MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 92-81073 MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the malmmmm0ifm [240 \ A122 h Qexnnder, Ja-^ec Wj-nddel/^ •l80-^.-59 Consolation; in discourses on select topi^cs, addressed to the suffering people of God 4th ed M.Y. 1855 D 4/18 p Re U TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SIZE: ^SZ. REDUCTION RATIO:, IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA vlIA IB IIB DATE FILMED: Z_lL_ii. INITIALS_^J_/V//_; HLMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. CT //a A c V Association for Information and Image Management 1100 Wayne Avenue. Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 12 3 4 iiijiliiiilj mi [ IT INI Mil nil iiiiliiiiliiiilmiliiiil I I I I 5 6 iiiliiiiliiiiliiii I FT 7 8 9 iliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiili Inches 1 1.0 I.I 1.25 TTT 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm 2.8 1^ 156 13.2 2.5 163 VS. 3.6 40 1.4 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 T I I IT I I I I I I I 4 * MflNUFfiCTURED TO PIIM STflNDflRDS BY APPLIED IMRGE, INC. /). f u^ K\Vl I (Holumbta llntoraitg iCibrarg ll^ttrg fimingfitntt SIIfomaB BORN 1835-DIED 1903 * FOR THIRTY YEARS CHIEF TRANSLATOR DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, D. C. LOVER OF LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE HIS LIBRARY WAS GIVEN AS A MEMORIAL BY HIS SON WILLIAM S. THOMAS, M. 0. TO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY A. D. 1905 i CONSOLATION: IN DISCOURSES ON SELECT TOPICS, ADDRESSED TO THE SUFFERING PEOPLE OF GOD. BT JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D. D FOURTH EDITION. NEW YORK: CHARLES SORIBNER, 377 & 379 BROADWAY, (second floor.) 1866. 3 .0 CONTENTS. Preface FAGB EnTKKKD, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, hj CHARLES 8CR1DNER, In the Gerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. I. God's Everlasting Meecy a 3ouece of Consolatton 11 n. The Peovtoence of God a ground of Consolation . 35 in. The same Subject in its Application to the whoi-b Path of Life 59 IV. The Omnipotence of God a ground of enlarged Christian Expectation 85 393112 CONTENTS. CONTENTS. xni. PAQB PAGB The Goodness of God a Kefuge m time of Trouble 109 VL The Soul sustained by Hope rising to Assurance . 133 %-\J Rest in God . • • . 157 vm. Christlapt Joy expelling the Distresses of the Soul 181 Consolation derived from the Uses of Chastisement 211 X. The Holy Submission of Christ's "Will considered as A SOURCE OF Consolation .... 239 XI. Consolation from God's Promise never to forsake 259 The Compassion of Christ to the Weak, the boR- rowing, and the Sinful .... 299 XIY. Consolation under the Judgments of Men . . 321 XV. Consolation derived from a Review of Christian Martyrdom 343 XYI. The Aged Believer consoled by God's Promise . 367 XYII. Consolation in regard to the Saints Departed . 389 xvin. All Consolation traced up to its Divine Source . 423 xn. The Believer sustained by the Strength of Christ 279 4 PREFACE. T) EASONS might be given, if it were seemly and important, why the mind of the writer has been strongly drawn towards this particular subject. It is, however, sufficient to say, that in the course of a ministry which now oversteps the quarter of a cen- tury, he has, like his brethren, often felt it to be his obligation and pleasure to attempt the work of com- forting sufferers. One of the facilities afforded to the gospel by the press is, that it enables the preacher to extend his voice, according to his measure of ability, beyond the walls of his own church ; and it IS natural, and will perhaps be thought pardonable, that he should desire this increase of influence and fruitfulness. Of the discourses contained in this volume, some are for substance the same which have been pronounced from the pulpit, and others have been written expressly for publication. 8 PEEFAOB, PREFACE. 9 The whole of Divine Truth may, in a certain aspect of it, be regarded as matter of comfort to Christian disciples. Even in a more restricted view, the range of subjects which are consolatory in their nature is very extensive. Only a selection, therefore, of these has been attempted in the present instance, and no expectation must be indulged that the volume now offered will contain either, on one hand, an exhaustive analysis of the Spirit's work as a Com- foiter, or, on the other, a detail of all the particular circumstances of life in which consolation may be needed. If any should be surprised at the large amount of doctrinal discussion, he will probably acquiesce in the reasonableness of such a method, on consider- ing that true evangelical comfort is little promoted by mere hortatory addi^ess. K the exhortation con- tains no solid matter of doctrinal truth, it will avail little for the end proposed. We do not reach the case of the disheartened by commanding or implor- ing him to be of good cheer, but by setting before his mind those great everlasting truths, the accepta- tion of which lays the basis for joy and peace. Such are the glorious attributes of God, his wonderful providence, his covenant of grace, his magazine of precious promises, and his rewards of heavenly bliss. In discussing the attributes and the providence of God, it is not possible to avoid some truths which are subjects of controversy among Christians ; and the writer has not sought to disguise his views on these articles by omission or compromise. Delightful as is the work of administering the cordials of grace to God's suffering people, it is to be performed with a discerning hand ; and he that " speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort," must beware how he cries. Peace, peace, when there is no peace. This may account for the frequency with which consolation is here intermingled with warning and rebuke. If the book should find any favour with persons as yet unre- newed in the spirit of their minds, it will not be the less profitable for these occasional attempts to arouse the benumbed conscience. But, after all, this is a book for afflicted believ- ers, and to such it is affectionately dedicated. If it shall soothe the ruffled spirit of the careworn disci- ple, or assuage the grief of the bereaved, or brighten the chamber of illness, or add a drop of balm to the cup of old age, the writer will be more than repaid I 'Sf 10 PREFACE. for the pains which he has bestowed upon it. That this may be the case, and that the humble effort may be owned of God to the refreshment and sup- port of the afflicted, is the prayer with which it is now surrendered to the public. New-York Nov. 18 1852. GOD'S EVERLASTING MERCY A SOURCE OF CONSOLATION. ■f I. WHEN, amidst the sorrows of life, we look abroad in quest of consolation, we find none real and permanent till we resort to God himself; and our most complete solace is that which founds itself at once on some divine attribute. Especially is the mercy of God, in its large Old Testament ac- ceptation, a cause of relief and hope in times of distress. Ancient Israel found it so, and hence there is no topic which more frequently awakens the praises of psalmists and prophets. It is fitted, therefore, to lead the way in a volume which seeks to furnish suffering Christians with topics of conso- lation. When David had found a place for the ark, the august and fearful emblem and centre of their reli- gion, the people accompanied with " shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps." Perhaps we have gone too far in hushing all the more festive outbreaks of popular joy. On this great occasion, the royal poet delivered into the hand of the chief musician the lyric effusion since known as the one hundred and fifth psalm ; and ■■■«r 14 CONSOLATION. god's EVEELASTDTG MEEOY. 16 towards the conclusion ot a sublime and glowing ascription we first meet with these words, " O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever." And among the appointments, we read that Heman, Jeduthun, and their compa- nions were designated to give thanks to the Lord, because his mercy endureth for ever. It seems to have been taken as the established formula of praise, especially within the courts of the Lord. When the ark of Jehovah no longer dwelt within the curtains, and Solomon had builded a house to the Lord, and assembled the people for its dedication, the record is remarkable. " And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord ; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying. For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever ; that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister, by reason of the cloud ; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord."* Nor was the usage forgotten in later times ; for two hundred years after, in the reign of Jehosh- aphat, when the eastern nations were threatening to come down like a whirlwind on Judah, and the sovereign had called his subjects to humiliation, and the voice of a prophet had encouraged the host, ♦ 2 Chron. v. 11-14, vii. 8. I i and the Levites had stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high, we are particu- larly informed that when the king had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say. Praise the Lm^d: for his mercy endureth for ever. So hke- wise, passing over nearly three hundred years after the captivity, when the foundations of the second temple were laid, amidst the commingling shouts and weeping of the multitude, " they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel ; and they sang together by course, in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord ; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever towards Israel." (Ezr. 3 : 11.) It need not then surprise us, to find this ascription filling an important place in the book of sacred song. In the one hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, it forms the closing part of every verse, and was, doubtless, the chorus which was taken up, with the glorious reverberation of voices and instruments, by the multitude of worshippers. I see no reason why it may not now resound among the heavenly arches; why it may not be rehearsed with new glo- rious meanings in a future world; as reasonable surely is it to admit it in glowing characters over the arch which conducts us to the New Testament Church : His mercy endureth for ever ! This brief sentence comprises three of the most 16 CONSOLATION. 4 god's everlasting mercy. 17 Bublime of all the ideas of reason, viz., the idea of God^ the idea of Goodness^ and the idea oi Eternity. Let us meditate a little on this wonderful conjunc- tion of luminaries. I. The idea of God. — While in regard to a mul- titude, God is not in all their thoughts, there are those who feel this divine idea to be the great, ab- sorbing, ever-delightful object of their contemplar tion. As light irradiates all nature, so the thought of God diffuses gladness over all the moral world. The proposition which, above all others, should fill all intelligent creation with transport, is this. There IS A God. Conceive of a world without it ; conceive of a planet, rolling far away in some dark aphelion, where this prime revelation has never shone, hav- ing the light of common day, but no knowledge of God ; conceive of the poor, blank, cheerless dwell- ers on this atheistic orb, and then figure to vourself some beautiful and mighty angel, who has been thousands of years filling his lamp at the central founts of light, dispatched by infinite love, and speeding to carry these tidings to the ignorant planet ; who can measure the glory of the advent ? It is a change like that when God said to chaos, Let there be light ! If in all human knowledge there is a truth which should transport us beyond ourselves, it is, that there is a God. The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice ! Without it, we are a fatherless brood, and our wcrld an orphan uni- verse. The names of God are names of relation ; and among the relations, we have found something I more great, more tender, and more lovely, than parent, brother, or husband, when we have found a God. Whether, however, fallen reason would un- aided have arrived at the idea of God, is made a question. That the idea, when once revealed, is more than all others consonant to the faculties ; that it is more than all othei^ congenial to the soul ; that it delightfully enters, pervades, and fills capacities which were otherwise unemployed, must be acknow- ledged of all. " The invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under- stood by the things which are made, even his eter- nal power and Godhead." And the God thus seen is the personal, the paternal God of the Scriptures, and not the blind, ever-changing, ever-developing impersonality of modern philosophy. To rob the universe of such a guardian and indwelling glory, is a capital offence against humanity and nature. Yet false philosophy, and poetry as false, unite to rob us of the blessed solace ; and an ignorant, undis- criminating appetite for whatever is new and start- ling in literature, makes refined cabinets and draw- ing-room tables admit the blasphemous atheism of Shelley, while they would reject the scurrilous im- piety of Paine or Kneeland. The green and gilded snake creeps into the closet and the boudoir, and the modern Eves are tempted to deeper sin against their native persuasions than she of Eden. Al- mighty God ! of thine infinite compassion, preserve our people from the entrance of any speculation which shall involve the denial of Thee I 2 18 4 CONSOLATION. Atheism deforms all it touches. "It robs the univei-se/' says Hall, "of all finished and consum mate excellence even of idea. The admiration of perfect wisdom and goodness, for which we are formed, and which kindles such unspeakable rapture in the soul, finding in the regions of skepticism nothing to which it corresponds, droops and lan- guishes. In a world which presents a fair spectacle of order and beauty ; of a vast family, nourished and supported by an almighty Parent ; in a world which leads the devout mind, step by step, to the contemplation of the first fair and the first good, the skeptic is encompassed with nothing but obscuri- ty, meanness, and disorder." The infant embraces the earliest suggestion of a God without repugnance, and without effort. When grown to adult strength, and trained to philosophic inquiry, he still gazes on this as the grand and only satisfying object. It should seem that our capa- cities crave some glorious consummation of the pyramid of truth, some crowning point, some declaration of the infinite ; so that the soul without God is incomplete, — a basin of earth without its ocean. As knowledge increases, as our capacities grow, there is no more comprehension of this vast idea than there was before : the sun seems no smaller and no less bright as we approach his central resi- dence. Expand the faculty as we may, to the stand- ard of the highest seraph, there is still that in God which shall fill it aU. Climb as we may, fi'om Alp 5 I i 1 I \ god's everlasting mercy. 19 to Alp, in our researches, the vaulted heaven of the Divine Idea is still above us. Human science reaches no point where the divine wisdom has not anticipated its march. There is not a discovery in optics, though the fruit of ages of in- quiry, concerning which we do not feel authorized to assert, that the long-latent principle was known before creation, and that God has adapted the lenses of the eye to light, and light to the lenses of the eye. The remark may be generalized in its applica- tion to every law of physical and moral nature. So that a knowledge of God would really be the know- ledge of all things. I need not go about to show by argument why the being of God is a cause of rejoicing to the uni- verse. Other things are drops, but this is the foun- tain. Other things are transient, insulated favours ; fragments and atoms of beneficence ; single flowers of mercy ; single draughts of bliss ; single odoui^, wafted from fields of fragrance : but God (let me speak reverently) is the very atmosphere, all-com- prehending and all-pervading, in which we live, and move, and have our being. Therefore, he that glo- rieth, let him glory in the Lord ! He that would be joyful, let him be joyful in the Lord ! The book of Psalms is a chamber of holy voices, echo answer- ing echo, deep calling unto deep, with the enthusi- asm and rapture of adoring ecstasy and fearful love. We do but rehearse here what we shall utter above, when we call upon all things, silent or vocal, to praise the name of the Lord. " My meditation of 30 CONSOLATION. (K)d'8 everlasting MEEC5Y. 21 him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord. Sing unto him ; sing psalms unto him : talk ye of all his wondrous works. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens ; praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels; praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise God in his sanctuary ; praise him in the fir- mament of hia power. Praise the Lord, O Jerusa- lem ! Praise thy God, O Zion ! These are happy exercises, and he has never be- gun the course of true felicity, who is still a stranger to God. These afford the ultimate basis of all con- solation. II. The idea of goodness^ in that particular mode of it which is entitled meroy. In Scripture usage, the term is not always employed with the nice discrimi- nation of the schools, but is applied to all the modi- fications of divine favour to creatures. Yet the word undoubtedly carries with it some tinge of com- passion ; it speaks of pity ; it points to tears which tremble in the eye of infinite love ; it is God look- ing upon meanness, and wretchedness, and sin. It is a great idea, and fit to be coupled with divinity. Heathen mythology did not contain it. The Scrip- tures are full of it, and we see the temple praises were full of it. It is the essential property of God, whereby he regards the miserable. It is more spe- cially the same perfection, viewed as flowing through its sole channel in the Mediator., The fall, which rendered mediation necessary, rendered Jesus Christ the sole depositary of infinite mercy. Not more truly is the sun the organ and centre of all the ■^ light of the universe, than Jesus Christ is the organ and centre of all mercy for men. He is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe. ^ A merciful God is moreover their God in Jesus Christ. A world of sinners can look in only one direction to see God, to wit, in the direction of the ark and mercy-seat, which gives a propriety to the repeated use of this ascription in such temple-services as are connected with the ark of the covenant. God dwelt there, between the cherubim, that is, over the propitiatory. Hence the cry, O thou that dwellest between the cherubim ! It was an inhabitation of mercy. There he received incense ; there he pre- sided over the sprinkling of blood ; there he shone forth in a glory which any where else would have been consuming. The other instances of mercy contained in this psalm are favours and deliverances towards a sinful but accepted people, which are aU founded on the covenant of which this ark was the symbol. It is part of his royal name and title, the Lord God, merciful and gracious— keeping mercy for thousands ; long-suffering and of great mercy ; he dehghteth in mercy. Such are some of the phrases of the Old Testament, while in the New, this is the great topic, and every page seems to exhale the fragrance of the benediction, Grace, Mercy, and Peace. The Goodness, the Love, the Grace, and the Mercy of God, are only so many phases of the same orb ; all the outshining of one and the same benignant Jehovah ; and aU entitled to our praise. 22 CONSOLATION. god's EVERLASTnfG MEECT. 23 4 The goodness of God is his infinite disposition to do good to the creature. The love of God is the same goodness in its more distinct propension toward the person of the creature, whereby God tends to bless the creature, by the communication of himself, and this in various degrees — the love of the et'eature^ the love of rnan^ and the love of his people. The Grace of God is his infinite disposition to commu- nicate himself to the creature, in divine gratuity, irrespective of all merit in the object. And the Mercy of God, regarding man as fallen and sinful, is God's disposition to pardon sin and succour misery. It stands related to goodness, as kindness to pity, in the human soul ; it flows from the spring-head of mere goodness ; it contemplates misery, and misery which might be left unrelieved, as being justly in- flicted. It is, therefore, pre-eminently a sovereign perfection. This mercy of God may be received as general and special, God's general mercy flies to the succour of mankind in general, in their various deserved troubles; his special mercy contemplates them as united in covenant to the Lord Jesus Christ. To have any proper view of the divine mercy, we should consider who and what He is, of whom it is predicated ; how high, how great, how all-sufficient, how independent and :nfinite in per- petual bliss. We should consider who and what its objects are; men, fallen men, undeserving, con- demned enemies of God. The whole dealing of God with men, as revealed in the Scriptures, pro- ce^eds on this basis. We mistake fatally, if we as- sume any other. Thus viewed, the mercy of God is amazing, in its mode of action, its means and instru- ments, its sublime and tender events, its stupen- dous sacrifices, its elaborate, complicated, yet simple arrangements, and its extraordinary and immeasur- able results. There was a dawn of this benignity in the Old Testament ; but it is a clear shining under the New. Its very nature is embodied in the name of Jesus. When, after long.journeyings through a land of wilderness, abounding in convictions, fears, legal restraints, and unavailing endeavours, the weary pilgrim-soul first obtains a glimpse of this at- tribute, thus revealed, it is as when the remnant of the ten thousand Greeks, under Xenophon, after long battling and travel, caught a sight of the Euxine, and cried in a shout of rapture, the sea ! the sea ! Old Testament saints had glimpses, as when one sees the ocean from a favoured hill-top, in a distant view ; New Testament believers are allowed to come and stand by the side of the mighty, inter- minable main. It is our unspeakable privilege, brethren, to live under this dispensation of divine mercy. And we can rehearse displays of it far more wonderful than those which are recounted in any psalm. When we praise " him who alone doeth great wonders," we can include the wonders of redemption. When we ascribe glory " to him that made great lights," we can rejoice in that true Light which now shineth. He that '' smote Egypt in their first-bom" is indeed the God of mercy ; but still more, he who d,elive;;ed 24 CONSOLATION. god's EVEBLASTING MERCT. 25 for 119 his only-begotten Son, " for it pleased the Lord to bruise him." The overthrow of Pharaoh, of Sihon, and of Og, was but a type of our deliver- ance. So that we can exclaim with even higher transport than the Hebrew, " who remembered us in our low estate ; for his mercy endureth for ever ; and hath redeemed us from our enemies; for his mercy endureth for ever." If it was right for Israel to recount the memory of these national advantages, it is doubly incum- bent on Christians to speak to the praise and the glory of that grace wherein we are accepted in the Beloved. Especially should we record the great transaction, the chosen display of divine goodness to mankind, in the election of Messiah — his taking human flesh — his corapanying with rejecting men, in circumstances of lowliness, and shame, and pain — his conflict with the hour of darkness — his bloody, mysterious death, and his godlike resurrection. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The main channel and torrent of mercy flows in a majestic stream in the redemption of the soul ; but its flood receives and embosoms ten thousand lesser currents of temporal bounty. Divine mercy does not neglect the less while she accomplishes the greater. As she marches heavenward, with eyes fixed upon the crown and kingdom, she scatters largesses at every step. All our blessings flow from this same open hand, and are, therefore, properly I denominated mercies. The covenant includes these, and the believer hopes for them, on the prm- ciple, that all is his. Each returning season ex- poses to view some new aspect of divine benignity. Thou crowne-st the year wUh thy goodness. Our persons, our landscapes, our neighbourhoods, our city, our state, our nation, our race, are recipients every moment of this boundless favour ; magnified inconceivably when we consider that it descends upon the unworthy, and made most tender and im- pressive, when we consider that it descends upon us. And there is no view of the divine glory which so exalts him, ^ when he is beheld as the source of incessant and innumerable and immeasurable rivers of good ; himself the Great Parent, on whom all the ranks of creatures hang and are nourished. It is the theme of celestial worlds: " And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven Rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream ; With these that never fade the spirit* elect Bind their resplendent looks inwreathed with beams: Now in loose garlands thick thrown off; the bright Pavement that like a sea of jasper shone, Im purpled with celestial roses smiled. Then crowned again their golden \mx\fs> they took, Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet, Of charming symphony they introduce Their sacred song, and waken raptures high ; No voice exempt, no voice hut well could join Melodious part, such concord is in heaven." III. The Idea of Eternity.— T\i% strict transla- tion of the text is, " Thy mercy ... to etertjity !" 26 OONSOLATION. In its fulness of significancy, it is predicable of God alone, " who only hath immortality." At the grove of Beersheba (Gen. xxi. 33), Abraham invoked Jeho- vah under the name of The Eternal God. '^ He inhaUteth eternity," — a sublime phrase, teaching us, that as time and space are the limits of all things finite, so God overleaps both by his immensity ; the one — space — by his omnipotence, the other — time — by his eternity. The tracts of space are vast, and confounding to oui' imagination. Our own day has witnessed the fii^st exact measurement of the distance of the nearest fixed star, which is twen- ty-one millions of millions of miles. A learned cal- culator has shown, that " in the space around our solai' system devoid of stars, there is room in one dimension, or one straight line, for twelve thousand solar systems ; in two dimensions, or in one plane, there is room for one hundred and thirty millions of solar systems ; and in actual sidereal space £>f three dimensions, there is room for one and a half million millions of solar systems the size of our own." Such are the Uank^ in the scheme; how fearful the thought of such physical immensity ! I call your mind to it, to say that God is there— m all conceivable space, and beyond all. So in regard to time ; God is from everlasting to everlasting. He is without beginning and without ending. Incom- prehensil)le as this is, the reverse is inconceivable. Something must be without beginning : else nothing could ever have been. And what can be so reason- ably assumed to be without beginning, as the infi- GOD's EVBRLASTma MEROY. 2t nite First Cause ? There is something about the idea of eternity which oppresses the soul. Yet from un- der this incubus we cannot escape. There is some- thing mysterious in the way whereby we arrive at the idea of eternity. I cannot think it is by enu- meration—by adding unit to unit— even though the process were continued for a lifetime, or a lifetime of the world ; for at the last of this process we should still be as far from eternity as when we began. No such summation of a series can, as I suppose, gene- rate the conception. I rather conceive it, though not an innate, an uncompounded idea of the infinite. New and startling as the suggestion may be to some, eternity has no parts. It therefore has no succes- sion. The Eternal One is ever the same. To his mind all the past, the present, and the future, are present at once. The life of God is enjoyed, not by a passage from the past into the present, and the present into the future, but is possessed perfectly, wholly, and interminably, all at once. No years, no centuries, no sidereal cycles, measure Him whose name is, I AM THAT I AM. Of our lives, a por- tion vanishes every moment : but it is not so with God. And that which most interests us now, is that his mercy is everlasting— his mercy endureth for ever. Wherever and whenever God is, he is in the plenitude of mercy. Divine benignity spreads those ample wings more widely than the universe itself. There are regions beyond the most distant nebulous outskii-ts of matter ; but no regions beyond the di- vine goodness. We may conceive of trax^ts where 28 CONSOLATION. there are no worlds, but not of any. where there is no God of mercy. Let me particularize one or two meanings of the declaration. 1. God's mercy endureth for ever, in the sense that he will never cease to be merciful. He must at the same time cease to be God. The burdened soul turns with expectation to an unchangeable Be- ing. As this is one of the sublimest, so it is also one of the most consolatory truths. Every thing around us and within us is suffering mutation; but the changeful stream of creatures and events, flowing in perpetual broken waves, washes the base of that awful pyramid of being, whose summit is lost in the unapproachable clouds of divinity. Under the dis- couragements of our frailty and nothingness, we look away, almost by an instinct of our nature, to discover something solid and permanent. This we can find nowhere short of the Great Supreme ; and when we have reached this centre, we repose with a serene complacency of spirit. Thus the prophetic bard sings, ^' Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." Let the troubled soul consider, that in all the diflftision of his omnipresence, God is everywhere merciful. As he hath been, so he will be. His benignity is subject to no fitful waning or caprice. The day can never come when he shall be less mer- ciful than at this instant. This mercy has no bounds, in regard to those creatures who are its proper ob- jects. "A God all mercy were a God unjust :" this god's eveelastin-g mercy. 29 cannot be denied or forgotten ; and there are those who, rejecting the mercy of God against them- selves, fall upon the sword of his eternal justice. • Yet within the circle of his gracious plan, and where he has undertaken to save, we may believe, that taking a large and comprehensive view, God's com- munication of benefit is limited only by the capaci- ty of the creature ; and that this capacity will be continually increasing, in accordance with a love which endureth for ever. We look forward, there- fore, to a display of this attribute, which shall never cease but have new developments to all eternity ! For the Most High will act as God ; that is, with an infinitude of glory in aU his merciful acts ; and the radiance of his benevolence in this world is only the preparatory twinkle of a day without cloud or sunset. If we may so express it, Jehovah takes a holy complacency and satisfaction in acting forth his divine attributes, in creating fit objects, in mould- ing them for this pui-pose, in widening their suscep- tibilities, and magnifying their joys. In this is dis- played the glory of his nature, in the view of aU holy and intelligent worlds ; and thus will it be, in- creasingly, for ever : so that thousands of ages hence, the adorable Lord, whom we now justly regard as infinitely merciful, wiU not only show himself clearly such towards a greater number of creatures but will in each of these shine resplendent with a lustre be- coming perpetually more bright. The contempla- tion of this will form in a high degree the bliss^ of heaven; and the beatific vision will include a view of the divine mercy as endurmg for ever. 30 CONSOLATION. This aspect of the divine perfection is therefore a never-failing source of comfort to a soul disturbed by sin and sorrow. Whatever may be the cause of disquietude, immediate peace is found, when the soul reposes itself on God. It has then gravitated to its true centre. It has no longer any thing to seek. Our attempts at consolation often fail, because we stop short of this ultimate idea. Even when medi- tating religiously, we are apt to rest in the creature, as m some of God's gifts, instead of plunging at once, without reserve, into the boundless ocean of that divine mercy which can never suffer loss or termination. 2. God's mercy endureth for ever, in the sense that he will never cease to be merciful to his churcL This is consolation indeed to those who belong to this favoured community. From the beginning to the end, as long as there shall be a church, God will be its covenant and merciful Father, through Christ Jesus. For the church may be regarded as a spe- cial organ for the exercise, transmission and display of this very benevolence. After the introduction of sin, God has no channel so remarkable for the flow of his mercy as the church of Christ. It was for the manifestation of his glorious attributes, that he chose it in Christ Jesus, before the world began ; and among these attributes, for manifesting those of Goodness, Grace, and Mercy. For this purpose, the calling and gathering of individuals have been con- ducted through different dispensations. The mercy of the Lord is perpetually and gloriously displaying itself by means of the redeemed ; and it is God's god's everlasting mercy. 81 unchangeable purpose to bring this whole plan to a consummation, when the number of the elect shall be made up, and the Bride, the Lamb's wife, shaU be shown to the universe in the last days. Now as these are God's purposes towards his church, and as his mercy in regard to it is everlasting, every mem- ber of this spiritual body has a source of consolar tion, altogether withheld from the world without It is not a small thing to belong to that community for which Christ died, for which he prays, and unto which he purposes to give domimon. Temporary afflictions may break over the heads of Christ's peo- ple but the nature of the covenant is such that they cannot be unsafe. The very hairs of their heads are all numbered. To destroy them, would be to frustrate the divine plan. They are the objects of an everlasting love. This comfort, therefore, may be taken by the humblest believer, from his connec^ tion with a covenant which is well ordered m all things and sure. , When days are dark, let the soul turn itselt to him who dwelleth in Zion, and who can never for- get her. Christian supports are the more sure and abiding when they are taken in common with aU the chosen seed, and on the grounds of covenant faithfulness. When we can place ourselves in such a position that the promises of God towards his church become promises to us individually, we are drinking waters which flow out of the sanctuary it- self. . _ 3. God's mercy endureth for ever, m the sense 82 COIfSOLATIO]!^. god's everlasting MEROT. 