him deliver, 
 and which are regarded by them as much better than 
 any that are found amongst the number now pub- 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 lished. In conversation wilh the author, some of 
 his friends have expressed great surprise and regret 
 to learn that the present volume will not include two 
 sermons which he preached about three years ago, 
 on " The government of the thoughts.'''' 
 
 In reference to this case, and to other sermons 
 that some may be disappointed in not finding in the 
 work, he would say, that should it please a benignant 
 Providence to prolong his life, and grant him a suf- 
 ficient degree of health, he designs to publish another 
 volume, of equal size, and perhaps of better selection, 
 provided his friends after reading the present shall 
 feel disposed to encourage him to do so. 
 
 He has had none of the pangs and throes of author- 
 ship so keenly felt by those who write for fame. 
 MayCs judgment in reference to this or to any thing 
 else pertaining to him, is now a matter of little mo- 
 ment to him. The preparation of this volume for 
 the press, has furnished employment for hours that 
 otherwise might have moved heavily, and given rise 
 to a slender hope of usefulness even at the sunset of 
 life's closing day. And if the ever blessed God in 
 the depths of his condescending goodness through 
 Jesus Christ, is pleased to accompany the truths con- 
 tained in tliis work by his Holy Spirit to the con- 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 sciences and the hearts of readers, promoting the edi- 
 fication of Christians, and the awakening and con- 
 version of sinners, the author's most ardent wishes, 
 aspirings, and anticipations will then have been real- 
 ized. To Him who can alone give it success, and 
 in whose hands are the hearts of all men, this volume 
 is now humbly and cheerfully committed, by 
 
 The Author. 
 
 Newark, Del,, July 30, 1846. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 SERMONS. 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 The Method by which the Christian's Faith becomes 
 
 VICTORIOUS over THE WoRLD, 13 
 
 "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that be- 
 lieveth that Jesus is the Son of God V' — 1 John v. 5. 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 The Nature and Advantages of drawing nigh to 
 
 God, 34 
 
 '•Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." — 
 
 James iv. 8. 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 The Design of Christ in the Conversion of a Soul, . 53 
 " But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which, 
 
 also, I am apprehended of Christ .lesus." — Philip, iii. 12. 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 The Source^and Security of the Christian's Life, . 72 
 
 "Because I live, ye shall live also." — John xiv. 19. 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 The Foundation of moral Courage, and some of the 
 Exigencies that call for its Exercise in the Minis- 
 try OF the Gospel, 90 
 
 "As an adamant, harder than flint, have I made thy fore- 
 head : fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, thougli 
 they be a rebellious house." — Ez, iii. 9, 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 The Enormity of the Sinner's Conduct in making 
 LIGHT OF THE Invitations OF THE Gospel. . . . .118 
 '■ But they made light of it." — Matt. xxii. 5. 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 Christian Reproof. — the Obligations to this Duty, 
 — THE Character of those who are to administer 
 IX. — THE Spirit in which it should be given, — and 
 
 ITS HAPPY Results. 135 
 
 ^•Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and 
 
 let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall 
 
 not break my head ; for yet my prayer also shall be in their 
 
 calamity. "^ — Psalm cxli. 5. 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 The Ministerial Office, 152 
 
 ■•' But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust of the 
 gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God. 
 which trieth our hearts." — 1 Thess. ii. 4. 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 Disastrous Effects of little Sins in Christians. . . 185 
 '•' Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send 
 forth a stinking savour; so doth a little folly him that is in 
 reputation for wisdom and honour," — Eccles. x. 1. 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 The wise Reckoning of Time. — A New-Year's Sermon, 205 
 '•' So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our 
 hearts unto wisdom." — Psalm xc. 12. 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 The Perfection of the Divine Law, 224 
 
 '•The law of the Lord is perfect." — Psalm xix. 7. 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 ,E Teacher, . . 
 
 Who teacheth like him?" — Joe xxxvii. 22. 
 
 God the incomparable Teacher, 244 
 
CONTENTS. • XI 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 'j'he Pro;si'euitv ov the Wicked insecure, . . . .261 
 •'•Surely Ihou didst set them in slippery places."' — Psalm 
 Ixxiii. 18. 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 Things in the Dealings of God that we know not 
 NoWj AND the Reasons on which we found the Hope 
 
 that we shall know them hereafter ;2'/fi 
 
 •• What I do thou knowest not now: but thou shalt know 
 
 hereafter." — John xiii. 7. 
 
 ADDRESSES. 
 
 I. 
 
 An Address delivered at the Funeral of Mrs. Sarah 
 KeiMj Wife of Mr. John Keim. of Philadelphia. . 301 
 
 II. 
 Address delivered at the Anniversary of the Ameri- 
 "" CAN Education Society. Boston, May. 1845, . .317 
 
 III. 
 An Address delivered at the Funeral of Mrs. Cathe- 
 rine B. Patton. Wife of the Rev. John Patton, and 
 Daughter of James Bruen, Esq.. of Philadelphia. . 330 
 
 IV. 
 
 A Permanent Remedy for the African Slave Trade. 347 
 
i^nro55C%. 
 
 
 SERMONS. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE METHOD BY WHICH THE CHRISTIAN'S FAITH 
 BECOMES VICTORIOUS OVER THE V^ORLD. 
 
 " Who is he that overcometh tlie world, but he that believeth that 
 Jesus is the Son of God?" — 1 John v. 5. 
 
 The easy conquest made by the world in all ages 
 over the great majority of its inhabitants, is one of 
 the most unquestionable facts of history. Admira- 
 tion of its heroes — the pursuit of its wealth — its 
 honours — its pleasures — its power — submission to 
 its maxims and customs, and yielding to its dominant 
 spirit, have formed the character, shaped the course, 
 employed the activities, given play to the hopes and 
 fears, and fixed the destinies of the great majority of 
 mankind. Occasionally we find an individual, under 
 those better impulses that sometimes visit man de- 
 spite the ruin of his moral and nobler nature, striving 
 by the precepts of a refined philosophy to overcome 
 the world. He endeavours to look at it with the 
 eye of a weeping philosopher as a deceitful, passing 
 pageant — he fortifies himself in the conviction, that 
 mind and moral qualities are infinitely superior to 
 the most dazzling things of earth — attempts to dis- 
 cipline his pf ssions and susceptibilities till they shall 
 be proof against its seductive allurements — betakes 
 
14 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 himself to employments and pleasures purely in- 
 tellectual — practises an outward morality, and per- 
 suades himself that he has gained a splendid victory 
 over the world ! Yet in truth he is still only an " up- 
 per" and higher class of servant to the world. He 
 does not wallow^ in its mire trodden under foot by 
 the base things of earth. But the point of his ele- 
 vation is only a mound of som.ewhat refined day, 
 not a " heavenly place in Christ Jesus." The light 
 that surrounds him there is earthly sunshine, not 
 the pure and healing beams of the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness. The morality that adorns his outward man, is 
 this world's morality, not those graces of the Spirit 
 that robe the soul in the livery of heaven. No 
 philosophy — no device of mortals — no power of 
 human resolve nor gigantic struggle of his unaided 
 powers, can ever disenthral man from the environ- 
 ments of his fallen condition and give him the vic- 
 tory over the world. Amidst all the experiments 
 ever made in reference to this achievement, and all the 
 mighty conflicts of man with the world, but one thing 
 has ever enabled him to overcome it, and that is, the 
 faith of the gospel. ^' For whosoever is born of 
 God overcometh the world. And this is the vic- 
 tory that overcometh the world, even our faith.^^ 
 That this is the great, the only means of this sublime 
 moral victory, is manifest from the language of the 
 text: "Who is he that overcometh the world, but 
 he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" 
 This question is obviously put as unanswerable. It 
 is equivalent to the strongest conceivable affirmation, 
 that no one but he who believeth thaf* Jesus is the 
 Son of God, can possibly overcome the world. Note 
 
OVER THE WOKLD. 15 
 
 here, for a moment, the kind of failli which alone 
 can secure so splendid a triumph. "He that he- 
 lieveth that Jesus is the Son of God^ Not he 
 that has a correct, speculative faith in the Bible as a 
 revelation from God — not he that has a sort of phi- 
 losophic, poetic belief in Christ as a moral hero in 
 history — as a great and good man — a prophet or 
 teacher sent from God, or a magnanimous martyr, 
 sealing the sincerity of his convictions of truth, 
 and vindicating the loftiness and purity of his mo- 
 tives by his blood. No ! this is not the kind of 
 faith that crowns man a victor over this alluring, 
 engrossing, tempting, triumphing world. "He that 
 believeth that Jesus is the Son of God '^ — the man 
 who believes '^^ with the Jiearf^^ in the whole 
 character of the Saviour precisely as it is revealed, 
 the man who is " born of God," and to whose soul 
 the Holy Ghost, having taken of the things of Christ, 
 hath shown them, and wrought there a simple, vital 
 belief, that " Jesus,'' who saves his people from their 
 sins, "zs the Son of God^^ — is the almighty, sove- 
 reign, all-sufficient, atoning Saviour, for him per- 
 sonally, as a lost sinner — this is the victorious be- 
 liever. It is this view of Jesus Christ, which as a 
 great /<r/c/, an overwhelming reality^ blazes in upon 
 his soul by faith, lighting it up to spiritual discern- 
 ment, and awakening in it a new and mighty life, by 
 which he makes the splendid conquest over the 
 world ! 
 
 It shall be my object, in the subsequent remarks, 
 to inquire how this belief that Jesus is the Son of 
 God, operates to overcome the world? 
 
 1. It does so by bringing to the viciv of the soul 
 
16 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 a totally different style of character in the Lord 
 Jesus, fro77i that which the ivorld admires and 
 imitates. 
 
 The heroic character, is the one which figures in 
 all profane history, from the earliest ages to the 
 present hour. The warrior, in the exciting and 
 tragic extremes of his fortune^ — with a physical 
 courage that scales walls — mounts battlements — 
 storms forts — sacks cities — desolates provinces — con- 
 quers empires, and crushes beneath the iron tread of 
 his prowess millions of his fellow men; this is the 
 character, however dark, depraved and desperate in 
 other respects, which attracts the world's admiration 
 and fires its irrepressible emulation. This is the 
 master, model character of greatness and glory 
 which the world presents. For, if the statesman, 
 orator, poet, philosopher, or scholar, be accounted 
 great by the v/orld, he must have something of this 
 element of the heroic in his character. He must 
 have a certain hardihood and dauntless daring, which, 
 with worldly motives and for worldly ends, will risk 
 the soul, defy destiny, outrage the laws of heaven, 
 and be willing to die, provided it be in a sufficiently 
 magnificent catastrophe! Now the world, by pre- 
 senting this as its great, model character, and ap- 
 pealing thus to the combined passions of ambition, 
 brute courage, the love of fame and of glory, makes 
 an easy conquest of the hearts of men in the very 
 morning of life, and holds them ever after in willing 
 subjection. But to the man who believes that ^'Je- 
 sus is the Son of God," a totally different character 
 is presented for , his admiration, love and imitation. 
 The clear and comprehensive convictions of his faith 
 
OVER THE WORLD, 17 
 
 give living reality to the true character of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and present it in its proportions 
 and infinite perfectness as a ivhole, radiant with a 
 celestial light. It is a character diametrically the 
 opposite of the world's model character oi greatness 
 and glory. Benevolence wide as the world, weep- 
 ing over its woes, and yearning to save it at any 
 sacrifice, is the great foundation element in this 
 character. Another striking trait is a profound 
 submission to the will of God, even amidst scenes 
 of personal suflering the most tragic the world has 
 ever witnessed. What tneekness, too, enters into 
 the Saviour's character, that which the world pro- 
 nounces to be " the virtue only of cowards," but 
 which God declares " blessed." He " endured the 
 contradiction of sinners against himself." " When 
 he was reviled, he reviled not again." " He was led 
 as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her 
 shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." 
 And yet with all this, what a sublime moral courage 
 was his! A courage, by which, for the space of forty 
 days in the solitude of the wilderness, he battled 
 with the gloomy Prince of Darkness, spurned the 
 splendid bribe to his virtue of the kingdoms of 
 this world and all their glory, and triumphed in 
 solitary majesty over all the principalities and pow- 
 ers of hell ! A courage by which he sustained himself 
 under the sorrows of Gethsemane, the shock of the 
 world's malice at Pilate's bar and in Herod's court, 
 calmly offered up his soul to God a sacrifice for sin, 
 and died a victor amidst the mysterious agonies, the 
 gloom and the glory of Calvary ! This is the character 
 that Heaven presents as its model of greatness and 
 2* 
 
18 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 moral grandeur. Faith realizes, sees, feels this 
 character in its infinite loveliness and attractions. 
 For to him that believeth Christ "is precious" — 
 " the fairest amongst ten thousand, one altogether 
 lovely." Faith loves, admires, adores this charac- 
 ter, and fires the soul with an unconquerable desire 
 to imitate it, to be conformed to it and fashioned 
 after this celestial pattern. 
 
 Now will not the faith that gazes on the pure lus- 
 tre of such a character blind its possessor to that 
 false glare which surrounds the world's character of 
 greatness and glory? Will he not turn away in dis- 
 gust from the earthly model? And while the pure 
 and perfect character of Christ is glowing before the 
 eye of his faith and burning in upon his soul its own 
 bright lineaments, will he not triumph over the 
 world, nor feel nor fear its allurements to his ambi- 
 tion? 
 
 II. A second way in which the belief that Jesus 
 is the Son of God operates to overcome the world, is 
 by bringing to view as a reality the perfect ex- 
 ample of noble self denial which Christ has given. 
 Self-denial is indispensable to a conquest over the 
 world. As this is an extremely difficult duty, espe- 
 cially when it extends to "denying ourselves all 
 ungodliness and worldly lusts," we want the aid, in 
 its performance, of something more than bare pre- 
 cepts and prohibitions. We want a living excnnjjle — 
 we want the very pattern of thething done — and done 
 by one of like susceptibilities, passions and powers, 
 and in like circumstances with ourselves. 
 
 The world, of course, has no such example to pre- 
 sent. Her great men have denied themselves many 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 19 
 
 -worldly gratifications, but it has been only that they 
 might indulge in others and greater. The perfect 
 example of noble self-denial which the Son of God 
 has 2;iven is lost on the unbelievins; multitude. To 
 ihem it has neither "form nor comeliness," life nor 
 reality. They read the history of his magnanimous 
 sacrifices and severe self-denials just as they peruse 
 the tale of some hero of romance in the fictitious 
 trials, struggles and battlings of his imaginary exis- 
 tence. On them the example of Christ's self-denial 
 exerts no influence, and they cannot avail themselves 
 of its ennobling inspirations to enable them to over- 
 come the world. But to him who believeth that 
 Jesus is the Son of God, in what a vivid light does 
 the Saviour's example of self-denial appear! It is 
 the example of the Son of God. It is the acting out, 
 the intelligible embodiment and exemplification of 
 those great principles by which He overcame the 
 world. Faith seizes on it as a living, bright, glow- 
 ing reality — contemplates it from its commence- 
 ment till its close with a profound admiration of its 
 truthfulness, sublimity, perfection. The man who 
 believeth that Jesus is the Son of God, believes too 
 with all sincerity and fulness of conviction that for 
 a season Christ emptied himself of " that glory which 
 he had with the Father before the world was," that 
 "though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became 
 poor," that though " he thought it not robbery to be 
 equal with God, yet he made himself of no reputation, 
 took upon him the form of a servant, became obe- 
 dient unto death, even the death of the cross." 
 
 Though the resources of the world were his by 
 the right of the highest and most absolute proprie- 
 
20 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 torship, yet he was born in a manger, — reared in 
 a carpenter's family, — wrought with his own hands, 
 "being subject unto his parents," and in the days of 
 his public ministry, when blessing tlie world with 
 the richest gifts af Divine benelicence, he emphati- 
 cally exclaimed, "The foxes have holes and the birds 
 of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not 
 where to lay his head." — While others slept, "he 
 arose when it was yet a great while before day, and 
 went out into a mountain alone to pray." — When 
 weary, hungry, and thirsty, as he sat at the well of 
 Samaria, he was deaf to the clamours of his own bo- 
 dily wants, that he might improve the occasion to 
 feed immortal souls famishing for the bread of life. 
 But it is the closing acts of his self-denial on which 
 faith especially dwells. The meek and unresisting 
 bearing of his spotless mind as he endured all the 
 ignominious, sad, agonizing preliminaries to his cru- 
 cifixion, when by a simple thought he could have 
 dashed all the authors of these indignities and suffer- 
 ings into remediless destruction; — the cheerfulness 
 with which he "endured the cross," willingly making 
 his own soul the great sacrifice offered up to God 
 through the Eternal Spirit, to redeem man and dis- 
 enthral him from the world — the depths of myste- 
 rious sorrows, of concealed, unearthly woes into 
 which he voluntarily stepped as he trod the wine- 
 press alone, as he performed the august, awful rite 
 of offering up himself a sacrifice to God. who can 
 compute the all-controlling power of so sublime an 
 example of self-denial on him who really believes 
 that Jesus is the Son of God! How it rouses the 
 energies of the undying soul — elevates its aims — 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 21 
 
 fires its high resolves, its infinite aspirations, and 
 fluslies it with the hope of victory ! When the l)e- 
 liever in his spiritual conflict keeps this example 
 hriglit before the eye of his faith, he feels a new 
 strengtli in the struggle; he feels that conquest is 
 practicable, and rises in the miglit and the majesty of 
 the ^^ inner man," and overcomes the world. 
 
 III. Another way in which faith in Christ ope- 
 rates to overcome the world, is by the view ivhich 
 it takes of the exalted pursuits of the Saviou7\ 
 The pursuits by which the world enslaves and holds 
 its votaries are quite notorious. Military glory — 
 the pomp and show of wealth — the bauble of fam.e 
 — the distinctions of a mad ambition, and the tumul- 
 tuous pleasures of prodigality and dissipation — these 
 are all she can offer her subjects for the employment 
 of their immortal activities. And these are sufficient 
 to overcome worldly minds — to engross and exhaust 
 their powers, unless they can be made to see that 
 there are loftier and nobler pursuits, and to feel their 
 divine attractions. For the inherent energies of 
 mind, under the impulses of its powerful passions, 
 will have active employment of some kind. Now 
 earth cannot present a pursuit higher than herself, nor 
 point out tlie path by which the sternest spirit of 
 mortal is to overcome the world. But he that be- 
 lieveth that Jesus is the Son of God, sees in Christ's 
 pursuits a highway above the world, worthy the 
 powers, the dignity and the ultimate destination of 
 mind. Faith fully accredits that simple yet sublime 
 record of the Saviour, " He went about doing good." 
 It sees him "travelling in the greatness of his 
 strength," in that glorious sphere of God-like bene- 
 
22 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 volence, in which he ministers alike to the mightiest 
 and the most minute wants of man's mortal and im- 
 mortal nature. Supreme consecration to God, and a 
 self-sacrificing devotion to the best interests of man, 
 characterized the Saviour's whole career on earth. 
 When but twelve years of age, he was " about his 
 Father's business." It was obvious that he always 
 had a great object in view. Its magnitude and 
 grandeur may be judged of by the fact that it was 
 the ivork ivhich the Father gave him to do! To 
 manifest the glory of the eternal Father, and save 
 this sin-stricken, sinking world, this was the object 
 of his exalted pursuit on earth. For, at the very 
 close of life, he exclaimed, " I have manifested thy 
 name to the men which Thou gavest me out of the 
 world. I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have 
 finished the work which thou gavest me to do." 
 This work taxed his activities and gave play to all 
 the pure and benevolent affections of his nature. 
 He pursued it with a perseverance steady as time — 
 with a zeal that no sorrows could quench — with a 
 courage that never blenched before the opposition of 
 earth or hell — with a self-denial that faltered at no 
 sacrifice — with a divine energy that flagged not 
 amidst the groans and anguish, the cries and tears, 
 the great sweat of his agony in the garden, nor failed 
 him amidst the sublime and melancholy glories of 
 the cross, where he triumphantly exclaimed, "// is 
 finished P^ Now the Christian's faith gives a reality 
 to this pursuit of the Son of God. To him it is not 
 as the fictitious career of a hero of romance. Nay, 
 his faith makes him feel that his regenerated powers 
 fit him to enter on the same noble pursuit of glori- 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 23 
 
 lying God and blessing a lost world — that Christ 
 reclaimed them from the ruins of the fall, that these 
 capacities might be so employed. He feels himself 
 invited and urged, with all his renovated energies, to 
 rise at once to the employment and the dignity of a 
 " co-worker with Christ," in illustrating the richest 
 glories of the Divine nature and bestowing the bless- 
 ing of an eternal redemption on man. Faith makes 
 this all a bright reality, and sees this course lighted 
 up by the sunshine of that active benevolence which 
 creates the noon of heaven itself, and the soul breaks 
 away from all the alluring pursuits of earth, over- 
 comes the world and pants and burns to enter and 
 run this heavenly race. 
 
 IV. Faith in Christ operates to overcome the world 
 hy the strong and captivating views which it takes 
 
 of THE ELEVATED ENJOYMENTS of the SavioUV, 
 
 Such is the economy of mind, that it must have re- 
 sources of enjoyment, as well as objects of pursuit. It 
 has other desires, besides those of mere activity. 
 The love of happiness is the master passion of our 
 nature. The craving of our immortal part for some 
 satisfying element of joy, is as stern and uncompro- 
 mising as that of physical hunger. Now when the 
 soul can discover no higher enjoyments than those 
 presented by the world, it will necessarily grasp at 
 them as its greatest attainable good. This is the rea- 
 son why the blinded multitude of the ungodly are 
 overcome, and led captive by the polluted pleasures 
 of the world. They have no power of vision to pe- 
 netrate the spiritual. They " receive not the things 
 of the Spirit," and of course cannot discern spiritual 
 joys. Nor does the world present an}'' example of 
 
24 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 one individual of its votaries living on higher and 
 holier enjoyments, than its perishable pleasures. 
 But he who believeth that Jesus is the Son of God, 
 hasa clear and captivating view of the elevated enjoy- 
 Tiients of the Saviour. For, though he was "a man 
 of sorrows and acquainted with griefs," clouded and 
 saddened as was his soul by the weight of our sins, 
 and the work of a world's atonement, yet occasion- 
 ally through the gloom, breaks the light of a trans- 
 cendent spiritual ]oy. We hear of him rejoicing in 
 spirit, and giving thanks to the Father for the glo- 
 rious display of a high and absokite sovereignty. 
 Again, we hear oi^Hhe joy that was set before him," 
 and for which "he endured the cross, despising the 
 shame." Now faith penetrates into these secrets of 
 a Saviour's joys. It sees that his human soul was 
 made happy, by the same spiritual laws that confer 
 happiness on the regenerated soul of the believer. 
 The Saviour, as man, found his supreme happiness in 
 God alone, and sought it from no inferior source. 
 The range of his spiritual contemplations, and the 
 play of his benevolent affections which furnished his 
 joys, were the same as those of the true believer, ex- 
 cept in so far as they related to his atonement, and 
 were unmarred by imperfection or sin. He held 
 intimate and holy communion with the Eternal mind, 
 and meditated with a celestial joy on the infinite 
 glories of its attributes. He dwelt on the deep 
 counsels of Jehovah — surveyed with admiration those 
 vast works of his hand through the universe, that 
 read their lessons of his "eternal power and God- 
 head" — of creating, upholding, and governing wisdom 
 and goodness to all intelligences — he considered the 
 
 ' 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 25 
 
 ways of God in his providence over the world, and 
 marked, with an unmingled delight, the operation of 
 that wide and wondrous system of complicated and 
 apparently conflicting agents, which "work together 
 for good to those who love him," and effect, with 
 infinite certainty, his great purposes of benevolence 
 on earth. Faith may imagine with what blissful 
 emotions the Son of God contemplated the stupen- 
 dous glories of that scheme of man's redemption, in 
 which his human and divine natures took so illus- 
 trious a part, and the issues of which will effect more 
 good in the moral government of God, and will dif- 
 fuse a wider, more intense and enduring happiness 
 through the intelligent universe, than perhaps any 
 other event in his eternal reign ! 
 
 The Saviour exercised the spirit of cheerful, im- 
 plicit, universal obedience, and profound submission 
 to the will of God — he exercised supreme love to 
 God — devout gratitude and holy confidence, and had 
 the happiness attending these exercises in the assu- 
 rance of the Divine approbation and the testimony 
 of a good conscience. As man, Christ had that im- 
 mortal hope, which anchors on the infinite God as 
 its object now, and contemplates the possession of 
 a '^far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" 
 in his immediate presence hereafter. And while he 
 sojourned here as man, he knew more than the very 
 best of his disciples do, the luxury of doing good to 
 others. 
 
 These were the sources from which he derived 
 his holy joys. Now he who bclieveth that Jesus is 
 the Son of God, has a spiriiual discernment of this exalt- 
 ed happiness of the Saviour. His faith is competent, 
 3 
 
26 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 measurably, to understand and appreciate this high 
 and holy enjoyment of his Lord. He sees too that 
 through Christ strengthening him it is aliainable by 
 fijm — that Jesus has redeemed him in order that he 
 might attain it, and come at once and drink from this 
 pure, living fountain, and thirst no more for earthly 
 streams. He sees that these lofty joys are adapted 
 to the wants, and in accordance with the renewed 
 tastes and aspirations of his immortal nature. His re- 
 lish for worldly pleasures is gone ; how can they hold 
 him captive longer 1. He breaks for ever over their 
 enchanted circle, overcomes and rises above the 
 world, by a faith on the Son of God, which opens 
 his whole soul to that confluence of light and joy, 
 which blessed the human nature of the Saviour! 
 
 V. Lastly. Faith in the Son of God operates to 
 overcome the world bi/ the light ivhich the cruci- 
 fixion throws on the true character of the world — 
 the worth of the soul, and the magnitude of its 
 eternal interests and destiny. 
 
 There is but one place where the true character 
 and moral position of this world can be ascertained ; 
 and that is, at the cross of Christ. When viewed 
 by mortals from an}^ other point, it is seen in a false 
 light. Come, then, let us go by faith to Calvary. 
 We desire for once to see this u-orld, which boasts 
 its conquests over immortal millions, in some de- 
 gree as God sees it. What a spectacle is here re- 
 vealed ! Who is that illustrious victim coming 
 hither meekly bearing his cross? Though "his vi- 
 sage is marred more than any man's" — though he 
 has been "scourged till you might tell all hisbones"— - 
 though his countenance is pale with more than mor- 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 27 
 
 tal sorrow, tlie traces of majesty are there slill — a 
 mysterious glory in disastrous eclipse — a commin- 
 gling of divine calmness with human agitation — of 
 divine strength with mortal frailty — a blending of 
 benign compassion with a sorrowful indignation ! 
 Who is this] " The Son of God/' the maker, upholder, 
 and benefactor of the world ! What mean the infu- 
 riated mob as the}?- now close around him, and nail 
 him to the fatal wood, and suspend him on the ac- 
 cursed tree? What mean their brutal taunts — their 
 mockery of his death-thirst? What mean his own 
 inscrutable agonies of body and soul ? What means 
 the deep and heart-rending pathos of that cry — '^My 
 God ! My God ! why hast thou forsaken me ?" 
 What mean that bowing of the head and giving up 
 tlie ghost, under a mysterious weight of woes, such 
 as the universe has witnessed, and will witness but 
 once ? What means that vast sympathy of universal 
 nature with this illustrious sufferer, hanging the hea- 
 vens in sackcloth and shrouding the world in more 
 than sepulchral gloom, convulsing the earth, rending 
 the rocks, opening the graves, and vivifying the very 
 ashes of the long-forgotten dead ? The whole signi- 
 ficancy of these tragic wonders which stand alone in 
 the moral drama of universal being is this — the Son 
 of God is here making an atonement, by this sacrifice 
 of himself, for the sins of the world ! What think 
 you of the world now? A world that could inflict 
 such a death on its incarnate, immaculate Maker and 
 Redeemer ; a world that required such an expiation 
 for its guilt — such a means as this august sacrifice of 
 Christ himself, for its recovery and reconciliation 
 to God ! what a world as seen in the light of the 
 
28 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 crucifixion ! How fallen, accursed, dark, degraded, 
 ^^ dead in trespasses and in sins," must it be. '^Be- 
 cause we thus judge, that if one died for all, then 
 were all dead." It is a world in revolt, and at en- 
 mity with its God — a mass of moral death — ''the 
 whole world lying in wickedness!" 
 
 Now, will it be difficult to divorce him who be- 
 lieveth that Jesus is the Son of God, from a world 
 like this] The cross of Christ was the secret by 
 which Paul was crucified to the world, and tiie world 
 to him. And the faith that plants itself at that cross 
 now, and takes its view of all earthly things from that 
 point, will overcome the world still, and win for the 
 soul the noblest conquest to be made this side of 
 heaven. 
 
 And now what estimate will the true believer put 
 on the value of the soul as beheld in the liglit of the 
 crucifixion ? These strange sorrows — these infinite 
 sufferings, and glories of the great atonement are the 
 price at which God has valued the soul ! This is In- 
 finite Wisdom's appraisement of its worth. The cross 
 seals the valuation as just, in the blood of its divine 
 sacrifice. Faith realizes, feels, trembles under this 
 estimate of the soul, as a fact, an indubitable truth, 
 blazing in the light of the cross. Can the believer 
 then suffer this guilty world to enslave his soul of 
 such value? Oh ! no! He now appreciates the tre- 
 mendous emphasis and point of Christ's question: 
 «' What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole 
 world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man 
 give in exchange for his soul ?" Thus he that 
 really belie veth that Jesus is the Son of God, carr}-- 
 ing about with him that undying conviction of the 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 29 
 
 worth of the soul impressed on him by the cross, 
 cannot for a moment consent to barter his for the 
 whole world; and thus he overcomes the world with 
 all the splendid bribes it offers him, feeling himself 
 infinitely rich in the endowments of that immortal 
 spirit, for whose redemption Heaven paid such a price 
 as can be adequately uttered only in the sublime 
 eloquence of the crucijixion! 
 
 While the believer still lingers at the cross, what an 
 overwhelming impression does he there receive of 
 the magnitude of the soul's eternal interests and des- 
 tinies. There, for the first, he realizes the truth, and 
 begins iofeel the import of the immortality of the 
 soul. For faith has vitally united his soul to Him 
 who is the life, as well as the light of men. What 
 must be the nature of that soul ! What its vast pow- 
 ers of life and action — what its mighty capacities of 
 progress in holiness, and perfection in bliss! — what 
 grand relations must it hold to God and his universe — 
 what stupendous interests must it have, extending 
 through the whole empire of intelligences, and run- 
 ning through an eternal duration to make it worth 
 the infinite sacrifice that redeemed it, and worthy 
 that glorious bond of union that binds it for ever to 
 the Son of God ! 
 
 Now faith realizes all this, and makes the soul to 
 stand in awe at its own august immortal interests ! 
 It is the province of faith to look from Calvary di- 
 rectly into eternity. Thither the crucifixion points 
 the soul to a "purchased possession," an unfading 
 and incorruptible inheritance whose glories will shine 
 on with augmenting splendour after the fires of the 
 final conflagration shall have burnt up this world, and 
 3* 
 
30 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 blackened its brightest, fairest things in eternal night! 
 Yea, to him who belicveth that Jesus is the Son of 
 God, heaven with its light and song, its triumphs and 
 immortal transports of joy, is a living /e// realit3^ 
 That is the final destiny of his soul. He believes 
 it as verily as he believes in his own existence. And, 
 from first to last, in all his conflicts with this tempt- 
 ing world, he feels a sweet, aflfectionate, holy confi- 
 dence in the Lord Jesus, and believes that He will 
 bring his soul off more than conqueror, and grant it 
 to sit down with Him on his throne, even as He over- 
 came and has set down on his Father's throne. Now, 
 how will the petty interests and destinies of time — 
 how will the world in all its glory appear to a soul 
 with heaven thus open to its faith, and overpowering 
 the vision with its eternal splendours? That soul 
 has overcome the world! Faith has winged it with 
 untiring pinions, and it is already on its upward flight, 
 with earth and skies beneath its feet, mounting still 
 and gazing like the eagle on that great central Sun, 
 which is bringing within the spliere of its light and 
 attraction all the redeemed and the holy of the uni- 
 verse ! 
 
 This ^nh'^Qci, in the fiy'st place, may furnish a test 
 by which professing Christians can try their faith. 
 Of what kind is your faith ? There is but one kind 
 that can ever convey you safely to heaven — that is, 
 the faith that causes you actually to overcome the 
 world ! Is this the distinguishing characteristic of 
 your faith ? Has your belief that Jesus is the Son 
 of God, destroyed your admiration of the world's 
 character of greatness, and brought you to love, adore, 
 and imitate the perfect character of the Saviour? 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 31 
 
 Has it crucified you to the world and all its sinful 
 indulgences, and brought you close in the footsteps 
 of Christ's example of noble self-denial ? Has your 
 faith cast out from you the demon of a worldly spi- 
 rit — crushed your av;arice and ambition — diverted 
 your feet from earthly pursuits, and directed all your 
 spiritual energies into the same exalted sphere of ac- 
 tion with the Son of God ? Has your faith disgusted 
 you with the polluted pleasures of the world, divorced 
 you from them, and led you to pant after and partici- 
 pate in the elevated enjoyments of your Lord 1 In 
 a word, has it led you to the cross, there to learn the 
 true character of the world, the worth of the soul, and 
 the' grandeur of its immortal interests and destinies, 
 so that, by the cross you are actually crucified to the 
 world, and the world to you? Professing Christians, 
 these are questions of awful import! "Examine 
 yourselves, whether ye be in "this kind of faith." 
 Your eternal life is at stake here ! For " he that be- 
 lieveth not, shall not see life." There is but one 
 sort of faith which wins heaven, and but one descrip- 
 tion of character, who is now spiritually alive and 
 shall live for evermore — " he that believeth that Jesus 
 is the Son of God," with a "faith that works by love, 
 purifies the heart, and overcomes the world." 
 
 We learn from this subject in the second place, 
 that the Christianas conflict is a great one. He 
 has not merely to contend with an occasional (^inia- 
 cle encountered at intervals along his pilgrimage. 
 It is not some isolated, single-handed form of evil 
 with which he has to do battle. It is the whole 
 world, with its multiform, ever present apjilianccs of 
 allurement and temptation. The whole ^vcrld in 
 
32 FAITH VICTORIOUS 
 
 the gigantic power of its maxims and customs, its 
 pervading, perverted, almost omnipotent public sen- 
 timent, its sympathies, fellowships and confederacies, 
 its false shame, its scoffs and sneers, its malignant 
 calumnies and relentless persecutions, its numbers 
 and dreaded majorities — the whole world thus 
 armed and equipped and aided by the inspirations, 
 the wiles and the power of the Prince of darkness, is 
 the enemy on the one hand, and the Christian with 
 the shield of failh, the sword of the Spirit, and the 
 helmet of hope, in lone anlagonism on the other!! 
 ! is not this a great, a fearful conflict ! Ought not 
 the Christian to prepare himself to endure hardness 
 as a good soldier of Jesus Christ! What are the 
 battles of an Alexander, a Caesar or a Bonaparte, 
 compared with this tremendous fight of faith ! They 
 struggled with flesh and blood only — the Christian 
 "with principalities and powers, the rulers of the 
 darkness of this world, with sjnritual wickedness 
 in high places.^^ does he not need the whole ar- 
 mour of God, and incessant supplies of a divine energy 
 to wield it! Yea, blessed be God, with these wea- 
 pons of his warfare, and through Christ strengthen- 
 ing him, he can pull down the strong-holds of sin, 
 Satan and the world, and win for his soul the laurels 
 of a victory unfading and immortal! 
 
 Finally. Here is an object of legitimate ambition 
 presented to the ardent aspirations of the young 
 man. Youthful hearer, if you ever look thought- 
 full)^ in upon your own mind, and take cognizance 
 of what is passing there, you must have noticed, at 
 times, the w'aking up of strange powers, a restless 
 and uncontrollable desire for action— & fresh, un- 
 
OVER THE WORLD. 
 
 wasted might, inherent, and forming part of your 
 young nature which finds no suitable object in the 
 ordinary pursuits of life, and which tempts you to 
 dare great things and to desire to grapple with ob- 
 jects of magnitude and grandeur. You have passions 
 capable of tremendous impulsive force, and a faculty 
 of high hope adapted to enlist you in splendid enter- 
 prise. What think you, young man, of the Chris- 
 Han's great conflict with the ivorld? Does it not 
 furnish you the only arena and object really adequate 
 and sufficiently ample for "the combat and career" 
 of your immortal energies? Yes, God gave you 
 those powers, and waked them into activity in this 
 spring-time of your being, for the very purpose of 
 their enlistment in this conflict. Is not this a great 
 object? The conquest of the world, not by physical 
 force, but by that loftier, sterner strength that will 
 enable you to govern yourself, to rule in majesty 
 over your own spirit! Is not the interest at stake 
 in this conflict great? Your own soul's eternal sal- 
 vation, the happiness of your own being for immor- 
 tality ! Are not the weapons proffered you of hea- 
 venly origin and temper? " The whole armour of 
 God !" What a panoply for a young soul ! ! Is not 
 the prize of victory infinitely alluring? A crown of 
 righteousness, a throne of glory, a " kingdom incor- 
 ruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, eter- 
 nal in the heavens." Rise, young man, rouse your 
 deathless energies, and in humble dependence on God 
 grapple fearlessly with the gigantic foe, and he who 
 hath called you to be "a good soldier" will crown 
 you an immortal victor! 
 
34 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 SERMON 11. 
 
 THE NATURE AND ADVANTAGES OF DRAWING NIGH 
 TO GOD. 
 
 "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." — James iv. 8. 
 
 No inspired maxim is perhaps more universally 
 applicable than this, '^ The hand of the diligent 
 maketh rich." And it is specially desirable that 
 Christians should speedily learn the practical lesson, 
 that while negligent of duty and far from God they 
 have no right to expect the manifestations of his fa- 
 vour to their souls. I am persuaded that professors' 
 of religion often cherish mere wishes that their spi- 
 ritual condition were better, which are like " the de- 
 sire of the slothful, that killeth." I call them ?nere 
 wishes, because they are not the holy thirstings after 
 God, the living God, v.diich the psalmist possessed, 
 or they would be accompanied by a different course 
 of action. It is very possible that such empty 
 wishes may be mistaken for a fervent, scriptural de- 
 sire after the presence of God. It is probable that 
 some may have wondered why they have pra3^ed; 
 — earnestly prayed, for light and comfort and sanc- 
 tification, and yet are denied these blessings. But 
 if they have regarded any iniquity in their hearts, or 
 hav^e failed faithfully to employ all the means which 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 35 
 
 God has connected with the attainment of these 
 blessingwS, then there is nothing wonderful in their 
 case. It is in exact accordance with God's settled 
 plan of dealing, even with his own children. That 
 plan is to connect \\\^ faithful performance ofDVTY 
 with all the privileges and enjoyments of the Chris- 
 tian life. And even the most gratuitous blessings 
 which God in his sovereignty bestows, he will be 
 " inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for 
 them." The truth of these remarks is fully esta- 
 blished by the words of our text, "Draw nigh to 
 God, and he will draw nigh to you." 
 
 Let us, in the first place, attend to ivhat is i?n- 
 plied in drawing nigh to God — and secondly. 
 Notice some of the advantages resulting from the 
 fulfilment of the jjromise, "He will draw nigh 
 
 TO YOU." 
 
 I. What is implied in drawing nigh to God? It 
 is hardly necessary for me to remark, that this lan- 
 guage is figurative. In a literal sense the terms 
 " nigh to God," or " far from God," have no perti- 
 nency. In one view every thing is alike near or 
 alike afar from him. God is omnipresent; through- 
 out vast immensity, as to knowledge, power and ab- 
 solute control, He is equally present in all places. 
 Physically we live, and move, and have our being in 
 him, and he is not far from any one of us. No re- 
 move that we could make in mere space would take 
 us an)^ farther from God. If we " ascend into hea- 
 ven, he is there; if we make our bed in hell, behold 
 he is there; if we take the wings of the morning, 
 and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even 
 there shall his hand find us, and his right hand 
 
36 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 hold us." The term, draw nigh to God, then, 
 must refer to the, spiritual movements of the soul, 
 not to a mere change of local position. Were the 
 soul of an unconverted sinner placed at the foot of 
 the throne in heaven, it would still be true, figura- 
 tively and spiritually, that it would be far from God? 
 Nearness to God describes the stale, not the loca- 
 tion of a soul. To draw nigh to God pre-supposes 
 an acquaintance with him, and reconciliation to him 
 through the blood of the atonement The natural 
 estrangement of the heart from God is very appro- 
 priately expressed by the metaphor of distance be- 
 tween objects. Hence Paul says to the Ephesians, in 
 reference to their former pagan state, "But now in 
 Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off, are 
 made nigh by the blood of Christ." In order to put 
 the soul in a condition in which it can draw nigh to 
 God, the native enmity of the heart must be slain — 
 repentance must place a broad and deep separation 
 between that soul and its sins, and it must take re- 
 fuge by faith in that blood of sprinkling under whose 
 covert alone the miserable sinner can approach a 
 holy God and not be consumed. Jesus Christ must 
 be recognised, accepted, believed on and confided in 
 as "Me tvay^^ by which the soul is to draw nigh to 
 God. This being done, the state of mind indicated 
 by the metaphor of being nigh to God implies a de- 
 void recognition of God in every thing by which 
 he makes himself known. When the soul looks 
 abroad on creation and considers the works of God's 
 hands, when contemplating the evidence thus fur- 
 nished of divine power, wisdom and benevolence 
 shining not less in the gilding of the insect's wing 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 37 
 
 than in the eflfulgence of suns and stars, and then 
 looks through nature up to nature's God in devout 
 adoration, love and gratitude, that soul draws nigh 
 to God. It feels itself in liis holy presence as 
 manifested by the wonders of the creation! And 
 natural beauty has its brightest charm and natural 
 sublimity its most overawing majesty from the soul's 
 vivid recognition of the all-pervading presence of 
 Jehovah. Again. — When the soul contemplates 
 the ways of God — the manifestations of his cha- 
 racter made in his dealings with our world — his 
 providence over the race and his particular provi- 
 dence over the individual, when in view of all the 
 perfections which God thus acts out to his intelli- 
 gent creatures here on earth, the soul sees his hand 
 in all — recognises his control over all the events of 
 its own personal history, and acknowledges him the 
 wise and good and glorious GotI, not less good in 
 the dark and trying scenes of adversity than in un- 
 clouded prosperity — when "gladness winj2,s its fa- 
 voured hour'^ and wafts its grateful thoughts to hea- 
 ven, and when penitence, humiliation and submission 
 lay it prostrate under God's afflicting hand, feeling 
 that he hath done it, the soul draws nigh to God! 
 It feels itself within the very grasp of his hand, en- 
 compassed by a present God in these his merciful or 
 afflictive dealings, and raises its song of gratitude or 
 makes its supplication to him accordingly. So in 
 respect to the word of God, — when the soul peruses 
 those sacred pages and recognises their truths as in 
 very deed the word of God — when with profound 
 reverence it pauses over this communication from 
 Jehovah, submitting all its powers to the authority 
 4 
 
38 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 of his oracles, raising its cry to him for the spirit 
 of obedience, that it may be wholly swayed by his 
 commandments, then the soul draws near to God. In 
 attendance on the means of grace, when the soul rea- 
 lizes the sanctuary to be the house of God, regards 
 it as the immediate presence chamber of the King of 
 kings and Lord of lords, enters it with a subdued 
 and solemn frame of spirit, and in its songs of praise, 
 its supplications, its instructions, and the dispensation 
 of its ordinances, recognises God's presence — God's 
 authority, God's goodness and mercy, and through 
 these means holds communion with him, then the 
 soul may be said to draw nigh to God. This is the 
 general state or habit of mind implied by the meta- 
 phorical phrase in the text. But I suppose, that the 
 text also implies a direct and definite exercise of 
 the soul in the work of careful^ imj^o^^tiinate, 2Jcr- 
 severing prayer. We may regard the apostle in 
 the text as virtually saying to his readers, '' There are 
 reasons why you should make a formal and solemn 
 advance toward God ; why you should not be satis- 
 fied with the ordinary outward service which you 
 render to him. Let those sins which have separated 
 between you and God be confessed with a broken 
 heart, and forsaken without a reserve for ever. Let 
 your formality and coldness in prayer be at once 
 abandoned. Your forgetfulness of God in his works 
 and ways, in the word and ordinances of his grace, 
 cease — let your hearts be set in order and *' frame 
 your doings to seek the Lord," — let every thing that 
 might by any possibility interpose a barrier between 
 your souls and the fullest and freest communion 
 with your God be carefully taken out of the way, 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 39 
 
 atul thus emptied and humbled in simplicity and 
 godly sincerity, draw nigh to God in fervent, per- 
 severing prayer, determined never to cease till the 
 blessing be obtained. If you do this, and do it un- 
 der the conviction that your eternal life is in it, God 
 will "draw nigh to you." And now what will be 
 the advantages of the fulfilment of this blessed pro- 
 mise in the text, — "God xoill draw nigh to you?" 
 This was the second thing proposed for our conside- 
 ration. 
 
 I. If God draws nigh to a soul, it will free that 
 soul from darkness and doubts as to its own 
 stale, and give it also delightful views of the Di- 
 vine peifections. Light and love are the elements 
 of Jehovah's being. When He manifests these to a 
 creature, he is said to draw nigh to that creature. 
 When, through the blood of the great Atonement,and 
 in answer to fervent prayer, God manifests himself to 
 a soul, light, and peace, and gracious assurance of that 
 soul's spiritual state must be the result. It is when 
 sin has provoked him to withdraw his presence, 
 that darkness and doubts come over the soul. It is 
 distance from the " Father of lights" that creates 
 spiritual gloom, and wraps the mind in a midnight of 
 despondency. When the great " Sun of Righteous- 
 ness" is veiled, there is a strange and misty indis- 
 tinctness over all spiritual objects. The soul gropes 
 at noon-day, not knowing whither it goeth. Fears 
 and doubts are in the way; and the feeble and flick- 
 ering ray of hope still left only renders the darkness 
 visible. But when God draws nigh to the soul, " 'tis 
 night no more" — the darkness rolls away at his pre- 
 sence, as shadows flee at opening day. The soul has 
 now the proper medium through which to see spirit- 
 
40 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 ual things — the light of God's presence. In this 
 light its perceptions are clear and correct. It sees 
 its own spiritual condition. It rejoices in the evi- 
 dence which a '-God oiigh at hand" gives it of its 
 acceptance with liim and its interest in the eternal 
 blessings of his redemption. This gracious sense of 
 God's presence chases away the clouds that had ga- 
 thered over it, and banishes the doubts that had well 
 nigh driven it to despondency. All within it is 
 bright and calm again, because God has returned and 
 drawn nigh to it in the light and love of his glorious 
 presence. One hour beneath the beams of God's 
 approving countenance will do more to settle the 
 great question of the soul's safety than an age of per- 
 plexing inquiry in cold and gloomy distance from 
 him. And while this is one blessed result of God 
 drawing nigh to the soul, another, equally blessed, is 
 the clear and satUfactory views which the soul 
 thus obtains of His divine perfections. All the 
 erroneous and degrading views which the wicked 
 entertain respecting God are easily explained by the 
 inspired declaration, '^ God is far above out of their 
 sight." The rays of his glory seem lost in the im- 
 mense moral distance between him and the wicked. 
 And while the Christian permits his iniquities like 
 the wind to carry him away and to provoke God to 
 retire from him, he has no vivid, transforming views 
 of the glorious perfections of Jehovah. True, there 
 is still to the eye even of feeble faith, a halo of un- 
 created glor)^ there, but it is only like the glimmering 
 of the distant fixed star that an atom between the na- 
 tural eye and that object will utterly obscure; but 
 when God draws nigh to the soul, all the glories of 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 41 
 
 his nature seem to shine around it in a new and 
 intense splendour. God seems to pass by before it, 
 proclaiming, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, long-suffering, slow to anger, and abundant 
 in goodness and ti'uth." How glorious to the soul 
 appear the power, wisdom, goodness, justice, faithful- 
 ness, trutli, mercy and grace of a nigh present 
 God! This is the place to study the attributes of the 
 Divine nature. the depths of his counsels, the 
 wonders of his condescension, the mysteries of his 
 eternal lov^e — the yearnings of his infinite forbear- 
 ance, as read by the soul in the shinings of God's 
 face ! When he comes nigh and removes the veil, 
 what ineffable beauty, what lineaments divine does 
 his face wear ! It is then the soul obtains such views 
 of the infinite perfections of Jehovah, that it exclaims, 
 " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but 
 now mine eye seeth Thee." There is a light and a 
 warmth in every attribute of a present God that 
 transfuse themselves through the very soul! One 
 hour near to God, in his holy presence, will impart 
 more enlarged, exalted and rapturous views of his 
 character than could be acquired by a lifetime of cool 
 and distant speculation. 
 
 IL If God draws nigh to a soul, tfiis will preserve 
 it from the power of temptation^ and from the in- 
 fluence of all those cavses that cdmbinc to retard 
 the Christian's progress in holiness. 
 
 Temptation consists in some sinful or trifling en- 
 joyment assuming to the soul a false magnitude or 
 value, so that it will induce the soul to seek that en- 
 joyment in violation of the will of God, and in dis- 
 regard of its own true and highest interests. Temp- 
 
42 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 tations derive all their controlling powder from the 
 state of the mind at the time they are present- 
 ed. No external allurement has in iiself the power 
 of seducing the immortal mind. It is the tem- 
 per, the state of the mind at the time, that gives 
 to temptation its access to the heart and its control 
 of the will. Hence the petition, " Lead us not into 
 temptation." Now when is it that temporal things, 
 and even the trifles of sin, assume an undue value and 
 importance in the estimate of the soul? When that 
 soul is at a distance from God! Just in proportion 
 as it is removed afar from the Infinite Fountain will 
 the petty streams of earth appear more broad and 
 deep. Just in proportion as the light of God's face 
 fades in the distance, will a false colouring be thrown 
 over every terrestrial interest, and all the seducing 
 objects of sense and sin be seen through a distorted 
 medium and in a fictitious magnitude. The heart 
 being empty, deserted by the presence of God, it is, 
 of course, read}' to welcome inferior objects to fill 
 the craving void. This is the grand secret of temp- 
 tation's power! But when God draws nigh to the 
 soul, over-awing it with a sweetly oppressive sense 
 of His majesty — filling it with the light of his glori- 
 ous presence — firing it with the glow of his redeem- 
 ing love — arraying before its purified and piercing 
 vision eternal realities in something of their native 
 magnitude and grandeur — dilating it with infinite as- 
 pirations, and anchoring it to his throne by the hope 
 of glory, what can temptation do with the soul then? 
 All the allurements of earth and hell will lose their 
 charm, and be robbed of their power to insnare. 
 Temptation cannot even approach the soul. The 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 43 
 
 holy fires of God's presence will repel the foul spi- 
 rit by their glitter as the blaze kindled by night in 
 the wilderness keeps in abeyance the beasts of prey. 
 The presence of God is the soul's impregnable bul- 
 wark against all the assaults of sin and hell. It is 
 not an exertion of God's joAy^/r^/ omnipotence that 
 keeps the soul from temptation — it is the moral 
 power of his presence, pervading the soul with ex- 
 alted views of his perfections — filling its capacities 
 of thought and feeling with eternal realities, and mi- 
 nistering to it the transcendent joys of salvation. 
 Equally powerful is the presence of God in neutral- 
 izing the influence of all those causes that combine 
 to hinder the Christian's progress in holiness. These 
 causes are, mainly, a love of the world, spiritual 
 sloth, and the obstacles ivhich the influence of the 
 ungodly throw in our way. Now the power of 
 all these hinderances to holiness is precisely propor- 
 tioned to the distance of the soul from God. When 
 He is concealed from the eye of the soul, the world, 
 of course, has a fictitious importance, and puts on new 
 and unreal charms. When the stimulus of the light 
 and love of God's presence is removed from the soul, 
 its spiritual powers necessarily become inactive and 
 torpid. And when the holy fear of God, a present 
 God, is taken away from before the soul, then 
 the influence of the persuasions and enticements of 
 sinners, and of their threats, and scoffs, and cruel 
 mockings, is much more keenly felt. These then 
 prove powerful clogs to the Christian's advancement 
 in the divine life. But when God draws nigh to the 
 soul, the brightness of his presence completely 
 eclipses the false glare of the world, and its fashion 
 
44 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 is seen to be passing away, and its mightiest interests 
 to be but the trifles of a moment compared with the 
 objects brought to view in the light of God's face. 
 By his visit the drowsy powers of the soul are star- 
 tled from their slumbers as the traveller that has over- 
 slept himself, by the glare of the risen sunbeams on 
 his morning pillow. There is an energy in the pre- 
 sence of God that wakes up every power of the soul 
 to intense activity. And while God is nigh, how 
 can the influence of the ungodly reach that soul and 
 obstruct its onward course? Their persuasions, their 
 allurements, their threats, their taunts and jeers are 
 unfelt and unfeared by the Christian, while he tri- 
 umphantly exclaims, " Because God is at my right 
 hand, I shall not be greatly moved." <' Greater is 
 he that is with me than all they that are against me." 
 What a blessed result of God's drawing nigh to the 
 soul! Temptation is disarmed and despoiled of its 
 power, and all the obstacles to advancement in holi- 
 ness removed. The highway to heaven cleared and 
 lighted up with the splendours of God's presence ! ! 
 
 III. Another advantage of God's drawing nigh to 
 the soul is that it will 2J7'omote the souVs sanctifi- 
 cation directly, by giving to all the means of grace 
 their peculiar and appropriate power. 
 
 God's presence has not only a negative influence 
 in removing obstacles to the soul's advancement in 
 the divine life, but a direct and positive influence in 
 promoting its sanctification. The means of grace — 
 all the elements of spiritual vitality and growth — 
 are only powerless when severed from the vivifying 
 influence of Jehovah's presence. It is his presence 
 that constitutes the vital warmth, the all-penetrating. 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 45 
 
 all-pervading ener2;y of divine ordinances. Blot out 
 yonder sun from the heavens, and sweep inoon and 
 stars from the canopy, and suppose you had the alter- 
 nations of the seasons, the early and latter rains, the 
 dews of summer and the natural heat in the earth, 
 yet vegetable and animal life would languish and be- 
 come extinct. Thus, let God cover himself "with a 
 cloud, so that our prayer cannot pass through," and 
 all the means of grace will fail to sustain spiritual 
 life. But let God draw nigh to the soul — let that 
 soul read his word in the light of his presence— let 
 it pray beneath his unveiled face — let it go to the 
 sanctuary, and there behold the power and the glory 
 of vi present God — let it pour its praises into his ear 
 
 — unbosom its wants directly at his feet in prayer 
 
 hear the gospel under his piercing eye, commune at 
 the Lord's table with a verily present God, enjoy 
 all the means of grace in him, or rather enjoy his 
 immediate, unclouded presence in all the means of 
 grace, and who can prescribe limits to that soul's ad- 
 vancement in the divine life? All the ordinances of 
 God, then, have their legitimate influence. There 
 is no element, no energy, wanting; — the light, and 
 vital warmth, are there — the moral sunshine,and dew, 
 and rain, are blended in their true proportions, and 
 every plant that ^'the Father hath planted," grows 
 and expands, buds and blooms in spiritual beauty, 
 and ripens those fruits unto holiness, whose end is 
 everlastini:; life. God's presence can give to the most 
 ordinary ministrations a surpassing power to promote 
 the Christian's growth in grace. His presence is the 
 great and resistless attraction to the soul along the 
 
46 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 way of life. It follows in the resplendent wake of 
 his gloiy, ^' hard after God/' gazing on his face till 
 it is *• changed into the same image from glory to 
 glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." And I might 
 add here in passing, as an additional advantage of 
 God's drawing nigh to a people, that it gives the 
 means of grace a peculiar power over the minds of 
 sinners. God's ordinances are powerless to the im- 
 penitent, only while his presence is withheld from 
 the church. Sinners can only remain at ease and 
 unmoved, while the vital energy of the Divine pre- 
 sence leaves the means of grace as hollow forms — 
 as the body without the spirit, — dead. But when a 
 church begins really to feel that God is nigh to every 
 one of them — when they are roused to activity by 
 his presence, and begin to " endure as seeing him 
 who is invisible" — when, under the visions of his 
 face, they begin to reflect the light they thus receive, 
 and display all the appropriate evidences of their 
 own spiritual life and growth, then the means of 
 grace begin to reach the conscience and the heart 
 of the impenitent, with a new and unwonted power. 
 Blind, reckless, and hardened as sinners are, they are 
 not wholly insensible to God's presence in the church. 
 Amidst all their stupidity, sinners feel, at such a time, 
 that there is something in the songs of praise — some- 
 thing in the Christian's prayers — something in the 
 Sabbath's ministrations from the pulpit different from 
 what they are at other seasons. There is an unde- 
 finable influence on them which they do not feel 
 when God is afar off. Some rays of his glory pene- 
 trate their darkness,and pain the diseased eye of their 
 souls! The tokens of his presence make them afraid. 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 47 
 
 Conviction fastens on them, and they are led by the 
 Spirit to penitence and submission to God. The 
 gospel then will become the power of God unto sal- 
 vation to the ungodly, just as soon as the glorious Je- 
 hovah draws nigh to his people who have drawn 
 nigh to him! 
 
 IV. The last advantage of God's drawing nigh to us 
 which I shall now mention, is, that it will prepare 
 us for the afflictions and trials of life, and for the 
 hour of death. Sorrows, afflictions, trials, bereave- 
 ments, and death itself make a fixed and permanent 
 part of the economy under which we are at present 
 placed. Tile hope of exemjition from these, the best 
 man on earth cannot rationally entertain. True, God 
 in mercy has connected with our present sorrows 
 and afflictions, the mitigating influence of the lapse 
 of time and the balm of friendship and sympathy. 
 The same economy that dooms us to those trials 
 provides for them some temporary alleviations. But, 
 after all, how many of earth's sorrows have no ade- 
 quate solace? — how many of its trials have no 
 counterbalancing support? How many of our pangs 
 lie beyond the reach of the kindest assiduities of 
 earthly affection, and are immitigable by the most 
 potent balm of human sympathy? How often is 
 there a state of mind from which, if you exclude the 
 light and comfort of God's presence, the soul will 
 feel a solitude more dreadful than the pilgrim aban- 
 doned to die alone on the sands of the desert. The 
 most gloomy and fearful conception that we ever 
 form of human suffering is to invest it with complete 
 loneliness. I recollect the case of an intelligent 
 lady, of acute sensibility, and capable of appreciating 
 
48 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 sympathy and affection from others, who was left at 
 her home in the city of New York, during the pre- 
 valence of the Asiatic cholera, for a single day only, 
 with none but a hired girl. That day the fatal plague 
 seized the lady, and "the hireling fled because she 
 was a hireling," and left the lady entirely alone. In 
 the profound silence and solitude of that house she 
 struggled alone with the gigantic destroyer! — no 
 footsteps greeted her ear — no hand wiped the cold 
 sweat from her brow — no eye glanced even a hasty 
 look of pity — nor did any but her God know when 
 her spirit forsook its clay ! I have never forgotten 
 the impression which that tragic incident made on 
 my mind. And yet, this but faintly indicates the 
 condition of a soul passing through the complicated 
 trials of life, and at last through the valley and sha- 
 dow of death without the presence of its God ! Give 
 a man all the firmness that philosophy can inspire, 
 all the friendship and sympathy that earth can be- 
 stow, I care not, if God desert him he is not pre- 
 pared to meet the inevitable afflictions of life, nor the 
 troubles and terrors of the dying hour. But let 
 God draw nigh — let his presence be felt, then when 
 sorrow shades the soul its light is not extinguished; 
 the soul then understands the consistency, the divine 
 philosophy of that declaration, " In the world ye shall 
 have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace." 
 Let affliction press sorely upon the soul, then a pre- 
 sent God places beneath and round about it the ever- 
 lasting arms, and makes all its bed in its sickness. 
 Let trials of any or of every kind thicken on the way, 
 and be piled mountain high — the mountain shall 
 flow down before a present God, and become a plain 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 49 
 
 over which the soul shall pass at once to Him as its 
 refuge from the angry storm. Let bereavement 
 present all its blighted hopes and bleeding hearts, a 
 present God replaces tiiose perished hopes by one 
 which contemplates afar more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory, as wrought out for the soul by these 
 light and momentary afflictions, and his own kind 
 hand stanches the blood, applies a celestial balm, 
 and binds up the broken heart. Let the hour of 
 death approach with its last look on this gladsome, 
 sunny world — its long farewell to all terrestrial scenes 
 — its disruption of the fondest ties of kindred and 
 affection — its sad and final parting with the dear ones 
 that have blended with our very being here — its fears 
 and unknown pangs — its drowning depressions and 
 its undefinable solitude and darkness, and what says 
 the soul to whom God is nigh — "I will fear no evil, 
 for THOU art with me: thy rod and thy staff^ they 
 comfort me! !" The presence of God can do for us 
 all this, more than all this, amidst the trials and tur- 
 moils of life, the recoilings and dismay of death. 
 There is a soul-sustaining power in the presence of 
 God, for which there is no substitute in the universe. 
 That immortal courage which has conquered all the 
 gigantic ills of life in the history of the world, has 
 been inspired by God's presence. The faith that 
 has " subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, 
 quenched the violence of fire, stopped the mouths of 
 lions, out of weakness became strong, waxing valiant 
 in fight and putting to flight the armies of the aliens,'' 
 has been a faith nurtured in the presence of God. 
 The eternal hope that has shed its unclouded light 
 on the gloom of the apostacy — that has triumphed 
 
50 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 over the darkness of death and lit the way to an 
 endless heaven^ has gathered all its brightness from 
 the beams of Jehovah's face. ^ Let God be nigh, and 
 the omnipotence of his felt presence will achieve for 
 the soul over sin, death and hell, with all their allies, 
 a victory whose song and shouts will rise on the air 
 of eternity. 
 
 Christians may learn from this subject, the best 
 method of promoting a true revival of religion in 
 the church. The means or measures for promoting 
 revivals have been a fruitful topic of discussion, and 
 even of angry controversy, in past years. Confi- 
 dence in God and a profound rev^erence for his word 
 might have saved the church much vain disputings, 
 and prevented the introduction of measures of doubt- 
 ful propriety or of positive injury. All means or 
 measures that do not recognise and depend on a 
 PRESENT God as the grand, central, effective power, 
 on which the entire efficiency and success of every 
 other instrumentality is suspended, must prove in- 
 jurious. Such measures can only beget a false con- 
 fidence, and their legitimate tendency is to produce 
 spurious conversions. If the presence of God with 
 his people will not revive their graces, and awaken 
 and conv^ert sinners, it is certain, that apart from 
 this, even divinely appointed means will not do it. 
 The method, then, of promoting pure and genuine 
 revivals of religion is very simple. The text im- 
 bodiesthe whole philosophy of the case in its short but 
 significant announcement — " Draw nigh to God, 
 and he, will draw nigh to you!'''' Christian bre- 
 thren, if you substitute any number of ceremonies, or 
 the strictest attendance on outward ordinances, in the 
 
DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 51 
 
 place of that deep, earnest, spiritual exercise of the 
 soul, indicated by the terms — "Draw nigh to God/' 
 you may succeed in producing excitement, but you 
 will not be favoured with the beams and blessed 
 visions of God's face present to your own souls, nor 
 shining into the darkness of the sinner's heart, and 
 startling him with a view of his ruined and guilty 
 condition. Until you comply with the requirement 
 of duty in the text, it is both vain and wicked to ex- 
 pect that God will draw nigh to you and grant you 
 a season of refreshing from his presence ! Whenever 
 you think you desire and long for a revival of reli- 
 gion in the church, ask yourselves whether you have 
 begun in solemn earnest to address yourselves di- 
 rectly to the work of drawing nigh to God, your 
 confidence being placed on his returning presence 
 and unseen energies for success, rather than on any 
 array of means and measures, however imposing. 
 Are you willing, at the expense of any sacrifice or 
 self-denial, to remove out of the way every thing 
 that might by possibility stand between you and 
 your God? Are you willing to humble yourselves 
 under his mighty hand and submit yourselves unto 
 God? Are you w^illing, by deep repentance — by the 
 most diligent self-examination — by the most careful 
 perusal of the Bible — the most devout meditation — 
 the most importunate, persevering prayer, to draw 
 nigh to God without any farther delay, reserve or 
 looking back? Are you willing, eager, determined 
 to commence this work im,r)iediately, with the hope 
 that God will soon draw nigh to you as a church, 
 and give a divine efficiency to the means of grace, 
 both in your own edification and in the awakening 
 
52 ADVANTAGES OF DRAWING NIGH TO GOD. 
 
 and conversion of sinners'? Christian brethren, if 
 you have carefully counted the cost, and deliberately 
 in the fear of God, and in humble reliance on his 
 grace and strength, made up your minds irreversibly 
 now to draw nigh to Him, then you may lift up your 
 eyes and behold the dawn of a day of spiritual joy to 
 you, however long and dark may have been your 
 night of weeping. There is light breaking on your 
 horizon. " It is the Spirit's rising beam," — the first 
 rays of the returning presence of God, and you may 
 exultingly exclaim — "Hail, holy light," and devoutly 
 pray — " Cause thy face to shine upon us, and we 
 shall be saved." 
 
DESIGN OF CHRIST IN THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 53 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN THE CONVERSION OF A 
 SOUL. 
 
 " But I follow after, if that 1 may apprehend that for which, also, I ani 
 apprehended of Christ Jesus." — Philip, iii. 12. 
 
 Few passages of the New Testament convey less 
 meaning to an ordinary reader, than the one now se- 
 lected and announced as the text. But this results 
 rather from the want of patient thought, and of con- 
 templating the passage in its connexions, than from 
 any intrinsic obscurity in the text itself. True, the 
 phraseology is somewhat peculiar, the words "ap- 
 prehend," and " apprehended," being used in a dif- 
 ferent sense in the same sentence; yet the meaning 
 of the apostle in this remarkable declaration, is neither 
 obscure nor doubtful. He states in the preceding 
 verses, that he had renounced every thing for Christ. 
 He had foregone the preferments and honours, the gain 
 and the glory whicli would have been the rewards 
 of his continued attachment to the Jewish religion. 
 And his own testimony respecting these things once 
 so alluring to his youthful ambition, is very remark- 
 able. "Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but 
 loss for the excellency of tlie knowledge of Christ 
 
54 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of 
 all things, and do count them but dung, that I may 
 win Christ and be found in him: not having my own 
 righteousness, which is of the law ; but that which 
 is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness 
 which is of God by faith; that I may know him and 
 the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of 
 his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, 
 if by any means I might attain unto the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead !'^ 
 
 From these declarations, it appears that Paul had 
 given up the great end, yea, had renounced every 
 thing for w^hich he once lived, and had now a new 
 object before him, to which he cheerfully sacrificed 
 all others. To know Christ and the power of his re- 
 surrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being 
 made conformable unto his death, if by any means 
 he might attain unto the resurrection of the dead — 
 if by any means he might fulfil the duties, and se- 
 cure the destinies of a redeemed soul. This object, 
 he informs us, he has not already attained perfectly. 
 Then, in the words of the text, he discloses to us the 
 purpose and efforts of his life, in reference to this 
 great end before him. " But I follow after, if that I 
 may apprehend that for which, also, I am apprehend- 
 ed of Christ Jesus." The plain meaning of the apos- 
 tle's language here seems to be this, that it was his 
 constant aim to know and attain the great ends for 
 which the Lord Jesus Christ converted him. 
 