33 that in fdtnre eternity, otherwise called tJie world to corne^ there will be glorious developments of this very attribute, as known to ns. In that coming age, that expanse of blissful knowledge and posses- sion, which we hope and pray for, and to which every returning day brings us so much nearer — what is it, think you, that shall make our heaven ? An everlasting drowsiness and dream of listless in- action ? mountains of odours, fragrant meads, crys- tal rivers, Elysian fruits, melody and harmony ? — simple rest? simple exemption from pain? simple lamblike innocence ? Is this heaven ? — learning nothing, doing nothing ? This is not heaven. I will tell you what it is : it is seeing God — it is seeing him more and more — it is going from star to star, and from system to system, in this voyage of divine discovery. There is enough in God for all eternity ; for all that there is in creatures^ is in him by way of eminence. There are attributes (rf God, we may reasonably suppose, of which we have not even a conception, and in relation to which we are now in the condition of a man born blind, in relation to coloui"s, or a man bom deaf in relation to sounds. An animal with one sense (there are such) can know but little of nature ; less, far less, in compari- son, do we know of God. I suppose there are facul- ties absolutely latent in the human mind which are to reveal themselves in that new state, in the pre- sence of objects now beyond their reach. It will not be a lesson of a day to expatiate on the divine nature. Duration must expand. Astronomy has revealed certain binary stars, as 66 Cet% one of which revolves around the other in a period of several thousands of years. Conceive the uniting line, the radius of these two suns, as the hand that moves upon the celestial dial-plate. It has proceeded a re- volution. Worlds may have perished during this hour of heaven ; but the soul is stiU learmng to know more of that infinite benignity which shmes m the face of Jesus Christ. Some have rendered the text, " His mercy is for the coming age :" it is true. Then shaU we see face to face, and know, even as also we are known ; and this in regard to the mercy which has ransomed man. We shall better compre- hend all the transaction of Gethsemane and (tuI- gotha, and look more nearly into the heart of God when the Man Christ Jesus, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, shall be the daysman and the m- terpreter. Then shall we know the privilege con- ferred on us, in that we are made immortal beings. Then shall we discover that this world has revealed but the beginning of his kindnesses unto mankind. Then shall the overflowing goodness of the Divinity display the true bliss of Him whose power is exerted m every direction to make his people happy. With no stinted hand wiU he cast abroad the greatness of his benign endowments on the family of redeemed ones, while each one of the palm-bearing multitude, pointing out to its sister spirit the now exalted cause of all this favour, shaU ciy, "This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend." THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD A GROUND OF CONSOLATION. 11. MEN are prone to tbink of God, says the exceUent Melancthon, as of a shipbuilder, who, when he hsB completed his vessel, launches and leaves it in opposition to this error of the Epicureans and Stoics, we are to be reminded that God never abandons h^ work, but is as much with it the last day as the first. This governing presence of God with aU his crea- tures and all their actions, is caUed Fromden,e,ivom a Latin word which means to see beforehand It we look on creation as God's first revelation of himselt, we may look on Providence as the continuance of that revelation. It is that general agency of God whereby he abides with the creature, upholding and directing it for all the ends for which it was made Hence tl , twofold topic of Presekvation and GovEKNH. NT. If a volition of the Almighty was necessary to bring creatures into being, a continued volition is necessary to keep them m being. The xnere will of God was creative; it broug^^V^^^^^^^" out of nothing : the like will continued is the divine Providence. No more can beings contmue to exist without God, than they could have begun o ex^t without him. This has not been sufficiently con- I 38 COKSOLATION. sidered. The infinite and eternal God is the basis of all being. In him we live, and move, and have our being. If that incomprehensible influence, whereby each thing ^>, and is wlmt it is^ should be withdrawn for an instant, all things would lose their existence, and would go back into annihilation. No positive act of God would be necessary to reduce the universe to nothing. This perpetual and indis- pensable sustentation of all things is part of Divine Providence. Hence, the old divines were accus- tomed to speak of Providence as a cmiiinued creor tion. As creation is the will of God that things should exist and begin to be, so Providence is the win of God that things should continue to be. The created world continues by the very same power which caused it to begin. This preservation of all things is the first act of Providence, and that with- out which other acts would have been impossible. None but God, the infinite One, can be conceived of as competent to so great a work. It demands for its execution omniscience^ to know the universe which is to be preserved, and to know how to pre- serve it ; omnipresefThce^ to apply this divine know- ledge in every place ; and omnipotence, to carry out the amazing work on the immensity of things. This preserving power extends to the twofold universe of matter and of spirit. (1.) To ths wwU of matter. It is kept what it is by this never-ceasing influence. The properties of matter are maintained such, by an abiding will of God. We may talk of gravity, of motion, and of divisibility ; these are only modes of THE PB0VIDENC5I1 OF GOD. S9 existence which have no substantiality in themselves, but are kept such by God. We may talk of the laws of matter, and sometimes may ignorantly think of them as principles or powers existing in matter, even independently of the Creator, but these laws are only God's methods of producing effects by ma- terial means. Every existence, and every property and quality and act of each, is maintained simply by the everlasting power of God. Were this power to be withheld, they would not only cease to have such qualities, but would cease to be. The dream of atheism is, that the laws of nature constitute all the power there is ; and that these laws are only a tendency of material things, render- ing unnecessary the supposition of a first cause dis- tinct from matter. The equally absurd dream of Pantheism is, that every thing is God (hence the name), and that all the revolutions of the great mass are stages in the development and growth of divi- nity ; for Pantheism believes that God may develop, and change, and grow. But reason suggests and re- velation declares that the material world ^ is upheld by a most powerful, wise, holy, and infinite Being, separate from itself. (2.) Again, this preserving power extends to the world of spirit God, who in- spired the soul of man, and created all embodied spirits, continues their being by his perpetual sus- tentation. Not as the Pantheists imagine, that all spirits are parts or modifications of God, but that God, while eternally distinct from all spirits, is inti- mately present with all, sustaining them in all their 40 OOl^^SOLATION. properties and acts. In this important sense, God is not far fi'om every one of us. Surrounded and con- tained by him, and upheld in all the more glorious attributes of manhood by his power, we may in truth be said to be nearer to God than our bodies are to our souls. " Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there ; if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shaU hold me." Ps. 139. This upholding power is properly due to none but God ; and hence we derive an irresistible argument for the divinity of our Lord Jesus ; since he who thus upholds must be omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, that is, must be God ; and since' this preservation is ascribed to Christ, Heb. 1:3: " Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power ;" and Col. 1 : 17, " All things were created by him and for him ; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." The view which we here take of Providence, regards the universe of mind and matter, not as a machine, wound up and left to run its career of centuries, without the Maker's care, but as requiring and receiving at every moment his mighty influence, a stream of power perpetually proceeding from the Godhead. The very essence of God is, therefore, everlastingly present with every atom and every THE PBOVTDENOE OF GOD. 41 spirit. This is exactly accordant to those places in Scripture where God is spoken of as the uni- versal cause, and is said to do those things which are done, secondarily, by creatures. Ps. 104 : 8, 30. And to this is referred the supporting of life in the most insignificant birds. Matt. 10: 29. Enough has been said in regard to this primary acting of divine Providence, in preserving all things. How God does this it would be madness for us to inquire. The simplicity of the divine acts causes them to elude our faculties. He wills it, and that is enough ; just as at the beginning he willed creation. What we chiefly need is to bear this in mind, with daily faith, awe, and thankfulness. Such is God's preserving of the creature, as a part of Providence. II. But there is another equally important agen- cy, put forth by the infinite Creator ; it is the di/rec- Uon of all things. God not only pkeserves but GOVERNS the universe of matter and spirit. He continues to " direct, dispose, and govern all crea- tures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy." C. F. c. v. 1. What is to be proposed will have regard to a twofold objection; against God's providence con- cerning Pr-ifies, and his providence concerning sim. And here, let me acknowledge, I have often wondered at the distinctions taken by some men 42 CONSOLATION. who would hold rank aa philosophers, but who nevertheless, aflSrm a general while they deny a particular providence, as if the general were not made up of the particulars, or as if God could attend to the whole without attending to the paits. This error is perhaps increased by our forms of expression, allowable in themselves, when, for example, we say of this or of that event, that " it is providential," when in very deed all are providential, as all are ordered from the greatest to the least. Under pre- text of exalting God, and raising him above the care and trouble of earthly things, we betray really low notions of his divinity. We judge of him as of our- selves, and of God as if he were man ; our language implies that what is burdensome and annoying to us must be so to him. We allow him to direct suns and stai-s and comets, and things in heaven, but the sparrow and the hairs of the head we deem too small for him. Yet, you remember, these are the very instances which he has chosen. That which was fit to be created, is fit to be preserved, though it be the infinitesimal muscle or nerve in the micros- copic animalcule or infusoria. We make too much of our distinctions of greater and smaller, when we carry them into eternity : such quantities reach not Jehovah. It costs him no more thought, no more labour, no more exertion, to maintain an atom in its sunbeam, than to whirl systems of suns and planets and satellites along the shining galaxy. In this sense, we may accept as true the celebrated words of the poet, Uiough false in another — THE PEOVIDENOE OF GOD. 48 " Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurled. And now a bubble burst, and now a world." E^ay on Man^ 1. 88. When God beholds his eternal plan spread out in the infinite idea of his own wisdom, his perfect knowledge reaches not only to the grand portions, but to every ramification and filament; and with perfect ease plans and directs for the insect of an hour, as for the triumph of an emperor. We, there- fore, attribute to the care and guidance of God " all things without exception, whether celestial or sub- lunary, small or great, good or evil, necessary or free, so that there is nothing in nature which can exist or occur, without his distinct permission." If it were glorious to create, why not to govern ? God is nowhere greater than in the smallest things — the plumage of the insect, and the circulation of a sys- tem, the very existence of which is revealed to us by the solar microscope. God is in such wise great in great things, that he is no less great in the very least. This ought to answer the objection drawn from the littleness of the affairs which a particular providence would refer to God. But there is another objection to our doctrine of God's government of all things, which has still more strongly operated to make some banish the Creator from his moral universe; it is that God's providence cannot have any thing to do with sinful acts ; and that to say that it has, were to destroy all freedom of the creature, and all accountability 44 CONSOLATION. THE PBOVIDENOE OP GOD. 46 i for crime. It may be well to say at once, that if we assert that evil acts may not be foreseen and provided for, we may as well deny the Bible at once. There never was a more evil act than the death of Christ ; yet it was provided for, and (not only so) was indispensably necessary to the salva- tion of men. It was provided for during ages preced- ing; and Peter says of it very distinctly (Acts 2 : 23) : " Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and slain." The act is declared to be wicked, yet it is equally declared to be by the " determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God;" therefore, acts which are evil may be included in the plan of Providence. A lesser, but equally demonstrative case, is that of Joseph. The act of his brethren, in selling him into Egj^t, was an evil act, yet it was governed by Providence. It was all arranged and foreseen. It formed a part of God's plan. It was intended to produce the most beneficial results. What says Joseph ? (Gen. 45 : 7, 8.) " God sent me before you. It was not you that sent me hither, but God." And again (50 : 20) : " As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." Now, here I would ask of every ob- jector two questions : 1. Was the sending of Joseph to Egypt providential or not ? To this there can be but one answer : Scripture gives answer in God's name : " God sent me before you." 2. Was the act of selling Joseph sinful? There is no answer, but one, in the words of Joseph; "Ye thought evil, but God meant it for good." Ye thought evil ; here is sin: God mea/nt it unto good; here is providence. So likewise in the case of the Assyrian invading and punishing the Hebrews (Isa. 10 : 6, 1) : " I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few." The Assyrian committed crime in his invasion; yet he thereby worked out the results which God intended. In the commission of his crime, he was perfectly free, and perfectly account- able; yet this crime was not only foreseen, but, as we observe, predicted by the Almighty. ^ God was not the author of the sin, though the sin oc- curred providentially; and, foreseeing this, God re- cognizes his accountability, and denounces punish- ment (v. 12) : " Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the gloiy of his high looks." If we do not re- cognize this intervention of Providence in regard to the free acts of creatures, we can never interpret those judgments of God which are wrought by wicked men. " Saul took a sword, and fell upon it" (1 Chr. 10 : 4.) It was his own a^t— his •:» 46 CONSOLATION THE PBOVIDENOE OF GOD. An t wicked act ; yet what saith the Scriptures ? (v. 13) : "So Saul died, for his transgression which he com- mitted against the Lord. And he inquired not of the Lord ; therefore He slew him, and returned the kingdom unto David, the son of Jesse." This may serve to show how grave an error is committed by many persons in certain expressions of theirs. We hear them say, for example, " I could bear this trial better if there were any thing providential in it — ^if it proceeded from any direction of God ; but, on the contrary, it proceeds from wicked men." Very well; so it may, and yet be providential. "The wicked," says David, are "thy sword." God can make the wicked acts of men a sword to punish others, and even themselves. The conspiracy against Christ was wicked ; yet the early believers said, and said in prayer to God (Acts 4 : 27), " For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, were gather- ed together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Here the wicked acts of men come clearly within the scope of Providence. Here is evidently joined with the permission of sins that " most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation to his own holy ends, yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin." The instances above given, which were free and contingent with regard to their actors, are expressly ascribed to Divine Pro- vidence. And is there not a consolation in so be- lieving? Suppose we assert providence of good things only, and not of bad : what follows ? That which we most dread, and which alone can do us harm, namely, the wickedness of men and devils, is placed beyond the providential guidance of God. Surely, there is no comfort in believing that the worst, and most atrocious and destructive acts of men are under the dominion of blind chance ! Yet such is the common opinion of worldly men on this subject. The government of God, indeed, with re- gard to evil acts, is different from his government in regard to holy acts. He may include both in his most wise plan, but he contemplates free acts as free acts, and in no degree puts forth any causative influence to tempt or compel to the commission of them. That there are difficulties here we do not for a moment deny ; but they are such as arise from the depths of the divine nature, and the sh©rt sounding-line of human reason. In two things we all agree. We must aU admit God's permission of evil. Without this permission it could never have existed. God was clearly under no necessity of having sin in the universe. He could clearly have made men without the faculty of sinning; or he could have made a system without men; or he could have forborne from making any system at alL The evil in the universe is clearly under God's per- mission : he suffers it to exist. In this, I say, we \ il ■ 48 CONSOLATION. THE PEOVIDENOE OF GOD. 49 i' all agree. There is another thing in which we all agree, and between these two limits of undeniable truth our opinions have room to oscillate. Wo all agree that God has no participation in moral evil. Though he permits it, as the product of free crea- tures, he hates it. Our church has been charged with holding that God is the author of the sin of sinful acts ; on the contrary, it says : " The sinful- ness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God." * " Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." God could annihilate the sinful creature the mo- ment his free nature breaks forth into sin. In his infinite wisdom he has chosen to do otherwise, and to uphold the existence of the creature even when rebelling against him, yet in such a man- ner that the taint and pollution belong only to the sinner. All the creatures of God, then, and all their acts, are governed by his most wise, and holy, and omnipotent providence, to work out his own excel- lent glory. This is God's ultimate end in creation. No other can be conceived of To make any thing but God his own end, were to set something above God. When as yet there was no creation, and no providence, God contained in himself all the rea- sons of what was afterwards to be ; and these rea- sons still remain. To create, was in a manner to reveal himself, — the earliest revelation; not by *Conf. F. c. V. i i words, but acts, and every creature, with all that proceeds from it, is a part of this display. The ad- dition of spiritual and intellectual agencies, men and angels, to the otherwise brute fabric of God's works, afforded indeed spectators of this glory, and judges of this skill ; and the quality of choice, free- dom, or voluntary action possessed by these beings, introduces a new principle into the universe ; one which separates morals from nature, and one in which the Most High appears to take the greatest complacency. For we know of nothing which God so loves, or which he purchases at so high a rate, as the free love of a creature. This exalts his benevo- lence, and is the key to many of his dispensations. But all creature minds, however spiritual and how ever free, are infinitely inferior to Jehovah, and in- finitely too small to afford the real motive of the universe, which must have been eternal, — which must have been Gtod, All the boundless combina- tions and interchanges of matter and mind (the lat- ter being far the more complicated and wonderful), all the play of wheel in wheel, of cause in cause, of thought in thought, of passion in passion, conspire to work out one and the same result — the gloiy of God. " For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things." What a dismal view is that which epicurean in- fidelity takes of this universal frame ! God is not in all his works ! lie has left them. As if I should be introduced to a lofty, wide, and noble palace : its walls are strength ; every quality of a magnifi- 50 CONSOLATION. THE MtOTIDENOE OF GOD. 51 cent structure is there ; all is convenience and orna- ment. I gaze on its sublime colonnades, its sculp- tured friezes, its statued walls, its interior deco- rations. What is there left to be desired ? One thing : it has no inhabitant. Such is the universe without a providence. Deny the actual and efficient presence of God in his works (and this is provi- dence), and you leave me a world without reason. You give me no assurance that the very next mo- ment may not produce some general and direful catastrophe, involving all in common destruction, without respect to character, swallowing up the good as well as the evil : for to provide for a diflerence between them would be a providence. The pro- gress of history is a tangled web, but its develop- ments are chaos indeed, without God. The unfolding of God's design is history. It is he who changes dy- nasties, and over the convulsion of revolutionary war, makes a highway for his own glorious approach. The study of human records, of daily journals, and even of legislative and diplomatic documents, throw very little light on the riddle of history. The great he- roic instruments themselves know little. But the study of revelation, which is God's key to providence, reveals to the believer more than the world dreamed of. Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great, and the Roman power, were all foreshown to Daniel in the visions of Chaldea. Compare with this the foresight of the great minds themselves, and how cleai-ly do we perceive that it is not they, but Providence that laid the plan. Think you that f Nebuchadnezzar dreamed, when he was consolidat- ing his mighty empire, that it should presently be given to the Medes and Persians ? As little, as that the great Euphrates should be turned out of its bed : and yet both took place. Think you the young, adventurous Macedonian, as he swept over Asia, conceived that in that same Babylon he should die of his debaucheries ? Or Caesar, just arrived at the summit of power, with the republic at his feet, that he should perish by the daggers of his friends ? Or Napoleon, that he should die a lingering death in a remote isle ? Or Charles the Tenth, or Louis Philippe, that they should become fugitives, and die in exile ? As little as the great planners, legis- lators, and orators of Europe know this day what, shall be the succeeding revolutions of the wheel. But God knows. And God has been pleased to dis- close some glimpses of his plan. He shows us a delicate but perceptible thread, running as a gold- en clew through all these transactions and changes, even when most wilful and most unexpected. Gov- ernments, nations, and languages decay ; but the Church remains. It is the great organ for manifest- ing God's glory, and for exalting his Ron. For we live under a mediatorial dispensation, and the king- doms of this world are to become the kingdoms of God, and of his Christ. Nor let the humble Christian fear, lest amid the greatness of such events, his little individual inter- ests should be forgotten or overlooked. Oh no ! It is a blessed thing to be on the side of One, of Ill 52 OONSOLATIOK. whom, and through whom, and to whom are ill things. We have seen it to be a characteristic glo- ry of God's knowledge and acts, that he can conde- scend to the infinitely small, as well as stretch his creative hand to the infinitely great. Amidst the voices from the throne, which tell of the fall of em- pires, and the triumph of Immanuel, we hear also a whisper of love, saying to the Church, " Fear not, little flock : it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom ;" and saying to the believer, " The very haii-s of your head are dl numbered." " Take no thought for the morrow." " Your Father know- eth that ye have need of these things." Ah! I know the sneering objection which poor, self-tor- menting skepticism makes to this particular provi- dence. In his zeal to make himself an orphan in the universe, he denies that God can take any meas- ures for the relief of individual cases. This would be to step aside from his original plan» Hence the vulgar objections to trusting in God's help in emer- gencies, or to praying for it. How preposterous (such an one tells us) to think that God will vary from the line of his sublime acts, to meet the case of a poor woman, or an insignificant child. True enough : but God does not vary ; he does tiot devi- ate. That emergency, that distress, that cry, that deliverance, — all are parts of the plan, links of the chain ; and this is precisely what we mean by provi- dence. The ignorance and obtuseness are all on the side of the scoffer, who does not perceive, what I have earnestly pressed before, that free acts of crea- THE PEOVIDENOE OF GOD. 53 .tures are equally in the plan ; and hence, when God turns aside the arrow from the heart of his praying child, he does what he foresaw to be done, even from 'eternal ages. I wonder, therefore, more than I can express, that one of the acutest wits that ever wrote, should so play into the hands of the vulgar and the superficial, as in these lines, which embrace the popular notion : « Shall burning Etna, if a sage require, Forget to thunder, and recall her fire ? On air or sea new motions be imprest, O blameless Bethell, to relieve thy breast? When the loose mountain trembles from on high, Shall gravitation cease, if you go by? Or some old temple, nodding to its fall. For Chartres' head reserve the hanging waUT Here is more wit than reason. To each of these questions we may, in a sound sense, answer. Yes. Etna hath no fires, but for God's purpose. Gravita- tion has no cogency an instant longer than God stands by to act. And when the tower falls, wheth- er in judgment or not, it falls just where and when infinite wisdom has predetermined it should fall. And if this concur with the earnest believing prayer of God's child, it is not an exception to the gene- ral rule, or a deviation from the plan, but a substan- tial part of what was provided for ; that is, it is providence. It is therefore as philosophical as it is pious, for the child of God to trust in him, and re- sort to him. The Almighty is never greater than when he stoops to the wants and weaknesses of hia 54 OOIIBOLATIOK, suffering people. His words of promise, especially as they fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, are surpassingly sweet and encouraging. They oc- cupy much of the sermon on the mount. Its latter parts are an application of the doctrine of Provi- dence. And I solemnly charge every follower of Christ to believe, that he is never more reasonably engaged, than when he is castmg himself on the Divine Providence. Instead of shuddering in chilly doubt as to particular providence, be assured you cannot conceive of a providence more particular than that which is. Superstition may take that for provi- dence which is only its own morbid fancy. Pre- sumption may rely on Providence, in idle, insolent neglect of means. But true faith will still cling to the belief, that the sparrow's fall is not too particular for God's plan. It is our privilege, not only to hope in Providence, with regard to the lesser affairs of life, but to recognize it. — to see God's hand in our daily walk, with wonder and love. " They that observe providences, shall have providences to observe." The simple faith of the patriarchs saw God's hand in every thing that befell them ; and so might we. I appeal to aged and observant Christians, whether the happiest persons they ever knew, have not been those who were most ready to eye God in all the events of life : in health and sickness, in business, and in family occurrences. Let us hope in Providence. Let us hope mightily. " But I will hope continual- ly, and will yet praise thee more and more." Do days look dark ? O remember, every cloud is gov- 1 { THE PKOVIDENCB OF GOD. 56 erned by the God of truth and the God of power. The house in which you dwell is not without a mas- ter. He has issued his promise. " His very word of grace is strong. As that which built tlie skies; The voice that rolls the stars along, Speaks all the promises." Though sorrow may endure for a night, yet joy cometh in the morning. It is all the more likely to come, for your trusting. " Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Especially delightr ful is the thought, that the world of mmd is un- der providence ; that thoughts, and feelings, and frames, and free acts, are controlled by infinite wis- dom • and that our spiritual condition is under the same guidance which regulates our birth and death. Cling fast to the hand which is leading you. Though it be through darkness, though it be in deep waters, you know whom you have beUeved. Yield not for a single moment to misgivings about fixture storms or shipwrecks, as though any part of your religious voyage could fall out by chance. Infinite love, joined to infinite skill, shall pilot the way through every strait, and temptation, and peril God has ever loved to place his people where they haxi none to hope in but him only. Your own experience probably recaUs such times. Let the recollection be for your abundant encouragement and support. Ke- pose on the arm which has never failed you hither- to And bring in the aid of a nobler consideration, 66 CONSOLATIOIf. 'i ¥■ y drawn from an object higher than yonr own per- sonal, temporary happiness. Love to God is love to his honour. If by your means his great name can be exalted ; if, even by trying dispensations to you, Christ's praise can be diffiased, you will joyful- ly cry, " Let him be magnified, by body and soul, whether in life or death." All things work together for the divine glory : this is a stable truth ; but- blessed be his name — it is eq^ally true, that ** all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his pur- pose." Such reliance is very different from the inert repose of the Mussulman on his Fate. It is reliance on a present God, who k all wisdom, fore- sight, love and power. He can cause the wrath of man to praise him ; the remainder of that wrath he can restrain. Even you who disbelieve and rebel, shall be made to do reluctant honour to his name. You are equally swayed by his Providence. If his condign wrath (which may he forbid) should fall upon you in the other world, it will be to the praise of the glory of his justice. But how infinite will be the gain to you, if you freely accept of his sal- vation, and join yourselves to the number of those who glorify him, not in spite of themselves, not by rebellion and woe, but by the willing tribute of joyful service ! In regard to your own happiness, holiness and perfection. Providence cannot be said to be on your side, while you remain unreconciled to God. And this is a very unequal war in which you are engaged ; for who can stand before him, THE PBOVIDBNOE OF GOD. 5t when once he is angry ? God wiU educe order out of confusion, and harmony out of the temporary dis- cord, however much you may rebel; but the part^ of wisdom is to make God's interest yours, and so to join yourselves to his certain triumph, as to par- ticipate in it. Wherefore, "be ye reconcUed to God !" His indignation is intolerable, but his grace and love are heaven. And they are yours, on ac- ceptance. None can stay his hand, when he hath a purpose to bless. He works out his own irresistible decrees. " Fob of him, and through him, and to HIM ARE ALL THINGS ; TO WHOM BE GLOET FOB EVER. Amen." THE SAME SUBJECT IN 11^ APPLICATION TO THE WHOLE PATH OF LIFE. Ill u \ IIHE course of God's providence in regard to his own people is dark and inexplicable. The principles on wliicli it is conducted are secrets of God's court : it is not wonderful that we should be ignorant of them. We are in darkness even with respect to the ends for which God is employing us. It is natural that many of the intermediate events should be contrary to our expectation. ^ Not more devious or unexpected were the successive joumey- ings of Israel in the desert than are the ways of the be- liever in his pilgrimage. It is enough for him to know that his way is not fortuitous, but that every step is directed by a Providence which has the same resi- dence with the Grace from which he hopes for sal- vation—a Providence which consults and disposes for the falling of every hair. In looking back on life, there is, perhaps, no Christian who does not acknowledge that his way has been such as to contravene all his expectations and purposes, and many of his wishes and fears. Yet there is no well-instructed believer who does not likewise admit, that the way has been a right way, and that the most adverse events are part of a C)2 CO:>SOLATION, wise, sovereign, and merciful arrangement. Igno- rant as we are both of our own strength and our own weakness, of the work which the Master de- mands, the preparation which he would effect, and the dangers which he foresees as awaiting us, it would be the height of presumption for us to choose our own path. In our best houi^, it is our consola- tion that those things which we cannot control are governed by One who loves m better than we love ourselves. Who would give the babbling, puling infant a voice in the conduct of its little life ? yet the comparison is all in our favour. The infant is wiser and mightier, when compared with the parent — need I say it ? — than are we, when compared with God. The woiwier is that we should ever dream of taking the direction of our own affairs. The mercy is that they are under the superintendence of Him who is infinitely able to govern and bless. The ravings of the wildest storm which threatens our vessel are regular parts of the plan, agreeably to which the Sovereign of nature and grace is conduc^ ing us towards a state of rest. We shall now be led, Jirst, to contemplate the truth, that while man, through ignorance, cannot order his life, God does order it ; and secondly, to deduce the practical lessons which flow from this truth. We can never see this world in its true light unless we consider it as a state of discipline— a con- dition through which we are passing to fit us for another. It belongs to swch a state to be very dif- GOD S GtFTDANCE. 63 ferent from a state of rest and accomplishment. Many things must necessarily pertain to it which are but for a season; many things which are not good in themselves, but good with relation to the end that is sought. To understand such a condition of discipline presupposes a knowledge of several particulars which are beyond the reach of human minds in their present state; for we must know, first, what the end is for which the Supreme Gov- ernor is preparing us ; then, the true state and char- acter of our own souls, with all their peculiarities and defects, which make such a discipline necessary ; and lastly, the suitableness of every particular of such discipline to produce the end desired. This, it needs but a little reflection to see, is far beyond our intellectual power. Especially is this seen when we take notice that the problem is disturbed and darkened by involving some of the most diffi- cult and inscrutable questions, such as the origin of evil, the nature of spiritual temptation, the decrees of God, and how far his providence may be said to concur in the product of those acts which, so far as we are concerned, are sinful. And the reason why these inexplicable questions are connected with the subject is, that our discipline in this world includes not merely the outward dispensations of God's pro- vidence, but the free act of creatures, ourselves and others, and these as well when they are evil as well as when they are good. It is the prerogative of God alone to deal with sin without contracting any taint While he cannot be tempted to evU 64 OONSOLATIOW. neither tempteth any man ; and wliile to make God the author of sin is impious, it is, nevertheless, true, that sin is within the sphere of his providential ar- rangements ; and his providence has such a refer- ence to sin as to carry with it, as we have seen, a "bounding, and otherwise ordering and fore- seeing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends, yet so as the sinfulness thereof pro- ceedeth only from the creature, and not from God." The connection of this with our subject will be more apparent, if we consider that all our other tri- als are light and unimportant when compared with those which proceed from human freedom, that is, from the sins of ourselves and others. The direct visitations of God, in the storm, the pestilence, in wounds and sufferings and death, admit of more solace than those which flow from the unhallowed passions of men ; and even these carry a less poig- nant sting than our own shameful neglects and trans- gressions, which wound the soul again and again, and keep us mourning as long as we are in the flesh. Yet even these are ordered in wisdom and benig- nity ; and we take but a narrow view of Providence and of our own way, unless we regard them as parts of a manifold dispensation, intended for our good. When aged David lies under the rebukes of a vituperative foe, he exclaims: "So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him. Curse David." Not that the holy king would impute the sin to his Maker, but that he considers the wicked as God's sword, and their free transgressions as overruled to god's GUriDANOE. 65 effect his chastisement. It is the province of Jeho- vah to bring good out of evil ; but his method of doing so is among the darkest of his ways. Still more painful is the doubt, when we are ourselves surprised by sin. Amidst the necessary and useful paroxysms of shame and grief which fol- low transgression, we do not find time or heart to turn our thoughts to this providential aspect of the subject. Yet it is not too much to say, that all our frailties, defects, and offences are so governed by the supreme Providence, as to work out our greater sal- vation, and the greater glory of divine grace. But here again, while the result is certain, we are abso- lutely incompetent to understand the means, and in this respect the way of man is not in himself We can only bow, and yield ourselves with implicit sub- mission to the awful hand of that Providence which leadeth the blind by a way that they know not. To say that a man is incompetent to direct his own way, is only to say, that in a tangled forest, full of pitfalls, a wanderer at midnight, without light, path or compass, is unable to choose his direction. In the pilgrimage of this world, we know not whither we are going, or what God intends to do with us. The pillar of cloud which guides us is absolutely in- dependent of our disposal ; yet we are bound to be governed by its motion and its rest. The spirit of the declaration is still in force : " At the command- ment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched : as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle, they 5 66 GOKSOLATIOIf. rested in their tents. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not : but when it was taken up, they journeyed." We must expect God's signals, and those indications which are properly called the leadings of his providence. It is charged among the sins of Israel, that " they waited not for his counsel." At one time we find them disheartened by the report of the spies, turn- ing back in heart unto Egypt, weeping tears of vexation all night, and crying. Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt ! or would God we had died in this wilderness ! At another, they are on the opposite extreme, rushing upon the Amalekites and Canaanites, without command, and driven before them for their sins with great discom- fiture. Our course is similar, when we idly attempt to force a way, in spite of Providence ; when we re- pine at our lot, or violently endeavour, for reasons other than those of plain duty, to throw off the yoke which is . laid upon us, or to break into new paths which our Leader has not opened. The folly of such endeavours is as great as its rebellion. The horizon of our ken is very limited. The circle which encloses the legitimate field of our planning and management is small indeed. Our way is hedged in more closely than we are apt to imagine ; and the freedom with which we flatter ourselves is checked and controlled by arrangements beyond our knowledge and above our reach. god's guidance. 67 Our deplorable ignorance as to our own way in life, is particularly manifest when we consider that whole trains of events, such as give colour to the entire life, are often dependent on a trivial, unfore- seen, and apparently casual occurrence. By turning down one street of a city, instead of another, a man may meet the person by whom the whole current of his after life shall be determined. That Joseph, rather than some other messenger, should have been sent to find his brethren at Shechem ; that Ishmael- ites on their camels should have come up in the nick of time, and carried him a slave into Egypt ; that the wife of Potiphar should have become his ene- 1 my; and that he should have been thrown into I prison, were all what we call fortuitous and unfortu- nate events. So far as his brethren were concerned, their machinations were malignant ; yet were they all threads in that wonderful web of Providence which was partially unfolded in the four hundred years' captivity, and more fully in the fortunes of the Jewish nation, and the plan of redemption. "As for you, ye thought evil against me ; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive." It was no very important event, that the asses of Kish the Benjamite should have strayed ; yet this fact gave Israel a king. It was as unimportant that youthful David should go to see his brothers at the camp in Elah ; yet this led to the slaughter of Goliath, and a change of the dynasty. The Ahithophels, Machiavellis, Richelieus, and Met- ternichs think otherwise. But the great Oxenstierna 68 CONSOLATION. was right, when he said, " See, my son, with how little wisdom the Avorld is governed !" In another sense, it is governed with infinite wisdom; but God's. In his hand, a diamond necklace may cost a queen her head, and destroy a kingdom : a king, who has been deliberately shot at again and again, may, by forbidding one banquet, close a dynasty. And every day of our lives events are taking place, of which, at the time, we make no account, but which, in God's providence, are the pivots on which revolves our whole subsequent history. Yet the very smallness of these occurrences, as well as our ignorance of their bearings, would for ever prevent our arranging or ordering them. Even of those things which, in a limited sense, may be said to be within our power, we are to a great degree ignorant whether they are good or evil, whether to be chosen or refused. It is true, even to a proverb, that what we consider prosperity and success, often results in lasting evil ; and as true, that the highest earthly happiness results from events which at the time are considered disastrous. And this is more strikingly evinced, when we regard the moral consequences of such occurrences, and observe that prosperity injures the soul, and that the richest spiritual blessings are connected with suffering, dis- appointment, and defeat. How would it be possi- ble for us to choose or to refuse such things, if the question were left to our own forecast ? Suppose, for example, that any man were to sit down to map out the course of future life for himself. Is it not almost cer- god's guidance. 69 tain that his draught would exclude all distresses and trials ? Yet we know upon divine authority, that these are absolutely necessary to the discipline of the heart, and the development of Christian char- acter. But who could undertake to insert them in due measure, and at the proper points ? What hu- man tongue would not falter in saying. At such a time I shall be laid on a bed of wasting sickness. At such a time I shaU be bereaved of a beloved child, or of an invaluable companion. Here I shall suffer contempt and calumny ; and there I shall be vexed with indescribable temptations. How truly do we find it, that the way of man is not m himself ! What has been said is true, upon the just suppo- sition, that man is incompetent to choose that course which is best for him: but even if we should grant him this competency, his case would be little altered, because he is able in but a slight degree to effect that which he may choose. Man knows not how much he can effect. Boast as we may of the power of human determination, the ordering of the events which concern us, is altogether out of ourselves. As we gaze with interest on a new-born babe, we can no more predict what shall be the tenor >f its history, than we can declare, as we look into a moun- tain-spring, what the river shall be which is to issue from it. The stream may pursue a direct course to its termination, or it may turn and wander a thou- sand times. It may go noiselessly through sandy plains of ease, and stagnate in broad shallows of »0 CONSOLATION. carnal sloth, or it may force its way through cliffi of opposition, dash over cataracts of passion, and reach the ocean after a way of perpetual turbulence. The greatest events of our lives, are those in which we have no option. It is not left to man's determi- nation in what age of the world he shall be born ; whether in Christian or in savage land ; whether poor or rich, whether feeble or hardy ; whether a genius or a fool ; whether he shall enjoy parental care, or be an orphan ; whether he shall dwell in a realm of peace, or have his whole character and actions moulded by revolution and war. And we might carry out the enumeration to a thousand particulars, each bearing directly on his happiness. It would seem to be the intention of God, that the lives of meft should differ as much as their coun- tenances, and that each should be checkered by the most unexpected occurrences. The beautiful biogra- phies of the Old Testament reveal to us the hand of God, leading the patriarchs and other holy men along a perpetual pilgrimage, in which they are as really without self-direction as was Israel in the wil- derness. Surely the way of Abram was not in him- self, when God called him out of the East, led him into Canaan, and into Egypt, and through a long life gave him no inheritance, no, not so much as to set his foot on. The wanderings of Jacob were as little under his own control. When the twin chil- dren, Esau and Jacob, were bom, no aspect of the heavens could have shown that their course of life should run in streams so divergent and unlike. Mo- god s GUIDANCE. w ges, ^nd Gideon, and David, are instances qmte as worthy of our meditation. But we have only to look back upon our own little biography, however quiet and uneventful that history may have been, to learn, that of the great body of events, very few have been at our own disposal. A higher wisdom hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of our habitation ; hath ordered how we should be educated ; the time of our conversion ; the field of our labour ; the afflictions which have entered into our discipline, and the stations which we now occupy. The picture for the last year has for its chief lights and shades, events as totally in- dependent of our will as the eclipse or the earth- quake. Nor can you prognosticate the occurrences of this very day, any more certainly than the course of the winds. Biit by the way of man, we mean surely more than that chain of occurrences which strikes the senses. There is an inner life, which, though unseen, is loftier, vaster, and more eventful. The history of the man is the history of his immortal part. While men look on the panorama of sensible things, the poverty, the pleasures, the journeys, the expeditions, the wars, the disasters, the triumphs of our race; eyes are gazing upon us from the spiritual world, in- tent upon those great realities which escape us, in the pilgrimage of the spirit ; the shade and texture of the reason ; the dangers, and crosses, and wounds of the moral part ; the new birth of the soul ; the mysterious assaults of principalities and powers; Y2 CX)N80LATI0K. the sublime conflict with evil ; the armour, the tri- umph, and the salvation. This, of a truth, is the way of man ; and it is not in himself. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth. The whole ordering of the means of grace is by a sovereign hand. Appalling as the thought is, the greatest change of which we can be the subjects, is beyond our reach. We may deny, murmur, and even rage ; the truth is eternal : I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The most placid life of the most secluded Christian is so pregnant with spiritual events, as to be a little world of itself. And these events, linked in with eternal destiny, are not of the creature's choosing. Enter for a little while into the mysterious chambers of memory, and contemplate the shadows of departed things which flit across those walls. How unfore- seen — how strange ! Was it your wisdom or your will which ordered that for so many yeai's, through so great temptations, you should go on oflending God, and resisting his commandments ; that mean- while you should ever and anon be checked and wounded by the visitation of convincing truth ; that, at a certain moment, you should be called of God, and illuminated by his Holy Spirit ; that you should hear such a preacher, or alight on such a text^ or receive such an admonition ; that you shon^-] GOD 8 GUIDANCE. 73 encounter such temptations, have such joys, fall into such sins, be called to such labours, and endure such sorrows ; in a word, that j^^ou should be this very hour receiving, for good or evil, the impres- sions of which you are now conscious ? No, my reader ; no ! you feel the hand of sovereignty in all this : and such has been the case with all the people of God. How much agency, think you, had any of the three thousand Pentecostal hearers, in adjusting their several plans, and journeys, and de- votions, so as to be pricked in heart, at that moment, by the preaching of Peter ? How much agency had Saul of Tarsus, lately an assistant in the murder of Stephen, and now hasting to Damascus to imbrue his hands in fresh martyrdoms, in causing himself to be smitten to the earth, a repentant soul ? How much agency had the jailer of Philippi, in the events which accompanied the midnight earthquake, and the divine call which snatched him from the yawning damnation of the suicide ? From whom, then, proceeded these events, if not " from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nei- ther shadow of turning ? Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." The future, with which we so vainly perplex our- selves, is perfect darkness. We know not even where our next footsteps shall be planted. Whether death or life, whether joys or temptations await us, tio wisdom can disclose to us. " How can a man, then, understand his own way ?" Are we then to fold our arms, and believing 74 CONSOLATION ourselves to have no freedom, to lie still in the arms of an inexorable fate ? By no means. Be- tween Fate and Providence, there is just the difference which subsists between darkness and light, between chance and foresight, between an unreason- ing destiny and a disposing goodness, between non- entity and God. In the truth we urge, and in all our exposition of it, while it is asserted that man does not know and cannot direct himself, it is implied that God does. A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. We are in a labyrinth indeed, but the clew is in the hand of infinite wisdom and infinite love When we least know whither we are going, he knoweth the way that we take. When we are unable to conceive what good can result from our present distressing condition, God is using us for the very purpose for which he sent us into the world. The expert arti- san, surrounded by a thousand implements, knows precisely the use of each ; he takes up one, and lays it aside ; he employs each in its due time and mea- sure, and for its right end. Just in this way does the sovereign wisdom deal with men. And it is no more reasonable for the human soul, than for the material implement, to quarrel with the hand that wields it. Assyria thought herself wise and prudent and successful. But God saitn : '' Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith, or shall the saw magn'fy itself against him that shaketh it ? as if the rod should shake itself against ^Jiem that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up god'b guidance. 75 itself, as if it were no wood." Thus even the free actions of the most wicked man are so governed, that his way is not in himself, but in God. " For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth." And in re- gard to the crowning sin of our world, the death of Jesus Christ, when Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, it was "for to do whatsoever God's hand and counsel determined before to be done," But if this is true even with regard to the un- godly, how much more may we expect it to be true in regard to God's peculiar people, whom he has called and sanctified, to show forth his glory. Feeling that their way is not in themselves, they de- light in believing that they are led from above. It is the very law of God's dispensations, that when his people are going they know not whither, they are in the very path which the Master has ap- pointed. " I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not ; I will lead them in paths that they have not known ; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." The knowledge of this should work in us both submis- sion and hope ; submission, because God is sovereign, because he is wise, because he is just, because he is omnipotent, and because all resistance and all repin- T6 CONSOLATIOIT. god's GIJIDANOE. 11 ing are fruitless and wicked ; hope, because we are assured that all things work together for good to them that love God, being disposed according to a most gracious plan for accomplishing their perfec- tion. What though he hath not confided to us his secrets of state ? The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice ! However perplexing may be the particular case, here is a rule which covers all. " Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne." Even m times as dark as those of Habakkuk, we may say with the prophet : " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my sal- vation." The promise is good to every faithful soul : " The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones : and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." We are more ready, perhaps, to recognize this guidance of Providence under the greater than un- der the lighter afflictions of life. Yet the misery as well as the happiness of man is mainly the aggre- gate of little things. When fortune is suddenly swept away ; when disease breaks the constitution ; when death by a single stroke makes the widow and the orphan, the sufferer is prompt to acknowledge that it is the visitation of God. But we live sis if we would exempt from the general rule the petty annoyances of our common days ; the languor which unfits for duty ; the cloud that passes over the spirits ; the domestic cross, the chafing of temper in trade ; the slight, the unkindness, the for- getfulness which we endure from thoughtless or selfish fellow-creatures. Yet the law is univer- sal. Not merely the journey, but every step of the journey, is ordered. No part of our way is left to ourselves. Kesignation and faith behold God in the smallest hair that falls ; and the happiest life is that of him who has bound together all the affairs of life, great and small, and intrusted them to God. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass. The consideration of the truth, that we cannot direct our own ways, may well serve to chastise our sanguine expectations, with regard to the course of our life. It is the characteristic illusion of youth, and it varies with the temperament of the indivi- dual, but no season of life is entirely free from it. We are prone to look at the future, as if it all were within our power. We plan for earthly happiness, as if our own purpose were omnipotent. And even sore experience does not teach us that our arm reaches but a little distance ; and that we are subject to a governing power, which employs us as the potter does the clay. Of the majority of the schemes and enterprises which engage the solicitude of the busy world it may be said, they include no thought of Providence. The worldly mind, and even the 78 CONBOLATIOK. Christian mind under wrong influences, continues ita way as if self-sufficient. "To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant." It is to rebuke such unfounded hopes that the Apostle James says, " Go to now, ye that say. To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain : whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life ? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boast- ings : all such rejoicing is evil." Such was the joy and such the boasting of the rich man in the para- ble, as he surveyed the extent of his crops : " I will say to my soul. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." But God said unto him, " Thou fool ! this night shall thy soul be required of thee." To hope, indeed, is our privilege and our duty, but our hope must be in God. Men are fond of talking about being the architects of their own fortune, and our ears are wearied with hearing of " self-made men ;" but unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Hope itself becomes more secure, and energy is more constant, when they are founded on the belief that all is under the Almighty guidance. Our happiness in duty is greatest, when we feel that we are conducted through all our changes by an overruling power, which uses us for ends far above our comprehension. god's guidanoe. 79 But such is the tendency of erring man to go from one extreme to another, that while at one mo- ment we are inflated with idle hopes, at the next we are cast down by as idle fears. The doctrine now under consideration serves to repress our need- less apprehension of coming evil. Ever attempting to pry into the future, we make to ourselves a thou- sand troubles which never exist but in these sickly imaginations. The foreknowledge of such as are really to befall us, would be enough to crush us ; and God has wisely and mercifully concealed from us that which is to come. It is a fine conception of our great poet, when Michael sets before Adam the future history of the world, to represent our pro- genitor as exclaiming in anguish : " O visions ill foreseen ! better had I Lived ignorant of future, so had borne My part of evil only, each day's lot Enough to bear. I^t no man seek Henceforth to be foretold what shall befall Him or his children ; evil he may be sure, . Which neither his foreknowing can prevent, And he the future evil shall no less In apprehension than in substance feel, Grievous to bear." But not content with forecasting ttose ills which shall occur, we imagine a thousand which never ar- rive. By such perverse musings men may press into a few days all those evils which God has mer- cifully parcelled out thi-ough a lifetime. And aa there are innumerable trials which cause more dis- 80 god's GUIDAIiJ'OE. 81 CONSOLATION. tress in the fear than in the endurance, we lade our- selves, not only with those which shall be, but with a hundred-fold more which are the mere creatures of our apprehension. Such a temper is to be cor- rected, by considering that the way of man is not in himself. All such cares are needless. They do not avail in the slightest degree to avert or lessen the ills which come, or to strengthen us for the burden. They fill up time, and absorb thoughts and energies which should be bestowed upon the duties of the day. In this connection, how pure, heavenly, and reviving are the directions of our blessed Sa- viour ; how infinitely above the reach of worldly philosophy; how consistent with the highest wis- dom ! Sending us for our lesson to the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field, he says : " Take there- fore no thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." We shall be wiser, holier, and happier, if we resign ourselves and all our aflairs to the disposition of divine Provi- dence ; assured that he who loves us better than we love ourselves, will lay nothing upon us which is not for our good. Let not a thought of chance intrude, even in respect to the smallest concerns. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." If then we may use this doctrine to correct at once our unreasonable hopes and our unreasoii- able feai^s, we may also derive from it the habit of conducting our whole life with a reference to the leadings of Providence. Since it is not in man to direct his steps, let him seek the direction of God And this direction is twofold; that of providential Indications, and that of revealed duty. We are not left without signs in the course of events concerning us which serve to show where our path lies. The traveller may not be able to see very far before him • but when he has made one cautious step, he is generally permitted to see where the next should be placed. Even in the night of storm, this direc^ tion is sometimes afforded by the very lightning which alarms him. We must not mistake our own wishes and fears, our likes and dislikes, our worldly ease and interest for the leadings of Provi- dence ; but we may with justice examine every pro- posed step, with reference to our character, talente, age, station, and circumstances. But still more important is it to regard the path of duty as the path of Providence. The revelation of God's will in the Scriptures is our pillar of cloud and of fire. When we go where this directs, we cannot but go aright. "This is the way, walk ye in it " " The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise 'the simple." " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." If instead of so often asking what is agreeable, or tendincT to worldly happiness, we were constantly to ask what is duty, we should attain greater holiness, greater usefulness, and greater peace of mmd. Our 82 OONSOLATIOir. greatest glory ig conformity to the will of God. As our ways are not our own, we must eventually bow to that will whether willingly or unwillingly However, therefore, a temporary departure from duty may seem to promise good, we may rest upon it, as the immutable truth of God, that " wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness." Let me now inquire, is it not in the highest degree encouraging to be thus assured, that dark as the future is, in regard to our apprehensions, it is not in the minutest particular uncertain in the mind of God ? His eye discerns our whole path, even to the end ; nay, his hand has marked it out. After our greatest eflForts, and in spite of our greatest re- sistance, we do but float upon the mighty stream of his Providence. All that is past, and all that is to come, including every action, suffering, sentiment, and thought, all is carried forward by him to a con- summation as beatific for us as it is glorious for our Maker. Let me say, in recapitulation ; we have found it involved in our doctrine, that our present life is a state of discipline, in which we know not the end for which God is fitting us, nor our own need of such and such particular trials; that being ignorant of the end, we must needs be ignorant of the way; that we know not what to choose or what to refuse if events were left to our option ; that even in c^es whei'e we have such knowledge, we have little power to accomplish what we may choose ; that the god's guidance. 83 events on which our whole life, especially our spir- itual life, turns, are beyond our control ; and that the future, with all its contingencies, is entirely hid- den from us. But we have seen, on the other hand, that if man cannot direct his own way^*, they are directed by God; from which we have derived these practical lessons: to be submissive under trials, to moderate our hopes, to rei)ress our fears, and to follow the leadings of Providence. It seems a proper conclusion to this essay to add that in a future state, we have retison to be- lieve, the children of God will be admitted to see the wisdom and the mercy of all the way by which God has led them. What our Saviour said to Peter may, perhaps, in a certain sense, be said to every believer: "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou Shalt know hereafter." It is not too much to think, that when God shall have made up all his jewels, and the number of the elect shall be complete, he wiU make it a part of their happmess to look back from the height of heaven upon aU their winding track, and to see that every step has been ordered in infinite love ; that their sorest tnals have been merciful ; that their freest choices have been links in God's chain of purpose ; that their very sins have been overruled for good. And if this shall appear amazing in the history of an n- dividual, how shall it shine resplendent in the n^ tions of them that are saved, when ten thousand times ten thousand intermingling and entangled Uves shall visibly accord with one infinite plan, and 84 CONSOLATION. centre in one sovereign purpose ! The great end of Creation and Providence and Grace is God's own glory. This will be made manifest at the grand con- summation. But in nothing will this more shine than when it shall appear that the voluntary, and even the wicked acts of innumerable creatures, all concur in the accomplishment of God's purposes; and that in proportion as man's way has not beeh in himself, in the same proportion has the magnifi- cent plan been carried to completion. There is a w^onderful display of wisdom and power in material nature; and if we regard each star, even in the milky way, as the centre of a system, we are overwhelmed with the consideration of so many orbs, all moving agreeably to a uniform law, and circling theii- respective courses for ages without confusion. Yet still more astonishing, and still more glorious will it be, when at the last it shall appear, that of the millions of redeemed souls, each has been the free originator of thoughts and vohtions; that these have flowed from each in a perpetual stream; that they have conflicted with one another, and conflicted with the preceptive will of God ; that, nevertheless, all have contributed to the happiness of the saved world, and the glory of the Almighty. Then shall be heard the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb : " Great and marvellous are thy works. Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD A GKOUND OF ENLARGED CHRISTIAN EXPECTATION. IV. IF any are dissatisfied witli the Christiaii religion, it is because of their own ignorance or perverse- ness. It is impossible to conceive of any higher good, than that which the Gospel offers to every human being who hears it. Nothing has so revealed the capacities of the soul, as Christianity ; all the speculations of antiquity are trifling in comparisor • and these capacities seem to be revealed for the very purpose of exalting our delightful expectations, as to their being filled. When Christianity would lay a foundation for our hopes, it does not build on any doubtful analogies, but digs deep, and shows us the solid rock of God's infinite perfections ; saying, as it were, If you would know what you shall receive, think what God is — how great and how good. " All is yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." And we have endeavoured to set this forth, from the beginning, as the true ground of all rational comfort in religion. F^r if our distresses and trials do not drive us to seek support in the attributes of God, they do not afford us any benefit. The ground of aU our hopes is God's lo.ve, manifested to the world m the gift of his only begotten Son. From this 88 COKSOLATION. GOD^a OMNIPOTENOE. 