 That I may apprehend that for which, also, I am 
 apprehended of Christ Jesus; that is, that I may under- 
 stand — lay hold of — attain those objects which the 
 Lord Jesus had in view when he apprehended me in 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 55 
 
 my mad career of persecution, and bestowed on nie his 
 regenerating grace — that I may fulfil his benevolent 
 designs in making me a Christian. This does not 
 refer to Christ's special design in calling Paul to be 
 the great apostle of the gentiles — but to those designs 
 which he has in the conversion of any soul. This 
 is manifest from the fact, that in a subsequent verse, 
 the apostle exhorts all Christians to be " thus minded" 
 — that is, to take the same views of this subject, and 
 pursue the same course that he did. 
 
 The object of the following discourse shall be to 
 inquire what the designs of Christ are in the conver- 
 sion of a soul — what is that for which Christ appre- 
 hends it in its sins, and regenerates it, and after which 
 that soul should follow. 
 
 I. I remark, in the first place, that it is not the only 
 design of Christ in converting a soul, merely to take it 
 to heaven. We know, indeed, that too many profes- 
 sors of religion assume it as granted, that this is Christ's 
 main and only design in their regeneration, and hence 
 they appear to be chiefly anxious to have just as much 
 piety as will ultimately take them to heaven. Their 
 inquiries and self-examination relate to the simple 
 fact, whether they have any well-founded hope, that 
 they shall be safe and happy at last ! But if it be 
 Christ's main and only design in the conversion of a 
 soul, merely to take it to heaven, then there are many 
 unaccountable things, both in the plan of redeniption 
 and in the actual history of the righteous, in the pie- 
 sent world. On this supposition, it is not easy to ac- 
 count for the fact that the great majority of those 
 who are converted, are made the subjects of renewing 
 grace while young ! If the main and only df ^ign be 
 
56 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 merely to take them to heaven, why not convert the 
 inmates of the alms-houses and lazarrettos ? why not 
 apprehend the old and infirm ? why not take all those 
 tottering on the verge of the eternal world, and 
 crushed beneath the weight and woes of years, and 
 make this the general rule of conversion, while the 
 young shall form the mere exception 1 On the as- 
 sumption now under consideration, this would ap- 
 pear to be the most benevolent plan. We cannot 
 see, on this supposition, why God should so often 
 choose heads of families, as the subjects of his rege- 
 nerating grace. This fact in itself would seem to in- 
 dicate that he designed them to exert a holy influence 
 in the various domestic relations. Nor can we see 
 why there'should be so abundant armour, both of de- 
 fence and of conquest, furnished the Christian, if the 
 great aim be merely to take him to heaven. The 
 very organization of the church — the plan by which 
 it is perpetuated — the law^s and agencies by which it 
 is extended, w^ould all seem to indicate that in the 
 conversion of a soul, God had other and greater pur- 
 poses to subserve besides that of merely taking it to 
 heaven. And if this were his only design, then 
 why delay to receive the Christian at once to the 
 home of the blest ? Why keep him so long on his 
 pilgrimage? — why leave him in this atmosphere of 
 clouds and storms — leave him to wander and to weep 
 in this land of sorrow? Why subject him for a 
 course of years to the exhaustion and agony of 
 "wrestling with principalities and powers, with the 
 rulers of the darkness of this world, with spiritual 
 wickedness in high places?" 
 
 Why hold him in connexion with the fallen race 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 57 
 
 amidst the jarring and repulsive elements of their 
 depravity, often buffeted and bleeding under the 
 scourge of their tongues and the fangs of their ma- 
 lignity and revenge? All this is utterly inexplica- 
 ble if Christ's great design in converting a soul be 
 merely to receive it to himself in heaven! Why 
 not give it the wings of a dove that it may escape 
 from the storms of earth, and fly away at once and 
 be at rest in the bosom of its God? 
 
 II. It may be remarked, in the second place, that 
 one design of the Lord Jesus in converting a soul is 
 that he may enstamp upon it his own divine image. 
 The sacred scriptures inform us that " whom God 
 did foreknow, them he did predestinate to be con- 
 formed to the image of his Son.'' The Saviour, then, 
 in executing his work of redemption, must make it a 
 primary design to fulfil this divine decree of predes- 
 tination. He and the Father are one in those eter- 
 nal counsels which relate to the soul's salvation. 
 
 Christ declares this to be one of his designs in re- 
 newing the hearts of men. " I have chosen you and 
 ordained you, that ye should bring forth fruit, and 
 that your fruit should remain." By this it would 
 be manifest both to themselves and to others that 
 they were conformed to his image, '^renewed in 
 knowledge and true holiness after the image of 
 Him that created them." *' Chosen to salvation 
 through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of 
 the truth." Then, my dear fellow Christian, that 
 for which you were apprehended of Christ Jesus is 
 that he might draw his own divine likeness on your soul. 
 In your conversion he designs primarily to make 
 5'ou personally holy. It is his aim to trace his own 
 
58 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 lineaments on your soul in such prominence and re- 
 lief that you shall be his witness in the midst of a 
 crooked and perverse generation. He intends to 
 make you so much like himself that you shall be his 
 representative to the world ! Have you not been 
 struck with the remarkable coincidence of the lan- 
 guage which Christ uses respecting himself and his 
 disciples in their relations to the world ? In one 
 passage he declares, " I am the light of the world," 
 in another, in equally unqualified terms he affirms, 
 " Ye are the light of the world." As the great Sun 
 of Righteousness, it is his design in arising on you, 
 to shine upon your soul till it is "made light in 
 the Lord." For this great result the Saviour ap- 
 prehended you. And this will explain the meaning 
 of those rich provisions for your sanctification which 
 form so striking a feature in the economy of redemp- 
 tion. The word of God, all manner of prayer and 
 supplications in the Spirit, the ordinances of his 
 house, the office of the ministry, fastings and watch- 
 ings, the whole administration of Providence with 
 its alternations of goodness and severity, mercies and 
 judgments, and, superadded to all these, the energies 
 of the Holy Ghost to give them efficacy. These are 
 the means by which the Lord Jesus designs to bring 
 you to " follow holiness, without which no man shall 
 see the Lord." "Be ye holy as your Father who is 
 in heaven is holy." Now, my hearers, light and 
 heat and moisture and earth do not more clearly in- 
 dicate that God, in the material creation, designed our 
 world to teem with vegetable life, than do these 
 means of grace evince that Christ in the conversion 
 of a soul designs its personal holiness. By these 
 
THE CONVEHSION OF A SOUL. 59 
 
 means he intends that every soul which he converts 
 shall grow up unto the measure of the stature of a 
 perfect man in Christ Jesus. His aim is nothing 
 less than this in its very conversion. He would 
 have that soul " a spectacle to the world and to men 
 and to angels " in the splendours of that holiness to 
 which it is recovered by his redeeming grace. He 
 would have it stand out in its generation as the 
 greater light to rule the day, and to be transferred 
 when it sets here to shine hereafter in the firmament 
 of God for ever. Christian, ask yourself, as under the 
 eye of Jehovah, whether you are following after, if 
 that you may apprehend this, for which also you have 
 been apprehended of Christ Jesus. 
 
 HI. Another design of Christ in the conversion of 
 a soul is to have it derive its happiness from the same 
 source from which he derives his. 
 
 In nothing perhaps has the apostacy more deeply 
 influenced the human mind than in its estimate of 
 the source and the means of its real happiness. The 
 endlessly diversified and contradictory pursuits of 
 men all having professedly the same end in view, is 
 sufficient proof that the soul is labouring under a 
 fearful subversion of those original principles which 
 would have led it infallibly to its highest happiness. 
 The mistakes of our Allien nature on tiiis irreat sub- 
 ject may be ranged under the two following heads: 
 1st. That the world in some form or other, in its 
 riches or honours, in its pursuits and pleasures, in the 
 adaptation of its objects to gratify the sensitive part 
 of our nature, can afibrd satisfactory and permanent 
 enjoyment to the immortal mind, and 2dly, when the 
 soul, taught by the bitter experience of all its blighted 
 
60 THE DESIGN OF CHiyST IN 
 
 hopes and prospects that the world in no form can 
 make it happy, thinks that religion itself only holds 
 out the promise of being happy beyond the grave in 
 a future state. Perhaps there is no view of fallen 
 man which more excites the Saviour's compassion 
 than to see that strong desire after happiness with 
 which he was originally created utterly perverted, 
 and yet acting with all its imperishable strength like 
 the might of the madman hurrying him from scene 
 to scene, from one expedient to another, pursuing 
 shadows and grasping at baubles, disappointed, torn, 
 bleeding, faint, yet urging onward after some new 
 phantoms as old ones vanish, till life itself worn 
 out in the chase, closes at last in eternal sorrow and 
 despair. 
 
 Now when Christ converts a soul it is his design 
 to correct its mistakes both as to the objects, the means, 
 and the pursuit of its highest happiness. He would 
 have that soul derive its happiness from the same 
 great source from which he derives his. He would 
 have it forsake the world in its brightest and best 
 forms, as wholly incompetent to furnish the elevated 
 enjoyment, or satisfy the infinite aspirations of an im- 
 mortal mind. He designs that it should leave the 
 little things of earth to earthly minds — that it should 
 estimate the trifles of the world according to their 
 intrinsic levity, and bear its testimon}' to their hol- 
 low and unsatisfcictory nature as the means of man's 
 highest happiness. Nay, that all the kingdoms of 
 this world, with all their glory, are a price far too 
 small to purchase from that soul one act of ser- 
 vile devotion. He has apprehended that soul in its 
 vain wanderings after enjoyment, that it might 
 
 J 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 61 
 
 rise at once to the great fountain from which his 
 pure human nature drank full draughts of bliss while 
 here on earth, and drinks them still in heaven. 
 He would have the soul that he converts to seek its 
 supremehappiness in God alone, the fountain of infinite 
 and eternal felicity — in holy communion with the mind 
 of Jehovah — in adoring contemplations of the glori- 
 ous attributes of the divine nature, in exalted views of 
 the extent, number, and grandeur of his works 
 throughout immensity, — in studying the wonders of 
 providence over our world — in ever-expanding, 
 ever-thrilling thoughts on the mysteries and magnifi- 
 cence, the developments and stupendous glories of 
 the plan of human redemption, — in the exercise of 
 that supreme and engrossing love to God, which his 
 perfections thus beheld, will awaken, in the prayer 
 that holds sweet converse with the Eternal — in the 
 faith that verily believes his holy truths — in the im- 
 mortal hope that anchors on him as its object — in 
 the gratitude that rises as volumes of incense to his 
 throne, and in the incessant play of those benevolent 
 affections which are excited towards all the rational 
 creation. In all these Christ would have the regenera- 
 ted soul to find its highest happiness. These were the 
 great sources from which the Son of God, in his hu- 
 man nature,derived his holy joys. Christian, he appre- 
 hended you ihdit you might be made happy by the very 
 same objects. Are they not abundantly sufficient to 
 bless you without borrowing aught from the little- 
 ness and meanness of earthly things? Is not this 
 an ample, a capacious fountain ? It is wide and deep 
 as the being and perfections of God. Christ designs, 
 by your conversion, that you should come at once to 
 6 
 
62 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 this fountain and drink — that you should enter im- 
 mediately into this joy of your Lord. Why should 
 YOU fall into the mistake, that you must get to heaven 
 before you are happy ? Come now to the source that 
 made Christ rejoice in spirit when here on earth — 
 that made Paul and Silas, auiidst stocks and stripes, 
 break the midnight silence of the " inner prison '^ 
 with their song of gladness, and caused them to be 
 exceeding joyful in all their tribulations. Here are 
 resources and elements to make you happy, wholly 
 irrespective of place, to make you happy in any world 
 of the universe, on the most distant point of God's 
 creation, or at any period in the progressions of eter- 
 nity. 
 
 IV. A fourth design of Christ in converting a soul, 
 is that with all its active powers it may pursue the same 
 ends which he pursues, and be actuated by the same 
 motives that influenced him. The world, even as it " lies 
 in wickedness," presents some stupendous achieve- 
 ments of the active powers of man. The sway which 
 he has acquired over the great agencies of matter, 
 taming the very lightning, and turning the most 
 terrific and destructive elements to the purpose of 
 his convenience and comfort — the monuments of art 
 which he has reared, and the master}^ he has gained 
 over the great laws of nature, all these show, that 
 though in ruins, man is a mighty being still, possess- 
 ing energies that are capable of being directed to 
 nobler objects than the discoveries of science or the 
 triumphs of arts and of arms! But nothing is more 
 characteristic of our fallen condition than the misdi- 
 rection and manifest perversion of man's activities. 
 That the energies of the soul are biassed and diverted 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 63 
 
 from the great object, for which they were originally 
 destined, we have melancholy proof in the revelry 
 and dissipation, the avarice and mad ambition, and 
 all the overgrown schemes of wickedness that have 
 cursed our 2;lobe. Now it would be strange if 
 Christianity did not provide a suitable remedy for 
 this evil. It would be strange indeed if in the con- 
 version of a soul Christ should have no design to 
 direct its immortal activities to an end worthy their 
 strength and executive capabilities. When he ap- 
 prehends a soul that is wasting its energies on plans 
 of sin, it is his design to bring all the powers of that 
 soul to act rightly — to pursue the same great end 
 which he pursues. And, my dear hearers, Christ 
 had and has still a definite end before him, which re- 
 gulates all the mighty acts of his mediatorship. His 
 mediatorial office is not a mere sinecure. He does 
 not sustain this office without a plan of sufficient 
 amplitude and grandeur to engross his infinite ener- 
 gies in its execution. The great end which he is 
 pursuing is to manifest the glory of God to the universe 
 by saving this lost world. This brought him from 
 heaven to the manger of Bethlehem for his incarna- 
 tion, and thence through a life of unparalleled sor- 
 rows to Calvary for his crucifixion. When entering 
 on the last of his mortal conflicts, he could say with 
 emphasis, " I have manifested thy glory, I have 
 finished the work thou gavest me to do.'' In this 
 great work he laboured with a benevolence that 
 never tired — he pursued this end with a purpose 
 that never blenched. He has risen, and reigns in 
 heaven now, pursuing this object in all the wide 
 range of his mediatorial government. His heart 
 
64 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 still glows with zeal for the glory of God, and yearns 
 in infinite solicitude for the salvation of the world. 
 He has established a" kingdom here on earth, with 
 vast resources, arrangements, and agencies, all bear- 
 ing on the grand result, to manifest the glory of the 
 Eternal Father and to save our sinking globe. He 
 is pursuing this end with an infinite intensity of de- 
 sire for its accomplishment, amidst the civil, social, 
 and political changes and revolutions of earth. And 
 he will pursue it till the arrival of that august era in 
 the grand cycle of ages, when he shall have put all 
 enemies under his feet, and shall have delivered up 
 the kingdom to the Father, that the infinite God 
 may be alt in all! Now, Christian, when he appre- 
 hended your soul in the gracious w^ork of your con- 
 version, one design which he had in doing so, was to 
 bring you in all your renovated activities to enter 
 on the very same pursuit. He would have the im- 
 mortal energies of your mind rise at once to an aim 
 sufficiently lofty for God. He would have all your 
 powers restored to an employment like this, worthy 
 the dignity of your recovered nature. He would 
 have you enjoy the honour of standing side by side 
 with your Redeemer in that exalted sphere, where 
 infinite benevolence is at work, reflecting glory on 
 God and bestowing salvation on man. He would 
 have your whole soul in harmony — your whole heart 
 in sympathy with his, while as a co-worker with 
 him you task your utmost energies in pursuing the 
 same high end under the omnipotence of the same 
 holy motives which influenced him! 0! Christian, 
 have you sufficiently pondered the thought that it was 
 for this that you were apprehended of Christ Jesus? 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 65 
 
 V. Lastly. It is the design of Christ in con- 
 verting a soul to have it participate in his own glory 
 and blessedness in eternihj. Tiic truth of tliis posi- 
 tion the Saviour himself has sufficiently attested in 
 the following declarations: " I go to prepare a place 
 for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I 
 will come again and receive you to myself, that 
 where I am there ye may be also." '» Father, I will 
 that those whom thou hast given me, be with me 
 where I am, that they may behold my glory." "To 
 him that overcometh, I will grant to sit down with 
 me on my throne, even as I overcame and am set 
 down with my Father on his throne." The Saviour, 
 in its conversion, designs this as the final destination 
 of the soul. But it is not an arbitrary destination, 
 it is the natural consequence of the soul's conformity 
 to the image of Christ, and of its pursuit of the same 
 great end with him. It is the result of that great 
 law of moral congeniality which acts on the holy 
 universe, binding them to God as the attraction of 
 gravitation binds the material worlds of each system 
 to a common centre. In the great scheme of creation 
 every creature finds its own place, its common level, 
 — finds an allotment suited to its nature and habits. 
 So strictly has God preserved this order, that amidst 
 all the changes to which created things are subject 
 it has never been broken. Since the creation the 
 eagle has never been found dwelling by choice in 
 the depths of ocean, nor leviathan sporting on the 
 land or in the air. Now the same great analogy per- 
 vades the " new creation" which Christ performs on 
 the souls of men. In this there is an order as well de- 
 fined and unvariable — an order which Christ himself 
 
66 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 declares shall never be broken. All the harmonies 
 and adaptations of this system of the new creation 
 are tending to the sublime result of bringing the re- 
 newed soul to a participation in the glory and bless- 
 edness of its Redeemer in eternity. Why has he 
 drawn on that soul his own divine image? Why 
 taught it to derive its happiness from the same ex- 
 alted source from which He draws his own? Why 
 led it with all its regenerated energies to pursue the 
 same noble end which he pursues, and to feel the 
 controlling sway of the holy motives which influence 
 him? Evidently that that soul at last may be with 
 him where he is to behold his glory. The wings 
 of the eagle and the structure of his eye, do not 
 more certainly fit him to mount in the air and gaze 
 on the sun, than do these things fit the Christian to 
 participate in the joy and behold the glory of its re- 
 deeming Lord in eternity. There is a congeniality 
 in such a soul that seeks fellowship and an eternal 
 home with the Lord Jesus. It has the very elements 
 of an everlasting ascent in the scale of being, a holy 
 aptitude to become a partner in the glories of Christ's 
 mediatorial throne in heaven, a participant in the 
 joys of its Lord through eternity. And in its con- 
 version Jesus designs that this should actually be the 
 souFs ultimate destination. Were not its glories so 
 overmatching to the grasp of human thought, we 
 might here attempt to follow the renewed soul in its 
 flight to that destiny, and to gaze on its coronation 
 and illustrious enthronement with Christ in heaven. 
 But on such a sight mortal eyes cannot look stead- 
 fastly "by reason of the glory that excelleth!" 
 Christian, when Christ by his grace apprehended you, 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 67 
 
 grovelling in tlie dust and maldng your way to hell, 
 it was his design ultimately to clothe your soul in 
 the splendours of his own glory on the throne in 
 heaven, to fill it with the fulness of his own joy 
 through eternity. 
 
 What that will be is reserved to be made known 
 to us by the amazing disclosures of our future and 
 immortal existence. All that we can say respecting 
 it now is to sum up the struggling conceptions of 
 our minds and the laborious emotions of our hearts 
 in the inspired exclamation, " Beloved, now are we 
 the sons of God, and 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." 
 
 We see from this subject, in the first place, that the 
 great object which Christianity contemplates in the case 
 of believers is but partially conceived of and little under- 
 stood. 
 
 When a man is converted, the relation of that 
 event to the future destiny of his soul in heaven is 
 almost the only relation that strikes the mind. The 
 idea that he is to be safe at last, or that he is to escape 
 hell, is the principal predominating idea which his 
 conversion suggests. What a contracted miserable 
 view of the great end of Christianity in recovering 
 the human soul from the ruins of the apostacy. It 
 is high time that the church should be disabused of 
 such a view. She certainly must and will be before 
 her millennium can come. It is high time that 
 Christians should be solicitous, very solicitous about 
 something else than merely finding an admission into 
 paradise after death. This is not all for which they 
 have been apprehended of Christ Jesus. It is time 
 
68 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 that they should feel a deep anxiety to fulfil all the 
 designs of Christ in their conversion. My Christian 
 friends, why are you not as anxious to ascertain 
 whether Christ is formed in your hearts and living 
 there, whether his blessed image is drawn on you in 
 its proportions and celestial beauty, as you are to 
 know whether you shall at last be admitted into 
 heaven? It was as much his design in converting 
 you to make you " holy and unblameable before him 
 in love," to make you so much like himself that he 
 could call you " the light of the world," to make you 
 a polished reflector of his own infinite purity upon 
 the eyes of your fellow men, as it was to take you 
 at last to himself in heaven? 
 
 Why are you not as anxious noio to renounce the 
 pleasures of the world, and seek your happiness from 
 the same exalted source with Christ, as you are to 
 have the joys of heaven after death? In your con- 
 version, the Lord Jesus designed as much that you 
 should quit the polluted streams of earth, and come 
 directly to this great fountain, as he did that you 
 should at last drink of those rivers of pleasure and 
 partake of that fulness of jo}^, which are at his right 
 hand for evermore ! He designs that you shall begin 
 your heaven here, and rely on the same sources for 
 happiness noic, that will confer it on you millions of 
 ages hence, in eternity ! And why are you not just 
 as anxious to pursue, with untiring zeal, and with the 
 concentrated activities of your whole being, the same 
 high ends which he pursues, and with the same holy 
 motives, as you are to be amongst the number of the 
 saved at the day of judgment ? In your conversion, 
 he as certainly designed that you should bring forth 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 69 
 
 much fruit, that your life should exhihit an unde- 
 viating career of incessant efforts to glorify God and 
 bless the world, as he designs to reward such labours 
 of love at last, by a participation with him in the 
 glories and the bliss of his throne, in heaven. Awake, 
 then, my Christian friends, awake to all tiiese ends as 
 equally contemplated by Christ in your conversion. 
 These were the objects at which Paul aimed in his 
 whole life, after which he panted with unutterable 
 desire as he forgot the things that were behind, and 
 reached forth to those that were before, and pressed 
 towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of 
 God in Christ Jesus. These are the legitimate ends 
 of your pursuit, arising out of the very designs of 
 Christ in your conversion ! And by all the tender 
 obligations which his redeeming love has imposed 
 on you, I beseech you follow after, if that you may 
 apprehend (dl these for which also you have been 
 apprehended of Christ Jesus. 
 
 We see from this subject, in the second place, what 
 an unfounded prejudice that is, which supposes that re- 
 ligion RESERTES all its happiness for a future state, 
 and that, too, to he purchased at the sacrifice of all pre- 
 sent enjoyment ! It is one great design of Christianity, 
 to recover the soul from its perverted tastes and af- 
 fections, — its erroneous views and mad pursuits of 
 guilty pleasures, is the cause of its present want of 
 appropriate happiness. The religion of Jesus Christ 
 is full of benevolence — a benevolence that will not 
 overlook the present enjoyment of the mind. Like 
 a pitying angel, it weeps over the ruined soul in 
 its fruitless hurry to be happy, by pursuits and aims 
 which in their very nature must ultimately only 
 
70 THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN 
 
 plunge that soiil more deeply in spiritual sorrows! 
 And with an angel's speed, on wings of love it flies 
 to the lost sinner, warns and entreats, reasons and re- 
 monstrates, invites and woos him to make his es- 
 cape from the labyrinth of thorns, and come at once, 
 immedtatehj, on that ground, where sovereign mercy 
 will apply celestial balm to his lacerations, where 
 eternal love will unseal to him that great fountain, 
 from which a holy creation, with Christ at their head, 
 have derived their full supplies of happiness ! " We 
 who believe, do enter into rest," is the testimony 
 of all those who cordially embrace the gospel. And 
 this is what Christ designs in converting you ! He 
 designs that your troubled heart shall have peace and 
 be still — that in your hitherto agitated bosom, there 
 shall be " a great calm.^' Sinner, do you do well to 
 have a prejudice against the gospel, and to reject it 
 on the ground that it wnll make you unhappy in the 
 present life ? For the sake of your own consistency, 
 abandon this at once, and if you must be the dupe 
 of the Devil's deception, let it be for some other and 
 more plausible reason than that the religion of Jesus 
 Christ will render you unhappy in the present \vorld. 
 That religion to which you instinctively fly in the 
 hour of 3^our most tragic peril and calamity — that 
 religion which you believe has resources to sustain 
 your spirit amidst the giant pangs and throes of dis- 
 solution, to pour on the shadows of death, a celestial 
 lustre, and light u]) the sunset of the tomb with the 
 glories of an immortality beyond — that religion make 
 you unhappy in the present life! ! can the Great 
 Adversary desire a better subject for his burning, 
 Satanic scorn, than to see a youth under the sway of 
 a prejudice so infinitely absurd ! 
 
THE CONVERSION OF A SOUL. 71 
 
 Finally. We see from this subject what a glo- 
 rious prospect lies before the Christian in a future world! 
 In his conversion it is the design of Christ that the 
 Christian should ultimately attain that eternal peace 
 and purity after which he now pants ! Yes, Christian 
 friend, it is not merely for a scene of conflict and of 
 incessant labour in the feebleness of flesh and blood, 
 that you are apprehended of Christ Jesus. You are 
 destined to a triumph, whose grandeur shall corre- 
 spond with the greatness of those spiritual struggles 
 by which it is to be won! There is a crown of joy 
 and a throne of glory awaiting you, that shall amply 
 compensate for the sorrows and the ignominy of 
 your mortal condition. You shall not always be a 
 mourning pilgrim in a strange land. There is a 
 home in your Father's house on high — a mansion 
 fitted and ready for the reception of your redeemed 
 spirit. Jesus has gone to prepare it for you. Lift 
 up your heads, ye ransomed of the Lord, and sing, 
 ^' for your redemption draweth nigh." 
 
 Far, far above yon azure sky, 
 Heaven's starry crowns and sun-lit throne 
 Point to your glorious destiny, 
 And beckon to your endless home. 
 
 From clouds and darkness look away, 
 Nor earthly sorrows feel nor fear, 
 Ye soon shall be beyond their sway, 
 Where God shall wipe life's latest tear. 
 
72 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY OF THE CHRISTIAN'S 
 LIFE. 
 
 " Because Hive, ye shall live also."— John siv. 19. 
 
 Connected with the principle of life, there is a 
 mystery which the human mind hitherto has never 
 been able to penetrate. Many of the phenomena of 
 this principle have been investigated, but the nature 
 of the principle itself still remains unknown. Hence 
 the existence of any being considered absolutely and 
 apart, could not, independent of experience or obser- 
 vation, furnish evidence of the existence of any other 
 being. I know that it has been argued that the ex- 
 istence of God, considered in itself alone, would 
 furnish presumptive evidence that he would bring 
 into being and sustain other existences. But this 
 argument is grounded on the knowledge which re- 
 velation gives us of Me attributes of God rather than 
 on the conclusions which reason might draw respect- 
 ing the mere existence of the Deity. Certainly the 
 simple fact of the existence of one being cannot be 
 seen to have any natural connexion with the con- 
 tinued existence of another. To us the assertion of 
 our blessed Lord in the text taken abstractly would 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN S LIFE. 73 
 
 seem a dark saying — " Because I live, ye shall live 
 also." 
 
 This declaration was made, too, just previously to 
 his death, when sorrow had filled the hearts of his 
 disciples in prospect of that event. It is evident, then, 
 that Christ intended it as the language of consolation 
 to his followers. In the preceding verse he re- 
 marks, "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come 
 to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth 
 me no more, but ye see me/' and to increase their 
 confidence and hope he adds — " Because I live, ye 
 shall live also." It is obvious that his own existence, 
 to which the Redeemer here refers, was not simply 
 his mortal life, for that was just about to end. Nor 
 w^as the existence of his people, which the text con- 
 templates, merely their temporal being, for that in the 
 course of human events must also terminate. In re- 
 ference to himself, he here speaks of his divine ex- 
 istence in connexion with the human as Mediator; — 
 in respect to his disciples, he speaks of that spiritual 
 life of their souls, which distinguishes them from a 
 world "dead in trespasses and in sins." It will be 
 the object of this discourse, then, to show that from 
 the nature of ChrisVs existence and its relations, 
 as the Son of God and Mediator, there is the 
 highest ground of certainty that the spiritual 
 life of his disciples loill he sustained for ever. 
 
 I. To confirm this position, let it be remarked, 
 in the first place that such is the nature of Christ's 
 existence as God, that it involves the power of perpetuating 
 itself eternally ; and such the nature of his existence as 
 jyiediator, that it is itself the fountain from which is com- 
 municated the spiritual life of his disciples. 
 7 
 
74 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 Every unprejudiced reader of the Bible must ad- 
 mit that it ascribes to Jesus Christ an underived, eter- 
 nal, self-existence. If not, Christ himself is found 
 a false witness, for he declares — " before Abraham 
 was, I AM." The scriptures speak of an " eternal pur- 
 pose which God purposed in Christ Jesus before the 
 world." They speak of "grace given to Christians 
 in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world." 
 The Redeemer himself prays to be glorified with that 
 glory which he had with the Father before the 
 world was. The word of God attributes to him the 
 creation of all things. Now if there be any mean- 
 ing in this language, it does evidently indicate this 
 much at least, that Christ existed before any part of 
 the created universe. And when we trace his exist- 
 ence back to that remote period, the sacred oracles 
 leave it merged in the being of the eternal, self-ex- 
 istent Jehovah. They give no intimation that Christ 
 has a derived or dependent being. No account of 
 his origin. If the Lord Jesus, in his divine nature, 
 had had a beginning, assuredly that would have been 
 an event of which the universe might expect to know 
 something. But whilst no part of revelation seems 
 to favour such a supposition, there is one declaration 
 of Christ himself which proves the truth of the contra- 
 ry, and places it beyond reasonable dispute. " / a?n 
 the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, 
 the first and the last; he which was, and is, and is to 
 come." Let any man examine the structure of the 
 original language, in which this sentence is found, 
 and see whether, if divine wisdom had intended to 
 teach Christ's underived, eternal self-existence, it 
 could have selected more striking or appropriate 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN S LIFE. 75 
 
 terms. If it be a fact then that such is the nature 
 of Christ's existence as God that it is underived, and 
 has been from all eternity, it is evident that it must 
 inckicle the power of perpetuating itself to all eternity. 
 What should interfere with or mar that existence 
 which has been derived from nothing else — which 
 is dependent on nothing else in the universe. With 
 our habits of contemplating the fleeting existences 
 around us, how striking and glorious a contrast 
 to them does the essential being of Jesus Christ 
 present. He lives on, and shall live on for ever in 
 the glories of a self-sustaining power! The revolu- 
 tions and changes of earth with all its materials 
 of rebellion and enmity to God — the malignant 
 machinations of hell with all its tremendous agencies 
 of evil — the revolt of angels and the subversion of 
 thrones and principalities in heaven, cannot assail the 
 independent, eternal being of the Son of God. The 
 utter annihilation of all creatures and all worlds in 
 the universe would not affect his essential existence. 
 He would still live alone in his glory! how re- 
 freshing to look away from a world of death and 
 perpetual mutation, and contemplate the unchangeable 
 and eternal existence of the Son of God. But this 
 fact alone that Christ, as God, possesses an existence 
 that includes the power of perpetuating itself eter- 
 nally beyond the possibility of change or end, does 
 not furnish any ground of certainty that his people 
 shall live for ever. But we must connect with this 
 fact the truth that Christ's existence as Mediator is 
 itself the fountain from which is commimicated the spiri- 
 tual life of his disciples. Of this truth the Scriptures 
 leave no room to doubt. The blessed Redeemer de- 
 
76 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 clares — "As the living Father hath ^ent me, and I 
 live by" (or in) " the Father, so he that eateth me" — 
 (believes on and receives Christ) "even he shall live 
 by me. For as the Father hath life in himself, so 
 hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. As 
 thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he 
 should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given 
 him. In him was life, and the life was the light of 
 men. I am come that they might have life, and that 
 they might have it more abundantly. I am the 
 bread of life — I am the resurrection and the life — 
 the way, the truth, and the life." If these declara- 
 tions have any meaning, they clearly teach us that 
 the existence of Christ, as Mediator, is the great 
 fountain from which is communicated the spiritual 
 life of his people. Now as there is an inseparable 
 union between the existence of Christ as Mediator 
 and his independent existence as God, does not such 
 a fountain of spiritual life to his people furnish a 
 high ground of certainty that that life shall be per- 
 petuated forever? This fountain is shoreless and 
 bottomless as the infinite abyss of Jehovah's being. 
 What though it be supplying streams to this distant 
 part of the universe,and have continued those streams 
 since the commencement of time? Can it ever be- 
 come exhausted? Can the suns or the winds of time 
 or eternity dry up this boundless ocean of spiritual 
 life which is in Christ Jesus? Will the revolutions 
 of endless ages ever break up the fountains of this 
 great deep of life in the being of Jesus, and scatter 
 and dissipate its mighty waters? No! after it shall 
 have perfectly flooded this world, it will still be 
 vi^ide and deep and clear as ever. In this view, then. 
 
OF THE christian's life, 77 
 
 Christ might well exclaim to his disconsolate disci- 
 ples — " Because 1 live, ye shall live also." 
 
 II. A second gi^ound of certainty that the Chris- 
 tian shall live eternally is, M«/ the nature of Chris fs 
 existence is sicch that it gives him an absolute con- 
 trol over all the elements of spiritual life. We 
 find that in order to the continuance of animal life, 
 something more is necessary than merely to fit up an 
 admirable vital machinery, and communicate the im- 
 pulse that first puts it in motion. A constant pro- 
 cess, both of defending and sustaining it, is absolutely 
 necessary. From its commencement it is surrounded 
 by causes ever tending to its destruction, so that life 
 has been beautifully said to be " a forced state. It 
 has to maintain its existence in direct opposition to 
 every material agent in nature, each of which seems 
 enlisted in avowed hostility against its being.^^ If it 
 continues, then some hand must ward off these de- 
 structive forces. In addition to this, there are cer- 
 tain elements of support that must be furnished in 
 nicely adjusted proportions. — Light and heat, food 
 and air, in given quantities, seem indispensable to the 
 continuance of animal life; and these must be admi- 
 nistered by some hand that has them completely un- 
 der its control, and can keep them in their proper 
 combinations and proportions. Without these ele- 
 ments thus administered, the most perfect vital ma- 
 chinery first put in healthful action, will soon cease 
 to operate, and the spark of life become extinct. 
 Hence it is evident that the continuance of animal 
 life is dependent on the constant exertion of no less 
 a power than that of Omnipotence. Now the same 
 analogy holds in regard to the spiritual lifeof Chris- 
 7* 
 
78 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 tians. Here it is equally true that in the continuance 
 of this life of the soul, something more is necessary 
 than merely to communicate it at first even from the 
 glorious fountain of a Saviour's infinite and eternal 
 existence. Numerous moi^al causes constantly ope- 
 rate within and without the Christian, to destroy this 
 vital principle. It has to contend for its existence 
 with all the malignant agencies of earth and hell, that 
 are leagued in deadly hostility against its being. If 
 it continues, and successfully resists their action, it 
 will be by the interference of some mighty hand that 
 can control these agencies, and neutralize their powers. 
 But in addition to this, there are certain great ele- 
 ments of spiritual life that must be administered with 
 constancy and infinite skill, or the bud of the Chris- 
 tian's eternal life will be blasted and die. The con- 
 stant light and warmth of God's quickening Spirit — 
 the food and atmosphere of truth in their proper com- 
 binations and proportions, seem indispensable to the 
 continuance of spiritual life. 
 
 Now such is the very nature of Christ's existence 
 as God and Mediator, that it includes the power of a 
 perfect control over all tiiese elements. As God, he 
 possesses an omniscience that comprehends at a glance 
 all the machinations of earth and hell — all the com- 
 bining causes that aim at the destruction of his peo- 
 ple's spiritual life. He can measure with infinite pre- 
 cision their power, and see all their possible tenden- 
 cies. And he possesses an omnipotence that can 
 curb the rage and malignity of apostate men and 
 fiends of darkness, and can destroy those fearful 
 agencies of evil that threaten the spiritual being of 
 his people. As Mediator, the government of the 
 
OF THE christian's life. 79 
 
 univ^erse is laid upon his shoulders, and he lives to 
 administer it with special reference to the security of 
 the spiritual existence of his people, undisturbed by 
 all the forces that war against it. And what a con- 
 trol must Omniscience and Omnipotence give him 
 over all the elements of spiritual life? The residue 
 of the Spirit is vv^ith him, — he is the truth, and the 
 great organ of its communication to the minds of 
 men. In this respect, "in him dvvelleth all tlie ful- 
 ness of the Godhead bodily." With what infinite 
 wisdom can he select and combine, and in what exact 
 proportions can he administer these elements of life 
 to the soul! — Look at his existence, and say whether 
 the lapse of time will exhaust "the supply of the 
 spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Look at the treasury 
 and the nature of his truth, and see whether the mind, 
 even with the advantage of the illuminations of the 
 Holy Ghost, will ever be able in this life so to com- 
 prehend all that truth, that it shall begin to famish 
 for want of resources to meet the demands of its 
 growing powers of knowledge? Transfer the mind 
 to a future and endless state of being, and see whether 
 the existence of Christ will not enable him there to 
 create around the mind such an atmosphere, and 
 command such agencies and influences of the eternal 
 Spirit upon it as may be necessary to the perfection 
 of its everlasting life? Can he not there place it 
 under such successive disclosures of truth, as shall 
 fill its dilating powers and form it to the measure of 
 the stature of the spirits of the just made perfect? 
 what a wondrous meaning shall our text then appear 
 to convey — " Because I live, ye shall live also." Yes, 
 this existence of Christ, which includes the power 
 
80 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 of an absolute control over all the causes that militate 
 against, and over all the elements that minister to 
 the continuance of spiritual life, furnishes strong se- 
 curity that his people shall live also for ever. 
 
 III. Christ's existence as mediator, has been ex- 
 hibited to man in a form that gives the highest 
 pledge of continued spiritual life to his people. 
 
 The Lord Jesus, as mediator, assumed our nature, 
 and took it into inseparable union with his own di- 
 vine nature. " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
 amongst us, and we beheld his glory, as the glory of 
 the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
 truth. For verily he took not upon him the nature 
 of angels, but the seed of Abraham.^ ^ And, brethren, 
 perhaps we shall find a depth of meaning in Christ's 
 incarnation, independent of the fact that it qualified 
 him to make the great atonement, of which we have 
 heretofore had no adequate conceptions. There are 
 two great facts of the utmost moment to Christians 
 involved in the assumption of human nature by the 
 Lord Jesus, and its intimate and inseparable union 
 with the divinity. One is, that Christ's human na- 
 ture possessed a spiritual life of the same character, 
 and begun and continued in the same circumstances 
 of temptation and peril with that of his disciples, 
 and therefore, he has the advantage of a personal ex- 
 perience of every thing pertaining to the dangers and 
 conflicts attending it, and has given us a practical ex- 
 ample of the continuance and triumph of this spiritu- 
 al life in a condition of equal or greater opposition 
 than it will ever be called to encounter in the case 
 of his followers. The other fact is, that Christ's 
 assumption of our nature, shows us what we never 
 
OF THE christian's LIFE. 81 
 
 could have learned otherwise — that is, that human 
 nature is capable of being taken into a most intimate 
 and inseparable union with the divine nature, and of 
 existing in a relation to the Godhead that may have 
 an astonish ins; influence on the eternal life of the 
 soul. Here was a glorious and triumphant experi- 
 ment exhibited which the world before had never 
 witnessed, and respecting which the loftiest powers 
 of unassisted reason could have drawn no definite 
 conclusion. Whether limited human nature could 
 ever be raised to an indissoluble union with the di- 
 vine, was a problem which, but for [the peculiar 
 form of Christ's existence, as Messiah, must have 
 remained for ever without a satisfactory solution. 
 But what a light does Christ's incarnation throw 
 upon the following declaration of scripture — " That 
 they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I 
 in Thee, that they may be -one in us." What a 
 glorious significancy does the connexion of the Re- 
 deemer's human nature with his Godhead give to 
 the intimate and endeared union of his people to 
 himself. Now, it may be asked whether this form 
 of Christ's existence manifesting his personal and ex- 
 perimental fellowship with all the infirmities of our 
 common nature, and with all the struggles and perils 
 of the spiritual life — and whether this grand experi- 
 ment showing in what a close and indestructible 
 connexion human nature can exist with the divine, 
 does not furnish a high ground of certainty that 
 Christ's people shall live eternally? But there is 
 another fact in this form of Christ's existence, as 
 manifested to man, which goes to complete this cer- 
 tainty. The question still arises, notwithstanding all 
 
82 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 that has been said — '• What influence will death have 
 on the spiritual life of Christians?" This spiritual 
 existence is commenced and carried forward a given 
 distance in the body, — in connexion with mortal life. 
 The termination of mortal life is a mysterious and 
 awful event. No one of earth's millions has return- 
 ed from that sad bourn that separates the living 
 from the dead, to give us the results of his experi- 
 ence, and tell us what influence death exerts on the 
 agencies of the soul and its mode of being. Have 
 we any evidence that the spiritual life of the be- 
 liever shall remain unhurt by that convulsion which 
 rends the tabernacle of clay, and lays it in ruin? 
 These are questions in themselves of most terrific 
 interest! But they are all satisfactorily answered in 
 one fact peculiar to that form of Christ's existence 
 as Mediator which he manifested to men — that is, the 
 resurrection of his humannature. He triumphed over 
 death the third day, and brought forth his mortal 
 part from the dark domain of the King of Terrors, 
 reanimated, a glorious form. What an illustrious 
 proof that the springs of spiritual life lie too deep to 
 be affected by that strange work which dissolves the 
 connexion between soul and body! What a con- 
 vincing testimony, that death in nowise interferes 
 with the eternal life of the soul! Nay! that it can- 
 not even hold in its captivity the dust and ashes that 
 have once been associated with a soul possessing 
 this divine principle. The ruins of the believer's 
 body, "shall be built again, and all that dust shall 
 rise." " Now is Christ risen from the dead, and be- 
 come the first fruits of them that slept." And so 
 certainly as he has presented in his own risen human 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN S LIFE. 83 
 
 nature these first fruits of a general resurrection, so 
 certainly will the time of the great harvest come, 
 when all the bodies of his people of every age, re- 
 animated and reunited to their souls, shall be ga- 
 thered to Mount Zion above, with the songs and 
 everlasting joys of triumph over death and hell! 0, 
 Christian brethren, when we look at a risen Saviour, 
 we begin to feel something of the infinite emphasis 
 of the text — " Because I live, i/e shall live also.'' 
 
 IV. And lastly. The nature and end of Christ's 
 existence in heaven, since his resurrection, gives a strong 
 pledge of the continued spiritual life of his people. Of 
 the nature and end of Christ's existence in heaven, 
 since his resurrection, we can know nothing, except 
 from revelation. And yet that his existence is of 
 one peculiar character, rather than another, and that 
 it has some definite aim or end, is a conclusion which 
 reason itself might draw. What that peculiar cha- 
 racter is, the scriptures abundantly testify. He lives 
 and sits on the throne, at the right hand of God, as 
 the advocate of his people. His existence, as far as 
 it bears relation to this terrestrial scene, is employed 
 in the work of intercession — " seeing he ever liveth to 
 make intercession for us." He exists in the specific 
 character of the " great High priest of our profession. 
 And he is a merciful and faithful high priest in tilings 
 PERTAINING TO GoD.'' Brethren, there is meaning 
 in this assertion — "in things pertaining to God !" 
 Think of his wonderful qualifications as an intercessor 
 in his existence at the right hand of the Majesty on 
 high! He lives in the council chambers of the eter- 
 nal Mind. The secrets of Jehovah arc with him. 
 He has the most intimate knowledge of the whole 
 
84 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 plan and movements of the divine government. He 
 reigns a joint participant with the Father on the 
 throne of heaven. He is there in all his wisdom, and 
 benevolence, and power — his special love and mercy 
 to the lost, with his glorified human nature in the in- 
 ner court of Jehovah's temple, our advocate with the 
 Father! And he has somewhat also to offer to God 
 in our behalf. He has the merits of an atonement 
 that stands the world's wonder, and that will yet fill 
 the universe with those impressions of the character 
 of God which it exhibits. He knows how to plead 
 his own blood w^ith the Father. He knows its effi- 
 cacy — its influence on the eternal JNlind in the plan 
 of moral government — how it can prevail for grace 
 to abound over all those imperfections and grievous 
 sins of believers, that would otherwise destroy their 
 spiritual life. And with all this he has a fellow- 
 feelin"; of our infirmities — retains his human nature 
 on the throne, as the great breast-plate upon his di- 
 vinity, which contains the names of his disciples en- 
 graven by the nails and the spear that once wounded 
 him for their transgressions! believer, look at 
 Jesus Christ in his intercessory existence as your 
 glorious High Priest! What a security is here given 
 that you shall live for ever! Hear him uttering as 
 with the trump of God — ^' Because I live, ye shall live 
 also.'' And now to make assurance on this subject 
 doubly sure, let us look a moment at the great end 
 of Christ's existence in heaven as the Mediator. 
 Nothing can be more certain than that the Son of 
 God in his risen human nature as an intercessor at 
 the right hand of the Father, has some grand and ul- 
 timate end in view by existing in this relation. 
 
OF THE CHRISTIAN S LIFE. 85 
 
 What then is this glorious aim of his being, as Advo- 
 cate and Mediator? It is to secure the eternal life of 
 his people — that he may present them at last before 
 his Father's throne without spot and blameless, and 
 confirm them in a reverseless and everlasting exis- 
 tence of holiness and bliss. what a security is 
 this! Think of l/iis end oi the existence of Jesus 
 Christ, in his glorified human nature in eternity! 
 He lives there with all the associations of his love 
 and sorrows here below, — with the remembrance of 
 Gethsemane in its gloom and groans, its tears and 
 prayers, and the sweat of its great agony — with the 
 remembrance of Calvary in its midnight of horrors 
 — its bloody crucifixion and its dying strife — with 
 the tender and delightful associations also of leaving: 
 the sepulchre of Joseph on the morning of the third 
 day a conqueror over death, hell, and the grave! 
 And now the great end of an existence connected 
 with such wonders of redeeming grace and dying 
 love is to see the travail of his soul — is to secure, 
 beyond the possibility of failure, the eternal life of 
 those whom he died to redeem. Shall he ever be 
 disappointed? Shall the changes of time, and the 
 malice of earth, or the progressions of eternity, and 
 the malignity of hell, ever thwart this great and ul- 
 timate aim of his mediatorial existence, pluck his 
 people out of his hand, and terminate their life, 
 which is "hid with Christ in God?'^ No! never. 
 While he lives, his people must, and will, live also. 
 Come, then, weak and tempted believer, you may 
 throw the fulness of your soul into the triumphant 
 declaration, ^' For I am persuaded, that neither 
 death, nor life, nor angels, nor things present, nor 
 8 
 
86 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 things to come, nor any other creature, shall be able 
 to separate me from the love of God, which is in 
 Christ Jesus !'^ 
 
 I. If this view of the subject be correct, then we 
 may see that the doctrine o^ falling from grace, as it 
 is ordinarily termed, is one which is not only with- 
 out foundation in tlie scriptures, but one which 
 greatly derogates from the mediatorial glory of the 
 Son of God. According to this doctrine, the ex- 
 istence of Jesus Christ with all his command and 
 control over the moral elements of the universe, fur- 
 nishes no pledge that his people shall live also. It 
 is a doctrine, then, which invades the very sanctuary 
 of Christ's being, and tramples under its reckless feet 
 the self-existence, omnipotence, omniscience, cove- 
 nant-keeping faithfulness and immortal intercessions 
 of the great Head of the church. Towards our 
 brethren in Christ who hold this erroneous opinion, 
 we indulge no other feelings than those of the most 
 entire kindness and Christian friendship. Towards 
 the opinion itself, abstractly, we indulge an irrecon- 
 cilable hostility, and consider it one of the most un- 
 scriptural and untenable positions that can be found 
 in a CJiristian denomination's creed. 
 
 II. Let Christians learn from this subject, their in- 
 finite obligations of gratitude and love to Christ, and 
 let them be careful not to abuse the doctrine of the perse- 
 verance of the saints, so clearly taught in our text. 
 
 Christian, come, and in the light of Christ's decla- 
 ration, that " because he lives, you shall live also," 
 look at the height and depth of your obligations 
 to be grateful, and to love him supremelj^and for ever. 
 Were some benevolentindividual to assure vou to-dnv 
 
OF THE CllUISTIAN S LIFE. 87 
 
 that at great expense and much personal suffering and 
 sacrifice, he had secured to you in some mysterious 
 way, a life long as that of Methuselah, and happy as 
 that of Enoch, and that you might look forward to 
 seven or eight hundred years of enjoyment without 
 anticipating any of the distressing evils of earth, no 
 thought of dying and of dread uncertainty when that 
 event should occur need to cross your mind, and 
 during all these happ}^ centuries your sight should 
 not grow dim, nor your natural force be abated, you 
 should be able to enjoy life as with all the freshness 
 of youth, what gratitude would fill your heart toward 
 such a benefactor, what love would bind you to his 
 person! 
 
 You would be able to feel the nature of the blessing, 
 inasmuch as we all cherish so strong desires to live, 
 and you would think of the friend who had secured 
 you from all fear of death and of interruption of en- 
 joyment for so many centuries, you would think of 
 him with an irrepressible ardour of love. And, dear 
 fellow Christian, have you not had moments when 
 you felt how infinitely more valuable was the life of 
 the soul than that of the body, with all its temporary 
 enjoyments? It is the life of your soul that Jesus 
 Christ has secured with absolute certainty for ever. 
 Yea, he has bound it up in mysterious indissoluble 
 union with his own glorious existence. He has ac- 
 tually formed a connexion between his own un- 
 changing being and your spiritual life, that nothing 
 through eternity shall sever. He has not merely se- 
 cured to you a few centuries of earthly enjoyment; 
 he has made your immortality with its exceeding 
 weight of glory certain as his own! '* Because I live, 
 
88 THE SOURCE AND SECURITY 
 
 ye shall live also.'^ Brethren, suppose this sublime 
 fact were revealed to us now for the first time, bow 
 would it affect us? Suppose it were to come in the 
 full light of conviction immediately in contact with 
 our darkness and forebodings of eternal death as 
 ruined sinners? Could our feeble frames sustain our 
 minds under the emotions it would thus excite? 
 what feelings of gratitude to Christ, "who is our 
 life," what a glow of holy love, what captivity and 
 subjection of all our powers to such an infinitely 
 glorious benefactor! Would any sacrifice seem great 
 that he would command or that we could make? 
 Would any self-denial for his sake* seem severe? 
 Now the truth that Christ has so secured the eternal 
 life of your souls ought not to lose any of its im- 
 pressiveness because it may have been long and fa- 
 miliarly known to you. It is still a wonderful, a 
 glorious fact; one on which the redeemed will dwell 
 with rapture in a future world. Its solemn weight 
 ought to press in upon your souls a sense of obliga- 
 tion to the blessed Redeemer whose force would 
 «' bring every thought into captivity to the obedience 
 of Christ." 
 
 Finally, — We see from this subject the point of 
 that scripture which saith, «' he that hath not the Son, 
 hath not life. It is a fact of fearful import that the 
 impenitent are wholly severed from the life that is 
 in Christ Jesus. My dear friends of this class, you 
 are capable of being roused to intense thoughtfulness 
 and effort when your temporal life is endangered. 
 Have you ever seriously thought what it was to be 
 destitute of all spiritual life? — to be met in your 
 present pathway with the certain prospect of eternal 
 
OF THE christian's LIFE. 89 
 
 death? If you have not the Son of God formed in 
 your heart and living there, you have no life. What 
 a condition for the soul which God has made to be 
 destitute of any interest in the existence of Christ the 
 Mediator! No connexion between your immortal 
 part and his infinite being that secures to you the 
 prospect of living in bliss for ever. Nay, the very 
 fact that he lives and shall live eternally, furnishes a 
 dire certainty that those who reject him and perse- 
 vere in rebellion, must perish from his presence for 
 ever. His very existence as God, gives him a con- 
 trol over all those elements in the universe by which 
 he will vindicate his injured honour, his insulted 
 love, and his rejected mercy. It is the great decree 
 of Heaven, " He must reign till He shall have put all 
 enemies under His feet.'' He will live on then to 
 meet you, sinner, in the great day, in his glorified 
 human nature as the Mediator, to confront you with 
 that body that was bruised for your iniquities, with 
 that soul that was made an olTering for your sin, to 
 speak to you of bleeding dying love set at naught, 
 of winning, weeping mercy despised, of pardon and 
 eternal life freely offered, and by you freely rejected. 
 He will live yet to show you the scars of those 
 wounds from which flowed the blood that you have 
 trodden under foot and counted an unholy thing! 
 He will live to break upon your agonized vision in 
 the glories of that eternal Spirit to whom you have 
 done despite in this land of probation. 0, how full 
 of awfulness is the truth that Christ is alive and shall 
 live for evermore, and becaicse he lives, the finally 
 incorrigible must die an eternal death in his righteous 
 government. 
 
90 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 THE FOUNDATION OF MORAL COURAGE AND SOME 
 OF THE EXIGENCIES THAT CALL FOR ITS EX- 
 ERCISE IN THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 " As an adamant hai'der than flint, have I made thy forehead: fear them 
 not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious 
 house."* — Ez. iii. 9. 
 
 In the earlier and ruder ages of the world, feats 
 of physical strength and displays of mere animal 
 prowess were held in high esteem, and much ad- 
 mired. These were the foundation of that superiority 
 and controlling influence, which certain individuals 
 held over their fellows. But advancing intelligence, 
 civilization and refinement have introduced a differ- 
 ent taste, and brought into esteem a higher order of 
 power. Divine revelation has been in advance of 
 all other causes, in efiecting this result. The model 
 of character which the Bible presents — the deeds to 
 which it urges, and the display of powers which it 
 demands, are far more exalted than those of the da- 
 
 "^ This sermon was delivered at the opening of the Synod of 
 Pennsylvania, convened in Hai-risburg, Pa., Oct. 1843. On the day 
 following its dehvery, the Synod, by a unanimous vote, requested a copy 
 of it for publication. — The author, for certam reasons then deemed suffi- 
 cient, declined at that time a compliance with the request. 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 91 
 
 diator or the wrestler, the hero of romance, the knight 
 of chivalry, or the modern warrior. The Bible has had 
 no slight agency in rendering the distinction between 
 mind and matter broad and palpable, and in showing 
 the superiority of the former over the latter. Pagan 
 Greece, and Rome, in the palmiest days of their civi- 
 lization and refinement, seem to have had no just con- 
 ceptions of what constituted the highest and noblest 
 display of human power. Hence the savage pleasure 
 which they derived from witnessing the conflict of 
 infuriated brutes, the dexterous death-blow of the 
 gladiator, or the mere muscular superiority of the 
 wrestler and the racer. It was reserved for revela- 
 tion to point out to man a higher and nobler sphere 
 of exertion, to define what kind of power is destined 
 to have a permanent ascendency in the economy of 
 God, and to teach the human intellect loftier aspira- 
 tions than Greek or Roman ever knew. The Bible 
 withdraws attention from mere bodily strength, over- 
 looks blind animal courage, and tells "the mighty 
 man not to glory in his might." It makes no ac- 
 count of these things, but presenting us in our 
 higher relations and destinies as moral and immortal 
 beings in a world of probation, and dire spiritual 
 conflict, it pours upon our ear its thrilling voice of 
 command and encouragement. " Quit you like men, 
 be strong!" "As an adamant harder than flint, 
 have I made thy forehead; fear them not, neither be 
 dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious 
 house." 
 
 This strong figurative language of our text, is in- 
 tended to express the fact, that God had endowed 
 his ministering servant, the prophet, with an un- 
 
92 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 blenching moral courage,together with the implication, 
 that in the faithful performance of his duty, he would 
 need such a courage. This is a kind of power that 
 " in the sight of God is of great price." That mo- 
 ral force which anchors a man to his principles, 
 and holds him firmly there in defiance of the tumul- 
 tuous violence of an organized opposition from earth 
 and hell — that impulsive energy which carries him 
 through the faithful performance of duty, despite his 
 own remaining depravity, and the dismaying array 
 of outward resistance and perils, is a power far more 
 august and sublime than the mightiest agency of 
 matter or the mere physical force of any number 
 and combination of men. Such is the force, such 
 the energy of the moral courage, disclosed in the 
 metaphorical language of our text. ^^ As an adamant 
 harder than flint, have I made thy forehead.^^ 
 My object in the subsequent remarks shall be, 1st, to 
 inquire into the nature or foundation of this moral 
 courage, and 2d, to notice some of the exigencies 
 that call for such a courage in the ministry of the 
 gospel, — And, 
 
 1. 1 remark very briefly, ^7 is 7iot founded on phy- 
 sical courage, or a reckless hardihood of natural 
 temperament. 
 
 Some men are constitutionally indififerent to dan- 
 ger and difficulties. They feel less and fear less than 
 others of a different mould. By a kind of blind ani- 
 mal force, they brave obstacles and surmount diffi- 
 culties that would overwlielm more timid spirits. 
 But it is not natural buoyancy nor constitutional bra- 
 very that can breast the tremendous resistance made 
 to the office of the ministry, or cope successfully 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 93 
 
 vvitli the gigantic spiritual evils that lie in the Chris- 
 tian's pathway to heaven. Brute daring may figure 
 and vaidt on the arena of physical strife, where hu- 
 man muscles form the contending forces. But its 
 prowess is lost when you transfer it to the sphere 
 where the redeemed soul wrestles "with principali- 
 ties and powers, with the rulers of the darkness of 
 this world, with spiritual wickedness in high places.^' 
 For that conflict the mind must be armed with a 
 courage of higher and heaven-born origin, of mightier 
 and nobler impulse. 
 
 II. Nor is this moral courage draimi from out- 
 10 ard favourable appearances. There is a fitful 
 encouragement, a buoyancy and hope in religious 
 matters that wax and wane with the lights and sha- 
 dows of outward appearances. Israel sang and shouted 
 in view of the palpable interposition of God in their 
 behalf at the Red Sea, but their hearts and hopes 
 sank in dismay at the stern barrenness of the desert, 
 and they distrusted God for bread and water. Now 
 the moral courage contemplated in our text has no 
 necessary connexion with outward favourable ap- 
 pearances. The prophet Ezekiel had no flattering- 
 prospects of a successful and popular ministry 
 amongst the Jews at that time, nor any alluring ap- 
 pearances to stimulate him to a faithful and fearless 
 performance of liis oflicial duties. They were a "re- 
 bellious houFe," whose very " looks" were appalling 
 to flesh and blood. So far from its being founded 
 on favourable appearances, true moral courage can 
 only exist and be displayed in the absence of such 
 appearances. It is the means by which God keeps 
 the soul undaunted in duty, when surrounded by all 
 
94 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 those threatening and imposing forms of evil, which 
 appal tlie eye of sense. Sustained by it Paul and 
 Silas, amidst stocks and stripes, chains and manacles, 
 in the "innermost prison," sang praises to God at 
 midnight. It is the provision which God has made 
 to bear up the soul in conscious triumph and noble 
 daring, ihougli the heavens over it gather blackness, 
 and tiie very '- foundations of the world be out of 
 course." If then this moral courage is not the result 
 of physical temperament, or natural bravery, nor de- 
 rived from favourable appearances, what is its foun- 
 dation ? I answer, 
 
 III. That intelligent views of the real character of 
 God form a part of its foundation. Ignorance of 
 God is the parent of superstition and of slavish fear. 
 The distorted views which the sinner takes of the 
 Divine character fill him with dismay, gloom and 
 despondency. And yet in the real character of God, 
 as beheld and adored by the renewed soul, there is a 
 celestial inspiration; a spirit-stirring, captivating 
 glory in every perfection of the divine nature. That 
 soul contemplates the whole character of God. His 
 self-existence, independence, immutability, omnipo- 
 tence, omniscience, omnipresence and infinite wis- 
 dom, — His benevolence, his justice, holine.^s, truth, 
 faithfulness, and especially his boundless, eternal love 
 and mercy in Christ Jesus to lost sinners. What 
 a resplendent assemblage of attributes are these! 
 When spiritually discerned and believed in by a 
 faith that gives to them substance and living reality, 
 they vvin the highest confidence of all holy minds. 
 The Christian can confide in such a God with an un- 
 shaken trust. The vision of his glory especially as 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 95 
 
 it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, inspires the sanc- 
 tified heart with a high moral courage. How ob- 
 vious is it that such a heart will swell with the in- 
 spirations of a divine bravery, from contemplating 
 the real character of a God of love, whose truth and 
 faithfulness are for ever round about him, and justice 
 and judgment the habitation of his throne, a God 
 who always dares to do right, though in doing it he 
 should damn angels to "everlasting chains under 
 darkness," and encounter the system of an eternal 
 hell as a blot on the otherwise fair map of his uni- 
 verse. How naturally will a holy mind derive an 
 undaunted moral courage from its views of the cha- 
 racter of such a God, even in the hour of greatest 
 temporal peril and depression. The gloom that set- 
 tles on the Christian's heaviest hours here cannot 
 alter or obscure the glory of these august attributes 
 of Jehovah! High above the clouds and darkness 
 of earth, they shine out and shine on forever the same. 
 No "variableness nor shadow of turning" pertains 
 to them. Bright and unchangeable, — the grand 
 constellation of eternity, — they attract the confi- 
 dence, fire the courage, exalt the hope, light the way 
 and cheer the heart of the Christian, even when " tost 
 by tempests and not comforted" by any earthly so- 
 lace. That mind which has intelligent views of the 
 real character of God can draw thence a never-fail- 
 ing, all-sustaining courage amidst the mightiest diffi- 
 culties and the deepest depressions of the Christian 
 warfare!! 
 
 IV. Another element of this moral courage is a 
 living failh in the truth of God's word. God has made 
 his truth to be the great aliment of mind, — the 
 
96 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 means of vitality and growth to all the nobler prin- 
 ciples of our spiritual nature. Light is not more 
 adapted to the structure of the eye than is divine 
 truth to the moral susceptibilities of the mind. 
 
 Truth is both the strength and the armour of the 
 Christian soldier. "Having your loins girt about 
 with Iruthy and taking the sword of the Spirit, which 
 is the word of God." There is an indomitable 
 energy in that living faith which embraces the great 
 circle of revealed truth, and plants itself in an' im- 
 moveable confidence on the testimony of God. This 
 results from the very nature of divine truth when 
 fully accredited. Not only the disclosures which it 
 makes of the infinite perfections of Jehovah, — but 
 the views it presents of his great and glorious de- 
 signs, his eternal purposes and decrees moving on to 
 a certain fulfilment and a sublime consummation, — 
 his grand scheme of providence, wise, benevolent, 
 and administered with a divine exactitude and power 
 that include the fall of a sparrow not less than 
 the fate of empires or the dissolution of worlds. 
 The character, hopes, and destinies of men disclosed 
 in the grand economy of redemption, — the oath of 
 the everlasting covenant, — the great and precious 
 promises, — the pledges of almighty aid to our mortal 
 weakness, and the guarantee of an ultimate victory 
 over death and the grave, and an eternal weight of 
 glory in a future w^orld — the faith that clings with 
 certainty and assurance to truths like these, will in- 
 spire a moral courage that will cut its way to 
 "honour, immortality and eternal life," through all 
 the embattled hosts of earth and hell ! What wonder 
 that ancient worthies, fired with the divine braverv 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 97 
 
 of faith, should have "subdued kingdoms, wrought 
 righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
 of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the 
 edge of the sword, out of weakness were made 
 strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight 
 the armies of the aliens!" 
 