89 source we cannot expect too much. Hence you will uniformly observe, that those who dwell most on the person and work of Christ, have the brightest prospects of future blessedness. And the apostle Paul uses a fervent prayer, that those to whom he wrote, might attain to the knowledge of this love of Christ, by means of which they would learn the riches of their destined inheritance. The apostle Paul breaks forth in a mingled dox- ology and prayer, when writing to the Ephesians : "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." God is thus able ; and thus his omnipotence is a ground of consolation. I. God's omnipotence and grace, authorize us to expect from him blessings beyond our comprehen- sion. The little child takes a pleasure in learning its father's riches, because it knows that this is all for its own advantage, and it never dreams of the parent's being restrained from giving by any thing but want of means. In like manner the Christian who has any right views of God as a Father, and of his relation to God, only needs to be informed that God is Almighty to be assured that he will bestow all good. Hence meditation on the omnipotence of God is greatly edifying, not only as it raises us to high thoughts of the adorable divine character, but as it assures us of the infinite sufiiciency there is in him. To say that God is able, is to say that he is willing. This method of proceeding from his disposition to his nature, from his goodness to his greatness, of presuming on his love and then com- forting ourselves with his power, is more pleas ing than the reverse. For it is dreadful to have a fuU view of God's power, and at the same time to be in doubt whether it is not all arrayed against us. The impression of this is what gives triple horrors to hours of conviction, when some poor dis- mayed soul is brought into the presence of infinite sovereignty, might, and wrath, but as yet has no ray of hope. Very different is the view which prompted the words of Paul: "Unto him that is ahU to do,"— as if he had said, Once convince me that God is ahle to make me happy, and I am con- tent : of his disposition to bless, I can have no doubt The apostle does not say God is willing : this was unnecessary. You will possibly have a reply ready, to wit, that nobody doubts God's power : all who believe in a God, believe he is almighty. But it is important to observe, that there are many great truths which we do not deny, and which, nevertheless, we do not believe ; and again, that there are degrees of faith, from the faintest assent, of which we are scarcely conscious, up to the full assurance of certainty. If nothing were necessary but to know and admit the general propositions of religious truth, much of our preaching, hearing, reading, and meditation would be superfluous ; but we must keep the mind's eye fixed on these truths until our knowledge becomes more intimate, extensive, and spiritual, and our faith grows with contemplation. Thus, while we sit and 90 CONSOLATION. god's OMNIPOTKNOE. 91 look eastward, like those that watch for the morn- ing, we behold, first the dawn, then the sunrise, then the bright morning, and then the blazing noon. This is especially true of God's attributes. We know them. The terms which express them are simple enough. Our first catechisms give us almost all we need to have expressed in the way of defini- tion. Nevertheless, what a world of knowledge is yet to be compassed on any one of those points ! And how does he who meditates on a divine perfection seem to go forth on a voyage from which there is no return! In this way the power of God, however fami- liar and admitted, requires to be mused upon and tra- velled in our thoughts ; as the astronomer by nightly observations, repeated for years, tries to penetrate the wonders of the heavens ; though the object which tasks his powers and arouses his curiosity is some nebula familiar to his eye from early youth. It is wise to ponder upon known truth, and he who never practises it will make slender attainments in new discovery. It was well for Paul to turn the gaze of the Ephesians upon the wonders of God's power — God " is able to do ;" and to connect it with that love of Christ and fulness of God, of which he had just been speaking (Ephes. 3 : 20). There is a little cleft of heaven opened to us by these words, and some light breaks in. Hope is a pleasant thing, even when it concerns itself about temporals ; but when it overleaps the fences of time and space, and begins to expatiate in eternity ; when it forecasts the condition of a soul .•«; let loose from the body ; when it presses towards the lapse of ages, all blissful and ever growing in the capacity for holy delights; when it pictures heaven, and successive births of soul into new lives of joy and love, cycle after cycle, then it becomes the angelic harbinger of God's presence. The true foundation for such hope is in God. There can be none other. To this the apostle directs the view : " To him that is able to do exceeding abundantly." It is because God the Lord is God, and our God and Redeemer, that we have such largeness of expecta- tation. The measure of our hopes is the degree of God's ability. This is startling, but undeniable, and fuU of matter for thought. '' If I (a believer) am not happy, it will be because God is not able to make me so." Here, indeed, is consolation. Noth- ing so enlarges the horizon of our expectations, as to place our hopes on divine perfections. He " that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think," places us on an eminence of observa- tion, from which we may look out on the wide sea of future good, and find no shore or limitation. This, if any thing, will lift a man above the world, and inspire a heroism into his Christianity. The people of the world go through their pil- grimage in a poor ignoble manner, analogous to the beasts'^ which do not lift their heads above the pas- ture in which they browse. Men whose portion is in this life very commonly put off thinking about any portion in the life to come, till they feel their bold on present things loosening. During middle 92 CONSOLATION, life and activity, it is really wonderful how our suc- cessful and busy citizens contrive to keep out thoughts of God and religion. Every few days there is a funeral of some old friend ; these come faster and faster, as we go down the hill ; neigh- bours attend these with proper solemnity, and look into the open vault, as if their thoughts were full of eternity. No such thing ! they have acquired the art of locking God out of his creation ; their minds are busy about the obsequies, or the estate of the deceased, or whether his will shall be contested, or their own loss of time, or the next piece of sordid business. They do not like to retain God in their knowledge ; they know they have nothing to expect from him. A high impenetrable wall blocks up the further side of their worldly prospects. What is beyond is to them as if it were not. What though God has plainly set on record certain things about that coming state; what though hundreds whom they knew have lifted that curtain and left the stage ; what though they are certain, that after a few days, they must make the plunge into the awful un- seen world ; all these things fail to arouse them. No sweet hope gilds the western horizon towards which their sun is sinking. No refreshing prelibations of those heavenly pleasures cheer them in their present journey. They have resolved to make the most of this life ; to live as if this were all ; to keep God out of their thoughts ; if not (as the great infidel said of death) " to make a leap in the dark." I have gone aside to this allusion, because it throws the strong god's omnipotence. 98 lights of contrast on the prevalent expectations of God's children. There is a low, cowardly disposi- tion in certain Christians to seek the woilds patron- age, and almost ask the world's pardon, for their re- ligion. Are they invited to some questionable amusement? they stammer out their apology of be- ing Christ's, as a mean^pirited spendthrift would own the slenderness of his pui-se. Are they cen- sured for not loving this world enough ? they plead religious custom or church-rule, or the opinioa of friends, instead of glorying in their birthright in the world to come. That which they^\o"ld bind to them as a garland and a diadem, and should hold forth as an iiTesistible inducement for sinners to come over to their side, they sometimes hide m a corner, and blush to have suspected. ,.„ . True, healthy, living religion takes a different view of these mattei^: would God we had more of it > The believer walks by faith : have you con- sidered what this means? It is faith which realizes he unseen, and presents the future. The believer walks about this world as a foreigner walks among the sounding colonnades of some "^-^ble Palace ; it is fair • it awakens his momentary cunosity, but what is it'to him ! To-morrow he is going away towards his beloved home. The Christian goes through this life under the overhanging influence of a spiritua state, and the incomparable attraction oi^g^ovjjet to be revealed. The very indistinctness oi his vision, in respect to that fair country, i^^'^'^f ^/^ f ^I^' « It doth not yet appear what we shaU be. But 94 COlSrSOLATIOK. though the detaUs of the future inheritance are not commnnicated to us, the principle and source of it IB, A child who knows that he is an heir, and that his father has boundless stores, knows enough for his happiness, though ignorant of the precise locality of his estates. God is able to do~on that he rests. In this is abiding consolation. Here the soul can be firm. Were this constantly in our thoughts, we should be buoyed up amidst the waves of trouble. We sometimes (if sincere seekers) busy ourselves in thinking of what may be in reserve for us, in that long, long existence which awaits us, and muse on the changes, the unfoldings, the ascendings, the en- largements, of which we shall be subjects, as those ages roll on. We sometimes try to imagine what these souls may become, and to speculate upon what infinite goodness, expressed in the gift of the Son and his death on the cross, may have in reserve for us. But all these thoughts of ours fall far below the measure of what God is able to do. Sometimes, again, in more devotional moments, our meditations take the form of request, and we undertake to ask of God to do this and that for us, in this life and in the life to come. But what poor, broken igno- rant petitions, for the most part ; if we could only compare them with the glory that is to be revealed in us. As if an infant should be craving a feather or a flower, when the parent is preparing for it a king* dom. " We know not how to pray, nor what to pray for as we ought." Thoughts and prayera are god's omnipotekoe 96 both together swallowed up and drowned in the depths of God's power and goodness; for "he is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." The word used in that passage is peculiar, "out of measure — surpassingly, or tran- scendently," breaking over all bounds of our com- prehension. You will feel its force more when you take along with you the whole of the preceding glowing context, wherein the language labours and is forced into seeming solecisms, in order to indicate the great ideas. We have to comprehend the in- comprehensible, and to measure the immense, and to sound the unfathomable; "to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge ;" to comprehend with all saints the dimensions of that which stretches beyond all human lines— the " love of Christ." As in the place in Ephesians, the measure of what God will give is his power ; so in the preceding verse^ the measure is the love of Christ; and both are summed up in that amazing expression (v. 19) : "all the fulness of God !" It is with no niggardly hand that our Redeem- ing Lord scatters these flowers of Hope along our path. We are not straitened in him. We cannot hope too much, provided we hope for right things- And while the promise of the New Testament is reserved in the extreme, as to the gift of earthly things, except so far as they minister to godliness, the gates of heaven are high and wide, and opening into boundless vistas of eternal heavenly things. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered 1], 96 CONSOLATION. OOD^S OMNIPOTENCE. 97 into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him : but God hath re- vealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of GodP 1 Cor. 2 : 9. These " deeps of God" are the profound of his natuie and perfections, on which our hopes are dependent. The wliole of the future is con- cerned in these anticipations. For while we need not wait till after death for them to begin, but may from the present moment have some earnest, so neither need we look on them as ending with this life, but as breaking into new, vast, and inconceiv- able expansions in the life which is to come. For God '^ is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." II. Of the greatness of these hopes, perhaps^ enough has been said. It is proper that we should consider their quality. The object of the expecta- tion is vast, but of what nature ? A re they Epicu- rean, Elysian, Mohammedan, sensual, carnal, philo- sophic, infidel enjoyments, which we look for ? By no means ! Such images and desires would argue a mind utterly void of true spiritual illumination and taste. No Christian can begin too soon to ascertain his standard of good ; and it must be moral, spir- itual, eternal, and divine. He looks for that which resides in the soul, that which flows from God, that which is wrought by the Spirit. Let it be deeply graven on our minds, that all God's dealings with us, from regeneration onwards, through all eternity, is a discipline, a moulding, a training, an education. This is sought by all convictions, all applications of truth, all mercies, all chastisements, all that sancti- fies us, by our very death, and yet more fully and gloriously by the unexplained communications of heaven. His purpose is to render us holy, to raise us to the perfection of our being, and to make us partakei^ of a divine nature. The work has com- menced, and will never cease. " He that hath be- gun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of redemption." He is ahle to perform it, be- yond all our thoughts and prayers, yea, exceedingly beyond them all ; and to search how, or to what extent, would be to search "the deep things of God." We are lost in a labyrinth of thoughts, yet not without a clew. This we do know, that the great thing is the spiritual work of the Holy Ghost upon the mind and heart, begun here, and completed, or rather carried ever onward hereafter. All things are subsidiary to this. Whatever relates to our bodies, our friends, our circumstances, our temporal weal or woe, our gladness or our tears, whatever is passing and external, is subordinate to this great end ; and we miss the true point of our expectations from God when we anxiously look to him for any thing short of being made " partakers of his holiness." The more sound our experience, the more pure our piety, the more shall we understand that " this is the will of God, even our sanctification." This is the heaven we desire. We shall love it, and exult in it, in proportion as we love God, and exult in 7 99 COKSOLATION. God. Herein " the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil." The children of God have a supreme taste for likeness to God : this is their chosen blessedness. The children of the devil have no such taste. They desire the inciden- tal benefits ' of religion ; such as escape from hell, and from the dread of it ; also supports and conso- lations under sorrows of life ; but they must own that renovation of nature, and the restored image of God, awaken none of their sensibilities. The soul that is born again is filled with expectations, which, however undefined, are at once spiritual and glori- ous. '' 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." The nature of the object, then, which fixes our hopes is conformed to the nature of the God who inspires it. IH. This glory is already hegiin in true Chris- tians^ and these beginnings are the pledge, earnest, and foretaste of what God will bestow hereafter. That exceeding abundant blessing which he is able to confer is set forth to us by what he is now con- ferring. For that which he will do is " according to the power that worketh in us." We do not suffi- ciently consider this. We are already under a divine influence, the same mighty power which regenerates and which will save. We are already born into this new life, and are under the daily operations of a grace which performs miracles of love, and works transforrriationp altogether ^yond the power of god's OlOnPOTENOE. 99 nature. We are prone to undervalue changes which do not fall under the observation of sense. But creation itself is not more marvellous than new- creation. That this is really an object of power, and not left merely to human volition, is proved by our Lord's words to the disciples, when they asked, " Who then can be saved ?" Jesus answered, " That which is impossible with men is possible with God." In every true believer there is a work of God's power perpetually going on, compared with which conquests and revolutions are small and unimpor- tant. The consciousness of this work within him, and the perception of its results, give him some in- timation of what God will hereafter do. In the primitive age, the contrast was striking between the unconverted and the convei-ted state ; hence the marks of this divine power were more apparent, and disciples felt that they were subjected to a power which was manifestly divine. Their hopes and tri- umphs seem to have been in proportion. Such will generally be the case : the more we feel the renew- ing energy at work within us, the brighter will be our hope of what that energy will accomplish here- after. Hence the happiness derived from a marked and advancing Christianity, such as leaves us in no doubt whether Christ be in us or not. There is no- thing that can so cheer us as this inward witness ; and there will be no limit to our hopes of the favour which God will bestow, "according to the power that worketh in us." These are no blind preHumptuous expectations, which we are permit- 100 CONSOLATION. ted to clierisli with regard to the things which God intends for us hereafter. " God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." He has given us some beginnings of them in the work of grace within. He has told us that he is able, and so told us as to make us sure that we shall never want until his ful- ness is exhausted. " Open thy mouth wide," saith he, ^' and I will fill it." Look forward and contem- plate the continuity of the work of grace. It is not a shower at noontide, which refreshes and is gone, but a well of water that springeth up to everlasting life. Would you derive some useful lessons from what has been said ? Among many, accept the fol- lowing : 1. Here is great inducement for impenitent per- sons to repent. Do you desire to have God on your side ? then repent. All his power and all his good- ness will be yours, and will be pledged to do you good. God is ahle^ that is, God is omnipotent, signifies a dif- ferent thing to the believer and to you. What can you read in it, but that he is able to destroy ? and to destroy with an intensity of destruction beyond all your possibility of comprehension. God is armed against you, and each of his perfections is a tower from which irresistible assaults are made on your happiness. The infinite and eternal opposition be- tween God's holiness and your sin must make you miserable and keep you so. There is no way to escape this, but by coming over to God's side, throuo:h the mediation of his Son. But let this once take place — and how extraordinary is the CMJd's OitNIPOTENCE. 101 result ! What ensues ? not simple amnesty, safety, or even forgiveness : these were great, unspeakable gifts ; but more than these, God descends, and picks up the poor sunken creature from his footstool, and presses him to his bosom. Is this enough ? No. He wipes his tears, clothes him in white apparel, enriches him with glory, and sets him upon a throne. The redeemed sinner finds that all the ex- pensive and amaiiing plan of redemption, which has been opening out for ages, has had for its object the hohness and blessedness of himself, and such as he ; and that the height which he has reached in the joy of his Lord, at the day of judgment, is only the starting-point, in a career of endless improvement in all that is pure, lovely, and spiritual. I have, throughout these remarks, taken pains to represent the expected blessing as consisting in holiness, like- ness to God, and communion with him. Now make sure that this is really your aim, and you cannot by possibility desire too much, or desire too ardently. Nor can you form any vision of what God is ready to communicate in these respects, which will not be ten thousand times surpassed by the reality. 2. Here is an aid in living above the world. The argument is easy : Is God preparing for me such an exaltation of holiness ? which is already be- gim : then away with all knitting of the heart to what is terrestrial and temporary ! Ungodly people think that Christianity draws off from their pleasures and idols, from a certain sourness and misanthropy, or from want of capacity for such delights. On 102 CONSOLATION. the contrary, the soiu of the believer flies far away above and beyond these surrounding trifles, and fixes itself on the spiritual glories of the kingdom. It is believing " things hoped for," " things unseen," that cast a shade on the toys of the present. " This is the victory that overcometh the world — even our faith." Think you that is a poor, naked, bar- ren country, on which faith's telescope fixes itself? Astonishing blunder ! It may be called for largeness and beauty, and attraction — a world. " Whatso- ever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report," are included in it ; and included in perpetual development and increase. God will go on to bless ; Christ will be more and more the fountain of light and holiness. " Of his fulness have we all received, and grace for grace." Think of this, when the world tempts you. Think what God is able to do, and will do. Think of the work as alread}^ begun within you, if you are of his people ; and examine carefully whether you experi- ence the divine efficacy of " the power that work- eth in us." 3. This subject suggests matter for our desires and prayers. The doctrine is addressed to pray- ing people; "above all that we ask or think." Unconverted persons never pray heartily and under- standingly for genuine holiness ; but those who are converted, if they ever pray for any thing, pray for this. The apprehension of these spiritual realities, god's omnipotence. 108 in their beauty and glory, does not come all at once, and we must be satisfied if one whose eyes are only just opened sees " men as trees walking :" but it infallibly comes, in the course of Christian experience. And not more truly and earnestly does the blind man express the topmost wish of his heart, " Lord, that I might receive my sight !" than the believer his longing, " O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes ! In an earlier stage of experience he may have been too anxious about temporal things ; but now his sober conviction is, that nothing is worth caring for, or asking of God with any importunity, but spiritual and eternal good. In the revolution of ages, the day will come, when earthly or carnal gifts will no longer be a blessing ; but the day will never come when truth, holiness, love, and God's image shall be less valu- able ; nay they will be growing in value to all eternity. Our prayers then are most sure to be right and to be answered, when they are for im- perishable things, and for what God himself regards as real good. Praying for, the future glory is the way to be fitted for it ; and while we so pray to be conformed to God, we are subjected to the mighty power, mentioned by Paul, whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. The encourage- ment to such prayers need not be here rehearsed, seeino- it has been our principal topic : " God is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think " Nothing is more pleasing to him, than our desires that this spiritual work should go on in r! 104 CONSOLATIOir. god's omnipotence. 105 ^rl US migMily. He inspires suet prayers, meaDing to answer them : I may say they are partly answered in the very asking. These are moments when the soul feels that it would rather suffer affliction than not be sanctified, and rejoices and glories in tribula- tion, because the experience which it derives from them is heaven begun. There is a peculiar excel- lency in the holy pleasures of the afflicted : it is on the face of the wilderness that this manna falls. And there cannot be named a pursuit or enterprise of human beings, in which there is so little possibi- lity of failure as praying for sanctification. God is able to do above your asking. 4. Such expectations from God's greatness and goodness may well sustain us amidst the trials of life. K these are sharp, so as to put our utmost pa- tience to the proof, we may look forward towards the immensity of the promise. We may have loss- es ; but till they avail to take away our God, they can- not effectually cloud the glorious prospect. Though we have seen the blessings promised to belong chief- ly to the spiritual and eternal world, yet we are not to suppose that our heavenly Father is indifferent to the condition of his children during the course of their present pilgrimage. The hairs of their head are all numbered, and the bounds of their habita- tion are chosen. Even in regard to this life, he is able to do more than they ask or think. He can draw off the heavy clouds which obscure their skies ; nay, he will certainly do so at the very fii-st moment when it shall consist with his infinite plan of mercy. Thus he caused the dark day of Jacob's affliction un- der his supposed bereavement, to brighten into an evening of peace and joy. Thus the unexampled losses of Job were followed by equally unexampled indemnity. Yet after all that we may concede, as to the profit of godliness in the present life, its chief expectations fix themselves on that which is to come ; and these exceeding great and precious promises are the headspring of every believer's comfort. To these he can come, when all cisterns are dry. This is blessedness in days of poverty, pain, and be- reavement. Like the ancient prophet, he still says, « Yet will I rejoice in the Lord : I will joy in the God of my salvation." The more enlarged his views of the Divine power and faithfulness, the more will he expect ; and the brighter his expectations are, the less will he feel the weight of present burdens. If our afflictions are heavy, and sometimes intolera- ble, it is because we dwell too little in thoughts of the' glory which is to be revealed. What but this enabled the Christian martyrs, in the primitive age, to endure excruciating penalties, and death in its most hideous forms, but the confidence they had in God's ability and readiness to admit them into his exceeding joy ? If for a moment their belief of the truth we are considering could have wavered, they would have fainted, and given way under the vehemence of their torments. That which can sup- port a man under the assaults of the chief and last enemy, even death, can surely hold him up under foregoing and lesser triak But we know by edify- 106 CONSOLATION. ing observation at the bedsides of the dying, that large expectation from God's power and love can thus sustain ; at a juncture when it were madness to look for any thing from earthly sources. All which should encourage us to study the riches of God's omnipotent mercy, as a resource when heart and flesh fail. In grief and pain, when frail nature is ready to succumb, this doctrine of God's ability to relieve and save comes like a cordial to the soul. It cannot deceive, because its foundation readies down to the rocky and eternal base of all excellency and all being. Till divinity itself shall change, this must remain the firm consolation of the believer. And his peace will^ be in proportion to his faith : whence it is to be inferred, that we should have more ample pro- vision for the seasons of sorrow, if in our times of prosperity we were more engaged in profound medi- tation on the attributes of God. The sovereign Author of Grace, who observes a holy order in his dispensations to the church, is not wont to pour his richest solace over the souls of those who have sought him negligently, or who have been driven to seek him only ou the access of calamity. Even to these he shows himself to be a God of mercy ; but his largest gifts of consolation are to those who have learned to make him their refuge before the tempest began to howl. True believers, educated by a long discipline to expect from God, turn to him in the hour of sorrow, as naturally as the infant to the mother's bosom. They know whom they have be- god's omnipotence. lot lieved. Their confidence in this new emergency is only the exercise of a trust which has l^een the habit of their sunnier days. Long ago they have settled their hearts in the firm persuasion, that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above their prayers or con- ceptions. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, takes of these familiar truths, and makes them effectual in the hour of tribulation. Though there be no more sign of deliverance than for Abraham, when his hand was raised to sacrifice his son, they are strong in faith, giving glory to God, Though Divine Wis- dom cast an impenetrable curtain over all the ways and means of escape, they flee with confidence to the infinite attributes of him in whom they have trusted. And when every hope on this side of heaven has failed, they can still rejoice in the mar- vels of loving mercy which their Lord stands ready to display in the coming eternity. 5. Here is ground for high praise to God for this infinite love. The text is brought in as a doxology ; see vei^e 21. The apostle strikes a note of thanksgiving, that is to be endless in the church, militant and triumphant. All ages shall be full of the " praise of the glory of his grace." In our presr ent state we are most ready to express gratitude for temporal deliverances and mercies ; but in the future state, we shall find these all swallowed up in the blessing of salvation, and shall undei^stand salvation better, as being the life of God ; the subduing of the will unto his ; the growing like our Maker and Redeemer; and the higher and higher reaches of 108 CONSOLATION. knowledge and love. The longer we live the life of heaven, the better shall we know what we have to give thanks for ; because we shall know better what God is, and be nearer to him, and more fully acquainted with the wonders of his universe, and the richness of his wisdom. Here, we do but bab- ble like infants about these things ; " we know in part, and we prophesy in part ;" " but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." Here we form low concep- tions of what our Heavenly Father is able to do ; and we can give thanks only according to our know- ledge : but as our comprehension of divine grace and glory increases, we shall fall down on the gold- en pavement in speechless rapture of gratitude. But ah ! how difficult is it to speak prudently of things beyond our experience. Let us be modest, in regard to what is not revealed. Of particulars we know nothing ; of the general truth we are cer- tain. God will never let drop that work in the soul, which he has taken in hand. " Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." THE GOODNESS OF GOD A REFUGE IN TIME OF TEOUBLE. V. IN every age, perhaps we might even say in every Christian experience, there are junctures in which it is difficult to reconcile the dispensations of provi- dence with the goodness of God. The controversy began in the patriarchal days, and is the grand argu- ment of the book of Job. "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power ?" Job 21: Y. The seventy-thii*d psalm is occupied with the clearing of the same paradox. Jeremiah, pre-eminently a sorrowful man, breaks forth thus : " Kighteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee, yet let me reason the case with thee of thy judg- ments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?" Jer. 12 : 1, marg. The worst men are sometimes apparently happy, and the consequence is, that the believer is envious at the foolish. Ene- mies of God appear to him to succeed in every undertaking. Wealth flows in on them; they arrogate to themselves an exemption from all re- vei^es, and feel insured even against providence; they fill the public eye, they build and decorate, they gather about them the gay and the revelling, they leave wealth to their children. 112 CONSOLATION. In the very same view, pious men are thought to be unhappy, and beyond a doubt are afflicted. Nothing is more true of them, as a class, than that they suffer. If we look at all the retinue of believ- ers, following Christ up the steep ascent, we behold them bearing the cross, while the rugged path is mark- ed by the blood of their feet, and their eyes are wet with weeping. They come out of great tribulation. Under the perplexities of this contemplation, what is left for the believer in his anguish, but to seek the resort which we have been pointing out, and to search among God's awful attributes for some one which may be a solace ? The name of the Lord is a strong tower. But no gate of that fortress is unbarred for our entrance, until we approach under the banner of Christ. We compass the lofty, for- bidding wall, but find no crevice open for sin. Yet these characters of God are all we have. For look heavenward, and consider : — If He were ignorant or unwise, we might suffer without his knowledge, or sink in waters which he could not explore : we might be lost in mazes where his eye could not follow us, or be carried away in whirlwinds which he knew not how to quell. Khe were limited in power, we might groan under the very burden which he could not lift off. If he were afar, in some pavilion beyond our system, he could not be reached by our cry of anguish when the deep waters went over our soul ; and were he not here this moment, it would be mockery to pray. If he were not good, our happi- ness would be nothing to him, and we might have qod'b gooditess. 113 hellish pain for ever and ever. K he were not mer- ciful, he could not care how wretched we are ; and if he were not gracious, we should sink in despair, being sinners. But because he is Almighty, All-wise, All-seeing, Every-where-present, boundless, everlast- ing, and unchangeable, in goodness, mercy, and com- passion — we have in him a refuge and stronghold, to which we may continually resort. The perfections of God afford a refuge : and in time of trouble, faith resorts to this refuge. The perfections of God afford a refuge. Kaise your eyes towards the loftiness of our stronghold. But take off the shoes from off your feet, for the place is holy ground. As sinners, you will first be arrested by a trait of Divinity. God is just. The Judge of all the earth will do right. The reverse is inconceivable. When we think of a being who can do wrong, we no longer think of God. Nothing which he does can be unjust, arbitrary, or hard. He smites down the ven- erable and beloved shepherd, in the very moment when his dearest earthly stays have been purposely removed. Or he overwhelms in the tide of sudden death, a mingled throng of youth and age, loveliness and crime. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? Hush thy insane murmurs, O worm ! " Be silent, O all flesh, before Jehovah ; for he is raised up out of the habitation of his holiness !" Zech. 2 : 13. We cannot imagine a motive which an Infinite Being could have to do an act of injustice. All the earth and all heaven unite in praising Jehovah as righteous. But O reader, can we climb up to our 8 114 CONSOLATION. reftige by this frowning battlement ! Nay, it is im^ pregnable. If indeed we were so far freed from per- sonal regards as to be governed in our thoughts and judgments by a sense of general equity, and resi)eet to the honour of God, it is conceivable that we might acquiesce fully in decisions of the Most High, which should contravene our own happiness. We should then submit to naked Justice. Some urge this as the first step in a sinner's return ; but the Bible knows no such refinement of abstract submission : it would, if possible, be the last and not the first step of sanctification : the mighty effort of the giant, not the infant motion of the new-born soul. Let me not for a moment be misunderstood. Submission to God's will, and that in the most absolute sense, is the duty of every intelligent creature, and is a state of mind to which the influences of the regenerating and sanctifying Spirit infallibly lead. But there is an order in the dispensation of gracious affections ; and agreeably to that order it is not the first de- mand on an unreconciled heart that it should yield a legal submission to infinite justice, so as to be will- ing to endure everlasting condemnation, however righteous. Such a submission to naked justice is not to be looked for in our present state, and this for two reasons. First, because God made man a being desirous of happiness. It is a radical principle. It is God's own work. It is not one of those desires which came from the poison of the forbidden tree, but a propensity wrought into the first Adam, throb- bing in the heart of the first Eve, actuating the holy GOD'S GOODNESS. 115 pair among the trees of the garden, and appealed to, by Jehovah, in the first threat and the fii^t promise. Let the metaphysical divine confront his God in Paradise, and say whether the propensity which is there recognized is necessarily sinful. We are unable to think of any one as a reasonable human being, who does not, in all possible circum- stances, desire his own welfare. One may choose a present evil, or relinquish a present good : but it is in every case with the hope of avoiding some greater evil, or obtaining some greater good. Speculation has added to the words that are written in this book, by enjoining a chimerical duty— that of being will- ing to be eternally miserable— as impossible as it is uncommanded. Suppose it proved that my indi- vidual misery for ever shall be for the greatest good of the universe, does this make me content to suffer misery, except under a hope of indemnification or relief? No: the Gospel takes away all that is earthly, but pours back all heaven into the bosom. Indeed, when we closely examine this vaunted meta- physic, it is a contradiction in terms to say that a man desires unhappiness: inasmuch as the accom- plishment of our desires is happiness itself There- fore, a total disregard of private interest or indi^^d- ual enjoyment is not commanded in all this volume. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves. We may then love ourselves: may? we must love ourselves: and self-love becomes sin only when it becomes selfishness. The other reason why so stoical a submission to abstract justice is not de- 116 CONSOLATION. manded in our present state is, that it presupposes an extent of knowledge more than human. Our views are so limited, that we cannot take in all worlds and systems and ages: yet we must take these in, to determine what is best, wisest and most just in the government of God. Our ignorance, therefore, joins with our self-love, with that self-hn^e which God's finger engraved on the decalogue, and infused into the heart, to prevent our finding a refuge in the mere justice of God. We submit to it as righteous ; we do not enjoy it as happiness, till we join other views of God, and catch a glimpse of full- orbed Deity in the Sun of Kighteousness. Let us descend into our experience. A sudden or a lingering anguish comes and kills my peace. I break the seal of heart-wasting tidings, or I stand by the coffin of my first-born. The Judge of all the earth will do right. This comes home to the under- standinof as a dorious and undeniable truth. But then it may be right that I should be wretched. God will act as a righteous King ; but it may be riirhteous for him to make me miserable. Justice, so far from comforting, is my terror. I look up to the precipitous side of the fortress, and see the brist- ling weapons of vindictive law barring my ascent. It was right for the flaming sword to keep the gate of Eden. It was right for the Salt Sea to surge over Sodom, Gomorrah and Zeboim. It was right that Judas should go to his own place. It was right that the sword should smite the Shepherd when he stood for the sheep. It is right that in gob's goodness. 117 yonder lake ihe smoke of their torments goeth up for ever and ever. It may be right that this great pang should enter my heart from the right hand of Infinite Justice. Nay more, not only ifc may be right — but O conscience, conscience, relentless con- science, thou ceasest not day nor night to tell me, it is right — it cannot but be right ! I feel it to be ricrht. All within me rises to confirm the verdict with horrid acclamation : I am a sinner ; " the soul that sinneth, it shall die." In the mere justice of God, then, I find no solace in affliction. My uncon- verted friend, you deny yourself all other resource. That justice I plainly see to be against me. I can- not scale that eternal wall. Justice exacts the pun- ishment of sin ; but I am a sinner. Justice exacts obedience, full, unbroken and implicit ; but I have long since broken the covenant. The stripes which I endure are but the earnest of my penalty. Yet they are just stripes: they are such as it befits Infi- nite Justice to inflict. Wonder it is, that I have not long since been given over to the executioner. Where can I look ? — in what cleft of burning Sinai can I find a refuge ? Thus it is that the attribute of Justice, viewed alone, gives no comfort, and opens no stronghold to man, considered as a sinner. And it is for this very reason, that the eye of the sufferer is directed to another quarter of the heavens. I hasten to the point indicated in the outset. When we begin to learn from the Scriptures, that God is a God of love and tender compassion; that his very stripes are 118 CONSOLATION. awakening us to fly; that he doth not willingly afflict and grieve ; that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth ; when behind the lifted rod we discern a Father's tears ; and when, as being in covenant, we consider that the same afflictions are accomplish- ed in our brethren that are in the world ; that they are not by chance, but appointed with the full con- sent of Him who stands by the throne, and who loved us so that he died for us, and is now our Guar- dian, Trustee, Surety, Advocate, and Husband- when we find that he has brought us into this wilderness with an intention, and hedges up our way with preventive tenderness— the desert begins to smile ; the thirsty waste seems moist with springs of water ; the sandy plain appears newly clad with trees of pleasure ; the '4and is as the garden of Eden ;" the voice of the Lord is heard among the trees of the garden; after sultiy heats, the cool of the evening reveals the form of the Shepherd ; he lead- eth us beside the still waters. " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." And O how suddenly can this change be wrought in the soul ! Think not even a sudden death is de- nied these revelations. It is not sudden to him who sends it. Whether he gently unwind the silver cord or dash the .olden bowl to pieces at a blow; whether the aged servant in his bed ebbs away into eternity by long decay, or welcomes his Master in some spasm of the heart ; or loses his earthly oon god's goodness. 119 feciousness amidst the shrieks and strangulation of shipwreck — what are these incidents? God was there ; Christ was there. On this side we see corpses and desolation ; on that side they see a delivered spirit, embosomed in love, entered into the strong- hold and refuge. Justice no longer appals us, when it is satisfied in Christ. It is the love, the mercy, the grace, the long-suffering, the fatherly compassion of our God, which is our citadel. " The name of the Lord is a strong tower ; the righteous runneth into it and are safe." What name is this ? " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suftering, and abun- dant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and that will by no means spare the guilty." This name is our strong tower ; this God is our strong- hold. We may take refuge in every name and attri- bute as in a separate chamber of our fortress. And the consolation is not confined to any specific case, but has a generality wide enough to embrace all who find the true entrance. The promise is exceed- ing wide, and opens its dooi^ to aU the throng of the wearied and heavy-laden. The teaching of the Scripture is, therefore, plain : we have a refuge. The love of God, under the various names of goodness, bounty, long-suftering, compassion, mercy, and grace, is that which opens to us in our flight. Only convince a man, on gos- pel grounds, that God loves him, and in proportion to his faith, you make him a happy man. Let him 120 CX)NSOLATION. god's goodness. 121 only know the things that are freely given him of God, and he is comforted. " When, by the Spirit of God," says Luther, speaking of his conversion, " I learnt how the justification of the sinner proceeds from God's mere mercy, by the way of faith, then I felt myself boru again, as a new man ; and I enter- ed by an open door into the paradise of God. From that hour I saw the precious and holy Scriptures with new eyes." He had entered the stronghold. Let a man comprehend the import of the declara- tion that God is good ; let him think w^ho and how great God is; what and how copious his all-sufii- ciency ; how boundless his ability to bless ; how ex- quisite the pleasures at his right hand for evermore ; and then let him stand and wonder at the greatness of affection affirmed of such a Being, who sits at the fount of all conceivable good, creates all susceptibili- ties of enjoyment, and floods them with holy fulness. Let him muse on this till he has begun to conceive what God is, what God's love is, and how it must gush from this spring-head, and stream into swell- ing rivers of deep and spreading beneficence, of vast and awful bliss, from its sources in the heart of infinite favour ; and then let him turn inwards, and shudder to behold that the object of all this is — himself. I say, let a man thus be told, and thus understand, and thus believe that God loves him — and he is a happy man : he now knows that God is a refuge. You do not bless the afflicted sinner, I repeat it, by saying to him that God is just Sinners also be- lieve and tremble. The never-failing replication of his conscience is, and "because He is just, I am wretched." But when you would revive the spirit of the contrite, say to him, God u love. It will be a dead letter to him, unless he looks at the cross ; but let him so look, and he beholds a door. Thus the solitary young monk was led in by Staupitz : *' Look at the wounds of Christ," he said to Luther, *' and you will there see shining clearly the purpose of God towards men. We cannot U7ider stand God out of Uh/ristT Hence the maxim of the Re- former's after years: "I cannot come near the abso- lute God." Nolo Deum ahsolvtum ! Love is the attribute which shows us most of God. Here we gaze on most of the divine effulgence. Power might be malevolent ; knowledge might be distant ; im- mensity might overwhelm ; but love, essentially, in itself, is blissful, and to all around it communicates bliss. It is only as believers that we can reconcile the seeming opposites — " God is a consuming fire," and " God is Love." The different ways in which Jehovah shows his love may have different names ; but it is only the same adorable, undivided Perfection, shining in love. The rainbow that is about the throne may have its distinguishable colours, but the ray is one, and its name is Love. " For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee ; a God full of compassion and gracious : long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth." This is not tautology: it is human minJ f\ 122 CONSOLATION. and language sinking under repeated efforts to express the inexpressible, to go around the tower of glory, and survey first one side and then another of that sti'ueture which is the centre and glory of the Church. Let men of the world consider this. Their rock is not as our Rock, even themselves being judges. Here is our (jty of strength, O w^orldlings ! " Walk about Zion, and go round about her ; tell ye the towers thereof; mark ye well her bulwarks; consider her palaces. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death, Ps. 48. Or in the words of another Scrip- ture, Jehovali is good. In time of trouble^ faith actually resorts to this refuge. The lofty gates have been open for ages, and the fugitives of all nations have been press- ing in ; but yet there is room. Times of trouble have not ceased from our world. In such times, we need some refuge, stronghold and solace. Every man seeks some refuge of this kind. Let a sudden blast ruffle our bay, and the squadron of small crafb are instantly dispersed, each making for its little haven. The hiding-places of men are discovered by affliction. As one has aptly said, " Our refuges are like the nests of birds ; in summer they are hidden among the green leaves, but in winter they are seen among the naked branches." Ungodly men being afraid of God, and feeling that they are at enmity with him, go any where else for solace in afflicti(^n. Some turn to w^orldly business, and buy and sell with redoubled, activity; some count up the idols GOD 8 GOODNESS. 123 that remain, and plan new enterprises; some go into light company, read light books, or flutter through the dance of light amusements ; some have been known to enter the sty of drunkenness. Troubles drive each one to his refuge, and each has his little retreat, his shrine and his idol, which he seeks at such times. And the child of God has his refuge, and goes into it. Above the raging of the water-floods, when all around is consternation, he hears the voice, as of a trumpet, saying from the bulwarks : " Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut the doors about thee ; hide thy- self, as it were, for a IMe moment, until the indig- nation be overpast." Is. 26 : 20. And emerging from the waves, he responds : " In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast." Ps. 57 : L " When my heart is over- whelmed within me, lead me to the Eock that is higher than L" " God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof" Such cries of exultation ^ ave often risen from the ocean-waste, when God's chil- dren have been swallowed in the deep. Can I doubt that when the long-remembered steamer Pre- sident was mysteriously crushed by the Atlantic surge, the lofty voice of Cookman, which I have so often heard with a thrill of delight calling sinners 124 OOKSOLATION. god's goodness. 126 to Christ, as with the clear penetrating notes of a clarion, can I doubt that that voice was lifted abov e the noise of the waves, in some such strain as this ; "The Lord on high is mightier than the voice of many waters, yea than the mighty waves of the sea!" And need we doubt, that in a late catas- trophe, more than one sanctified spirit, even in that little moment on the deck, or struggling in the cur- rent, or locked up in those lower chambers of death, was enabled to gather itself and say. Lord Jesus, re- ceive my spirit ! The moment of death requires simple exercises, thanks be to God ; the way into that refuge is direct, especially to one who has been coming to it day by day for years. The word stronghold in the text, means in Hebrew a dwell- ing-place, abode, or mansion. It is the same used it the ninetieth Psalm : " Thou hast been our dwell- ing-place in all generations." To the believer, God is not merely a retreat, but an abode ; not a refuge just found out when trouble surprises, but a habita- tion to which he has learned continually to resort ; not a temporary shelter, but a stronghold, where he dwelleth, aud where he loves to dwell. " For this," says the Psalmist, " shall every one pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found ; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him : thou art my hiding-place." Here is a refuge to which faith actually resorts in every trouble. The heart knoweth its own bit- terness ; and sometimes the keenest arrow is rank- ling just where the stranger intermeddleth not. Many are the afflictions of the righteous : some of the sorest are not catalogued in books, or rehearsed m sermons. Sometimes single darts wound here and there ; ^ and then again, whole communities sufler. One disaster in war, or on the ocean, directs the river of sorrow into a thousand homes. The falling of a hoary head,— that crown of glory, if it is the head of a behever, a friend, an example, a father, a pastor,— carries down with it the sorrowing hearts of a church, or indeed, as we have felt this week, of a whole Christian population. When it was whis- pered from one to another in our city, that a be- loved father in the gospel had been translated in the night, who was there that did not feel that it was a bereavement, and that the loss was a loss of the Christian society ?* Such will be the case with all of us, in our seve- ral afflictions, if our faith resorts to God as a refuge It is this, far more than exemption from trials, which makes life blessed. Perhaps you have been tempt^ ed to say. Blessed are the prosperous, the rich, the unhumbled ! No. Asaph had some such thoughts ; but when he went into the sanctuary, and took a heavenly ^riew, he descried the end of the wicked. It was one who knew, that said. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Happy are they only, who have sorrow sweetened by the divine promise. They glory in tribulation. They have storms, but they have both an anchor and a haven. Goodness cannot be manifested more clear- ♦ This was penned just after the death of an eminent clergyman. 126 CONSOLATION. ly than in a sanctifying process, however severe. Let me thus reason with such as are in trials. We have asked to be made holy. Again and again we have besought the Lord to withdraw us from evil ways, to divorce us from the rivals which seduce us ; and now we hear him saying, " I will hedge up thy w^ay with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths : and she shall follow after lovers, but shall not overtake them ; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them : then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it bet- ter with me than now." And, so saying, the soul recognizes the goodness of God, and faith enters the stronghold. There are thoughts in the darkened chamber of sorrow which visit us nowhere else ; — important, salutary thoughts, to instruct, confirm, purify, arm, and comfort ; thoughts of our sin, our selfishness, our idolatry, our worldliness, our unbe- lief ; thoughts of the abiding joy laid up in heaven, where sickness, alarm, despair, and sin never come. And I speak the mind of all sanctified affliction, when I add, that among them all, no thought is more constant than that of God's goodness as an eternal refuge. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." 1. How admirable and lovely is that religion which makes such provision for times of trial ! And the provision is God. We are told, not that a refuge or fortress is found in this or that consideration, but god's goodness. 127 that the name of the Lord is a strong tower. Re- ligion derives all its graces and all its glories from its principal object. If the believer is to rejoice, it is m God. The course of our experience shows us, that ^ every reliance sinks away from under us, and nothing sublunary can be our support. Youth, and prime, and strength soon decay. Health is one of the most precarious and perishable of our brief pos- sessions. Wealth— I will not condescend to name it, as a solace in heart-trouble. Friends— they are blessed gifts ; let us ever thank God for them, dis- charge our duty to them, and dwell in love amongst them : but their arm reaches but a little way ; often the most that they can do is to weep with us ; and ah ! how soon, how rapidly do they depart ! Till at length the aged disciple looks around to wonder at his own solitude ; and if he sees near him so much as one of the companions of his youth, is ready to tremble at the prospect of speedy separation. Ex- perience, I say, shows us, sooner or latei-, that there is no resting short of God. Tread on any ground but this, and it proves a quicksand. But oh, how rich is the possession of God's saints ! The mighty God of Jacob is their refuge, and underneath them are the everlasting arms ! I will never, I will never, I will never, never, never, never— such is the redu- plication of the text— leave thee, nor forsake thee. Here is a heavenly tower of vast dimensions, every chamber filled with bounty, and t very gate standing wide open. As the magistracy of Israel was com- 128 COirSOLATION. i manded to see that the highways to the cities of refuge were kept in good repair, so that the fleeing culpnts might meet with no obstruction, so it is a chief duty of the gospel ministry to facilitate the flight of all afflicted persons to the tower of strength and consolation. O that I were able to recount and to descnbe the numerous instances in which I have seen the heart-broken child of God taking courage amidst redoubled calamities, in the attributes of a recon- ciled God ! This were enough— if there were noth- ing else—to recommend the Christian religion to all who suffer pain, fear, or bereavement. And hence indeed, we observe, that the followers of the Lord' Jesus consist in a great degree of those who have been drawn to him by the necessities of deep afflic- tion. 2. How serious is the question. Am I acquainted ■with God as a strong tower in the time of danger 'i It is not every one who possesses this resort— or who knows the way to it. As has been intimated, the flying of the soul to God, in times of trouble' presupposes some knowledge of him, reconciliation with him, and trust in him. The calamities of life are such indeed, and come with poignant sting to those who have no God. The bolt falls with almost crushing violence, on the man who is at ease in his possessions, and who cries in vain to his god of silver and of gold. Beloved reader, be persuaded to re- member your Creator, before the evil days come Hearken to the voice of all experience, and beheve god's goodkess. 129 that you wiU bitterly regret your impenitence and procrastmation, when sudden aflMction comes upon you. You cannot possibly make a better use of these halcyon days of youth, of health and of ease than by providing for the dark and cloudy season.' God IS graciously ready to welcome him who turns to him even in the hour of his desolation, and, like the prodigal, cries, "I will arise and go to my father-" but more pleasing is it to God, and more profitable to the soul, when one amidst the sunshine of hope and prosperity, looks up and says, "Father, thou art the Gmde of my youth ! " Nothing is more certain, than that the days are hastening on in which you will find these to be true sayiU. Therefore be exhorted, without delay, to flee into this everlasting tower, that you may be safe •- safe not merely from the clouds of worldly sorrow but from the insuflTerable tempest of God's wrath and curse ! 3. It only remains that I should beseech those who are sufferers at this time, actually and imme- diately to betake themselves to this refuge Behold the Rock of your Defence ! Behold in every several attribute a chamber of protection ! CaU to mind the lessons of your whole Christian life, with regard to the Truth, the Justice, and the Goodness of God Even under the Old Testament, amidst many imper- fections of knowledge, God's people learned to con- Jacob, Ell, Job, David, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, have 9 ' I 130 CONSOLATION. left us their testimonial. 80 clear was this, that even the modern Jew, in his wanderings has lessons of resignation, which are unknown to the pagan phi- losopher. " During the absence of the Rabbi Meir, his two sons died — both of them of micommon beauty, and enlightened in the divine law. His wife bore them to her chamber, and laid them upon her bed. When Rabbi Meir returned, his first in- quiry was for his sons. His wife reached to him a goblet ; he praised the Lord at the going out of the Sabbath, drank, and again asked, ' Where are my sons V ' They are not far off,' she said, placing food before him thtit he might eat. He was in a genial mood, and when he had said grace after meat, she thus addiessed him : ' Rabbi, with thy permis- sion, I would fain propose to thee one question.' ' Ask it then, my love,' replied he. ' A few days ago a pei-son intrusted some jewels to my custody, and now he demands them. Should I give them back to him V ' This is a question,' said the Rabbi, ' which my wife should not have thought it neces- sary to ask. What ! wouldest thou hesitate or be i-eluctant to restore to every one his own V ' No,' she replied, ' but yet I thought it best not to restore them without acquainting thee therewith.' She then led him to the chamber, and stepping to the bed, took the white covering from the dead bodies. ^ Ah ! my sons, my sons,' loudly lamented their father ; ' my sons ! the light of my eyes and the light of my understanding : I was your father — but I god's goodness. 131 you were my teachers in the law.' The mother turned away and wept bitterly. At length she took her husband by the hand and said, ' Rabbi, didst thou not teach me that we must not be reluctant to restore that which was intrusted to our keeping ? See, ' the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord.' ' Blessed be the name of the Lord,' echoed the Rabbi, ' and blessed be his holy name for ever.' " But all Old Testament resignations and hopes are but a morn- ing twilight, cojnpared with the meridian faith of the Gospel. Now, we behold in Jesus, not only a Master and a Comforter, but a fellow-sufferer, a forerunner, a sympathizing High Priest. By him, as a medium, we approach our fortress ; for he is the way, the truth, and the life. Not even sin can keep us away ; for he has borne our sins in his own body on the tree. Come then, and drown your griefs in the sea of everlasting love ! A little longer, and you shall be admitted to a nearer view of those divine excellences, which, even in distant prospect, have sustained your head amidst the bil- lows. And, then, when fiiUy entered into your eternal fortress, how speedily shall you forget all the trials of the pilgrimage ! My beloved brethren, what we need, in order to support our fainting souls, is only a larger measure of that faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen ; which shall make the coming eter- nity as real to us, as the events of the passing life ; Pi 182 CONSOLATION. which shall turn our doctrines and tenets respect- ing God and heaven, into heart-experience, and actuating motive. Then shall we abide in God, as in our tower; then shall we be encircled in his pavilion. Then shall we dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. THE SOUL SUSTAINED BY HOPE EISINQ TO ASSURANCE. ^^ YL TT is a very serious and interesting question, wheth- -*- er a believer may in this life attain to an infalli- ble certainty of his ultimate salvation. Nor is the problem a new one. The times of the Reformation three hundred years ago, were much occupied with this very inquiry. The finding of the genuine gos- pel among the old ruins of superstitious ceremonial and semipelagian dogmas, shed such a sunshine over the Christian world, that there were multitudes whose hope was so exalted as to expel all doubt. This was consolation indeed ; for such a certainty of bliss was peculiarly suitable in a day when it was needful to suffer for Christ, and when martyrdoms began to reappear in the church. The reformers one and all, testified that a man might be assured of his eventual salvation. But this doctrine found many adversaries. It comported well with the denial of final persever- ance, to deny this. The same persons were the op- ponents of both. In the first place, the Papists ad- mitted no certainty concerning one's being in a state of grace, beyond what was conjectural. They even maintained that such a certainty was not desirable, 136 CONSOLATION. ASUBANOE. I pi * |i I) I and that it tended to relaxation of morals. It would have been more candid, if they had maintained that it tended to relaxation of the priestly tie, and dimi- nution of the papal majesty. For he who is assured of God's love, and hears his remission from his judge, will feel little concern about human absolution. Here is a death-blow to masses for the soul's health, supererogatory merits of saints laid up in store for the behoof of sinners, vows, pilgrimages, humilia- tions, indulgences, and universal monkery. There is no need of these to one who has the peace of God shed abroad in the heart. There were other adversaries of triumphant grace, and they set themselves to deny assurance. The old Arminians (in this differing very much from the modern Wesleyans) united in holding that it was neither laudable nor useful to be placed above doubt. They admitted a conjectural certainty, or a conditional certainty, but none that was real. For how can they who admit the danger of faUing from a state of grace have any assurance for eternity ? They may fall away to-morrow. They may fall away under the next temptation. They may make shipwreck in the very haven, and lose Christ after they have become speechless in death. It suited well with a slavish and legal system to deny the possibility of assurance. Having no know- ledge of a method of grace, and the ingenuous, grate- ful, willing service which is rendered by a renewed soul, they dreaded ever to let the convinced come from under this yoke of bondage. They were sure 137 that the moment he was sure of escape from hell he would disobey ; that there could be no Christian- ity, save under the lash. The effect of such a scheme IS apparent, to a melancholy degree, in the character of many estimable, and of some great men. A re- markable instance is that of the celebrated Dr John- son. It would be difficult to point out a more gloomy record of experience, than that which is con- tamed m his religious meditations and diary. These extend through a period of forty-six years. They are solemn, affecting, and undoubtedly sincere. But they lack one thing, and that all-important, namely the idea of free salvation by Jesus Christ. Dr' Johnson had learned that all assurance was enthusi- asm. He knew no motive but fear. He is perpetu- ally lamenting over sin, but never cherishing a sense of pardon. Almost until his latest hours, he was in bondage through fear of death. He never willingly allowed conversation in his presence to turn on this painful subject, and sometimes repressed it with his characteristic and boisterous indignation. Now how far did this absence of that assurance (which he so strenuously denied to be possible) tend to the devel- opment of Christian character ? Let us read, amidst his lamentations over lost time, and his petty fasts and austerities, the record on his fifty-sixth birth-day, Sept. 18, 1764. "I have now spent fifty-five years m resolving, having from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes of a better life. I have done nothing." It is pleasing to find reason for believing, that in t^ close of life Dr 138 CONSOLATION. Johnson opened his mind to some more gracious views of the plan of salvation. His error with regard to the certainty of final glory, is the error of thousands, who maintain the same scheme of partial grace. In opposition to all this, the doctrine of the Re- formed Theologians has uniformly been, that there is an assurance of God's love, which may be attained in the present life : and it is the nature of this as- surance which we shall now in the first place con- sider. The word rendered fuU-dssurance^ is one of striking import. It carries with it the idea of ful- ness, such as of a tree laden with fruit, or of a ves- sel's sails when stretched by a favouring gale. It is unwavering conviction, persuasion which defies all doubt, and expectation rising to certainty. And it stands distinguished from a conviction and persua- sion of any or all the propositions of revealed truth, as involving an application of that truth to our own proper case. The former is called the assurance of faith; the latter (of which we are treating), the assurance of hope^ and sometimes the fall assm^ance of hope. Heb. 6:11. As faith unfolds into hope, so the assurance or highest measure of faith into the assurance or highest measure of hope. They^here- fore often coexist ; yet they are distinguishable. The assurance of faith is the acme of unwavering and undoubting confidence that the revealed propo- sitions are the very truth of God ; — a persuasion so firm, as to be the basis and resting-place of all Chris- tian reliance. It is saving faith carried to its height. ASSURANCE. 139 It sees Christ, and believes in him. The Assurance of Hope is a settled, unshaken, well-grounded, immova- ble persuasion and certainty, that I, as an individual, have thus believed ; that I am in Christ ; that God is my reconciled Father ; that I shall never come into con- demnation ; and that my heaven is secure. The former is a universal duty ; the latter is a gracious privi- lege. One is possessed by every believer ; the other is a sovereign gift to a part of the flock. By one, I believe that God is true ; by the other, that he is my God. By the one, I see Christ to be an almighty and a willing Saviour ; by the other I am assured that he will save me in particular. By one, I lean on Christ as my only and all-sufllcient supporter ; by the other, I am made certain that I have actually done so, and hope without wavering that I shall eter- nally rejoice in him One is opposed to unbelief, the other to despondency. One connects with Christ ; the other reveals the connection. They stand to one another as the blossom to the fruit ; or as the deed to the possession ; or as the sentence of acquit- tal, to enlargement from restraint. One may coex- ist with many fears ; the other casteth out all fear. " The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the efiect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever." Whether saving faith, by its essential quali- ty, would not necessarily result in assured hope, pro- vided such faith were only great enough in degree, is a question which would lead us into niceties of disquisition, which at the present time we may pro- fitably wave. That the two have a perceptible dif- ! I I I 140 CONSOLATION. ference, must appear from what has been said ; and we are thus far enabled to gain some glimpse of the nature of full assurance. But we may look still more nearly at the subject, in a series of particulars. 