 V. and LASTLY on this point. The testimony of a 
 good conscience, and a sense of the presence and favour 
 of God, are vital to the existence of moral courage. 
 " The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but .the 
 righteous are bold as a lion." Guilt and moral cow- 
 ardice are inseparable companions. When conscience 
 is burdened with unrepented sin, the soul is filled 
 with doubt, darkness, distrust and desponding fears. 
 Guilt rolls up a thick cloud between it and its God, 
 so that his real character cannot be seen. The ope- 
 ration of faith on divine truth is thus crippled, a voice 
 of thunder given to the threatenings of God, and the 
 mind agitated with unbelieving, slavish fear. Moral 
 courage and a bad conscience can never co-exist in 
 the same individual. An approving conscience, void 
 of oflence tow\ards God and towards man, is indis- 
 pensable to such courage. The soul must be sweetly 
 at peace with God, the conscience being purified by 
 the blood of sprinkling, and the whole energies of 
 the man must be emploj^ed in avoiding even the ap- 
 pearance of evil, and in punctually performing all 
 known duty, if he would feel the inspirations of that 
 divine courage which will sustain the soul undaunted 
 amidst all the terrors of the Christian warfare. But 
 something more than this is necessary to such a 
 courage. It is a courage derived directly from 
 God. " As an adamant harder than flint have I made 
 
98 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 thy forehead." There must be a holy fellowship, 
 an intimate communion between the soul and God, 
 giving assurance of the Divine acceptance and favour. 
 The blessed sense of being a member of the family 
 of God, — of being reconciled to him through the 
 blood of his dear Son, — of having him as our God 
 and Father in Christ Jesus, bound to us by ties 
 of eternal love — pledged to us in all the power, wis- 
 dom, goodness, faithfulness and truth of his infinite, 
 unchangeable nature, — that this " God is our God for 
 ever,'' — his word our portion — his love the element 
 of our spiritual life — his mercy in Christ Jesus our 
 hope — his indwelling Spirit our comforter and sancti- 
 fier, — his universal providence concurring for and cen- 
 tring in our good, and ultimately to extract from our 
 very afflictions here a far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory hereafter. The blessed sense that this 
 God is not only our God by formal covenant, but that 
 he has given to us the earnest of the Spirit — that we 
 now feel his favour over us as a shield, — we see his 
 reconciled face lit up with smiles of approbation, — we 
 realize our endeared relation to hiin as his children, — 
 feel an unshaken security in his holy presence alwa3^s 
 abiding with us — it is this that inspires man with 
 a sublime moral bravery ! Here is the grand secret 
 of that courage which triumphs over the terrors of 
 the stake and the flames of martyrdom ! The con- 
 sciousness of the love and presence of God, — the 
 confidence of pleasing him, — the hidden power of 
 contact and holy communion with the infinite 
 Mind — the realization of sharing Je/iot-a/i's sympathies 
 and being enfolded in the amis of his almightiness, 
 this will file the Christian's heart with a moral 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 99 
 
 courage which no terrors can appal, and tlic cold 
 wave of death itself cannot extinguish. Havino; thus 
 examined the nature or foundation of moral courage, 
 I now proceed, in the 
 
 II. place, to notice some of the exigencies that 
 call for such a courage in the ministry of the gos- 
 pel, 
 
 I. The very position or relations of the minister of the 
 gospel to a world that lieth in wickedness, require him 
 to possess a high moral courage. He stands as the 
 ambassador or representative of a Master "despised 
 and rejected of men," and " hated without a cause." 
 The minister of the gospel is regarded as a kind of 
 impersonation or imbodiment of the religion which 
 he teaches — a religion of "awful goodness" — of 
 dreaded, hated sanctions — of severe and solemn pre- 
 cepts, and of august and fearful destinies. The 
 minister is identified with this religion, and looked 
 upon as the main pillar of a system that is felt to be 
 at war wuth the whole course of this present evil 
 world. Now, there is a class of men who hate re- 
 ligion for its own sake, and seem to be " leagued 
 by a sworn hostility " to the hopes of a happy here- 
 after. This class very naturally single out the 
 ministers of the gospel as the objects of their dead- 
 liest enmity, and hurl at them the envenomed mis- 
 siles of their wit, sarcasm, ridicule, scoffs, slanders 
 and violent invectives, just because the holy office, 
 in their minds, is inseparably associated with the 
 hated religion, whose ordinances it administers. Now 
 ministers have the sensibilities of men and a natural 
 love of reputation, and it will require a high moral 
 courage to breast the shock of these assaults un- 
 
100 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 moved ! — *' As an adamant harder than flint/^ must 
 be his "forehead," who escapes wounds and blood 
 from those poisoned arrows, and fearlessly maintains 
 the field when they are flying thickly around him. 
 But the minister not only occupies the negative posi- 
 tion of a representative of Christ and of religion to the 
 world, he is also Heaven's authorized organ of 
 REBUKE to the vices of that world! He stands as 
 the expositor of the holy law of God — the advocate 
 of its uncompromising claims on the conscience and 
 the heart of a revolted and rebellious race! He is 
 to hear the word at God's mouth, and give the wick- 
 ed warning from him — He is to gather the darkness, 
 and thunder and lightning of Sinai over the guilty- 
 pathway of every transgressor — to reiterate God's 
 own condemnation on the maxims and customs, the 
 principles and motives, the pleasures, pursuits, pas- 
 sions, hopes and prospects of a world lying in wick- 
 edness. He is to maintain a stern and solemn re- 
 monstrance against all the selfishness, obliquities and 
 wrong-doing of wicked men! His office must be 
 made a standing reproach, a standing memento to 
 them in Ihe'ir criminal career. And he must array 
 before them the terrors of an eternal hell as the 
 portion of their cup, who remain incorrigibly im- 
 penitent in the government of God. This he must 
 do single-handed against the great ungodly com- 
 munity — the one against the million — protected by 
 no state establishment — defended by no superstitious 
 sacredness attached to his person, no ghostly power 
 nor pontifical prerogative! If he is faithful and fear- 
 less, in this department of his duty, and fastens the 
 rebukes of God's truth on the guilty consciences of 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 101 
 
 men, he will have to " fight " with them " after the 
 manner of beasts," as did Paul at Ephesus. He will 
 rouse, exasperate and combine their malignity against 
 him, and encounter from them a hostility, that will 
 make war upon him to the knife. Wicked men 
 have always shown, that they have felt a holy, faith- 
 ful ministry to be the great obstacle to carnal security 
 and false peace in their criminal pursuits. And 
 whatever repressing influence public sentiment may 
 have on the outward expressions of their feeling, in 
 heart they regard such a ministry with unmitigated 
 hate, and will visit its incumbent with every form 
 of enmity, persecution, annoyance and indignity 
 which civil law and popular opinion will permit. It 
 is vain for us, when imbosomed in the affections and 
 respect of our limited pastoral charges, to forget this 
 fact, and feel as though our office secured to us the 
 undissenting homage and kindly regards of the 
 world. Young ministers, especially, are prone to 
 fall into this error, till bitter experience corrects it. 
 Mortifying to our vanity as it may be, it is still true, 
 the great, overwhelming majority of the world, in 
 heart, hate us cordially /or our office sake: and we owe 
 our personal safety, and the negative respect of not 
 being molested, more to the restraints of civil law 
 and of public sentiment, than to the intrinsic favour 
 with which the wicked regard us. The ministry is 
 a thankless contemned office; its incumbent regarded 
 by the world as a kind of professional pauper, sus- 
 tained by the stinted and grudged charities of reli- 
 gionists; and, in fact, he is often more meanly paid 
 than the drivelling demagogue, who gets his petty 
 appointment to gauge rum or inspect tobacco, by 
 9" 
 
102 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 the political favouritism of a corrupt executive. 
 Now llie nian who bears the holy office, and faith- 
 fully applies its tremendous power of rebuke to the 
 conscience of an ungodly world, will need more than 
 Spartan valour to sustain him under the obloquy, hate, 
 and exasperated revenge which the world will roll 
 back upon him from its chafed and galled multitudes! 
 He needs a moral courage with which God alone 
 can inspire him. 
 
 II. The great revolutions in mind, and the 
 changes in character to he aimed at by his agency, 
 require of the minister a high moral courage. 
 
 Men who contemplate promoting social or politi- 
 cal revolutions, or great changes in the temporal 
 condition of our race, need a stern, unblenching 
 courage. But what are these compared with the 
 revolution of Tnind and the changes of moral cha- 
 racter contemplated b}^ the instrumentality of the 
 minister? To grapple with an immortal mind in its 
 fortified enmity and resistance to God — to beard the 
 lion of native depravity in his lair — to do battle with 
 the strong man armed in his palace — to encounter all 
 the lawless passions of a revolted soul — its long 
 cherished, gigantic habits of doing evil — its unbri- 
 dled appetites in their sinful and insatiable cravings 
 — to sever the ties that bind it to its guilty course — 
 to break the meshes in which the confederacy and 
 companionship of the wicked, the temptations and 
 allurements of the world have entangled it — to slay 
 its enmity — subdue its rebellion — bring it from 
 darkness to light — from the power of Satan unto 
 God, humbled, reconciled, penitent, submissive, 
 believing, loving, adoring— to change the whole 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 103 
 
 moral relations of that soul to God and the universe 
 — its entire hopes for time and eternity is probably 
 the greatest revolution in mind that occurs any 
 where in the dominions of God. Yet this is the 
 work at which the agency of the minister aims. ! 
 with what manner of courage ought he to be armed, 
 when single-handed he enters the lists against such 
 fearful spiritual odds, and agonizes for the eternal 
 prize of salvation to a soul ! ! The changes, too, in 
 moral character, to which his instrumentality is di- 
 rected, are very great. To aim at the entire trans- 
 formation of a being once totally depraved — to raise 
 a soul from the pit of corruption to the purity of a 
 child of God and an heir of heaven — from the deep 
 darkness of the apostacy to make it shine as a light 
 in the world, in defiance of the opposing forces of 
 its own remaining depravity, and in the midst of the 
 masses of moral polhjtion by which it is surrounded, 
 and the multiplied wiles of the devil wielded against 
 it, — to attempt to form a moral character on the very 
 model of Jesus Christ's — to have it animated by the 
 same mind and displaying the same graces that cha- 
 racterized and adorned him — and to have it advance, 
 grow, and increase to the measure of the stature of a 
 perfect man in Christ Jesus — till it attains the purity 
 that fits it for a holy and eternal heaven, is a work 
 that might task an angel's instrumentality and try 
 his immortal courage! ! 
 
 II L To prosecute those grand enteyyrises of 
 benevolence ivitli ivhich his office and influence 
 are connected, will require of the minister no ordi- 
 nary moral courage. In prosecuting any enterprise 
 we need a courage proportioned to the obstacles to 
 
104 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 be encountered, and to the magnitude of the results 
 contemplated. Now in the great enterprises with 
 which the office and influence of the minister are 
 connected, the obstacles to be encountered are the 
 organized and aggregated opposition of two apostate 
 worlds, earth and hell! The result contemplated, 
 the subjugation of this world to the rule of Messiah. 
 This, perhaps, is the most stupendous enterprise now 
 going on in the vast empire of God ! The moral recla- 
 mation — the spiritual regeneration and redemption of 
 the whole world ! ! What a tremendous instrumenta- 
 lity must be exerted for its accomplishment! Think of 
 the mighty details included in such an achievement! 
 All the ignorance of God and of duty — all the errors 
 and prejudices, the superstitions and idolatries under 
 which earth groans are to be removed by the Divine 
 blessing on human agency. All the intrenched enmity 
 and unbelief of the world are to have their strong- 
 holds pulled down^ — the battle axe is to ring on the 
 pillars of the throne of the god of this world, till 
 they crumble beneath its heavy blows, and the whole 
 earth is subdued and brought into the obedience of 
 the faith — all the intemperance and lust, the war and 
 rapine, the oppression and tyrann}^, the murder and 
 theft, the treachery, and deceit, and civil discords, 
 that curse the globe, are to be removed from bleed- 
 ing, groaning, humanity. 
 
 All that mighty aggregation of miseries, tem- 
 poral and spiritual, which the great moral overthrow 
 in Eden has brought upon our race, is to be relieved 
 by the untiring assiduities of sanctified, human bene- 
 volence. All the discordant and conflicting elements 
 of the whole society of earth are yet to be harmo- 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 105 
 
 nized — the distinctions of climate and caste, — of na- 
 tional and local prejudices — of varying pursuits and 
 habits — of different forms of government, of clashing 
 schemes of philosophy and religion, and ten thousand 
 nameless diversities that mark all kindreds, and 
 tongues, and people under heaven, are to be so far 
 merged as to leave no barrier in the way of uniting 
 '^ Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwell- 
 ers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in 
 Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt, 
 in Lybia, and the strangers at Rome, Jews and pro- 
 sel^^tes, Cretes and Arabians,'^ in one harmonious 
 kingdom under the reign of the great Prince of peace. 
 In a word, the grand enterprise of preparing the way 
 of the Lord for the millennium is yet to be executed. 
 The mountains are to be made low, and the valleys 
 exalted — every obstruction to the chariot wheels of 
 the Redeemer, over the whole extent of earth, is to 
 be taken out of the way. The sacred oracles are to 
 be translated into every tongue, and spread till they 
 shall have visited the home of every human being — 
 the institutions of Christianity to be established in 
 every land — the great mass of mind, the world over, 
 to be emancipated from the curse, and man restored 
 to the long lost peace of heaven, is to take up the an- 
 gel song of the nativity, and — 
 
 "The dwellers in tlie vales and on the rocks 
 Shout to each other; and the mountain tops, 
 From distant mountains catch the flying joy, 
 Till nation after nation, taught the strain, 
 Earth rolls the rapturous hosannah round." 
 
 Such, brethren, is the august enterprise with which 
 God has joined our instrumentality, and, to the ac- 
 
106 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 complishment of which that instrumentality is indis- 
 pensable. " As an adamant, harder than flint/' must 
 be his forehead, who can face unfaltering; its mighty 
 obstacles, and live, and labour, and hope on untiring, 
 amidst the delays and discouragements, that lie in the 
 way of its final execution ! ! 
 
 IV. There are certain mal-tende>^cies or ul- 
 TRAisMS of this age, to combat which, will require 
 a high degree of moral courage in the minister. 
 In our day the turbulent spirit of radicalism and in- 
 novation has taken the course of carrying things law- 
 ful and right in themselves to extremes, rather than 
 that of a direct and revolutionary attack upon them. 
 The insidious ingenuity and speciousness of this 
 course is apparent. Philanthropists and sober po- 
 litical philosophers have in this era of intellectual ex- 
 citement and active benevolence been honestly stu- 
 dying the science of human government, and the 
 philosophy of society with the hope of a farther ame- 
 lioration of man's physical condition, and an increase 
 of his social comforts and happiness. Now inno- 
 vators and reckless radicals have taken advantage of 
 this popular movement, and carried it out to the 
 " ultima thule" of Owenism, Fourierism, Brisbanism, 
 till an infidel, atheistic, anarchical agrarianism is 
 urged upon us under the specious pretext of philan- 
 thropic sympathy for the great mass of the labouring 
 community, and of an improved state of society. 
 It takes its starting point from the salutary advance- 
 ment and real benevolence of the age, and attempts 
 to persuade the w^orld that it is still under their 
 banners, when its own gloomy flag without "stripes 
 or stars" is waving over the verge of social and po- 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 107 
 
 litical chaos, and flaj3ping in the storm of up-rooting, 
 levelling revolution. 
 
 A^ain, the liberalizing spirit of protestant Christi- 
 anity, and of republican government, very naturally 
 gave birth to the freedom of the press. The untram- 
 melled expression of opinion on every subject in 
 which society has an interest, while that expression 
 is within the limits of truth, candour, and justice, is 
 one of the choicest temporal blessings of modern ci- 
 vilization. It is a prerogative of freemen, which 
 they prize above all price. Taking advantage of the 
 public appreciation of this blessing, and of the jea- 
 lousy felt towards every thing that looked like an in- 
 vasion of this right, a set of miscreant scribblers, 
 whose only hope of a livelihood was founded on 
 fanning the vulgar prejudice, and inflaming the pas- 
 sions of the worst classes of society, have carried the 
 freedom of the press to the extreme of an appalling 
 licentiousness ; so that now not only is the cha- 
 racter of our purest patriots thrown by a hireling, 
 lying, political press to the dogs and the vultures of 
 the community, to be devoured by them, but the 
 sanctity of private life is invaded, and the events of 
 domestic history emblazoned in capitals to catch the 
 eyes of tlie rabble. There is a profligate spawn of 
 penny and other ephemeral sheets hawked upon the 
 wings of every hour, circulated widely, and, like pa- 
 rasitic vermin, live by feeding on the festering vices 
 of society, thus rendering them more foull)^ sore. 
 
 All this is pleaded as the glorious freedom of the 
 press; and he who would combat it, and strive to 
 roll back the tide of vice and crime which it has 
 raised, must expect to encounter the odium of being 
 
108 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 regarded as an enemy to free discussion, and to the 
 liberty of opinion. 
 
 Again, the principles of a rational, civil, and poli- 
 tical liberty and the great doctrine of the essential 
 equality of rights amongst men have been gaining a 
 deeper hold on the minds of civilized nations, and 
 modifying less or more most of their governments 
 for two centuries past. Liberty and equality have 
 become charm words to modern society, and the 
 THINGS which they indicate commend themselves to 
 man's natural and instinctive sense of justice. 
 
 Now a fanatical and pseudo-pliilanthropy taking 
 advantage of this, and seeming to overlook the fact 
 that an immediate application of the principles of 
 liberty and equality to ever}^ class of human beings 
 may be impracticable, has been guilty of the gross 
 ultraism of defining its own method of their appli- 
 cation, and insisting that these principles shall be so 
 applied, ihougli it be at tlie cost of a breach of go- 
 vermental covenant, the dissolution of tiie union, 
 the abolition of the Christian scriptures, of the 
 Christian Sabbath, the Christian ministry and the 
 Christian church. Though founding its claims upon 
 the love of liberty and equality, and clamorous in 
 professions of the purest desires for human happiness, 
 can any sane man mistake a blasphemiOus radicalism 
 like this for the benevolence of the gospel, or even 
 the philanthropy of civilization?* Yetthe minister 
 who opposes tliese self-constituted guardians of hu- 
 
 * These remarks are by no moans meant as a sweeping and indis- 
 criminate condemnation on a multitude of men who are termed anti- 
 slavery. Their application is confined exclusively to those whose pe- 
 culiar doctrines are here indicated. 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 109 
 
 man rights, dissents from their measures, and disputes 
 their arrogant claims as tlie exclusive friend of the 
 slave, will need more tlian the patience of Job under 
 the volley of vituperation with which he will be as- 
 sailed, and the moral courage of a martyr, to stand 
 the ''^ fiery trial^^ of that fierce and unrelenting op- 
 position and hatred which he will Jiave to encounter. 
 
 Farther, an enlightened humanity for the last half 
 century has been very active in banisliing from so- 
 ciety those relics of barbarism and cruelty that have 
 descended from a darker preceding age. 
 
 It has done much to ameliorate the condition of 
 prisons, and to mitigate the unrighteous severities of 
 criminal laws. It is one of the benign influences 
 of the gospel, hailed and cherished by all those who 
 have imbibed the meekness and gentleness of Christ. 
 Now a class of sickly sentimentalists have arisen, 
 who have pressed this enlightened humanity to such 
 a pitch of ultraism, that they cry out against the 
 penalty of death for the crime of murder, and sur- 
 round and shield its malicious and blood-guilty per- 
 petrator with their profoundest sympathy. Petitions 
 to the legislatures for the abolition of capital punish- 
 ment, essays in political papers, and orations in po- 
 pular assemblies are employed to overawe the mi- 
 nister who dares to expound the will of God on this 
 subject, and to declare in the very words of inspira- 
 tion that " the murderer shall surely be put to death." 
 
 The time would fail me to speak of the numerous 
 mal-political tendencies or ultraisms of our day, 
 which deserve and demand faithful rebukp from the 
 minister of the gospel. All our marked political 
 tendencies of Inte have been bad and growing; worse 
 10 
 
110 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 from year to year. They have generated gigantic 
 national and political crimes, and are fast hurrying us 
 *' farther and farther from that lofty purity and those 
 incorruptible principles which imparted their dignity 
 to our institutions in earlier times." Let any mi- 
 nister attempt to bring the faithful rebukes of God 
 upon this political wickedness in high places, and 
 see whether his moral courage will not be put to a 
 fiery ordeal. 
 
 I say nothing of ultraism under the name of reform 
 in the church ; — in some respects the worst of all 
 ultraisms, because for its oppressions and wrongs, 
 its excommunications and anathemas, it pleads con- 
 science before God, and covers its head in the day 
 of battle and of stormy revolution with the great 
 JEgis of professed love for the purity and prosperity 
 of Zion, and of zeal for the defence of " the faith 
 once delivered to the saints." 
 
 Now let any ministerof the gospel withstand to the 
 face all these ultraisms of the day — let him encounter 
 the charge of being an enemy to the improvement of 
 the race, wishing to keepsociety in the cast iron mould 
 of past and dark ages — of wishing to muzzle the press, 
 and stifle free inquiry — of wishing to rivet the chains 
 on the down-trodden slave — of wishing to sustain 
 a barbarous and bloody code of criminal laws — of 
 being 2i^' party politicians^ for rebuking political 
 crime, and a heretic and ecclesiastical radical for dis- 
 senting from schismatic and revolutionary measures 
 in the church. Let him know that the price of his 
 fidelity is to be paid him in an overwhelming odium 
 like this from church and state, and the minister who 
 can still obev his God. and do his dutv in these cir- 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. Ill 
 
 cumstances will need all the indomitable moral 
 courage with which his high consciousness of right 
 and his holy confidence in Jehovah can inspire 
 him ! 
 
 V. Lastly. To act well our part in the great 
 struggle now going on between the religion of ce- 
 remony and spiritual despotism on the one hand, 
 and the religion of the heart, toleration and spi- 
 ritual freedom on the other, will require high mo- 
 ral courage in the ministry. 
 
 A histor}^ of the moral conflicts that have been 
 waged in our world, would be infinitely more inte- 
 resting than the chronicles of all the military move- 
 ments and mighty battles of earth's warriors. Pre- 
 viously to the advent of the Saviour, there was a 
 great overgrown system of idolatry, (which is the re- 
 ligion of ceremony, in its essence and purity.) This 
 system, interwoven with pagan governments,and used 
 as a machine of state, had for ages made war upon 
 and succeeded in corrupting the ancient true religion. 
 The Christianity of the New Testament, on its first 
 promulgation, and in its pristine simplicity and spirit- 
 ual power, overthrew this gigantic system, and raised 
 its own unostentatious altar, and performed its simple 
 rites in the palace of the Coesars. Now the thing 
 which destroyed this first grand victory of spiritual 
 Christianity and religious liberty was the Ai§-AcAw7'C^, 
 or spiritual despotism principle. This rose and 
 ascended higher and higher as an orb of ill-omen, 
 till it culminated in a popedom, all grasping of uni- 
 versal, temporal and spiritual authority — of human 
 and divine prerogative. The overthrow of this, is 
 to constitute the last grand triumph of Christianity, 
 
112 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 brought back to its apostolic simplicity, purity and 
 spirituality! The first onset was made, and battle 
 joined with this fearful power in the time of the 
 ever glorious reformation. But it has been the dis- 
 astrous mistake of Protestant Christendom, to take 
 it for granted that the victory was completed then, 
 and the great war of these antagonist jyrinciples 
 ended. For two centuries has the church rested on 
 the almost unquestioned assumption, that the rights 
 of conscience, religious toleration and spiritual free- 
 dom, were established on an immovable basis, and 
 destined to an undisputed, unchecked and irreversi- 
 ble advancement! But he who thinks so now, is a 
 partial observer of the signs of the times, and a super- 
 ficial student in the philosophy of depraved human 
 nature. Taking the world as it is, and the advance- 
 ment of these great principles will follow the analogy 
 of that law in hydrostatics, which governs the break- 
 ers of the ocean, as they thunder along the beach. 
 The impulse that raises them, and the very force 
 with which they break on the ascending shore, create 
 a regurgitation, a receding current, that carries them 
 back towards the quiet deeps from which the wind 
 aroused them. The antagonism to these glorious prin- 
 ciples lies in the great deeps of human depravity, and 
 like those ofthe ocean, the storm has to rage on the sur- 
 face some time, before they are agitated so as to pro- 
 duce those counter, under currents, that bring on the 
 great ebb of reaction. It would seem to be our al- 
 lotment, in the providence of God, to live and sustain 
 the holy oiBBce in the very crisis of the commencing 
 reaction of the great impulse of the Reformation. 
 The love of a gorgeous church ritual, that charms 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 113 
 
 the senses, and fascinates the imagination — the love 
 of a religion of ceremony that promises heaven on 
 the easiest conditions — the love of ecclesiastical pow- 
 er and supremacy — the ghostly ambition of titles 
 and mitres, and all the trappings of spiritual despo- 
 tism, is not yet dead in the hearts of unconverted 
 men. These baleful elements that lie deep in 
 fallen human nature, have become roused of late, by 
 the strides both of civil and religious liberty, and by 
 the unwonted zeal and activity of a portion of the 
 church, to propagate and establish a pure, spirilual 
 Christianity. Forthe last ten or fifteen years we have 
 heard their notes of preparation and witnessed their 
 prelusive movements in the peculiar character of the 
 controversies waged so warmly in the church. It re- 
 quires but a partial analysis of the real object of the 
 violent disputes which have recently agitated most of 
 the religious denominations, to ascertain that it is, in 
 fact, however men may persuade themselves to the 
 contrary, a struggle for the ascendency of that which 
 in its essence (whatever may be its form) constitutes 
 the high church principle. The tocsin that has been 
 sounded is a blended and harmonious peal, from the 
 Vatican at Rome and Oxford in England! "The 
 man of sin" is in the field in full panoply, and in a 
 more determined attitude of war than at any time 
 since the reformation in the days of Luther. All 
 the elements of the religion of ceremony and of 
 spiritual despotism, that lie scattered over Christen- 
 dom and the world, seem to feel his magic attraction. 
 They have marshalled themselves, made common 
 cause with him, and are ready at this moment to 
 do battle in the agony and desperation of their last 
 10* 
 
114 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 struggle against the religion of the heart, toleration 
 and spiritual freedom. And if racks and gibbets, 
 stakes, fire and fagot do not figure so largely in the 
 present as in former conflicts of this kind, let it not 
 be supposed that the present, on this account, will 
 be the less severe! The advancement of society- 
 has invented the weapons of a more refined and 
 deadly execution in moral combat, as well as in the 
 art of modern warfare. And this dread principle 
 of high-churchism or spiritual despotism will not be 
 slow in availing itself of the burnished steel and 
 finely tempered blade that will ^' wind to the heart 
 of its antagonist keener edged with deeper ill," 
 than the more blunt and cumbrous weapons of the 
 great Reformation. We have hitherto flattered our- 
 selves that this monstrous principle could not stand 
 erect, much less fight successfully in the midst of the 
 liberal and republican tendencies of our age and 
 country. But recent events in the history of eccle- 
 siastical conventions and the recent revival and prac- 
 tice of obsolete and superstitious rites, once the ac- 
 credited auxiliaries of spiritual despotism, have am- 
 ply corrected this easy assumption. 
 
 The religion of ceremony and spiritual despotism 
 will rally a more numerous phalanx in this republi- 
 can country than we have ever hitherto suspected. 
 It will imbody a great portion of the wealth, and 
 take all that class of the aristocracy who wish to go 
 " through the gates of Lord Mammon's lodge with 
 the drums and trumpets of worldly pride, and to 
 march magnificently on with all the glittering appa- 
 ratus of gold and power" to a heaven secured to 
 them by ceremonies. This high church principle 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 115 
 
 will claim and boast the elite of society as its friends 
 and allies. It will strive to identify itself with the 
 intelligence, gentility and refinements of the age. 
 It will associate itself with the fine arts and polite 
 literature, and thus present to all the gay, pleasure- 
 loving, cultivated, poetic, romantic portion of the 
 community a religion of taste, to be enjoyed in splen- 
 did cathedrals with massive pillars, "long drawn 
 aisles,'* and domes of fretted gold, — with gorgeous 
 altars and holy tapers — with the peal of deep-toned 
 bells, the rich harmonies of an exquisite orchestra, 
 volumes of sweet incense — imperial, priestly robes, 
 glittering tapestry, gilded crosses and all the array 
 of imposing tinsel that delights a depraved imagi- 
 nation, and is substituted for " holiness to the Lord." 
 It will gain a vast body of recruits, too, from those 
 who have hitherto been wholly indifferent to all un- 
 ostentatious religion which retained the simplicity 
 and spirituality of the New Testament. And when 
 once enlisted no class will fight for it with a more 
 fierce and furious bigotry than these. And besides 
 all these classes it will hold in its train that host of 
 timid and irresolute conservatives who would rather 
 *' endure the ills that are, than fly to those they know 
 not of." Now with numbers and resources like these 
 — claiming exclusive apostolic authority and succes- 
 sion, unchurching all others, and modestly giving them 
 over to the " uncovenanted mercies of God,'' — charging 
 them with the guilt of all the schisms and sects that 
 divide Christendom — holding them responsible for 
 all the innovations, heresies, disorders, and ecclesias- 
 tical radicalism of the times, the religion of ceremony 
 will make the attack aided by the tremendous in- 
 
116 THE TRUE FOUNDATION 
 
 spirations and the allied powers of him who, accord- 
 ing to Milton, occupies more than an archbishop's 
 place in Pandemonium, and whose ambition chose to 
 "reign in hell rather than serve in heaven!" Will 
 it not require the loftiest darings of moral courage to 
 enter the lists against such a foe in behalf of that re- 
 ligion of the heart, that toleration and spiritual free- 
 dom, which have their foundation only in enlight- 
 ened, regenerated human nature? 
 
 The mighty antagonism of these principles pro- 
 duces a concussion that is felt in heaven and reaches 
 down to hell!! We are now, perhaps, to witness 
 their last, grand conflict — not as uninterested specta- 
 tors. We are to take our respective parts in the 
 throes and agonies of this stupendous struggle, and 
 to meet its vast issues in this world and the world 
 to come!! We must look to God to make our " fore- 
 heads as an adamant, harder than flint," to face un- 
 daunted such a foe! And, girding ourselves with 
 his strength, and intrenching ourselves in his eternal 
 truth, we must do battle without fainting, till the re- 
 ligion of the heart, toleration, and spiritual freedom 
 shall triumph, and shout their final victory in our 
 world. 
 
 My dear brethren in the ministry, I leave the 
 practical application of these remarks to yourselves. 
 Many of you are more competent than I to make 
 such application, and to discover the practical bear- 
 ings and momentous relations of the truths now pre- 
 sented. God has brought us upon the stage, and 
 clothed us with the holy office, in the very crisis of 
 the revived combat and career of those great op- 
 posing principles that struggle for permanent ascen- 
 
OF MORAL COURAGE. 117 
 
 dency over all that is most valuable in man's immor- 
 tal nature. For us, for our altars, for our children 
 and our country, owr.s is a "calamitous distinction! 
 but a sublime one," if fired with a divine courage, 
 and clothed with the whole armour of God, and glow- 
 ing with zeal for his glory, we enter the lists, act 
 well our part, — resist the mighty foe, even unto 
 blood, "and having done all to stand," approved of 
 God, conscience, our country and the world, as 
 having heroically done our duty in the last desperate 
 agonies of the conflict, and contributed to the final 
 triumph of the cross over the sullied crowns and 
 broken sceptres of a for ever vanquished, routed spi- 
 ritual despotism. 
 
118 THE ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 THE ENORMITY OF THE SINNER'S CONDUCT IN 
 MAKING LIGHT OF THE INVITATIONS OF THE 
 GOSPEL. 
 
 "Bui they made light of it." — Matt. xxii. 5. 
 
 Such is the brief but graphic history, which the 
 Son of God gives of the treatment which the invita- 
 tions of the gospel meet with from sinners. In the 
 parable of the marriage of the king's son, of which 
 our text forms a part, the provisions of the plan of 
 salvation are aptly set forth, as also the feelings of 
 the great God in the invitations of mercy. The pre- 
 parations are ample and splendid, befitting the style 
 of ro3^alty. The invitation sent to the guests is cha- 
 racterized by the mingled feelings of majesty, autho- 
 rity, parental affection, and sensitiveness for the 
 honour of a beloved Son. On the part of those in- 
 vited, ought to have been gratitude for tlie distin- 
 guished favour thus conferred, — respect, and venera- 
 tion for the royal authority, — tender regard for pa- 
 rental feeling, and a prompt compliance as an evi- 
 dence of their loyalty, and of their appreciation of 
 regal favour. But, instead of all this, so natural, and 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 119 
 
 befitting the occasion, "they made light of it!" 
 Now were the facts in this parable literally to occur 
 at present, it would excite great surprise and indig- 
 nation, not merely in the king himself, but in the 
 community generally. Rut the great " King eter- 
 nal, immortal, and invisible," has made a spiritual 
 marriage for his only-begotten Son, and that, too, at 
 the amazing expense of heaven's best treasure and 
 blood. And he has sent a solemn, urgent invitation to 
 men, to come and be honoured guests, and they make 
 light of it — they treat it as they would not dare treat 
 the invitation of a sinful fellow mortal, — and yet it 
 excites no general surprise, and calls forth no indig- 
 nant reprobation from the community. The text is 
 obviously designed to teach us, that men disregard 
 and make light of the invitation of the gospel, and 
 trifle with all the rich provisions and solemn asso- 
 ciations included in it, though these refer to the cha- 
 racter and work of Christ, and to the salvation of the 
 soul. I shall enter upon no laboured argumentation 
 to prove this. The every day conduct of men who pos- 
 sess the Bible, and enjoy the ministrations of the gos- 
 pel, is ample testimony to this truth. Impenitent 
 sinners need no logic to convince them that they are 
 daily making light of God's solemn message to them 
 respecting their salvation. They have the witness 
 in themselves; and I simply refer them to their own 
 consciences, and am willing to abide by their deci- 
 sion. My only object in this discourse will be, to 
 endeavour to help the impenitent to get some just 
 conceptions of their conduct, in making light of the 
 invitations of the gospel. The question which I pro- 
 pose to raise from this text, and to answer if I can. 
 
120 THE ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 is this, — WHAT do you make light of in trifling as 
 you do with the provision, the invitations, and 
 offers of mercy in the gospel? 
 
 I. You make light of that which relates specially 
 
 to your IMMORTAL PART tO yOUT DEATHLESS SOUL. 
 
 The invitations of the gospel refer not merely to your 
 temporal interests, nor your physical enjoyment, 
 though incidentally, the gospel, when embraced, se- 
 cures even these. The provisions of the gospel, re- 
 presented by this marriage feast, relate to your im- 
 mortal part. While God is not unmindful of those 
 physical wants which you have in common with all 
 animal natures, his great scheme of mercy relates 
 specially to the wants, the desires, the capacities of 
 hope and of happiness in the undying souL It is 
 your nobler jjart that is consulted in this great 
 scheme; that part which gives to your nature all 
 the solemn dignity which it has in the scale of 
 being — that soul of yours, which bears the impress 
 — the very image of its God! — that mysterious 
 spirit, made originally but a "little lower than the 
 angels," and decreed to immortality — that soul of 
 yours which has begun an existence that is to run 
 parallel with the eternal being of God himself — that 
 soul that will survive the dissolution of all worlds — 
 that will out-live all the changes that pass on the 
 material universe — that will lose no capacity amidst 
 the wrecks and wastes of time, the convulsions of 
 dooms-day, and the revolutions of immortal ages — 
 YOUR SOUL, sinner, in all its capabilities of virtue or 
 of vice — in all its vast range of powers — in all its 
 elements of growth, progress, and indefinite attain- 
 ment—in all its susceptibilities of enjoying or suffer- 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 121 
 
 ing the rewards or punishments which God's eternal 
 government will bestow or inflict on the righteous or 
 the wicked — the soul — the lost, yet recoverable soul, 
 outweighing worlds, and overmatching all the inte- 
 rests of time in its intrinsic worth — this is the mighty, 
 immortal nature, whose recovery, happiness, and sal- 
 vation, are consulted in the provisions and invita- 
 tions of mercy. In making light of these, sinner, 
 you trifle with what relates directly to your own 
 deathless soul, in all the grand interests of its immor- 
 tality. Make light of the gravest things of time — 
 trifle with all the mightiest affairs of earth, that may 
 affect you only in the present life, and still leave you 
 unhurt for eternity! But, 0! make not light of that 
 which touches the immediate interests of the soul — 
 trifle not with any thing that has the dignity, the im- 
 portance, the deep solemnity of relating directly to 
 that immortal spirit of yours, which God has breathed 
 into you, and which you will so soon breathe out 
 again to him, stript of its clay, to be fixed in the re- 
 verseless doom of its eternal state! 
 
 II. You make light of the most wonderful love 
 that the universe has ever witnessed. 
 
 There is something in trifling with the sincere af- 
 fections of others, the baseness of which every one 
 can appreciate, and is ready to condemn. The human 
 heart feels no wound more keenly than this. Why 
 then has it never struck you, my impenitent friend, 
 that in making light of the offers of salvation, you 
 were trifling with infinite, eternal love, and impo- 
 tently aiming to inflict a w^ound on the heart of God? 
 Are not the provision, and the invitations of the gos- 
 pel founded on the most wonderful, incomparable 
 11 
 
122 THE ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 love that the universe ever witnessed ? How shall I 
 attempt to describe the love of God with which you 
 trifle, in your rejection of the offers of mercy? All 
 that the scriptures can say of it, is, — " God so loved 
 the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but 
 have everlasting life." You observe there is nothing 
 here to make out a complete comparison. The par- 
 ticle, " so " would seem to imply some correspond- 
 ing term in the latter part of the sentence — but there 
 is none. The Bible just refers to the sublime fact of 
 the gift of God's Son, as the measure of his love to 
 the world. And this is a measure utterly incompre- 
 hensible by finite minds. How angels, cherubim, 
 seraphim, thrones, principalities, and powers in hea- 
 ven, tax their capacities to comprehend the de- 
 grees of this measure of the love of God to man ! 
 They think of that adorable person of the Trinity, 
 in the bosom of the Father, whom they have loved, 
 and worshipped as God equal with the Father — they 
 think of the glory that he had before the world was 
 — the splendours of his eternal Godhead — and then in 
 amazement, they behold him freely given up by the 
 Father, as the expression and measure of his love 
 to the world ! Ah ! this is mainly what " the angels 
 desire to look into." If we may judge of love 
 by the sacrifices it will make, (and this is the true 
 criterion) how imagination itself, in its most daring 
 and vast conceptions, is over-matched, lost, and sinks 
 down in despair, as we think of the costly sacrifice 
 which expresses the measure of God's love to man! 
 And to enhance this wonderful love, God commend- 
 eth it to us, in 'Uhat while we were yet sinners. 
 Christ died for us.'- 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 123 
 
 " O for such love, let rocks and hills, 
 Their lasting sUence break!" 
 
 And what if universal nature were personified, and 
 had a voice loud as seven thunders, and sweet as the 
 music of the spheres, and the heavens over us were one 
 vast speaking trumpet, and earth, and air, and ocean, 
 fitted to send back echoes, as strains from celestial 
 worlds, could all the eternal love ofGod to man, then, be 
 spoken out to the universe? No!! It will be eternally 
 telling in heaven's language of song, yet never all 
 told!!! 0! dying sinner, this, this is the love you 
 make light of in slighting the invitations of the gos- 
 pel. Such a love — so wonderful the universe never 
 witnessed in any other instance. In slighting it, sin- 
 ner, you make light of that which is the crowning 
 perfection, the most resplendent glory of Jehovah's 
 nature. A glory that specially lingers over you, of- 
 fering to shed its beams on your darkness here, and 
 to create for you the noontide of heaven hereafter! 
 0! with what an august, awful element you are 
 sporting, when you make light of the infinite love of 
 God, in the invitations of the gospel! 
 
 III. You make light of the most sublime sorrows 
 and sacrifices that have ever been loitnessed in the empire 
 of God. If we instinctively condemn the one who 
 trifles with the affections of others, we feel a greater 
 revolting, a deeper and more burning indignation 
 when we think of one making light of real sorrows 
 and trifling with a great sacrifice made for him. 
 There is something sacred in sorrow. We feel that 
 we cannot rashly intrude into the retirement of the 
 wounded spirit — that we cannot trifle with impunity 
 in the presence of real grief, nor treat lightly the 
 
124 THE ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 heart that bleeds with its own anguish. Now on 
 what are the provision and invitations of mercy to 
 sinners founded? With what are they inseparably 
 associated? With the sorrows and the sacrifice of 
 the Son of God!! This is a theme on which I know 
 not how to speak ! Though this is a world of sorrow, 
 and each of us has had bitter drops in our earthly 
 cup, yet who can dare attempt to describe the woes 
 of the "man of sorrows?'^ We know not what 
 were the great depths of His humiliation " who 
 thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet 
 made himself of no reputation, and took on himself 
 the form of a servant, humbled himself, and became 
 obedient unto death." He was born in circumstances 
 of sorrow and shelterless poverty beyond the com- 
 mon lot of man; he encountered the malice of the 
 world when but a tender infant — he endured the 
 contradiction of sinners against himself — he was 
 beset vvith watchful jealous)^ and envenomed envy 
 at every step of life. He was rejected by his own 
 to whom he came — " the foxes have holes and the 
 birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath 
 not where to lay his head'^ — he was homeless, — he 
 was sorely tried by all the wiles and temptations of 
 the devil, — in his times of extremity he was de- 
 serted by friends — his life was often sought by an in- 
 furiated multitude — he bore the scourge of tongues, 
 and was calumniated even as having a devil — his in- 
 structions were despised — his miracles disputed, and 
 an attempt made to explain them by a reference to 
 Satanic agency. But all these were not the princi- 
 pal sorrows of the Saviour. In the tears he shed 
 over Jerusalem there is the evidence of a kind of 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 125 
 
 sorrow widely dififerent and infinitely more intense 
 than all external troubles. The comprehensive and 
 mournful views which his holy mind took of the 
 dreadful condition of the race that he came to seek 
 and to save, awakened emotions of consuming grief, of 
 which mortals cannot adequately conceive. With 
 what a different eye he looked on the world from 
 that of the best mere man that ever lived. How 
 he estimated the dangers of the impenitent and 
 the deep ruin of their souls, none but himself 
 can ever know! Imagine, were it possible, how 
 he felt in a world of revolt and rebellion against 
 God, full of sin and spiritual death, — himself the 
 only unfalleuj holy being amongst all its millions of 
 inhabitants. 0! what were the sorrows of the Sa- 
 viour's soul in this view? He stood alone in the 
 anguish of spirit produced by this cause, — there 
 was not one on earth that could fully sympathize 
 with him. And then think, too, amidst all those 
 external troubles and this deep internal sorrow of 
 his mind over the moral ruins and monstrous sins of 
 the world, — think how the anticipation of the more 
 awful sufferings that were to constitute his atone- 
 ment was ever crowding upon his soul its dark 
 images from the future! How many silent thoughts 
 of anguish from this source sank on his holy heart 
 with a heaviness never known to mortals! We next 
 follow him to Gethsemane, as he enters on the direct 
 sufferings involved in his expiation for the sins of 
 the world. Who would dare to describe his emo- 
 tions when there beneath the pall of midnight he 
 exclaims to his disciples — "My soul is exceeding 
 sorrowful, even unto death.'' There is a mysterious 
 11* 
 
126 ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 emphasis, a divine pathos in these words that cannot 
 be expressed. But we pass from this to a more re- 
 markable declaration. "And being in an agony, he 
 prayed the more earnestly, and his sweat was as it 
 were great drops of blood falling to the ground!!" 
 On the Saviour's lonely agony at that moment it 
 would seem profane to make a comment. Nor need 
 I dwell on all the circumstances of his arrest and 
 mock trial, that aggravated the already consuming 
 woes of his stricken soul. Around the meek suf- 
 ferer at Pilate's bar and in Herod's court there is an 
 atmosphere of hallowed sorrow — there are pangs 
 and throbs of agony in his sinless bosom there, 
 whose very greatness overawes us into silence. But 
 what did he not endure when, on the cross, he en- 
 tered upon the awful rite of offering up himself a 
 sacrifice to God for the salvation of the world ! ! 
 that sacrifice — those sorrows — those exquisite agonies 
 of mind which it involved — the greatness of that one 
 offering for sin, which called for the darkened hea- 
 vens, the rending rocks, quaking earth and opening 
 graves to attest its divinity !! Has God's vast empire 
 ever witnessed so sublime sorrows, so august a sac- 
 rifice. No! In all the woes of the universe there 
 are none like those which Jesus bore for our salva- 
 tion. No sorrows so tender, so stupendous as his — 
 no sacrifice that has been or will be so felt in its 
 bearings on man's destinies or on God's government 
 in time and through eternity! 0! who could make 
 light of these sorrows of a crucified Saviour? Who 
 could trifle and sport with the awful sacrifice which 
 he made of his soul to God for man's salvation? 
 Yet you, my impenitent friend, in making light of 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 127 
 
 the invitations of the gospel, do trifle with these deep, 
 sacred sorrows of the Saviour's soul, and contemn 
 the glorious sacrifice which he made of himself for a 
 world's atonement. This is the very cliarge which 
 God himself brings against you when he says '- you 
 trample under foot the Son of God, and count the 
 blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified 
 an unholy thing," whenever you reject the offers of 
 mercy. 0, dying sinner! did your conduct ever 
 appear to you in this light before? Did you ever 
 think yourself capable of such enormity in sin as to 
 make light of all the tender, deep, hallowed sorrows 
 of the Son of God, and to contemn that stupendous, 
 that divine sacrifice, which he made of himself for 
 your salvation? 
 
 IV. In making light of the invitations of the gos- 
 pel, you make light of precepts enforced by the 
 most iveighty and awful sanctions. While the 
 gospel presents the wooing entreaties of eternal 
 love, and exhibits a mercy that follows and yearns 
 over its impenitent rejecter with infinite tenderness, 
 yet it is a great mistake to suppose that the gospel 
 has no authoritative claims to press upon the sinner. 
 It has precepts, not less than promises — penalties, 
 not less than rewards. Now we regard it as an in- 
 dication of great depravity and hardihood in crime 
 for a man to make light of the sanctions of criminal 
 law. Few attain a recklessness that enables them 
 to do so. Men generally do not make light of large 
 fines, of long periods of imprisonment — of a life- 
 time of solitary confinement and hard labour — of the 
 penalty of hanging, or any other ignominious death. 
 These sanctions that lie within the range of earth, 
 
128 ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 and reach not beyond the present life, overawe and 
 keep in check the social wickedness of mankind. 
 Men do 7iot trifle with them. But what are these 
 compared with the mighty sanctions attached to the 
 precepts of the gospel? Besides the invitations and 
 offers of mercy, God in the gospel ^^ commands all 
 men every where to repent," And what is the 
 sanction of this precept? " Except ye repent, ye shall 
 all likewise ^e?'wA.'" "Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And what is the 
 sanction to enforce this precept ? " He that believeth 
 not, shall be damned P^ What finite mind can 
 grasp and master the magnitude of these sanctions'? 
 They are not confined to the limits of earth, nor the 
 duration of the present life. They consist not in 
 temporal pains and penalties. They relate not to 
 mere bodily suffering, nor to the ruin of social hap- 
 piness; they strike not at man's terrestrial destinies 
 only! They are sanctions drawn from a future 
 world! They take hold on a vast range of eternal 
 interests — they relate to the souVs reverseless im- 
 mortal doom ! Endless perdition — hopeless dam- 
 natio7i,2iYQ the penalty of disobedience to the precepts 
 of the gospel. whatsanctions! The /o55 of the soul! 
 the blotting out of all the hopes of its eternal existence 
 — a returnless exile from its God — an absolute ex- 
 clusion from heaven, and the fellowship of all the holy 
 — solitary confinement in the gloomy prison of God's 
 retributive wrath — "everlasting chains under dark- 
 ness" — perfected in depravity — the victim of the 
 worm that never dies — of the fire that is never 
 quenched — weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth 
 — the bitter portion of its immortal cup ! What 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 129 
 
 sanctions ! Awful as the ruin of all the highest in- 
 terests of the soul for eternity — as the nameless woes 
 of an eternal hell ! ! my impenitent friend ! if 
 you are influenced and restrained from crime by the 
 thought of imprisonment for life, or the ignominy and 
 horrors of the gallows, why do you make light of 
 the weighty and eternal sanctions of the precepts of 
 the gospel ? These sanctions are more weighty and 
 terrible than the penalty of mere moral law. " For 
 if he that despised Moses' law, died without mercy 
 under two or three witnesses, of how much sorer 
 punishment, suppose ye, shall he be counted worthy, 
 who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and 
 counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was 
 sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite to 
 the Spirit of grace ! !" And, " if the word spoken 
 by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and 
 disobedience received a just recompense of reward, 
 how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salva- 
 tion ?" How obviously does God here teach us 
 that the sanctions of the gospel are more awful 
 than the penalty of the law. To the thoughtful 
 mind, there is the sublime of horror in these sanc- 
 tions ! They constitute, and will consist of all those 
 displays of Jehovah's retributive wrath, which he 
 thinks sufficient to vindicate to the whole universe 
 through eternity his unsullied authority, his abused, 
 injured love — the sorrows and sacrifice of his Son 
 trifled with and contemned — the Holy Ghost quench- 
 ed and grieved by those w^ho have made light of the 
 invitations of the gospel ! ! impenitent man ! is 
 it possible that you, who will tremble and turn away 
 with revolting from the stake or the gallows, will 
 
130 ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 make light of sanctions that involve the '^ shame and 
 everlasting contempt " of the second death — the 
 horrors and hopeless agonies of the damned through 
 immortality!! How can you trifle with sanctions 
 that will make God's universe serious, through the 
 dateless ages of his righteous government, and will 
 hold his great empire in awe for ever and ever ! 
 
 V. Lastly, in making light of the invitations of 
 the gospel, you make light of the highest and noblest 
 destinies to which human nature can possibly rise. Men 
 are not insensible to the distinctions and destinies to 
 which they may rise in the prese?it life. However 
 trifling and temporary these distinctions may be, the 
 desire to attain them keeps the world in bustling ac- 
 tivity. The man who makes light of them is re- 
 garded as lost to his best interests, and destined to a 
 degradation that will make him dangerous to society. 
 But what are the highest destinies of earth compared 
 with those which the gospel presents to the hopes 
 and aspirations of man ? To what are you invited 
 by the gospel? To an immediate change for the 
 better in your moral condition and relations. You 
 are called from darkness to light, from the power of 
 Satan unto God, from the pit of corruption to the 
 purity of heart that shall see God, from rebellion to 
 reconciliation through the blood of atonement, from 
 guilt to pardon, from condemnation to justification, 
 from enmity to love and friendship with God, from 
 exile to intimate union with Jesus Christ, from re- 
 morse and wretchedness to peace of conscience and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost, from a degraded moral cha- 
 racter to the very image of the Son of God, from a 
 grovelling sphere of wicked works to a benevolent 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 131 
 
 activity God-like, elevating, blessing and blessed in 
 all that it does. And is not this the highest destiny 
 which human nature can attain in the present world? 
 To be saved from the dominion and pollution of sin, 
 to be pardoned and received into favour with God, 
 to be united to Christ, to be filled with joy and peace 
 in believing, to have a character bearing the very li- 
 neaments of the Saviour, and to be bringing forth the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness in this life is an in- 
 comparably higher destiny than any other on earth. 
 Now this is the noble distinction in the present life, 
 which you make lighl of by slighting the gospel. 
 But the grander destinies held out in the gospel per- 
 tain not to this world. Christ's kingdom, in more 
 senses than one, is not of this world. Man is im- 
 mortal. This world is but the cradle of his eternal 
 existence! As he has the germ of an imperishable 
 being, so it contains all the capacities that fit him for 
 great destinies in an everlasting futurity. Now the 
 gospel pre-eminentl}^, has brought life and immor- 
 tality to light. Its invitations not only point to the 
 grave and promise a splendid triumph to the soul 
 over the last enemy of its mortal nature, but they 
 point beyond to boundless realms of light and joy. 
 There is an eternal heaven of purity and peace, of 
 loveliness and repose, there \s p ei fee lion in holiness 
 for the soul there, there is immortal companionship, 
 sympathy, and similarity, with all the good and the 
 great gathered from the universe to grace the court 
 of the Eternal King, there is an endless progression 
 in knowledge, holiness, and bliss, an eternally 
 increasing activity in well-doing, there is a crown 
 of more glittering glory than were it studded 
 
132 THE ENORMITY OF THE SINNER IN 
 
 with all the material suns and stars that God has 
 made; there is a throne more resplendent than the 
 condensed lustre of all the worlds of light ever 
 created! There is the presence of the infinite God; 
 the visions of Jesus' face, as the eternal sunshine of 
 the soul. In that light the gospel tells you that you 
 may live and move and have your endless blissful 
 being. To that glorious empire you may rise, and 
 be a king and a priest unto God for ever! Nay, that 
 you may go there and hold a relation as a redeemed 
 soul to your Redeemer, that will constitute a higher 
 and more endeared distinction than the mightiestangel 
 enjoys! What a destiny of inconceivable glories! 
 A great coronation, an august enthronement, a par- 
 ticipation of the soul in the joys of its Lord, amidst 
 the harps and songs, the light and splendours, the 
 triumphs and eternal transports of bliss in heaven. 
 0, can human nature rise to such a destiny? Yes, 
 " the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it:" — '^Father, 
 I will that those whom thou hast given me, be with 
 me where I am, that they may behold my glory." 
 my God! can human nature make light of such a 
 destiny ? Yes, dying sinner, t/ou tnake light of 
 these highest noblest destinies, to which any finite 
 nature can rise. You slight the mercy that invites 
 and woos you to them. You throw away as worth- 
 less the prize of an eternal heaven, you trample its 
 crowns and thrones, its suns and stars beneath your 
 reckless feet. You contemn that infinite aggregation 
 of glories and of joys which Jehovah judges to be 
 amply sufficient to express to the universe and 
 through eternity, His approbation and love of the 
 righteous, and to constitute tlie rewards and confer 
 
MAKING LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL. 133 
 
 the raptures of eternal blessedness on all the sinless 
 and the saved of his universal empire! 0, is there 
 madness like this any where out of the great mad- 
 house of perdition ? My dear impenitent friends, 
 while God forbears with you, and gives you time for 
 reflection, pause and think of what you are making 
 light, as you disregard the invitations of the gospel. 
 0, will you, can you turn coldly away from the 
 offered, exalted destinies of an eternal heaven? If 
 you can, if you will trifle with this message, too, as 
 you have done with all the invitations of your God 
 heretofore, 0, how will he regard your conduct in 
 this matter? and how will you dare any longer to 
 presume on his continued patience and forbearance 
 with you ? When you reflect on the enormity of 
 your course, do you not wonder, sinner, that these 
 heavens are not already gathering blackness over 
 you, and the eternal throne, high above them, sending 
 out the " seven thunders " of its condemnation on 
 conduct like this? 
 
 Let me say to you, my dear friends, in con- 
 clusion, that there will be a limit to this forbear- 
 ance and long-suffering, and to yowr trifling too, with 
 the warnings and invitations of your God. You 
 cannot always thus make light of them. Occasions 
 await you, not long hence, when all that is in- 
 cluded in the offers and invitations of the gospel, 
 will hQfelt by you to be an infinitely serious reality, 
 The instances are exceedingly rare, in which men, 
 when racked with pain, overwhelmed with calamity, 
 and shaken on the verge of an eternal state, make 
 light either of the wrath or the mercy of a holy God. 
 
 A few hours of severe illness will be sufficient to 
 correct this shocking, this Heaven-daring levity. 
 12 
 
134 ENORMITY OF THE SINNER, &C. 
 
 Approaching death will make a vast change in the 
 sinner's apprehensions on this subject, and will turn 
 his whole intellect into one serious, aching thought, 
 his whole heart into one solemn, agonized feeling. 
 When the deep covering is once removed from yon 
 dread eternal world, and the eye of the departing 
 spirit is fastened on those awful realities which then 
 rise on its view, God's warnings and invitations in 
 the gospel will appear to be infinitely serious and mo- 
 mentous matters! The trembling soul will trifle 
 with them no more for ever. The awe of eternal 
 realities will be upon it. But all its intense serious- 
 ness and solemnity then will be of no avail. It will 
 be the seriousness of remorse and fruitless regret, 
 the deep solemnity of everlasting despair gathering 
 upon the lost soul the gloom of an endless night of 
 wo. Dear friends, shall this be your first serious- 
 ness, your first solemn thoughtfulness on the great 
 truths of God? God forbid. Reflect on these 
 themes now in the sunshine of mercy and of hope, 
 in the calm of the Sabbath, and in the quiet of health 
 and ease. Wait not for the darkness and storms of 
 adversity, nor for the more troubled and gloomy mo- 
 ments of dissolution to wake you to solemn thought- 
 fulness. Come with a penitent believing heart now, 
 and embrace the too long neglected offers of salva- 
 tion, and weep at the Saviour's feet at the thought 
 that you ever made light of them. 
 
ADVANTAGES OF CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 135 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 CHRISTIAN REPROOF,— THE OBLIGATIONS TO THIS 
 DUTY,— THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO ARE 
 TO ADMINISTER IT, — THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT 
 SHOULD BE GIVEN, AND ITS HAPPY RESULTS. 
 
 " Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him re- 
 prove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head; for 
 yet my prayer also shall be in their calamity." — Fsalm cxli. 5. 
 
 Solomon has said that " open rebuke is better 
 than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, 
 but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful/*' God has 
 made Chnstian reproof a means of growth in grace. 
 A disposition to receive such reproof meekly, and 
 to profit by it, is one decisive evidence of true piety. 
 The language of the sensitive, circumspect, sincere 
 Christian is — " If my own heart do not smite me as 
 it ought, let my friend do it! Let me never fall 
 under that dreadful judgment of being let alone in 
 sin !" The partiality which we naturally feel for 
 every thing pertaining to ourselves — the deceitful- 
 ness and blinding influence of sin, and the spirit of 
 self-indulgence, from which the best are not wholly 
 free, render faithful Christian rebuke indispensable 
 as a means of sanctification. This is one form of 
 Christian influence on our brethren, for which there 
 
1^ ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 is no substitute. Our fraternal affection, our good 
 wishes, and our prayers for our fellow Christians 
 will never supply the place of frank, faithful reproof. 
 That this is one of the most difficult of Christian 
 duties, all those who have honestly endeavoured to 
 perform it, well know. But difficulty in the per- 
 formance of a duty is no argument against our obli- 
 gations to do it faithfully. The important instru- 
 mentality which Christian rebuke has in promoting 
 the spiritual welfare of souls, cannot be dispensed 
 with, because of the pains-taking effort necessary to 
 the performance of this duty. The Psalmist felt his 
 need of this means of grace, and he openly invited 
 his brethren to be faithful in their reproof, and pro- 
 mised that he would not only receive it kindly, but 
 endeavour to derive from it the advantage which 
 God designed it to confer. "Let the righteous 
 smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him re- 
 prove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not 
 break my head; for yet my prayer also shall be in 
 their calamity." 
 
 In the subsequent remarks, I shall, in the 1st 
 place, briefly notice the obligation to this duty of 
 Christian reproof — 2d, the character of those 
 who are to administer it. — " Let the righteous 
 smite meJ'^ 3d, the spirit i7i which reproof should 
 be given — and 4th, some of the happy results of 
 the performance of this duty. 
 
 I. The obligation to the duly of Christian reproof. 
 I assume it as granted here, that you knovv what is 
 meant by the duty of Christian reproof. It is not 
 talking about the faults of our brethren to others : it 
 is not reproaching them for their faults in the spirit 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 137 
 
 of the Pharisee, thanking God that we are not sin- 
 ners such as they. It is not taunting them for their 
 inconsistencies, with a feeling of self-gratulation that 
 we are free from like blemishes ourselves. No; 
 it is pointing out to them alone, their sin in some 
 particular thing, and tenderly remonstrating with 
 them, to repent of and forsake it. The obligation 
 to this duty I should not feel it necessary to no- 
 tice, were it not a duty so grossly neglected. 1 
 might argue the obligation to this difficult and ne- 
 glected Christian duty, from the very relation which 
 we hold to our fellow Christians, from the general 
 benevolence of the gospel, requiring us especially to 
 do good to " them of the household of faith," from bro- 
 therly love — from the very circumstances in which 
 Christians are placed, and from the known influence 
 which they have on each other, from the fact that 
 just such an instrumentality as Christian reproof suits 
 the social nature of man, and that nothing can sup- 
 ply its place. But I pass over all these, and rest the 
 obligation to this duty on the simple authority of the 
 Bible. In Lev. xix. 17, we have the following — 
 " Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and 
 not suffer sin upon him." Solomon says, '^ Rebuke 
 a wise man, and he will love thee." " But to them 
 that rebuke him, shall be delight, and a good blessing 
 shall come upon them." A greater than Solomon 
 hath said, "If thy brother trespass against ihee,rebuke 
 him." Again — " Them that sin, rebuke before all, 
 that others may fear." " Reprove, rebuke, ex- 
 hort with all long-suffering." — " Wherefore rebuke 
 them sharply." These are a few of many similar 
 texts of Scripture, that might be cited to show 
 that the obligation to the duty of Christian reproof 
 12* 
 
13S ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 is just as solemn and weighty, as that which binds 
 « him who stole to steal no more " — or as that which 
 binds each one to " provide things honest in the 
 sight of all men." There is not a duty of our holy 
 religion more clearly revealed, or more cogently 
 enforced by a Scriptural obligation than the one 
 now under consideration. And Christians will never 
 appreciate this duty, nor perform it aright, till their 
 consciences will cry out and condemn them for its 
 neglect, as severely as for neglecting to keep the 
 Sabbath — attend on public worship, read their Bibles, 
 pray, or be honest in their ordinary dealings. 
 
 II. Let us notice now, in the second place, the 
 character of those who are to administer reproof to 
 others — " Let the righteous smite me." The Psalm- 
 ist did not invite every one to take this liberty with 
 him. If he had, officious ignorance would have been 
 the very first to accept the invitation ! The radicals 
 and self-constiluted reformers of his day, would have 
 dealt their barbarous blows greatly to the annoyance 
 if not to the breaking of the royal Psalmist's head. — 
 It is with the duty of Christian reproof, as it is with 
 certain other delicate social duties, those who are 
 least qualified, are most forward and noisy in attempt- 
 ing td perform it. To such God might justly say, 
 " What hast thou to do, to declare my statutes, or that 
 thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth ? — 
 seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words 
 behind thee!" There is one indispensable requisite 
 in the character of those who administer rebuke to 
 others — viz., they must "take the beam out of their 
 own eye " before they attempt the delicate work of 
 taking "the mote" out of their brother's eye. — 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. l^Q 
 
 "Let the RIGHTEOUS smite me." Let the sincere, 
 humble, constant Christian, who is blameless and 
 harmless, the child of God, without rebuke, let hm 
 administer reproof. Let the conscientious man, who 
 endeavours to keep himself always in the love of 
 God, who is a pattern of righteousness and peace, re- 
 prove and rebuke others. This is Christian reproof, 
 and has the weight which God designed it to have. 
 It is spoken as by one having authority — it comes 
 from one to whom you cannot apply the cutting retort, 
 "Physician, heal thyself." To reprove sin in others, 
 is but carrying out the sincere abhorrence which he 
 feels for his own sins, and endeavouring to promote 
 in his brother the purity of heart after which he daily 
 pants himself. It is in perfect keeping and consist- 
 ency WMth the general tenor of his own holy life. It 
 is only from the righteous that rebuke can consistently 
 come, and only when administered by them will it 
 exert the salutary influence to reclaim and save an 
 erring brother. Every thing then under the name 
 and pretence of rebuke, which does not emanate from 
 the very spirit of righteousness, degenerates into 
 mere fault-finding and abuse, and is ordinarily vented 
 to gratify personal dislike or malignity. But if it 
 be the righteous only who can properly administer 
 Christian reproof, may they administer it equally as 
 well and with the same success in any and every 
 temper of mind in which for the time they may hap- 
 pen to be? This introduces the third general topic 
 of discourse, which was to notice the spirit in 
 which Christian rebuke is to be administered. 
 
 A. And I remark first, that it must be in the spirit 
 of true Christian meekness. A proud, pharisaical, 
 
140 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 self-glorying spirit never can administer a reproof 
 acceptably to God, or profitably to one's-self or his 
 fellow men. The haughtiness of one puffed up with a 
 false estimate of his own spiritual superiority, will 
 render him wholly incapable of performing the duty 
 now under consideration. God has not left us to mere 
 conjecture on this point. He has decided the im- 
 portance of Christian meekness, as an indispensable 
 qualification for the performance of this duty in the 
 following precept. "Brethren, if a man be over- 
 taken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such 
 a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, 
 lest thou, also, be tempted.'^ Mingled with a sin- 
 cere and tender compassion for the offender, there 
 must be an humbling conviction of our own frailty 
 and liability to sin, and while we reprove him we 
 must cherish a holy fear of falling ourselves. We 
 must go to our erring brother, and rebuke him in 
 that meek, gentle, subdued spirit, resulting from a 
 penitent view of our own numerous sins in the sight 
 of God, and from an apprehension that we may soon 
 need the Christian repoof of a brother for our own 
 faults. 
 
 All harshness, abruptness, overbearing and censo- 
 riousness, are utterly opposed to the spirit in which 
 Christian rebuke is to be administered. It is em- 
 phatically true in this case, that "the servant of the 
 Lord must not strive, but be gentle, in meekness in- 
 structing those that oppose themselves." Above 
 all, the one who would kindly and faithfully reprove 
 the faults of a brother, must not himself be easil}^ ir- 
 ritated, but be slow to wrath. Rebuke is painful, if 
 deserved, and sometimes, at first, it excites anger, and 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 141 
 
 leads to irritating words. If then the reprover have 
 not a gracious control over his own temper, he may- 
 display a hasty spirit, that will not only destroy the 
 power of his rebuke, but deserve itself to be rebuked ; 
 though some men do seem to think that there is 
 neither sin nor danger in being angry. The meek- 
 ness and gentleness of Christ, the charity that suffer- 
 eth long and is kind, is not easily provoked, must 
 sway the heart and control the tongue in adminis- 
 tering Christian reproof. Any other spirit will only 
 dictate scornful reproach, as injurious to him who 
 utters it as to him on whom it is heaped! 
 
 B. Secondly — Christian reproof must be adminis- 
 tered in a spirit of real kindness and brotherly 
 love for the individual reproved^ and with a sin- 
 cere desire to do him good. 
 
 Even in partially sanctified men there is some- 
 times a disposition to tell others their faults, not 
 through pure benevolence. Personal dislike — pique 
 or secret grudge will also prompt to this! And so 
 will the unhallowed feeling, that it gives us a kind 
 of superiority to be reprovers of our brethren. I 
 can hardly believe that a Christian would ever tell 
 another his faults merely for the sdke oi mortifying 
 the offender; and yet even this is possible. But 
 such a spirit God will frown upon and condemn, and 
 the reproof which it dictates differs very little from 
 the accusations of the devil. A sincere love for our 
 erring brother's soul — a benevolent regard for his 
 spiritual welfare — the desire that he should have the 
 peace of God, and joy in the Holy Ghost — that he 
 should grow in grace, and be more and more useful; 
 — this is the spirit with which we are to administer 
 
142 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 reproof. The law of brotherly kindness must be on 
 our lips — the benevolence of Christ in our hearts. 
 In rebuking our offending brother, we must make it 
 apparent that it is his highest good that we honestly 
 seek. In reproving him, it must be obvious that we 
 have no malignant gratification, no spleen to vent — 
 no superiority to arrogate to ourselves. It must be 
 m.anifest to him that we do it from a sincere convic- 
 tion of duty — from the fact that we regard it as one 
 appointed means of his sanctification, and that if we 
 did not love him and devoutly desire his holiness 
 and happiness as a Christian, we could never be in- 
 duced by other and inferior motives to attempt this 
 painful dut3\ there is a power in Christian rebuke, 
 when administered in a spirit like this, which will 
 subdue and reclaim any thing but a heart of adamant! 
 c. Thirdly. — Christian reproof is to beadministered 
 in a spirit o{ firmness and fidelity. This is not in- 
 consistent with Christian meekness and gentleness, 
 nor with fraternal kindness and tender benevolent 
 desire to do our offending brother good. A timid, 
 vacillating, temporizing spirit, will never effect any 
 thing in reproving and correcting the obliquities of 
 others. The hand of the surgeon who amputates a 
 diseased limbor fungous growth from the human body, 
 must be a stead}'- hand, unmoved by the cries and 
 the writhing of the patient. It is not cruelty, but 
 kindness to the sufferer, that keeps the surgeon 
 undiverted and firm to his purpose, till the operation 
 is performed. So he that would successfully admi- 
 nister Christian reproof, must have his heart in the 
 fear of God, firmly set on the work. He must go 
 with an inflexible determination, by Divine aid, to 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 143 
 
 accomplish what he attempts. The wincing irrita- 
 bility, and provoking replies of the offender, must 
 not for a moment divert him from his purpose, or 
 throw him off his guard. With an affectionate, pray- 
 erful, devout, and immovable spirit, he must bring 
 the power of rebuke on his erring brother's con- 
 science, and hold it there without shrinking or trem- 
 bling, till it has won that brother, or proved him to 
 be incorrigible I No false pity — no unwarrantable 
 leniency to his faults — no ignoble fear of risking our 
 popularity with him and incurring his dislike, must 
 cause us to waver in our determination, or to cease 
 from our work, till it be accomplished. And then 
 we are to be as faithful as we are firm. We are 
 not to cloak or palliate his fault. We are to talk 
 lo him as we are tempted to talk about him to others. 
 The admirable point and pungency of Nathan's re- 
 buke to David, shows us the importance of fidelity 
 in this duty. There is no place for circumlocution — 
 for indirect intimations, or for any compromise of the 
 palpable truth in the case. Tell him his fault honestly, 
 frankly, fully; — let him know just how it appears to 
 you and to others — how it mars his Christian charac- 
 ter, grieves his brethren, and puts a stumbling-block 
 in the way of the wicked. Show it to him in the 
 light of God's word, and not with the glosses whicii 
 man's estimate puts upon it. Suffer him not to escape 
 from the point of your rebuke by drawing your at- 
 tention to the faults and inconsistencies of others, but 
 tell him, if he knows so well how others ought to 
 live, and sees that they fail, so much the more is he 
 obligated to walk circumspectly himself. Repeat the 
 declaration- to him — " Thoit art the onan.^^ Let 
 
144 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 him know that your business is with him, and that 
 his business, for the time being, is with his own sin, 
 not the sins of others. Do not permit him to con- 
 ceal from his own eyes, and to attempt to conceal 
 from yours, the deformity of his sin, by the flimsy 
 veil of soft names for it, or by any apology. In all 
 good conscience and Christian fidelity, do you tear 
 ofif the veil, and in tears beseech him to look at his 
 fault in its naked deformity as seen in heaven, till 
 his eye shall affect his heart — till, penitent and sub- 
 dued, he is recovered from sin — restored to the fa- 
 vour of God and to the practice of consistent piety. 
 Are there any happy effects to be realized from the 
 faithful performance of this duty ? This was the fourth 
 and last general topic proposed in this discussion, — 
 namely, the blessed consequences of Christian reproof. 
 