1. This state of mind is peculiar to true believ- ers. It is possessed by no others. There are, in- deed, powerful persuasions in the minds of some ; — presumptions which may outlive the pang of dying, and knock at the very gate of heaven, and be re- pulsed only by the Master's word, / never Icnew you. There are counterfeits of all that is precious ; and Satan is the grand artificer of simulated good ; and herein is one of his chief devices ; and enthusiasm may show elations and raptures more heady, vocif- erous and boastful than humble faith. But the hol- lowness and falsity of such impressions must not be allowed to accomplish Satan's purpose, of cheating us into the opinion that there is no genuine assur- ance. God is able, not only to renew a soul, but to give an infallible persuasion that it is renewed. 2. The assurance which we are inquiring for, is not a supernatural revelation of new truth. Inspira- tion can unquestionably thus communicate ; but in the wise and wonderful economy of grace, inspira- tion has ceased. Here it is that enthusiasts and fanatics have gone astray. They have shut out all exercise of reason in this matter, all examination of evidences, and sometimes all grounds of Scripture ; and have relied on visions, trances, dreams, voices, and bare impressions. Nothing is more immovable than their convictions. Argument is vain : that ASSURANCE. 141 which came in without reason, cannot be driven out by reason. They are a Scripture unto themselves In vain do you ask their evidences. They know because they know. And it is important to say thus much upon this delusion, lest any should mis- take the path to real gospel comfort, and seek it as a direct, special, immediate, heavenly manifestation, unconnected with the general exaltation of the life of God in the soul. True assurance is after all found- ed on the recorded Word. 3. The Assurance of Hope rests on the promises of God. It is allied to faith ; nay, it grows out of faith. Where there is no faith, it cannot exist ; and it increases with the increase of faith. It results from a firm, unshaken trust in God's gracious declara- tions. To see ourselves accepted, we must previous- ly " see the things that are freely given us of God." As it is the open view of gospel promises of free salvation through Jesus Christ, which first brings us into vital union with our Kedeemer, so it is the fur- ther application of the same promises to our own case, the seeing of ourselves as included in them, which gives us the joy of assurance. 4. The assurance that we are in the favour of God, is connected with the existence of Christian evidences in our hearts. It is to a certain extent founded on these. There are some who, in their zeal for grace, and for the efficacy of faith, go so far as to discard all examination of evidences, as legal. They declare, that all true gospel-comfort is to be obtained by a simple looking at the word of prom- 142 0ON8OLATI0N. ise, and a bare, undoubting faith, without any reflex consideration of what Christ has wrought in us. Now I trust that the tenor of this whole volume is such as makes it superfluous to say, that I attri- bute all faith to the word of promise, and all justification to faith ; yea, that it is this simple, direct, instant faith, to which I would vehemently exhort every unconverted sinner. This is w^hat a sinner must do, to be saved; and what a saint must do, to abide in Christ. But it is a very dis- tinct matter, when the question is, " By what means shall a soul know that it is born of God ?" It is a new case, when the anxious inquiry is suggest- ed, " How shall I ascertain that this experience, of which I am conscious, and which I call faith, is the very faith of God's elect ?" And it is no derogation from the justifying and saving power of naked faith, to agitate the inquiry, " May I employ the fruits of holiness within me, to confirm my persuasion that I am born of God ?" It is agreed on all hands, that faith is the beginning of a transformation in the soul ; a series of new principles, habits, and actions ; that this work is wrought only in God's people ; only by a divine influence ; and that certain virtues, graces, or states and acts of the soul, are denomi- nated the fruit of the Spirit. These things, I say, we are agreed in. It is as undeniable, that results of this kind are patent and palpable, within human cognizance, subject to our consciousness, and suscep- tible of comparison with the Word of God. No one will refuse to admit, that the piesence of these 1 . ASSURANCE. 143 -t graces is demonstrative of regeneration. He who has these fruits, has the Spirit, is born of God, is a new creature. Now is any one hardy enough to de- clare, that while the presence of such exercises is conclusive evidence of a gracious state, the believer is not suffered to look at them ? Must his eyes be bandaged in regard to that which affords conviction of his being saved ; that, moreover, which is always with him, in his own bosom, a part of himself? Yet this extreme position must be maintained by those — and such there are — who deny the value of gracious evidences, in regard to our estimate of our own re- lation to the covenant. That this is not the ground of justification, we all admit. That this is not the sole ground of assurance, will appear in the sequel. That the search among experiences may be carried too far, so as to produce despondency, and so as to supplant direct acts of faith by those which are re- flex, is freely acknowledged. Nevertheless, we must maintain, that the Holy Spirit may and does em- ploy those graces of which he is the author, as the marks of his own work, and thus as means of assur- ance. This appears to be expressly stated in not a few passages of Scripture. Thus the presence of the spiritual influence is a mark of being in Christ. 1 John 4 : 13, "Hereby we know that we dwell in him, because he hath given us of his Spirit." The effectual leading of the same Spirit is a mark of grace. " As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The existence of 144 CONBOLATION. 1 ASStTEANCE. 145 brotherly love and obedience is a like testimo nial : " We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.' And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he hi him," We must despair of establishing any point l>y- Sciipture citation, if these passages do not prove that the examination of the heart and life is a legitimate method of arriving at serene and satis- factory views of our own state. And I should not have spent a word on the opposite opinion, if it were not a morbid growth fmm a genuine branch of Christian doctrine — an abuse of the precious truth, that in seeking justification, the eye of the soul should be directly fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ. 5. It might be naturally inferred, from what has been said, that the full assurance of hope is the ac- companiment of elevated piety. If graces are evi- dences of a renewed state, then where there is little grace, there can be little evidence. Where the divine work in the soul is faint, the evidences must be obscure. It would contradict the whole economy of holiness, if high joys and triumphs of assured love were granted to lukewarm and grovel- ling religion. The exaltation of divine exercises in the soul is, therefore, the brightening of evidence. And we have little cause to wonder that we have so little assurance, when we look within, and dis- cover that we have little faith, little love, and little self-denial. We are prepared, therefore, to expect that m producing assurance of God's love, it wiU be a part of the Holy Spirit's work to exalt the piety of the heart ; to lift up the graces so as to bring them into view ; to kindle the ^flections to a visible and palpa- ble glow ; and so to multiply the fruits of holiness, that old things may pass away, all things become new, and every habit and act afford a testimony of the new creature. This is in truth a part of sanc- tification. By making us more holy, God makes us more assured. Our religion becomes more profound, ^ore vital, more energetic, and so more undeniable! The doubts we now have would be speedily dis- persed, if we were rapt in the transport of heavenly emotions. A stronger faith would carry us away, as on the wings of the wind, towards the object of our soul. A coal from the altar, brought to our lips by seraphic hands, would purge our iniquity, and en- kindle our hopes. The work of the Holy Ghost, therefore, in awakening, and multiplying, and deep- ening Christian exercises, tends directly to create just so many evidences of the new nature, and to give assurance of God's love. Increase of grace brings increase of security ; and thus the danger of licentious presumption is avoided. 6. But is there not, over and above this, a dis- tinct and direct influence from on high, promoting 146 OONBOLAHOIT, the assurance tliat we belong to Christ ? We re- joice to think there is. It is possible to conceive of a high state of gracious affections, without any reflex acts, that is, vdthout these affections being used by the individual as tokens of his acceptance. In his character as Paraclete or Comforter, the ador- able Spirit has been pleased to pour joys directly into the soul : not independently of experience, but over and above it, giving hope ; " for patience work- eth experience, and experience hope, that maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given unto us." The witness of our own consciousness of change is something; but here is a greater and a better witness. "The Spirit beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God." It is a heavenly seal until the day of redemption. It is a heavenly earnest of the future possession. It may sometimes operate upon the mind to quicken its facul- ties, so as to discern the correspondence between the experience and the word. But inasmuch as all grace is from a divine agency, I see no reason why we may not admit an immediate operation on the soul itself, producing this persuasion as its imme- diate result, and overflowing the heart with a sense of heavenly love. In whatever way this result is attained, it is to be firmly held that it proceeds from the Author of all good, and is accompanied with the higher exercises of piety. 7. This consideration, that the assurance of God's love stands among a cluster of holy gifts, and that it ABBtTEAlTCB. 141 beare some proportion to the degree of holiness in the soul, effectually shuts the door against one great objection. If assurance is the fruit of holiness, then licentious, carnal ease is something spurious. Some may urge that a great motive to exertion is removed when we take away the fear of eventual shipwreck Grod may use fear, even servile fear, as a means of stimulatmg his people ; but this is not his usual T^°r ^.^"y" ^' ^ ^^'''^' stimulus than the fear of falling: it is the mingled agency of faith, and hope, and gratitude, and love. He who is surest of the crown, will not be the first to trample on it. He who IS certain of meeting Christ, wiU not be most ready to insult and grieve him. Paul was nearer more prepared for labour and endurance, than when he said : " I know in whom I have believed •» and when he exulted, " I am persuaded that nothing shall separate me from the love of God which is in Chnst Jesus." In what has thus far been said, we have an- swered the question, as to the nature of full assur- ance, and have discovered that it is attainable. Ihere is a second inquiry, which will now be ma^e easy, so as not to detain us long. It is this. Is as- surance of personal salvation essential to saving taith ? Some have maintained the afl5rmative, and have taught that no man can be a regenerate per- son without knowing himself to be such. But the negative is cleariy the doctrine of Scripture. Bear- ing m mind the distinction already suggested be- tween the assurance of faith and the assuran(4 of f 148 CONSOLATION. ASSURANCE. 149 hope, you will readily perceive that one may have a justifying faith without any necessary reference to the question, whether he is himself regenerate or not. And inasmuch as any the least degree of faith is justifying, as uniting the soul to Christ, you will as readily perceive that faith may apprehend Christ, when as yet it falls far short of that which produces assured hope. Some truly good men, making their own lively experience too much the rule and criterion for othei-s, have taught that saving faith is a belief that Christ died for me in particular. But the grave defect of this hypothesis is, that there is nothing like it in the Bible. Indeed the highest and most seraphic faith may be so absorbed in the great ob- ject, Jesus Christ, as to lose all regard to self, or even its own salvation. Saving faith is not a belief that I have saving faith, but a belief in Christ the Saviour, and a receiving of him as offe^rd in the Word ; a holding of the recorded offer to be credi- ble; and a setting-to the seal that God is true. The delightful inference, that I am a saved soul, may be true — may follow logically from the truths be- lieved, and my act of believing — may, therefore, in some sort, be involved in the proposition, I be- lieve ; and yet it is no part of that faith which is saving. The Bible nowhere enjoins it as such. It is a happy fruit of faith. But some will ask, C.m so great a change take place without the subject being conscious of it? We answer, no. The subject is conscious ; but something more than his conscious- ness is needful to assure him. He knows there is a change, but is it the change ? We are asked. Can it be possible for a prisoner to be loosed from such a bond without knowing it ? We answer, Peter was released by an angel from prison, " and went out and followed him, and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel, but he thought he saw a vision." So it may be with the emancipated soul. The Scripture seems to teach that this certainty of renewal may follow the renewal itself. Eph. 1 : 13, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salv^ation ; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the pur- chased possession." Here, you will observe, the sealing is separated from the believing, by an inter- val of time. If, as we have seen, this assurance is connected with active growing graces, as evidence, it is natural to believe, that those may be faint and dim, in their earliest stage. God has nowhere given this as an indispensable criterion. Let us not offend against weak or desponding brethren, by making that weakness and despondency a token of wrath. Let us not break the bruised reed, by decreeing, beyond our authority, that every one who doubts of his salvation is the enemy of God. How many of Christ's faithful servants would be cut off, by such a rule ? The safer opinion is, that a man may be truly regenerate, and yet have doubts in regard to his personal acceptance. 150 CONSOLATIOK. But while this is true, it is not less true, that such a state of doubt is a most undesirable state. It is not the healthful condition of the soul ; nor the con- dition in which pious affections are most in exercise. It is a valley through which the Christian may journey, but where he cannot willingly dwell. He may wait long for this dayspring from on high to visit him : yet there is provision made for his enjoy- ing it ; and he should never rest without it. Surely it is not a matter of indifference, whether I am an enemy or a child ; whether, if I die to-day, I drop to hell, or rise to glory ! If it be possible to escape from such a region of clouds and darkness, it should be attempted ; and we should use all diligence to the full assurance of hope : it is the desire of the apostle and the precept of the Word. Heb. 6:11. It is so signal a prize, that it claims the intense and concentrated effort of every power, through every moment^-" all diligence." By what means it should be sought, might be inferred from what we just now learned, as to the way in which this assurance rises in the heart. It is the fruit of faith. Would you have assurance ? Be sure that you have faith. Is it as yet too weak ? Let your prayer be, " Lord, in- crease our faith !" How is faith to be cultivated ? Plainly by converse with the object of faith ; by look- ing unto Jesus ; by dwelling more on him than on ourselves ; by going out of ourselves, to fall into his arms. More definitely, as the promises of Scripture are the vehicles by which Christ is offered to us, it is the contemplation of these promises which brings ASSURANCE. 151 him into our believing hearts. These are called " ex- ceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of a divine nature." Those who have had most abiding assurance of God's love, are those who have been most in meditation on the written assurances of that love. It is in the study of authentic and valid title deeds, that we are most cer- tain of our rights. The great propitiatory work, above all, is the object which should be held before our eyes, for the removal of doubts and fears. It is further to be considered, that a low con- dition of piety is not the soil for this amaranthine flower. Sorrow and tribulation cannot blight it: but it withers under the sunshine of worldliness. Professors who take their pleasure in this life do not seek it, and do not- find it. In chambei^ of disease and mourning, on death-beds, at the stake, or amidst the wild beasts, it has risen to exultation. In the days of primitive piety, it seems to have been en- joyed by all the martyrs. God was pleased to vouchsafe it, as an indemnity for all they surren- dered. In our day of half-way Christianity, when the children of this world are mingled with the children of light, it is less prized, and less freely bestowed. If we had higher graces, we should have more assurance. In a better day, when the uni- versal Christianity shall shoot up to a loftier stature, it will reappear. And wherever among the throng, any shall rise to superior eminence in holiness, his melting heart, fused into a flow of tenderness and love by the heavenly ray, will experience the prea- 152 CONSOLATION. snre of this pledge and seal. I will venture the suggestion, that cold and formal churches will pro- duce, among their members, a rank crop of weeds, in the shape of manifold distrusts and fears and doubts ; and that the graces of individual sainte will be most joyful, when the collective body shall be warmed through and through. Let a whole church be lifted up, in renewed faith, and love, and zeal, and cross- bearing, and earnest labour, and these doubts will give way to assurance. Such a church is in a state of revival. Such churches ours might be, and ought to be. Let Him who dwelleth between the cherubim shine forth ; and in his light we shall see light. It is scarcely reasonable to expect this blessing amidst prevalent sin. If we would know what hinders it, in our own particular case, we should inquire into our unmortified sins. There may be some latent root of bitterness ; there may be some temper indulged within us repugnant to forgive- ness, meekness, and brotherly love ; there may be some cross which we refuse to bear; some indul- gence which we will not crucify ; some duty which we shudder to attempt. In the attempt after uni- versal holiness, the unspeakable favour is to be ex- pected. But since assurance Is, after all, the gift of God, to whom shall we go but unto Him ? It is the ope- ration of the Comforter. And if we, being evil, know how to give good things to our children, how much more shall our heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? " Ye have not be- ^ 1 ASStTRANGB. 153 cause ye ask not. Ask, and ye sliaU receive." Make this great attainment a separate object of de- liberate choice and fervent effort. Till you are no longer able to live without it, you will not use that diligence, that instant zeal, that importunity, which takes no denial, that agonizing struggle that wins the prize. It may come to your window, like a hovering dove, with the " olive-leaf plucked off," at some mo- ment when weakness and confinement shall make you prize it more than you do now. This angel of peace may draw your curtains, at dead of night, amidst tossing and weeping, and bring to you that white stone, in which is written the mysterious new name. You may, peradventure, remember these things, in some time of unexpected anguish. Our voy4e is not exempt from tempestuous weather. You may see no tokens of it at present. Your seas are in the glassy calm of summer. You are listless in regard to these assurances of God's love. But I seem to behold a change of scene in the future. Years have gone by ; comforts have become fewer ; clouds have gathered ; fears are in the way. You are embarked upon troubled waters. The ship is now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, and the wind is contrary. You have been long m this turbulent state, for it is the fourth watch of the night But one approaches in the moment of extre- mity, walking on the sea. O, troubled soul ! cry not out for fear ; hearken to the weU-known voice : « It is I; be not afraid 1" In such an hour of sor- 154 i CamOLATION. row, bereavement, temptation or doabt, the visits of assuring love are beyond all price. Defer not the attainment of some reasonable confidence until your day of peril. In a world so frail and precarious, it is well to live fore-armed. The sudden blow of the messenger of death may so stag- ger and benumb your powers, that amidst the lan- guor or the consternation, you may find no good time to put these precepts into practice. And yet, at what moment can full assurance be so valuable as at the moment of death ? Thanks be unto God, he sometimes grants it in that moment ! When flesh and heart fail, his strength is near. Yes, we have seen the djang visage lighted up with the' an- gelic smile of triumph, and have heard the song of rejoicing from lips already cold. A preternatural ghmpse of worlds beyond has been granted even here. Hear the eminent theologian, Andrew Rivet, just before his departure : " I shall shortly no more' know the difference between day and night. I am come to the eve of that great and eternal day, and am going to that place where the sun shall no more give light. The sense of Divine favour increaseth in me every moment. My pains are tolerable, and my joys inestimable !" Hear the dying Halybur- ton : " For those fourteen or fifteen years I have been studying the promises ; but I have seen more of the book of God this night than in all that time." Hear good President Finley : "I am full of triumph —I tnumph through Christ. Nothing clips my wmgs but the thought of my dissolution being pro- ASSUKANOE. 155 » longed. O that it were to-night! My very soul thirsts for eternal rest !" " Have you any doubts, my dear friend ?" asked a pious woman of a mother in Israel * well known in this city, who had been speaking of her sins. " O no," she replied, " I have no more doubt of going to my Saviour than if I were already in his arms. My guilt is all trans- ferred : he has cancelled all my debt ; yet I could weep for sins against so good a God." How beauti- ful an illustration of what was said, that the highest assurance does not relax the moral sensibilities or promote connivance at sin. There is something inexpressibly beautiful in the Christian old age of one who, having long since committed all to Christ, has set down to wait till his change come. It is, indeed, a land of Beulah. And when such a one, by gentle degrees, approaches the term of life, how fair the spreading prospect beyond. Let me represent his exercises, in the words of a gifted believer: "This river has been a terror to many ; yea, the thoughts of it have often frighted me ; but now, methinks, I stand easy . my foot is fixed upon that on which the feet of the priests that bare the ark of the covenant stood, while Israel went over this Jordan. The waters, mdeed, are to the palate bitter, and to the stomach cold; yet the thoughts of what I am going to, and ot the conduct that waits for me on the other side, doth lie as a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at the end of my journey ; my toilsome days * Mrs. Graham. 156 CONSOLATION. are ended. I am going to see that head that was crowned with thorns, and that face that was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by hearsay and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight, and shall be with Him in whose company I delight my- self. His voice to me has been most sweet, and his countenance I have more desired than they that have most desired the light of the sun." ^ ^ The reader may justly be exhorted to " use all diligence," for the prize is great. To seek it is to seek eminent holiness. Look for it in the employ- ment of those means which cause one to " grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Sa- viour Jesus Christ." "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ I" REST IN GOD. .^ VII. THE true rest of tte soul is God, and towaiilb this it is perpetually tending, even when it knows it not, which gives us the reat^on why so many, indeed the people of the world at large, are constantly wandering from pleasure to pleasure, unsatisfied with any. They have not yet found their true centre, even though they may be gravitating towards it. Any thing which deserves the name of rest they have not yet attained. And yet, by an instinct of nature, men seek for rest, and include it in every idea which they ever entertain of consummate hap- piness. The philosophei-s who, without revelation, tried to discover truth, avowed it as their object to arrive at the supreme good ; and this always com- prised tranquillity and ease. But they knew not how to reach it ; their end was right, but they had no means. They stood gazing at a prize upon the summit of an inaccessible mountain. They knew that what they wanted was repose, but how to at- tain this they knew not. It was reserved for reve- lation to make known the great mystery. Deeply impressed with belief that many of those who will read these pages are wandering from the 160 CONSOLATION. true rest, I would here call on them to return, by setting before them a genuine repose, which 'the world cannot prevent or effectually interrupt. Chris- tianity affords true consolation. It is to find this, to catch its lineaments, and to present its portrait, that I now ask attention. Many there are who feel that the world has disquieted them, who long for some- thing better, but know not whither to look. " Come unto me," says Christ, "/will give you rest." Not the rest of stupidity, or apathy, or inaction ; but that which arises from the absence of all disturbing causes. It belongs to true Christians ; no others can lay claim to it. There is no way to attain it but by the Cross. It is altogether different from the world's peace, yet it is real and unspeakably delightful, and thousands in earth and heaven have possessed it. No treasure of gold suddenly discovered could so enrich you as to come to the possession of this secret of happiness. I therefore claim your attention when I endeavour to set forth that rest or Christian repose in God to which you are invited to return. May God enable us, while we meditate, to understand and to attain it! I propose, first, to show what Christian tranquillity or spiritual rest is, in several particulars ; and, secondly, to distinguish . it from some counterfeits which bear its name. If, in con- clusion, the reader shall be urged to seek it, let me bespeak his earnest attention. Spiritual Quiet of soul is founded on knowledge of God, faith in Christ, a tranquillized conscience, a weakening of the sinful principle, submission to God, trust in his promises, BEST m GOD. 161 and holy contemplation of the supreme excellence, as offered for the communion of our spirits. It is the more important to say this, because the perver- sion of a great truth has led some into error on this very point, and a Quietism has been proposed, in various ages of the church, which is -as inconsistent with man's mental constitution as with the provi- sions of grace. 1. Spiritual Quiet is founded on Tcnowledge of God, It is a quality of sublime objects to bring the soul into repose. Deep waters are still. It is little things which agitate and excite us. There is something soothing in what is grand and soul-ab- sorbing. In the presence of the ocean, the cataract, the volcano, or the starry heavens, we feel subdued and are silent. Thus also the thought of God, the sublimest of all ideas, instead of driving us to frenzy, calms the mind. Even on the sick-bed, when the irritable and too sensitive texture can scarcely bear any thing that is awakening, the thought of God rises upon the soul, as dewy morn- ing rises on the earth, after a night of clouds. It brings refreshment and repose. We never reach any place wherein to lie down in safety, till we come to God. This is the continent and terra-firma . all other resorts are but as shifting sands. If men did but know it, they would give heed to that in- ward tendency which perpetually leans towards the abiding, the infinite, the absolute ; that is God, Every day worldly men live, they find the ground slipping from under their feet ; every day their hold 11 162 OONSOLATION. I ME^ IN GOD. 165 on this world becomes less ; as the sands in their glass are fewer, they learn that their pleasures are so likewise ; they are a^ far as ever from that rest- ing-place on the summit of the mountain to which they looked forward. The truth is, the habit of seeking pleasure in excitement has become too strong for them : they cannot live in any other element. Hence we daily see men of business disappointed : they retire from the active concerns of life ; they go into the country ; they seek repose among friends and books. Ah ! they have not discovered that the rest which they seek must be within. Nothing earthly can give them rest. Happy are they, who, at this stage of their experience, are led to think of God. This is the grand idea which fills and satis- fies the soul. This reaches cravings, which every thing else does but tantalize. To learn to know God, in his true scriptural character, is to gain a secret of mental repose, which transforms the whole character. But here an obstacle arises in the way : I am a sinner. How can a sinner approach to God ? Which leads me to observe : 2. Spiritual Quiet is founded on Faith in the LordJesm Christ The more our knowledge of God in his absolute glory, the greater must be our dread, and the wider the gulf of separation, until we are made acquainted with the mediatorial door of access. Though God is, in his nature, the true rest of the rational creature, there is no returning to him as our rest, but by the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we come to him, and by faith we abide. The first actings of faith are more like resting, than any thing else : the word well expresses the recum- bency of the soul on God. A sinner who has long been wearying himself with every kind of self- righteous labour, at length gives up in despair, ceases from his own works, abandons his own righteousness, and receives and rests upon Jesus Christ, as he is offered in the gospel. He throws himself into those open arms. Immediately there ensues a tranquillity never known before. Being justified by faith, he has peace with God. Some would judge of the reality of conversion, by the amount of bustling activity, and disposition to stir and labour. I would rather, at this stage, look for repose of soul, and quiet acquiescence in the plan of salvation, as one which renders every effort at self- justification superfluous. The fii'st believing tends to calmness of spirit, and in every subsequent period of the Christian life, it is belie\dng that must restore this calm, after interruptions. Relying on God's pardoning mercy must tend, if any thing can, to bring the heart into a state of rest. It removes at once the grand source of perturbation, namely, dread of God as an avenging Lawgiver. To say that a man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, is to say, that he consents to be saved freely by the Saviour's righteousness : and he who does so, needs look no further, but dwells secure as in a citadel : " He that belie veth shall not make haste." He has found his home : he rests. 3. Spiritual Quiet proceeds from Peace of GoTir 164 CONSOLATION, BEST IN GOD. 165 science. If you have not been seared as with a red- hot iron, you know the agitation produced by re- morse ; and if you have had much conviction of sin, you know that there can be no settled quiet, while this internal enemy rages. Only carry these agita- tions to their highest degree, and you produce the anguish of the damned. How can a man be at peace, with an evil conscience ? Even amidst his pleasures, it utters its penetrating cry : and all within him asserts his guilt and condemnation. There is but one cure for this malady, and that is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ sprinkled upon the con- science. The figure is derived from the Levitical ordinance ; where the offender, after offering sacri- fice was sprinkled with the blood, and went home satisfied that his guilt was taken away. " Purge me witli hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be ;^hiter than snow." When faith has ap- proached the altar, and laid its hand on the head of the expiatory lamb, the Holy Spirit of God per- forms a work on the soul, which in sacrificial lan- guage is called the sprinkling of Christ's blood. It is such an inward application of the work of Christ, as convinces and pei'suades the soul, that its justifi cation is complete, that guilt is removed, and that God's anger is taken away. And this persuasion tends to gentle repose. As when on a bed of sick ness, the patient is suddenly relieved from parching fever, with its heat, its thirst, its watchings, its inde- scribable restlessness (apt image of a sinful state), and finds himseK bedewed with the bland tokens of convalescence : even though feeble, he delights in the change, and lies still in the consciousness of peace, willing like an infant to yield himself to the almost voluptuous calm: so the sinner, when first he feels the security of being reconciled, leans on the bosom of his Lord, and returns to his rest. 4. Spiritual Quiet is promoted hy the Mortificor tio7i of Sin, Sin is the sole cause of all the discord, perturbation, and misery that there is in the uni- vei^se. The Holy Spirit begins at regeneration a work which is to end in extirpation of all sin : but it is not accomplished in a moment. Regeneration is the beginning of sanctification ; and sanctification consists in some good measure, in the gradual destruc- tion of evil principles, which in Scripture is compared to the putting to death (mortification) of a human body, by a violent and painful process, like that of crucifixion. In carrying on this process, the sancti- fying Spirit is by the same means promoting purity and promoting peace. It was sin that produced the disorderly commotion; it was sin that tore the heart ; it was sin that let loose all the fierce winds of passion to howl tempestuously over the unregene- rate mind. If you catalogue the causes of your dis- content, your restlessness, your excitement, your fe- verish fretfulness, you will find the names to be such as these : Pride, Hate, Envy, Revenge, Anger, Lust, Covetousness, Fear, Inordinate Affection. Till these caged wild beasts are driven out of the soul, there can be no quietness : sanctification drives them out. Therefore, the more a man advances in piety, the I 166 OOKSOLATIOK. EE8T IN GOD. 167 more Lis inward tranquillity ought to increase. The day grows calmer, as the sun draws near its setting : hence the sweet radiance which we sometimes be- hold playing about the cottage of Christian old age ; where the gentle breezes that open a way for themselves among the autumn-clusters, in the cool of the day, betoken the peace that is within. 5. Spiritiud Quiet is fawoitred by Svhmission. The first law of religion is submission ; " Thy will be done ;" and where it does not exist there is no piety, and just as truly there is no tranquillity. What a hideous sight to see a human creature in full rebel- lion against God's providence ; repining at his allot- ments ; fighting against his dispensations, and curs- ing his judgments ! But it is not more sinful than it is wretched ; and hell is not only wickedness, but woe : the wickedness makes the woe, or rather is the woe. The true recipe for miserable existence is this : Quarrel with Providence. Even in the smaller measures of this temper there is enough to prevent tranquillity. And hence, when God means to make us happy, he teaches us submission — a resignation of every thing into his hands, and an acknowledg- ment that whatsoever He does is wisest and best. O how sweetly even afilictions fall when there is such a temper to receive them ! " Shall we receive good at the hands of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil V " Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins V Such dispo- sitions tend to stillness of soul; and even amidst chastisement there is internal quiet. 6. Spiritual Quiet is fu/rihered hy Trust in God, T^How large a portion of our anxious perturbations arise from forebodings of future evils ! Could we expel sinful fear from our souls, we should be happy. But who can destroy this monster ? God only ; and he graciously accomplishes it by shedding trustful- ness over the mind, like oil over the waves. This is altogether different from the blind, unfounded, pre- sumptuous assurance of the future which character- izes many persons of sanguine temperament. It is a covenant blessing. Trust is belief of God's pro- mises. Those who wander about in the world, with- out any rehance on divine promise, are orphans, and call for our commiseration. The believer has assurances for a great while yet to come. His filial relation to God makes him look on the future with new eyes. Whatever may befall him, one thing is certain, nothing can come but what God ordains. " All things work together for good to them that love God." His life is insured. In proportion to his strength of trust is he raised above all those vexa- tious apprehensions which men of the world expe- rience. In his happier hours he is enabled to put in practice his Lord's direction, and to cease taking thought for the morrow. We should all be more composed if we could do so. The opposite temper IS destructive of all peace, and of much usefulness ; and if we would reach the higher attainments in piety, we must make up our minds to banish for ever the habit of musing on future and possible ills. > How serene and balanced is the soul which has so 168 CONSOLATION. fixed itself on God as to feel satisfied that all his dis pensations are part of a matchless plan for its good 1 7. Spiritual Quietness consists^ in a great degree^ in Holy Contemplation and Communion with God, I know how strange a dialect this must seem to the children of this world; but we stand not before their tribunal. As we believe the delights of para- dise consisted not so much in tilling the garden, which was the vocation and outward business of man, as in the viewing the Creator in all his works, and in gazing up into his face of love : and as, in the renewed Eden of heaven we know that the bless- edness of saints will be much in the beatific vision of Divinity, so here, also, in our journey to Canaan, we are persuaded that a leading part of our Christi- anity consists in the contemplation of God's excel- lencies, and in fellowship with the Father and with the Son, through the influences of the Holy Spirit. We were made for this intercourse, and there is no higher exercise of human faculties. Moses knew this, when he made it his great request : " Show me thy glory !" But what it chiefly behooves me to observe is, that this exercise of soul, so high, so hal- lowed, so acceptable to God, is far from being stormy and impetuous, but is transacted in the pro- foundest depths of the soul's silence. It is when the hum of life has ceased, is shut out, or is forsaken ; at midni)ut with imitators among Protestants, who have placed the highest spiritual exercises in such a rest of soul, as excludes all intellectual exertion. The soul so rests in God, as no longer to think. It forgets all things, and turning inwards is absorbed in one per- vading idea of rest in God. This is what has been called Quietism. But this is delusion, against which BEST m GOD. 171 one can hardly protest with too much earnestness. God has never meant the glory of man, his reason, to be excluded from the noblest exercises of religion. The quietude pretended, in which all mental activ- ities are swallowed up, would be less like the sub- lime condition of an intellectual being, than the vacancy of childhood or the imbecility of age. It might be accepted as relief from pain, but could not be chosen as the means of happiness. That state in which the soul neither thinks nor wills, is not a heavenly state. In true spiritual quiet the mind chooses to be at rest. It is not the calm of stupor, as when one lies in a lethargic sleep, but the rest of the wearied labourer in his beloved home. The rest of a soul in God, though infinitely removed from the agitations of the world, and its conflicting and distressing reasonings, is, nevertheless, a state in which the thoughts are active : seeking after God, apprehending him, appropriating and enjoying him. The seraphs that adore and burn, are intellectual creatures ; and we conceive of the saints in heaven as knowing, learning, and putting forth those mental exertions, which tend to the perpetual advancement and expansion of their powers. A heaven in which there is no intellectual activity would be no heaven for a rational creature ; and it is a gross, though com- mon abuse of the term rest, to apply it to a drowsy, listless, unimproving eternity: though heaven is a rest, it is neither a dream nor a sleep. 3. The rest of a pious sonl in Ood is rfot inconr sisterU with active service. Even in heaven, as we 172 COKSOLATION. REST IN GOD. 173 read, " his servants shall serve him." They shall have fit employaients there, labour without weariness ; and the best we can do in this world is to imitate their activity. The controversy between the contem- plative and the active life has been very earnestly waged ; and able arguments have been urged on both sides. One party has been for spending the whole life in angelic meditation : the other has made all piety consist in going about and doing good. The tendency of the middle ages was to the contem- plative, of this our nineteenth century to the active life ; and each in extremes. The days of hermits and anchorets, like those of the Thebaid ; of monks, and nuns, pretending or endeavouring to mortify the flesh, and live in continual silence, grief and vision of God, have passed away. We have fallen on days in which there is such a bounty on haste, energy, and fruitful toil, that avarice robs God of his sabbath, drives its gainful wheels seven days in the week, and busy mortals can scarcely find time to read and pray, or to bless their families. But the active and the contemplative coincide in the religion of the gospel. Its divine founder spent whole nights in prayer to God, in deserts and mountains ; but his days were active — " he went about doing good." The i-est, to which you are invited, is not the mere absence of bodily motion. It is a more refined idea. It is even consistent with active labour, of any virtuous kind. The pious soul is never more at rest, than when most busily engaged in appropriate external duties. True Christianity does not cut off such duties : this waa I the error of times when thousands of thriftless per- sons forsook the plough and the loom, and thronged in pilgrimages and into cloisters. Spiritual quiet of soul coexists with lawful activity, and sanctifies it. No man has therefore any right to make his religion a cloak for idleness, whether in church or state. 4. What is still more surprising, Ohristia^ii rest may be maintained amidst trials aiid suffering. Here it distinguishes itself from any thing which the world calls by its name. Worldly persons have their enjoyments; but they are dependent on worldly things, and when these are broken or removed, the tranquillity ceases. It is the glory of true religion, that it can be firm and serene amidst storms of change. In days of prosperity, when all things smile, it is easy to maintain quiet of soul : but when skies grow dark, when friends are few, when health fails, when losses and bereavements and old age come on, and misfortunes thicken every hour — to be tranquil then — to feel that all is safe — that the real portion has not been touched — that God is still the same, and that he is ours ; this is what cannot be comprehended by the man of the world, or by the formal professor. And yet it is true, and is exem- plified in a thousand cases of distress and consolation. Were it not so, such songs as the forty-sixth psalm had long since been blotted out of the psalter, as containing idle falsehood : whereas, generation after generation in the church for nearly three thousand years has been singing with experience and triumph : " Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be re- 174 CONSOLATION. moved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea: though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." If you would see the true victory over the world, visit the experienced Christian amidst his trials. At the first he may indeed be shaken for a little season in order that he may the better feel the solid foundation under his feet : but at length he finds his footing on the Rock of Ages, and can cry, " Lo ! this is our God ; we have waited for him, and he will save us : this is the Lord ; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Seeing, therefore, that such causes of agitation will and must come, it will be the part of wisdom to prepare ourselves with the means of in- ward quiet: and what means are these, but that which our subject points out ? The lesson is not to be learnt at once, nor without some severe discipline : our trials are intended to teach it. The moment is a joyful one, when it is acquired. The Psalmist seems to have been thus led to the utterances of the hundred and sixteenth psalm. It was the perform- ing of his vow and the expression of his thank- fulness. He had been in no common adversities; he had felt the need of rest: "The sorrows of death compassed me, the pains of hell gat hold upon me, I found trouble and sorrow." But in his affliction he cried to God, and with success. " The Lord preserveth the simple ; I was brought low and he helped me : Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee 1" It was REST IN GOD. 176 I I the sense of God's mercy to him in affliction, which led him to return to God as his rest. That is bless- ed affliction which has this result. It is the prop- erty of trials, to show men where their refuge is. K, in houi^ of sadness, we lean on an arm of flesh, or seek comfort from earthly gains, diversions and excite- ments, it proves us to be carnal ; if, on the contrary, every cloud of trouble only makes us more deter- minately seek our heaven in God's nature and prom- ises ; and if we never love and prize his covenant of redemption, more than when we are smarting under his rod, it affords ns good reason to think that we have been renewed m the spirit of our minds. But even true believers have much yet to learn, and often need to be exhorted to return to God. In pro- portion as they wander, they lose their tranquillity of mind ; though for a time they may not know the reason; they only know that they are disquieted. At length, some heavy, sudden blow awakens them from their worldly dream, and they look around in wild alarm for the God and Father whom they have neglected. Then they begin to discover that the soul has no rest but in God, and feel their need of returning to this. Many persons are sufficiently persuaded of the world's unsatisfactoriness, but have taken no steps towards the supply of their great want. You, let me say, are the very persons to whom religion ought to be welcome. It is the very repose you need. In vain do you weary yourselves, to procure rest by any other means. It is not in the creature. 176 \ CONSOLATION. You were made to repose in God. You deny your souls their chief blessing, while you remain alienated from him. And how strange is the illusion which prompts your delay ! Your procrastination is a put- ting off of the happiness which you might be begin- ning to enjoy, and which would be always the greater during your whole existence, for your having begun now. Are there not moments when you are almost disgusted with life? when your pleasures have no longer any zest ? when compunction more than neutralizes your joys ? when, in a word, you feel your need of God ? Though there is nothing neces- sarily holy in these sentiments, they bring you nearer the borders of a religious life ; they should be seized on, as so many promptings to fulfil your grand obligation. Do you ask me what I would have you to do ? The answer is easy, and it is momentous. Return to your rest. Eeturn, return I O wanderer, you are in the wrong path. Every step takes you farther away. Never can you supply these crav- ings, or quell these perturbations, but by coming to Him, who is the Infinite Portion and the Everlasting Rest. That wearied, vexed, and pained head re- quires a pillow. Is it not time to rest ? Have you not pursued long enough the vanities of the world ? Are you willing to be for ever repeating the old experiment, with the same resulting disajv pointment ? Shall not the increasing cares of life teach you to seek consolation? When you were younger, you thought, perhaps, that wealth would give you tranquillity : now that you have attained it, J BEST IN GOD. m I you find the care of it as perplexing as the acquisi- tion. Or if still in the turmoil of worldly business, you need but an hour of serious reflection to make you sure that neither this, nor aught like this, can insure your peace. The voice still cries, " Return." The Father whom you have abandoned in your sin and folly is still willing to receive you — to see you at a distance — to fall upon your neck and kiss you. The way of return you know, for you know Him who saith, '' I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." In this view, how can we ever be thankful enough for the truth, that Jesus Christ is the most accessible being in the universe ! He is ever stand- ing, within his door of mercy, ready to throw it wide at the first and feeblest knock. He does not wait for us to ask leave to petition, but says to us, Ask — seek — knock ! It is his province to give the weary rest, and to conduct to the Father for that purpose. There is no other way, and if you are seeking others, you are wasting your time, and lay- ing up disappointment. What shall you do to gain this desired repose? Let me hasten to tell you. Dismiss all other concerns, which you can intermit without sin, and devote yourself to this. What would you do, if your estate were balancing on a point — if your life were in jeopardy-? You would forsake all, for this one thing. Is any thing more precious than your soul ? Is any thing longer than eternity or greater than God ? The charge which we have to bring against the children of this world is, that in respect to religion, they turn their 1 acks 12 I 178 CONSOLATIOK. on all the safe maxims which regulate their actions in lesser things. If a man's property is endangered if his investments are insecure — if his house is di- lapidated—if his business is unproductive— if his family is diseased — these, or any one of these secular troubles engrosses his attention. He turns his mind upon this single point as his great study. He is not content to consider it now and then, in intervals of business, when other persons speak of it — when some friend urges it upon him ;— 1 mean to say he does not treat this great worldly topic as you are habitually treating the salvation of your soul. No ! He broods over it. He sets apart time for it. He takes advisement on it. It becomes his fixed id^a, in his house and l)y the way ; it retires with hina ; it awakens him in the night ; it rises with him ; it hangs over him as a cloud, and darkens all his pros- pect The feast is no longer joyful ; the cup no longer exhilarates ; the music has no melody, and day no sunshine, till this importunate, haunting anxiety is satisfied and dismissed. And let me assure my readers, just so, jtiM ^so, will you be affected, if at any time the care of your soul shall become an object of pursuit as really as your earthly interest now is. You have possibly seen a man so unsettled, as to let his business, health, and family go to de- struction, while in his infatuation, he has left all to chance, and thrown himself away. Precisely thus you are doing with your soul. Is it not so ? Do you ever bestow on this transcendent interest one hour of sober planning? And yet you complain BEST IN GOD. 119 that you cannot attain to rest! Pursuing your present course, it is certain you never will. O be persuaded to consider and to return ! When shall you begin? Now! This moment! The path, though, infinitely important, is, in respect to time, shoii;. \ CHRISTIAN JOY EXPELLING THE DIS- TRESSES OF THE SOUL VIII. rpHE blessed Spirit of God is wont to destroy evil 1. principles in the heart, by implanting such as are good; to wean the affections from the world, by attaching them to heaven ; and to take away the sense of great trials, by shedding abroad the love of God in the heart. This mode of operation is obvi- ous. If we can be made glad, our sorrows pass away ; and to say that any one rejoices, is to say that he has full consolation. If, therefore, the most inveterate case of suffering, in a forlorn old age, could only be visited by the smiles of God's counte- nance, no more would be necessary, in order to en- tire relief. In looking at little children— those dehghtful objects to which Christ has condescended to direct our eyes— we cannot fail to be struck with their joys, and to contrast them with the pleasures of after years. In their gambols there is the ebullition of a gladness, that is unsought, unfeigned, and heart- felt. Very different are the mirth and excitement of more mature life. After the natural elasticity of youth is gone, men try every mode of artificial stimulation. But with all their endeavours, there 184 OOKBOLATION. are dregs at tlie bottom of their most foaming cup. Their best excitements are the short-lived flame of some light, transitory material. May not the ap- peal be made to every reader ? As you go on in life, you find, disguise it as you may, that the sus- ceptibility for high pleasures is abated. You dis- cover yourself to be grave, when all around you are in laughter. You are ready to judge austerely of the hilarity of youth, and to wonder how they can be so enchanted with a bubble, when, forsooth, your own bubble is only larger and heavier and duller. Now and then you pause before some scene or ob- ject, which, twenty years ago, set all your pulses in motion ; you are loth to confess it, but all within you is dead. In vain do you endeavour to repro- duce the romance of your childhood; to rekindle the fire among your embers ; to restore the faded colours on the canvas. Your eye fastens itself on the long procession of departing youthful joys, growing smaller and dimmer in the distant perspective. The truth is, earthly joys are every day diminishing, and the susceptibility of pleasurable excitement from earthly causes grows less and less, with the decay of natural sensibility. This would be a melancholy truth, if we had no resource but terrestrial things, and no world but this. But thanks be to God, there are susceptibilities which do not grow old, and capa- cities which increase with exercise. And while earthly excitements lose their power, those which are heavenly grow stronger and stronger. Hence, an CHEISTIAN JOY. 185 old age without religion involves the loss of both worlds. There is no class of words more abundant in the Scriptures than those which express the varieties of joy. And this affords a new proof of God's infinite benevolence, that he has made it our religion to be happy. In calling us to leave the world, he is only calling us to heaven. In exhorting us to believe, and hope, and love, he only summons us to that har- mony of the powers, which tends to their most bliss- ful exercise. And hence, in the tender and aflecting discourses which the Lord held with his disciples after the Eucharist, he principally speaks of the In- dwelling Comforter, as the Author of their promised happiness. Having promised them peace, his own peace, he goes on to promise them joy, even his own joy. " These things have I spoken u^ito you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be fuU." We may consider, first, the beginnings of this joy, in those who are effectually called ; secondly, and as our chief topic, the progress of joy, in the ha- bitual walk of God's people ; thirdly, in few words, the power of joy to overcome earthly troubles ; and, finally, the unspeakable blessing of joy on the bed of death. And, as we proceed, it should be our pray- er, that even careless and worldly readers may be led to see that there is here a pearl of great price, for joy whereof, a man might well sell all that he hath, to make the purchase ; which may God grant! 186 OQNaOLATION. " Joy is a delight of the mind, from the conside- ration of the present or assured approaching posses- sion of a good." Religious joy is the same delight of the mind, as caused by religious good. It is a fruit of the Spirit, and is, therefore, called joy in the Holy Ghost. It is the subject of our meditations for a little time. I. Early Joy demands our attention. There is a joy which is altogether new, at the time of con- version. "We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we receive the atonement." The degree of this heavenly gift varies exceedingly, with diversities of character and dispensation ; but where God gives faith and hope, he usually gives some joy. You, who now peruse these pages, call to mind that day of rejoicing, when God gave you the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. It was emerging from the troubled de- lirious dream of a long illness. Doubtless there are those also who can remember great joys, seasons of exultation, when the day broke, and the dayspring arose in their hearts. Let us not doubt or con- demn those whose experience does not altogether tally with this, or make that a test of piety which Christ has not made such ; but let us, nevertheless, be thankful, that God does communicate these tokens of favour. And let those who seek God's face, and desire the light of his countenance, look forward to this, as a blessing which is not too great to be asked. These tranquil pleasures cannot be fully represented by earthly emblems, not even by the calmest vernal CHRISTIAN JOY. 187 day, or the most glassy seas. There are many con- curring sources of this joy. There is, for example, the exulting transport of escape. Shall tlie rescued mariner exult when he stands dripping upon his rock among the fragments of a shipwreck ? And shall not the rescued sinner rejoice, when God has freely pardoned all his sins ? There is joy in safety. There is joy in feeling for the first time in life that one is in his true orbit, moving in his right direction, and with powers engaged agreeably to their intent and creation. There is joy in opening the eyes on new heavens and a new earth ; in joining the band of new companions ; feeling the pressure of their ardent hand ; catching the enthusiasm of fellowship, and wandering onward in paths strewed with mer- cies, and overshadowed with graces, and clustered over with fruits of benignant love. There was joy in the outburst of gratitude, and joy even in the tears with which you bedewed the sacred feet of Him who raised you in his arms, and freely forgave you all. But, having now touched on the beginning of joys, I reserve for another head of remark, those manifestations which are common to both. II. Joy in Progress is next to be considered. It would be a gi'eat blessing, even if it ceased : but it goes along with the believer. Its source is peren- nial. It is His joy. It is his joy which "remains in them." The spiritual Israel have all drunk of that Spiritual Rock, which follows them, and that rock is Christ. It is a part of that communion in grace, which the members of the invisible church have 188 CONSOLATION. with Christ, partaking of the \artue of his mediation; first in their renewal, and then in these blessings which manifest their union with him. Thus united, they have communicated to them, even in their life, the first-fruits of glory with Christ, as they are members of him their head, and so in him are in- terested in that glory which he is fully possessed of. As an earnest of this, they have some measure of joy. Hence, when we hear of conversions at An- tioch, we read, " And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." Acts 13 : 52. The difficulty here is to keep within bounds. Through the tender mercy of our God, the sources of reli- gious joy are ahnost as numerous as the parts of re- ligion itself. Among such a wilderness of delights, we must be brief, and must classify a little. The joys, then, of the believer, may be arranged in a threefold division. For they may be those which come home at once and directly to his own private happiness — or they may be those which he receives through the happiness of others— or they may be those which come from his new-born interest in the glory of God ; exulting in God, and in the accom- plishment of his will. 1. The joy of a Christian heart is sometimes the joy of Tcnowledge. To the stupid uninquiring mind, this seems strange : yet even to the natural intellect the acquisition of light brings ecstasy. Hence the enthusiasm and self-martyrdom of scholars and dis- coverers. Think you any sensual pleasure ever equalled that of Archimedes, when he hung over CHEISTIAN JOY. 189 the theorem from which only death could tear him ; or of Franklin when he touched the pendant key' and gave the spark which opened a new world to science ? Who can picture the ti-ansport of early philosophers, or inquiring Jews, when they first wel- comed the great Christian revelations ? The truths which are common-place to us, were to them the very lights of heaven. There is sweetness in the ac- quisition of knowledge, especially of religious know- ledge. God's word is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. With a meager revelation, compared with ours, David could sing : " I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches ;" and " I rejoice in thy word, as one that findeth great spoil ;" and " thy testimonies have I taken as a heri- tage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart." This will be yet more apparent, when it is considered, that in the august and glorious charac- ter of God, the believer has an object of knowledge, which infinitely surpasses all others, and is indeed all-comprehensive. The prayer of every saint will be that of Moses : " I beseech thee, show me thy glory !" We must include in this, the serene enjoy- ment which is experienced in the contemplation of the Divine Excellence, when intellectual acts are lost in the devout vision of Him whom angels wor- ship. Here are pleasures which have in them no- thing selfish, and which may even leave far behind all respect whatever to our own personal interest. God himself is the happiness, the joy, the life of his 190 CONSOLATION people. " This is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 2. Thus we are imperceptibly led to the joy of communimi. The bond of connection is Chnst. Through him we have access to the Father. He is continually approachable at the mercy-seat. Faith beholds him, devotion cleaves to him, love enjoys him. The disciple can rejoice that God is a recon- ciled Father, and that nothing can separate from his love. After union by the covenant, each separate attribute becomes a source of delight ; and he re- joices in the very being of Jehovah ; that he is, and such as he is. " The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice !" And when there is added to this, the un- paralleled exhibition of divinity, in the plan of grace, and the blending of all God's perfections at the cross, nothing further need be added. God himself, I say, is the Joy of saints. They " rejoice in the Lord," and "glory in the Holy One." Is. 41. " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God : for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh him- self with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Is. 61 : 10. This is a joy which remains, as Christ's gift, with his people, as long as the covenant of peace remaineth. 3. The Joy of Worship is but a step removed, and is common to all believers. It is in worship, that these exalted views of God are obtained. Medi- tation may lay the wood and the offering : but devo- CHRISTIAN JOT. 191 tion kindles the fire of the altar. To pray to such a God, so beheld, is to rise in joyftdness towards heaven. To praise him, under any true apprehen- sion of his excellency, is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Employ this, beloved, as a test of Christian character* To the unrenewed mind, prayer is al- ways a task, if not a burden ; it may be performed, but it is never enjoyed ; a needful remedy, perhaps, but not a refreshment or a delight. But if the testi mony of your heart is, that prayer is among your chosen comforts — if your closet is a beloved refuge — if you feel the loss or interruption of this intercourse to be a cross and a trial — ^if even sometimes your affections overflow and your heart flows out towards Christ : then, my prevalent thought is, that you are a child of God, and an heir of grace. The hypo- crite will not always pray. It is worship which makes the joy of Sanctuaries. When the whole congregation rises in prayer, and the united, respect- ful, adoring, exulting exercises of many souls goes along with the voice of him who leads ; or when all voices of a great assembly send up the sound of psalmody, without the exception of a single organ that has the capacity ; then are granted moments, long to be remembered, as an antepast of heaven. Here is the great attraction of God's house, which caused the psalmist to cry (Ps. 43 : 3) : " O send out thy light and thy truth ; let them lead me : let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles: then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy," or more literally, " unto God the 192 CONSOLATION. gladness of my joy." And it is predicted, as part of the glory of a latter day, when foreign tribes shall take hold of God's covenant, I will bring them " to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer." Is. 56 : 7. 4. The Joy of a new nature is too important to be omitted. It is the misery of the wicked that he is an instrument out of tune ; and the discordant strings are so many nerves, vital and sentient, and carrying anguish to the centre of feeling. But when the harp is new-strung; when the hand of grace moves over the harmonious chords ; when the con- sciousness of the sanctified heart testifies that unity and love are at least preluding the choral joys of heaven, it is a breath of Heaven's health. Con- science, being pacified, allows the affections to rise and mingle in their strength. Every good thought, feeling, word, or work, is accompanied with such a measure of complacency as may consist with humili- ty and penitence. " Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." 1 John 3:21. Then it is that the behever can add : '' We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ : this is the true God, a'hd eternal life." 1 John 5 : 20. 5. Then follows the Joy of Possession. There can be none greater than when the soul can say, "My Lord and my God;" "my Beloved is mine, and I am his ;" " I know whom I have believed." This is not merely to know God, but to know him ours ; to behold his perfections ranged on our CHEISTIAN JOY. 193 part ; to enter into his fulness and partake of his love. Then the heart finds its true, inexhausti- ble portion, for which it was made, to which all its capacities are suited, and which will constitute its eternal heaven. " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Ps. 78 : 25. " Far be it from thy servant (says Augustine) who confesseth to thee, Lord, far be it from thy servant to rejoice in any other joy,' so as to make it his happiness ! For there is a joy which is not given to the wicked, but to those who serve thee freely, of whom thou art thyself the very joy. And the true happy life is to have joy to- wards thee, concerning thee, on account of thee ;* this it is, and not another." Or in the words of a modern saint :f " Offer up thyself whoUy to Him, and fix the point of thy love upon his most blessed in- created love ; and there let thy soul and heart rest and delight, and be as it were resolved and melted most happily into the blessed Godhead ; and then take that as a token, and be assured by it that God will grant thy lovely and holy desires. Say, ' I am nothing, I have nothing, I can do nothing, and I desire nothing but One.' " These higher exercises may be w^anting, and yet true piety may exist. 6. To these modes of renewed emotion must be added the Joy of Jioly Excitement. Man was not made to be stagnant. The sails are for the breeze, and for progress. There is no Castle of Indolence in all our goodly land. There is no languid happi- * Gaudere ad te, de te, propter te. f Leighton 13 194 CONSOLATION. ness, no lethargic Christianity. He who would steer clear of all excitement may as well bid adieu to the coasts of joy, which is the highest excitement. The stream of human passions is admitted into a new channel, but it runs fuU. There is enough in gospel motives to carry the tide to its utmost. Scripture expressions lead us to think that it was so in the early day. "These things," said Christ, "have I spoken unto you that your joy might be full,"— a sentiment echoed thirty-three years after by the be- loved disciple: "And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." 