 I. The first that I shall mention is, that it will free 
 the Christian who performs this duty from being par- 
 taker of other men's sins, and will give him a peace of 
 conscience which he cannot otherwise enjoy. God has 
 solemnly warned Christians in the following words: 
 " Be ye not partakers of other men's sins.'' Now that 
 professing Christian who fails to rebuke or reprove a 
 brother whom he knows to be in fault, silently assents 
 to that brother's sin! His conduct obviousl}^ shows 
 that he either does not consider his brother as sinning 
 at all, or that his fault is so trivial that it is not neces- 
 sary to tell him of it, or use any means to free him 
 from it. This is the inference which the erring brother 
 himself draws, as well as others around him. Now 
 though we are not the keepers of our brother's soul, 
 we are, to some extent, the keepers of his religious 
 character; and we have the capability, uirder God, of 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 145 
 
 preventing his sin and promoting his holiness. For 
 all the influence which we might use to free him from 
 his faults, and which we do not exert, God will hold 
 us accountable. And in all the sins which he com- 
 mits in consequence of our neglect to reprove him, 
 we are direct partakers. — A portion of the guilt at- 
 taches to us, and will be found on our souls in the 
 day of trial, unless we repent and do our duty to 
 him faithfully. Now we may complain of this as 
 hard, if we choose, but this will not alter the case. 
 There is no possible way in which we can free our- 
 selves from being partakers of other men's sins, but 
 by living holy lives ourselves, and by firm, faithful, 
 Christian reproof to them for their faults. Not only 
 must our lives testify against their delinquency, but 
 our lips, in kind, frank rebuke, must tell them their 
 sins, remonstrate with them, and beseech them to 
 turn from the error of their way. Thus shall we be 
 delivered from a dreadful participation in their guilt, 
 and have the testimony of a good conscience. Va- 
 luable as this testimony is, and essential as it is to 
 the happiness of a moral being, it cannot, in the na- 
 ture of the case, ever be enjoyed but by those who in 
 any wise, at any hazard and sacrifice, perform the 
 duty of faithful Christian rebuke to their erring bre- 
 thren. who would not feel richly rewarded for 
 fidelity in this duty, by the thought that he was un- 
 tarnished by the guilt of other men's sins, and blest 
 with a peace of conscience to be procured on no other 
 terms ! ! 
 
 II. Another happy effect of faithful Christian re- 
 proof is, that it is often the means of breaking the spell 
 and delusions of sin on a brother^ s mind, which have 
 13 
 
146 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 withstood all other influences. One of the essential 
 characteristics of sin is its power to infatuate its vic- 
 tim. Hence the Scriptures speak of "the deceitfulness 
 of sin!" It often binds the individual under its 
 power, as by a spell of enchantment. He cannot see 
 himself as every one else can see him. He appears 
 to be strangely insensible to his true spiritual condi- 
 tion. He looks at every thing through the false 
 medium that sin has thrown around it, — learns to 
 justify, to himself at least, that which his own con- 
 science once condemned, and lives for a season com- 
 paratively contented and happy in his criminal indul- 
 gences. This was precisely David's case in the 
 matter of Uriah. He had a conscience, had the 
 word of God, that is, the law and that portion of the 
 Old Testament extant in his day, he had religious 
 ordinances, and all the means of being awakened to 
 a sense of the great guilt he had contracted in that 
 case; and yet the charm of sin held him in a strange 
 insensibility for a length of time, and he seemed to 
 enjoy the unlawful gratifications in which he indulged. 
 How much longer his conscience would have slept 
 and his heart reposed in the lap of Delilah, we know 
 not, had not God commissioned Nathan to go to him 
 and administer faithful Christian rebuke. After all 
 other means had failed, this succeeded in breaking 
 the accursed spell of sin on his soul, and in over- 
 whelming him in the deep repentance which he 
 vents so touchingly in the fifty-first Psalm. And it is 
 just as true now, as in the days of the Psalmist, that 
 faithful Christian reproof will succeed in destroying 
 those enchantments of sin on the mind, which have 
 witlistood all ordinary means of awakening and re- 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 147 
 
 covering the wanderer. And we can see an adap- 
 tation in this duty, to produce this happy result. 
 Christian rebuke avails itself of the social and sym- 
 pathetic laws of our nature. When our brother 
 comes to us in the meekness of the gospel — with a 
 heart knit to us in Christian love, yearning over us 
 in sincere and devout desires for our spiritual wel- 
 fare, and determined to benefit us and promote our 
 sanctification, if possible, and then reproves us for 
 our sins, showing by every line of his countenance, 
 every glance of his eye, and every intonation of his 
 voice, that he is deeply convinced that we are sin- 
 ning against God, and wounding our own souls, that 
 his heart is ready to break in anguish over the course 
 that we are pursuing, and that his only motive for 
 reproving us and remonstrating with us, is to promote 
 our own highest happiness, our spiritual and eternal 
 good, who can resist the appeal] Unless we be given 
 over to a reprobate mind, we must imbibe a portion 
 of his tender spirit, catch the warm Christian sympa- 
 thies of his heart, have the conviction of his mind in 
 reference to our sin become the conviction of our 
 minds, and be melted into penitence, and delivered 
 from the delusions of the destroyer! 0! what an 
 incalculable loss do Christians and the church at 
 large sustain, by the neglect of a dut}^, which, when 
 faithfully performed, is often successful in reclaiming 
 from that infatuation of sin which resists all other 
 means. "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a 
 kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an ex- 
 cellent oil, that shall not break my head.'^ 
 
 III. A third happy effect of the faithful perform- 
 ance of this duty, is, that it will prevent the evil of tale- 
 bearing and back-biting. A prevalent, giant evil this. 
 
148 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 in some of our churches. Any thing that promises 
 to remedy this evil, ought to be hailed with gladness 
 by Christians. God has brought his authority to 
 bear on it in the direct command, "Thou shalt not go 
 up and down in the land as a tale-bearer; thou shalt 
 not bear false witness against thy neighbour.'^ No- 
 thing is more manifest than that professing Chris- 
 tians are not permitted to talk about the faults of 
 others, till they go to them and tell them their faults 
 alone, — and if they are not reclaimed, then to bring 
 them before the church for trial. This second step 
 must be taken, and the individuals condemned, after 
 a fair hearing, before Christians are at liberty to talk 
 about their sins. This is God's rule on the subject. 
 How much it is regarded, some of our consciences 
 can testify. Now we say, that one blessed result of 
 faithful Christian reproof, will be to prevent this evil 
 of tale-bearing, and back-biting. If you go at first in 
 the spirit in which reproof ought to be administered, 
 and tell your erring brother his fault between you and 
 him alone, you may, in some instances, find that you 
 were mistaken — that your brother is not guilty in the 
 matter, as you had supposed; and then, of course, 
 when he sets you right,you cannot, without deep guilt, 
 go about speaking of his fault to others as you would 
 have been tempted to do before you saw him, and 
 received his explanation. Or, if you find that your 
 brother is actually in fault to the whole extent that 
 you thought him to be, if you firmly and faithfully 
 rebuke him, you will convince him of his sin, lead 
 him to repentance, and win your brother, and then 
 with what face can you go about talking to others of 
 his faults? You could not have a heart to publish a 
 penitent, reclaimed brother's sins? The very spirit 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 149 
 
 of Christian reproof would forbid this, and lead you 
 rather to desire to conceal his faults, and to shield 
 and sustain his reputation. The heavenly spirit of 
 Christian rebuke, and that hellish malignity that is 
 gratified to receive and circulate reports injurious to 
 the character of a fellow Christian, can never co-exist 
 in the same heart. Let all Christians perform faith- 
 fully the duty of reproof in the right spirit, and there 
 will be no temptation to the diabolical work of tale- 
 bearing and back-biting. The evil would cease in 
 our churches, or become so rare that the accuser and 
 calumniator of his brethren would be regarded with 
 a righteous abhorrence as doing the work of his father 
 the devil, and be brought under the discipline of the 
 church, and excluded from its peaceful and holy 
 communion. 
 
 IV. The only other happy effect of the faithful 
 performance of this duty, which I shall now notice, is, 
 that it will promote amongst Christians a spirit 
 of brotherly love and prayer fulness for each other. 
 
 To be convinced of this we have only to contem- 
 plate the state of mind with which Christian reproof 
 is administered, and the state of mind which, when 
 successful, it produces in him to whom it is adminis- 
 tered. 
 
 The reprover goes to the offending brother in a 
 tender, meek spirit — with sincere love for his soul, 
 and benevolent, ardent desires to promote his spiri- 
 tual welfare, and kindly tells that brother of his sin, 
 pleads with him to repent and turn from it, and to 
 come again, pardoned, and accepted, to the bosom of 
 his God. The offender feels that all this is done in 
 brotherly kindness, — done in love to him, and for 
 
 13* 
 
150 ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 his highest good, and he is convinced of his sin — his 
 heart is broken under the tender remonstrances of 
 his brother, — he is delivered from the spell of sin — 
 feels anew^ the love and peace of God returning to 
 his soul, and cannot but be grateful to the one by 
 whose faithful rebukes he has been thus restored. 
 Now will not these two men be knit together more 
 closely than ever, in the bonds of brotherly love? 
 Is there not a foundation thus laid for a more en- 
 deared attachment between them, in all subsequent 
 time? Will they ever cease to pray for each other, 
 and to sympathize with each other in the trials 
 and conflicts of the Christian life? Now what is 
 true of the case of these two individuals, would be 
 true of all the instances in a church where Christian 
 rebuke is properly administered, and kindly re- 
 ceived ! What a blessed consequence of the faithful 
 performance of this duty! How it would assist in 
 " keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of 
 peace " — in banishing prejudice,alienation and hatred 
 — in promoting brotherly kindness, and charity, and 
 in bringing the power of affectionate, fervent, effec- 
 tual prayer to bind the whole church fast to the 
 throne of God, and more firmly to each other, in 
 " the love of the Spirit." 
 
 To conclude. Christian brethren, how far have 
 we been faithful in the performance of the duty of 
 true. Christian reproof? Have we endeavoured ha- 
 bitually, and conscientiously, to perform this duty 
 toward all our brethren whom we know to be in 
 fault? Are there not some professing Christians, 
 who have never, since they were first connected 
 with the church, made one serious attempt to rebuke 
 an erring brother? They plead as an apology for 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
CHRISTIAN REPROOF. 151 
 
 this grievous delinquency, that they are deterred 
 from the duty by a delicate and deep sense of their 
 own faults. 
 
 But it may be asked whether such professing 
 Christians are so sensible of their own faults that 
 they never talk about the faults of a brother to 
 others? If they are not, then their sensibility is of 
 the wrong kind, and it will be no excuse before God 
 or man for their neglect of the solemn duty of faith- 
 ful Christian reproof No finite mind can compute, 
 and no language adequately describe the disastrous 
 results to the church of the prevalent, and almost 
 total neglect of this duty. A most lamentable reck- 
 lessness characterizes the members of various com- 
 munions respecting each other's spiritual welfare. 
 Amongst some professors of religion, there seems to 
 be no conscientious, holy fear of offending God, nor 
 injuring a fellow Christian by neglecting this duty; 
 whilst without scruple they take up evil reports 
 against each other, and circulate them industriously, 
 without ever going to the individual criminated, and 
 inquiring into the truth or falsehood of that, to which 
 they give currency. This is the way " to bite and 
 devour one another, and to be consumed one of ano- 
 ther!" 
 
 Christian brethren, "these things ought not so to 
 be." Have a care for your brother's soul, next to 
 that for your own. 
 
 It is only when Christians awake to the infinite 
 importance, and gird themselves in earnest for the 
 faithful, and persevering performance of this duty, 
 that the light of the church shall be '' as the light of 
 seven days in one," her "peace as a river,'' and her 
 " righteousness as an overflowing stream." 
 
152 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE.* 
 
 " But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, 
 even so we speak ; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth 
 our hearts." — 1 Thessalonians, ii. 4. 
 
 It required no ordinary strength of Christian cha- 
 racter, and no common measure of moral courage, to 
 enable the apostle Paul, under all the virulent attacks 
 made upon him in different places, to retain such a 
 degree of public confidence in his integrity, as caused 
 him still to prosecute the work of the ministry with 
 marked success. That it was the combination of 
 these two elements — strength of Christian character 
 and moral courage — by which, under God, he sus- 
 tained himself in the confidence of the irreligious 
 themselves, is apparent from his declaration, that 
 " by manifestation of the truth, he coinmended him- 
 self to every man's conscience in the sight of God.^^ 
 He knew that in every bosom he had a witness that 
 
 * A Sermon delivered before the West Hanover Presbytery, Oct. 
 ii5, 1835, at the ordination of the Rev. B. M. Smith. Some remarks 
 in the close of this Sermon, are applicable only to certain latitudes of 
 our country. The temporal support of ministers in some places, is 
 sufficiently liberal. 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 153 
 
 would secretly testify in his favour. And rising 
 above the repeated assaults of prejudice, envy and 
 malice, he carried his appeal to the throne of con- 
 science, and challenged it, as in the sight of Heaven, 
 to decide upon his Christian integrity. In the com- 
 mencement of the chapter from which our text is 
 taken, he makes such an appeal to the Thessalonians : 
 — " For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in 
 unto you, that it was not in vain. But after that, we 
 had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated 
 at Philippi, we were hold in our God, to speak unto 
 you the gospel of God with much contention." 
 And he then refers it to them to decide whether he 
 had not a good reason for such boldness. ^' For our 
 exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor 
 in guile." There was no intrigue — no adroit accom- 
 modation of his message to the depraved passions of 
 men. The simple story of his ministry amongst 
 them is told in the text: — " But as we were allowed 
 of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we 
 speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth 
 our hearts." 
 
 These words suggest to us the following topics of 
 discussion: 
 
 I. The source from which the ministry of the 
 gospel is derived. 
 
 II. That the gospel, thus committed to the mi- 
 nistrjT-, is a great trust. 
 
 III. The manner in which the gospel ought to 
 be preached. 
 
 IV". The sanction here introduced to secure such 
 preaching. 
 
 According to the plan now sketched to govern our 
 
154 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 train of thought on this subject, we are first to 
 notice the source /rom which the ministry of the 
 gospel is derived — " But as we were allowed of God 
 to be put in trust with the orospe]." 
 
 Here the apostle refers directly to God, as the 
 source from which the ministerial office is derived. 
 And we may learn from the frequency with which 
 he made this reference, that it is a matter of grave 
 moment that the conviction of this truth should be 
 vividly and permanently impressed on the minds of 
 men. It pertains to God alone to institute an order 
 of men to whom shall be committed such a trust as 
 the gospel of his kingdom. God claimed this prero- 
 gative in the original institution of the ministry. In 
 the economy of the ancient church, the designation 
 of the priesthood was a matter of direct revelation 
 from heaven, God himself selecting the individuals 
 to office, as in the case of Aaron and his sons — di- 
 recting the rites of their inauguration, and sanc- 
 tioning and presiding at the solemnities. Under the 
 former dispensation, the sacredness with which he 
 guarded the holy office from intrusion, is one of the 
 most prominent and striking facts in its history. 
 When Jesus Christ came to establish the order of the 
 new dispensation, he chose the apostles, and formally 
 ordained and consecrated them to the work of the 
 ministry. He gave them, on his own authority, di- 
 rections to ordain others in every place where the 
 gospel should be embraced, and thus to settle the 
 succession of the ministry till the end of time: for 
 those ministers whom the apostles ordained were 
 directed on the authority of inspiration, in their turn, 
 to invest other faithful men with the same office; so 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 155 
 
 that the ministry of the gospel now, as much as ever, 
 is in fact derived from God. It is God still, who, 
 through the authority which he has vested in the ex- 
 isting ministry, allows men to be put in trust with 
 the gospel. And to prevent all misapprehension on 
 this subject, he has incorporated in the New Testa- 
 ment the following explicit declaration: ^' No man 
 taketh this honour to himself, except he be called of 
 God, as was Aaron.'' It would seem that God had 
 bestowed special care to impress on the minds of men 
 the source from which the ministry is derived, in an- 
 ticipation of the times which we, in these last days, 
 have fallen upon. There is, at present, a tendency 
 to view the ministry of the gospel in quite a different 
 light from that in which it is presented in the oracles 
 of God — an evident tendency to sever from it that 
 authority and sacred ness imparted to it by the con- 
 sideration that it comes from Jehovah — that it is no 
 human institution which may be submitted to or re- 
 sisted according to the caprice of men. We are 
 aware that wicked men feel as though they had a 
 personal interest in promoting loose and degrading 
 views of this holy oflice. It would greatly quiet 
 their tumultuating consciences, could they bring 
 themselves to contemplate the ministry stripped of 
 its sacredness and its sanctions as derived from the 
 God of the universe. It would accord well with the 
 modern spirit of agrarianism and atheistic specula- 
 tion, to rob the holy office of the solemnities and the 
 glory of its divine origin, and make it a mere secular 
 profession or a part of the imposing machinery of 
 priestcraft. Hence, the virulent attacks which mo- 
 dern infidelity and atheism have made on the mi- 
 
156 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 nistry — evincing clearly that it is its claims of a de- 
 rivation from God which makes it a terror to the 
 guilty conscience, and a troublesome barrier in the 
 way of those who are bent upon universal skepticism 
 and licentiousness. Could they, in their own minds, 
 annihilate its relation to the instituting authority of 
 the Eternal, then they know that they could easily 
 break those bands asunder, and cast away those cords 
 by which the living ministry binds them to the fear- 
 ful forebodings of their final destiny. It is well for 
 us then to recur to this great and primary relation 
 of the gospel ministry — its direct derivation from Je- 
 hovah. God has given it a peculiar prominence in 
 his holy word, and he intends that it shall have a 
 commanding prominence in the practical judgments 
 of men. He intends that the world shall respect and 
 reverence this office, which, notwithstanding the un- 
 worthiness of some of its incumbents, has the awful 
 sanction and authority of originating in the counsels 
 of his own infinite mind! He intends to write it 
 out as in characters of lightning, that " whosoever 
 resisteth, resisteth the ordinance of God^ and he 
 therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but 
 God, and shall bear his judgment whosoever he be." 
 II. We are now prepared, in the second place, to 
 notice that the ministry of the gospel thus committed 
 to men, constitutes an unspeakably great trust. 
 The very fact that it is derived from God, and wears 
 his seal and sanction, imparts to it a character of 
 greatness which attaches to no other trust confided 
 to man. On this we cannot now dwell, but must pass 
 to the consideration of the greatness of this trust, as 
 illustrated, first, by the influence which the ministry 
 exerts on the intellectual condition of men. 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 157 
 
 A well qualified ministry never has failed, and 
 never will fail to exert a great influence on the in- 
 tellectual character of society. All who deserve the 
 name of ministers have been the patrons of learning, 
 and the promoters of the mental improvement of 
 mankind. But to say nothing of this, nor of the 
 fact that many of them have been distinguished 
 amongst the literati of their times, and that most of 
 them have acquired a taste for literary pursuits, and 
 possessed an intellectual character whose light could 
 not be hid, the direct exercise of the functions of the 
 ministry must have a great influence on the mind of 
 society. Think, Aoi^^e^'we^^/y the exhibitions of 
 the pulpit are brought to bear on the intellect of 
 the people. At least one day in seven is principally 
 devoted to these exhibitions. That, too, a day when 
 the general mind is in a most favourable state for im- 
 pression — a day of repose from the cares and toils of 
 life, from the absorbing disquietudes of business, 
 when men can pause and allow themselves time to 
 think. 
 
 This will make one whole year in every seven 
 devoted to those instructions from the pulpit, which, 
 if they are what they ought to be, will bear evidence 
 of nice investigation, patient thought, close reason- 
 ing, profound research; will be of a creditable in- 
 tellectual character. This, together with the variety 
 of subjects that will be presented, will furnish in 
 every seven years of human life, a great amount of 
 instruction — a vast array of influence on the mass 
 of mind. And when we contemplate the sublime 
 range of those truths embraced in such instructions, 
 and reflect that they are the mighty truths of God — 
 14 
 
158 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 truths that relate to His being and perfections — to 
 the works of His creation through the universe of 
 matter and of mind — to His relations to man and to 
 the rational creation — to the character, duties, and 
 destinies of our race — truths that indicate a boundless 
 hereafter and point out eternity to man, we may well 
 accord to the ministry of the gospel an influence in- 
 calculably great on the intellectual character of our 
 species. All history has fully attested this fact. In 
 Christian nations, the intellectual progress of the 
 people has always been graduated by the degree of 
 intelligence and mental culture found in the ministry. 
 And the long night of the dark ages would never 
 have settled down upon the world, had not "^ros* 
 darkness " first covered those who officiated at the 
 altars of religion. What an intellectual transforma- 
 tion has been effected amongst a people, in the ab- 
 sence of almost all other causes, by the influence of 
 a learned and able ministry ! How many are the 
 instances under such a ministry, of a people waking 
 up from prevalent ignorance, starting into intellectual 
 life, and becoming an intelligent, reasoning, thinking 
 community! What great and lasting revolutions in 
 the empire of mind have owed their origin to a well 
 sustained pulpit! Now when we regard the hu- 
 man mind in its more august attributes as rational 
 and immortal, possessing capabilities of an indefi- 
 nite expansion and an eternal progression in know- 
 ledge, and then think of the ministry of the gospel 
 simply in its influence on the intellectual condi- 
 tion of man, it strikes us as an unspeakably great 
 trust committed to mortals. They who exercise its 
 functions, wield an element of tremendous power on 
 the mental destinies of the race. 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 159 
 
 But the greatness of this trust will appear, in the 
 second place, from the injluence of the ministry 
 on the RELIGIOUS opinions of men. It is true, that 
 no Protestants are dependent exclusively on the 
 teachings of the ministry for their religious opinions. 
 They have free access to the pure oracles of God, 
 and are required by Divine authority to judge for 
 themselves. This is the glory of Presbyterianism, 
 that it claims the right of free inquiry and untram- 
 melled conscience for itself, and accords the same to all 
 others. That officious impudence of infidelity, which 
 arrogates to itself the credit of the establishment and 
 subsequent guardianship of the righls of conscience 
 and religious liberty in this country, ought to be ex- 
 posed to merited rebuke. Presbyterian argument 
 and eloquence have had much more to do in this 
 matter than infidel disinterestedness and liberality.'^ 
 But to return from this digression. It is still true, 
 that notwithstanding all the sources of information 
 that lie open to the people, and all the freedom of 
 opinion which they enjoy, the ministry of the gos- 
 pel does exert a commanding influence on the views 
 which men take of all the great doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity. This throws upon those who are allowed 
 of God to be put in trust with the gospel, an un- 
 utterably solemn responsibility. They will influence, 
 and mainly form the opinions of a multitude of 
 ininds respecting the character of God himself, and 
 
 * As a proof of this, it may be proper to remark, that the cele- 
 brated bill of religious toleration and rights of conscience, which 
 was passed in the House of Delegates in Virginia, was copied 
 almost verbatim from the memorials on that subject which the 
 fathers of the Hanover Presbytery had previously addressed to 
 that body. 
 
160 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 of the great principles of his moral government. 
 The Divine character will appear to those minds just 
 as the ministry present it. If those who sustain the sa- 
 cred office, have correct, enlarged, and exalted views 
 of the attributes of Jehovah, they will mould the opi- 
 nions of the people accordingly. The great mass of 
 minds around them will contemplate the infinite God 
 just as their ministers do; so that God has committed 
 to the ministry the amazing trust of making an ex- 
 hibition of his own character to men, which shall 
 have a decisive control over their opinions. The 
 ministry will have a like influence on the opinions 
 of men respecting the moral government of God. 
 If ministers understand the great principles of that 
 government, and exhibit it as a government of 
 righteous law over free moral agents, administered 
 by rewards and punishments — frowning upon sin, 
 and encouraging holiness — investing God with a 
 glorious sovereignty, and binding men to a perfect 
 and perpetual obedience, as their reasonable service, 
 such will be the views, such the religious belief of iho 
 people. 
 
 The power of the ministry over the opinions of 
 men respecting the great plan of salvation, cannot be 
 contemplated without awe. The chief business of 
 the ambassadors of Christ is to unfold and explain 
 this stupendous scheme. So intimately is this scheme 
 blended with the whole of revelation, and identified 
 with all the immortal interests of man, that our 
 opinions respecting it are of vital moment. To mi- 
 nisters of the gospel, as the authorized expounders of 
 this plan, the people look with unmeasured confi- 
 dence. On ministers devolves the fearful responsibili- 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 161 
 
 ty of moulding the opinions of the community re- 
 specting this great device of the Godhead; a device 
 which brings out from the retirements of eternity a 
 new attribute of Jehovah, and presents his character 
 to the universe in a new aspect of glory; a device 
 which sheds new light on the laws and administra- 
 tion of his moral kingdom — attracts the scrutiny of 
 angels, and involves the interests and the destinies 
 of the human race through the whole duration of 
 their being. Now the religious opinion of men on a 
 subject of such transcendent importance as this, will 
 be just what the ministry choose to make it — a 
 sound and correct opinion, or "a damnable heresy''^ 
 
 The religious opinions of men respecting their 
 own character and condition, will also be material- 
 ly influenced by the ministry. Their views of the 
 nature and extent of their depravity — of the intrinsic 
 turpitude and malignity of their sins — of their moral 
 ruin — of their exposure to eternal wrath — of their 
 need of a Saviour — of their obligation to repent and 
 believe the gospel — of the inexcusableness of their 
 impenitence and rebellion — of the unspeakable im- 
 portance of an immediate interest in all the bless- 
 ings of salvation; their views on all these matters, 
 of such practical, such vital moment to them, will be 
 moulded — nay, entirely controlled by the living mi- 
 nistry. As a fact in the history of the world, it cannot 
 be disputed but that the ministers of religion have 
 mainly controlled the opinions of mankind on the 
 whole scheme of Christianity. And there are obvious 
 reasons why it has been so, and will be so while such 
 an order of religious functionaries exists. The solemn 
 authority associated with their office — the means of 
 14* 
 
m 
 
 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 information to which they have access — the degree 
 of laborious research and investigation which they 
 are enabled to bestow on these subjects beyond what 
 is possible to the great mass of the people — the strong 
 sympathies between their hearers and themselves, 
 resulting from the pastoral relation, and the com- 
 manding influence of the living voice in oral instruc- 
 tion, will always put in the hands of the clergy a 
 power of controlling the religious opinions of men, 
 which may be plied with tremendous effect either 
 for edification or destruction. Now if the influence 
 of the ministry on the intellectual condition of 
 society constitutes it a solemn trust, what shall we 
 say of its immeasurable power on the religious 
 opinions of man? If it be an agency of great re- 
 sponsibilities, viewed simply in its influence on the 
 intellectual character, and as having to do with the 
 powers of thought and mental action on ordinary 
 subjects, how shall we estimate the greatness of this 
 trust which puts into the grasp of the ministry the 
 reins of the immortal mind, to guide its movements 
 in the formation of its opinions on all the stupendous 
 subjects of revealed religion ! 
 
 That the ministry is an unspeakably great trust will 
 appear, in the third place j if we notice its relation 
 as an instrumentality in the conversion of souls 
 and the formation of Christian character. There 
 is no revolution in the dominions of mind so great, or 
 connected with consequences of such magnitude and 
 eternal interest, as the conversion of the soul. This 
 event constitutes the most sublime moral transition 
 that a soul can make — an escape from that awful 
 aggregation of evils, present and future, to which it 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 163 
 
 is liable by the apostacy — a reinstatement in the 
 favour of God here, and an ultimate exaltation to all 
 those high destinies of its eternal being for which it 
 was originally formed. The instrumentality that 
 stands related to such an event, is an incalculably 
 great and solemn instrumentality. And now what 
 is the influence of the ministry on the conversion of 
 souls? Hath not God settled it in his word, that this 
 is the principal instrumentality which He employs 
 in eflecting this wonderful change on the fallen 
 mind? "It hath pleased God by the foolishness of 
 preaching^^ (when Tnen do not render it foolish) 
 "to save them that believe." "We preach Christ 
 crucified, the wisdom of God, and the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth." Now 
 we undervalue no subsidiary means of converting 
 men, when we affirm, that God has made the mi- 
 nistry the very mainspring in that wonderful mecha- 
 nism of moral influence by which he is recovering a 
 revolted world to himself It comes as an embassy 
 from the skies, to a province in rebellion against its 
 righteous moral governor. To the ministry, God 
 has confided the great agency of treating with a guil- 
 ty world in its disobedience, and of beseeching it to 
 be reconciled to him through the expiation of a Re- 
 deemer's blood. This is the instrumentality which 
 he has principally owned in the conversion of the 
 millions that have already been redeemed from 
 amongst men. It is the mighty agency by which 
 God designs principally to convert all the myriads 
 that shall swell the mediatorial triumphs of His Son 
 during the millennium, and till the close of time. Ji 
 faithful m^inistry is the world's strongest hold on 
 the hopes and the joys of an eternal heaven. Now, 
 
164 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 if we saw a class of men to whom God had commit- 
 ted the influence or instrumentality by which He 
 revolutionizes empires and worlds, producing the 
 most stupendous political and physical changes, we 
 would consider them as having a great and solemn 
 trust. But what shall we think of the men in whose 
 hands is an instrumentality having an immediate 
 connexion with the work of revolutionizing the im- 
 mortal mind — effecting the most amazing change in 
 the condition and moral relations of the undying 
 soul — raising man from the curse and the woes of 
 his present thraldom in sin, to the bliss and the rap- 
 tures of an inheritance, a crown and a throne fadeless, 
 and eternal in the heavens? What an unutterably 
 great trust is this! 
 
 Next in importance to the conversion of the soul, 
 is the religious character to which it shall be formed, 
 here, in the land of its moral discipline and proba- 
 tion. And we maintain that the ministry has al- 
 ways had, and will always have, the principal influ- 
 ence in forming religious character. The reasons 
 of tliis are too obvious to need even a passing no- 
 tice. "Like priest like people" is an adage whose 
 truth is illustrated in every page of the history of 
 God's church on earth. On ministers rests the re- 
 sponsibility of making the religious character of the 
 people what it is. Ministers have the trust commit- 
 ted to them of forming a people for God — of mould- 
 ing the moral character of the age in which they live 
 — of laying strong hold, by their example, on the 
 power of imitation in the people — of elevating the 
 standard of piety — of urging to " deeds of noble da- 
 ring," in the cause of a sinking world — of impressing 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 165 
 
 the mass of Christian mind with the lineaments of true 
 greatness — and of impelling it to high and infinite 
 aspirations after glory, and honour, and immortality. 
 
 The guardianship of that character and usefulness 
 which constitutes "the salt of the earth" — the 
 grand conservative principle of fallen, j^et social hu- 
 man nature — and the early culture of those august 
 principles of regenerated man, which are to fit him 
 for the adoration and praise, the purity, and love, 
 and unliring benevolence of heaven, are a part of the 
 trust in the hands of the ministry. Who will at- 
 tempt to compute the greatness of such a trust! 
 
 Its greatness will appear once more, if we contem- 
 plate the connexion of the ministry with the iini- 
 versed diffusion of the gospel in the world. To 
 the ministers of the New Testament, the original 
 command of the Redeemer was given — -"Go ye into 
 all the world, and preach the gospel to every crea- 
 ture.'' For the fulfilment of this command, which 
 contemplates the mightiest interests of our race, the 
 world has a right to look primarily to the ministry. 
 The responsibility of its fulfilment rests mainly on 
 those who bear the sacred office. Their character 
 and spirit, their instructions and efforts, are insepara- 
 bly connected with the far extended and universal 
 interests of Messiah's kingdom on earth. Their in- 
 fluence will be felt with decisive effect on the wheels 
 of the Redeemer's triumphant car, as He "rides forth 
 prosperously, conquering and to conquer." In that 
 grand system of influence which God has organized 
 to propagate the gospel universally, the ministry 
 constitutes the Iieart, whose quick and strong pulsa- 
 tions are to propel the warm currents of spiritual 
 life to the extremities of the globe. God has com- 
 
166 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 mitted to ministers an agency which tells directly 
 on this stupendous result. There is no other agency 
 located on earth of such momentous bearings. God 
 has principally confided to the hands of ministers 
 the moral interests of the world, till the end of time. 
 Angels have no such trust. They only follow in the 
 train of ministerial influence here on earth, — perform- 
 ing their unseen offices of love to those who are made 
 "the heirs of salvation " by that influence. They 
 have not the dire responsibility of wielding that in- 
 strumentality which is connected with the univer- 
 sal diffusion of the gospel — which is yet to rid earth 
 of the curse, and redeem its future millions from the 
 woes of the great moral overthrow in Eden. 
 
 Now look at the influence of the ministry on man in 
 all the higher relations and interests of his mortal and 
 immortal being — its influence on his intellectual ha- 
 bitudes and condition — its control over his religious 
 opinions — its instrumentality in the conversion of 
 his soul, and its formative power over his religious 
 character; look at it in its bearings on the universal 
 spread of the gospel — in its amazing agency on those 
 sublime results of millennial glory yet to be realized 
 in our world — and we may add, in its consequences 
 on the eternal joys of the righteous, and the eternal 
 woes of the wicked, to whom it has been '"'a savour 
 of life unto life or of death unto death, '^ as those conse- 
 quences shall beunfolded in heaven and in hell forever, 
 and say, can human language express the greatness of 
 such a trust? Can human hearts sustain themselves 
 under such an exceedingand infinite weight of respon- 
 sibility? "Who is sufficient for these things?" I 
 sometimes wonder that there is a thoughtful mind on 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 167 
 
 earth willing to take upon itself such a trust. Na- 
 tive strength and mortal spirits would utterly fail and 
 sink beneath it, were it not for that consoling as- 
 surance of Jesus Christ — '^ My grace is sufficient 
 for thecP 
 
 III. We now hasten to notice briefly the third ge- 
 neral topic of this discourse, viz., The manner in 
 which the gospel thus committed as so sacred a 
 trusty is to be preached. " But as we were allowed 
 of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even SO 
 tve speak.'' This particle " .so," indicates a relation 
 ofagreement or proportion with some thing or things 
 which precede. These, you will observe, are the 
 two facts on which we have dwelt — the origiii of 
 the ministry as coming from God, and the great 
 trust which it constitutes. The manner of preach- 
 ing, then, must be such as to correspond with these 
 momentous and over-awing facts. First, the gospel 
 is to be preached under a deep and permanent con- 
 viction that the ministerial office is derived from 
 God : — that it is no secular profession — that the mi- 
 nister's commission comes from the court of heaven 
 under the great seal of " the King eternal, immortal, 
 and invisible" — that it cannot be trifled with or pros- 
 tituted to any unworthy ends, without a degree of 
 guilt that might appal the universe. What a prac- 
 tical effect would the undying conviction of this 
 truth produce on the preaching of the gospel! 
 What a power would be imparted to that gospel, 
 when uttered by one whose mind was absorbed with 
 the weighty thought that he had received his office 
 from the hands of the infinite Jehovah, and whose 
 heart was dilated and throbbing under the/e// solem- 
 
168 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 nities of such a commission! How could such a 
 one sink into a heartless round of mere professional 
 service — how could he make his pulpit the place for 
 dealing out dry speculations or stupid commonplace, 
 — while the letters of his commission, written by the 
 finger of God, and burnt in upon conscience by the 
 lightnings of Divine authority, were glittering before 
 the eye of his soul? Secondly, — the gospel is to 
 be preached under a constant and engrossing impression 
 
 of THE GREATNESS OF THE TRVST IchicJl it COnstHuteS. 
 
 The ministry must not be regarded as a mere nega- 
 tive agency, that may be executed faithfully or ne- 
 glected, and the world be but little the better or the 
 worse for it. The gospel must be preached with 
 the conviction that it is one of the mightiest moral 
 elements put in action in this part of God's universe, 
 — that when wielded properly, it will do "the work 
 of tempests in their might,'' in prostrating the gi- 
 gantic enmity of the world against God — that it is 
 the ministry of reconciliation, the great organ insti- 
 tuted of God for bringing back this revolted globe to 
 ils allegiance to Heaven — that its influence is to be 
 inwoven with all the salutary changes and improve- 
 ments in the intellectual condition and destinies of 
 the race — that it is to herald in all the great revolu- 
 tions in the empire of terrestrial minds — that it is to 
 decide the religious character of every age, and to 
 be felt in all the influence which the church of God 
 shall exert on a dying world. Its instrumentality 
 is infinitely more grand and awful than all those 
 mighty agencies of matter that are operating through- 
 out the universe. It is an instrumentality acting 
 with incalculable effect on the moral character, the 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 169 
 
 hopes and prospects, the relations, interests and eter- 
 nal destinies of a whole race of God's intelligent sub- 
 jects — an instrumentality inseparably connected with 
 the exhibitions of Christ's mediatorial glory in the 
 universal extension and splendours of the kingdom 
 of his Messiahship here on earth, and with the efful- 
 gence of his crown and his throne for ever in the 
 heavens. Let the gospel be preached under a deep 
 conviction that it constitutes a trust like this — that 
 it ranks first and chief amongst all those vast influ- 
 ences bj^ which the great God is carrying on to its 
 completion the scheme of his eternal mercy to a lost 
 world, — and it can never be a dead letter. The 
 gospel thus preached will become a living oracle — 
 before which every Dagon on earth will fall, and be 
 dashed in pieces. Uttered from a heart palpitating 
 with a sense of the greatness of the trust, it will come 
 forth in the resistlessness of its primitive sway, anni- 
 hilating the impenitence and rebellion of the world, 
 substituting in their stead "the obedience of the 
 faith," and giving the preparation note of the uni- 
 versal hosannah of earth at its consummated re- 
 demption. 
 
 A third peculiarity of the manner of preaching 
 the gospel, as stated in our text, is — " not as pleasing 
 TTze/i." No, verily! Such a trust is not to be trifled 
 with, and prostituted to the base purpose of gaining 
 a short-lived popularity, by flattering the vanity and 
 the vices of ungodly men. How can a minister, 
 under the conviction of the origin of his office as 
 derived from Jehovah, and of the greatness of the 
 trust which it involves, dare to degrade the glorious 
 gospel, by withholding or distorting its truths, to 
 15 
 
170 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 accommodate the prejudices and corrupt passions of 
 men? What has he to do with the perverted taste 
 of the wicked, whose moral element is error? God's 
 command is to proclaim the whole truth, with all the 
 boldness and energy which the view of the facts 
 that have been noticed inspires, — whether sinners 
 will hear or whether they will forbear. He must 
 leave the consequences with God. If the wicked 
 are driven from the sanctuary and beyond the sphere 
 of the influences of the gospel, by a kind yet firm 
 and uncompromising declaration of the whole coun- 
 sel of God, the responsibility is theirs, not the mi- 
 nister's. And an awful responsibility that will be 
 found to be, in the day of Jesus Christ. He may 
 weep over them, as he doubtless will, and have his 
 hours of anguish of spirit as he marks their down- 
 ward and accelerated career to perdition, when they 
 have thus severed the tie that bound them to the 
 means of grace; but at the peril of his own soul's 
 eternal salvation, he must not alter nor modify his 
 preaching to please men. There must be no com- 
 promise: unblenching fidelity to the letter of his 
 commission — a godly sincerity in preaching the 
 whole truth, witnessed and approved b}^ beholding 
 heaven, must mark all his communications to guilty 
 men. The question how such a doctrine or such a 
 precept will suit unconverted men of intelligence, 
 wealth and influence in his congregation, he must 
 not dare agitate for a moment, lest he fall under 
 that "fear of man which bringeth a snare." 0! if 
 every pulpit, since the ministry has been instituted, 
 had teemed with such preaching as this, how much 
 more blessed had this sinning and sorrowful world 
 been to-dnv ! 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 171 
 
 But whilst the gospel is to be preached " not as 
 pleasing men" — whilst the wicked hate and revile 
 him, is there no one whom the minister, reckless of 
 the world's applause, and fearless and faithful in his 
 proclamation of truth, may desire to please? Yes; 
 for the Apostle adds, as to his manner of preaching, 
 " not as pleasing men, hut God.^^ Here is an aim suf- 
 ficiently exalted and noble to correspond with the sa- 
 credness of the office in its divine origin, and in the 
 greatness of the trust which it constitutes. The 
 gospel is to be preached with a single eye to pleasing 
 God. Let this be the constant, unvarying aim of the 
 minister. It is an infinitely worthy one. It will 
 have a most happy influence on the character and 
 style of his preaching. Let him have his heart set on 
 the sole object of " commending himself to God mihe 
 exercise of the ministry.'^ Let him study, and 
 pray, and write with reference to this end. Let 
 him ask himself, in every duty of his holy office, 
 *^ How will I appear now in the sight of God ?" 
 Let him ask himself in regard to every view of 
 truth which he is about to present, " How does this 
 accord with the mind of God ? Will this be pleasing 
 to the God of truth?" Let him ask, in regard to 
 the spirit with which he finds himself approaching 
 the pulpit, ^' Have 1 now the mind of Christ ?^^ 
 ^^ Does God see a pleasing harmony between the state 
 of my heart and the deep solemnities of the message 
 I am about to deliver? Is my soul in such a state 
 as to speak the truth in love, in tenderness, in meek- 
 ness and gentleness, so that I shall please a God of 
 love and sincerity?" 
 
 The gospel, preached by one whose eye is fixed 
 
173 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 only on the approbation of God, whose heart longs 
 and pants only for the honour that cometh from 
 above, will be no trifling and powerless message. 
 It will be no distorted view of the great truths of 
 revelation; no garbled extracts from "the lively 
 oracles," snatched to serve the mercenary purposes 
 of sectarianism. The gospel, preached with this 
 high aim of pleasing God, will come forth in its 
 native proportions, in its celestial symmetry, and will 
 assert that sway over the hopes and fears and affec- 
 tions of men, which it has sometimes lost by the 
 unsanctified distortions of those who have wrested it 
 to the purposes of a party or a system. It will be- 
 come "spirit and life;" it will be attended with an 
 unction and an emphasis bespeaking it to be what it is 
 in truth, the word of God and not of man; it will 
 stand out to the world in its own intrinsic and 
 " eternal weight of glory !" Now, in view of these 
 august and glorious characteristics of the ministry 
 and of the manner in which the message of Heaven 
 is to be delivered, by what name shall we designate 
 that creature in priestly garments, who desecrates the 
 pulpit and degrades the gospel, by making it nothing 
 more than the means of his own popularity amongst 
 the wicked? — that creature who can mutilate and 
 pervert the eternal truths of God, and commit the 
 sacrilege of stealing fire from the holy altar to kindle 
 and inflame those unhallowed principles of depraved 
 humanity, which he can turn to his account in the 
 sum of his ill-gotten fame? " ! lives there, heaven, 
 beneath thy dread expanse," a creature whose cup 
 of trembling and of perdition is so ready to overflow 
 as his? Where sleep the lightnings of retributive 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 173 
 
 wrath, that they break not forth and consume him, 
 while the censer is yet in his hand, in which he is 
 thus burning incense to his own vanity? 
 
 IV. But let us inquire for a moment, in the fourth 
 and last place. What is the sanction introduced in the 
 text, to prevent such an abuse, and to secure such a mode 
 of preaching as that which has been described? "Not 
 as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our 
 HEARTS." What a sanction! "God, which trieth 
 OUR hearts!" All the duties of the ministry, and 
 especially the preaching of the word, are in a pecu- 
 liar manner done in the open daylight of Jehovah's 
 presence. God's eyes search the hearts, and his 
 eyelids try the reins of ministers every moment. 
 There is no darkness that can hide from his infinite 
 scrutiny, no sanctimonious garb which his gaze can- 
 not pierce. The whole retired interior of the minis- 
 ter's soul is naked, and open to the ej^es of Him 
 with whom he will soon have to do. Lo, God hath 
 hedged him about in the sacred office, with an omnis- 
 cience from which there is no escape ! not an idle 
 omniscience, only looking on through curiosity, but 
 an omniscience which is gathering the materials from 
 the busy workings of the minister's heart, for his 
 final trial in the court of heaven. In every walk of 
 ministerial life, on the right hand and on the left, 
 before and behind him, are voices lifted up and pour- 
 ing on his listening ear the solemn sentence — "God, 
 which trieth our hearts!"— " God, which trieth 
 OUR hearts!" At every turn of his course there 
 is an index placed, where the finger of God points 
 to the declaration — " This is the way to the bar of 
 justice and to the awards oi eternity!" The present 
 16* 
 
174 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 gaze of God's eye, and the future decisions of the great 
 day, are held up perpetually before the mind of the 
 minister, to secure a fidelity in preaching the gospel, 
 which shall triumph alike over the frown or the favour 
 of man, and seek to please God only ! how can a 
 minister of any piety be unfaithful? What compen- 
 sation will the fading laurels which he has won, by so 
 preaching as to please men, afford him for the present 
 blight of God's displeasure, and the future and final 
 reprobation which will meet him at the bar of judg- 
 ment? How dim will be the glory of his name, and 
 how feeble the notes of his earthly praise in that 
 great day when the heavens shall gather blackness 
 over him, and the seven thunders of his doom shall 
 break from beneath the eternal throne! The trial 
 of the heart and the tribunal of God are fearful things 
 to any of our race: but of all, most tremendous to the 
 unfaithful minister. God would have these things 
 constantly present and pressing on the minds of his 
 ministers, that they may preach, not as pleasing men, 
 but Him who hath called them with so high and holy 
 a calling. He would have us think of the unspeak- 
 able guilt of infidelity to our trust, through the love 
 of that temporary fame which is so soon to be suc- 
 ceeded by the shame and everlasting contempt of 
 the damned. God would have us to know, that of 
 all the transitions in the universe, that from the 
 pulpit to perdition is the most ineffably dreadful ! 
 To lay aside the priestly robes and quit the light of 
 the holy altar and be wrapt in devouring fire and 
 banished in the blackness of darkness for -ever, is the 
 horrible sublime of immortal agony ! Thanks to 
 God — eternal thanks ! that in addition to the con- 
 sideration of his approval and love, he has guarded 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 175 
 
 ministerial fidelity by the infinite terrors of a sanc- 
 tion like this. God, in thy boundless mercy, keep 
 all thy ministering servants from betraying the trust 
 which thou hast committed to them, and from be- 
 coming, in consequence, the selected feiD whose future 
 doom will display to the universe the acme of eter- 
 nal wo. 
 
 In conclusion, I would in the first place say to my 
 dear brethren in the ministry — "Suffer the word of 
 exhortation." At all times ours is a great and so- 
 lemn trust, a weighty and fearful responsibility. 
 But it must be obvious to any reflecting mind, that 
 this trust and responsibility may be greatly enhanced 
 by peculiar circumstances in the history of the 
 church and the world. Such an enhancement is now 
 resulting from the character of "the times that are 
 passing over us, and over Israel, and over all the 
 kingdoms of the countries." The social, political 
 and religious characteristics of this age, all combine, 
 to mark it on the long line of centuries, as pre- 
 eminently an era of ministerial responsibility. The 
 widely extended jealousy of ministerial prerogative 
 amongst ungodly men — the general diff'usion of 
 knowledge amongst all classes, and, by consequence, 
 the increasing intelligence of the great mass of hear- 
 ers of the gospel — the latitudinous freedom of opinion 
 and of the press — the amazing ardour and intensity 
 of character forming under the heat and the hammer 
 of political and religious controversy; and the giant 
 efforts of a portion of society, both in the old world 
 and in the new, to throw off* the restraints of moral 
 obligation which God has been holding as a balance 
 on the fearful machinery of fallen human nature, to 
 
176 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 prevent its own action from working its speedy ruin 
 — all these are tremendous elements, in the midst of 
 which, the ministry of the present day have to live. 
 Now, ministers must possess an intellectual and a 
 moral power that will enable them to subdue these 
 elements, and to render some of them subservient to 
 the great ends of their holy office. This will involve 
 a mightier conflict, and, if successful, a nobler tri- 
 umph, than that of civilization and the arts over the 
 elements and agencies of nature. To grapple with 
 the intellect and the heart of this generation, under 
 all the variety of violent impulse and maddening 
 movement imparted to them by the character of 
 these times; and to conciliate for the altars at which 
 we minister, the respect and veneration of the intel- 
 ligent, thinking, independent, restless, active mass of 
 the great community, — will make a demand on mi- 
 nisterial strength, almost without a parallel in the 
 annals of Christianity. The relative degree of in- 
 tellectual and moral forces, between the preacher and 
 the people, is fast changing. The average amount 
 of ministerial attainment necessary to success half a 
 century since, would not avail at present, much less 
 would it meet the hastening exigencies of the future. 
 Success cannot long be expected, without elevating 
 the standard both of knowledge and of piety amongst 
 the clergy themselves. We say both of knowledge 
 and of piety. The latter, however indispensable, 
 (would that there were sevenfold more of it than 
 there is) will not serve to the exclusion of the for- 
 mer. The day has well nigh passed when our pul- 
 pits can be sustained and command respect by deal- 
 ing out a kind of colloquial piety, which aims at com- 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 177 
 
 municating no knovvledge, though it has sometimes 
 with great self-complacency been dignified with the 
 title oi '^ practical preaching,^'' God has promised 
 to his church pastors who shall yeefi? his people with 
 knowledge ; and until ministers do so, they will lack 
 one great element of the power over a sinful world. 
 Until they do so, the impetuous cravings of man's 
 immortal mind will drive him headlong upon other 
 sources of intellectual excitement and gratification. 
 Mere desultory declamation, though uttered with an 
 angel's eloquence and a seraph's ardour, will not feed 
 God's people with knowledge. And, brethren, how 
 we are ever to efiect this without pains-taking and 
 persevering efibrts to increase our own stores of 
 knowledge, is a problem of no easy solution. Hovv 
 we are, with the present average of ministerial at- 
 tainments, to meet the growing demands of the po- 
 pular mind in our own times, I know not. God has 
 given us a position of fearful distinction in this day. 
 One thing is certain, if we would retain the ground 
 that we now occupy, our sacred calling must become 
 pre-eminently the darling pursuit of our lives — the 
 great, absorbing, master-passion of our souls. Secu- 
 lar concerns and secular interests must be regarded 
 as only secondary, and rendered strictly subservient 
 to the high purposes of our ministry. We can no 
 longer divide our time between the cares of life and 
 the functions of our holy office, giving to the former 
 the larger half, and yet expect to sustain ourselves in 
 respectability and usefulness as ministers of the gos- 
 pel. The world is rushing onward, with a momen- 
 tum that will not permit us any longer to indulge 
 such an expectation. In every department of human 
 
178 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 activity, men are driving like Jehu, ^^ fur ions ly.^^ 
 And, relying on God, we too must be able and ready 
 in turn to mount the car and take the reins, or we 
 shall be crushed in the dust beneath the tremendous 
 roll of its wheels. 
 
 If we fail to keep pace with and go before the in- 
 creasing intelligence of our day — if we fail to have 
 a hand in plying the incalculable power of the press 
 — if we fail of our influence in the present move- 
 ments on the subject of popular education, and in 
 the means of diffusing useful knowledge — if we fail 
 in securing our full proportion of the intellectual 
 treasures of our times, it will be a far more disas- 
 trous failure than the fabled catastrophe of Phaeton, 
 when intrusted with the chariot of the sun. The 
 physical distress fancifully depicted of the earth in 
 that case and its personification at lifting its parched 
 hands in imploring importunity to the gods, but 
 faintly indicates, nay, utterly fails to suggest the spi- 
 ritual disaster that would result from the displacement 
 or obscuration of those "stars" which the great Head 
 of the church holds up as her light. if we fail to 
 perform our lofty circuit, what " a horror of great 
 darkness" will settle down upon our globe! While 
 it is yet noon, the evening shadows of eternal death 
 will stretch over every hill and valley, and on every 
 mountain and plain, presaging a midnight of gathering 
 gloom upon the hopes and the immortal interests of 
 man. Brethren, — our hearts cannot but tremble in 
 view of our present condition and responsibilities as 
 ministers of the everlasting gospel. Let us, then, 
 bring these hearts, trembling and aching, to the cross 
 of our divine Master, and hold them there till they are 
 melted and begin to expand with the constraining love 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 179 
 
 of Christ — till faith grasps with both hands upon his 
 promise and his povver — till our souls are fired with 
 a portion of his self-consuming zeal; — and then let 
 us return to the duties of our high calling, deter- 
 mined, through Christ strengthening us, that we 
 will give ourselves wholly to the work — that we 
 will make full proof of the influence of an intelli- 
 gent, holy, faithful ministry, in removing the sins 
 and the sorrows of a dying world. 
 
 Finally. In the light of this subject, Christians 
 may see how they ought to estimate the ministry. 
 To esteem ministers very highly in love for their 
 work's sake, is a duty enforced not less by the na- 
 ture of their office, than by the divine authority 
 which enjoins it. The obligations of Christians to 
 their ministers are unspeakably tender and solemn. 
 The sympathy which they owe to him whose office 
 is one of such trials and such infinite responsibilities, 
 is a deep, permanent, generous, overflowing sym- 
 pathy. The prayers which they owe him are sin- 
 cere, fervent, importunate prayers, like those which 
 they offer for their own eternal salvation. The co- 
 operation which they owe him, is a cordial, prompt, 
 constant, efficient co-operation. The temporal sup- 
 port which they owe him, is a liberal, ample, free- 
 will offering, as though they gave it unto the Lord, 
 and not to man. 
 
 Christians,— have you fulfilled these high obliga- 
 tions to your ministers? For their fulfihnent God 
 will hold you bound to abstain from theft and mur- 
 der. 0, I fear that your neglect, your great neglect 
 here, has laid up fearful materials for your future ac- 
 count at God's tribunal. Look at the minister of 
 the gospel in the light in which he is exhibited 
 
180 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 in this discourse, (and that is the true light in which 
 you ought to contemplate him,) see, as respects 
 his office, whether God's estimate and yours are not 
 widely different? Is he the man whom you may 
 reasonably regard as possessing a most enviable lei- 
 sure, — his office being a mere sinecure? Is he the 
 man whom you think, amidst all the corroding cares 
 and exhausting effiarts of his ministry, ought to "la- 
 bour, working with his own hands," for as much of 
 the meat that perisheth as will barely support him, 
 while he feeds you with that wdiich endureth unto 
 eternal life? Is he the one whom you regard as a 
 kind of educated, splendid pauper, who is to be fed 
 with the crumbs thrown from the careless hand of 
 charity, — and to think himself well off, if he is not 
 grudged even these, as a value received, for which 
 he renders no equivalent? " shame, where is thy 
 blush?" for there are professing Christians in our 
 own land, in the nineteenth centurj'', who partici- 
 pate, measurably, in the infinite meanness and guilt 
 of such an estimate of the holy ministry. " We 
 speak that we do know, and testify that we have 
 seen," in this humiliating and painful affirmation. 
 If it be not so, why are some ministers, in the midst 
 of a comparatively wealthy population, driven, by 
 dint of temporal want, to the occupation of teaching 
 or of farming, and thus consigned to a process of 
 official dwindling and deterioration, which seems, 
 amongst the very people whose conduct has pro- 
 duced this result, to justify them in their low esti- 
 mate of the ministry. If it be not so, what means 
 that heaven-daring dishonesty which some feel at 
 perfect liberty to practise, in withholding the sum 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 181 
 
 which they have subscrihed with their own hand for 
 the minister'' s support, while they feel obligated 
 to pay the bill of the merchant tailor and of the 
 shoemaker; thus leaving the world to draw the easy 
 and obvious inference, that those who clothe the 
 body are justly entitled to their pay, whilst he who 
 wears out the best energies of his being to clothe 
 their immortal souls in the robe of the Redeemer's 
 righteousness, renders them no service for which they 
 feel obligated to give him a compensation ! If pro- 
 fessing Christians have not an improper and low 
 estimate of the ministry, why is it that some of you 
 who are fathers and have sons that hope in Christ 
 for salvation, and consider themselves bought with 
 the infinite price of his blood, are unwilling that 
 those sons should select the holy ministry as their 
 profession? The implication is, that you regard it 
 as an office hardly sufficiently honourable to comport 
 with the family caste and reputable standing of 
 your sons — an office wdiich affi^rds them no facilities 
 for those distinctions to which you hope to see them 
 rise — an office, in truth, whose incumbents, of all 
 other men, are the beneficiaries of a charity more 
 peculiarly gratuitous than that bestowed on the te- 
 nants of an almshouse! You would rather see your 
 sons, under all the mighty obligations which rege- 
 nerating grace has imposed on them to be devoted 
 to Christ, pursuing a career of worldly glory in the 
 profession of the law, or of medicine, or of politics, 
 than a career of usefulness in the ministry, which 
 would exalt them hereafter to shine as the sun and 
 the stars in the firmament of God for ever! Chris- 
 tian brethren, — " these things ought not so to be." 
 16 
 
182 THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 
 
 That ungodly men who feel the rebuke of that " aw- 
 ful goodness" which the ministry sometimes pre- 
 sents in the character of its best functionaries — that 
 the wicked whose consciences writhe under the 
 faithful exhibitions of God's truth in exposing the 
 magnitude and malignity of their sins, and who feel 
 towards the ministry as the demoniacs amongst the 
 tombs felt toward the Son of God, as though it were 
 instituted "to torment them before the time" — that 
 these should depreciate the holy office, and revile its 
 incumbents as hireling priests, growing rich on the 
 money which they extort from the superstitious 
 fears of the people, is not at all surprising. A faith- 
 ful, pious ministry, is doubtless greatly in their way. 
 It is as the angel with flaming sword, which met 
 Balaam in his keen career after the wages of un- 
 righteousness. It sometim.es causes their " foot to 
 be crushed against a wall," and sends them wrathful, 
 yet halting, along their downward course. But that 
 those who profess to owe their hopes of eternal life 
 to the instrumentality of the ministry — who profess 
 to regard it as the divinely instituted means of their 
 sanctification — that any of such should estimate the 
 sacred office so low as to give the least countenance 
 to the sentiments of the ungodly on this subject, is 
 truly amazing! Beware, professing Christians, of 
 thus adding to the griefs of him who has trials and 
 sorrows enough, after all your esteem and kindness 
 to him, to make him " weep between the porch and 
 the altar." For these things, where they continue 
 to exist, God will not fail to visit the community 
 with the awful judgment of " removing the candle- 
 stick out of his place," and of making that spot a 
 
THE MINISTERIAL OFFICE. 183 
 
 " land of darkness as darkness itself, and of the sha- 
 dow of death witliout any order, and wliere the light 
 is darkness!" The kingdom of God shall be taken 
 from that community, and given to one that shall 
 bring forth the appropriate fruits. Beloved Chris- 
 tian brethren, gather round your ministers with an 
 increasing interest and an increasing estimate of the 
 infinite value of their holy calling. The times in 
 which you live imperiously require this at your 
 hands. They now need all the influence which you 
 can afford, and this generation may not pass away 
 till they yet need more than the Christian commu- 
 nity have hitherto accorded to them. To some of 
 them, it is a day of trouble and of tumult, in the ec- 
 clesiastical connexions to which they belong — a day 
 of internal strife, whose issues on the great interests 
 of religion in this country no man is competent at 
 present to predict. "Without also are fightings." 
 The great, growing, irreligious populace are no idle 
 and uninterested spectators of these " divisions of 
 Reuben!" For the last ten years there has been an 
 increasing bond of union forming between the wicked 
 of all classes and creeds. The strength resulting and 
 accumulating from this union is yet to be expended 
 in a terrible conflict with the virtue and common 
 Christianity of our country. And, as we have no 
 religious establishment in this land, it is very ob- 
 vious that ministers are likely to become the centre 
 to which the wicked, thus banded together, will di- 
 rect the mighty shock of their aggregated forces. 
 Cling then to your ministers, and to the altars at 
 which they serve. Leave them not to struggle and 
 to weep alone. Let your very souls cleave unto 
 
1S4 rHK MINISTERIAL OFFICK. 
 
 ihem as iiu\v approach the tierv trial and the fearful 
 contlicl that awaits them! 0, sustain them with all 
 the sympathy, and all the counsels, and all the pray- 
 ers, and all the co-operation that you can bring to 
 their aid. By all the trials, and sorrows, and solemn 
 responsibilities of the holy othce — by all the porten- 
 tous signs of the limes in i-eference to the ministry 
 — by all the momentous bearings of its influence on 
 the highest interests of the race for two worlds — bv 
 all that t^'Ott owe to its instrumentality in the eternal 
 redemption of your souls — by the love of Jesus 
 which instituted this ollice — by all the honour of 
 God, and of Christ, and of the Spirit, involved in 
 its perpetuity on earth, I beseech, 1 conjure you 
 " esteem your ministers very highly in love tor their 
 work's sake:" and, at the peril of meeting the result 
 of your delinquency at the bar of God, withhold not 
 an etlort necessary to augment their intiuence and 
 facilitate their success in prosecuting the sublime 
 ends ol their heavenly calling. 
 
DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF LITTL;: HIN". I H5 
 
 SERMON IX 
 
 DISASTROUS EFFP:C7'S OP' LITTLE SL\:S LN CHRIS- 
 TLANS. 
 
 Dead fliee cause the ointrrtent of thie apothecary to isend fixtii a stink- 
 ing Kavour; fjo doth a littk Wly hirn that i>i in rejHitaJtkm for wkdom and 
 honour. — Ecctebiastes z. J. 
 
 The love of rf^putation is natural to men. God 
 has implanted this love in the human heart to sub- 
 serve a benevolent purpose in the present scene of 
 our being. And the individual who has so far per- 
 verted this part of his original constitution, as to feel 
 no regard for the good opinion of the wise and the 
 virtuous, is prepared to become the pest of the com- 
 munity, and the perpetrator of the foulest deeds of 
 darkness. To the native desire of the individual for 
 the esteem of others, may be referred much of that 
 courtesy and common kindness which diffuse their 
 blessings over the various circles of society. But 
 no man, in this country especially, is born to the in- 
 heritance of a good name. He must merit it by his 
 real or supposed virtues, before it will be awarded to 
 liim. And it is not a rare or solitary act of good- 
 ness, however imposing, that will secure to the indi- 
 vidual that " good name, which is better than pre- 
 cious ointment." As it is with care and caution 
 16* 
 
186 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 that the apothecary compounds and prepares his pre- 
 cious perfume, so a fair reputation can only be ob- 
 tained by combining in their just proportions, and 
 exhibiting in their fulness and harmony, those ele- 
 ments of character that meet the approbation of the 
 better part of society. But while such is the diffi- 
 culty and delicacy of establishing a character for 
 wisdom and honour, it may be easily lost, utterly 
 lost, without destroying all or any of its great and 
 prominent qualities. " Dead flies cause the ointment 
 of the apothecary to send forth a bad savour " — yet 
 these flies bear but an exceeding small proportion to 
 the whole substance of the ointment in which they 
 are lodged. Character, like perfume, then, may be 
 destroyed without a destruction of all its principal 
 component parts. Let but a little folly attach to him 
 who is in reputation for wisdom and honour, and it 
 may utterly ruin his influence. This is the truth 
 exhibited for our contemplation in the text. 
 
 The object of the remarks that follow shall be — 
 
 first, TO NOTICE SOME EXEMPLIFICATIONS OF THE 
 TRUTH, THAT COMPARATIVELY TRIFLING DEFECTS 
 DESTROY THE REPUTATION AND INFLUENCE OF A 
 
 PROFESSING Christian — and secondly, to inquire 
 
 INTO the reasons OF THIS. 
 
 I. First, then, we are to notice some exemplifica- 
 tions of the truth, that comparatively trifling defects de- 
 stroy the reputation and influence of a professing Chris- 
 tian. 
 
 Every professor of religion is at first, by his very 
 profession, in reputation for wisdom and honour. 
 He is supposed to have taken a wise step, to have 
 assumed a lofty stand. He has claimed connexion* 
 
or LITTLE SINS. 187 
 
 intimate alliance, with the Source of all honour and 
 moral excellence. Must he then be guilty of some 
 flagrant violation of the divine law, before he can 
 lose his character and influence? — No; a little folly 
 will destroy them both. He may not break the 
 Sabbath, nor swear profanely, nor steal, nor be 
 chargeable with falsehood, nor with gross and palpa- 
 ble injustice, nor with habitual neglect of the social 
 and secret worship of God. He may not be impure 
 or intemperate, a railer or false accuser, an unruly or 
 insubordinate member of the church. He may nei- 
 ther be quarrelsome nor insolent with his neighbours; 
 and yet he may have that in his character which will 
 as effectually destroy his influence as though he were 
 guilty of much greater enormities. Let him be 
 reckless and imprudent in the minor points of Chris- 
 tian conduct. Let him heedlessly or wilfully post- 
 pone the claims of justice, even in little matters. 
 Let him have a little of self-confidence, and a med- 
 dlesome forwardness — some share of self-will and 
 unyielding pertinacity of opinion — some irascibility 
 of temper that cannot brook contradiction, or bear 
 to be overborne by the opinions of a majority of his 
 peers, without throwing him off" his balance and 
 causing him to speak unadvisedly with his lips; — 
 any one of these may be amply sufficient to destroy 
 his influence, though that charity that hopeth all 
 things and believeth all things, may both hope and 
 believe still that he is a Christian. Or take a pro- 
 fessor of religion, otherwise irreproachable, but who 
 has the unhappy habit of giving the highest colour- 
 ing to his representations, of using great exaggera- 
 tion, of making loose and somewhat distorted state- 
 
188 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 ments, of taking a little poetic license in the narra- 
 tion of facts; and though no court, ecclesiastical or 
 civil, could convict that man of palpable lying, yet 
 there is a fly in the ointment, and the savour is offen- 
 sive. The man's Christian character and influence 
 are a perfect nullity. Take another, in other respects 
 unblameable, but who is known in his business trans- 
 actions to go just as far as the letter of the law will 
 permit in getting the best of a bargain — who evinces 
 a peculiar shrewdness, not to say cunnings in calcu- 
 lating the bearings on his own interest of certain un- 
 suspected legal phrases in a contract, and who can satis- 
 fy his own conscience, and attempt to justify to others 
 the advantage he has thus gained, by saying, that it is 
 perfectly legal — that the other contracting party 
 acted voluntarily and with his eyes open. Now, 
 though such a one can neither be convicted by a 
 church session nor a civil court, of illegal bargaining 
 or dishonesty, yet his reputation as a professing 
 Christian, and his influence in the church of God, are 
 somewhat worse than a cipher! Again: suppose an 
 individual, who is not chargeable with any approxi- 
 mation to overreaching in his dealings with others, 
 and whose reputation is respectable in the eyes of 
 men generally, except that it is known that he loves 
 exceedingly to retain what he has honestly acquired, 
 irrespective of any demands of God or man on his 
 substance: let it be known that he always receives 
 applications for contributions with a mal-grace: that, 
 when the object presented for his liberality is one of 
 unquestioned propriety and benevolence, he admits 
 it, but fills his mouth with objections: that he will re- 
 sort to apologies and excuses, the weight of which 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 189 
 
 it IS to be suspected he does not himself feel: let it 
 be known that to all questions of this kind he has a 
 set of negative answers — answers which show that 
 he clings inordinately to his gold — that he loves it 
 in itself, instead of as the means of doing good to a 
 dying world; that he is somewhat, at least, inclined 
 to avarice and covetousness; and though this be not 
 
 regarded as a disciplinable offence by the church 
 
 (and I do not see why it should not be, for the New 
 Testament declares it to be idolatry;) yet what is 
 that professor's character worth in the estimation of 
 an enlightened Christian community? Worth just 
 as much as his treasures will be to him, when God 
 takes away his soul. And even where there is not 
 such an approach to downright covetousness — where 
 there is no such approximation to that "love of 
 money, which is the root of all evil " — no such ido- 
 latrous attachment to riches, yet it is possible for 
 the individual to be guilty of a littleness of soul — a 
 parsimonious meanness and management in pecuniary 
 affairs, that will as certainly undermine and destroy 
 the character and influence of a professing Christian, 
 as avarice and covetousness in their grossest forms. 
 
 Let us now contemplate a professing Christian, free 
 from all these defects of which vve have spoken, but 
 prone to a certain unbecoming levity of spirit. 
 Such a one may not attend theatres, operas, balls, or 
 dancing and dashing parties. He may frequent no 
 haunts of dissipation and mirth — nay, he may not be 
 habitually found in the society of the trifling and the 
 thoughtless. But there may be a certain effort at 
 dress and fashionable appearance, a certain love of 
 attracting attention and winning admiration, a pre- 
 
190 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 vailing desire to be witty, a love of showing off a lit- 
 tle, unrepressed gayety and levity of spirit, a dis- 
 position to trifling and puerile conduct in the absence 
 of customary restraint, moments of frothy conversa- 
 tion and vain jestings, and some leanings occasional- 
 ly to very thoughtless companionship. Now, though 
 the individual to whom these things attach, never 
 proceeds to such lengths as might at all make him lia- 
 ble to the formal discipline of the church, yet what ef- 
 fect have they on his reputation and influence as a 
 professor of religion? It is true, they leave him in 
 his place, untouched by discipline as a member of 
 the church, but the fragrance of his good name they 
 have not only destroyed, but caused that name to 
 send up an odour highly offensive to all that is grave, 
 dignified, and consistent in piety. 
 
 Or suppose an individual to be at a great remove 
 from all that is gay and trifling, suppose him to be 
 serious and punctual in all external observances, suf- 
 ficiently grave in all his intercourse with the world, 
 possessing a moral character of no positive faultiness, 
 somewhat zealous and enterprising in benevolent 
 efforts; yet let him be inclined to a murmuring, 
 restless, dissatisfied spirit, rather disposed to cen- 
 soriousness, mostly or always differing in opinion 
 respecting the most simple matters from the majority 
 around him, greatly alive to the defects and blemishes 
 of others, complaining that every thing in the church 
 and the world seems to be going wrong, and disposed 
 to innovation and change, provided it be of his own 
 dictation. Now in all this he may do nothing really 
 worthy of disciplinary stripes. He may not in the 
 judgment of the candid bring his own personal piety 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 191 
 
 into doubt, and yet his salutary influence as a Chris- 
 tian is as utterly destroyed as though he had been 
 guilty of some heinous offence: there are at least 
 enough of " dead flies " in the ointment to destroy 
 its fragrance, if not to cause it to send forth a posi- 
 tively bad odour. 
 
 We may now examine the effect of a little folly 
 in one who is in reputation for wisdom and honour 
 as a father or head of a family. Such a one, in order 
 to lose his character and influence, need not be des- 
 titute of natural affection, he need not be a stern and 
 arbitrary tyrant in the domestic circle, imposing the 
 iron yoke of his despotism on the weak and unoffend- 
 ing necks of his wife and children, and inflicting 
 brutal violence on those whom God and nature re- 
 quire him to protect and cherish. Nor, on the other 
 hand, need he neglect all discipline and yield up 
 the reins, and leave his children to run without re- 
 straint in the course vvhich their ardent and wayward 
 desires may dictate. He may not allow them to 
 spurn his authority in the graver matters of their 
 duty, to break over the restraints of an external mo- 
 rality, and violate the Sabbath, or profane the name 
 of God, or steal, or utter falsehood, or frequent places 
 of gaming, and drunkenness, and lewdness, and riot. 
 He may not permit them to offer a direct disobedience 
 to any of his positive and prompt requirements as a 
 father, and yet there may be a little folly attached to 
 him in this relation which will destroy his influence 
 and ruin his children, as inevitably as more glaring 
 delinquencies. Let him fail to exercise a vigilant 
 inspection over Wi^forining habits of his children; 
 let him yield his authority, contrary to his own con- 
 
192 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 viction of right, to the persuasive importunity of 
 his child; let him connive at the child's ingenuity 
 to avoid collision with his known will in a given 
 case, and yet to carry its own point; let him some- 
 times accept a partial and reluctant obedience; nay, 
 let him even hold the reins of his parental govern- 
 ment with an unsteady hand, and what will be 
 the effect on his reputation as a Christian father, 
 and what the influence on his children? The evi- 
 dence of his folly, however small it may appear 
 to himself, will come before the public as soon 
 as its effects have ripened into maturity in the cha- 
 racter of his children. Whatever may be his other 
 excellencies, the world will not respect him as a 
 judicious Christian father. His little folly is suf- 
 ficient effectually to destroy the fragrance of that 
 good name, which attaches to the exalted character 
 of a discreet, consistent, Christian father. And it 
 will equally destroy his influence on his own children. 
 Having learned that they may, in some instances, 
 succeed in avoiding a cordial and unqualified obedi- 
 ence to his reasonable requisitions — that they may 
 carry their point by management and persuasion, their 
 reverence for his parental authority is gradually 
 weakened, the strong ties of filial respect and fear 
 become loosened, the charm that bound them in im- 
 plicit obedience to a father's will and wishes is at 
 length dissolved, and the progress to insubordination, 
 recklessness of all restraint, and to ultimate ruin, is 
 neither slow nor uncertain. The destruction of 
 character and hopes amongst the children of profess- 
 ing parents, is never eflected by great and crying 
 parental delinquency. A " little folly " in those 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 193 
 
 who are in reputation for wisdom and honour as 
 Christian parents, hath done this! "Behold how 
 great a matter a little fire kindleth!" 
 
 Once more: the truth of our text is strikingly ex- 
 emplified in the case of some ministers of the gospel. 
 The more delicate the perfume, the more easily de- 
 stroyed by a small ingredient of an offensive kind. 
 So the higher and more sacred the reputation for 
 wisdom and honour, the more easily ruined by a 
 Utile folly. To lose his character and influence, it is 
 not necessary for the minister to be infected with 
 gross heresy, or to be guilty of gross immorality; he 
 need not be chargeable with indiscretions as palpa- 
 ble as those that mar the chaiacter of ordinary 
 Christians. Nay, he may preach t/ie truth elo- 
 quently and fervently ; he may have a general 
 honesty and uprightness of intention; some degree 
 of sincere desire to do good. He may be laborious 
 in his official duties; an example of liberality to the 
 poor, and to all objects of benevolence; industrious 
 and careful in his studies; attentive in his visitations 
 to the sick, and to his flock generally: but let him 
 be known as a man of somewhat rash and imprudent 
 temperament, or as possessing a hauteur and ill-judg- 
 ed independence, wounding to the feelings of others; 
 or let him be prone to occasional levity, excessive 
 fondness for anecdote, and an unrestrained indulgence 
 of his sense of the ludicrous; or let him be known as 
 a little inclined to be insidious and managing; a little 
 disposed to the compromising and turning of a 
 merely secular policy; somewhat desirous of the 
 praise of men, or at least a little too sensitive respect- 
 ing his own popularity : any one of these, however 
 17 
 
194 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 small, if persisted in till it become habitual, will un- 
 dermine and ultimately blast his reputation, and blot 
 out his name from the records of a respectable and use- 
 ful ministry. How many men of talents are at this 
 day wasting and waning under defects entirely too 
 trifling to be made the objects of an ecclesiastical 
 process, or even to bring their personal piety into 
 doubt. Dead flies are, however, in the ointment, 
 and its original purity and fragrance only serve to 
 enhance their offensive odour. The verj'^ transpa- 
 rency of the consecrated vessel that contains them, 
 serves to magnify those impertinent intruders in the 
 eyes of the spectator, and prepares him to receive the 
 greater offence from their ill savour. It may well 
 make the serious mind to tremble, and the sensitive 
 heart to sink in anguish, to think how a little folly 
 may utterly destroy the character and influence of 
 him who is in reputation for wisdom and honour as 
 a minister of Jesus Christ. 
 
 II. Let us now, in the second place, inquire into 
 some of the reasons lohy it is that a little folly will thus 
 destroy the character and influence of a professing 
 Christian. 
 
 I. One reason of this is, that the Christian, by his 
 profession, creates large expectations respecting his cha- 
 racter. His profession lays claim to all those exalted 
 and ennobling attributes which belong to regene- 
 rated human nature. He professes to have expe- 
 rienced a great moral change, so radical in its influ- 
 ence on his being, that the sacred scriptures deno- 
 minate it a "a new creation" — a ^' being born again " 
 — a "passing from death unto life" — from "darkness 
 to light" — from sin to holiness. He professes to be 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 195 
 
 the friend of God, the disciple of Jesus Christ, the 
 temple of the Holy Ghost. He affirms by his pro- 
 fession that he has solemnly "renounced the hidden 
 things of dishonesty;" that he has thrown off the 
 spirit and maxims and customs of a guilty world, as 
 no longer to interfere with, or influence his conduct; 
 that he is actuated by a higher and holier principle — 
 by that supreme benevolence to God, and that im- 
 partial love to man which the sacred scriptures re- 
 quire ; that he has adopted rules of life so gloriously 
 pure and rigid, that they require him, under the most 
 solemn sanctions, to " abstain from all appearance of 
 evil." In a word, that the great law of his renewed 
 nature is strenuously to aim to be holy even as God 
 is holy. All this, and other specifications that might 
 be added, are involved in a public profession of reli- 
 gion. Is it not natural, that such a profession should 
 create large expectations in the world respecting the 
 character of him who makes it? He gives an illus- 
 trious hostage to public opinion — a pledge that he 
 will sustain no ordinary reputation for wisdom and 
 honour. The world have accordingly high expecta- 
 tions ; and, forgetting that the Christian does not pro- 
 fess present perfection, they regard him as though he 
 did. Now where there is such a high profession on 
 the one hand, and such enlarged expectations on the 
 other, it is manifest that a comparatively trifling de- 
 fect attaching to such a character, will be as the 
 dead flies in the ointment of the apothecary. The 
 same obliquity which, in the case of one not in re- 
 putation for wisdom and honour, would pass wholly 
 unobserved, will be amply sufficient in the case of 
 the Christian to destroy his character and influence. 
 
196 PJSASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 Nor does it matter that the world are unreasonable 
 in their requirements, and expect too much. We 
 must take human society as it actually is, not as it 
 should be, when we are examining the influence of 
 trifling defects on the reputation of the Christian. 
 If men are unrighteously severe in condemning the 
 Christian for a little folly, it is not the less a fact that 
 his reputation with them is destroyed, and his influ- 
 ence neutralized and lost. The want of charity in 
 the world to overlook his slightest faults, ought only 
 to prove a more powerful stimulus to him to avoid 
 the very appearance of evil. 
 
 2. A second reason why comparatively trifling 
 defects blast the Christian's reputation, ?5 to be found 
 in the fact, that most men judge, whether right or wrongs 
 that little things often furnish a clew to the general cha- 
 racter. That this is true in many instances cannot 
 be doubted. Hence the adage, that "straws indicate 
 the current of the ocean." And it would be true in 
 reo-ard to a little folly in the professing Christian, 
 were there not certain counteracting influences in 
 the very principles of his renewed nature. Were 
 there no humiliation in view of the least perceptible 
 folly that attaches to him; no sincere penitence on 
 its account before God ; no resistance offered to 
 it; no habitual resolves and efforts in Divine strength 
 to overcome it, then that little defect would furnish 
 a proper clew to his whole character for piety. But 
 the world sees not the operations of this counteract- 
 ing influence. The Christian's folly is before the 
 v^rorld, openly; but the deep humiliation which it 
 occasions, is an exercise of his soul in retirement. 
 The tears he sheds over it are wept in secret, and 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 197 
 
 seen by none but the omniscient eye; the resistance 
 he opposes to it is amongst the secrets of his own 
 heart ; the resolves and efforts which he makes to 
 conquer and to root it out from amongst the habi- 
 tudes of his soul, are not matters of public observa- 
 tion. Hence the men of the world take the little 
 folly which they see attached to him as the proper data 
 on which to form their estimate of his whole charac- 
 ter. All his excellencies are thus tarnished, and go 
 for a thing of naught. They attempt to explain 
 them away, or account for their existence in the pro- 
 fessing Christian, through his hypocrisy, or his love 
 of the praise of men, or it may be his fear of falling 
 under the censure of the church, or his desire to pro- 
 mote by such fair appearances some secular and sel- 
 fish end. Thus, it being assumed that these visible 
 though small defects are a proper clew to his general 
 character, that character is destroyed, and the Chris- 
 tian's influence worse than lost, in the judgment of 
 such men, by a little folly. 
 
 3. A third reason of this fact is, that the world 
 abounds with that envy which is anxious to re- 
 duce all excellencies of character to its own level. 
 
 There are some men who live only to be tormented 
 by the good name of others. Of small capacities 
 and very stinted virtues, they are nevertheless gigan- 
 tic in the single desire of fame. Popular esteem 
 is their idol. With the love of this as their ruling 
 passion, when they find themselves consigned to an 
 unnoticed mediocrity, their disappointment and cha- 
 grin speedily distils the bitterest envy. If genius or 
 moral worth rises within their view, and soars and 
 sheds glory from its wings — like the crows in pursuit 
 
 17* 
 
198 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 of the eagle, they must need chatter at it, though it is 
 far aloft, beyond their range,on its shining way toward 
 the sun. There are those who consider all others 
 that are in better reputation than themselves, as their 
 rivals and natural enemies. No matter wjiat species 
 of excellence it may be for which the individual is 
 distinguished, it is sufficient to secure for him their 
 envy and hatred. These passions burn like the 
 smothered fires of the volcano, and struggle for an 
 opportunity to break forth and blacken the reputa- 
 tion of that individual, till it is of the same hue as 
 their own. Such men have adopted the equality 
 principle in regard to the characters of others, and 
 are determined never to rest, till they have done 
 what they can to reduce them to a level with their 
 own. 
 
 Now as envy cannot exist without some materials, 
 fabricated or existing in fact, you may judge, my 
 hearers, with what avidity it seizes on the trifling 
 defects of the Christian, and commences its diabolical 
 work of ruining his good name. But for these de- 
 fects it would lack all the materials that could afford 
 any probability of success to its infernal machina- 
 tions. With this little folly in him who is in repu- 
 tation for wisdom and honour, as the basis, envy 
 can construct its stories, throw out its surmises and 
 insinuations, and ruin a name otherwise better than 
 precious ointment. While then our world is the 
 theatre of the dark and guilty passion of envy, this 
 will afford one reason why comparatively trifling 
 defects in the Christian, will serve to destroy his 
 character and influence. 
 
 4. A fourth and last reason of this may be found 
 
 1 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 199 
 
 in the fact, that ivicked men hope by magnifying 
 these comparatively trijiing faults of the Chris- 
 tian, and injuring his reputation, to quiet their 
 consciences in vieiv of their own grosser sins and 
 deformities. 
 
 There are some men who fear no disturbance to 
 their consciences so much as that excited by the con- 
 sistency and pre-eminent holiness of the lives of 
 Christians. They can hear the finest theories of re- 
 ligion, and listen to the most overwhelming evidences 
 of its truth, and still strive to persuade themselves and 
 others that it is hut a theoi^y, not capable of being 
 actually reduced to practice. They may be warned 
 by all the terrors of the Lord, of the wickedness of 
 their way, and of the woes in which it will terminate, 
 and yet if they see no m.arked difference in character 
 between themselves and those who profess religion, 
 their consciences can still repose in quiet. But if 
 the holy and unblameable life of a Christian — one 
 whose character is as free from imperfection as even 
 the world can reasonably expect it to be — throws its 
 light in upon their darkness, conscience is troubled. 
 These men are then afraid that there is such a dis- 
 tinction of moral character as the Scriptures assert, 
 between the righteous and the wicked. And if there 
 be, they know that their case, while they continue 
 what they are, is hopeless and deplorable beyond ex- 
 pression. To silence conscience then, they must do 
 one of two things — either repent and be converted, 
 and become holy, or endeavour to persuade them- 
 selves that there is not much difference between the 
 character of those who are highest in reputation for 
 piety, and their own. The latter is the easiest, and 
 
200 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 the most grateful to the depraved heart, and withal 
 the least humbling to its native pride. Accordingly 
 such men seize on the little folly connected with the 
 Christian, though it be but as the spot on the disk of 
 the sun, to shield the eyes of conscience from the 
 tormenting splendours of full-orbed Christian cha- 
 racter. They withdraw their attention from all his 
 preponderating excellencies, and fix it strongly on 
 his most trifling defects. These they exaggerate 
 and magnify, and make the foundation of more sweep- 
 ing conjectures and suspicions, till, through the deep 
 deception of their own hearts, they persuade them- 
 selves, and would fain persuade others also, that the 
 best Christian is after all little if any better than them- 
 selves. Thus wicked men feel as though their peace 
 of conscience were staked on the success of their ef- 
 forts to make a little folly in the professing Christian 
 the means of destroying his character and influence. 
 How efiectually they succeed, the bleeding cause of 
 Christ in our world abundantly shows. 
 
 And, my dear Christian friends, it is vain for us 
 to complain of such a constitution of things. God 
 permits it, to impose on us the necessity of the high- 
 est possible attainments in holiness of which our pre- 
 sent condition is capable. God holds up all these 
 reasons, which we have been exposing, to show 
 us why it has been and always will be true, that 
 as "dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to 
 send forth a stinking savour, so doth a liille, folly him 
 that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.'^ A 
 truth big with terror to the thoughtless, uncircum- 
 spect Christian, as it is with infinite disaster to the 
 interests of piety in the world. 
 
 1 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 201 
 
 We may infer from this subject, then, the obliga- 
 tion of Christians to be peculiay^ly circujnspect, 
 in regard to things that may seem as trifles com- 
 pared with the more prominent and imposing parts 
 of Christian character. 
 
 My Christian friends, it will not suffice for us to 
 be careful that we are not guilty of any direct im- 
 morality — that no one shall be able to lay palpable 
 and flagrant sin at our door. The restraints of so- 
 ciety, and our regard to public opinion, will ordina- 
 rily save us from any thing gross and revolting in our 
 moral conduct. It is not here that we are to double 
 the watch, and fortify the walls of our religious cha- 
 racter. The towers and battlements may all be stable 
 and strong, while the wicket-gate to the heart may 
 be unbolted and readj^ to open at the touch of the 
 enemy. It is against the Utile obliquities of Christian 
 conduct that we are most sedulously to guard. It is 
 here that the sternest circumspection is required. 
 We have seen that our religious character and influ- 
 ence can be as eflectually destroyed by a Utile folly, 
 as by more flagrant crimes. We have seen that there 
 are many reasons wh}- this must be so. We have 
 seen that the very profession of the Christian, on the 
 one hand, and the exorbitant expectations of the 
 world on the other; that the habit of judging of ge- 
 neral character by little acts ; that a levelling envy, 
 and a desire of quieting conscience amongst the 
 wicked, by exaggerating the faults of Christians, are 
 all operating as so many causes to take advantage of 
 a little folly in him that is in reputation for wisdom 
 and honour, for the destruction of his good name and 
 influence in society. What then is the manifest and 
 
202 DISASTROUS EFFECTS 
 
 imperious duty of Christians thus situated ? Verily, 
 that they walk circumspectly in lUlle things — not as 
 fools, but as wise to foresee the fatal consequences to 
 their reputation if they neglect this duty. With 
 what care ought they to set themselves to the task 
 of watchfulness in this respect ! Conscience is feebler, 
 less sensitive and wakeful, in proportion to the esti- 
 mated littleness of these defects, in themselves con- 
 sidered, and without reference to the mighty sweep 
 of their destructive power on Christian character and 
 influence. How necessary then to stir up our vigi- 
 lance and circumspection, by looking at the inevita- 
 ble consequences of what may be softened by the 
 name of mere frailties or failings! They will in the 
 end, if not arrested, work out a destruction of our 
 Christian reputation and influence, as certain and 
 deep, and dreadful as the most palpable immoralities 
 could do. They will leave us as mere spots in the 
 church's feasts of charity — as clouds without rain, to 
 shut out the moral sunshine and dews of heaven from 
 this parched and barren world. In themselves they 
 ma}^ be little things, but in their destructive power 
 on our good name, they "do the work of tempests 
 in their might." "Wherefore, holy brethren, par- 
 takers of the heavenly calling, be sober, be vigilant, 
 gird up the loins of your minds, see that ye walk cir- 
 cumspectly," in that which is least as well as in that 
 which is greatest — remembering that the world waits 
 to receive its deepest convictions of the purity of 
 your conscience, the strength of your religious prin- 
 ciple, and the influence of the love and the fear of 
 God on your hearts, from your scrupulous regard 
 to LITTLE duties. 
 
OF LITTLE SINS. 203 
 
 Finally — We may remark from this subject, how 
 strange it is that professing Christians should be so in- 
 sensible to the guilt of what are deemed little sins. 
 
 If the preacher inveighs against profaneness, or In- 
 temperance, or lewdness, or Sabbath-breaking, or 
 theft, or fraud, or falsehood, or any of the grosser 
 crimes, they are willing to hear him, and to 
 shudder for that professor of religion to whom aught 
 so flagrant can be applicable. They think that if 
 they were in his condition they would be over- 
 whelmed with a sense of guilt, and would give up 
 all hope. But when the man of God dwells on the 
 blemishes, or the petty defects of their Christian cha- 
 racter, there is scarcely enough of sensibility in 
 their consciences to keep their attention to the sub- 
 ject. They look away from these to the more pro- 
 minentand imposingexcellencies of their character, as 
 abundantly counterbalancing them. Why, brethren, 
 why such torpor of conscience amongst Christians 
 about little sins? If they are sufficient to destroy 
 your good name, and your Christian influence on a 
 dying world, why may they not suffice to put con- 
 science in an agony till penitence through the blood of 
 Jesus remove them from the soul? What is your ex- 
 istence worth to God, or to his universe, when you 
 areas salt that has lost its savour — when you are stript 
 of the reputation and the influence of a Christian ? 
 What though you may get to heaven at last, and be 
 "saved so as by fire?'^ Will you have fulfilled the 
 high responsibilities of your standing on earth — your 
 connexion with mortals? Did God design that on 
 your way to immortality you should be a mere ne- 
 gative thing — should exert no permanent goodly in- 
 
204 DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF LITTLE SINS. 
 
 fluence? And yet such must be the certain result of 
 little sins indulged. And does it constitute any pal- 
 liatloriy that you barter your name and influence at a 
 price so small? Oh, can conscience sleep over those 
 little things, which yet are so great in their conse- 
 quences as to disrobe you of the exalted attributes of 
 a consistent Christian, and throw you as a dead 
 weight on the struggling energies of the church, and 
 finally dismiss you from the world as little better, 
 perhaps, than a cumberer of the ground! My dear 
 Christian friends, wherever else conscience may 
 sleep, oh, let it not do this over little sins. Here let 
 it wake up, and weep, and lead to fervent, agonizing 
 prayer, till, through abounding grace, you may stand 
 confessed before the world, " blameless, and harm- 
 less, the sons of God, without rebuke." 
 
 1 
 
t 
 
 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME, 205 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. A NEW-YEAR'S 
 SERMON. 
 
 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto 
 wisdom. — Psalm xc. 12. 
 
 The course of time has ever been the subject of 
 sublime and melancholy musing. The sacred writer, 
 in the context, introduces this topic by some of the 
 most tender and beautiful imagery. Whether the 
 lapse and vicissitudes of time would bring upon an 
 unfallen spirit that impression of poetic sadness 
 which we feel, it is not easy to determine. Did the 
 mighty current of years roll on over a sinless world, 
 it would probably associate to the minds of the in- 
 habitants nothing but images and anticipations of 
 brightness and glory. But upon apostate man, time, 
 in its flight, casts a deep shadow from its wings, and 
 awakens emotions of strange and undefinable sad- 
 ness. The great changes that have been effected, 
 the decay and ruin of the proudest monuments of 
 human power, the wreck of generations gone by, 
 and the unrevealed mysteries of the future, fill the 
 mind with associations mournfully sublime. How 
 little and impotent does man appear, as he views 
 himself, borne along on the tide of years, as the leaf 
 18 
 
206 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 on the bosom of the mighty river, without any 
 power to arrest or direct its course. We might, 
 my hearers, to-day yield ourselves up to mere 
 sombre musings on this subject; but the psalmist 
 has shown us '' a more excellent way" of improving 
 the swiftly passing moments. " So teach us to 
 number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto 
 wisdom." What a suitable prayer in view of our 
 hurrying existence here, and of its infinite and en- 
 during issues hereafter. If life is so brief, so fleeting, 
 oh teach us, thou Author of our being, so to estimate 
 what remains, as to make of every moment the best 
 possible use. 
 
 Brethren, on this first Sabbath in the new year, 
 may not we, with great propriety, make this prayer 
 of the psalmist our own? "So teach us to number 
 our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wis- 
 dom." As Christians, then, how shall we make a 
 wise computation of time? Such a computation will 
 require us to have some reference to the present cir- 
 cumstances of society, and to the prospects opening 
 on the world. 
 
 I. I remark, then, first, that we ought, as Chris- 
 tians, to appreciate the opportunities presented of 
 making great progress in knowledge — in inteU 
 lectual improvement. Inspiration has decided, that 
 " for the soul to be without knowledge is not good." 
 There have been periods, however, when knowledge 
 and intellectual culture were not so manifestly de- 
 manded of Christians as at present. In those periods 
 the enemies of religion had no means of being in ad- 
 vance of believers as to general intelligence. On 
 the other hand, thev were indeed, for the most part. 
 
A NEW year's discourse. 207 
 
 their inferiors. Knowledge then was looked upon 
 very much as the monopoly of the church, and the 
 little that did exist was to be found principally in 
 her monasteries and her schools, such as they were. 
 Most opinions, instead of being judiciously weighed, 
 were inculcated and received on mere authority. 
 But time in its progress has brought a very difierent 
 state of public sentiment. The intellectual elements 
 of the civilized world seem to be stirred with an un- 
 wonted commotion. The flood of ages has swept 
 away a multitude of barriers that once limited the 
 range of mind. And the improvements in the arts 
 and sciences furnish facilities now for extended and 
 intense intellectual action, such as the world has not 
 witnessed. Such an action has really commenced. 
 The claims of every system of doctrine — the claims 
 of every form of government — of every institution, 
 social, political, or religious, are now subjected to the 
 investigation and scrutiny of a mass of minds un- 
 awed by authority. Public opinion is now be- 
 coming the great arbiter in all questions. Every 
 thing is tending to show, that the human race will 
 soon be under no other government but that of 
 mind: that, whatever may be the instruments 
 which it shall use, intelligence will be the arm 
 that will rule the world. And every form of eccle- 
 siastical, political, or social order, which cannot be 
 supported by reason and obvious truth, is destined 
 to be subverted and remodelled by the omnipotence 
 of mind. Men of the world are aware of this, and 
 are numbering their days with reference to it. 
 They are ceasing to glory in war, and in mere 
 animal prowess, and arc striving to possess them- 
 
208 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 selves of disciplined and vigorous intellect. They 
 see that the future battles, which are to distinguish 
 our world's history, are to be the mighty conflicts 
 of mind — marshalling its forces, and meeting in the 
 shock of a gigantic strife on the great line that di- 
 vides truth and reason from error and absurdit}^ 
 The mighty struggles of antagonist principles — 
 principles, anchored in the depths of capacious and 
 richly stored minds, are to constitute the materials 
 for the future historian in his book of the wars of 
 men. Now what is the duty of Christians amid cir- 
 cumstances and prospects like these? Ought they 
 not to cherish ardent desires after knowledge and 
 intellectual improvement? Ought they not to re- 
 deem more time for this object? How will religion 
 maintain her supremacy at such a period, if its pro- 
 fessors are inferior in knowledge to the mass around 
 them ? Nay, how will they long retain the territory 
 already enclosed within the limits of the church, if 
 they are indolent while the hosts ivithoiit are 
 '^running to and fro," and increasing in know- 
 ledge? Those hosts may com.e and "take away 
 their place and nation." And why is it that worldly 
 men can be so untiring devotees in the pursuit of 
 knowledge? Is the love of intellectual power or of 
 literary fame a motive to exertion stronger than 
 those which the gospel presents to Christians? By 
 no higher ends than earth can afford, a multitude of 
 unsanctified minds have been stimulated even to 
 death in the career of mental improvement. Time, 
 health, riches, life, have been sacrificed in the over- 
 reachings of their souls after knowledge. But every 
 Christian has infinitely higher motives to impel him 
 
A NEW year's discourse. 209 
 
 to make acquisitions of true science. If he be asked 
 why he is labouring to obtain stores of knowledge, 
 he can answer, because " the Lord hath need of 
 them.^^ He knows that he can bring every acqui- 
 sition, and lay it down, an acceptable offering, at the 
 feet of Jesus. He knows that mind is the great in- 
 strument through which the Redeemer is to effect 
 those eternal purposes "that pertain to his kingdom 
 and glory." He knows that every capability de- 
 veloped, every item of strength gained, is giving 
 power to this instrument, and fitting it to be wielded 
 with greater effect by the hand of the master. Who 
 that thinks of the great ends which the infinite God 
 accomplished by Moses, and the part which his 
 mind, " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," 
 performed in the stupendous drama of the world; or, 
 who that has looked upon a Paul going from the feet 
 of Gamaliel with all his intellectual treasures to the 
 cross, and from the cross travelling in the greatness 
 of his mental strength to the ends of the civilized 
 earth, a chosen vessel bearing infinite blessings to 
 millions, can help feeling the irrepressible risings of 
 a holy emulation to grow in knowledge and grasp 
 every intellectual attainment within the reach of 
 mortals? 
 
 Would that Christians now, with far brighter pros- 
 pects, might so number their days as to apply their 
 hearts unto wisdom! Let it not be said that such 
 great attainments are reserved for the favoured few 
 that appear at distant intervals. This need no longer 
 be the case; and would no longer be the case, were 
 not the church culpably ignorant or negligent of her 
 high privileges. There is no necessity that the great 
 IS* 
 
210 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 mass of Christians should remain comparatively un- 
 intelligent. Every church might now be organized 
 into classes for mutual instruction. Adult Bible 
 classes might be every wJiere established. Why not 
 as extensively as the Sunday School system, if the 
 church felt as she ought, that knowledge was power? 
 And I see not, in view of the signs of these times, 
 why all the more intelligent members of the body of 
 Christ do not owe a solemn duty in this respect to 
 their less informed brethren. Every Christian 
 family, and every Christian church, ought to be or- 
 ganized on the plan of imparting the greatest possible 
 amount of instruction, and of raising to its greatest 
 elevation the intellectual standard of the members. 
 I am persuaded that the most happy results would 
 follow the organization of churches into classes for 
 mutual instruction and improvement, where those of 
 all ranks in society should mingle together. It would 
 destroy invidious distinctions — would prevent the 
 jealousy of the poor toward the rich, and imparl a very 
 important kind of information to the rich themselves: 
 it would make them acquainted with the habitudes of 
 thought and feeling amongst their humbler brethren, 
 and exhibit to them the peculiar form which piety 
 wears in the common walks of life. Some of the 
 first statesmen in the world are directing their efforts 
 to the diffusion of knowledge amongst all classes. 
 The late Lord Chancellor of England, it is said, pro- 
 jected the plan of the Penny Magazine, which has 
 now a circulation of some hundreds of thousands 
 weekly; — an example worthy of our richest and 
 ablest citizens. But how long shall "the children of 
 this world be wiser than the children of light?" 
 
 
 1 
 
A NEW year's discourse. 211 
 
 The great facilities for communicating knowledge 
 to all ranks at the present day, point out, as with the 
 finger of God, the duty of the church to be up and 
 doing. The religious periodicals, tracts, and varied 
 forms of useful intelligence which mark our day, put 
 intellectual improvement within the reach of all. 
 And the ease with which a livelihood can be gained 
 in this country, and the labour-saving improvements 
 in machinery, afford more or less time to all to be 
 devoted to this purpose. And let it be remarked, 
 that the humblest and most obscure Christian in the 
 church knows not what progress he may make in 
 knowledge, if he will only prize it more than money, 
 and number his days wisely with reference to its at- 
 tainment. In illustration of this, permit me to give 
 you the history of a case that occurred in the place of 
 my own nativity. A lad of fourteen years was, by 
 the providence of God, left an orphan, without any 
 one sufficiently interested in him, to offer him a home 
 or employment. After the burial of his mother, he 
 went to a neighbouring town and hired himself to 
 an innkeeper as an hostler. He had, as may be sup- 
 posed, but a partial English education. He, how- 
 ever, found some Latin books, and redeemed mo- 
 ments to attempt their perusal. He was not afforded 
 even a candle, but he used to gather shavings during 
 the day, and burn them on the kitchen hearth at night 
 to pursue his studies. Yet such was the progress he 
 made, that when it was first discovered that he had 
 turned his attention to Latin, he was able to read 
 Horace, one of the principal Roman authors, with 
 ease and accuracy. He was then taken by a bene- 
 volent gentleman and fitted for college— no hard task. 
 
212 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 He entered the college at Princeton, and graduated 
 with the first honours. He then studied theology, 
 afterwards became the president of a college in 
 Pennsylvania, and at the age of thirty was called 
 from earth, as we trust, to a sphere of far more ele- 
 vated usefulness and glory. 
 
 Let not, then, the humblest individual here to-day, 
 despair of great attainments in knowledge; they are 
 within reach. God made your mind for knowledge, 
 as much as he did your eye for light. And the 
 " day-star " of intelligence hath emphatically visited 
 us. Set your aim high this year, and follow where 
 it leads, and your " path may be as that of the morn- 
 ing light.^' 
 
 H. hi numbering our days wisely, we ought to 
 count upon the opportunities presented for forming 
 an elevated religious character. 
 
 Mere knowledge, valuable as it is when connected 
 with holiness, when severed from this, is but the 
 strength of Samson deprived of his eyes. We shall 
 have numbered our days to little purpose, if we do 
 not make broad calculations of growing in grace as 
 well as in knowledge. And, my hearers, the signs 
 of the times in reference to this object deserve very 
 serious consideration. No period, perhaps, has ever 
 furnished such elements for forming a high order of 
 moral character as the present. It is admitted that 
 those truths of God that have remained the same in 
 every age, are the basis of religious character. The 
 Bible and the Holy Spirit are God's instrument and 
 agent in the sanctification of a revolted world. But 
 it is equally true, that circumstances may greatly faci- 
 litate their operations in transforming the character 
 
A NEW year's discourse. 213 
 
 of man. Let it be remembered that the agency of 
 the Holy Spirit, and the nature of God's truth, are 
 such that they can ynd do lay hold of all the great 
 and complicated events of time as auxiliaries in their 
 work. The effect of imposing and exciting events, 
 in developing talent and forming worldly character, 
 is so universally acknowledged, that it has given rise 
 to the adage, "that man is the creature of circum- 
 stances.'^ Now it cannot be supposed, that the great 
 moral events that crowd into a particular'period will 
 have less influence in forming religious character, 
 when coupled with the combined agency of the Spi- 
 rit and truth of God. There have been periods 
 when the current of years flowed on without any 
 striking incidents adapted to effect remarkable 
 changes in human character — dark ages, when a 
 shadowy stillness seemed to hang over the stream of 
 time, beneath which the mind of generation after ge- 
 neration slept away its being, unagitated by any of 
 those strong excitements which give new lineaments 
 to the heart of man. But such it will be admitted, 
 are not the days we are now numbering. This ap- 
 pears to be the seed-time of a new and higher order 
 of religious character in the church of God, — the 
 time that has prospective reference to the millennial 
 harvest. This we might infer from the very condi- 
 tion of the world around us. If the future historian 
 gives this portion of the nineteenth century its ap- 
 propriate name, he will call it, " ^Ae age of inten- 
 sity" in every department of enterprise and acti- 
 vity. There seems to be an amazing waking up of 
 the powers of human nature, preparatory to some 
 great changes in the condition of man. The me- 
 
214 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 chanic and the merchant feel themselves to be under 
 some new and undefinable impulse, that is driving 
 them onward in an enterprise and speculation of 
 which they once had scarcely a conception. States- 
 men are grasping the subject of politics with almost 
 the energy of desperation. The walks of literature 
 are becoming crowded with a jostling and breathless 
 throng of aspirants. And even vice and atheism 
 themselves are assuming something of that boldness 
 and intensity which characterize them in hell. Now 
 piety, if it exist and be in exercise at all, living in 
 the midst of such unwonted excitement, ought itself, 
 by the very force of circumstances, to become more 
 intense. Yes, it may and ought to assume a loftier 
 and more decided character, from the spirit of the 
 times. 
 
 But there are other events at present more pecu- 
 liarly adapted to form a high order of moral charac- 
 ter. One of these is the awakened attention and in- 
 creased facililics for studying the Bible. The disas- 
 trous eclipse which had obscured some of the great 
 truths of revelation for ages, has now passed off, and 
 they are coming out on the vision of the church in 
 unveiled splendour. At no time since revelation 
 was completed, have there been such means and op- 
 portunities of a wide-spread and intimate knowledge 
 of the oracles of God. Now, if the truths of these 
 oracles, more dimly seen, formed such characters as 
 Luther and Calvin, Baxter and Flavel, and others of 
 like exalted attributes, what transformations may not 
 their unclouded lustre now effect, under the influ- 
 ence of the Holy Ghost? 
 
 As another event in these times, adapted to form 
 
 1 
 
A NEW year's discourse. 215 
 
 religious character, we may notice in some respects 
 a salutary change in the ministry of the gospel It is 
 now freed from many of the incumbrances of former 
 ages, that destroyed its power on the conscience and 
 the heart. The ministry has become, in some mea- 
 sure, what God always designed it to be, a great or- 
 gan of deep and practical impression on the human 
 mind. It has become a lucid expositor of the claims 
 of God on the immediate services and affections of 
 men — holding up his unchangeable law, exhibiting 
 in a clear manner the Irue grounds of the sinner's 
 guilt, and condemnation, and dependence — holding 
 out a full, free, sincere offer of pardon and eternal 
 life to all without exception — putting the responsi- 
 bility of the sinner's choice of life or death just where 
 God puts it, and where it properly belongs, on hiTU- 
 self; and charging him with the guilt of rebellion 
 against God for every hour that he delays repentance 
 and cordial obedience to the gospel. The ministry 
 now, instead of exhausting its powers to engage pro- 
 fessing Christians in an unholy war for mere rites 
 and forms, brings the precepts of Christ, that respect 
 the practical, every-day graces and duties of life, di- 
 rectly upon the conscience and the heart of the 
 church, and labours to form Christians to habits of 
 untiring and holy activity. It is active, rather than 
 mere contemplative piety, that is now inculcated — 
 a benevolence wide as the world, rather than the 
 love of a sect — the luxury of blessing a sinking race, 
 rather than the mere enjoyment of insulated and so- 
 litary religion. Now, it is easy to see what an in- 
 fluence such a ministry is adapted to exert in form- 
 ing a high order of religious character. 
 
216 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 Another fact bearing on this point is, that the days 
 which we are numbering, are days in which "/Ae 
 glorious ministration of the Spirit,'^ in that form which 
 it took after the ascension of Jesus, has become more 
 pervading and effective than it has been since the day of 
 Pentecost. It is now, indeed, '^searching all things, 
 j'ea, the deep things of God ;" it is proving a "dis- 
 cerner of the thoughts and intents " of many hearts; 
 it is making an extended application of its regenera- 
 ting and sanctifying power to multitudes of minds in 
 Christendom, and sealing the blessings of redemption 
 on a scale more commensurate with the tremendous 
 exigencies of a dying world. Under such an admi- 
 nistration of this great author of the Christian graces 
 — this transformer of the human mind, the Spirit of 
 God, increasing in manifestations of power and ef- 
 ficiency as we approach " the last times," the moral 
 character of the church may and ought to assume a 
 new intensity and glory. 
 
 In addition to all these, we must not overlook the 
 obvious influence on Christian character that may 
 be exerted by the vast system of benevolent enterprises 
 which have been originated in our day. What an 
 influence have great political schemes exerted on in- 
 dividual and national chan^cter! Does not all analogy, 
 then, lead us to suppose that the great moral j)lans of 
 this age may exert a moulding power upon religious 
 character? Both the intellect and the heart of the 
 church are beginning already to be dilated v.'ith the 
 lofty conceptions, and the overwhelming emotions, 
 associated with the work of filling the world with 
 Bibles; of flooding it with religious tracts; of train- 
 ing, for all its perishing millions, an adequate mi- 
 
A NEW YEAR S DISCOURSE. 217 
 
 nistry; and sending into its deepest recesses of dark- 
 ness, tlie missionaries of light and love, of peace and 
 salvation. This state of things in the church is too 
 recent to exhibit, as yet, those great results in the 
 formation of religious character which it is adapted 
 to effect. But who does not see that it furnishes the 
 elements of an order of moral character amongst 
 Christians, such as the clmrch has not witnessed since 
 her apostolic days'? 
 
 In view, then, of all the circumstances mentioned, 
 does it not become us, in wisely numbering our days, 
 to make a new and mighty reach after greater 
 attainments in holiness? What is to prevent us from 
 taking a far higher rank in the scale of moral cha- 
 racter than the generations that have preceded us? 
 What shall hinder us from rising above the mists of 
 past centuries, and shining in all "the beauty of the 
 Lord our God?" What shall hinder young Chris- 
 tians in our day from mounting, as on wings of 
 eagles, and soaring nearer and nearer, with more 
 than the eagle's strength of vision, to the Sun of 
 righteousness, — bathing themselves in the living 
 light of his beams, and becoming " changed into the 
 same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of 
 the Lord?" 
 
 III. In numbering our days wisely, we ought to 
 count upon exerting afar more widely extended 
 INFLUENCE as Christians. Such are the laws of our 
 intellectual and social being, and such arc the rela- 
 tions and connexions of one mind with another, that 
 an influence of some kind we must and shall inevi- 
 tably exert. The khicl of influence exerted, and the 
 direction which that influence shall take, will be one 
 19 
 
218 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 of the most solemn items of man's last account to 
 his God. The elem.ents of Christian influence are 
 knowledge and holiness. The degree of knowledge 
 and holiness, particularly of the latter, will measure 
 the extent of the Christian influence which an in- 
 dividual or a church may exert. This indeed is an 
 argument why we should number our days with a 
 reference to intellectual and spiritual attainments. 
 But those treasures of mind and heart which we ac- 
 quire are not to be hoarded as the miser's heaps of 
 gold. The times that are passing over us constitute 
 the great working; period in the history of cur world 
 — the jjractical age of the species, when utility 
 takes the precedence of all theory and speculation. 
 Capitalists are making larger and more advantageous 
 investments. Politicians are grasping at a more 
 extended influence over the popular mind. The 
 business and pleasures, the wealth and elevation, and 
 advancement of the human race, are now projected 
 on a mightier scale than at any former era in the 
 chronicles of time. Does it not become Christians, 
 then, with their eyes on the signs of these times, to 
 count with a h.oly enthusiasm on a deep and vastly 
 extended Christian influence over their fellow-men.? 
 I am persuaded that we have too low an estimate of 
 the possible power of Christian character. In num- 
 bering our days, then, with reference to a large 
 investment of the capital of Christian influence, let 
 us look at what has been accomplished by some un- 
 inspired men of no very remarkable mental endow- 
 ments. Who does not feel an emotion of the sub- 
 lime, as he contemplates the immeasurable impression 
 which Richard Baxter made on his generation, and 
 
A NEW year's discourse. 219 
 
 on succeeding ages, though he lived in an intolerant 
 and stormy period of the religious world's history? 
 Wliat a controlling sway he held over the con- 
 sciences and hearts of multitudes ! How wide, and 
 deep, and enduring the influence which David Brai- 
 nerd exerted, even in the state of society which existed 
 in this country almost a century ago ! And what 
 shall we say of a Mills and a Martin, a Hall and a 
 Payson, ^' who being dead, yet speak ?" It is hardly 
 presumptuous to sa}^ of such spirits, that, like the 
 language of the planetary orbs on high, '^ their line 
 has gone out into all tiie earth, and their words to 
 the ends of the world." Now the time must come, 
 nay, it has come, when we ought to consider these 
 cases not as exceptions, but as the legitimate mea- 
 sure of Christian influence, and fix our aim accord- 
 ingly. Let us remember, too, how many more 
 facilities of making our influence to be felt we possess, 
 in our day, than did these holy men. What an eas}^, 
 rapid, and extensive intercourse can we now have 
 with society, compared with that enjoyed half a 
 century since! With what a multitude of minds can 
 Christian character come in contact in a compara- 
 tively short period! How much more available is 
 the power of holy example now than in those past 
 days, when population was more sparse, and tlie 
 means of personal intercourse more restricted! What 
 an organ of extended Christian influence does the 
 religious press constitute ! This, under God, is to be 
 the angel of Christendom, "standing in the sun," — 
 tlie great dispenser of the Church's moral light to 
 the world. Think, too, what instruments of power 
 are put into the hands of Christians by the organiza- 
 tion of the great benevolent societies of these times. 
 
220 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME. 
 
 They can thus truly extend themselves, in an im- 
 portant sense/* beyond their measure," — can stretch 
 out the arm of mercy and pour light on the dark- 
 ness and miseries of the whole earth. We can 
 cause our Christian influence to be felt alike in the 
 regions of the Rocky Mountains in our own land, 
 and along the rivers and bays, the hills and valleys, 
 of Asia and Africa. Besides, that very excitability 
 of the popular mind, which we have alreadj^ noticed, 
 furnishes a peculiar facility for an extended Chris- 
 tian influence. There is a strange moveableness in 
 the general mind of society. An illustrious ex- 
 emplification of this is to be found in the history of 
 the temperance reform. The popular mind has 
 become susceptible of being set in motion now, by 
 causes that a quarter of a century since might have 
 exerted all their power without attracting notice. 
 Society craves excitement of some kind, and will 
 have it. Why, then, should not the representatives 
 of Christ — the lights of the world — make their in- 
 fluence to be felt ex'ensively ? The world is not 
 <^ without souls " — men have consciences and hearts 
 
 they have hopes and fears respecting an eternal 
 
 hereafter. Why, then, should not the exhibition of 
 the high attributes of Christian character — the power 
 of pre-eminently holy example— if brought in ear- 
 nest upon the mass of ruined yet immortal mind, 
 beo-in to make that mass heave and move under the 
 impulse, heavenward! Has not that Christianity 
 which we profess, the elements of a mightier excite- 
 ment to the popular mind than commerce, internal 
 improvement, politics, literature or the arts ? It 
 certainly had, as lived out by Christ and his apostles, and 
 primitive followers. It superseded the excitement 
 
A NEW YEAR S DISCOURSE. 221 
 
 of Judaism at Jerusalem, of philosophy at Athens, 
 and of arms at Rome, and became the object of absorb- 
 ing interest to the then known world. Christianity 
 is still unaltered, and that human nature on which it 
 is to operate is the same. If the solitary influence 
 of Paul, then, circled half the civilized world, what 
 a mighty reach combined Christian influence might 
 now inake on the ready excitability of the general 
 mind ! Let the church of God, then, wake up, and 
 in wisely numbering their days let Christians count 
 on an indefinite extension of their moral power. 
 Let them aim at nothing less than an influence which 
 shall break up the monotony of sin and death, and 
 move the entire fountains of the great deep of thought 
 and feeling in human society. This is the only ex- 
 citement that is safe for man, or that will satisfy the 
 popular mind. All the agitations and tumults of 
 the race prove that the soul of man, mighty even in 
 its ruins, is blindly reaching after those objects of 
 exciting magnitude and glory, which can alone be 
 found in pure Christianity. Let us determine, then, 
 by the grace of God , to send out a Christian influence 
 in a length and breadth that shall control these in- 
 finite but ill-directed aspirations of the immortal 
 mind ! 
 
 Another consideration to urge us to aim at extend- 
 ing our Christian influence is, that the world in 
 these days is held in a general expectation of some 
 vast movement about to be made by Christians. 
 
 The world does not calculate that the standard of 
 Christian character, and the measure of Christian in- 
 fluence, will long remain what they have been and 
 now are. It is presumed that piety will feel the 
 19* 
 
222 THE WISE RECKONING OF TIME, 
 
 impulse that is urging onward, with such momentum, 
 every department of worldly activity. The com- 
 munity has heard much about the church's resur- 
 rection from the sleep and moral death of ages! 
 The public mind has been turned to the recent mar- 
 shalling of her forces. Infidel jealousy is watching 
 the effect of her comprehensive plans of influencing 
 the moral destinies of the race. A multitude of un- 
 sanctified hearts are brought within the reach of her 
 deep and mighty sj'mpathies for the miseries of the 
 whole world, and a multitude of minds are eagerly 
 contemplating her recent purposes and resolves, that 
 that world shall be redeemed. Worldly men see 
 that the mind of the church is beginning to be turned 
 in expectancy and hope of a coming millennium : that 
 there is a pervading apprehension of the near approach 
 of that grand crisis in which " the kingdom and the 
 greatness of the kingdom underthe whole heaven shall 
 be given to the saints of the Most High God." They 
 know that Oiristians regard the present as the Sa- 
 turday evening of time: that they are saying one to 
 another, the Sabbath, the great Sabbath of the world 
 "draweth on." Worldly men, then, expect to see 
 the disciples of Christ coming forth in that energy 
 of character, and that extended sweep of Christian 
 influence, which will prepare themselves and the 
 world for so sublime a consummation. 
 
 My Christian friends, what should prevent us from 
 determining, in reliance on God, that we will meet 
 this expectation of the world? Nay, is not the honour 
 of our holy religion perilled, if we fail to meet it? The 
 measure of former attainments, and of former efibrts, 
 will no longer sustain the credit of Christianity. If 
 we would honour Christ and sustain the interest of 
 
A NEW year's discourse. 223 
 
 his cause, we must overtake and go beyond the an- 
 ticipations of the world on this subject. 
 
 Lastly: As a motive to numbering our days 
 wisely, with reference to a greatly extended Chris- 
 tian influence, let us frequently and solemnly call to 
 mind one grand end which God has in view in his 
 eternal existence. God lives and reigns with this, 
 amongst other great ends in view, viz., that he may 
 exert an influence in kind like that of pure 
 Christianity. It is one great aim of his being, to 
 bring forth and impress on the minds of his rational 
 creation, the eternal truth and purity of his own 
 character. He administers the affairs of the universe 
 with the steady view of exerting the highest and best 
 moral influence over its intelligent millions. Is it 
 not wise, then, in Christians, to count upon exerting 
 the greatest possible degree of the sar)ie kind oi in- 
 fluence ? 
 
 Beloved brethren, carry with you through this 
 year, and through life, the undying conviction that 
 progress in knowledge, in holiness, and in enlarged 
 Christian influence, is your great business — the 
 grand object to be counted on in your estimate of 
 time. And though your days maj^ be ^q\\ or many, 
 spend them all under the soul-animating and heaven- 
 ly influence of such an object. We know not who 
 of us are appointed unto death this year. But for 
 such as are, will it not soften the dying pillow to 
 sink down upon it, not in indolence and mental 
 stupor, but in the increasing swiftness of our Chris- 
 tian career! And will it not add unspeakably to 
 our eternal joy, to be able to say in death, " I have 
 fought the good fight, I hsive flnished my course, I 
 have kept the faith?'' 
 
224 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 SERMON XI. . 
 
 THE PERFECTION OF THE DIVINE LAW. 
 " The law of the Lord is perfect." — Psalm six. 7. 
 
 Order and harmony pervade all the works of God. 
 This order and harmony are not the result of acci- 
 dent or chance. They originate from the laws 
 which God has established. The fixed and regular 
 alternations of night and day, of spring, summer, au- 
 tumn and winter, the revolutions of the planets, and 
 all the changes of the material universe, from the 
 mightiest, to the most minute, from the dissolution 
 of a world, to the fall of a single leaf of the forest, 
 occur in obedience to those appropriate laws which 
 God has established to govern the phenomena of 
 matter. These physical laws are perfect. They 
 are suited to the nature of the subjects to wliich 
 they apply. They operate uniformly and infallibly 
 in producing the results at which they aim. There 
 is neither failure nor confusion in the great system 
 of nature. And what is true of these physical laws, 
 is equally true of those laws that govern our intellec- 
 tual nature merely as rational creatures. The suc- 
 cession of thought, the origin of emotion, and cer- 
 
tiil: divim: law. 225 
 
 tain natural impulses to action, are precisely the 
 same to a given extent in all minds. This shows 
 that there are established laws of mind, and that they 
 are perfect, suited to the subjects to which they are 
 applied, and securing uniformly and with certainty, 
 the general results at which they aim. Is it not rea- 
 sonable to suppose, then, that God, who has bound 
 all the material and intellectual works of his hands 
 by appropriate and perfect laws which maintain order 
 and harmony through the whole, would establish 
 some law for the government of man's tnorcil nature? 
 Surely he would not leave so interesting a depart- 
 ment as this lawless. Of all things else in the uni- 
 verse, it is least to be expected that he would aban- 
 don those powers and susceptibilities of the soul that 
 fit it to know, love, obey, and enjoy God for ever to 
 their own unguided action? We naturally look for 
 the prescriptions of lavv here. Order and harmony 
 here are of vastly more moment than in the arrange- 
 ments of the material universe. Accordingly we 
 find the moral law of God extending its control over 
 this entire department of our nature. It claims to 
 regulate all the thoughts, feelings, and actions that 
 belong to our moral or spiritual agencJ^ The grand 
 characteristic of this law is furnished in the declara- 
 tion of our text. "The law of the Lord \s pe7\fecty 
 It will be my object to show that this is true of the 
 divine law, in whatever aspect it may be contem- 
 plated. 
 
 I. The law of the Lord is perfect in its origin or 
 SOURCE. No law deserves respect and obedience 
 that does not emanate from legitimate right and au- 
 thority on the part of its maker or makers. Were 
 
226 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 an unauthorized body of men, wise and good men in 
 other respects, to meet and enact laws in themselves 
 just and salutary, still such laws would not be en- 
 titled to the reoard and observance of the citizens 
 because they w^ould not, in that case, emanate from 
 a legitimate source. The body of men that enacted 
 them never were invested with the right or the 
 power to legislate. All proper authorit}' would be 
 wanting; and however the enactments of such a 
 body of men might assume the forms, and contain 
 all the wholesome provisions of good laws, they 
 w'ould in fact be no laws. Their origin, or source, 
 would destroy their claim to respect and obedience. 
 But " the law of the Lord is perfect'^ in its very 
 origin or source. It emanates from that eternal 
 Mind which possesses in itself an independent, per- 
 fect right, an absolute and infinite authority to le- 
 gislate for all the rational creation. This right and 
 authorit}' rest upon the attributes of God, and the re- 
 lations which he holds to his intelligent creatures. 
 It is not an arbitrary right and authority. God's 
 self-existence, independence, omniscience, omnipo- 
 tence, wisdom, benevolence, justice, holiness, truth 
 and immutability form the highestqualifications, and 
 give the most absolute and perfect right to legislate 
 of which we can possibly- conceive. His relations 
 to his intelligent creatures as their Creator, upholder, 
 benefactor,and moral governor, give him an authority 
 over them commensurate with all the capacities and 
 powers of their immortal being; an authority like 
 these relations on which it is founded, changeless, in- 
 finite, eternal. The law of the Lord emanates from 
 these perfections of his nature, is the bright transcript 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 227 
 
 of them, claims obedience, and carries with it the 
 sanction of an authority grand and august as those 
 exalted and eternal relations which he sustains to liis 
 rational creatures. Coming from the counsels, and 
 imbodying the perfections of Jehovah's mind with 
 the bi-oad seal o^ his right and his authority upon it, 
 is not the law of the Lord jjerfect in respect to its 
 origin or source? Has any law besides in the 
 wide universe a claim so perfect, a source so 
 sublime? 
 
 II. The law of the Lord is perfect /;i the equity 
 of its requirements. In the legislation of man, 
 nothing is more difficult than to enact laws tliat 
 shall neither require too much nor too little of the 
 subjects. The inst:mces of iiuman legislation in 
 whicii the principle of requirement can be so gradu- 
 ated as not to operate injuriously, if not unjustly on 
 some, are extremely few. This probably results 
 from the fact that human knowledge is not compe- 
 tent to ascertain the precise abilities of those for 
 whom it legislates. We therefore take the medium 
 capacities of the subjects, and make a general law 
 which will not apply with strict justice to either ex- 
 treme. And this is all that finite and fidlible le^is- 
 lation can do. By consequence, the requirements of 
 all human laws are less or more imperfect. But not 
 so tiie law of the Lord. Its principle of requirement 
 is graduated with perfect exactitude to the actual ca- 
 pacity of each subject to whom it is applied. '- Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and thy 
 neighbour as thyself." The peculiarity of this re- 
 quii'ement is, that it does not-prescribe a definite 2Ln(\ 
 
228 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 specific amount of the thing demanded, without re- 
 ference to the ability of the individual. It makes 
 the actual capacities of each one the measure of obe- 
 dience. That tliis is the great rule of the divine re- 
 quirements, is plain from the parable of the talents. 
 The man who received the one talent, was not con- 
 demned because he had not gained five talents, but 
 simply because he had not improved the one which 
 he actually had. We have direct proof of this truth 
 in respect to the requirement of the divine law, from 
 the New Testament. ^'If there be first a willing 
 mind, it is required of a man according to that he 
 hath, and not according to that he hath not.^^ God's 
 law makes obligation commensurate only with actual 
 ability.* The law of the Lord does not require the 
 uneducated individual of small capacities, to love him 
 with all the heart, soul and might of Paul. It takes 
 no one individual or number of individuals, as the 
 measure for all the rest. It exacts not a thought, a 
 feeling or an action from any one in the universe be- 
 yond h\s present actual capacity. It is with all his 
 own tnight that each individual is required to love 
 God. It is not love of a specific amount, nor love 
 exercised by a certain fixed degree of capacity thnt 
 is required, but simply the love of the whole heart, 
 soul, and might of the individual, whatever may be 
 the relative degree of his capacities. Till men,tlien, 
 have neitlier heart, soul, nor might in the lowest de- 
 gree, they must not complain of the equity of the re- 
 quirements of the law of the Lord. Its principle of 
 requirement is absolutely perfect. How admirably 
 it adapts itself to all the diversify of capacities in the 
 
 " I nsc thf tf'im in the sense of phyf^icnl rnpacifij. 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 229 
 
 intelligent universe! It claims of Gabriel m less 
 than all that he is able to do, and it requires of the 
 Hottentot, to whom it is made known, no more than 
 his stinted capacities enable him to perform. "Each 
 
 ONE ACCORDING TO HIS SEVERAL ABILITY," is written 
 
 in capitals of li2;ht over the table of the divine law. 
 Hence our blessed Lord represents the unreasonable- 
 ness and criminality of that servant who had received 
 one talent, in saying, " I knew thee, that thou art an 
 austere man, reaping that thou didst not sow, and 
 gathering that thou didst not strew." This is a gross 
 libel on the equity of the law of the Lord. Its de- 
 mands are graduated with perfect precision to the 
 ability of every rational being throughout the empire 
 of God. Its principle of requirement is so perfect 
 that it will never need to be altered. This principle 
 has a power of self-adjustment, by which it adapts 
 itself with exact justice to the varying capacities of 
 the same individual at different periods in his ex- 
 istence. Between the capacities of " a babe in 
 Christ," and those of a perfected s|)irit in glory, there 
 are many degrees, a vast increase of ability acquired 
 through successive periods. Yet this simple though 
 sublime principle of requirement applies with perfect 
 equity through, all this increase of capacities in the sub- 
 ject. When a babe in Christ, itonly required the whole 
 infant heart, soul, and might, when "a perfect man," 
 it requires still only all the manly hearty soul, and 
 might. To a spirit of the just made perfect in 
 heaven, it speaks the same language, — " Thou shalt 
 love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." It only 
 claims of the subject, then, what his actual ability 
 fits him to render. You may trace this principle of 
 20 
 
230 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 requirement in its application to all the rational sub- 
 jects of God, amidst all their changes and through all 
 the periods of their existence for ever, and in no cir- 
 cumstances and at no time does it ever claim aught 
 beyond the actual capacity of the individual. It de- 
 mands no impossibilities. Its successive claims on 
 man through time and through eternity, are always, 
 and will be always, brought strictly within the limits 
 of his natural faculties as a creature of God, though 
 they may have no reference to the degree of his moral 
 disposition to obey. What a difference between this 
 principle of requirement, and thatof any human enact- 
 ment! "The law of the Lord is jye^^/ec^ " in its 
 requirements. Those requirements are founded on 
 the infinite equity of the Divine mind, and commend 
 themselves to the conscience of mankind, and to 
 their natural sense of right and justice. 
 
 III. The law of the Lord is perfect as to the extent 
 of its requirements. Human laws seldom aim at 
 more than to regulate the outward actions of men. 
 It is but a part of these that can be embraced within 
 the commands and prohibitions of man's legislation. 
 The thoughts, the purposes, the motives and intention 
 of the mind itself, lie beyond the recognition and 
 control of human law. A negative external morality, 
 therefore, is all that the best laws of man's enactment 
 can produce. How different is the law of the Lord! 
 The psalmist was struck with this difference, when 
 he devoutly exclaimed, — "But thy commandment 
 is exceeding broad." — " The law of the Lord is per- 
 fect, converting the soul." It aims to control the 
 entire inner and outer man. It extends its require- 
 ments at once to all the secrets of the heart. Those 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 231 
 
 powers of hidden imaginings, of concealed plans and 
 purposes, those capabilities of deep emotion in the re- 
 tirements of the soul, to which finite penetration 
 cannot have access, the motives and intentions of the 
 mind known onl}^ to Omniscience, the law of the 
 Lord claims all these for Jehovah. These form an 
 important part of that luholc heart, soul, and might 
 with which man is to love the Lord his God. Not 
 a faculty or power of our being is exempt for one 
 moment from the claims of the law of the Lord. 
 Not a talent, habit, or facility of obedience which we 
 may obtain by the exercise of our powers, but is re- 
 quired of us as soon as it is our own. This law re- 
 signs no hour of our time to be squandered, no pri- 
 vilege to be neglected, no opportunity of doing or of 
 getting good, to be lost, no period of Indolence to the 
 affections, no pause to the untiring activities of the 
 soul. From the moment that moral agency com- 
 mences, through all the progressions of our immortal 
 existence, the whole heart, soul, and might with all 
 their enlarging capacities and augmenting strength, 
 are claimed for God. Perfect and perpetual obe- 
 dience to the full extent of our natural ability, and 
 through the whole duration of our being, is the grand 
 essential requirement of the law of the Lord. And 
 yet this very perfection is the ground of the incessant 
 war which sinners are waging against the law of God. 
 They cannot complain that this law requires more of 
 them than their natural faculties would render it pos- 
 sible for them to perform, but they quarrel with it, 
 just because it is so exceedingly broad, and does re- 
 quire ALL, the UTMOST of their present natural ability. 
 Now this is no unimportant characteristic of the per- 
 fection of God's law. It is this which renders the 
 
232 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 perfection of its requirements pre-eminently con„ 
 spicuous. If this law emanates from the perfection 
 of Jehovah, and derives its authority from the rela- 
 tions which he sustains to men as their Creator, Pre- 
 server, Benefactor, and moral Governor, would it not 
 be a glaring imperfection were the law to claim less 
 of them than their capacities enabled them to render? 
 Would not such a limited requirement convey to the 
 universe a false impression respecting the rights and 
 authority of God over his creatures? If he has a 
 right to any obedience from them, has he not a right 
 to all that they can render, with the powers he him- 
 self has bestowed on them ? If, as God their Creator 
 and Governor, he has any authority over them, must 
 it not necessarily be absolute, perfect, extending to 
 their entwe capacities? Again, if the law of the 
 Lord be the appropriate rule of man's moral nature, 
 and if obedience to it be the means of man's highest 
 happiness, then how could God by requiring less 
 than man's capacities enabled him to render, permit 
 a part of his moral powers to be without control, and 
 a part of the happiness which would result from en- 
 tire obedience to be lost to him for ever? No; it is 
 the perfection and glory of the law of the Lord, that 
 while it does not in any case require aught of the 
 subject beyond his actual capacity, whatever that 
 may be, yet it does demand all the heart, soul, and 
 might. It brings its broad claims over all those 
 powers of our being with which God has endowed 
 us, and would bind them to his throne in everlasting 
 loyally and obedience. 
 
 IV. The law of the Lord is ^^\{^z\.in respect of its 
 penalty. To some this announcement will doubtless 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 233 
 
 sound strangely; for it is the j)cnalty of God's law 
 that disturbs the peace and awakens the enmity of 
 the depraved heart. Men would care very little how 
 extensive and rigid might be the requirements of the 
 divine law, were they enforced by no sanction or 
 penalty. Here lies their great objection to the law 
 of the Lord, its tremendous penalty. We might 
 answer this objection by simply affirming what every 
 intelligent thinking man will acknowledge to be true, 
 that is, that it would be no law at all ivithout a pe- 
 nalty, it would then be mere powerless counsel or 
 advice. The two great objections to the law of the 
 Lord in respect to its penalty, are these: that it con- 
 demns for the first act of violation, and denounces 
 so awful a punishment as eternal misery on the un- 
 redeemed transgressor. Now we think that we can 
 show that these two characteristics are the very per- 
 fection of a penalty. Let us inquire for a moment 
 what is the nature and the design of tiie penalty 
 which God has annexed to his law. God never 
 affixed a penalty to his law, merely with the design 
 that his rational creatures should incur that penalty 
 as an end, the same as that they should obtain the 
 rewards of obedience as an ultimate end. Nor did 
 he annex the penalty to his law for the sake of the 
 misery it inflicts on the transgressor, in itself con- 
 sidered and as an ulterior end. Nothing but un- 
 mixed malignity could prompt to a penalty whose 
 only aim was this. The penalty of the divine law 
 is not in itself an ultimate end, it does not aim at 
 producing the miseries that it threatens for their 
 own sake, and as Wig final result which it proposes 
 to accomplish. The penalty of God's law is not an 
 20* 
 
234 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 end, but a means^ — a means of what? — a means in- 
 tended to prevent transgression, and those natural 
 consequences of misery which are connected with 
 transjj;ression, independent of the direct inflictions of 
 a positive penalty. The ulterior end, then, proposed 
 to l)e attained by the penalty of the divine law, is the 
 prevention of sin and misery, and the prornoliofi of 
 the highest happiness of intelligent creature-.* Now, 
 this beino; the nature and design of the penalty, let 
 us see what kind of penal 13^ would be best adapted 
 as a means to the attainment of the proposed end, 
 namely: to prevent sin and misery, and to promote 
 holiness and happiness. On tvhai principle does 
 the penally propose to gain this great end? Ob- 
 viously by operating on man's fears, on his instinc- 
 tive dread and recoiling from pain. Now suppose 
 the penalty was not incurred by tl e Jirst sin, sup- 
 pose the law connived at ninety-nine sins, and 
 brought down its penalt}^ on the hundredth, or at 
 nine hundred and ninety-nine, and threatened its 
 penalty on the thousandth: in what conceivable way 
 would this operate on man's fears of transg;rpssing, 
 and prevent that habit and that reckless hardihood of 
 sinning, which would secure with certainty the hun- 
 dredth or the thousandtli sin on which the penalty 
 would be inflicted? Would the motive be as pow- 
 erful and perfect in this case, as if the penalty held 
 
 * The author does not mean to affiiTQ that the vindication of God's 
 own character, and the exhibition of hs abhorrence of sin, is not an 
 end to be attained by the penalty of the law. But is it not an end 
 having refei-ence to a higher and ultimate one, namely: that of pro- 
 moting the greatest degree of holiness and happiness in his universal 
 and eternal empire, by this very vindication of his own character, and 
 Ihis expression of His righteous hatred against sinl 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 235 
 
 its thunders ready to burst on the very first trans- 
 gression? By no means. It would detract immea- 
 surably from its force on the fears of man, give a 
 false impression of God's feelings respecting sin, and 
 a license to tiie sinner that would with certainty 
 bring him under the penalty at last. 
 
 Suppose the iniseries which the penalty threatens 
 to the finally incorrigible, and unredeemed violator, 
 were less than the woes of a ruined eternity, were 
 finite, and, therefore, to an immortal being, compa- 
 ratively trivial? How would this tend to secure 
 the great end which the penalty has in view, namely, 
 to deter from sin and consequent suffering, and to 
 promote holiness and consequent happiness? If the 
 passion of fear be appealed to at all, why not make the 
 appeal as powerful as possible. If the promptings of a 
 slight fear would tend to prevent men from sinning 
 and suffering, would not the most powerful impulses 
 of this passion tend much more certainly to secure 
 this result? If the passion of fear, in its highest ex- 
 citement, be a necessary auxiliary amongst the means 
 and the motives that are to save men from sin and 
 misery, then would it be benevolent in God to alBx 
 a penalty to his law that would only excite that pas- 
 sion a little? Two things are now perfectly plain. 
 1. The passion of fear being quick and strong, may 
 be used as an impulse to prevent man from sinning 
 and suffering. 2. In order to be so used with the best 
 effect, the motive that appeals to it, must be as pow- 
 erful and perfect as it can possibly be made. Now 
 the infinite and eternal woes, which the penalty of 
 God's law denounces on the finally incorrigible trans- 
 gressor, is the most powerful motive that could be 
 
236 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 brought to operate on his fears. Could you subtract 
 aught from these woes, and not at the same time in- 
 evitably weaken one motive necessary to prevent 
 man from incurring those woes, — the motive that ap- 
 peals to his fears ? Keeping in view the nature and 
 design of the penalty, remembering that God^s be- 
 nevolence led him to adopt it as a means of pre- 
 venting sin and misery, and of promoting holiness 
 and happiness, and that it can secure this end only in 
 proportion as it operates effectually on the fears of 
 men, and who can gainsay the truth of the text, that 
 " The law of the Lord is perfect," even in respect 
 to its PENALTY ? In that stern condemnation which 
 it passes on \\\q first sin, and in that tremendous ag- 
 gregation of woes present and future, which it de- 
 nounces on the transgressor, shine out the perfection 
 of the penalty. Herein is seen the infinite benevo- 
 lence of God, in giving the greatest possible power, 
 and the wisest adaptation to that motive designed to 
 operate on the fears of man, and to shield him from 
 the greatest evils and secure to him the richest 
 blessings that pertain to his mortal and immortal na- 
 ture. 
 
 V. The law of the Lord is perfect in Us tendency 
 to promote happiness. The gain to human happiness 
 from the best legislation of man, is comparatively 
 trifling. Its influence on happiness is negative and 
 indirect. Human law aims rather at preventing mi- 
 sery, than at promoting positive happiness. Its pre- 
 cepts and its prohibitions do not extend their control 
 over those great moral elements within the mind 
 itself, on whose government the highest happiness of 
 man depends. The conscience and the heart, with 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 237 
 
 all their susceptibilities, the inward temper, the prin- 
 ciples, the hal)its, the motives and ruh'no; purpose of 
 the soul, spurn the restraints that human enactments 
 would impose on them. Yet it is by the wise regu- 
 lations of these powers of man's moral agency, that 
 his highest happiness is secured. Now these are the 
 very powers over which the law of the Lord asserts 
 its supremacy. In order to estimate the perfection 
 of this law, in its tendency to promote happiness, 
 we must contemplate what the result would be, were 
 it perfectly and perpetually obeyed. Suppose every 
 man on earth were swayed supremely by the law 
 of the Lord, and were constantly exercising to God, 
 and to his neighbour, the love that it requires. 
 What would be the effect on individual and social 
 happiness] No one would feel the uneasiness of an 
 inordinate desire, the plague of a malignant passion 
 or emotion, the violent and painful impulse of ungo- 
 verned appetites, and vicious propensities; regret, re- 
 morse, self-condemnation and all the woes of a guilty 
 conscience would be unknown; avarice, ambition, 
 jealousies, strifes, emulations, rivalry, envy, pride, 
 intrigue, dishonesty, falsehood, tale-bearing, back- 
 biting, whisperings and evil surmisings, would cease 
 lo torment the individual or afflict society. Family 
 feuds, neighbourhood quarrels, intestine and national 
 wars would cease to the ends of the earth. Profane- 
 ness, intemperance, licentiousness, theft, robbery and 
 murder, would no longer inflirt their giant miseries 
 on man. There would be no harrowing forebodings 
 of evil to the individual or to societ}', no dejection, 
 gloom and despondency, to drive men to madness 
 and suicide. What a mighty aggregation of evils, 
 
238 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 of positive miseries, would thus be removed by obe- 
 dience to the divine law. Then think of the posi- 
 tive happiness that would thus be promoted. Each 
 mind under the absolute sway of a law, the wisest 
 and best adapted to its moral nature, that the infinite 
 God could frame. Each one filled with the peace of 
 God; "for great peace have they that love his law." 
 All the powers of the soul balanced, harmonized and 
 brought under the control of supreme love to God; 
 made to act rightly, to have the approbation of con- 
 science, and a sense of the smiles of Heaven, the 
 mind, with all its powers and susceptibilities, occu- 
 pied and absorbed in love, adoration, praise, gratitude 
 and devotion to God? These exercises, in their 
 very nature, are adapted to promote the greatest hap- 
 piness of rational beings. Then think of the inces- 
 sant exercise of the benevolent afifections to his fellow 
 men, the love that like an angel of mercy is ever 
 active in relieving the wants, and soothing the woes 
 of the poor and afflicted, the charity that "thinketh 
 no evil," but " sufTereth long, and is kind," the bene- 
 volence that is ever forming and executing plans for 
 the social, intellectual and spiritual improvement and 
 happiness of the race, the affection that pours its ar- 
 dent prayers at the footstool of God, for the temporal 
 and eternal well being of man, and the untiring ac- 
 tivity in every department of Christian enterprise 
 where the interests and happiness of one's fellow 
 men may be promoted. Wiiatan exalted enjoyment 
 must such a play of the benevolent affections secure? 
 What union, harmony, peace, brotherly-kindness, 
 jo)'^, what cultivation of all the noblest powers of 
 human nature, what advancement in all the virtues 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 230 
 
 lliat adorn and bless rational beings, what a moral 
 elevation, what high hopes and infinite aspirations, 
 what a sublime aggregate of human happiness to the 
 race would be the necessary result of perfect obe- 
 dience to the law of the Lord. This is the legiti- 
 mate tendency of the divine law. The very love to 
 God and to man which it requires, and which is the 
 spirit of obedience, is the most exalted affection, and 
 the exercise of it the most ennobling employment of 
 the rational and moral powers of our nature. It 
 allies us, and brings us into fraternity and fellowship 
 with God, and with all the good of the universe. It 
 makes us like to God. P'or "there is not a more 
 amiable, attractive nor comprehensive idea of the di- 
 vine Being any where to be found, than that which 
 is exhibited by the apostle John in three words, 
 " God is love." It is, therefore, the very element 
 and essence of Jehovah's happiness, and must be so 
 to every rational, intelligent creature. Such, then, 
 is the nature and tendency on happiness of that love 
 which is the fulfilling of the law\ And the actual 
 sum of happiness which the law of the Lord has se- 
 cured, and will secure to the universe, none but God 
 himself can compute. What has secured all the hap- 
 piness that has been enjoyed by angels, cherubim, 
 and seraphim, thrones, principalities, and powers in 
 heavenly places, by all the unfallen intelligences in 
 God's dominions? Perfect obedience to the law of the 
 Lord. What will secure the augmenting happiness 
 of all these myriads, and mighty orders of beings 
 through eternity] Perfect, perpetual obedience to 
 the law of the Lord. What makes the bliss of hea- 
 ven and of the holy universe, so different now from 
 
240 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 thefewand scattered joys of earth? Simply because 
 there God's law is obeyed universally, perfectly, and 
 perpetually. Those holy throngs, amidst their high 
 ho-annahs and rapturous bliss, might well exclaim, 
 *'The law of the Lord is perfect;" wonderful in its 
 influence on the happiness of the intelligent creation. 
 
 Lastly. — The law of the Lord is perfect in re- 
 spect to its continuance or duration. 
 
 The progress and changes of societ37- require the 
 best human Uuvs to undergo modifications, or to be 
 repealed. Their duration is necessarily limited, and 
 like all the other products of imperfect minds, they 
 pass away. But the word of the Lord endureth for 
 ever, his law is perpetual. Founded on his own 
 perfections, and on those immutable relations which 
 He holds to His creatures, perfect in the equity and 
 extent of its requirements, graduating its claims 
 always within the actual ability of the subject, and 
 tending to promote his highest happiness, — the di- 
 vine law is applicable to all intelligent creatures, at 
 all times during their eternal existence. It has a 
 wonderful facility of adjustment, by which it is justly 
 applicable to all rational creatures, amidst all the 
 changes of time, circumstances, and capacity which 
 may characterize their immortal history. The law 
 is as applicable, as holy, just, and good in its demands 
 on Satan now, as when he shone an unfallen spirit in 
 primeval holiness before the throne of God. No 
 change of circumstances, no progressions of time, no 
 apostacy from God, and no degree of depravity and 
 rebellion in the subjects, can ever require the altera- 
 tion or repeal of the law of the Lord. It is the law 
 of the moral nature of all intelliscences, the infallible 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 241 
 
 rule of right, truth, and duty, the safe-guard of the 
 holiness and happiness of the universe, and while 
 these continue to be the great objects at which I he 
 benevolent administration of God aims, the law will 
 remain to protect and promote them. The convul- 
 sions and revolutions of time cannot destro}^ it. The 
 fires of the final conflagration will not consume one 
 of those bands, nor render brittle one of those cords 
 by which it binds all rational natures in love supreme 
 to God, and benevolence to each other. After the 
 judgment, and onward for ever, it will be the great 
 law of God's eternal government, the grand ligament 
 that vvill bind the holy of all worlds to the throne of 
 Jehovah in immortal loyalty. The law of the Lord 
 is perfect, for its duration will be parallel wnth the 
 existence of that infinite Mind from which it ema- 
 nated. 
 
 In the light of this subject we can see some- 
 thing of the malignity of sin. Every sin is a 
 violation of this perfect glorious law. It is an in- 
 sult offered to those perfections, and a disregard of 
 those relations of God to his creatures, on which the 
 divine law is founded. It is a libel on the justice of 
 the law, an attempt to weaken its authorit}^, to throw 
 off" tlie restraints which it imposes on human depra- 
 vity, to abandon to lawless anarchy tiie moral powers 
 of the soul, to destroy the holiness and iiappiness 
 w^hich the law aims to promote, to dethrone God, 
 and to spread malevolence, misrule, and misery over 
 his wide empire. If the law of the Lord be such as has 
 now been described, this is the nature and tendency 
 of all sin. 0, what an awful malignity characterizes 
 every violation of this law ! What must be the guilt 
 21 
 
242 THE PERFECTION OF 
 
 contracted by the reckless and habitual transgression 
 of such a law? What but the woes of an eternal 
 hell could be an adequate punishment for wilful, per- 
 severing, and final rebellion against such a law? 
 
 Finally. In the light of this subject, we see how 
 hopeless it is for sinners to wage war with, and 
 rebel against the law of the Lord. 
 
 How can men expect to be successful in such a 
 contest? They can never have a sense of justice on 
 their side, nor the approbation of their own con- 
 sciences. When men resist human laws, and attempt 
 to procure their abrogation, they do so by pointing 
 out the defects of the laws, the injustice of their re- 
 quirements, their unequal and injurious operations 
 in certain specific cases. Treason, and the mad 
 spirit of revolution, have to make some show of grie- 
 vances resulting from the application and bearings of 
 the laws they would annul. But what objection can 
 the sinner bring against the law of the Lord? What 
 plea can he offer for resisting that law? And what 
 power can his puny arm wield to alter or abate one 
 of its righteous demands? None. Tiie perfections 
 of God's nature. His relations to His creatures, the 
 interests of holiness and the happiness of the intelli- 
 gent universe, all stand pledged to sustain the divine 
 law. While God occupies the throne, and while in- 
 finite benevolence reigns triumphant there, intent on 
 securing the purity and the bliss of all rational intel- 
 ligences, so long will His perfect law be sustained by 
 all the right and authority that Jehovah can give to 
 it. That law will remain, and press its uncompro- 
 mising claims on every moral subject in the universe, 
 till he eitlier acknowledges its equity, and bows in 
 
THE DIVINE LAW. 2i3 
 
 obedience to its requirements, or continues his fruit- 
 less and mad rebellion, till he falls the hopeless 
 victim of that eternal weight of woes which its pe- 
 nalty will inflict on the finally disobedient. Wo to 
 him that striveth with his Maker. Sinner, what can 
 you hope for, if you continue to rebel against the 
 holy and perfect law of the Lord? Nothing, nothing 
 but a "certain fearful looking for of judgment and 
 fiery indignation, that shall devour the adversaries.'' 
 
244 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 SERMON XIL 
 
 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 « Who teacheth like him?"— Job xxxvii. 22. 
 
 Man has no innate or hereditary knowledge. Be- 
 yond a few simple sensations, belonging merely 
 to animal life, the inHintile mind knows nothing. 
 Each individual of our race, as he comes into the 
 world, is wholly dependent for his knowledge of 
 the ordinary affairs of life, on sources of instruction 
 out of himself. He learns the properties and relations 
 of matter by the teachings of natural objects around 
 him, by the impressions which those objects make on 
 the mind, through the medium of the senses. He 
 learns other things that pertain to the present life, 
 by the instructions and example of parents, and 
 those who are superior to him in age and expe- 
 rience. If man be thus dependent on external sources 
 of instruction for the knowledge that fits him for the 
 duties and enjoyments of his present existence, how 
 much more as an apostate from God, a depraved sin- 
 ner, is he dependent on some source of teaching out 
 of himself for that spiritual knowledge which is to 
 fit him for his duty and enjoyment here, and for his 
 high destinies hereafter. "The natural man receiveth 
 not the things of the Spirit of God, neither indeed 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 245 
 
 can he know them, because they are spiritually dis- 
 cerned." Our depraved race have evinced a wonder- 
 ful slowness of heart to believe, and to understand 
 the things that belong to their peace. If these things 
 arc ever clearly and practically taught to them, it must 
 be from some source of instruction, without and be- 
 yond tliemselves. The great means of instruction 
 on this subject are tlie works, the ways, the word, 
 and the ordinances of God. 
 
 Job's friends endeavoured to convince him that 
 God's afflictive providences to him were designed to 
 teach him a lesson, either that he was insincere, hy- 
 pocritical in his profession as a saint, or that he had 
 been guilty of some known and flagrant sin. While 
 they erred in the application of certain great and ge- 
 neral principles to Job's particular case, they never- 
 theless uttered many important and pertinent truths. 
 They falsely supposed that Job had cherished some 
 secret and heinous sin for which God was afflicting 
 him, and of which they supposed God meant to con- 
 vict him, and to teach him the evil in the most im- 
 pressive manner by his judgments. " Take heed, 
 regard not iniquity, for this hast thou chosen rather 
 than affliction. Behold God exalteth by his power. 
 Who teacheth like him ?" This question, it is taken 
 for granted, is unanswerable. JVone can teach like 
 God. 
 
 My object in this discourse shall be to illustrate 
 this jjosition, or to show the incomparable excel- 
 lence of God^s teaching. Let it be remembered, 
 that his teaching refers to the communication o^ Di- 
 vine truth to the human mind. 
 
 I. I remark, in the first place ^ then, that none can 
 21* 
 
246 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 teach like God, because none has so intimate a 
 knowledge as he of the things taught. The great 
 secret of successful leaching, consists in one's being 
 intimately and thoroughly acquainted with the facts 
 or truths which he altempts to communicate. We 
 can never convey to another an idea or conception 
 more clear and definite than it exists in our own minds. 
 When a writer or speaker is obscure or unintelligible, 
 it is because his knowledge of the subjects of which he 
 treats, is vague, partial, and defective. Obscurity of 
 thoui^htj makes obscurity in style, either in writing or 
 speaking. When a mind has clear, well defined, ac- 
 curate views on any subject, it can communicate them 
 intelligibly to others. The common remark, that we 
 have an idea of a. thing, but cannot express it or con- 
 vey it to another, is unphilosophical and untrue, ex- 
 cept where there is some remarkable deficiency in 
 the command of language. In proportion as any 
 mind has a familiar, correct, comprehensive know- 
 ledge of the truths to be taught, in the same ratio 
 will he be a successful teacher. Now apply this 
 principle to the communication of the knowledge of 
 Divine truth to the human mind, and in this respect, 
 who can teach like God? His knowledge of the 
 whole circle of universal and eternal truth is intui- 
 tive and absolute. His omniscience necessarily com- 
 prehends all actual Bnd all possible knowledge. "He 
 that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that 
 formed the eye, shall he not see?" "His under- 
 standing is infinite." How intimate, all-compre- 
 hending, absolute, is his knowledge of the things to be 
 taught! Isman to betaughtthe knowledge of theDi- 
 vine attributes, the glorious perfections of Jehovah's 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 247 
 
 nature ? These are the essential qualities of that infi- 
 nite JMind which undertakes to teach them, — they 
 live in the bright consciousness of that Mind, — are 
 seen, and felt, every moment just as they exist, — their 
 distinctions marked with infinite precision, — their 
 blended and contrasted glories, loved and admired by 
 the eternal Mind in which they inhere. If tiiere be 
 point in that inspired question, '^For what man 
 knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, 
 which is in him," there is still greater pertinency in 
 the declaration, "even so, the things of God knoweth 
 no man, but the Spirit of God." He has an intimate 
 absolute, infinite knowledge of his own attributes. 
 Who then can teach in this respect like him? Is man 
 to be taught the great principles of God's providence 
 over the world? Who understands so thoroughly 
 as God, the constitution of that kingdom which ruleth 
 over all? that kingdom which includes all the 
 movements, and adjusts all the events from the great- 
 est to the least, that fill up the entire history of this 
 terrestrial scene? Who knows as God does, the plan 
 of that providence so all-comprehending, and yet so 
 minute in its operations, as to embrace alike the rise 
 and ruin of empires, and the fall of a sparrow ? It 
 is his own plan. It originated in his own infinite 
 mind. His Divine wisdom and benevolence formed 
 it. In all its parts, and from its comniencement to 
 its close, it lies as a perfect transparency, spread out 
 before his omniscience! His omnipotence is con- 
 stantly presiding over all its movements, and exe- 
 cuting this plan with infinite exactitude. Has he not 
 the mostfamiliar,perfect knowledge of the grand prin- 
 ciples of his universal providence ? Who can teach 
 
248 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 them like him? Again: is man to be taught the 
 great truths of the plan of salvation ? Is he to be 
 made to comprehend something of the mysteries of 
 eternal love and mercy that are to be developed in 
 time and consummated in immortalit}^ by this mighty 
 scheme? Who knows this scheme as God knows 
 it? It is all his own, it was laid in his eternal coun- 
 sels- — it occupied his mind " of old from everlasting." 
 His infinite, eternal love suggested it — that love 
 formed the wondrous plan, and is activel}^ carrying 
 it out in the redemption of the world. It is, per- 
 haps, the grandest plan of tlie divine Mind — the dar- 
 ling object of Jehovah's administration over the uni- 
 verse — embracing more disclosures of the amiable 
 perfections of his own nature — involving greater in- 
 terests of his intelligent empire, and destined to wind 
 up with a more overwhelming glory than will sig- 
 nalize the consummation of any of the Divine plans. 
 The constitution of this scheme — the great principles 
 which it contains — the provisions which it makes for 
 the lost — the conditions on which those provisions 
 are available, the blessedness it secures if accepted, 
 and the woes that are incurred by its rejection, these 
 all lie naked and open before that infinite Mind, 
 which devised and is executing this scheme. That 
 Mind has the most perfect, comprehensive, absolute 
 knowledge of this whole scheme in its origin, com- 
 mencement, progress, completion, and eternal results I 
 Who can teach the great truths of redemption like 
 Godi 
 
 II. None can teach like him, because God has 
 the most intimate knowledge of the nature of the 
 mind to be instructed. 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 249 
 
 Ignorance of the nature and properties of the thing 
 to be operated upon, is the certain cause of failure in 
 any effort or enterprise. A knowledge of the ope- 
 rations and laws of the mind is indispensably neces- 
 sary to successful teacliing. Ail analogy proves 
 this. If a man be ignorant of the qualities of certain 
 chemical substances, he could not, in the nature of 
 the case, perform with them a successful experiment. 
 No man could play upon an instrument whose parts 
 and powers he did not understand. And this is equal- 
 ly true in the communication of instruction to the 
 human mind, — that may be regarded as an instru- 
 ment of exquisite mechanism, with a thousand springs 
 of delicate and nice adjustment. How can an igno- 
 rant hand touch those springs, and put in motion and 
 control the action of this wonderful, mental machi- 
 nery? Especially, how can one ignorant of the 
 moral susceptibilities of the mind, hope to commu- 
 nicate divine truth to it successfully? It is obvious 
 that just in proportion as any one has clear, correct, 
 and enlarged views of the entire nature and capabili- 
 ties of the mind, in the same proportion can he teach 
 — can he influence that mind by truth. Now in 
 this respect God has an infinite advantage as a teach- 
 er. He knows "what is in man." He is "the Fa- 
 ther of our spirits." He made the human mind. 
 Its constitution, its powers, its susceptibilities, the 
 laws that regulate its operations and its capabilities 
 of receiving knowledge, and of being influenced by 
 truth — all these are immediately under the eye of 
 the Creator. They are all the product of his form- 
 ing skill — the objects now of his upholding power. 
 The particular degree of capacity, the adaptation of 
 
250 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 every faculty in each individual mind to be culti- 
 vated, and impressed by the teachings of truth, God 
 knows with absolute certainty, and precision. Be- 
 hold him, then, with the human mind, the offspring 
 of his own creating power and goodness, directly 
 under the focus of his own omniscient eye — its en- 
 tire nature revealed in the light of that eye — all its 
 operations, even to the secret thought afar off, seen 
 through, and understood with a perfect, divine intui- 
 tion! Who can teach like him whose knowledge 
 has thus compassed the path of the mind, and is ac- 
 quainted with all its ways; and has beset it behind 
 and before, and laid his hand upon it? 
 
 III. None can teach like him, because God can 
 avail himself of certain stales of the mind, and of certain 
 outward means of communicating instruction as no one 
 else can. 
 
 It is well known, how much the success of teach- 
 ing depends upon the particular state of the mind at 
 the time instruction is communicated. "A word 
 fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of sil- 
 ver." Instructions, the most important, are often 
 lost by being imparted when the mind happens to 
 be in a particular state, which renders it incapable, for 
 the time, of attending to them. So, on the other 
 hand, some of the most favourable opportunities for 
 communicating truth, and of making an enduring 
 impression, are lost by our ignorance at the time of 
 the particular /ayoura^/e state of the mind which we 
 would teach. In the same manner we fail of employ- 
 ing the particular means of instruction that would be 
 best adapted to be successful in a given case. No finite 
 teacher can know, with certainty, numerous secret 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 251 
 
 states of mind in the individual pre-eminently favour- 
 able to the inculcationj and the reception of divine 
 truth. But the infinite God labours under no such 
 disadvantage. He not only knows the adaptation 
 of truth to tiie mind, and the general nature and ori- 
 ginal susceptibilities o^ the mind, but he is intimately 
 acquainted with lis most secret and transient states, 
 and emotions; — all its thoughts and feelings, at all 
 times, are " written in his book '' — are subject to his 
 all-comprehending, all-penetrating inspection. With 
 a knowledge so familiar and perfect as God's, re- 
 specting all the varying successive conditions of the 
 mind, how easily can he avail himself of the favoured 
 moment, and ingraft the truth upon the mind, when 
 in a state the most favourable for receiving and re- 
 taining instruction. How many of the righteous in 
 all ages have blessed him in time, and will adore him 
 through eternity,for that incessant omniscience which 
 watched the secret workings of their hearts, and 
 seized upon some temporary state known only to him 
 when the saving truths of the gospel were success- 
 fully taught to them. Who but God knew that un- 
 suspected, unprecedented state of the Sandwich 
 Islanders' minds, just previously to the arrival of the 
 Afnerican missionaries amongst them? A pagan 
 people renouncing their idols, and disgusted with the 
 orgies of heathenism ! Just at this crisis, while they 
 were in this state, the strong hand of his providence 
 sent them the heralds of the cross to teach them 
 Christ crucified. 
 
 Thus God knows, vvitii infinite accuracy, the en- 
 tire, hidden history of every mind. Every successive 
 thought and feeling, however transient, passes imme- 
 
252 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHEK. 
 
 diately under His comprehensive gaze, and with in- 
 finite skill and tact he can avail himself of the very 
 state that will secure complete success io His teaching. 
 So with this perfect knowledge of the various states 
 of the mind, He can avail himself of those outward 
 means of instruction best adapted to a particular state 
 of the mind. In the means that we employ to com- 
 municate truth, we often ''draw a bow at a ven- 
 ture." We sometimes attempt to teach an indivi- 
 dual from the works of creation, when he is in a 
 mood only to be instructed and benefited by con- 
 templating the ways of God's providence, or the di- 
 rect truths of His holy word. We know not the se- 
 crets of the heart, the silent and often changing states 
 of the mind, and how should we know what/?flr//- 
 cular means of instruction would be best adapted at 
 a given time, and in an individual case? But God's 
 unerring wisdom enables Him to select and employ 
 those external means precisely fitted to be most 
 effective in every particular case where they are ap- 
 plied. The mind, with all its capacities and present 
 feelings, and the works of creation, of providence, 
 and of grace, with all their adaptations, are open be- 
 fore the Lord, and under His absolute control. What 
 should prevent Him from selecting from this wide 
 range of instrumentality, just those means that are 
 most eminently fitted to conve}^ truth with trium- 
 phant success to the soul. When His omniscience 
 sees the heart softened or subdued, in view of the 
 beauty or sublimity of the landscape by day, or in 
 view of the more solemn and august grandeur of the 
 heavens by night, how easily and appropriately can 
 God speak then in the murmuring brook, reveal His 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 253 
 
 loveliness in every flower and shrub, mirror His own 
 calm and bright image in the expanse of waters, or 
 shine from every star that studs the diadem of night 
 in the glories of His eternal power and Godhead, 
 and thus teach, most impressively, the lessons of His 
 wisdom, benevolence, and might. When the mind, 
 from any cause, is disposed to contemplate the deal- 
 ings of God, and recognise His hand in the events of 
 life, and almost every mind has such moments, how 
 readily can God then, in the course of His providence, 
 introduce, just at that juncture, a prosperous event, 
 whose winning lesson of goodness will melt and gain 
 the heart, or an adverse one, whose lesson of just se- 
 verity will teach most effectively the folly, guilt and 
 presumption of rebelling against God, and bow the 
 soul in submission to Him. So He who sees at a 
 glance all the adaptations of the truths of the Bible 
 to every variety of feeling in the mind, can select 
 and bring to bear upon that mind, those very truths 
 that will "be as a nail fastened in a sure place,^' 
 truths that will shed celestial light and spiritual life 
 through the soul, teaching the sinner his condition 
 and prospects, his duty and destiny, and transforming 
 him into the image of his God. "Who teacheth 
 like Him?" — whose knowledge includes every se- 
 cret state of the mind, and who has at command all 
 the grand resources of creation, providence, and the 
 scheme of redemption, from which to choose the 
 means of man's instruction. 
 
 IV". No one can teach like Him, because God can 
 
 employ an agency to give truth access to the heart 
 
 ivhich no one else can emj^loy, the agency of the 
 
 Holy Spirit. In our attempts at teaching, we ad- 
 
 22 
 
254 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 dress the ear and the eye, and hope thus to affect the 
 heart. We have to employ language and symbols 
 that appeal to the mind, and can affect it only through 
 the medium of the senses. Our power is limited to 
 the impressions which we make on the external or- 
 gans. We have no access to the mind directly. 
 We have no means of exerting a direct influence on 
 that mysterious connexion between impressions on 
 the senses, and the sensations or emotions of the 
 mind which they are adapted to produce. Could we 
 communicate immediately with the mind itself, and 
 find our knowledge and our feelings brought in con- 
 tact with the mind without going through the me- 
 dium of the senses, how much greater might be our 
 influence in teaching and controlling others. But 
 all cur efforts stop with the outward senses, the 
 mind itself lies beyond our direct control, and free 
 and independent of any constraint from us, it volun- 
 tarily yields to, or resists the impressions which we 
 make on the senses. But God has an agency that 
 reaches the mind and the heart directly, without the 
 necessity of addressing the external senses. " The 
 Spirit of God searcheth all things.'' The Holy 
 Ghost has an immediate access to the soul. Its con- 
 trol over all the susceptibilities of our intellectual and 
 moral nature is direct and absolute. It can make 
 its silent visits to the mind, can pervade the mind 
 with its mysterious presence, can sway all the 
 powers of the soul, opening the understanding, 
 quickening the conscience — rectifying the reason — 
 subduing the heart, and rendering the whole man 
 meek and docile, without addressing the eye and the 
 ear, or necessarily depending on the senses as the 
 medium of its influence. This is obvious from the 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 255 
 
 fact that the same truths presented in the same man- 
 ner, and that have failed a hundred times to produce 
 any abiding or salutary effect, become, on certain oc- 
 casions, the means of the soul's conversion. The 
 difference in the result is not at all attributable to 
 any difference in the outward administration of the 
 truth, but simply to the direct immediate influence of 
 the Holy Spirit on the mind itself. Now with such 
 an agency as this, omniscient, omnipresent, that can 
 penetrate and pervade the whole mind with a direct 
 influence in no way dependent on the senses, that 
 can affect every susceptibility of the soul, and con- 
 trol all its states, what should hinder the teaching of 
 God from triumphant success? Besides, this is " the 
 Spirit of truth,'' the Spirit that dictates those divine 
 truths that are to be taught to man. It knows the 
 relations of truth to the susceptibilities of our nature, 
 the adaptation of particular truths to those states of 
 mind which it produces by its own direct influence. 
 And it is a part of its sacred office, to take of the 
 things of Christ, and show them to the soul, to lead 
 man into all truth. What then should prevent the 
 Holy Spirit from winging the arrows of truth with 
 unerring aim? What should prevent His teachings 
 from reaching the heart, and making man wise unto 
 salvation? Who can teach like God by the sublime 
 agency of the Holy Ghost? No wonder that His 
 " doctrine shall drop as the rain, and His speech 
 distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender 
 herb, and as the showers upon the grass ;'^ for this 
 glorious agency of the Holy Spirit, like the silent 
 but powerful elements of nature, all-pervading, is ope- 
 rating unseen, and by irresistible laws, is accomplish- 
 ing the enlightenment and redemption of souls. 
 
256 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 V. Lastly. — No one can teach like him, because 
 God employs mightier sanciions than any one else to en- 
 force his instructions. Most minds evince a striking 
 indisposition to make acquisitions of useful know- 
 ledge. In teaching the ordinary branches of educa- 
 tion the pupils have to be stimulated by hopes and 
 fears — by the prospect of rewards and punishments. 
 But all the motives we can bring to enforce our in- 
 structions in human or divine knowledge are tem- 
 porary and comparatively trivial. We can tell 
 those whom we teach of the pleasures of learning — 
 the advantages of knowledge — to stimulate their 
 love of happiness and their hopes, — and we can tell 
 them of the miseries and disadvantages of ignorance 
 to operate on their instinctive aversion to pain and 
 their fears. But we have no great sanctions of our 
 own that we can urge authoritatively upon them to 
 secure the effect of our instructions. Now the sanc- 
 tions of God, like himself, are infmite. In his first 
 lesson with the sinner he meets him with the as- 
 tounding declaration — " Hear, and your soul shall 
 LIVE.'' The implication is, that if you refuse to 
 hear God's teachings, the penalty of your refusal is 
 eternal death! God has perilled the life of your 
 soul on your hearing, or refusing to hear his instruc- 
 tions. This is a tremendous alternative, and puts an 
 infinite difference between GocVs instructions and 
 those of any other. Your eternal all is at stake in 
 this matter! It is not left to your option whether 
 you will hear or forbear. Results, vast as the happi- 
 ness or the misery of your whole being for time and 
 eternity, are to follow your reception or rejection of 
 God's teaching. To win upon your love of happi- 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 257 
 
 ness, and your susceptibility of hope, God tells you, 
 if you hear him, your soul shall live. A new spiri- 
 tual life in the play of its happy and vigorous func- 
 tions shall commence within you, " as a well of water 
 springing up unto everlasting life." You shall have 
 righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost 
 now; — the favour and friendship of God on earth, — 
 the protection, and all the kind provisions of his 
 providence, — communion and fellowship with him 
 on your earthly pilgrimage, — his shield to defend 
 you from its temptations, — his consolations amidst 
 its trials and sorrows, — his strength to sustain you 
 under its conflicts, — his grace to make all things 
 work together for your good, and to give you a 
 glorious victory over death, your last enemy. Be- 
 yond that, he opens to you the splendours of an eter- 
 nal heaven, with its untrammelled progression in 
 knowledge, holiness and bliss, and offers himself as 
 your exceeding great reward there, if you will hear 
 the voice of his teachings now ! On the other hand, 
 God has brought tremendous motives to operate on 
 your fears. It is with infinite emphasis that Jehovah 
 hath said — " He that refuseth instruction, hateth his 
 own soul!" That soul shall remain now under the evils 
 of spiritual death. It shall be cut off from commu- 
 nion with God — his frown will rest upon it — his 
 protection be withdrawn from it amidst the dangers 
 and trials of life — his consolations withheld from it 
 amidst its conflicts and sorrows — "the stars in their 
 courses shall fight" against that soul in its pathway 
 through the world, and in death it shall struggle 
 alone, abandoned of God, and a prey to all the fore- 
 bodings of coming wrath. And beyond that, God 
 22* 
 
258 GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 discloses the gloom of an eternal hell, with its ray- 
 less, endless night of ignorance, desertion and exile 
 from God, and holiness, and hope! O what tre- 
 mendous sanctions to enforce his instructions! Who 
 can teach like that God who holds in his hands the 
 interests and destinies of the soul for two worlds; 
 and who can bring all the happiness of obedi- 
 ence, or all the horrors of disobedience in time, and 
 all the bliss or all the wo of the soul through a 
 whole eternity, as the sublime and awful sanctions 
 by which to secure the success of his teaching? 
 
 We learn from this subject, in the first place, how 
 great is the privilege of Christians, of whom it is said in 
 the Scriptures — " They shall all be taught of God." 
 " Who teacheth like him?" What a teacher! The 
 infinite God!! with all the resources of omniscience 
 and omnipotence at his command ! What shadow of 
 excuse has any Christian for spiritual ignorance? — for 
 being ^'' a child in understanding?" What apology 
 has he for not advancing beyond " the first princi- 
 ples of the doctrine of Christ?" How will he ac- 
 count for not growing in knowledge, privileged as 
 he is to have God as his teacher? What an inesti- 
 mable privilege! Christians, when you are sensible 
 of your remaining ignorance, and deplore your 
 proneness to err — when you are perplexed to know 
 your duty, and when you thirst for the knowledge 
 of divine things, then grasp, by faith, the blessed 
 truth, that God is your teacher. Come in the meek- 
 ness of children, and with a gracious docility, sit 
 at his feet, and learn of him. " If any man lack wis- 
 dom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally, and 
 upbraideth not." What storesof spiritual knowledge 
 
GOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 259 
 
 you might acquire under such a teacher! What a 
 power might his teachings exert on your Christian 
 character — what a transformation into the knowledge 
 and true holiness, which constitute his own divine 
 image! How much more intelligence and advance- 
 ment in the divine life — how much more of spiritual 
 strength and of well directed activity would mark 
 the church on earth, did Christians eagerly yield up 
 their whole souls to the teachings of God ! To 
 what heights of knowledge in the present life might 
 they not attain, did they fully avail themselves of 
 the instructions of that God who holds the mind and 
 the heart, with all their susceptibilities, in one hand, 
 and can fashion them to any state at will, and who 
 holds in the other hand the resources of creation, 
 providence, and redemption, and wields them all at 
 his pleasure, to impress on the soul the lessons of 
 eternal truth, and fit it for ultimate perfection in 
 knowledge ! And what a glorious prospect does this 
 subject open to the believer in a future world ! God, 
 in the unclouded glories of his own nature, will be 
 the teacher there! All "the deep things of God," 
 in all worlds and systems of worlds throughout his 
 vast empire, will be unveiled to furnish lessons and 
 illustrations on the stupendous themes of thought and 
 of emotion that are to engross the intellect and the 
 heart of holy immortals ! An eternity oi such teach- 
 ing will yet bring the redeemed spirit to see univei^- 
 sal truth face to face, and to know even as it shall 
 be known. 
 
 Finally. What appeal shall be made from this 
 subject to the impenitent who will not hear Him 
 who speaks from heaven? If you, my dear hearers 
 
260 OOD THE INCOMPARABLE TEACHER. 
 
 of this class, have hitherto turned away your ear 
 from your God, can I hope that you will lend it to 
 me now? No! Heart-rending as it is, I must close 
 by simply quoting from His oracles the awful de- 
 cision which God has made and recorded for the 
 warning of every one who continues to refuse his 
 teachings. "He shall die without instruction, 
 
 AND in the greatness OF HIS FOLLY HE SHALL GO 
 
 astray.'^ 
 
THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED INSECURE. 261 
 
 SERMON XIII 
 
 THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED INSECURE. 
 "Surely tliou didst set tliem in dippety places."— Psalm Ixxiii. 18. 
 
 That the enemies of God should enjoy so laro-e a 
 portion of temporal prosperity whilst in active hos- 
 tility to their Maker, is often a matter of surprise 
 and perplexity even to good men. Indeed one of 
 the mysteries of the present economy is how a holy 
 Godj bound to frown upon and discourage sin, can 
 exercise so much long-suffering and tender mercy to 
 the wicked. This was a subject of great perplexity 
 to the Psalmist. It threw him into temporary mur- 
 muring, and unbelief. ^'Behold, these are the un- 
 godly who prosper in the world; they increase in 
 riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain 
 and washed my hands in innocency. For all the 
 day long have I been plagued, and chastened every 
 morning." To this rash though momentary conclu- 
 sion the Psalmist was led by confining his views to the 
 present, temporal allotment of the wicked, especially 
 as contrasted with his own adversity and afflictions. 
 But God did not permit him to entertain perma- 
 nently this limited and partial view of the subject. 
 The Psalmist gives us an interesting account of the 
 
262 THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 manner in which his mistake and error were cor- 
 rected. " When I thought to know this, it was too 
 painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of 
 God: then understood I their end." God opened his 
 eyes in the light of the sanctuary to see the ultimate 
 end — the closing catastrophe of all this tantalizing 
 present prosperity of the wicked. As soon as the 
 Psalmist looked beyond the present moment, he was 
 convinced that he had made a false estimate of the 
 prosperity of God^s enemies. He exclaims, " Surely 
 Thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou castedst 
 them down into destruction. How are they brought 
 into desolation, as in a moment. They are utterly 
 consumed with terrors. As a dream when one 
 awaketh, so, Lord, when thou awakest. Thou shalt 
 despise their image!" He thus became deeply con- 
 vinced that he had been unnecessarily excited, and 
 had made a false and exaggerated estimate of the 
 prosperity of the ungodly. ^»'Thus my heart was 
 grieved, and I was pricked in my reins: so foolish was 
 I and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee." He 
 now saw how insecure was the prosperity of the 
 wicked, and how soon it would be succeeded by a 
 desolation and destruction the most appalling. 
 
 I propose, in the subsequent remarks, to present 
 some considerations, showing the insecurity of the pros- 
 perity of the wicked. "Surely Thou didst set them in 
 slippery places." The whole significancy of this 
 metaphor refers to the insecurity of the wicked in 
 their temporal prosperity. The chances of a sudden 
 and sad reversal to them are the same as the chances 
 of falling are to an individual who stands on an ex- 
 ceedingly slippery precipice. 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 263 
 
 I. That the prosperity of the wicked is extremely 
 insecure, may be argued from the fact that it is not 
 founded on the favour of God. Temporal favours, 
 I know, are often interpreted as an evidence of Di- 
 vine approbation on their recipients. Wlien the 
 wicked prosper and increase in riches — when the 
 cup of their common blessings overflows — when they 
 have more than heart could wish, and their eyes 
 stand out with fatness — when an unclouded sun pours 
 its beams of gladness on their way, they are prone to 
 mistake it for the light of God's countenance and the 
 smiles of his approval. Yet God has guarded against 
 this mistake by most express instructions: "No man 
 knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before 
 them. All things come alike to all. There is one 
 event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the 
 good, and to the clean and to the unclean — to him 
 that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not.'^ 
 God once granted Israel a king and royal splendour 
 in his wrath, and on another occasion, " he gave 
 them their request, but sent leanness into their 
 souls." Whatever may be the wise and benevolent 
 purposes which God designs to effect by the pros- 
 perity of the wicked, that prosperity is not founded 
 in his favour to them personally ! It is granted to 
 them on other grounds altogether — My ungodly 
 hearers, your continued life and health, your homes 
 and domestic comforts — your happiness resulting 
 from the ties of kindred — your social joys — the bless- 
 ings of civilization and refinement — that competency 
 or wealth which supplies you with all the means 
 of physical gratification and personal aggrandize- 
 ment, are not conferred on you^ because God has any 
 
264 ' THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 complacency in your character as impenitent sinners, 
 or because he connives at your rebellion against him, 
 or means to let your transgressions pass unpunished. 
 These are not the favours of a reconciled God. Not- 
 withstanding all the rich treasures of his good- 
 ness which he is lavishing on you constantly, it is a 
 solemn truth, that ^^ God is angry with the wicked 
 every day." These blessings are no evidence of his 
 approbation toward you! Your entire worldly pros- 
 perity, however bright and dazzling, must not be 
 mistaken for the smiles of approving Heaven on your 
 guilty career. That prosperity not being founded 
 in the favour of God, must of course be insecure. 
 That God, who has an absolute control over every 
 element of your physical comfort and temporal pros- 
 perity is your enemy. He can arm every atom by 
 which you are surrounded, with a sting to avenge 
 his insulted majesty, and make the stars in their 
 courses to fight against you in your impenitence and 
 rebellion ! What security, then, can you have in 
 your worldly prosperity? Will God always nou- 
 rish you and bring you up as children, when you 
 strike the envenomed shaft into the very bosom that 
 cherishes you ? May not the limit of his goodness 
 in your case soon be reached, and all the purposes to 
 be eflfected by your temporal prosperity be speedily 
 accomplished ? Whether the exuberant temporal 
 favours which he bestows on you, be intended to 
 give to the present world a specimen of the riches of 
 his goodness to the evil and unthankful, or to try 
 you and prove your hearts, or to test the faith and 
 patience, the confidence and submission of his own 
 afflicted people, may they not soon fulfil these de- 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 265 
 
 signs and be for ever recalled from you, their guilty 
 abusers? So long as your prosperity flows not from 
 the favour and faithfulness of a reconciled God, ought 
 you not to feel that you are set in slippery places, 
 and that the tragic hour of sad reversal dravveth 
 nigh ? 
 
 II. That the prosperity of the wicked is insecure, 
 may be argued /ro?n the uncertain and temporary 
 nature of the very elements of which it is com- 
 posed. As it has no foundation in the favour of 
 God, so it has nothing spiritual and permanent in its 
 nature. It is a prosperity disconnected with the 
 moral and immortal part of man. It does not consist 
 in "righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy- 
 Ghost " — it is not the high and satisfying conscious- 
 ness of well doing — it is not the rejoicings of a par- 
 doned, redeemed soul with a sense of the divine 
 favour, a feeling of being possessed of '^durable 
 riches^'' — with the faith and hopes, and triumphs of 
 the gospel, and the prospects of a blessed immortali- 
 ty. This is sjyiritual prosperity, a prosperity whose 
 very elements are permanent as the being of mind, 
 and immutable as the purposes and grace of an un- 
 changing God. No; the elements of the worldly 
 prosperity of the wicked are infinitely diverse from 
 these! ! One element of this latter prosperity is ihe 
 good opinion of others. How many are placed in 
 offices of honour and emolument, and raised to a 
 giddy and dazzling height of worldly aggrandizement 
 by the popular voice. The only security they have 
 that they will retain that enviable eminence, is in 
 the stability of public opinion ! And yet the autum- 
 nal winds that career along the shores of the ocean 
 23 
 
266 THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 are not more variablcj fickle and capricious than po- 
 pular sentiment respecting individuals. The very 
 man who to-day is borne to the pinnacle of fame 
 and of fortune, on the loud hosannahs of the mul- 
 titude, to-morrow may hear the hoarse and indignant 
 murmurs of that multitude vented in the exclama- 
 tion, "Away with him, crucify him, crucify him." 
 And yet how many are dependent on a cause 
 as uncertain and insecure as this for all their worldly 
 prosperity ! In what a multitude of instances are 
 men dependent, in some way, on the opinions of 
 others for their prosperity in the world. This is 
 equally true of that friendship and afiection which 
 may indirectly constitute an important element of 
 earthly prosperity. The history of the best portion 
 of society shows that there is no stability in unsancti- 
 Jied friendships. " Trifles light as air, a word, a look 
 unkindly taken," may dissolve the spell that once 
 bound fond hearts together, and promised to be per- 
 manent as life. 
 
 Another element of this prosperity is the honesty 
 and trustworthiness of our fellow men. Confidence 
 in our fellow men, is indispensable to that enterprise, 
 by which we gain worldly prosperity. This is the 
 reason why in a barbarous state of society, where no 
 man w^ill trust his fellow, there are no instances of 
 accumulated fortunes. All those resources by which 
 individuals grow rich, are so far under the control 
 of others, that if they were never to be trusted, those 
 individuals could never take one successful step in 
 the road to wealth. But how often do the fairest 
 appearances of honesty and trustworthiness deceive ? 
 This also is an exceedingly uncertain, insecure ele- 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 267 
 
 meiit. How many have been bereft in an hour of 
 ail they possessed, and beggared for life by the dis- 
 honesty and villany of those in whom they confided ! 
 Another, and the chief element of the worldly prospe- 
 rity of the wicked, is riches. And we know what 
 striking epithets Divine revelation applies to these to 
 indicate their nature,— '^ deceitful uncertain riches.^' 
 The word of God and the history of the mutations 
 of human fortune, alike testify that '• riches take to 
 themselves wings and fly away." We have but to 
 look at the amazing reverses — the blighted hopes and 
 prospects, and the multiplied wrecks of estates, 
 amongst the mercantile and manufacturing commu- 
 nity for the last ten or fifteen years, to convince us, 
 that nothing can be more uncertain than the trea- 
 sure laid up on earth. This lesson has been trodden 
 in upon the mind by the feet of time, and illustrated 
 and exemplified by the ever shifting fortunes of the 
 world ! Contemplate all the elements which form 
 the prosperity of the ungodly, and you will find 
 that in their very nature, they forbid the rational 
 hope of permanency. They are essentially tempo- 
 rary and uncertain in their character, and leave the 
 prosperity which they constitute, " baseless as the 
 school-boy's dream." When looking at these ele- 
 ments as the only foundation of the prosperity of the 
 wicked, we feel the solemn emphasis and pertinency 
 of the exclamation, " Surely Thou didst set them in 
 slippery places." 
 
 III. The insecurity of the prosperity of the 
 wicked appears, thirdly, from the fact that the 
 very habits to which that prosperity gives rise, 
 may acquire such strength as to destroy it. Take 
 
208 THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 as an Illustration of this, the man whose pros- 
 perity consists in the results of a successful ambition. 
 The love of conquest, power, and influence, has been 
 growing into a fixed habit, and gaining fresh acces- 
 sions of strength at every step in his ambitious ca- 
 reer! While this habit was confined within given 
 limits, success attended all his efforts. But the in- 
 toxication of success ministered new stimulus to his 
 ambition, and the habit at length acquired a gigantic 
 might, that, overleaping the boundaries of reason, 
 and of probability, drove him upon those mad aspi- 
 rings which proved his utter ruin. The history of 
 the world is full of melancholy examples of this de- 
 scription. Napoleon Bonaparte is an illustrious in- 
 stance of the power of that habit of overgrown, law- 
 less ambition, which in one luckless hour can ruin 
 the splendid fortunes of an empire. This is the man, 
 of whom it might emphatically be said — " I have 
 seen the wicked in great power, and spreading him- 
 self like a green bay tree, yet he passed away, and lo ! 
 he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be 
 found." This man, who once shook every throne of 
 Europe, and held its nations in awe of his influence, 
 was impelled by the might and the agony of his am- 
 bitious habit, to that fatal step which turned the whole 
 tide of his fortunes, and drifted him to a solitary isle 
 in the ocean, to die an execrated exile there ! The 
 terribly illustrious destruction of his splendid pros- 
 perity, was wrought out by the power of the very 
 habit which that prosperity cherished. This is 
 equally true of the habit of acquiring wealth. A 
 moderate desire to obtain the good things of this life, 
 is the great spring to healthful activity and enterprise. 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 269 
 
 While this desire is kept within legitimate bounds, 
 men generally do what is termed a "safe and prospe- 
 rous business." But when it becomes the love of 
 money — a passion for gain — and success for a season 
 forms the habit of accumulating, that habit soon ac- 
 quires an indomitable energy, and under its violent 
 impulses the man, no longer content with the slow, 
 though certain gains of ordinary industry, embarks 
 and loses his all in some splendid speculation, that 
 promised an immediate and overgrown fortune! 
 How many ruined estates within the last thirteen 
 3'ears, confirm the truth of this position, and show 
 how the very habit of accumulating riches, can ac- 
 quire a might that, Samson-like, in its blind rage, 
 can seize upon the pillars of its possessor's prosperity, 
 and bury the whole edifice in hopeless ruin. Again : 
 how soon do the habits of extravagance and prodi- 
 gality cherished by the prosperity of the wicked, de- 
 stroy that prosperity 1 How many large estates have 
 been utterly squandered in a few years, and their heri- 
 tors reduced to the worst condition of pauperism, by 
 the strength which those habits of prodigality, produced 
 and cherished by prosperity, soon acquired. This 
 prosperity, then, contains in itself the very elements 
 of its own speedy destruction. But there is another 
 habit, the very opposite of this, growing out of, and 
 strengthened by the prosperity of the wicked, equally 
 destructive of all the enjoyments of that prosperity — 
 that is, avarice. When the habit of accumulating ac- 
 quires such strength that riches become an object of 
 intense desire for their oicn sake, and not for the sake 
 of the enjoyments they may procure, then there is 
 an end to all significancy in that man's outward pros- 
 23* 
 
270 THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 perit3^ He becomes the victim of one of the most 
 restless and tormenting passions of fallen human na- 
 ture. His days are consumed with 'corroding cares 
 and distracting solicitude — his nights with anxious 
 vigils and harassing fears over his heaps of gold. 
 His soul is contracted within that narrow barren cir- 
 cle of parsimony, which denies him all the ordinary 
 comforts of life. His very sickness is unpalliated by 
 those things necessary to its mitigation, lest the pur- 
 chase of them should diminish aught of his hoarded 
 treasures. He lives on in the self-denial, privation 
 and drudgery of a slave, and pursues a course of the 
 most unwearied and joyless industry witnessed under 
 heaven ! Now is it not obvious, that the fearful 
 energy of this avaricious habit, nourished by his pros- 
 perity, can blast all his treasures, and render him a 
 wretched starveling in the midst of princely abun- 
 dance? Contemplate then, my hearers, the habits to 
 which the prosperity of the wicked gives rise, and 
 their rapidly increasing strength, which arms them 
 with the certain power to destroy the very prosperity 
 that cherishes them, and decide whether God has not 
 " set " sinners " in slippery places !" Their very ef- 
 forts to climb higher, hurl them down headlong in 
 hopeless ruin! 
 
 IV. That the prosperity of the wicked is insecure, 
 may be argued from the fact that their own con- 
 sciences are not thoroughly reconciled to their pro s- 
 2)erity ^and the pangs and forebodings of conscience 
 can soon imhitter and destroy the very essence of 
 worldly fortune. However men may persuade them- 
 selves that temporal favours are the tokens of God's 
 smiles and approbation, thispersuasioncannotlast. God 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 271 
 
 lias so constituted the conscience, that it cannot be 
 permanently bribed with gold. In thesunniest hourof 
 prosperity to the wicked, this power of man's moral 
 nature can bring clouds and darkness over the soul. 
 The prosperous wicked, as well as other men, have 
 their moments when conscience speaks. They have 
 their periods of fearful misgivings of heart. They 
 feel that all is not right. They know, in some in- 
 stances, that their gain has been ill-gotten, and that 
 the blessing of that God, who commands men to be ho- 
 nest, and who loveth righteousness, cannot rest upon 
 their possessions. Conscience tells them that far 
 above their eminence and the splendours of their 
 worldly prosperity, are the dark frowns of a just Jeho- 
 vah, — that they have abused the rich blessings of his 
 benignant providence, and incurred his righteous dis- 
 pleasure — that all their treasures cannot bribe him 
 to swerve from the eternal principles of rectitude, 
 and to withhold from their disobedience and trans- 
 gression a "just recompense of reward." They feel 
 that theirs is 7iot the prosperity, the safe, stable pros- 
 perity of the righteous. Conscience warns them 
 that this worldly prosperity may be their only por- 
 tion — all that they will ever receive from the munifi- 
 cence of a benevolent and merciful God! and that 
 hereafter, in a ruined eternity, when their immortal 
 agony shall wring from them a prayer for a drop of 
 water to cool their parched tongues, it may be said 
 to each one of them, '^Son, remember that thou in 
 thy life-time receivedst thy good things." All the 
 glare of present prosperity cannot blind the eye of 
 conscience to these images of terror that rise in the 
 future. It will occasionally take the alarm, and when 
 
272 THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 once its fears and forebodings are excited, all their 
 treasures cannot quell them and restore quiet to the 
 mind. How soon the pangs of conscience under a 
 sense of present guilt for abused blessings and its ter- 
 rors and apprehensions of the future, can effectually 
 annihilate every joy that worldly prosperity can 
 afford to the soul! How many have been rendered 
 so miserable by the stings of conscience, that the 
 glitter of their outward circumstances only served as 
 a tantalizing contrast to the gloom within! What 
 this side a world of wo can furnish such a picture of 
 superlative wretchedness as the man loaded with the 
 bounties of heaven, and having more than heart could 
 wish, and yet his conscience festering under the con- 
 viction that God's approbation is not in all this — 
 overwhelmed with the sense of guilt for having abused 
 and perverted this exuberance of Divine goodness, and 
 quaking under the apprehension that his very pros- 
 perity will render his ultimate perdition more illus- 
 triously dreadful! Now when we think how much 
 there is in the administration of God — how much 
 there is in his holy oracles, and how many incidents 
 constantly occurring, adapted to arouse conscience 
 and bring it into'agonizing play, and then think how 
 completely its anguish and forebodings can destroy 
 the power of temporal prosperity to minister its ac- 
 customed gratifications and annihilate all capacity to 
 receive comfort from this source, and drive its mad- 
 dened victim to desperation and suicide, we cannot 
 fail to feel how insecure and uncertain that prosperity 
 is ! ^'Surely thou didst set them in slippery places," 
 for they carry with them a power inwoven with 
 their nature, that can cause their feet to slide, and cast 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 273 
 
 Ihem down in mental depression from the loftiest 
 pinnacle of earthly fortune. 
 
 V. and Lastly. The known uncertainty of life 
 haunts the wicked with a dread that destroys the baseless 
 joys of their prosperity. Wealth has no power to re- 
 deem its possessor from death and the grave — and 
 the wicked themselves know and feel this ! Their 
 ample treasures and their strong palaces repel not 
 the approach of the Great Destroyer. The un- 
 certainty of life is just as great amidst all these, as 
 amidst the stinted provisions, and miserable hovels 
 of the poor. With impartial tread death comes to 
 the threshold, and knocks alike, at the door of the 
 palace and the cottage. The prosperous wicked, see 
 death's doings among themselves, and it is striking to 
 notice what a deep temporary emotion, the death of 
 one of their number occasions in survivers. They 
 know that he is torn from all that ever ministered 
 to his enjoyment, exiled from all his earthly posses- 
 sions, a homeless, shelterless wanderer in a future 
 world. Images of desolation are associated with 
 his departure from earth, overwhelming to their ima- 
 ginations. They feel for a moment the force of God's 
 declarations respecting such a one; "For we brought 
 nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry 
 nothing out." '^ When he dieth, he shall carry 
 nothing away — his glory shall not descend after 
 him." "As he came forth of his mother's womb, 
 naked shall he return, to go as he came, and shall 
 take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in 
 his hand; and this also is a sore evil that in all points 
 as he came so shall he go, and what profit hath he 
 that hath laboured for the wind?'^ The wicked 
 
274 THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 know that the thread of life is all that binds them to 
 their coveted, idolized worldly prosperity — that that 
 thread once severed, they are as completely sepa- 
 rated from all the enjoyments which wealth can 
 procure, as though they had never had a connexion 
 with earth ! Now with the multitude of things 
 around them to snap that brittle thread, and the nu- 
 merous illustrations of the utter uncertainty of life 
 which the history of every day furnishes, how can 
 the wdcked, when they cling to existence with so 
 fond a tenacity, avoid that dread of being torn from 
 their possessions which will mar and destroy their 
 prosperity ? As they look at the dire uncertainty 
 of life, they know that God has set them in slippery 
 places. And as they think of the awful privation 
 of being driven away from their earthly treasures, 
 the overwhelming dread of this destroys all taste and 
 capacity to relish the sensual joys which their ample 
 resources furnish. They are "all their life-time 
 subject to bondage, through fear," till at last that 
 which they '^feared comes upon them," and plunges 
 them deep in endless misery ! There they learn the 
 awful truth of that Divine saying, '* The pi^osperily 
 of fools shall destroy them." What a hollow, de- 
 ceptive, dangerous, prosperity this, which an hour's 
 operation of conscience, or of sober reflection, on the 
 insecurity of life, can utterly destroy; or if enjoyed 
 undisturbed by these till the last, will only bring 
 down upon the soul a more aggravated perdition! 
 
 If such be the nature of the prosperity of the 
 wicked, i^ this is their portion — then we see from this 
 subject, in the first place, how criminal it is for the 
 Christian to be envious of it, and murmur at his own 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 275 
 
 temporal allotment. Why should a soul enlightened 
 from above, blest with the presence of God and the 
 hope of heaven, covet the prosperity of God's ene- 
 mies? Would you have God give you your desire, 
 but send leanness into your soul? Would you have 
 him set you in slippery places rather than plant your 
 feet on the eternal Rock, and establish your goings? 
 Would you deliberately take the perishable riches of 
 earth in preference to the infinite resources of Di- 
 vine mercy and grace? Would you exchange the 
 present peace and protection of God, for the corro- 
 ding cares and powerful temptations of worldly abun- 
 dance? Would you exchange "a house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens,'^ for the palace 
 which worldly wealth could purchase for you? 
 Would you risk the fearful final plunge in the deeps 
 of perdition, for the pleasure of standing a few mo- 
 ments on the slippery elevation of earthly aggran- 
 dizement? If not, then Christian, cease to covet the 
 prosperity of the wicked, or to murmur at the pains 
 and ills of your present allotment. Your poverty 
 and privations — your "light afflictions which are but 
 for a moment, shall work out for you a far more ex- 
 ceeding and eternal weight of glory," whilst "the 
 prosperity of fools shall destroy them." Be it 
 enough for you that God is your portion, "for their 
 rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being 
 judges." He is your sun and your shield, "the Lord 
 will give you grace and glory: no good thing will be 
 withhold from them that walk uprightly." The 
 smiles and the favour of God, are better to you than 
 the treasures of empires without them. The poverty 
 and sorrows of this life^ cannot affect your title as an 
 
276 THE PROSPERITY OF 
 
 heir of God, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ, " to an 
 inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not 
 away, eternal in the heavens." Let submission, faith, 
 and hope triumph over all present troubles, whilst you 
 anticipate the rest, the riches and the joys of a blessed 
 immortality! 
 
 Finally. — My dear impenitent hearers, if the 
 prosperity which you so eagerly covet, and for 
 whose attainment you sacrifice the eternal interests 
 of the soul, be so unsatisfactory and insecure, then 
 will you not be persuaded to seek a better and more 
 enduring portion? In the light of this subject, how 
 melancholy is your condition! The most that 
 earth can do for you, is, to set you on slippery 
 places, where your feet will certainly slide in due 
 time! When you have actually reached the highest 
 pinnacle to which your worldly aspirations can 
 carry you, you have no security that you can stand 
 there a moment! Your very success may prove 
 vour ruin! At best, your elevation is only to add 
 a more tragic disaster to your ultimate and certain 
 fall! Your abundance, if you make it your god, 
 and die sacrificing at its shrine, will only be the 
 means of forming an agonizing contrast to the pe- 
 nury and the pangs of an eternal poverty in the 
 world to come! My dear ungodly hearers, God 
 ofiers you a better, a more secure position in his 
 empire — an ampler and more satisfying portion to 
 your souls. He offers to take you off the slippery 
 places where you now stand, and fix you immovea- 
 bly on that " chief corner Stone, elect and precious," 
 which he has laid in Zion. He offers you pardon 
 and peace, righteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost 
 
THE WICKED INSECURE. 277 
 
 now. He offers you his favour and protection through 
 life — the rich treasures of his grace and mercy to 
 meet your every want while on earth, and the richer 
 glories of an eternal heaven after death. He offers 
 his Son as an all-perfect Saviour, and all the ample, 
 inexhaustible resources of that eternal life which is 
 in Him. He offers you Himself, in all the plenitude 
 of the God-head, as your " exceeding great reward!!" 
 0! dying sinner, will you reject these kind offers, 
 and madly prefer the pleasures of sin for a season? 
 Will you take the prosperity of the wicked, and 
 spurn the promises of your God and the hopes of 
 your eternity? Will you be guilty of a folly and 
 madness infinite as this!! by all the guilt of con- 
 tinuing to abuse your prosperity — by all that is un- 
 certain and unsatisfying in that prosperity — by the 
 weight which it will hang upon the soul to drown it 
 in perdition, and by all the invitations and promises 
 of God, and all the proffers of mercy and salvation — 
 of Christ and heaven, now urged upon you, I beseech, 
 1 conjure you, my impenitent hearers, to repent 
 and believe the gospel, take God as the heritage of 
 your souls, and heaven as their eternal home. 
 
278 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 THINGS IN THE DEALINGS OF GOD THAT WE KNOW 
 NOT NOW, AND THE REASONS ON WHICH WE 
 FOUND THE HOPE THAT WE SHALL KNOW THEM 
 HEREAFTER. 
 
 *' What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." 
 John xiii. 7. 
 
 It were not to be expected that man, in the present 
 infancy of his being, should know all the reasons of 
 God's dealings with him as a moral and accountable 
 creature. Earthly parents, in disciplining their chil- 
 dren, pursue a course whose bearing on the future cha- 
 racter and destiny of the child it does not at present 
 see. This results from three things, — first, the 
 child's limited capacities and knowledge, second, tlie 
 parent's greater capacities, intelligence and experi- 
 ence, and thirdly, the fact, that the parent is not go- 
 verned in the measures he adopts by a reference to the 
 child's present gratification, but to its future and 
 ultimate good. Many things in the dealings of God 
 with man must, at present, appear mysterious and 
 inexplicable; for man, viewed as an immortal be- 
 ing, is in his mere childhood in this world, infan- 
 tile in all his powers and capacities. God's dealings 
 with him do not refer altogether to his present grati- 
 
 1 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 279 
 
 fication. God's scheme of moral discipline is eternal. 
 By consequence, then, it embraces many things that 
 are prospective, that refer to man's irnniortal in- 
 terests and destiny. Now to creatures not only 
 limited in their powers, as we are, but darkened by 
 sin, and confined mainly to objects of sense, there 
 must necessarily be much in God's great, eternal 
 scheme incomprehensible by us at present. The 
 simple, yet expressive act of the Saviour, in washing 
 the disciples' feet, was not perfectly understood by 
 them. It was intended to teach them a lesson of 
 humility, all of which they could not then learn. 
 Peter understood so little of the nature and bearing 
 of that condescending act of his Master, that he re- 
 fused to have it performed to him ; yet he afterwards 
 saw and knew the necessity of just such a humility 
 as that impressive act of Christ taught. It was lite- 
 rally true, that though he knew not the whole meaning 
 of what the Saviour did then, yet he did know after- 
 wards, and felt a gracious approbation of what the 
 Saviour had thus done. " Thou shalt know here- 
 after." We think this phrase involves the implica- 
 tion, that the benevolent teachings of Christ will be 
 continued, not only through this life, but for ever. 
 He will remain the Great Prophet through eternit}^, 
 explaining, illustrating, and justifying the ways 
 of God to man. We have the prospect of an inter- 
 minable career of knowledge, a profound acquaintance 
 with that, to us, most interesting of all departments, 
 the knowledge of all the great, and at present, mys- 
 terious acts in God's scheme of moral discipline over 
 man. It is true in more senses than that particularly 
 
280 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 referred to in the text, that what God does we know 
 not now, but we shall know hereafter. 
 
 I shall endeavour in the j^r^^ place, to enumerate 
 some things in the dealings of God that we know not 
 now, and secondly, I shall present the reasons on 
 which we found the expectation that we shall 
 know them hereafter. 
 
 It needs hardly be observed here, that [he introduc- 
 tion of moral evil into a universe of intelligences ori- 
 ginally created pure is, perhaps, the most profound, 
 as it is, to us, the most sublimely mournful mystery 
 in the administration of Jehovah! Why He should 
 have perm.itted it to exist at all, or if existing, to 
 prolong the deadly hostility of its power, till it should 
 involve, to the extent it has done, the immortal in- 
 terests and destinies of so vast a multitude of moral 
 agents is, at present, a fact as appalling as it is inex- 
 plicable. But we may not dwell on so fearful a 
 theme. I shall, therefore, proceed to enumerate 
 some of the more obvious dealings of God with man, 
 the reasons of which we know not now. 
 
 I. One of the things which we know not now is, 
 why there should be so unequal a distribution of 
 good and evil in the present life. 
 
 The bounds of every man's habitation are fixed by 
 the Lord. It is not meant by this, to affirm that 
 men have not an agency in modifying their earthly 
 allotments. Prudence, persevering industry, and 
 economy, as a general rule, are followed in the pro- 
 vidence of God by a corresponding prosperity. So 
 recklessness, habitual indolence, and prodigality are, 
 as a general rule, connected with a corresponding po- 
 verty and wretchedness. But, irrespective of man's 
 
 1 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 281 
 
 agency or will in the matter, there is a great ine- 
 quality in the lot of individuals as respects comnnon, 
 temporal blessings. The most unlikely, and, to all 
 appearance, the most undeserving, are often crowned 
 with the richest blessings of a bountiful Providence. 
 In respect to the ivicked, it is as true now as in the 
 days of the Psalmist, that *' their eyes stand out with 
 fatness; they have more than heart could wish." 
 An unclouded sun pours its light on their path-way. 
 Their cup of temporal good overflows. "They are 
 not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued 
 like other men.'' And this, their bright and happy 
 allotment, is the direct result of God's sovereign pro- 
 vidence over them. On the contrary, we find others ob- 
 viously more deserving, who are denied these temporal 
 blessings. Like the Psalmist, '• all the day long have 
 they been plagued, and chastened every morning." 
 The means of a mere subsistence is scantily afforded 
 to them. In the cup of their poverty, affliction often 
 mingles itsbitter drops. Wound after wound is made 
 in their bleeding hearts. Time, as it flies, casts on 
 them a mournful shadow^ from its wings, and leaves 
 clouds and darkness on its way. Earth, the cheerful 
 and sunny'home of others, seems to them as a strange 
 land overhung with the shadows of death. There is 
 not a track or lane of life, but is strewed with the 
 wreck of their early hopes and perished joys. The 
 heart's most hallowed affections have been blighted, 
 and disappointment has left its tantalizing blank on 
 all the bright anticipations which that heart once 
 cherished. The past furnishes only sorrowful re- 
 membrances, the present numerous felt ills, and the 
 future sad forebodings. "Waters of a full cup are 
 24-^ 
 
282 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 wrung out to them," and in tears and toil and rack- 
 ing care they tread their weary way to the grave 
 and eternity. And this, their dark and sorrowful al- 
 lotmentjis the direct orderings of the sovereign provi- 
 dence of God. Who can at present know why a 
 just and benevolent God should distribute these tem- 
 poral blessings with a hand so seemingly ^j«r//«/ 
 and unequal? 
 
 What He does, therefore, in this respect, we know 
 not now. 
 
 II. The discriminations of converting grace in 
 the case of individuals, is another thing ivhich 
 toe know not the reasons of now. In the selection 
 of the subjects of converting grace, God^s thoughts 
 are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways. 
 " One is taken and another left," on principles 
 which we know not now. Those who have been 
 reared in pious families, who have been instructed 
 and trained in the doctrines and duties of religion, 
 who are amiable and moral, and to human view " not 
 far from the kingdom of God," are sometimes passed 
 over in the sovereign discriminations of converting 
 grace. They withstand all the prayers, entreaties, 
 warnings, reproofs, tears and throbbing anxieties of 
 parents and pious friends; they "resist the Holy 
 Ghost," and the influence of all those ordinary means 
 which that divine Agent uses for the sinner's con- 
 version ; the Sabbath, the Bible, the preaching of the 
 gospel and the pastoral office. On the other hand, 
 those whose religious education has been wholly ne- 
 glected, who have been brought up in ungodly, 
 prayerless families, who are openly immoral and 
 profligate in their lives, who have never been trained 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 283 
 
 even to pay an external respect to the ordinances 
 of religion, are sometimes made the subjects of 
 renewing and saving grace, whilst the others, whom 
 we would regard as so much more hopeful and pro- 
 mising, remain the unchanged "children of wrath by 
 nature." This, I admit, is not the general rule. 
 ^^ God is not unrighteous to forget the work and la- 
 bour of love " of pious parents in training their 
 children for him. It is of such children, that the 
 kingdom of Christ on earth is mainly composed. 
 Nor is the fact now under consideration, any encou- 
 ragement to the reckless and the profligate, as though 
 their very wickedness rendered it more likely that 
 they would be converted than those who have been 
 piously trained, and are correct in their external de- 
 portment. Still it is a fact in the administration of 
 God's grace, that sometimes individuals of the former 
 class, though most unpromising, are taken, and some 
 of the latter, with all their advantages, are left in 
 their own voluntary rejection of the counsel of God 
 against their own souls. And what God does in 
 this respect, we know not now. 
 
 This is equally true in regard to the classes of so- 
 ciety from which the great majority of converts are 
 taken. As God effects His purposes of mercy in this 
 world chiefly by human instrumentality, it would 
 seem reasonable to expect that in establishing and pro- 
 pagating religion. He would select for this great work 
 the talented, the learned, the mighty and noble of the 
 earth. But God has hitherto adopted the very op- 
 posite course, so that Paul calls the attention of the 
 Corinthians to this, as a striking feature in the dis- 
 criminations of converting grace. "For ye see 
 
284 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 your calling, brethren, how that not mdiny wise men 
 after the fle:5h, not many mighty, not many noble, 
 are called.'^ No mind knows now why God, in or- 
 ganizing and perpetuating His church in our world, 
 should have excluded from it to the extent that He 
 has done, the gigantic intellects and the susceptible 
 hearts, the wealth and station, and unbounded influ- 
 ence of those that have figured as conspicuous cha- 
 racters in the great drama of earth. God's con- 
 verting grace and resistless power, could have conse- 
 crated all these to His service, and made them con- 
 tribute to the advancement of His cause. He could 
 have directed the ambition of Bonaparle into the 
 field of pure and Christ-like benevolence, and sus- 
 tained him in a course of well-doing, where he 
 would have made conquests more splendid than ever 
 graced his military prowess, and reared monuments 
 that would have stood amidst the convulsions of the 
 last day, and gained a crown of glory unfading and 
 immortal. God could have baptized the mighty 
 genius of Bi/ro?i, and made his capacious soul poui 
 forth the numbers of a sacred poetry that would 
 have roused Christendom to elevated and dilating 
 emotions of piety, and that would have won, for that 
 titled bard, laurels which the fires of the final confla- 
 gration could not blast. But God, in His sovereignty, 
 passed such characters by, and hath chosen the poor 
 of this world, and made i/ie7n rich in faith and good 
 works. The great majority of those who have had 
 a name and a place in His church, have been selected 
 from the ordinary and unobserved walks of humble 
 life. God has thus set aside the conceited calcula- 
 tions of worldly wisdom, humbled the pride of man. 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 285 
 
 and carried out His designs of mercy to the souls of 
 individuals, and promoted the interests of His church 
 on principles directly the reverse of those which 
 human prudence and forecast would have adopted. 
 What He has done in this respect, we know not 
 now. 
 
 III. A third thins; which we know not now 
 
 & 
 
 is 
 
 ivhi/ the righteous should be so afflicted in the 
 present life. I do not here refer to the unequal dis- 
 tribution of temporal blessings, which happens to all 
 indiscriminately. The unrighteous, as well as the 
 pious, are the subjects of these ills. I allude more 
 particularly to the kind and duration of the afflic- 
 tions of the righteous. It is certainly amongst the 
 present mysteries of God's dealings with man, that 
 the afflictions of His own people should be of the 
 kind, and should be often so long continued as they 
 are. We sometimes see pious parents, remarkable 
 for their parental affection and solicitude for the sal- 
 vation of their children, long and sorely tried in this 
 particular. Through years they have prayed and 
 wept before God, and entreated Him to convert and 
 save their children. But the answer seems to be de- 
 layed, till hope deferred has made their hearts sick. 
 Those children grow up in impenitence, some of 
 them become openly profligate, and continue without 
 God in the world, till the close of one or both of the 
 parent's lives. What revolving years of bitterness 
 do such parents spend! And what a tender and 
 deep sorrow fills their parting spirits even in death, 
 as they remember that they leave their children be- 
 hind them enemies to God! Now that those parents 
 who seem to be most concerned for their children, 
 
286 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 most faithful to them, and most prayerfully solici- 
 tous for their eternal welfare, should be thus tried, is 
 truly mysterious. The reason of this, we know not 
 now. There is yet a more dreadful trial to a pious 
 parent, than to leave behind him in a world of mercy 
 and of hope, children that are unreconciled to God. 
 Sometimes that parental heart whose natural affec- 
 tions, and all whose sensibilities have been refined 
 and rendered more acute by sanctifying grace, has to 
 feel the unutterable agony produced by beholding a 
 beloved child die without giving any evidence of an 
 interest in Christ. This, to a truly pious mind, is 
 the most inconsolable, overwhelming of all mortal 
 sorrov^s. It is almost the only sorrow this side the 
 world of v\'o, to sooth which, the promises of God 
 have made no direct provision. Why God should 
 ever thus afflict one of His own people, we " know 
 not now.'' 
 
 Again, we sometimes find the warm-hearted 
 Christian, who is peculiarly fitted to relish all 
 the joys of hom.e, to appreciate more than other 
 men the reciprocity of his wedded love, and all the 
 endearments of the domestic relations, grievously 
 crossed and tried in these very particulars. He suf- 
 fers an early and aggravated bereavement of his 
 partner, or if they both live, it is only for him to 
 witness the death, one by one, of his too sanguine 
 hopes, and the blight of his heart, by the acrimony 
 that has taken the place of the law of kindness, and 
 to drink more deeply from the bitterness of his do- 
 mestic cup, filled to overflowing by the superadded 
 ingratitude, rebellion, and disobedience of children. 
 How many homes, from causes like these, have their 
 mysteries of maddening misery, though to the casual 
 
 I 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 287 
 
 observer, they may seem to be all sunshine and bliss. 
 But this is a more insupportable affliction, when it is 
 a Christian wife and mother who is thus tried. 
 She has so few resources to mitigate her retired and 
 uncomplaining sorrows, she is so peculiarly dependent 
 for her happiness on the reciprocation of her sympa- 
 thies and domestic kindnesses, her empire is so ex- 
 clusively that of the heart, that when household 
 wrath, bitterness, strife, and cold neglect blight its 
 best affections, her peace and hope for earth are 
 WTecked beyond redemption. The delicate and con- 
 cealed woes of pious wives, the details of their un- 
 murmuring grief and hidden wrongs, and the secret 
 record of their bruised spirits, will form an astounding 
 chapter of disclosures at the bar of God. Can any 
 one know now why, in His righteous providence, 
 God should permit one of His own devoted, defence- 
 less female servants to be placed, and held through 
 life, in such circumstances of severe domestic trial? 
 
 Again, we find some who are most zealously and 
 perseveringly engaged in well-doing, whose charac- 
 ter and influence tell on the best interests of society, 
 whose time and labours would seem to us to be of 
 the utmost importance to the church and that com- 
 munity with which they are connected, afflicted with 
 tedious and wasting sickness, called away from their 
 spheres of benevolent activity, confined to their 
 homes, cut off' from physical comforts, and consigned 
 to months, and sometimes to years of grievous bodily 
 pain, which is terminated at last only by the release 
 that death gives to the sufferings of the righteous. 
 Why such a kind, and such a duration of sufferings, 
 should be necessary in the case of those who seem to 
 
288 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 live nearest to God, and to be most devoted to His 
 glory and the interests of His cause in the world, we 
 know not now. These are parts of our moral disci- 
 pline that seem mysterious and inexplicable at 
 present. In this respect clouds and darkness are 
 round about the Almighty. " His way is in the sea, 
 and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps 
 are not known." His judgments are a great deep, 
 which mortal line at present cannot fathom. 
 
 Lastly. The time and circumstances of the death 
 of some of the righteous, is another thing in the 
 dealings of God which we know not the reasons of 
 now. The providence of God in the death of his 
 saints is often as dark and inexplicable as his deal- 
 ings with them during life. Behold that ingenuous, 
 lovely young man, who has early consecrated him- 
 self to God: his heart, under the pure constraining 
 love of Christ, is set on entering the holy ministry. 
 He glows w^ith zeal for God, and melts in heavenly 
 compassion for the souls of sinners. He commences 
 an education to qualify himself for extensive useful- 
 ness. He enters with a sacred enthusiasm on his 
 studies — he pursues them with an unwearied activi- 
 ty and with a perseverance that knows no point of 
 pause or cessation. With toil, and pain, and priva- 
 tion known only to himself, he at length completes 
 both his collegiate and theological course. What an 
 object of interest is he now to his friends and to the 
 church — to earth and heaven. With " the dew of 
 his youth " fresh upon him, and in the morning 
 vigour of his manhood — w^ith ardent hopes and lofty 
 aspirations — with talents of the first order — a mind 
 cultivated and enriched with the best stores of 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 289 
 
 knowledge human and divine — a man of God tho- 
 roughly furnished unto every good word and work ; 
 panting to enter on the high and noble duties of the 
 sacred office. What an object of interest, of hope, 
 of promise — what an unspeakable comfort to the 
 pious father and mother, who have reared him amidst 
 prayers, and tears, and tender anxieties, and watched 
 him with a yearning and consuming solicitude till 
 the present moment. And now he has arrived at 
 the very point when he, his parents, and the church 
 are about to realize the consummation of all their de- 
 vout wishes respecting him. But lo ! in this very 
 moment of purest sunshine, when all creation seems 
 to smile and to hail with ecstasy the commencement 
 of that youthful career which promises so much glory 
 to God and good to man, death seizes this illustrious 
 victim, and confines him a prisoner in its cold and 
 silent halls ! His sun goes down at noon, and parents 
 and friends, the church and the world, bereaved and 
 bleeding at heart, feel the disastrous darkness that en- 
 sues! ! What blasting of hope, what blotting out of 
 promise, what mockery of all human nature's noblest 
 schemes and loftiest aspirings are here ! And all this 
 under the immediate control of an infinitely benevo- 
 lent God ! What he does we know not now. Such 
 cases of death amongst the most hopeful and lovely 
 of the saints is not a rare occurrence. And what in- 
 volves it in so much more perplexity to our view, is 
 to notice the opposite characters that are often per- 
 mitted to live to an old age. The worthless and 
 wicked, whose lives seem a nuisance, the pests and 
 cursesof families and neighbourhoods, the undefinable 
 class of hangers-on to the skirts of decent society, 
 25 
 
290 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 fools and fops, the indolent and stupid, the drones 
 and dregs of the race, are often allowed to fill up the 
 full measure of man's allotted time on earth. Why 
 these things should, at present, characterize the pro- 
 vidence of a benevolent God, we know not. But, 
 will the veil which now conceals the reasons of these 
 dealings of the Almighty, never be removed 1 Will 
 clouds and darkness rest for ever on his ways? No; 
 what he does we know not now, but we shall know 
 hereafter. 
 
 This introduces the second general topic sug- 
 gested by the text, viz. The reasons on which we 
 found the expectation that we shall know these 
 things hereafter. 
 
 I. All analogy shows that the successive dispen- 
 sations of God rise each above the other, and give 
 brighter displays of his character and dealings, 
 and we may therefore expect in a future state to 
 know many thi?igs that we know not now. The 
 dispensation previous to the fall of angels and of man, 
 exhibited only the amazing power, wisdom, and be- 
 nevolence of God in creating, upholding, and bless- 
 ing, rational beings. In the apostacy itself, the infi- 
 nite justice or holiness of God was brought to view, by 
 the punishment which he inflicted on the fallen. In 
 the dispensation over men after the fall, the great and 
 glorious attribute of mercy was brought forward from 
 the retirements of eternity, and displayed to an intelli- 
 gent creation. Here was a new and fuller disclosure of 
 the character of God, than had been witnessed in the 
 former dispensation. Now,thisis true ofevery succes- 
 sive dispensation over man in the present world. In the 
 Jewish dispensation, which succeeded the patriarchal, 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 291 
 
 how much more clearly was the character of God 
 known, and how much plainer were the great truths 
 of religion, the promises and prospects of a Saviour, 
 than in that former patriarchal dispensation ? We, 
 ourselves, can judge how emphatically true it is that 
 ''life and immortality are brought to light" by the 
 gospel dispensation, which succeeded the Jewish. 
 How much more of the character and ways of God, 
 of his great and merciful purposes in the scheme of 
 the gospel, do we know than did the most gifted and 
 enlightened minds under the old dispensation? Now 
 this shows us that God has so arranged all his dispen- 
 sations over his intelligent creatures, that each rises 
 above the one preceding in the clearer disclosures 
 and fuller revelations it gives of his character and 
 ways. If such be the fact, then, may we not reason- 
 ably expect that the future state of the righteous, 
 which is to succeed the present dispensation, will be 
 one of increased light and augmented knowledge? 
 Will not that dispensation which is yettocome, follow 
 the analogy of all that are past, and give us clearer 
 views of the attributes and dealings of the 2;reat God ? 
 Will not the shadows that rest on a part of his ways 
 to man now, then flee away, and Jehovah make a 
 more bright and satisfactory display of his own per- 
 fections in the unclouded light of that future and 
 blessed economy? The New Testament itself war- 
 rants us in no doubtful terms to expect this. Is it 
 not to this very point that Paul is speaking, when he 
 says, "For 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." Yes, the future 
 dispensation which is to succeed this, under which 
 
292 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 we now live, is to be one of glorious light. Mj^stery 
 will vanish there; perplexity will no longer invest 
 the character and ways of God, even to man's appre- 
 hension. Jehovah will come forth in those new re- 
 velations of glory in which all his dealings with the 
 righteous will appear as a transparency satisfactorily 
 seen through, and reconciled, and rendered perfectly 
 consistent with the infinite wisdom and benevolence 
 of his nature. We have then the strongest reason 
 to expect that though what he does we know not 
 now, yet we shall know hereafter, in that future 
 and brighter dispensation. Progress, clearer deve- 
 lopment of great principles, and new and more stu- 
 pendous disclosures, are the grand characteristics of 
 God's eternal government! 
 
 II. A second reason why we may expect to know 
 many things hereafter which we know not now, is 
 that the minds of God's people, are at present evidently 
 being trained for future and more extended spheres of 
 knoicledge. God has the intellect as well as the heart 
 of his people under a great system of instruction 
 and discipline in the present state. The vast and 
 multiform works of creation address the senses, and 
 appeal to the soul as the great diagram by which God 
 would teach the first lessons in the knowledge of 
 himself. Pervaded as all his works are by the evi- 
 dence of infinite wisdom, benevolence and power, 
 presenting as they do such multitudinous adaptations 
 to the comfort and happiness of man, they l^urnish a 
 fruitful source of instruction to the pious and con- 
 templative mind. Earth, air, and ocean, sun, moon, 
 and stars, form the splendid alphabet, struck 05" by 
 the Almighty hand, to teach his people something 
 
MYSTERIES OP PROVIDENCE. 293 
 
 of his own eternal power and Godhead, and to train 
 their intellect to expanded and comprehensive 
 thought. When they have learned some of the in- 
 visible things of God, by these things that are seen, 
 and become acquainted with the wonders of creating- 
 goodness, then the great Book of Providence is open to 
 them. Here the dealings of God become, if 1 may so 
 term them, the great practical experiments, by which 
 he illustrates his own glorious attributes, and explains 
 and exemplifies the great principles of his government, 
 over men in the present world. Here the Christian's 
 mind is trained to understand the wonderful manner 
 in which a wise and benevolent God effects his coun- 
 sels, and accomplishes his purposes respecting man- 
 It is astonishing to contemplate the intellectual dis- 
 cipline derived from a careful observation of the 
 doings of Divine Providence. The mind here ob- 
 tains a knowledge of those grand general principles, 
 on which God will act in the treatment of his intelli- 
 gent subjects, through an eternal duration. Many of 
 these principles point to a future and immortal state, 
 as the condition of their perfected operation. For 
 instance, the principle of retribution, which is clearly 
 discoverable in the present providential dealings of 
 God, refers to a future scene for its full and perfect 
 operation. The mind is thus trained to contemplate 
 the government of God, as only in its commencement, 
 here, and as destined to extend into eternity for its 
 consummation. And is it not obvious, that by thus 
 training and disciplining the minds of his people, and 
 exciting in them hopes and aspirations of growing in 
 knowledge, God is preparing them, is literally school- 
 ing them for a future and more extended sphere of 
 
294 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 knowledge, where they may expect to know many 
 things which they know not now? This is slill 
 more probable when we think of the great truths of 
 God's word as another source of instruction and dis- 
 cipline to tlie minds of Christians. While the sacred 
 oracles begin with "the first principles of the doc- 
 trine of Christ," they do not end here, but carry the 
 mind on to the more retired, profound and awful truths 
 of revelation. The Holy Spirit, in connexion w^ith 
 the Scriptures, "searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
 things of God," and shows them to the regenerated 
 mind. Here the mind is trained to contemplate 
 God, in the brighter manifestations of his glory, as 
 displayed in the great plan of human redemption. It 
 becomes deeply interested in the developments and 
 progress of this plan, and learns that it is a plan, to be 
 completed only in a future and eternal state. It pants 
 to comprehend more of the wonders of this great 
 scheme, and is trained to thirst for the perfection of 
 knowledge. Yea, the Bible discloses to the Christian 
 that advancement in knowledge here is a duty, and 
 an accelerated progression in knowledge hereafter, 
 is a part of the bliss of heaven. Now does not all 
 this training evidently shovs^j that God is preparing 
 the minds of his people for a higher and more ex- 
 tended sphere of knowledge hereafter, where they 
 will necessarily learn and understand many things 
 which they know not now] And what, in that future 
 state, will be a more interesting subject of knowledge 
 to them, than the unravellings of the mysteries of 
 God's dealings with them in the present life? To 
 know the reasons of those perplexing and inscrutable 
 dispensations, which tried their faith and patience 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 295 
 
 here, to see and understand the completed issues of 
 those great principles in the schemes of providence, 
 and of grace, but imperfectly presented here, will be 
 no inconsiderable item in the bliss of a redeemed 
 soul in heaven. The training and discipline, then, 
 which God is giving to the minds of his people in 
 this world, entitle them to expect that though what 
 he does they know not now, yet they shall know 
 hereafter. 
 
 III. Finally. A strong reason why we may ex- 
 pect to know hereafter, what we know not now is, 
 that God^s regard for his own character would 
 seem to require him yet to justify his ways to 
 man, and to show the reasons of tnany of his deal- 
 ings with us here, which ive " know not now?^ 
 The gratification of God's own benevolence, and the 
 happiness of the intelligent universe, depend on the 
 views which rational beings take of his character. 
 Were there just cause to doubt whether God were 
 infinitely righteous and supremely good, this very 
 doubt would chill the ardour of cherubim and sera- 
 phim, silence the songs of heaven, and spread over 
 the intelligent creation more than a sepulchral gloom ! 
 Now, some things there are in his dealings with men, 
 at present, which to short-sighted mortals, seem to 
 militate against the goodness of God. If God be all- 
 wise, all-powerful and infinitely good, then why 
 should so apparent imperfection attach to his admi- 
 nistration over our world ? Why there should be that 
 unequal distribution of good and evil, to which we 
 have adverted — why virtue should be permitted to 
 sufier and lie so long depressed, and vice allowed to 
 prosper and hold on its guilty way in triumph, till 
 
296 DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 
 the close of life — why the righteous shoulc^be so long 
 and so severely aj31icted, and why the young, the 
 amiable, the pious, full of hope and promise of use- 
 fulness to the church and the world, should be sud- 
 denly cut off, on the threshold of their benevolent 
 career, and the hardened, indolent, profligate pest, 
 spared, and permitted to grow gray in his iniquity, 
 these seem strange things in the dealings of a holy 
 God with man, and appear at present to cast a shade 
 on his infinite benevolence. Regard to his own cha- 
 racter, then, requires God to vindicate these his ways 
 to man, and to remove this cloud from round about 
 him, by disclosing to an admiring and adoring crea- 
 tion the reasons of his conduct in these particulars! 
 But this he has not done and will not do in the 
 present world — for " it is the glory of God to con- 
 ceal a matter," now in this state of probation; and 
 this concealment, and partial present darkness, is in- 
 tended as a salutary trial of faith and a test of man's 
 confidence in submission to that almighty Being, 
 whose ways are past finding out. Yet we have a 
 high assurance that God will make glorious develop- 
 ments hereafter. For in a future state all the great 
 preparations and arrangements for the display and 
 vindication of Jehovah's perfections will be com- 
 pleted, and he will come forth from the clouds and 
 darkness of his august pavilion, and shine out on the 
 view of the intelligent creation in new aspects of 
 glory. Then the great mysteries of providence and 
 the perplexities of this state of moral discipline will 
 be unravelled. Then w^e shall know, and approve, 
 and admire the reasons of his dealings with us in 
 the present life. Then we shall see hovv holy and 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROVIDENCE. 297 
 
 good was God in permitting suffering virtue for a 
 season to be trodden down and depressed, and pros- 
 perous vice to triumph and to take advantage of his 
 long-suffering and patience. Then we shall know and 
 be perfectly satisfied with the reasons of God's conduct 
 in all the trials and afflictions of our lives. We shall 
 know hereafter what great things he has done for us, 
 even in those very dispensations that now seem most 
 dark and perplexing. What an eternally augment- 
 ing happiness to us, and what brighter manifestations 
 of his own glory he will then bring out as the grand 
 issues of our sorrows and darkness here ! ! There 
 God will show us the finished results effected by that 
 comprehensive system of universal providence, by 
 which all things worked together for our good in 
 the present world. Not a bodily pang, not a sorrow 
 of the soul — not an hour of cloud and sadness but 
 will then appear to have been so ordered and over- 
 ruled as to promote our highest, our immortal in- 
 terests, and to prove God^s eternal love and faithful- 
 ness to his people ! what may w^e not expect to 
 know hereafter with the infinite God for our teacher — 
 the mysteries of providence and the wonders of re- 
 demption the subject — the vindication of Jehovah's 
 own character the object — the light of heaven the me- 
 dium of^ vision, and the duration of eternity the measure 
 of our seeing face to face, and knowing even as we 
 are known ! ! 
 
 We learn from this subject, in the Jirsf place, 
 what reason the Christian has for a ca/m and 
 unqualified submission to God in dark and try- 
 ing circumstances. Our limited powers will not 
 permit us to penetrate the clouds which at present 
 
298 DEVELOPMENT OF THE ' 
 
 are round about the Almighty, as he moves on the 
 vast affairs of his universal providence. Many- 
 things in our own personal history are perplexing, 
 and severely trying to our nature. What God does, 
 we know not now. There are many things in our 
 moral discipline, whose tendencies and bearings on our 
 spiritual interests and final destiny we cannot now un- 
 derstand. But there is a glorious "Aere«/ifer" for 
 which the soul is preparing, where we shall know all 
 the reasons of the Divine dealings with us in this 
 world. There God will justify his ways to man, and 
 we will see that we have never felt a pain, shed a tear 
 or had a trial that did not turn to our ultimate good, 
 and manifest the infinite glories of the character of our 
 God ! What abundant reason have believers to ex- 
 ercise a calm submission to God in the most trying 
 circumstances. They have no cause to judge " any 
 thing before the time till the Lord come, who will 
 bring to light the hidden things of darkness." With 
 a holy confidence in him, they can quietly await the 
 issues of the sorrows and conflicts of this mortal state. 
 All mystery will one day vanish from the dealings 
 of God to them ; and wisdom and goodness, mercy, 
 faithfulness and truth shine conspicuously from the 
 darkest dispensations of providence here, and shed 
 glory on the character of God, and enhance their 
 happiness hereafter in eternity. 
 
 Finally. We see from this subject, what a glo- 
 rious j)TOspect of progress in knowledge is before 
 the redeemed mind. The soul not degraded and 
 brutalized by sin, instinctively thirsts for knowledge. 
 Our capacities for knowing, are the most cultivable 
 and expansible of all our faculties. The employment 
 
MYSTERIES OF PROviDENCE. 299 
 
 of these capacities in the acquisition of knowledge is 
 one great source of intellectual enjoyment in the pre- 
 sent life. But the range of mind here is very limited. 
 Its connexion with a frail body, and those natural 
 barriers which enclose most subjects of knowledge 
 on all sides, render a progress commensurate with 
 its desires impossible in the present scene. But 
 that bright and boundless "hereafter" to which the 
 redeemed soul looks forward, will furnish a scope of 
 advancement ample as the immensity of God's do- 
 minions. All the deep things of God, in all worlds, 
 will be opened for the mind's investigation, and with 
 its dilating, immortal powers it may address itself to 
 the work of a progression in the knowledge of God 
 and of the universe till, some time hereafter, it shall 
 know more than the mightiest angel in glory now 
 knows, and have an eternity still beyond, in which it 
 w^ill study and expand, and brighten, and glow with 
 divine knowledge, till in immortal transports of bliss 
 it will exclaim, " the depth of the riches, both of 
 the wisdom and knowledge of God!" 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL OF MRS. 
 SARAH KEIM, WU'E OF MR. JOHN KEIM, OF PHILA- 
 DELPHIA.* 
 
 The event which has convened us on this occa- 
 sion, is one of no ordinary interest and solemnity. 
 In the departure of any immortal spirit from this 
 world of probation, there is a strange, a mysterious, 
 an awe-inspiring interest! The change which we 
 witness on the tenement of clay it leaves behind — 
 those deep inscrutable ties of kindred which we feel 
 to be severed — the associations that cluster round 
 the departing soul, and the eager yet undefined con- 
 jectures that follow it into the veiled and eternal fu- 
 ture on which it enters, place the death of any mor- 
 tal amongst the most truly tragic events in human 
 history! But besides all this, the deceased may 
 have borne a cbaracter, sustained relations, filled a 
 sphere of usefulness, occupied a space in the circle 
 of the domestic affections, and been at last taken from 
 earth by a series of prolonged sufferings, which 
 greatly enhance the mournful interest that attaches 
 to death in ordinary cases. It is no exaggeration 
 for me to say, that during the five years of my 
 
 * Mrs. Keun had long been a most consistent, active, useful member 
 of the First Presbyterian church, N. L., of which the author was pastor, 
 till near the time of her death. He feels that this address, hastily writ, 
 ten on the occasion, is far from giving a proper delineation of her charac- 
 ter, or fiora doing justice to her blessed memory, which he cherishes with 
 an increasing affection and admiration for the high Christian excellen- 
 cies it recalls. 
 26 
 
302 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL 
 
 pastoral life in this church, no death has occurred of 
 so striking a character, and so eminently fraught with 
 materials for deep, Christian reflection, and practical 
 instruction, as the decease of our beloved sister, 
 whose remains are here with us to-day. 1 know- 
 that it will be but fulfilling the benevolent wish che- 
 rished by her while livin<£, for me to make this an 
 occasion of drawing profitable instruction from the 
 teachings of God, in this afflictive dispensation. In 
 his dealings with this dear departed saint, it cannot 
 be doubted but that God had great ulterior purposes 
 to accomplish, extending beyond the present limits 
 of mortal comprehension. Respecting these hidden 
 purposes of Him '^who worketh all in all," it is not 
 my intention to offer any conjectures. The history 
 of the affliction and decease of our lamented sister, and 
 the character of her piety, furnish matter for obvious 
 reflection and intelligible instruction. To these 
 your attention is now invited. 
 
 I. The case of our departed friend shows that, at 
 present, we are not to expect to know all the reasons of 
 God^s dispensations towards individuals* It is true, 
 in more senses than one, that "his thoughts are not 
 as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways," and that 
 what he does we "know not now." " Clouds and 
 darkness" are often "round about him," even in 
 his dealings with his own beloved children. "It is 
 the glory of God to conceal a matter;" and in 
 some respects " he giveth no account of his ways 
 to any." Why it should have pleased him to 
 have laid his afflictive hand so heavily upon her, to 
 have called her away from the large sphere of her 
 benevolent activity, in which her expansive charity 
 
OF MRS. SARAH KEIM. 303 
 
 and steady zeal found so incessant and joyful eni- 
 ploynient, and to have confined her to the narrow 
 precincts, and the sad monotony of her sick cham- 
 ber for years — why he shoidd have destined her to so 
 fearful an aggregation of physical pains, unmitigated 
 from the first even by the slenderest hope of re- 
 covery and perfect restoration, and why her worn 
 and exhausted frame was detained from its return to 
 its kindred dust, and made strangely tenacious of life 
 so long after it seemed ready to be dissolved, are 
 questions whose answers are kept amongst those '^se- 
 cret things which belong unto God." Our duty to- 
 day as Christians is to bow reverently to the majesty 
 which conceals them, and to say with holy submis- 
 sion and adoration, "Even so, Father, for so itseem- 
 elh good in thy sight." 
 
 II. The event which has called us together to-da}^, 
 shoics Ike daring impiety of judging of persons^ spiritual 
 state by the outward dealings of Providence towards them. 
 
 The disposition manifested by the Jews in the 
 time of the Saviour, to think that " those whose blood 
 Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, or those 
 eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew 
 them, were sinners above all men who dwelt in Je- 
 rusalem," is the disposition of depraved human na- 
 ture, limited to no country, and confined to no pe- 
 riod in the history of the world. Spiritual pride, 
 self-complacency, and self-righteousness, are at this 
 day prone as ever to interpret severe and unusual 
 affliction, in the case of a professing Christian, as a cer- 
 tain evidence of God's displeasure for hypocrisy or 
 a want of all sincere piety. Though Solomon has said 
 th:it, on this point, we can know nothing from all that 
 
304 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL 
 
 happens under the sun, and though God himself has 
 commanded us to ''judge nothing before the time," 
 and to judge not at all that we be not judged, yet 
 there is an impious and uncharitable spirit which 
 undertakes to decide what the spiritual standing of 
 an individual in the sight of God is merel}'' from 
 the outward dealings of Providence to him in the 
 present life. A spirit that undertakes to interpret 
 God's meaning or design in such dispensations as 
 confidently as though it had been admitted into the 
 infinite profound of his secret counsels! 
 
 Now in the history of our loved, departed sister, 
 God indignantly rebukes the blasphemous temerity 
 that dares to make this the rule of its judgment. If 
 exemption from suffering and outward prosperity 
 and happiness, were the infallible criterion of being 
 favourites with God, then our departed sister would 
 be excluded from the numher, and the wicked, 
 "whose eyes stand out with fatness," and wiio " have 
 more than heart could wish," must be regarded as 
 Heaven's selectest favourites ! By this rule of judg- 
 ing where would be ranked those, an epitome of 
 whose history the Holy^ Ghost has given in these em- 
 phatic terms, — "deslitute, afficted, tormmted?^^ How 
 then would it be true that " through much trihidntwn 
 we are to enter the kingdom of heaven?" No! 
 "Whom the Lord lovelh he chasteneth, and scourgeth 
 every son whom he receiveth." As they enter the 
 New Jerusalem, it will be said of all the redeemed — 
 "These are they that have come out o^ great tribula- 
 tion.'^ la one respect our religion is a religion of 
 sorrows. We have to be "partakers of Christ's suf- 
 ferings," to fill up or complete his human woes, to 
 
OF MRS. SARAH KEIM. " "^ 305 
 
 *'bear about in our own bodies the dying of the Lord 
 Jesus." How misjudged to suppose that a soul to- 
 tally depraved in a scene of temptation, accustomed 
 to do evil, and entangled in the meshes of sinful 
 habit, should be regenerated, sanctified and fitted for 
 the purity of an eternal heaven without conflict and 
 spiritual anguish. How vain to think that we can 
 pass through a world ruined by the apostacy, in 
 revolt against its God, and lying in wickedness, and 
 be disciplined for the peace and repose of immortality, 
 without "a great fight of affliction " to test our prin- 
 ciples, and to develop, exercise and strengthen our 
 Christian graces; and how grossly impious to judge 
 those who drink more deeply than ourselves of 
 earth's bitter cup, as being for that reason "abhorred 
 of the Lord." It was paternal love, calm, bright in 
 the bosom of her covenant-keeping God, that or- 
 dained and presided over every stage of the pro- 
 tracted and severe affliction which clouded the closing 
 years of our deceased friend's life. The faithfulness 
 of a Father's heart tenderly yearning for the greatest 
 spiritual good of his beloved child appointed for her 
 so long a night of mourning, before the joyous, eternal 
 morning broke in contrast ! 
 
 HI. The case now under consideration teaches us 
 Ihe unspeakable impor/a?ice of rnaintaining that 
 rigorous discipline of holy living, which will fit 
 us to meet prolonged and deep affliction. No one 
 knows what lengthened and severe trials lie before 
 him in the curtained future. And the mere possi- 
 b'llity of trial makes the precaution to prepare for it a 
 duty. What would have become of our dear depart- 
 ed sister, had she, during the former years of her 
 
 26* 
 
306 ADDRESS AT THE FDNERAL 
 
 life, been one of those sunshine Christians, one of 
 those gay, worldly, " careless daughters that are at 
 ease in Zion?" How would she have been able to 
 pass under the cloud, that condensed its cold gloom 
 on her for the last four or five years? How soon 
 would she have " fainted in the day of adversity ,'' 
 because "her strength would have been small." 
 Had she lived at a distance from God, with low 
 attainments, doubtful evidences and feeble, faltering 
 hopes of her interest in Christ, her heart entangled 
 in the world, her joys mainly derived from it, her 
 plans and purposes formed chiefly with reference to 
 it, and her whole religion a kind oi" secondarf/ ihln^, ^ 
 ! how could she ever have fc.ced the furnace of 
 affliction that glowed before her with so consuming 
 an intensity! But who is the surviver here to-day 
 that ever saw her courage flag, her faith stagger, or 
 her lofty Christian spirit quail before all that was 
 appalling in her sufferings? She met those sufferings 
 vvith the unconquerable mind of a Christian hero- 
 ine. Why did she enter upon them so calmly ? 
 why bow so meekly, so sweetly to the yokel why 
 display a fortitude greater than that which braves 
 the cannon's mouth? For long years before, she 
 had been disciplining herself in the school of Christ. 
 She had learned of Him who endured the cross, and 
 had armed herself also with the same mind. She 
 had practised the stern self-denial of the Christian. 
 Through grace she had obtained the mastery over 
 all the inferior passions and principles of her nature. 
 She had endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus 
 Christ. She lived upon the resources of her reli- 
 gion; she had acquired an unwavering confidence in 
 
OF MRS. SARAH KEIM. 307 
 
 God; his faithfulness and truth were her buckler. 
 She had a bright and blessed hope of her interest in 
 the Great Redeemer. She took hold on his right- 
 eousness and strength. She was nnighty in prayer 
 and in the Scriptures, walking circumspectly, re- 
 deeming tlie time, and living with her heart fixed 
 trusting in the Lord, and her hopes and treasure in 
 heaven. This is the secret of being able to meet 
 the severest shock of earthly afflictions without 
 being stunned or destroyed by the collision. Would 
 we then be prepared for the days of darkness that 
 may j^et await us ? we must live deeply devoted to 
 God, realize in the convictions of our faith the ex- 
 istence of those great objects revealed to us in his 
 word, and feel the weight of eternal realities. Our 
 afflictions seem light and mom^ni^Yy, only ^-ivhile 
 we look at the things that are not seen,'' and eternal. 
 W. The case of this departed mother in Israel 
 exhibits the amazing resources of the grace of 
 God to sustain the soul under j)^^olonged and 
 aggravated bodily sufferirig. During my visits 
 to her, e.>=pecially in the past year, when reflecting 
 on the length of time since her sufferings had become 
 intensely severe, it often occurred to me that per- 
 haps one of the glorious purposes which God de- 
 signed to eifect by so unusual a case, was that he 
 might thus exalt the riches of his sustaining grace, 
 and show to all her friends and acquaintances what 
 is the exceeding great power of real, living piety to 
 buoy up the soul under an appalling weight of physi- 
 cal pain. In many respects, hers has far exceeded 
 in intensity the most severe suffering that has ever 
 fallen under my observation during my life. The 
 
308 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL 
 
 disappointment she experienced in her first hope of 
 recovery, after submitting to a painful operation, by 
 finding her disease returning almost immediately with 
 aggravated symptoms — the exclusion from all the or- 
 dinances and public means of grace which she endured 
 for years, the pangs of her delicate and sensitive 
 mind at the thought that her altered appearance* was 
 distressing to her friends, and made her an object from 
 which the eye of love itself sometimes felt disposed 
 to turn away in sadness — the physical agonies of 
 the long-continued and unnatural pressure on some 
 of the most exquisitely sensitive nerves of the hu- 
 man frame, her incapability of having her sufferings 
 lulled by ordinary remedies, and the utter hopeless- 
 ness which, from an early date, hung over the 
 future, all combined to render her affliction one of 
 the most severe to which our mortal nature can be 
 subjected. And yet through all these years of un- 
 told bodily anguish, a glorious, unseen power was 
 there bearing up the precious soul of our dear sis- 
 ter, and often making it exceeding joyful in all its 
 temporal tribulations. Who ever saw her really 
 gloomy and cast down? Who ever heard her utter 
 a note of despondency? Who ever saw her lips 
 move in a whisper of complaint or murmuring? 
 what subduing, what sublime impressions has the 
 visiter byher bed-side often had of the august power 
 of God's rich grace to sustain his people in the great 
 deeps of affliction ! Her sick chamber was felt to be 
 
 * To those who were not acquainted with the meek sufferer, it may be 
 necessary to state that her disease was a polypus, or fungous growth in 
 the nose, which greatly altered her appearance, and, by its constant en- 
 largement, pressed upon the right eye and on the nerves of one side of 
 the face, so as to produce a degree of suffering almost inconceivable. 
 
OF MRS. SARAH KEIM. 309 
 
 a privileged place. A hallowed atmo^^phere seemed 
 to be there in which were the presence of the in- 
 visible God and the secret workings of his soverei'ni, 
 omnipotent grace upholding the submissive, patient 
 sufferer, and giving her victory over ills whose 
 weight and number secined sufficient to overmatch 
 the sternest hardihood of human nature ! 
 
 V. and lastly on this point. The decease of our 
 dear friend teaches us t/ie connexion that exists 
 between a devoted and holy life, and a calm 
 and peaceful death. The wish to '^die the death 
 of the righteous " was not confined to Balaam's 
 bosom only. It is common to men enlightened 
 Vy the gospel. Multitudes are cherishing vague 
 and groundless hopes on this subject, which will 
 prove as the spider's web, when God shall take away 
 their souls. '^ Be not deceived, bielhren; God is not 
 mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that also 
 shall he reap." And those who during life "Sow 
 to the wind," in death "shall reap the whhlwincV 
 In all cases where God's grace does not marvellously 
 interfere at the eleventh hour, there is a strict con- 
 nexion between the life that men lead and the death 
 which they die. If they live far from God, and 
 righteousness, they die without God, and having no 
 hope in their death. If they live but inconstantly 
 for God, and have the guilt of backsliding and un- 
 repented sin on the conscience when they come to 
 die, they have troubled apprehensions, recoilings and 
 dismay, a great agitation and fearful conflict in the 
 parting hour! On the contrary, a devoted, con- 
 sistent, holy life, is one that has been spent in active 
 preparation for death, and the connexion between 
 
310 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL 
 
 such a life and a calm and peaceful exit from earth is 
 natural and obvious. "JNIark the perfect man, and 
 observe the upright, for the end of that man is 
 peace." From the knowledge we had of our depart- 
 ed sister's manner of life, we would and did con- 
 clude beforehand, that whatever might be her bodily- 
 agonies, her mind would " have heaven and peace 
 within " in the dying hour. In this we were not 
 niistaken. Some time before her departure, when 
 she supposed herself and was supposed by others to 
 be dying, her tranquillity was most remarkable. 
 
 Indeed, so deep and holy was the quiet of her soul, 
 so unruffled its calm, that she tenderly asked whether 
 it could be right for her in the deep solemnities of 
 death to be so serene, to feel so signal a composure 
 of spirit. I then remarked to her that this seemed, 
 in her case, to be the direct fulfilment of that blessed 
 promise of God, " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
 whose mind is stayed on Thee.^^ She conversed with 
 her friends in an unfaltering voice. She urged a 
 darling son, the Benjamin of the family, to seek an 
 interest in Christ and to secure salvation, and did it 
 vvith a calm collected, maternal tenderness and yearn- 
 ing of affection which I trust he who was the object of 
 it will never forget. Tiiough I had not the privi- 
 lege of seeing her during the last few days w^hile the 
 gradual work of dissolution was going on, yet I was 
 informed that her Christian equanimity, her calm, 
 peaceful confidence in God, continued unshaken till 
 the end. And was not this just such an end as might 
 reasonably have been anticipated for her? Her long, 
 consistent, devout, active life of piety, though it pur- 
 chased not the favour, yet it prepared her for the sig- 
 
 i 
 
OF MRS. SARAH KEIM. 311 
 
 nal victory which Goil gave her over the last ene- 
 my. He 2;ranted her the gracious reward, and when 
 heart and flesh were failing her, became the strength 
 of her heart, as we trust he is now herportion forever ! 
 
 '« How blest the righteous when he dies, 
 When sinks a weary soul to rest!" 
 
 It may be permitted, on this occasion, in addition 
 to the topics of instruction on which we have dwelt, 
 to add a few words respecting the character of our 
 departed sister's piety. 
 
 This will be done not for the purpose of eulogizing 
 the dead, but of benefiting the living. Il would be a 
 violation of that spirit of retiring modesty which 
 characterized the deceased to attempt a mere eulogium 
 on her worth. But I know it to be in accordance with 
 her wishes while living that I should make any use of 
 her case after her death which might tend to exalt 
 God'sgraceand strengthen theconfidenceofChristians 
 in their glorious and mighty Redeemer. It is but dis- 
 charging a duty to the church, of which she was so 
 long a worthy member, ^ dwell a few moments on 
 the character of one whose graces reflected honour 
 on the communion to which she belonged and adorned 
 her own walks of usefulness witiiin its pale. 
 
 I remark in the firs I place, then, that the piety of 
 our departed sister was strikingly consistent. It 
 washarmoniouSjSymmetrical; not overgrown in some 
 parts and stinted in others. It did not consist in a 
 great zeal for outward observances, attendance on 
 numerous public meetings, whilst the retired duties 
 of the closet and the sphere of the wife and the mother 
 at /lome were neglected. She was no officious, itine- 
 rant female exhorler. She was a pattern in the 
 
312 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL 
 
 duties of every day, secluded, tire-side piety. It was 
 here her light shone with steady, modest lustre. 
 She gave to all the duties of religion the appropriate 
 place and due proportions which constitute a well or- 
 dered life. If she were biassed in favour of any one 
 class more particularly than another, it was the unob- 
 served, unostentatious duties that belong to the Chris- 
 tian wife and mother in the domestic circle, and where 
 true excellence is the rarest attainment of modern fe- 
 male piety. While she was a messenger of mercy 
 to the sick, the poor and the afflicted every where 
 within the range of her acquaintance, she blest her 
 home with an influence which a ministering angel 
 could not supply! 
 
 2. Her piety was the religion of 'principle, it did 
 not consist in those impulses which external excite- 
 ment brings to bear upon some, and which constitute 
 all the religion that many members of the church 
 seem to possess. A noisy, exoteric, spasmodic piety 
 this, hardening the heart of its possessor, and in the 
 eyes of the world, injuring the cause which he es- 
 pouses. No. Hers was not the piety represented 
 by the rush and the roar of the torrent that continue 
 only while the rain and the storm last; but a " well " 
 springing up noiselessly, and filling the deep fountains 
 of the soul with the calm, clear, sparkling waters of 
 eternal life. It was a steady piety fed from a living 
 exhaustless source, and impelling to the regular, un- 
 intermitted duties of the Christian life in all varieties 
 of external circumstances and internal frames of 
 mind; as conscientious and diligent and watchful in 
 times of general declme as in seasons of the greatest 
 religious excitement. It was a principled piety an- 
 
OF MRS. SARAH KEIM. 313 
 
 chored in her soul by the Holy Spirit and anclior- 
 ing her soul to "the Forerunner within tiic vail" by 
 a '"'hope sure and steadfast'^ amidst all the tumults 
 and turmoil of life and all the wav^es and billows of 
 death that passed over her. 
 
 3. The piety of our departed sister was pre-emi- 
 nently ACTIVE. It was by no means of the Slyllle 
 character. It did not consist in supine meditation, 
 mystical raptures of vague joy, elysian dreams and 
 imaginary revelations communicated through deep 
 and solitary reflection. No; nor was it "the talk 
 of the lips that tendeth only to penury." Our de- 
 ceased friend never mistook talking about religion 
 for that piety which consists in the conscientious 
 employment of all our regenerated, rational faculties 
 in doing the will of God in the least as well as in 
 the greatest duties within the compass of those ob- 
 ligations that bind man to his Maker. Though 
 noiseless and unpretending, hers was a piety go- 
 verned by the active purpose to glorify God whe- 
 ther she ate or drank, or whatever she did. It was 
 a piety whose aggregate was niade up of the daily 
 duties of her whole sphere clone. To pray, read the 
 scriptures and attend on tlie ordinances of religion 
 did not constitute the sum of her activity. These 
 things were done rather as a preparation for and an 
 impulse to the details of activity that extended 
 through longer periods than those occupied directly 
 in devotional services. Like her divine Lord, she 
 "went about doing good," without lifting up or 
 causing her "voice to be heard in the street." Her 
 life was a tissue of well directed Christian activities. 
 Her busy spirit never knew one of those languid in- 
 27 
 
314 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL 
 
 tervals of repose that crave public excitement or 
 amusement to pass the time away. Each day 
 brought its task, and it was cheerfully and faithfully 
 done. In her case the law of pious activity seemed 
 almost as uniform and incessant in its operations as 
 a law of nature. And as her sphere by confinement 
 and disease became more and more contracted it was 
 truly affecting to see the force of her long established 
 habits of activity impelling her not only to do all 
 within the limits of her narrowed circle, but often 
 urging her to venture beyond, till checked by the 
 recollection of her diminished and diminishing 
 strength. 
 
 She loved the work her heavenly Father had given 
 her to do, and did it with an unwearied and joyful 
 industry. She had a deep practical insight into the 
 beauty and emphasis of that exquisite couplet of our 
 own American poet, Wilcox, 
 
 "An angel's wing would droop if long at rest, 
 And God himself, iftaclive, were no longer blest." 
 
 4. It may be added briefly that hers was a Iruly 
 humble piety. " Be clothed with hifmility," is a di- 
 vine injunction not always heeded by professing 
 Christians. And in the case of some who attempt 
 to put it on, the garment is so exceedingly thin that 
 the gorgeous colours of the robe of spiritual pride 
 shine through it. But with all her zeal and activity, 
 and with a deservedly high reputation for piety, 
 our departed sister maintained through life a meek, 
 quiet, unaffectedly humble spirit. Her piety was as 
 retiring as it could be consistently with, a faithful 
 performance of the more public duties to which she 
 was sometimes called. And in the performance of 
 
OF MRS. SARAH KEIM. 315 
 
 such duties she was entirely free from any thing that 
 savoured of self-esteem or officiousness. She had 
 taken the Saviour's yoke upon her, and learned of 
 him lessons that subdued pride and self-valuation in 
 view of the best services she had ever rendered or 
 the holiest moments she had ever spent during iier 
 Christian life. It was near the close of her life that 
 the depth of her Christian humility was more espe- 
 cially manifested. Her bright and blessed hope of 
 heaven, her peace of conscience, her profound tran- 
 quil Hty in prospect of death and her strong expecta- 
 tion of entering on that rest which remaineUi for 
 the people of God, were not founded on any views 
 of her long and useful life, the amount of good she 
 had done, or any merits of her own. 1 never wit- 
 nessed a more hearty and sincere self-renunciation 
 than hers. No one was more sensible than she of 
 the imperfections and sins that attach to the best 
 services of the Christian. She had " no confidence 
 in the flesh, ^' but "rejoiced in Christ Jesus," cast 
 herself as the chief of sinners upon him, pleaded his 
 I'ighteousness, and, in the immediate prospect of 
 death, committed herself to and confided in the so- 
 vereign mercy and grace of God through him cruci- 
 fied for the speedy bestowment of that gratuitous 
 and eternal salvation after which she had so long 
 panted. 
 
 I may remark, in conclusion, that hers was a grow- 
 ing 'piety. It must needs have been so from the 
 characteristics of it already mentioned. A consis- 
 tent, principled, active, humble piety would in the 
 nature of the case be a growing piety. Advancement 
 is the great law of vital religion. This is the law of 
 nil life till it has attained its acme and completed the 
 
316 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF MRS. KEIM. 
 
 purposes for which it was given. " The life of God '^ 
 therefore in the soul of man is necessarily progres- 
 sive through the whole period of his probation on 
 earth. Hence the propriety of the inspired injunc- 
 tion, '' Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'' Our dear departed 
 sister endeavoured "to walk after this rule." She 
 was not content with stinted attainments in holiness. 
 She availed herself of a diligent and punctual use of 
 the various means of spiritual improvement, expect- 
 ing to advance in the divine life only in God's insti- 
 tuted method, and relying on those appliances of 
 sanctification which he has appointed. 
 
 Having thus taken advantage of the laws and 
 agencies established by God to effect the result, and 
 with an humble reliance on the Holy Spirit to give 
 them efficiency, she moved steadily onward, "abound- 
 ing more and more" in the graces that adorn the 
 Christian's character and glorify the Christian's God. 
 Though she seemed but little sensible of it herself, 
 others could see the progress she made in all that is 
 lovely and of good report in female piety. Hers 
 v^as a gradual 5/eaf/^ growth, "first the blade, then 
 the ear, then the full corn in the ear." It was 
 deeply interesting to notice the accelerated advance- 
 ment she made, however, after she began to bring 
 forth those peaceable fruits of righteousness, which 
 are the result of sanctified affliction. Not only was 
 there a larger development, but there was a richness, 
 a maturity, a prospective adaptation in her graces, 
 fitting her to shine in a brighter sphere and pointing 
 to that glorious consummation, the 'perfection of holi- 
 ness, amongst the saints in light, in which we trust 
 her redeemed spirit is now^ a joyful participant. 
 
ADDRESS BEFORE THE EDUCATION SOCIETY. 317 
 
 II. 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED AT TflE ANNIVERSARY OF 
 THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SOCIETY. BOSTON, 
 MAY, 1845, 
 
 God has given to us such a ph3'slcal constitution, 
 that certain elements are indispensably necessary to 
 its existence. Light and air, warmth and food, are 
 essentially requisite to the natural and healthy func- 
 tions of our physical structure. Subtract any one 
 of these, and that structure would feel the void, and 
 fall to attain all the ends for which it was designed. 
 
 Man's moral constitution follows the same ana- 
 logy. Certain moral elements are indispensably ne- 
 cessary to its healthful existence. Spiritual light 
 and warmth, a spiritual atmosphere and aliment are 
 indispensable to the proper functions of our moral 
 constitution, and to the attainment of those high ends 
 for which it was originally destined. Subtract any 
 one of these elements, and injury, if not moral death, 
 will be the inevitable result to our spiritual nature. 
 
 Now, sir, an educated, pious ministry of the gos- 
 pel is one of the necessaries of spiritual life. It is 
 not a mere luxury or superfluity. The experiment 
 of dispensing with such a ministry would be fatal; 
 an experiment which we trust w^ill never be at- 
 tempted in our country, as it has been partially in 
 27* 
 
318 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 some other countries. It is true that the Christian 
 ministry has always been greatly in the way of con- 
 summating those schemes of gigantic wickedne.^^s on 
 which the minds of talented and ambitious sinners 
 are most intent. And it has encountered the com- 
 bined and deadly hostility of earth and hell, but 
 without being displaced from that rank which, under 
 God, it still holds, as the great agent of spiritual life 
 to a '^ world dead in trespasses and in sins.'' 
 
 An intelligent, holy ministry has such an influ- 
 ence on man, in all the higher relations and inte- 
 rests of his mortal and immortal being — such an influ- 
 ence on his intellectual habitudes and condition — 
 such a control over his religious opinions — such an 
 instrumentality in the conversion of his soul and the 
 moulding of his religious character — it has such 
 bearings on the universal spread of the gospel — such 
 an intimate prospective relation to those stupendous 
 results of millennial glory yet to be realized in our 
 world; and it so carries forward its issues on the 
 eternal joys of the righteous and the eternal woes of 
 the wicked, to whom it has been the *•' savour of life 
 unto life, or of death unto death " here, that it would 
 seem but a waste of words on this occasion to argue 
 the importance and necessity of the existence and 
 operations of a society like this, whose object it is to 
 furnish such a ministry to the teeming millions of 
 our beloved country. 
 
 Whatever may be true of other countries and 
 other states of society, where freedom of thought, 
 of speech, and of the press is scarcely known, and 
 where the public mind is overawed by civil power 
 or prescriptive authority, and however such countries 
 
EDUCATION SOCIETY. 319 
 
 may dispense with a full supply of educated, de- 
 voted ministers of the gospel, this furnishes no pre- 
 cedent for us. There is a stringent necessity and 
 philosophic rationale for such a ministry in this coun- 
 try. For there is an excitability of the public mind 
 and a susceptibility of impulse on the moral feelings in 
 this country that cannot be safely trusted to the con- 
 trol of any influence less potent and commanding 
 than that of the gospel in the hands of an enlightened 
 and able ministry. The excitability of the popular 
 mind in this country is forcing itself powerfully on 
 the notice of the most careless observer. Of this 
 the prevalence and rage of political and religious 
 controversy vvitliin the last few years is ample proof. 
 There is a commotion, an up-heaving and breaking 
 fjith of thouglit and feeling here, not less ceaseless 
 and sublime than the tumults of the ocean. The in- 
 tellectual action on all subjects of public and general 
 interest, in this country is most intense. The minds 
 of the populace seem to be under some new and un- 
 wonted impulse. They seize, with a giant grasp, on 
 every thing within the sphere of their movements; 
 — ^^on matters of individual enterprise — on the affairs 
 of civil and ecclesiastical polity — on the institutions 
 and very organization of the social economy itself. 
 The glow of this fervid intellectual action threatens 
 to melt down those forms of things that have with- 
 stood for ages the influence of the ordinary elements. 
 Now it requires neither prophetic vision nor mo- 
 dern mesmeric clairvoyance to see that this excitabi- 
 lity of the popular mind will become a prodigious 
 power for good or for evil, just according to the di- 
 rection which it shall take. 
 
320 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 The heart as well as the mind of this country is 
 capable at present of being influenced by the most 
 violent impulses. In the history of every nation, 
 there is a period which may be denominated the me- 
 ridian or manhood of those agitating passions and 
 powerful prejudices which result from the struggling 
 competitions for wealth — from the rivalry and colli- 
 sion of sectional interests — from the envy of rank, 
 and the ignoble jealousies of political ambition. We 
 seem to have entered on this perilous epoch of our 
 national existence. — For within the last few years it 
 has been truly appalling to witness those bursts of 
 popular passion, and that lawless, shameless, tumul- 
 tuous spirit of excitement that have actually drama- 
 tized all the affairs of life in this country, from the 
 doings of the district school-house up to the legisla- 
 tion of Congress, often blending the ludicrous ex- 
 tremes of comedy with a supreme tragicalit}^ Pub- 
 lic feeling is capable of being driven on noio with 
 tremendous momentum, by causes which twenty-five 
 years ago might have expended all their force with- 
 out attracting notice. 
 
 Excitement is the order of the day — the very element 
 in which the great heart of this nation beats with a 
 quickened and morbid violence. Popular sensibility 
 has become diseased, and like the morbid sensibilities 
 of the human frame in sickness, if not soothed and 
 '-educed within natural and healthy limits, will ex- 
 i:aust and prostrate all the best energies of thqfbody 
 politic. 
 
 Now what influence can successfully grapple with 
 the intellect and the heart of this country under the " 
 mighty and maddening impulses that agitate them 
 
EDUCATION SOCIETY. 321 
 
 and sway tlieir movements? None but tliat of the 
 gospel preached by an educated, able ministry, and 
 accompanied by "the Holy Ghost sent down from 
 heaven." If the excitability of American mind is 
 even diverted from that devotion to mercantile en- 
 terprise and pecuniary adventure which has pr'ocured 
 for us with too much reason the reproach of being a 
 nation of speculators, of idolaters, bowing down 
 to " The Almighty Dollar," it will be by that 
 gospel which anchors its great principles in the hu- 
 man conscience; elevates the thoughts to spiritual 
 objects, and fires the mind with lofty aspirations af- 
 ter "durable riches and righteousness" in the hea- 
 vens. This is the only power that can give to the 
 excitable energies of mind an elevation and a scope 
 more congenial to their own native mightiness; that 
 can bear them up in its ascending car to that purer 
 atmosphere and brighter sunshine of our spiritual na- 
 ture, where they can pursue, unclouded and undis- 
 turbed by the darkness and the din of the regions 
 below, the exalted themes of thought embraced in 
 revelation, and feel the vital warmth of those enno- 
 blinii; emotions of piety which the gospel alone can 
 inspire. 
 
 The gospel also, preached by an educated, qualified 
 ministry, and accompanied by divine power, forms 
 the only check and balance that can be employed to 
 equalize the movements of popular passion and pre- 
 judice in this hey-day of their intense excitability. 
 Apart from this, mere education, general intelligence, 
 penal laws and public sentiment will impose no safe 
 and certain restraint upon them. These will prove 
 but as the green withes on San\son's arms. Con- 
 
322 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 fine these passions and prejudices within the strong- 
 est walls and the most massive gates that human 
 power can rear, and ''like him of Gaza," they will 
 tear up "those gates with the posts" and carry them 
 away "up the hill" of their impetuous career. No- 
 thing but the mighty and eternal sanctions of the gos- 
 pel, plied with all the tact and skill and fidelity of 
 an intelligent, powerful ministry, can overawe these 
 passions, and reduce and confine their movements 
 within safe limits. Nothing can efiectually quiet 
 the violent throbbings of the public heart in this 
 country, but that "peace of God " which is only to 
 be found in a pure and vital Christianity. Nothing 
 can rescue its moral feelings from the unhallowed 
 impulses that will drive them headlong into fatal ex- 
 tremes, but that constraining love of Christ whose 
 sway is established only by a successful ministry. 
 The gospel alone presents those objects, awakens 
 those emotions, gives birth to those hopes, urges to 
 those enterprises, and adds that omnipotence of 
 motive which takes precedence of all other impulses 
 on the moral feelings of a community. It alone can 
 subsidize all the susceptibilities of deep and intense 
 emotion belonging to our nature, and direct them in 
 the career of glory, and honour, and immortality. 
 
 And now, sir, with this excitability of the popular 
 mind, and this capability of violent impulse by the 
 popular heart of this countr}^, is it to be supposed 
 that those who are destitute of an educated ministry 
 and of a pure gospel will be long without a religion 
 of soim hind? Man's moral constitution, apart 
 from any incidental enhancement of its cravings, 
 instinctively demands a religion of some description. 
 
EDUCATION SOCIETY. 32? 
 
 — Nay, more, will have it. The moral history of 
 the world is one vnst volume of testimony to the 
 truth of this declaration. All the egregious systems 
 of overgrown error, superstition and idolatry, that 
 have cursed earth since the apostacy, have arisen 
 from and been perpetuated by the stern, uncompro- 
 mising, unconquerable demands of man's moral na- 
 ture for some scheme of religion. And I have often 
 thought that a psychological history of the various 
 religions of the globe would be one of the most in- 
 teresting records relating to any of the developments 
 of human nature. Such a history would show that 
 the religious principle is an element inseparable from 
 our common nature; an element which must necessa- 
 rily be evolved and brought into play from the very 
 circumstances of man's present being, — an element 
 as liable to misdirection and perversion as any one 
 belonging to our constitution, and an element which 
 when once it escapes the legitimate control that God 
 designs for it, is more erratic, destructive and irre- 
 claimable than any of the fearful agencies of the 
 fallen mind. 
 
 Now this is true of the religious principle gene- 
 rally, universally. But it deserves special notice that 
 this principle is being developed in our country in 
 connexion with habits of thought, of feeling, and of 
 action, which will give to it an intensity and a move- 
 ment that characterizes it in no other country on the 
 face of the globe. This principle is not connected 
 herewith Asiatic supineness and irresolution, nor with 
 tropical languor, luxury and etfeminacy, nor with 
 the stinted physical growth and ice-girt tempera- 
 ments of the Arctic circle, nor with the gross igno- 
 
324 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 ranee of the New Zealander, nor with minds that 
 beat against the bars of iron and the gates of brass 
 with which despotism has absolutely hooped in free- 
 dom of thought. No. The religious principle here is 
 brought into play in those physical circumstances 
 that train man to activity, hardihood, love of liberty, 
 enterprise, generous emulation and noble daring. It 
 is connected with minds that have descended from 
 the Pilgrims, to whom freedom of thought is their 
 native, vital air, — minds that enjoy all the benefits of 
 popular education and general intelligence, and that 
 have been expanded and stimulated by the sunshine 
 of civil and religious liberty. What may not the 
 religious principle in these connexions and relations 
 be and do, if neglected? What a fearful havoc of 
 the fairest territories held out to the conquest of the 
 church of God in this country, must be the inevita- 
 ble result, if the religious principle, with the energies 
 peculiar to it here, is permitted to mount the car, 
 lead the way, and drive like Jehu in the career of 
 fanaticism and imposture! Let it escape the control 
 of an intelligent, able ministry, and seize with both 
 hands on "the horns of the altar" of Romanism, 
 Mormonisni, Shakerism, or Satanism, in its gross- 
 est forms, and it will hold on there with the grasp 
 of him of old, who fled for refuge from the " avenger 
 of blood. '^ No voice can recall it from its false and 
 perilous position there; no redeeming influence is 
 ever likely to reach it, and bring it back again, and 
 couple its agency with the progress and the power 
 of a pure Christianity. Your Society, sir, means to 
 do something, and 77iust do something to prevent a 
 result so pre-eminently disastrous to all the best iti- 
 
EDUCATION SOCIETY. 325 
 
 terests of the members of this great American com- 
 munity. But what you do must be done quickly. 
 It is not a question between the influence of the gos- 
 pel and the mere absence of that influence on the 
 religious principle of this country. The alternative 
 is not one of passivity or simjjle negation. The 
 question for you to decide is, whether you will 
 promptly fill the wide field with a ministry whose 
 hands, made strong by "the arms of the mighty God 
 of Jacob," shall take fast hold on the religious prin- 
 ciple of the community, develop, discipline and 
 direct it in its legitimate sphere; or whether that 
 principle, at once breaking away from all restraint, 
 shall commence its lawless career, and couple itself 
 with and become the very animating spirit of those 
 hideous forms of error, enthusiasm, imposture and 
 fanaticism, that shall stalk in spectral train over the 
 land left desolate! You owe it to God, to your 
 country, to the soul's immortality and eternal life, 
 to preoccupy that field with labourers who shall 
 make it all "as the garden of the Lord." 
 
 There are associations connected with the object 
 hnd the scene of your society\s labours peculiarly 
 dear to tiie intelligent Christian. It is the Ameri- 
 can Education Society. Its object is to disci- 
 pline and qualify an able ministry of the New Tes- 
 tament for our own beloved country. The off"er- 
 ings which an educated, pious ministry brings to 
 the family altars of a nation, and its bearings and 
 blessed results on all the sacred charities of domes- 
 tic life, give to that Societ}^, whose sole object it is 
 to furnish such a ministry, a precedence in our af- 
 fections as natural as it is just and coincident with 
 28 
 
326 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 the obligation to provide for " those of our own 
 household." On the theatre of your Society's ope- 
 rations also cluster all the tender and delightful 
 associations that belong to ^' our oictiy our native 
 land.^' This country is unlike to all others in the 
 world's annals in this respect, that in its organi- 
 zation and commencement as a nation, an enlight- 
 ened and pious ministry was interwoven with the 
 very warp and woof of society. The church 
 steeple was one of the objects that indicated the 
 first breach which colonial existence and enter- 
 prise made on our primeval forests. It is the land 
 of our fathers' sepulchres, hallowed by the sleep- 
 ing dust of a pious and noble ancestry, who lived 
 and laboured, endured hardness, wept, and pray- 
 ed, and died, for the advancement of those high 
 and imperishable interests which it is the object of 
 your Society, by means of an able ministry, to se- 
 cure to our country. It is the land, too, in which 
 we in turn are to leave our beloved children, after 
 death shall have terminated our parental counsel 
 and control over them, and dissolved all our ter- 
 restrial relations. 0, sir. Christian parents and 
 Christian patriots have a deep, an absorbing inte- 
 rest in the scene of your society's labours. It is 
 the land in which our children and posterity are to 
 have their social, political and religious character 
 and condition modified and made what they shall 
 be, by the kind of moral influence which pervades 
 it, and the grand issues of their probation in this 
 world shaped for the one to come. A land, too 
 the very nature of whose institutions requires an 
 educated, able ministry of the gospel as a given 
 
 1 
 
UDrCATION SOCIETY. ^87 
 
 force in their support, and a grand conservative 
 element of society. Yes, sir, revivals of religion, 
 pervading, pure revivals, promoted and sustained 
 by such a ministry, are the patriot's last best hope 
 for his counlry. The spirit of revivals is the only 
 redeem'mi^ spirit of the republic. What has made 
 New England what she is, and so different from 
 other portions of our countr}'' in the number of 
 her churches, the intelligence, religious character 
 and morals of her population? What has spared 
 her to such an extent from popular tumult, Lynch- 
 law, and rampant mobocracy? The profound care 
 and liberality with which from the infancy of 
 her colonial existence she provided for the education 
 of a competent ministry. She shows now the blessed 
 fruitsof this her wise policy. Here in New England, 
 church-spires glitter, and the church green greets the 
 eye every where over her beautiful landscapes, whilst 
 in other portions of our country, less careful in this 
 respect, the church spire glitters as rarely as a single 
 grain of golden sand on the vast beach, and the 
 church green is as the sea-weed's solitary leaf on the 
 bosom of the ocean. Yes, sir. New England is a 
 practical, powerful verification of the sentiment, that 
 the spirit of revivals is the redeeming spirit of this 
 great republic. It is vain to talk of our admirable 
 civil institutions, our incomparable forms of go- 
 vernment, our indomitable spirit and love of repub- 
 lican liberty, our noble constitution and glorious 
 union, as thougb these mere epithets could confer 
 on them immortality. It is vain to tell us too that 
 were the volcanic elements connected with the 
 question of slavery bound in "everlasting chains." 
 
328 ADDRESS BEFORE THE 
 
 this would be all that would be requisite to prevent 
 this nation from ultimate overthrow. Would that 
 that most exciting question were settled with safe- 
 ty to the interests of all concerned, and especially 
 with permanent security to the interests of the 
 slaves themselves. But suppose this grand consum- 
 mation was realized this moment, and the shouts of 
 emancipated millions were to cleave the ear of night 
 in coming from the gulf of Mexico to the extremi- 
 ties of Maine, would this alone remove that dark 
 cloud which has been rolled up on the flight of our 
 national eagle between his eye and the sun? or abate 
 the violence of that storm which has driven him 
 from his course and so inverted all his plumage, that 
 his very species can scarcely be identified? No, sir. 
 There are other elemental forces of social divellency 
 and national disruption in this country, dormant nowy 
 it is true, because another p(irt of the great crater is 
 active at present — unsuspected, too, by the whole 
 tribe of quack philanthropists and modern self-con- 
 stituted reformers — but, nevertheless, really existing, 
 and only awaiting the displacement of a faithful 
 ministry and of Christian influence, to break forth 
 into the most destructive activity. 
 , And those who would carry their favourite mea- 
 sures for benefiting any portion of our country, by 
 sacrificing the Christian ministry, and driving the 
 ploughshare of ruin over the Christian churches, show 
 that they know not the alphabet of the science, and 
 have never estimated the power of these divellent 
 forces. Now there is no adequate curb for what Car- 
 lyle quaintly calls "the distilled rascality of this planet,'^ 
 but those embankments which the lives and labours 
 of an able ministry throw up around it, by proclaim- 
 
EDUCATION SOCIETY. 329 
 
 ing the law of God, vindicating and sustaining his 
 Sabbaths, and uttering his holy oracles in the sanc- 
 tuaries of the land. 
 
 I repeat then, sir, that the spirit of a pure, per- 
 vading piety, promoted and sustained instrumentally 
 by such a ministry, is the redeeming spirit of this great 
 republic, — the only genius that can safely preside 
 over our august national destinies, and preserve and 
 perpetuate our social, civil and religious institutions. 
 Yes, sir, if the eagle of our national flag is to wave 
 for ever on the air of freedom, it will be by having 
 enstamped by its side the image of the Heavenly 
 Dove! And now, in view of this fact, am I not au- 
 thorized, in conclusion, to say, that whatever other bs- 
 nevolent associations and agencies of this land may 
 tire and faint in their way, your Society must not? 
 It must know no point of pause or cessation, till it 
 shall have actually filled the high functions of its or- 
 dination, in supplying the whole land with an edu- 
 cated, able, faithful ministry of the New Testament, 
 Failure is a thought not for one moment to be enter- 
 tained in connexion with the movements of this Soci- 
 ety. It may be tolerated as a possibility in mercantile 
 enterprise and secular adventure, but not in the grand 
 agency of spreading and sustaining the gospel in this 
 nation. This is an agency whose fiiilure would be far 
 more disastrous than the fabled failure of Phaeton 
 when intrusted with the chariot of the sun. God has 
 committed to your Society, in part, the keeping and 
 the course of that golden chariot which is the great 
 dispenser of those reflected rays of the Sun of 
 Righteousness, that are yet to flood immensity with 
 light, and eternity with glory! 
 28* 
 
330 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 III. 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 MRS. CATHERLNE B. PATTON, WIFE OF THE REV. 
 JOHN PATTON, AND DAUGHTER OF JAMES 
 BRUEN, ESQ., OF PHILADELFHLV. 
 
 When God speaks by a visitation like the one 
 which has convened us on this mournful occasion, 
 it is difficult for man to speak without detracting 
 from the eloquence of the voice divine. Connected 
 with the event of death itself in any circumstances 
 is an over-awing, all-subduing impressiveness that 
 cannot be augmented by what man may say. And 
 even when attended by numerous mitigating consi- 
 derations it carries with it to the human heart an ap- 
 peal utterly overwhelming. 
 
 On its pale insignia no mortal eye can look un- 
 m.oved. The associations that cluster around death 
 are peculiar to that event alone. We think of se- 
 vered ties that can never be bound on earth again. 
 We think of blighted hopes that can bud and bloom 
 no more in this cold soil. We think of perished 
 joys that no lapse or vicissitudes of years will re- 
 store. We think of the desolations of tlie last fare- 
 well — of hearts divided to meet no more belovv' the 
 skies — of homes made solitary, and of hearths whose 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTON. 331 
 
 lights are extinguished. We think of the darkness 
 and solitude of the tomb — of the fearful blank in be- 
 reaved affection, and the withering loneliness of spi- 
 rit as the mourners go about the streets. These are 
 some of the associations inseparably connected with 
 death. But the great destroyer may make such a 
 selection of his victims and achieve his gloomy tri- 
 umph in such circumstances as to give an enhanced 
 tenderness and solemnity to these associations, and 
 greatly to augment the pangs of bereavement. In 
 the instance that has brought us together to-day, we 
 feel more than an ordinary sympathy and sorrow. 
 Death has suddenly stretched its chilling shadow 
 over a little family in disastrous contrast with the 
 recent warmth and sunshine of wedded joys and all 
 the sweets of a happy home. The sad tidings of the 
 unexpected and premature departure of our beloved 
 sister from her important station and newly entered 
 sphere of usefulness has cast a deep gloom over this 
 congregation, and created a wide-spread emotion of 
 profound regret and grief in the community. This 
 constitutes one of those scenes of tender, and in some 
 respects of tragic separation by death, in which the 
 depth and intensity of our emotions greatly embar- 
 rass our utterance. I cannot be insensible to the 
 difficulty of meeting your expectations, and satisfy- 
 ing all the sorrowing hearts of this large assembly 
 by any thing that I may say. I am reminded by the 
 aspect of this audience, that there is a deep, pervading 
 sympathy — a subdued and silent sorrow to which no 
 addition can be made by any remarks that may be 
 offered on this occasion. Each of us must feel that 
 this is one of those instances in which " the eye af- 
 
332 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 fects the heart." Busy thought, quickened by the 
 keenness of your grief, is depicting more graphically 
 than language can portray, the whole of this ex- 
 quisitely mournful scene. 
 
 We feel the utter impotency of our sympathies 
 and our tears to sooth the broken hearts that mourn 
 here to-day. We feel too how powerless is language 
 as a medium to communicate the melancholy emo- 
 tions and aching thoughts excited on such an occa- 
 sion. And were the design of this service merely 
 to add to the mournful interest of this scene, I would 
 not utter another word. But the striking and solemn 
 providence of God that has removed from us this be- 
 loved sister, like all similar dealings of His which 
 come under our observation, is designed to teach some 
 impressive lessons, and makes a resistless appeal to 
 the most thoughtless heart in this assembly. 
 
 The spiritual and eternal benefit that may be de- 
 rived from a proper improvement of this bereaving 
 dispensation by mourning survivers is the only com- 
 pensation for the loss which they deplore. This 
 constitutes the only sweet that can mingle in this 
 bitter cup — "too bitter else." 
 
 We would be delinquent in duty to God, and re- 
 creant to our own highest interests, did we not strive 
 to welcome to our consciences and our hearts, the 
 solemn and impressive lessons which this trying 
 dispensation is adapted to teach. Yea, were not our 
 dear, deceased sister beyond the reach of mortal 
 anxieties, and were she permitted to revisit this 
 sanctuary, and to speak and to act out the Christian 
 benevolence of her heart in reference to this occasion, 
 I doubt not her solicitude and prayers, her counsels 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTON. 333 
 
 and entreaties, would all combine to urge the living 
 to such an improvement of this mournful event. 
 While we bow then in profound submission to God, 
 who hath bereft us, and weep* with those that weep 
 in the bitterness of their affliction, let us endeavour to 
 derive from this solemn event those lessons of in- 
 struction which it so eloquently teaches. 
 
 I. This death teaches us the awe- inspiring truth of 
 God's inscrutable sovereignty. Nothing could more 
 strikingly illustrate the fact, that His thoughts are 
 not as our "thoughts, nor his ways as our ways." 
 Had a council of the most disinterested, wise, bene- 
 volent individuals of our race been called to delibe- 
 rate and decide on the destiny of our departed sister, 
 they w^ould have decided far differently from what 
 God has done. Such a council could have urged 
 numerous reasons against the premature death of this 
 saint. The early period of her life, with the dew 
 of her youth fresh upon her — the new and e.ndeared 
 relations which she sustained — the space which she 
 filled in a fond husband's affections — the essential aid 
 that her deep and devoted piety, might render to 
 him in the prosecution of his holy calling as a minis- 
 ter of the gospel — the comfort she might minister to 
 him under all the crushing responsibilities of the sa- 
 cred office, and all the severe, though often hidden, 
 sorrows and trials which he must endure — the wide 
 sphere of usefulness, that her station and connexion 
 with the church of Christ would enable her to fill — 
 the benevolent plans she had formed, and the holy 
 hopes and purposes she cherished — all these could 
 have been pleaded in favour of her continuance on 
 earth. And yet the great God saw all these reasons 
 
334 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 and others besides in all their force ; but for reasons 
 infinitely higher and better, determined at this time 
 to call her hence. The only account we can give of 
 his dealings in this case is, to use the language of the 
 blessed Redeemer, and say — "Even so, Father, for 
 so it seemeth good in thy sight." " Darkness is 
 round about him," in thisdispensation — <^ his pavilion 
 is dark waters and thick clouds of the sky." VMiat 
 be does in this case, we ^« know not now, but we shall 
 know hereafter." "Justice and judgment are the 
 habitation of his throne." High above the clouds 
 that encompass and conceal the reasons of his con- 
 duct to man, shines the resplendent attribute of his 
 adorable sovereignty. It is too bright for mortal 
 gaze. We veil our faces and bow in humble sub- 
 mission and awe, as we witness its exhibition in ap- 
 portioning the terrestrial allotments of our race. 
 
 II. This death teaches us most impressively the 
 uncertainty which ever besets all the best joys and bright- 
 est hopes of earth. The joys of the domestic state — 
 the happiness resulting from the blending of truly 
 congenial, Christian kindred spirits, knit together in 
 wedded love, and tasking their powers each in turn, 
 to serve the other in all the sweet assiduities of a 
 daily and growing affection — the hopes that spring 
 up in such hearts, and bound onward along the green 
 and sunny vista of future years, are the best joys and 
 the brightest hopes which belong to this fallen world. 
 Indeed, they recall the associations of Eden, and seem 
 as the remaining tints of that faded loveliness, which 
 bloomed there before the fall. In these joys and 
 hopes, but a few days since our departed sister and 
 her surviving, but now solitary and sorrowing, hus- 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTON. 335 
 
 band mutually participated ; their home as hnppy, 
 their hearts as glad, and theii' prospects as hri2;ht 
 as are any of ours at present. But what a spell-like 
 change has come over them! 
 
 How suddenly has the silver cord that hound tliem 
 to all these joys and hopes been loosed, and the 
 golden bowl, filled with all that could make domestic 
 life happy, been broken ! The charm has vanished 
 like the baseless fabric of a vision, fled as a morning 
 dream. What could illustrate more forcibly the un- 
 certainty attending the possession of the best that 
 earth can offer to the cravings of our nature after 
 happiness. 
 
 "What are our joys but dreanisl and what our hopes, 
 But goodly shadows in the summer cloud? 
 There's not a wind that Wows, but bears with it 
 Some rain-bow promise: Not a moment flies 
 But puts its sickle in the fields of life, 
 And reaps its thousands with their joys and cares." 
 
 ' III. This solemn providence 7'ebukes fhe/olli/ a?id 
 presumption of those ivlio in early life calculate 
 confidently on length of days and unclouded pros- 
 perity. A love of prolonged existence is an instinct 
 of our common nature. And the desire of life, with- 
 in certain limits, is lawful. It is not wonderful that 
 this desire should exist in great strength, and, like 
 all our other desires influenced by our depravity, 
 should become perverted. The longing for perpe- 
 tuated life is the natural result of an immortal principle. 
 The soul is deathless in its very nature — it was made 
 for immortality, and the higher and more refined 
 principles of its constitution are constantly impelling 
 it onward in boundless hopes and infinite aspira- 
 
336 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 tions. But in face of God's explicit declarations, and 
 of all his providences that teach the shortness and 
 uncertainty of life, the young have a presumptuous 
 calculation on long years to come, which leads them 
 to a perilous procrastination in the work of securing 
 their eternal interest, and lays the foundation for 
 hopes that will be wrecked and expectations that 
 will be blasted, amidst the bitterest disappointments. 
 Who had a better right than our deceased sister to 
 expect to "live many days, and see good in them 
 all?" Reconciled to her God, and devoted to his 
 service — having always enjoyed uninterrupted health 
 — settled in life with ample means of its comforts, 
 and filling a most important sphere of usefulness, 
 young, happy, loving and being loved and respected 
 by all who knew her — in the morning sunshine of 
 domestic bliss, before a passing cloud had cast a sha- 
 dow over her bright allotment, yet it pleased God to 
 call her hence, and to translate her, as we hope, to a 
 holier, happier home in the skies. If she has thus in 
 a moment disappeared from earth, who here to-day 
 dare confidently calculate on long years to come ? 
 
 "What bolder thought in human hearts can rise, 
 Than man's presumption on to-morrow ! 
 Where is to-morrow 1 In another world! 
 To numbers this is certain. The reverse 
 Is sure to none." 
 
 IV. This sorrowful event teaches us all the impor- 
 tance of he'mg prepared for sudden death. 
 
 Man's presumptuous calculations on the future, 
 extend not only to the length of time which he ex- 
 pects to live, but to the circumstances in which he 
 expects to die. Let those who are deferring repen- 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTOX. 337 
 
 tance and faith, obedience and submission to the Sa- 
 viour, and all that is necessary to secure their peace 
 with God, examine themselves, and see whether they 
 are not indulging the fallacious and criminal expec- 
 tation that they shall have ample notice of the ap- 
 proach of death. When you permit yourselves to 
 think on this subject at all, do you not vaguely pic- 
 ture to yourselves a gradual decline of your health, pre- 
 monishing you of the possibility that your race may 
 be nearly run? You then think of the sick cham- 
 ber, of prolonged illness weaning you from the world 
 and directing your minds to serious things. You 
 anticipate being gently and gradually led down to 
 the banks of Jordan. You expect the visits and the 
 prayers of your pastor and pious friends, till at 
 length death will have become so familiar to your 
 thoughts, and 5^ou will be so well prepared for it, 
 that its terrors and its sting will be gone. Now in 
 order to be convicted of the folly and the guilt of 
 such calculations, you have only to look at this in- 
 stance of death before you. Where was the warning 
 in the case of our beloved departed sister? But a 
 few days ago, who had better, brighter prospects of 
 life, or more reason to anticipate that when death did 
 come, there would be sufficient warning of its ap- 
 proach ? And yet its cold hand was upon her before 
 her anxious, afiectionate relatives and friends could 
 realize that the great destroyer had come. 
 
 Ah! how greatly wise in her, not to put off a 
 careful preparation for it through the deceptive expec- 
 tation that death would linger so long with slow and 
 measured tread before it entered, that she would have 
 ample time to prepare for its arrival. My dear 
 2.9 
 
338 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 hearers, "be ye also ready" — ready for sudden death. 
 At present God is warning this community on this 
 subject in trumpet tones. I beseech you then, by 
 all the impressive solemnitiesofthis funeral scene, that 
 each one of you be ready, so that when 
 
 " Thy summons comes to join 
 The innumerable caravan, that moves 
 To that mysterious realm, where each shall take 
 His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
 Thou go not like the quarry slave at night 
 Scourged to his dungeon; but sustained and soothed 
 By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 
 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 
 
 V. The death of our dear sister teaches us Me irans- 
 cendant excellence of the religion of Christ in its 
 power to raise the soul above the terror of disso- 
 lution and to fill it with a holy peace in the parting 
 hour. \\\ the remarks that I am about to make it is 
 not my design to eulogize the dead merely for the 
 gratification of survivers. 
 
 Those who knew the meek and quiet spirit — the 
 modest and retiring piety of the loved and departed 
 one whose remains are now before us, cannot but be 
 aware that if she had been permitted to express a 
 wish in reference to this service, she would have for. 
 bidden mere eulogy. Besides, she is now far, far 
 beyond the breath of human praise or blame, and if 
 her sainted spirit has any solicitude about this scene, 
 it is that the grace of God in Christ Jesus may be 
 magnified by it. In adverting, then, to her Christian 
 life, and her last exercises and triumphant death, I 
 merely wish to exalt that sovereign grace of God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ which gave her the 
 victory. 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTON. 339 
 
 Ten years ago our deceased sister united with the 
 first Presbyterian Church in Newark, N. J., then 
 under the pastoral care of the Rev. William T. Ha- 
 milton. An appeal made by him to her in a con- 
 versation respecting the death of her dear, sainted 
 mother, was the means of arresting her attention and 
 leading her to the Saviour. Those who knew her 
 best can testify that she has ever since lived as a 
 devoted Christian. Her piety was unobtrusive, un- 
 ostentatious, every where consistent, firm, humble. 
 Slie loved the place of social prayer — the Sunday 
 school — the work of tract distribution — and devoted 
 much of her time to these and other Christian 
 efforts. She was specially attentive to the duties of 
 the closet. It was there that the secret of the Lord 
 was with her. In her last sickness the grace of pa- 
 tience was strikingly exhibited by her, and yet such 
 was the peculiar tenderness of her conscience on 
 this point that she often asked her husband if he 
 thought she was sufficiently patient. When she 
 felt that the hand of death was upon her, and that 
 she would soon have to leave her beloved partner, 
 she remained as collected and calm as thougli no 
 struggle of the final parting awaited her. She con- 
 versed freely with her husband respecting her feel- 
 ings and prospects in this trying crisis. She remarked 
 very tenderly that she had expected to 1 ive a 1 ittle longer 
 with him, and still had a desire to do so; but that if 
 the Lord had determined otherwise, she \^^^s perfect- 
 ly satisfied. She, said that she had made her peace 
 with God, and felt a cheerful willingness to commit 
 herself without reserve into his hands. She expressed 
 confidence in the blood of Christ only as the ground 
 
840 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 cf her hope, and said to that she looked for cleansing, 
 and that though she felt herself to be a sinner, and 
 to have been unfaithful as a Christian, yet in view of 
 the mercy and the promises of God, and the love he 
 had shown her, she felt an unwavering confidence 
 that he would take her to himself. Her husband 
 asked her if in that hour of trial, with death appa- 
 rently so near, the Saviour really seemed precious to 
 her. She replied with emphasis — " Yes, he does.^^ 
 She then conversed for some time on the subject of 
 dying — of heaven — of their prospects of meeting in 
 that better world, and of spending a blessed eternity 
 together. She spoke of the short time that God had 
 permitted them to enjoy each other's society, and 
 yet v\ith how much happiness he had crowned their 
 brief and transient wedded existence. She urged 
 her husband to be holy and faithful in the ministry, 
 and to make it his constant effort to bring up his 
 children for God. She calmly spoke of some domes- 
 tic arrangements which she wished to be made — 
 left messages which she desired her husband to de- 
 liver to a number of friends whom she named — a 
 special message to the members of this church, and 
 to her class in Sabbath school. Her husband then 
 united with her in prayer, and during all this affect- 
 ing scene it was obvious that the prospect of death, 
 though unanticipated but a short time before, pro- 
 duced neither surprise nor terror in her mind, not- 
 withstanding she w^as deeply sensible of its solemni- 
 ties and results. On Friday morning last she asked 
 her husband if the physicians had given it as their 
 decided opinion that she could not recover. He 
 replied he did not know, but that it was evident to 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTON. 341 
 
 him that she could not. She made this inquiry 
 through no particular eagerness to catch at the hope 
 of life, but simply for the purpose of ascertaining as 
 nearly as possible when the work of death would 
 begin that before her strength should fiiil she might 
 bid her friends a formal, final farewell. Soon after 
 this she called all her relations and friends around 
 her, kissed them and added a few words of suitable 
 advice to each, and then peacefully prepared, as she 
 expressed it, to go away to her " new, eternal home !" 
 
 From this brief narrative who can doubt of the 
 unseen visits of the Divine Comforter to her parting 
 spirit? Who can doubt the soothing and sustaining 
 power of the religion of Christ in the troubled mo- 
 ments of death? What a holy calm was hers 
 amidst all that is naturally agitating in dissolution! 
 Whatasublime triumph — what an eloquent testimony 
 to the victory which redeeming grace gives us over 
 the last enemy of our mortal nature! Behold this 
 delicate, timid female, whom the rustling of a leaf 
 would once have made to tremble. See her with 
 all the sweet sensibilities and warm affections of the 
 woman, the daughter, the sister, the wife, the mother, 
 patient, calm, victorious, amidst the wreck of life 
 in all these endearing relations! With one hand 
 unfaltering she deliberately looses one by one the 
 numerous, tender ties that bind her to friends on earth, 
 'and with the other hand she takes hold on the skies, 
 and triumphantly exclaims, "0! death, where is thy 
 Sling? 0! grave, where is thy victory?" 
 
 I may not close these remarks without addressing a 
 few words to those more immediately concerned in 
 this sadly bereaving dispensation. I need not make 
 29* 
 
342 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 any protracted remarks to this afflicted church. The 
 solemn, dying message of your pastor's wife will 
 shortly be delivered to you in the melancholy elo- 
 quence of his broken heart. As a church God 
 seems to have compassed you in the infancy of your 
 existence with repeated affliction. This is the se- 
 cond painful visitation of the same kind that has 
 overtaken you in your brief history. Jehovah has 
 a meaning in these repeated strokes of his bereaving 
 rod. In this day of adversity you are called. upon to 
 consider your ways, and to turn unto Him who smi- 
 teth, and seek the Lord of hosts. God has made this 
 second appeal to your hearts that you may gather 
 round your stricken, bleeding pastor with a holier 
 Christian sympathy — may comfort him with the 
 kind assiduities of that love which you owe him " for 
 his work's sake" — may hold up his hands by your 
 prayers — console him by "walking in the truth" — 
 and be the means of giving success to his ministry 
 by your prompt, efficient, cheerful, persevering co- 
 operation. The best relief that his bereaved and 
 sorrowing heart can now obtain will be in seeing the 
 pleasure of the Lord prospering in his hand — in 
 seeing 3/oz^ growing in grace, built up in the faith, 
 ^^ walking in love as dear children," and in wit- 
 nessing souls won to Christ by your and his united 
 instrumentality. You ought not to despise these 
 chastenings of the Lord. You ought to be a holy, 
 devoted church. God has appealed to you before, 
 and he appeals to you to-day from the grave and 
 eternity. "Gird up the loins of your minds, and be 
 sober." Seek consolation for yourselves and for 
 your bereaved pastor in God alone. Love your dear 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTON. 343 
 
 pastor the more now that he is stricken and smitten 
 of God, and be at peace among yourselves. Let the 
 sisters of this church feel their individual responsibi- 
 lity and dependence the more since God has taken 
 away their head, and let them imitate her example 
 as she imitated her Lord's. And let all this church 
 feel the solemn call thus made on them to prepare 
 to meet their God. 
 
 And what shall I say to the bereaved afflicted 
 family that has lost another of its few surviving 
 members? Human sympathies and human language 
 can afford you no adequate consolation. On this 
 mournful occasion let me not multiply vain words 
 to you. To God and to the word of his grace 
 we commend you. "He hath smitten, and he will 
 bind up; he hath wounded, and he will heal.'' 
 While your hearts feel the blank that has been 
 made in their affections, and your eyes rest on the 
 darkness of the grave which conceals the mortal 
 part of a beloved daughter and sister, then think of 
 all the mournfully sweet associations, of the holy 
 calm and the sacred triumph of her dying hour. 
 " You sorrow not as those who have no hope." 
 Around her dying couch was a halo that mitigated 
 the gloom and gilded the shadow of death itself. It 
 was '^ the candle of the Lord^^ lighted up and 
 shining after the sunset of the tomb, to point your 
 peaceful anticipations to that resurrection morn when 
 the loved and lost here will be restored, and you 
 shall meet and be a family in heaven to part no 
 more for ever! 
 
 And, finally, what can be said to you, my dear 
 brother, so suddenly bereaved of the wife of your 
 
344 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF 
 
 youth! That you have the tender and deep sym- 
 pathy of your ministerial brethren, of your church 
 and of the Christian community, you know. We 
 weep with you to-day; our hearts bleed for you 
 under this severely trying dispensation. It would 
 be but the natural utterance of your grief, were you 
 to say with anguished emphasis — '' I am the man 
 that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath." 
 " He hath led me and brought me into darkness, but 
 not into light.'^ My dear brother, God seems to 
 have chosen you to the ministry " in the furnace of 
 affliction;" but I trust there is one like unto the Son 
 of man walking with you to-day in the midst of the 
 flanies, to prevent them from consuming you. These 
 reiterated strokes pierce the heart with a poignancy 
 of grief not easily borne. But, my dear brother, I 
 trust you will not despise these chastenings of the 
 Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him. Ex- 
 ercise still an unwavering trust in God, and he will 
 bring you out of these trials as gold that is purified 
 in the fire. It does seem, as though he has deter- 
 mined that you shall be a holy and devoted minister 
 of the gospel, if breaking the dearest ties that bind 
 you to earth and blasting its best joys will make 
 you so. Let your object then be to gather the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness abundantly from 
 this fearful harvest of your wo. Never forget the 
 solemn counsel given to you by the lingering dying 
 love of your wife. Live near to Christ, and be more 
 intimate in your communion with him who w^ept at 
 the grave of Lazarus, and who can fully sympathize 
 with you in your present sorrows. Strive to preach 
 Christ more clearly to your charge, and to live 
 
MRS. CATHERINE B. PATTON. 345 
 
 Christ more unequivocally in every walk of life. 
 From those lonely hours of musing anguish over 
 your loss which you will be tempted to spend, seek 
 relief in a deeper devotion to God and a greater 
 activity in your sacred calling. God has taught you 
 the uncertainty, the utter worthlessness of all that 
 earth can offer to the heart and hopes of man. You 
 may now preach on this subject as you have never 
 heretofore done, and bear a powerful testimony 
 against devotion to the present world. Though 
 God has bereft you and made earth a waste and dreary 
 place to you, at the same time has he not greatly 
 endeared heaven to your affections? He has placed 
 bright lures there to win 37our thoughts, and hopes, 
 and fond aspirings thither. Spirits of the just made 
 perfect are there with whom you have been united 
 here in the most endeared relations, whom you 
 loved and with whom you lived as the heirs of the 
 grace of life. Oh! can you not preach of heaven, 
 live for heaven, and lead the way to it as you never 
 did before? My dear brother, give your wounded 
 bleeding heart anew this day to God; he will heal 
 it, and consecrate you afresh even by this baptism 
 of your sorrows, to the blessed work of your holy 
 calling. Time is short. That heart will not be 
 rent much oftener. God can comfort you the little 
 while you remain in a world now so imbiltered to 
 you. He can make you useful, and teach you to 
 comfort others with the consolation wherewith he 
 has comforted you, till the hour of your sweet release 
 from all terrestrial trouble shall come — till 
 
 " Life's duties done, as sinks the day, 
 Light from its load, the spirit flies, 
 
346 ADDRESS AT THE FUNERAL OF MRS. C. B. PATTOX, 
 
 While heaven and earth combine to say 
 How blest the righteous, when he dies." 
 
 Beyond that bourn reunion with the loved from 
 whom death has divided you here, perfection in 
 holiness, the joys of the Lord and the deep and un- 
 ending repose of heaven will amply compensate for 
 all the sorrows and conflicts of time. 
 
A REMEDY FOR THE SLAVE TRADE. 347 
 
 IV. 
 
 A PERMANENT REMEDY FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE 
 TRADE.^ 
 
 It is said to be "a calamitous distinction, but a sub- 
 lime one," for man to be placed on the same arena 
 where moral evil is at work, in the dire hostility 
 of its power to every thing good, and for him to be 
 arrayed in resolute antagonism to its progress and 
 its sway. This distinction belongs to Christian man 
 exclusively; ours being the only world, as far as we 
 know, in a probationary state, and with a moral 
 econom}^ where the forces of good and evil are in 
 conflict, and alternate success and defeat attending 
 the one and the other in the career of their energies 
 towards the final catastrophe. This planet which 
 we inhabit is, perhaps, the last battle field in the 
 empire of God where the parallel collision of great 
 antagonist principles are working out the stupendous 
 problems of the divine government, and displaying 
 
 * This lecture is one of a series which the author wrote on the sub- 
 ject of the African slave trade, and delivered to popular assemblies while 
 Secretary of the New York State Colonization Society. It was intended 
 to follow immediately one on the horrors of the slave trade as it now 
 exists. When not preceded by the one alluded to, it is robbed of a part 
 of the interest it would excite. But the lecture on the horrors of the 
 slave trade, the author has thought best to omit here in consequence of 
 the tragic and revolting details which it contains, and which were neces- 
 sary to do justice to the subject of which it treats. 
 
348 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 that glorious prerogative of Deity which educes order 
 from confusion, light from darkness^ and makes ini- 
 quity the foil to enhance the eternal splendours of 
 vindicated, triumphant righteousness. It would not 
 be wonderful if in the heat of so great a conflict man 
 in his limited capacities, and himself suffering the 
 effects of a sad moral overthrow, should sometimes 
 mistake the best means of coping successfully with 
 the giant foe. That particular instrumentality which 
 eventually proves effective in the extirpation of an)^ 
 of the great evils of the world, is at first but vaguely 
 comprehended and little understood. What is popu- 
 larly termed accident often leads not only to discove- 
 ries in science, but to the knowledge of that combi- 
 nation of forces or those moral appliances by which 
 the gigantic evils that curse humanity are to be sub- 
 verted and ultimately annihilated. This is true in 
 reference to the means first contemplated for the sup- 
 pression of the African slave trade. It were not to 
 be supposed that with the enlightened philanthropy 
 and active Christian benevolence which characterized 
 Great Britain and America at the commencement of 
 the present century, the slave trade could escape the 
 notice of these two nations, or its enormities fail to 
 awaken a deep and painful solicitude for its suppres- 
 sion. As early as 1791 the British Parliament 
 began to investigate the subject, collect evidence 
 and make preparations for ulterior action. They at 
 length passed an act prohibiting the importation of 
 slaves into any of their West India possessions, after 
 the first of March, ISOS. Before this dale the Go- 
 vernment of the United States prohibited the impor- 
 tation of slaves into this country, and declared the 
 
• FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 349 
 
 slave trade to be piracy and punishable by death. 
 England then made an effort to bring Spain to adopt 
 a similar policy, and secured that power nominally 
 in favour of the abolition of this odious traffic. It 
 was now supposed that the greatand decisive blow was 
 struck, and that the day spring of Africa's redemp- 
 tion had visited her. But on the part of the savage 
 pagans of Africa, the thirst for articles of European 
 manufacture and for luxuries, and the more brutal 
 thirst for gain on the part of corrupt nominal Chris- 
 tians mocked the puny force of mere legislation and 
 parchment resolutions, and showed their triumph in 
 the mortifying and melancholy fact, that this infernal 
 merchandise in men had not even received a percep- 
 tible check from these great national movements for 
 its suppression! The gain of at least ISO per cent, 
 on all the capital invested in this now contraband 
 commerce in bodies and souls, inspired a courage 
 that risked the severest penalties of law, and plied 
 the trade, in no w^ise daunted by these stringent go- 
 vernmental enactments of nations. 
 
 It was soon found that the traffic went on with no 
 diminution in the number of victims, and no abate- 
 ment, but a vast increase of its attendant horrors. 
 "Leviathan was not to be so tamed." Then was 
 suggested the expedient of armed squadrons on the 
 coast of Africa, to cruise and cut off all access of the 
 slave ships to the shores. Accordingly Great Bri- 
 tain and the United States each despatched a portion 
 of their naval force to guard the ports and harbours 
 of the western coast from all ingress and egress of 
 vessels suspected of being engaged in this unlawful 
 and inhuman adventure. And now with the gallant 
 30 
 
350 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 war ships of the two most powerful nations on earth, 
 and the British Lion and the American Eagle floating 
 on the flags at the mast-head, and the thunder of their 
 cannon reverberating along the coast and echoing up 
 every cove and river's mouth of the territory, is not 
 Africa safe from the approach of the slaver ? Will the 
 keenest cravings of avarice, or the most infatuated 
 lust for gold, tempt the monstrous dealers in living 
 sinews and bones to urge on their trade in the face 
 of such terrors, and risk their all amidst such perils 
 as these? Yes, after all this array of naval arma- 
 ments afloat on the African seas, and sustained as it 
 has been for a number of years at an enormous ex- 
 pense to both governments, the slave trade in West- 
 ern Africa has been nearly or quite as rife within 
 the last five years as at any time during a century! 
 It has, as yet, received no mortal wound from the 
 mouth of British or American cannon. Nay, its 
 terrible energies have not even been crippled by all 
 this marine force employed against it. Its bloody 
 crest is still erect and daring, despite the public sen- 
 timent and national legislation of Christendom and 
 the armed squadrons of the most powerful nations 
 on earth hunting it down on the seas. The recent 
 statistics of this abominable traffic show, that while it 
 has been forced to all the vigilance, cunning and arts 
 of smuggling, it is nevertheless now carrying off' as 
 many victims annually as it did when unembarrassed 
 by the espionage and pursuit of armed vessels. This 
 may seem incredible, but it is a well authenticated 
 fact. On a certain part of the Western coast the 
 slave trade has indeed been effectually suppressed, 
 but by means entirely distinct from the direct in- 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 351 
 
 fliience of men of war on the seas. It seems to be 
 the error of human nature to trust to those means 
 of most obvious and imposing power, and to over- 
 look those more unpretending and noiseless in their 
 operations. And yet in this we violate the judg- 
 ment which the analogy of nature would teach us to 
 form. For what is more noiseless and unimposing 
 than light kissing the very lips of sleeping infancy so 
 gently as not to awake it from its slumbers; and yet 
 what material agent accomplishes results of such mag- 
 nitude and moment in the physical economy ? It is 
 not the thunder and lightning, the whirlwind, and the 
 volcano, the deluge or the waterspout, in their terrific 
 operations that achieve that great aggregate of results 
 which makes the earth what it is, stored with the 
 means of existence and happiness to myriads of sen- 
 sitive and intelligent creatures. No! it is the sun- 
 shine and the gentle breeze, the early and the latter 
 rain, the unseen warmth and the silent dews. There 
 are some obvious reasons why a naval force, howe- 
 ver powerful and imposing, should fail of effectually 
 suppressing the slave trade. Ships of war can never 
 become so numerous on the coast as to form a per- 
 fect blockade. Besides, in many places not desig- 
 nated as harbours, the shore is at once so bold and so 
 calm as to permit the light slave ship to run in and 
 take her living cargo and be off' on the trackless main 
 without being seen by a war cruiser. But I appre- 
 hend that one of the reasons of this failure of squad- 
 rons to suppress the slave trade, is the fact, that the 
 British government has offered so high a premium on 
 the head of every recaptured slave, and so much per 
 ton on the slave vessel, that it proves a powerful 
 
352 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 temptation to the captain and crews of the men of 
 war to connive at slavers so far as to permit them to 
 go in and freight their vessels, in order that they may 
 capture them afterwards and realize this liberal go- 
 vernmental bounty on the tonnage of the captured 
 vessels and on the number of the slaves they con- 
 tain. But the slave vessels being all built for fast 
 sailing, if they can once get their cargo of human 
 beings shipped and they under way, in ninety-nine 
 cases out of a hundred they can then escape capture 
 by their superior speed. 
 
 The British have another reason for rather wishing 
 to capture a slave ship after she has a full cargo on 
 board than to prevent her from getting to the coast 
 and shipping one, and that is, in addition to the high 
 premium per head on the recaptured slaves and on 
 the vessel, these recaptured Africans are sent Xo the 
 British West Indies to work the plantations as ap- 
 prentices or hired labourers, and the government al- 
 lows so much per head for every "such labourer in- 
 troduced there from the coast of Africa. Now with 
 this double bounty to be realized in case of success 
 in capture by the officers and by every one of the 
 crew of a British man of war, is it not highly proba- 
 ble that they will be tempted to connive at the ship- 
 ping of slaves for the sake of the profits of seizing 
 them afterwards? We honour human nature as much 
 as facts will permit us to do. But it would be an 
 extraordinary stretch of generosity and charity to 
 suppose that this motive v/ould be wholly unfelt by 
 the high-minded and honourable officers of her Ma- 
 jesty, Queen Victoria's, government. Our own gal- 
 lant officers on the African coast have no such temp- 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 353 
 
 tation; but are as much interested to prevent a slave 
 ship from landing and loading as to capture one after 
 she has shipped a full cargo. And yet as a matter of 
 fact the American squadron has not to any extent 
 till very recently been successful in seizing slavers. 
 This is no reflection on the courage, integrity, or 
 fidelity of our excellent officers. It is the result of 
 the intrinsic difficulties that environ the case. By 
 a recent international arrangement of Great Britain 
 with France, the naval force of the latter is to be add- 
 ed to that already employed for the suppression of 
 this horrible traffic. But it is doubtful whether this 
 additional force will give greater success in reaching 
 the humane result contemplated. An armada from 
 the choicest ships of nations could not annihilate a 
 traffic sustained by the combined avarice of Africa 
 herself and of all her corrupt and greedy destroyers 
 throughout the world. Physical force is not the 
 right kind of instrumentality to battle successfully 
 with those evils whose exciting causes are the de- 
 praved passions and appetites of intelligent, immor- 
 tal mind. And yet it appears almost impossible to 
 teach mankind this simple, and as it would seem to 
 us, obvious truth. If the whole coast of Africa were 
 completely blockaded so that not a slave should be 
 shipped for a century, the slave trade would not then 
 be annihilated; for the causes that give rise to it 
 would still be in existence, and on the withdrawal of 
 an armed force from the seas w^ould inevitably lead 
 to the renewal of the traffic. There is no adaptation 
 whatever in mere physical force to remove these 
 causes. And every principle of sound philosophy 
 assures us that till the exciting causes are removed, 
 30* 
 
354 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 the effects which they naturally produce cannot 
 cease. We want a remedy then for this enormously 
 wicked traffic that will reach its origin; that will at 
 once grapple with and destroy the causes that give it 
 birth and sustain its being. Any thing short of this 
 must ultimately prove a failure. But what shall this 
 remedy be? The most intelligent philanthropists 
 both in the old world and the nevv now begin to an- 
 swer — " the civilization and Christianization of 
 Africa herself^^ 
 
 No man has made a more laborious investigation as 
 to the best, the true remedy for this overgrown evil, 
 than Thomas F. Buxton, Esq., of England. The 
 conclusion at which he arrives, after his protracted 
 and careful researches on this subject, he expresses in 
 the followino; languasie: "With all confidence we 
 affirm that nothing permanent will be effected unless 
 we raise the native niind.^^ Again, writing of Af- 
 rica, he remarks — ^^ we must elevate the minds of 
 her people, and call forth the capabilities of her 
 soil.'' One of the most distinguished African tra- 
 vellers, after all that Europe had then done for the 
 suppression of the slave trade, remarks, — " Europe 
 therefore will have done little for the blacks, if the 
 abolition of the Atlantic slave trade is not followed 
 up by some wise and grand plan for the civilization 
 of the continent." Capt. Harris, of the British ser- 
 vice, so extensively acquainted with Africa, was com- 
 missioned by his government to investigate the mat- 
 ter and report as to the best method of extinguishing 
 the slave trade. The conclusion at which he arrived, 
 after all his researches and enlarged observations on 
 this subject, was, that the slave trade could never be 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 355 
 
 extinguished so long as the savage, pagan spirit of 
 Jifrica herself was in favour of it. His conclusion 
 is sound and strictly philosophical. It rests on a 
 true insight into the real cause of the evil; a cause 
 not to be reached by naval arnriaments nor parliamen- 
 tary legislation: for though compulsory means may 
 restrain the act, it cannot eradicate the motive. Were 
 the whole coast blockaded, still the "African will 
 not have ceased to desire and vehemently to crave 
 the spirits, the ammunition, and the articles of finery 
 and commerce, which Europe and America alone 
 can supply; and these he can obtain by the slave 
 trade, and by the slave trade only, while he remains 
 what he is." Capt. Harris has therefore very wisely 
 recommended the civilization and Christianization of 
 Africa herself, recommended a remedy for the disor- 
 dered passions of the native mind, and for its savage 
 physical condition, as the true, efficient causes of this 
 disgraceful and inhuman traffic. 
 
 Two things then must be done for Africa, if she 
 is ever rescued from the ravages of a commerce in 
 her own hapless children, alike ruinous to her and in- 
 famous to the nations concerned in it. 1. Mind 
 there must be elevated, expanded and disciplined till 
 it can comprehend the true economy of national 
 wealth, and take advantage of those laws of nature 
 which are subservient to its production. And 2, 
 the physical resources of the country must be under- 
 stood and developed, till each African chief can be 
 made to see that for every dollar he now receives 
 from the sale and export of his living subjects, one 
 hundred dollars worth of produce either for home 
 consumption or foreign commerce can be raised by 
 them if retained as labourers on the soil. 
 
356 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 But capabilities of mind and resources of territory 
 are nothing in the estimate of ignorant savages; and 
 while the Africans remain such, and know no way 
 of obtaining the products of civilized industry but by 
 the slave trade, that trade can never be annihilated 
 till you exterminate the coloured race. No. The 
 native mind must be trained, equipped, and led forth 
 there to its grand conquest over the laws and agen- 
 cies of matter, and taught its power to render them 
 subservient to the purposes of man's existence, con- 
 venience and comfort, by extracting from the soil and 
 gathering from the spontaneous productions of the 
 earth the legitimate bounties which Providence be- 
 stows on intelligent human industry. But can this 
 be done? And if done are the physical resources of 
 Africa such as to furnish her inhabitants ample 
 means not only of subsistence, but of wealth, wholly 
 independent of the ungodly gain of the slave trade? 
 Both these questions may without hesitancy be an- 
 swered in the affirmative. The primary elements 
 of mind in Africa are, essentially, what they are in 
 similar circumstances every where else in the world. 
 The powerful appliances of civilization, science and 
 religion will find susceptibilities in the Jlfrican in- 
 tellect, and, plied long enough, will effect the same 
 evolution of mental capacities, the same inventive 
 powers, — the same enterprise, and will give the same 
 general direction to the deathless energy of mind 
 there as in any other quarter of the globe. It is a libel 
 on the benevolence of God, to suppose that he has 
 created a race of rational beings with so stinted 
 mental endowments, that with proper culture they 
 cannot be sufficiently developed and disciplined, to 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 357 
 
 avail themselves of the bounteous means of a happy- 
 temporal existence within their reach, and also to 
 rise to those noble destinies of an immortal nature, 
 for which man was made. In respect to the physi- 
 cal resources of the continent of Africa, they are 
 amply sufficient to sustain twice the number of her 
 present population in a state of advanced civilization, 
 refinement and luxury. 
 
 Indeed Africa is inferior to no other portion of 
 the globe in native wealth. — The partial and very- 
 imperfect exploration of her mineral resources shows 
 that silver, gold, copper and iron abound in many- 
 parts of the country. — Of valuable timber she has an 
 inexhaustible supply, and it is already becoming an 
 important article of export. — Dye woods are found 
 in the greatest abundance, yielding carmine, crim- 
 son, red, brown, brilliant yellow, and the various 
 shades from yellow to orange and a fine blue. — Af- 
 rica is rich in gums. Copal, Senegal mastic, and 
 Sudan or Turkey gum, can be obtained in large 
 quantities. — Of nuts, which are beginning to form a 
 new and important article of trade, there are the 
 palm nut, the shea nut, the cola nut, the ground nut, 
 the castor nut, the nitta nut, and the cocoa nut. — The 
 palm tree grows in great numbers, and immense 
 quantities of the nuts are permitted to decay on the 
 ground without being gathered. Then there are 
 valuable roots that grow with little or no cultiva- 
 tion. — Of these, may be mentioned the manioc, yams, 
 sweet potatoes, arrow-root and ginger. — All the 
 fruits of the tropics are there in variety and profu- 
 sion ; oranges, lemons, citrons, limes, pine apples, 
 guavas, tamarinds, pawpaws, plantains, and bana- 
 
358 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 nas. — Of grain, there is rice. Indian corn, Guinea corn 
 or millet, and other varieties. — There are also mis- 
 cellaneous products, such as bees' wax, ivory, Indian 
 rubber, and in some places horns, hides, skins, tortoise 
 shell, ostrich feathers, pearls, ambergris, amber, cot- 
 ton, coffee and indigo. — Africa also contains every 
 species of domestic animal and fowl necessary for 
 convenience and food, and fisheries which, were they 
 under yankee enterprise and management, would 
 annually yield a revenue twice as great as the whole 
 of her slave trade. But to give a complete catalogue 
 of African products would extend this lecture beyond 
 reasonable limits. A writer of great accuracy re- 
 marks as follows: "With few inconsiderable ex- 
 ceptions the whole line of coast in Western Africa, 
 accessible to trading vessels, presents immense tracts 
 of land of the most fertile character, which only 
 require the hand of industry and commercial enter- 
 prise to turn them into inexhaustible mines of 
 wealth." An individual who had spent some time 
 in Western Africa, and become from close and care- 
 ful observation well acquainted with the character 
 and capabilities of its soil, writing to the colonists of 
 Liberia, remarks: "The flat lands around you, and 
 particularly your farms, have as good a soil as can 
 be met with in any country. They will produce 
 two crops of corn, sweet potatoes, and several other 
 vegetables in a year. They will yield a larger crop 
 than the best soil in America. — One acre of rich 
 land well tilled will produce you three hundred dol- 
 lars worth of indigo. Half an acre may be made to 
 grow half a ton of arrow root. Four acres laid out in 
 coffee plants will, after the third year, produce you a 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 359 
 
 clear income of two or three hundred dollars annual- 
 ly. Half an acre of cotton tree will clothe your 
 whole family. One acre of canes will make you in- 
 dependent of all the world for the sugar you use in 
 your family. One acre set with fruit trees and well 
 attended, will furnish you the year round with more 
 plantains, bananas, oranges, limes, guavas, pawpaws, 
 and pine apples than you will ever gather. Nine 
 months of the year you may grow fresh vegetables 
 every month, and some of you who have lowland 
 plantations may do so throughout the year." 
 
 And now in a country of such vast physical re- 
 sources, and so richly blest of Heaven with every 
 product of a luxuriant soil and a genial climate, is 
 there any thing more necessary to annihilate her in- 
 human and infamous traffic in her own children, than 
 to raise the native mind into the daylight of civiliza- 
 tion where it can see things as they are, appreciate 
 the exuberant bounties of Providence hitherto over- 
 looked, and be made to understand the fact which 
 can then be demonstrated — viz., that the labour of 
 one man, and that not in tilling the earth, but in 
 merely gathering the spontaneous production of the 
 palm nut and the elephant's tooth, can earn annually 
 a sum more than twice as much as he would bring, 
 were he sold as a slave, and his life and industry 
 thus annihilated to his own country and transferred 
 to a foreign one for ever. Such an elevation of the 
 native mind is beyond all doubt the true radical 
 remedy for the African slave trade. This is the 
 conclusion, I may add, the settled conviction, of the 
 most enlightened philanthropists of the world at the 
 present day. All human history shows that it is mind 
 
360 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 which rules the destinies of nations. Mind re- 
 instated, enthroned in something of its primitive 
 sovereignty and dignity, and invested with the ma- 
 jesty of an enlightened conscience and high Christian 
 sentiment, is and ever will be the elected instrument 
 of Divine beneficence for the subversion of the pow- 
 ers of darkness, the destruction of the overgrown 
 schemes of wickedness, and for the prevalence and 
 universal triumph of truth and righteousness in the 
 world. But how is this elevation of African mind 
 to be effected? How is Africa to be civilized? I 
 answer in the general, by observing the same great 
 laws of civilization that have operated in civilizing 
 any other portion of the human family. Civilization 
 has its fixed laws, and if overlooked or violated in 
 any case, their results cannot be realized. History 
 furnishes no instance of a barbarous people left to 
 themselves, and uninfluenced by intercourse with 
 others, ever becoming civilized. 
 
 Fallen human nature has no inherent tendency to 
 so refined an issue. In some peculiar cases military 
 conquest has contributed to the civilization of the 
 conquered. But in no form can war be regarded as 
 the necessary handmaid of civilization. Commercial 
 intercourse, where a country has facilities for com- 
 munication with the interior, has often resulted in 
 the civilization of a people. But the grand law of 
 civilization operates on the social and political con- 
 dition of a people, through the medium of model 
 COMMUNITIES planted amongst them, and rendered 
 permanent in their influence on the imitative prin- 
 ciple and emulation of the barbarous tribes. This is 
 the law of civilization which we must observe in re- 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 361 
 
 ference to Africa. The hope of benefitino; her in this 
 respect by military conquest is out of the question; 
 and commercial intercourse, heretofore, has been far 
 from exerting a civilizing influence on her people. 
 Nor can such intercourse be expected materially to 
 benefit a population, whose country has no great 
 highways, few navigable rivers, and, therefore, no 
 f^icilities for communication with the interior. We 
 must have the model communities planted and sustained 
 there. The germ must be rooted in her own soil, 
 and rear its trunk, put forth its leaves, its flowers, and 
 its first fruits before the eyes of the savage native 
 tribes. This is no new theory of African civilization. 
 Near the close of the last century, Capt. Beaver, a 
 benevolent Englishman, attempted a model settle- 
 ment of civilization in Africa; but the climate soon 
 disclosed to him and to his company the melan- 
 choly fact, so fearfully demonstrated since, that the 
 white man^s life must be the inevitable forfeit of all 
 such attempts! Who then are to form the constitu- 
 ency of these model communities indispensable to pro- 
 mote that civilization, which alone can effectually 
 suppress the slave trade of Africa? Experience and 
 observation have decided that it is to be her own ex- 
 iled, but now civilized. Christianized sons, whose 
 physical structure and temperament have never been 
 so changed by a different locality, as to unfit them 
 to return with safety, and live in their original cli- 
 mate and country. 
 
 Burkhardt, the most distinguished of travellers 
 
 in Africa, remarks that there is no fairer prospect 
 
 for her civilization, " than the education of the sons 
 
 of Africa in their own country and by their own 
 
 31 
 
362 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 countrymen, previously educated by Europeans.'^ 
 If in forming these model settlements of civilization 
 in Africa, there were no risk of life to vvliite men, 
 yet on every principle of social philosophy, it would 
 be infinitely preferable to have them composed of 
 educated, Christian, coloured men. The associations 
 which the native tribes have connected with white 
 men as a privileged and superior race, would very 
 naturally cause them to despair of successfully imi- 
 tating such a race in the arts and usages of civilized 
 life; whilst the identity of skin and national lineage 
 with the coloured community would have precisely 
 a contrary tendency, and would demonstrate to them, 
 by a living example, the improvement and elevation 
 of which the negro race is capable. 
 
 The case then may be stated thus: the true, and 
 only effectual remedy for the horrible slave trade 
 is the civilization and Christianization of the inha- 
 bitants of Africa herself. To efifect this we must 
 have model communities of civilized, Christian men 
 planted and rendered permanent there; and for ob- 
 vious and imperative reasons the men that compose 
 these communities must be coloured men, the de- 
 scendants of Africans. Now where shall we find 
 such men? The men who alone, under God, can be 
 the instruments of civilizing and Christianizing their 
 *' brethren, their kinsmen according to the flesh?" 
 I answer, in this country. And may not prepara- 
 tion for becoming instruments of so great blessing 
 to their fatherland have been one of the ulterior, be- 
 neficent purposes of God in permitting the wicked- 
 ness of man to exile them and bring and bind them 
 for a season in servitude here? Has the work of 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 363 
 
 establishing these model communities of civilization 
 in Africa been begun? It has, under blessed auspices 
 and brilliant auguries of ultimate and triumphant 
 success. By whom has a scheme of so far-reaching 
 and so effective benevolence been originated and put 
 into execution? By those lofty and patriotic minds 
 who organized the Anierican Colonization Society. 
 Notwithstanding the earlier efforts of Great Britain 
 in the establishment of the colony of Sierra Leone, I 
 am happy to think that oiu^ own country has a fair 
 and equitable claim to the noble distinction of being 
 the first to plant a community in Africa that can be 
 regarded as in all respects a true, model settlement 
 of civilization, republican liberty and Christianity. 
 The following is no exaggerated representation of 
 what has been achieved by this great American 
 movement. 
 
 "What, then, has colonization done? It has laid 
 the foundation of an empire in the commonwealth 
 of Liberia. There it is — on the coast of Africa, a 
 little north of the equator, in the central regions of 
 African barbarism, and of the slave trade. There 
 are four colonies and twelve Christian settlements, 
 dotting a coast of about 300 miles, extending their 
 domain by fair negotiation, back into the interior 
 and along the Atlantic shore, the whole incorporated 
 into a federal republic, after the model of our own, 
 with like institutions, civil, literary, and religious, 
 and composed of Africans and descendants of Afri- 
 cans, most of whom were emancipated from bondage 
 in this country for the purpose, some of whom were 
 recaptured from slave "ships, and a small part of 
 whom are adopted natives that have come in to join 
 
364 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 them. There is Christian civilization and the go- 
 vernment of law; Xhere is a civil jurisprudence and 
 polity; ihtre are courts and magistrates, judges and 
 lawyers; there are numerous Christian churches, 
 well supplied with ministers of the gospel; {here are 
 schools, public libraries, and a respectable system of 
 public education; [here is a public press and two 
 journals, one monthly, and one semi-monthly; there 
 are rising towns and villages; there are the useful 
 trades and mechanic arts, a productive agriculture 
 and increasing commerce; in their harbours are to be 
 found ships trading with Europe and America, and 
 the exports are increasing from year to year; and 
 all this the creation of somewhat less than twenty 
 years — an achievement of which there is no parallel 
 in history." 
 
 Now is not such a community pre-eminently 
 adapted to promote civilization in Africa, to de- 
 velop her physical resources, to augment and give 
 impulse to her legitimate trade and commerce, and 
 thus to prove the great and efficient remedy for a 
 traffic that has burnt in upon her its unmitigated 
 curses for centuries? 
 
 On this subject the opinions of General Turner, 
 late Governor of Sierra Leone, are entitled to great 
 weight. Mr. Buxton, who was intimately acquainted 
 with his views in reference to this matter, was irre- 
 sistibly led from General Turner's great experience 
 and extensive observation, to the conclusion (I give 
 his own words) " That the true way to suppress the 
 slave trade and to extricate Africa from its present 
 abyss of misery, is to be found in friendly inter- 
 course with the natives; in the encouragement of 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 365 
 
 their legitimate trade, in the cultivation of the soil, 
 and in alliances with them for the suppression of the 
 slave traffic." Now do not our colonies fulfil pre- 
 cisely all these conditions? Their intercourse with 
 the natives is of the most friendly kind; — they en- 
 courage trade with them; — and they give them a 
 practical illustration of the right culture of the soil 
 on the colonial farms. The government of Liberia 
 has also formed alliances and entered into treaties of 
 amity and trade with about two hundred thousand 
 of the native tribes, one invariable condition of 
 which treaties is that the natives shall in no icay, 
 directly nor indirectly, aid or abet the slave trade or 
 connive at it in any form, — that they shall abandon 
 some of their barbarous usages and protect and foster 
 American missions. Already some fifteen or twenty 
 thousand of the native Africans have voluntarily 
 become subject to the laws of Liberia, thrown aside 
 the badges of their superstition and idolatry, con- 
 formed their costume and their social habits to the 
 requisitions of civilized life, and many of them at- 
 tend public worship on the Sabbath in the colonial 
 churches. 
 
 The English language, that great vehicle of the 
 knowledge of civilization and of a pure Christianity, 
 has already penetrated more than two hundred miles 
 into the interior, and awakened among chiefs and 
 people a spirit of inquiry and a strong desire for the 
 establishment of schools to instruct them in the arts 
 and usages of civilized life and the truths of the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 What a change in a little more than twenty years! 
 The whole territory now occupied by the common- 
 31* 
 
366 A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 wealth of Liberia was lately one vast theatre of slave- 
 trading and all kinds of savage enormities. Now 
 there is not a slave factory between the two ex- 
 tremes of colonial jurisdiction. It is computed that 
 the existence and influence of this commonwealth on 
 the western coast prevents the exportation of nearly 
 fifty thousand slaves annually from that part of Africa. 
 Besides, the protection and encouragement which 
 the colonies afford to Christian missions, enables those 
 colonies thus incidentally to exert the most certain 
 of all civilizing influences on savage men — the in- 
 fluence of the gospel — and so paves the way for an 
 indefinite progress by the natives in social, political 
 
 and religious improvement Such colonies as 
 
 ours then, British philanthropists themselves being 
 judges, contain all the elements of Africa's intel- 
 lectual, social, civil and religious redemption, and 
 constitute the grand and only effective remedy for 
 that monstrous traffic in her children which has 
 covered Christendom with guilt and Africa with 
 more than funeral gloom for ages. 
 
 Now had colonization no tendency to furnish an 
 asylum for the disfranchised coloured man of this 
 country — no tendency to place him in circumstances 
 where, unimpeded by prejudice and privileged com- 
 petition, he can enjoy social equality, political rights 
 and liberty with all the avenues to wealth, to civil, 
 intellectual and moral distinctions open before him, 
 and with all the lures to the loftiest hopes and no- 
 blest aspirations of human nature gathering their re- 
 sistless attractions upon him — did this enterprise do 
 nothing more, directly nor indirectly, than to furnish 
 Africa with so admirable a model settlement of her 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 367 
 
 owQ descendants as the colonics of Liberia now pre- 
 sent, tills alone, in its civilizing and Christianizing in- 
 fluence on Africa herself, and in its bearings on the 
 ultimate and entire overthrow of her slave trade, 
 would entitle colonization to the rank which that en- 
 lightened statesman, the late Hon. Roger M. Sher- 
 man, assigned it as " amongst the noblest schemes 
 of benevolence in the nineteenth century P^ This 
 alone ought to claim for it the sympathies, the pray- 
 ers and the liberal patronage of the patriots, the phi- 
 lanthropists and Christians of the whole civilized 
 world! And it is this aspect or bearing of the en- 
 terprise on the temporal and spiritual interests and 
 destinies of the teeming millions of Africa which the 
 providence of God is now rendering most prominent 
 and full of promise to that benighted, afflicted conti- 
 nent. 
 
 How true that the thoughts of the great, Eternal 
 Mind are not as our thoughts. While we hitherto 
 have been contemplating colonization in its bearing 
 on the free coloured people and the slaves of our 
 own country, and striving by it (and that too " in a 
 great fight of affliction ") to ameliorate the condi- 
 tion of the one class, and to secure the liberty of the 
 other, even on a small scale, it would seem that the 
 Infinite Mind has given an unthought-of grandeur 
 to our scheme, by adopting it as a far reaching in- 
 strumentality of blessings to a vast continent, to the 
 number of whose inhabitants all the coloured people 
 here, are but as the dust in the balance. Thus it 
 would appear that within the exterior and obvious 
 form of our simple enterprise, and concealed from 
 all but the Omniscient eye, laid those sublime ele- 
 
ob» A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 mental principles of Africa's social, political, and re- 
 ligious regeneration, which need only to be energized 
 by Omnipotence and controlled by a hand divine, in 
 order to work out some of the most stupendous re- 
 sults ever witnessed in the national redemption and 
 elevation of human nature! How w^onderful the 
 counsels of the Most High! What if it should be 
 found that amidst the darkness and depression of 
 her exiled sons here for nearly two centuries, God 
 has been calmly, silently, and unseen, just as he 
 forms the diamond in nature, elaborating that rich 
 gem of civilization that now begins to sparkle as a 
 brilliant on Africa's bleeding bosom. 
 
 If there be " a thread that determines the place 
 of every bead in the necklace" of individual and 
 national destiny, then when Africa at last exchanges 
 her dark zone for a girdle of jewels glittering with 
 the light of science and religion, who shall predict 
 that it uill not be found that colonization has spun 
 the silken thread which binds them all in their 
 beauteous order? And if this be only in the slight- 
 est degree probable, what shall we say of the pro- 
 fessed philanthropy that would break this thread ? Is 
 it wise, patriotic or benevolent, to attempt to em- 
 barrass or destroy an experiment for Africa's re- 
 demption, which promises to bless her hundred and 
 fifty millions, because it will not confer immediate 
 social and political freedom on some three millions 
 of her hapless sons in this country? Is it enlightened, 
 disinterested, magnanimous sympathy for the ivliole 
 coloured race which dictates determined opposition to 
 the only plan that for centuries has promised to fur- 
 nish a fair opportunity for the coloured man to test 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 369 
 
 by actual experiment, what he can make himself to 
 be in the scale of intellectual, social, and political 
 existence, when his lohole nature is free, and on an 
 arena wide as his capacities, and free too as his na- 
 ture, and every hope and aspiration, every generous 
 impulse that can be brought to bear on his energies, 
 is proffering him its aid? 
 
 In a future age I doubt not that the organized oppo- 
 sition and deadly hostility shown by some towards 
 this noble attempt for Africa's disenthralment and 
 regeneration will be regarded as one of the most 
 singular and inexplicable facts in the history of 
 this part of the nineteenth century.* And yet I 
 am not sure but that this is the very fact on 
 which a profound and far-sighted Christian phi- 
 losopher would fix his firmest expectations of great 
 and glorious ulterior issues. For, it is on the prin- 
 ciple of ANTAGONISM, that the infinite God himself 
 has wTOught out some of the grandest problems of 
 his moral government. The loyalty and holiness 
 of Heaven's first-born sons were tested by the op- 
 posing forces of temptation and sin. x\nd who 
 may say whether Gabriel himself would ever have 
 stood so high, or shone so brightly, had not Lucifer 
 fell like lightning by his side and subjected him to 
 the shock of opposition ? What great or good thing 
 in the empire of Jehovah has escaped the action of 
 antagonistic forces, or been exempt from the strug- 
 gles and the throes of conflict? 
 
 * The author is willing to believe that some good men who arc really- 
 interested in the welfare of the coloured race, have been mduced to op- 
 pose colonization through misrepresentations respecting its character, 
 and misapprehensions as to its legitimate aims and bearings. But for 
 the one who commenced the crusade, and for those that have rallied 
 round his standard no such charitable supposition can be entertained. 
 
370 , A PERMANENT REMEDY 
 
 Christianity itself, in the immaculate person of its 
 Divine founder, was hunted down by the fiercest op- 
 position from the manger in Bethlehem to the cross 
 on Calvary, and from the cross to the tomb of Joseph, 
 where the rancour of Jewish hate held its jealous 
 vigils till stunned and overpowered by the glories 
 of the resurrection ! Christ had to endure the con- 
 tradiction of sinners asrainst himself The great 
 Captain of our salvation was made perfect through 
 suffering. It is a deeply affecting thought that the 
 light of the glorious Sun of Righteousness himself 
 had to struggle through clouds, and ^' has woven its 
 rainbows " of promise to man on a *'^ back ground of 
 eternal black!'' 
 
 Had colonization been of more doubtful tendency 
 and bearing (than facts prove it has been) on the 
 present and prospective condition of long neglected 
 Africa, one might suppose that the sympathies owed 
 her by the Christian world would have effectually 
 curbed all opposition, till the scheme had been fairly 
 tested and proved by incontestable experiment to be 
 a failure. I say, the sympathies oived her by the 
 world. For who can avoid an emotion of strange 
 and even sublime sorrow when musing on the mys- 
 terious and mournful destinies of that ill-starred con- 
 tinent, bereaved annually of nearly jialf a million of 
 her hapless children, not by the visitations of natural 
 death or by physical calamity, but by that violence 
 and reckless rapine and murder, which are deaf to 
 every cry save that of an inexorable and fiendish 
 cupidity! Poor, bleeding Africa! ! 
 
 "The Niobe of nations — there she stands, 
 Childless and crownless in her voiceless wo." 
 
FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 371 
 
 Her weeds of mourning have never been laid 
 iside for centuries. Her cheeks have never been 
 .Tee from tears of the bitterest bereavement. Her 
 long and starless night of desolation as yet has been 
 succeeded by no bright and blessed morning! 
 
 For some inscrutable reason in the counsels of 
 Heaven, Africa has been longest doomed to the unas- 
 suaged woes of man's moral overthrow in Eden, and 
 has been the very last to share in that august move- 
 ment which human nature under the gospel, is now 
 makingtowards its triumph over the ruins of theapos- 
 tacy and the attainment of its highest terrestrial desti- 
 nies. Through darkness and storm and conflict, co- 
 lonization has struggled and succeeded in locating on 
 her coast the elemental forces of this grand move- 
 ment for Africa. It is, perhaps, one of the greatest 
 experiments ever made on human society ! It is cer- 
 tainly one of thrilling, ineflable interest to earth and 
 heaven. It aims to influence ultimately in all their 
 dearest interests, one hundred and fifty millions of 
 immortal minds hitherto and prospectively, as it 
 would seem, to a great extent, beyond the reach of 
 any other instrumentality. For aught that any man 
 dares now predict, their hopes and happiness for two 
 worlds may be found, in the evolution of the Divine 
 purposes, to be involved in and identified with the 
 success of this experiment! It aims to remove the 
 covering from all faces, to wp/ieaz^e and throw ofi" the su- 
 perincumbent masses of superstition, paganism, crime 
 and curses, that for centuries have crushed a fifth 
 part of the hundreds of millions of the human race, 
 into the lowest deep of moral degradation. It aims 
 to develop the physical resources of a vast continent, 
 
372 A REMEDY FOR THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 to evolve and give play to the mental faculties of its 
 myriad population, to awaken the high hopes and 
 infinite aspirations that will fit Africa for those grand 
 and exalted enterprises which will bring her up to 
 the level and make her a full partner with the other 
 nations, in all the stupendous blessings of the world's 
 long-looked-for social, political, and spiritual millen- 
 nium! 
 
 FINIS. 
 
% J^ 
 
 /V • 
 
li