1 John 1 : 4. The powei*s must be on the stretch, in order to give the highest joy. The muscle must be in action, or suffer. And hence a life of Christian activity is the greatest means of enjoyment. Christ's chief joy is not for the couch, unless, indeed, it be the couch of weakness or pain sent by Him ; and then suffering in all respects takes the place of action. " They also serve who only stand and wait ;" but Christ's chief joy is in the conscious putting forth of grace ; when the soul can say : " I know both how to be abased, and how to abound : I can do all things through Christ which Btrengtheneth me." Phil. 4:12. In speaking of the height to which joyful Chris- tian experience may rise, even in this life, it is al- lowable to adduce one or two instances from the recorded exercises of eminent Christians in different periods of the church. But we must do this with a caution premised. These attainments are unusual jud extraordinary, and are not to be regarded as OHEISTIAN JOT. 195 common to all believers. The consideration of them should not dishearten those disciples who have been called to walk in lowlier paths. The genuine faith of God's elect may exist without these raptures. Yet they serve to magnify the love of the Spirit, and to show how rich the effusions of grace may be when the sovereignty of the Giver so decrees. The first instance which shall be cited is that of the learned orthodox and pious John Flavel, a man every way remote from credulity and superstition. In a treatise of his on the soul of man, he gives the fol- lowing narrative, which, though in the third person, has always with justice been considered to relate to himself: " I have," says he, " with good assurance this account of a minister, who being alone in a journey, and willing to make the best improvement he could of that day's solitude, set himself to a close examination of the state of his soul, and then of the life to come, and the manner of its being, and hving in heaven, in the views of all those things which are now pure objects of faith and hope. After a while, he perceived his thoughts begin to fix, and come closer to those great and astonishing things than was usual ; and as his mind settled upon them, his affections began to rise with answerable liveliness and vigour. " He, therefore, while yet master of his own thoughts, ]ifted up his heart to God in a short ejac- ulation, that God would so order it in his provi- dence that he might meet with no interruption from company, or any other accident, in that journey, 196 CONSOLATION. whicli was granted him ; for in all that day's jour- ney he neither met, overtook, nor was overtaken of any. Thus going on his way, his thoughts began to swell and rise higher and higher, like the waters in Ezekiel's \4sion, till at last they became an over- flowing flood. Such was the intention of his mind, such the ravishing tastes of heavenly joys, and such the full assurance of his interest therein, that he utterly lost sight and sense of this world, and all the concerns thereof, and for some houi-s knew no more where he was than if he had been in a deep sleep upon his bed. At last he began to perceive himself very faint, and almost choked with blood, which, running in abundance from his nose, had dis- coloured his clothes and his horse, from the shoulder to the hoof. He found himself almost spent, and nature to faint under the pressure of joy unspeak- able and unsupportable ; and at last perceiving a spring of water in his way, he, with some difiiculty alighted to cleanse and cool his face and hands. " By that spring he sat down and washed, ear- nestly desiring, if it were the pleasure of God, that it might be his parting-place from this world. He said, death had the most amiable face, in his eye, that ever he beheld, except the face of Jesus Christ, which made it so ; and that he could not remember (though he believed he should die there) that he had once thought of his dear wife or children, or any earthly concernment. But having drunk of that spring, his spirit revived, his blood stanched, and he mounted his horse again ; and on he went, in the CHEISTIAN JOY. 197 same frame of spirit, till he had finished a journey of near thirty miles, and came at night to his inn, where being come, he greatly admired how he had come thither ; that his horse, without his direction, had brought him thither, and that he fell not all that day, which passed not without several trances of con- siderable continuance. "All this night passed without one wink of sleep, though he never had a sweeter night's rest in all his life. Still, still, the joy of the Lord over- flowed him, and he seemed to be an inhabitant of another world. The next morning being come, he was early on horseback again, fearing the divertise- ment of the inn might bereave him of his joy ; for he said it was now with him as with a man that carries a rich treasure about him, who suspects every passenger to be a thief But within a few hours he was sensible of the ebbing of the tide, and before night, though there was a heavenly serenity and sweet peace upon his spirit, which continued long with him, yet the transports of joy were over, and the fine edge of his delight blunted. He, many years after, called that day one of the days of hea- ven, and professed he understood more of the life of heaven by it than by all the books he ever read, or discourses he ever entertained about it. This was, indeed, an extraordinary foretaste of hea- ven for degree, but it came in the ordinary way and method of faith and meditation." * To this may be added an account which Presi- ♦ FlavePs Works, fol. vol. i. pp. 601, 502. 198 OONSOLATIOK. dent Edwards gives of some remarkahle mamfesta- tions of divine favour to himself' Attention is ask- ed to those exercises of placid delight, for this rea- son among others, that the subject of them was no less eminent as a philosopher than as a Christian, and was versed in discriminating between what is false and what is true in religious experience. Writing of his early religious life, he says : " Ho- liness, as I then wrote down some of my contempla- tions on it, appeared to me to be of a sweet, plea- sant, charming, serene, calm nature, which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness, and ravishment to the soul. In other words, that it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant flowers ; all pleasant, delightful, and undisturbed ; enjoying a sweet calm, and the gentle and vivifying beams of the sun. The soul of a true Christian, as I then wrote my meditations, appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year; low and humble on the ground, opening its bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun's glory ; rejoicing as it were in a calm rapture ; diffusing around a sweet fragrancy ; standing peacefully and lovingly, in the midst of other flowers round about ; all in like manner open- ing their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun. There was no part of creature holiness that I had so great a sense of its loveliness as humility, broken- ness of heart and poverty of spirit, and there was nothing that I so earnestly longed for. My heart panted after this, to lie low before God, as in the CHRISTIAN JOY. 199 dust, that I might be nothing, and that God might be ALL ; that I might become as a little child.'' And again ; " Sometimes only mentioning a single word causes my heart to burn within me, or only seeing the name of Christ, or the name of some attribute of God. And God has appeared glorious to me, on account of the Trinity. It has made me have ex- alting thoughts of God, that he subsists in three persons ; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The sweet- est joys and delights I have experienced have not been those that have arisen from a hope of my own good estate, but in a direct view of the glorious things of the gospel. " Once, as I rode out into the woods, having alighted from my horse in a retired place for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God as ]\Iediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure, and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. The gi-ace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swal- low up all thought and conception ; which continu- ed, as near as I can judge, about an hour ; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be — what I know not otherwise how to express — emptied and annihilated : to lie in the dust and to be fuK of Christ alone; to love him with a holy and pure love ; to trust in him ; to live upon him ; 200 CONSOLATION. to serve and follow him; and to be perfectly sancti fied and made pure, with a divine and heavenly purity." * All that has been urged might be summed up in the statement, that Christian joy is produced by whatsoever brings Christian principle into life and action ; and holiness gives happiness in its very ex- ercise, which may suffice, in regard to those joys which come home directly to the believer's private happiness. But in the progress of his joys, we arrive at others, which are reflected, or which rise out of sympathy with fellow-men. Christianity is not insulated. No man is regarded by the Master, or should regard himself, as having a separate interest. " Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Phil. 2 : 4. Hence a new class of joys spring up beyond the self- ish circle. " Eejoice with them that do rejoice." Rom. 12 : 15. If I am rightly aflFected, that which brings good to my brother brings good to me. And as a large part of Christianity consists in acts of benevolence, every one of these is a means of joy. If we would be happy, we must love. We must do good and communicate. The man who, like his Master, goes about doing good, walks in a path perhaps of some sorrows, yet of more joys than any other on this side heaven. See how remarkably this was the source of Paul's comforts. He could not be happy, unless men were saved, so he presses truth on the Philippians (2 : 16), "that I may re- * Edwards'^ Works, Ed. 1844, vol. i. pp. 21, 24, OHEISTIAN JOY. 201 joice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." And, in the same strain, to his beloved Thessalonians (1 Thess. 2 : 19): " For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ? for ye are our glory and joy." The more we enlarge the circle of our benevolence, even until it take in the whole race of man, the more do we widen the field of our enjoyment ; it is an exten- sion of the sentient surface. It may, it must bring its pains, but it brings pleasures which the luxury of the worldling has never surmised. Every cup of cold water given to the thirsty — every helping hand offered to the weary — every tear shed over the desolate — every almsgiving to the worthy or visit to the dying — every page of the gospel sent to the ignorant — and every word whispered to the fainting, come back with a returning wave of joy to the soul which by grace has originated them. Nowhere, however, is this sympathetic communication so deli- cate or so quick as in the mystical body. The web is a texture all alive to the electric current. God has so framed the structure of his people, that there is no insulation ; 1 Cor. 12:26, "that there should be no schism in the body ; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the mem- bers rejoice with it." Do we, brethren, so rejoice ? The more we increase, therefore, in philanthropy and brotherly-love, the more will our joys increase, 202 CONSOLATION. until, at length, we shall find nothing extravagant in the strong expressions of Paul, concerning the Corinthians (2 Cor. 7:13), when he thus alludes to the good news he had from them : " Therefore we were comforted in your comfort ; yea, and exceed- ingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, be- cause his spirit was refreshed by you all." The rea son our joys are few is that our love of brethren is small. There is still in the progress of Christian hap- piness a class of joys which are more directly for God's sake ; when we rejoice in virtue of our con- nection with God, feeling as children for the honour and interests of a father. How can it be otherwise ? The son and subject has now exchanged his own poor little interests for those of God. The filial spirit has come in. The spirit of loyalty has come in. The kingdom of Christ has swallowed up other regards. He would gladly suffer all and spend all for Christ's crown and covenant. And hence his joys, both of hope and possession, take their colour from the rising of Christ's standard in the world. This was felt in ancient days, even by the children of the captivity, at the waters of Babylon, when they said (Ps. 138 : 6) : O Jerusalem, "if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." " The zeal of thy house " (said the Psalmist and said the Messiah) " hath consumed me." In Chris- tian days, the love of Christ's kingdom ieads to high exultation at its increase ; when one sinner repenteth CHRISTIAN JOY. 203 there is (Luke 15: 10) joy among angels; when multitudes are saved, shall there not be joy among men ? Where a minister of the gospel is a regene- rate person, this is one of his records : " I have no greater joy" (said the aged John) "than to hear that my children walk in the truth." And it is a happiness which may rise to unusual heights, under great successes, as when Paul exclaims (2 Cor. 2 : 14), " Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Clirist, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in eveiy place!" This makes cheerful energetic labour, and sheds a holy oil on every wheel : for as Nehemiah said (8: 10): "The joy of the Lord is your strength." It is a joy which must brighten, as yeai^ roll on, bringing new and augmented evidences of Christ's advance to triumph over all his enemies ; when the latter psalms shall be the significant and appropriate hymns of the Church, and the voice shall be (Ps. 149): "Let Israel rejoice in him that made him; let the children of Zion be joyful in their King ; let the saints be joyful in glory ; let them sing aloud upon their beds." We have thus considered, in a very imperfect manner, the progress of Christ's joy, as communicated to his people, in their progress toward the everlasting rest. HI. For a third topic, let us bestow a few mo- ments on Joy amidst Sorrotvs. This is at once the most extraordinary and the most welcome part of the doctrine. Ancient fable tells us of a stream which passed through the salt sea, and ^"^app^ar^d 204 CONSOLATIOIS'. in Sicily, without losing its freshness : but here we have a joy which flows unchanged through the midst of troubles. It may be a paradox ; but if there is any thing undeniable in Christian experience, it is this. We could call ten thousand witnesses, from the martyr in his chain to the palsied or consump- tive pauper, dying on his straw. Christian joy has triumphed over every variety of external distress. And the reason is, that it rests on nothing that is sensual, earthly, or fading. "He builds too low, who builds beneath the skies.'' I am fully per- suaded, that no man is independent of trials but the Christian ; and that there is no kind or degree of outward trial, against which grace may not fur. nish a perfect solace or support. It is a joy which flows from the very Head of the mystical body, and which remains and is full, when other fountains have gone dry. Hab. 3:18: "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet will I rejoice in the Lord ; I will joy in the God of my salvation." Observe how the great apostle to the Gentiles makes his way among contending tides of difficulty, like a sturdy swimmer striking out against a rapid sea. 2 Cor. 6:8: "By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report ; as deceivers, and yet true ; as unknown, and yet well known ; as dying, and behold we live ; as chastened, and not killed ; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicirg ; CHEISTIAN JOT. 205 as poor, yet making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Observe, again, hoAv strangely the apostle James addresses the dispersed of the twelve tribes : " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers trials." Paul prays that the Colossians (1: 11) maybe strengthened "unto all patience and long-suflering with joyfulness :" and he knew it to be possible ; for he writes to the Co- rinthians, 2 Cor. 7:4: " I am filled with comfort : I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." It was his constant testimony concerning this joy; for after enumerating the things which the world most dreads, namely, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, na- kedness, and sword, he adds, what the world can never say, " In all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us." Ah ! that is the secret reason. It is the joy of Christ, accord- ing to our apostle. It is joy in the Holy Ghost. Isa. 61 : 1-3 : For the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, anointing him, " to comfort all that mourn, to ap- point unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourn- ing." Enough has therefore been said, to convince us that this joy is immeasurably distant from all the joys of the present world, and is able to sur- mount all its troubles. But I have reserved, for brief notice in a last particular, the crowning tri- umph of this grace. IV. There is Joy in the hour of death We say not composure, simply, or fortitude, or patience, or resignation, but joy. It may not be given to all, 206 CONSOLATION. but it is possible, it may be prayed for ; nay, blessed be His name, it is common. In the last words of the last canonical epistle, Jude (v. 24) exclaims, address- ing believers : " Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." This light sometimes begins in the dying chamber. Paul awaited such a close of ministiy and life, saying (Acts 20 : 20) to the elders of Ephesus : " None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus." In view of this salvation, Christ is still the grand object and source of hope. 1 Peter 1:8: " Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory : receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Yes, with clay-cold hands, we receive this salvation from him who died for us ! Though it is ranked among Jewish fancies, yet it is a beautiful thought of Maimonides, that the soul of dying Moses was taken from him by a sacred kiss of God. Of such joy, it would be difficult to find a more striking ex- ample than that afforded by the late Dr. Payson. " Were I," says he, " to adopt the figurative language of Bunyan, I might date this letter from the land of Beuiah, of which 1 have been for some weeks a happy inhabitant. The celestial city is fall in my view. Its glories beam upon me, its breezes fan me, its odours are wafted to me, its sounds strike upon CHRISTIAN JOY. 207 my ears, and its spirit is breathed into my heart. Nothing separates me from it but the river of death, which now appears but as an insignificant rill, that may be crossed at a single step, whenever God shall give permission. The Sun of Kighteousness has been gradually drawing nearer and nearer, appear- ing larger and brighter as he approached, and now he fills the whole hemisphere, pouring forth a flood of glory, in which I seem to float like an insect in the beams of the sun ; exulting, yet almost trem- blmg, while I gaze on this excessive brightness, and wondering, with unutterable wonder, why God should deign thus to shine upon a sinful worm. A single heart, and a single tongue, seem altogether inadequate to my wants. I want a whole heart for every separate emotion, and a whole tongue to ex- press that emotion."* In closing the discussion, and seeking to point some application to the mind, I shall not ask the reader whether he is in or out of the \dsible church, but exhort him to lay hold on this exceeding joy' by drawing nearer to Him who bestows it. There is a cjass— and he may belong to it— who have re- eeived from heaven no less commandment than this, repeated again and again : Eejoice— rejoice always I and again I say, Eejoice. The message of divine love is therefore well called, " Tidings of great joy." And we live in gross ignorance or error, when we think of Christianity as abridging our comforts, or encouraging depression and gloom. When we, who * Life of Payson, p. 855. w 208 CONSOLATION. CHEISTIAN JOY. 209 profess Christ, are sad and disheartened, it is because the flame of grace burns low. Were we duly seek- ing the face of God, " with joy " should we " draw water out of the wells of salvation." More eleva- tion of our gladness would make us better Chris- tians. It would wing our flight into higher regions. It would throw this tempting earth into ignomini- ous shade. It would cause our face to shine, and lead the men of this world to say (Zech. 8 : 23), " We w^ill go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." But inasmuch as God is pleased to deal with churches in their collective capacity, it is not common for high enjoyments to be felt by indi- viduals, when the community of believers is in a state of torpor. What prayer, then, can be better for any particular church, than that of the sons of Korah, Ps. 85 : 6 : " Wilt thou not revive us again : that thy people may rejoice in thee?" In order to insure such joys, there must be great prayer, great love, great activity, and great holiness. The path before us is therefore plain. We should be unitedly en- gaged in seeking again the revival of our graces. Nothing short of a general and copious effusion of the Holy Spirit on our churches, will reach our case. Each one should lament, and pray, " Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me by thy free Spirit : then will I teach transgressoi-s thy way, and sinners shall be converted unto thee." Then shall we begin to hear the voice of inquiry renewed. Then shall numbei^ of our beloved youth, who are still fascinated by the false joys of sense, be found coming into the church. Then shall strifes and heartburnings be banished, and heavenly elevation shine from every countenance. Then shall the heart of the fathers be turned to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers. " The meek shall increase their joy in the Lord." Our " wilder- ness shall rejoice with joy and singing." And that shall be true of us, which was said of Samaria, when it received the gospel : " And there was great joy in that city." For p time of revival is a time of great joy, in all those varieties of it which we have detailed : joy in ourselves ; joy in the good of oth- ers ; and joy in the glorifying of Christ's name. And many a pastor feels the tender force of an ex- pression used by Paul (2 Cor. 1 : 24), in application to himself and to all ministers : " Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy." Such help we would fain render. For as the same apostle says (2 Cor. 2 : 2), every faithful pastor may say : " If I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made soi-ry by me ?" for, adds he, " my joy is the joy of you all." Our interests are identical. An extended blessing on the word preached will reach to him who ministers, and " to you, and your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Sowing and watering, without har- vest, is toilsome employment ; but let God speak the word, and our whitening fields shall be covered with golden sheaves, full of the rewards of joy: John 4 : 36 : "He that reapeth, receiveth wages, 14 210 CONSOLATIOlf. and gathereth fruit unto life eternal ; that both ko that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice to- gether." And I trust we have the prayers of many a reader, that this promise of Christ, which we have been considering, may speedily be fulfilled to this whole religious community. \ ::^ CONSOLATION DERIVED FEOM THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT. TX. IT is only in the Word of God that we learn to consider affliction as a blessing. The utmost which the most refined philosophy can effect is to remove from our sorrows that which is imaginary, to divert the attention from the cause of distress, or to pro- duce a sullen and stoical resignation, more like despair than hope. The religion of the Gospel grap- ples with the evil itself, overcomes it, and transforms it into a blessing. It is by no means included in the promises made to true Christians that they shall be exempt from suffering. On the contrary, chastise- ment forms a necessary part of that paternal dis- cipline, by which our heavenly Father fits his children for their eternal rest in glory. The Psalmist asserts the blessedness of the man who is chastened by the Lord, with this qualification as necessary to constitute it a blessing, that he is also instructed in divine truth. Psalm 94 : 12. By this we under- stand that the influence of chastisement is not physical ; that mere suffering has no inherent effi- cacy ; but that the afflictions of this life are, in the hand of God, instrumental in impressing divine truth upon the heart, awakening the attention of the be- ..ii 214 CONSOLATION. THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT. 215 Uever to the consideration of his own character and situation, the promises of the Gospel, and the re- wards of heaven. The child of God is assured that all things work together for his good; in this is plainly included the pledge, that chastisements and afflictions shall eventually prove a blessing ; and this is verified by the experience of the whole Church. The subject can scarcely ever be inappropriate. We are all familiar with suffermg, m our persons or the persons of those whom we love : we are either now enduring, or shall at some future time endure severe afflictions. Among our readers, it is natural to suppose that some are at this very moment la- bouring under burdens of grief Some, it may be, are experiencing the infirmities and pains of a dis- eased body, othei-s are mourning over the loss of friends and relatives, and othei-s are still hving in the dread of trials yet to come. There are few of us therefore to whom the inquiry may not be inter- esting, How is affliction a blessing ? The question may be thus answered. The chas- tisements which God inflicts upon his children are profitable to them, as they tend under the Divine blessing to promote piety in the heart. Or more particularly, chastisement is useful, because it con- vinces the believer of his helplessness and misery when left to himself, and of his entire dependence on God ; because it leads him to renew his repent- ance, puts his faith to the test, and strengthens his Christian graces ; because it contributes to the ex- ercise of filial submission, and fixes the mind upon the heavenly inheritance. Let us, with prayer for Divine assistance, meditate upon these truths. 1. Chastisement is useful, because it tends to con- vince the beUever of his misery, and shows him that without Christ he cannot be happy. And in order to bring this subject more directly before the mind, let us for a moment consider our readei's as suflFering under the pangs of some great affliction. You will at once agree with us in the position, that if you had more faith, you would have less trouble of mind ; or rather that if you had faith sufficient, you would be altogether clear from the deep impressions which lie upon you. Because we very well know from our own experience, that there are cases in which the most severe bodily pains, or mental distresses, have, so to speak, been neutralized by considerations of a spiritual kind. This is exemplified in the history of the whole Christian Church, and of every individual believer, and most remarkably in the suflerings and deaths of the Martyrs. There is then a certain point of elevation in divine trust, confidence in God, reli- ance on the providence, grace, and promise of God : that is, a certain degree of faith, which would en- tirely free you from these trials of mind. We take it for granted that you heartily concur in this, and that you feel, at this very moment of sufifering, that no gift of God would so efiectually bless you, as this gift of Faith. Your trials and afflictions, therefore, produce in your soul a deep feeling of want. You are now sensible that you need more of the presence of Christ; that your piety is not in sufficient exer- 216 CONSOLATION. THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT. 217 cise to make you tappy under your chastisements. In the moments when forebodings and fears become most oppressive, you are most strongly impressed with the truth, that you still lack a great deal ; and your desires are quickened for that measure of faith which shall enable you, with fihal confidence, to leave all in the hands of God. If these are your feelings, you are now ready to acknowledge that chastisement has already produced in you one part of its intended effect. You are brought to feel that you are totally dependent on God for your comfort ; that nothing but high measures of piety can render you independent of these clouds of trial, and that the attainments which you have made are insufficient to this end. You are brought to desire of God that grace which shall be sufficient for you, and to say with the disciples : " Lord, in- crease our faith !" This is one great end of chastise- ment, to humble man from his self-sufficiency, and make him feel, in the most profound manner, that in God he lives, and moves, and has his being. Afflicted brethren, you never felt in your hours of ease (we venture to affirm) so fully dependent upon God's will, as you do at this present time. Perhaps, if en- tire prosperity had continued, you would never have felt this persuasion ; thus a most important point is gained in your spiritual progress. It is so in this respect, it prepares you for receiving the blessing. It is not God's method, in the ordinary economy of His grace, to give favours of a spiritual kind, until the soul feels its need of them. He " will be in- quired of for these things," even when he purposes to vouchsafe them. It is in answer to earnest long- ings, pantings, hungerings and thirstings of the spirit, that the Lord manifests himself in the most remark- able manner. You have been brought by chastise- ment to the very point, where you ought to desire to be brought ; and where perhaps nothing but this affliction would have brought you, the total renun- ciation of your own strength, and the casting of yourself upon the strength of God. Now you begin more deeply to feel your need of Christ. Now you are convinced that something more is necessary than that vague and intermitted trust which you com- monly indulge ; that Christ must be embraced by your faith, and not visited merely by occasional de- votions ; in a word, that you must constantly be " looking to Jesus." If these things are so ; if you are persuaded that nothing^ except strong faith can heal your wounded spirit ; if you are conscious that you still lack such faitli ; if you earnestly and constantly desire it ; the question becomes exceedingly interesting to you • " Can I attain it ?" And if this could be at once answered in the affirmative, to your full satisfaxjtion, It would go far towards an entire banishment from your soul of these poignant distresses. Now in pro- portion as your soul is engaged in seeking this inestimable blessing, in just that proportion will your acts of faith be increased. As Christ becomes more and more present to your mind, you will, with more and more confidence, laaii upon him with son- 1 s i 218 CONSOLATION. THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT. 219 like assurance. And, therefore, without endeavour ing to resolve the question, when, how, or in what precise manner, God will g^ve you the grace which you need, it is suiScient foi our present purpose to know, that one great end of your affliction is answer- ed, when you are led to commence and persevere in a faithful and earnest application to Christ, as the great Physician. Long have you wandered, it may be, long slighted this benevolent Redeemer. Like Israel in prosper- ity, you have forgotten your Deliverer, and have grown restiff and rebellious in the rich pastures of his goodness. While the skies were clear, and all around you was smiling, you were remiss in duty, irregular in devotion, lukewarm in aflfection. Your mountain seemed to stand strong, and in the delights of present enjoyment you could say, "To-morrow shall be as to-day, and much more abundant." Jesus Christ, the Master to whom you had so solemnly, so unreservedly given yourself, has been cast into the shade by the worldly things on which you have doted. Ah ! how little do Christians ponder on the truth, that by their lives of carelessness they are ren- dering afflictions necessary ! While they are at ease in Zion, forsaking their fii^t love, and declining from the path of strict piety, the cloud is gathering darker and darker over their heads ; that cloud of judg- ment and of mercy which is to drive them up from their unlawful resting-places, and alarm them into a renewal of their pDgrimage. Afflicted brethren 1 'i e tnought not, while ye were at ease, that these trials were in reserve for you, though often fore- warned by the preachei-s of the Gospel, and the ex- perience of your brethren. The trial has now come ; you have now to retrace your steps ; you now feel that none but Christ can bring you back to happi- ness ; and you are humbly asking for the blessings of his hand. Thus it is that chastisement convinces the believer of his misery, and shows him that afar from the Saviour he can never be at peace. 2. Chastisement is useful, as it leads the believer to see and feel his exceeding sinfulness. It is one of the strongest proofs that our sanctification is imper- fect, and our self-love inordinate, that we are wrought upon so much more readily by stripes than by fa- vours. Though the Lord's goodness ought to lead us to repentance, yet we generally observe that the heart grows hard under the smiles of Providence, and thus loudly calls for the necessary strokes of God's correcting hand. It is a favourable indication of reigning grace, when any soul, in the sunshine of great worldly prosperity, is considerate, humble, and constant in walking with God. In too many cases, it is far otherwise. And when sudden affliction breaks in a storm upon the head of one who has been relapsing into carnal security, the surprise and consternation are great and almost insupportable. After the first tumult of the soul, it is natural to look around for some solace or support ; and in the case of a true Christian, the resort will at once be to the consolation of rehgion. Like the httle child which Bti'ays from its watchful and tender pai*ent, during It 220 CONBOLATIOir. THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT. 221 the hours of play, but hastens back at the approach of alarm, so the believer, overtaken by calamity, awakes from his dream, and endeavours to retrace his steps to the neglected mercy-seat. But ah ! in how many cases does he here learn his lamentable distance from God ; and how mournfully is he made to cry, " O that I knew where I might find Him !" He who is habitually walking with God does not suffer this, for the whole armour of God protects him from the most unexpected assaults : " he is not afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord :" but the slumbering and lukewarm professor sinks disheartened. In vain does he apply himself to earthly solaces for alleviation of his grief. With shame, and pain of conscience, does he endeavour to ask deliverance of his offended Father. Every pe- tition that he uttei's, is accompanied with a sense of weakness. The blessedness which once he spake of is gone ; the habit of devout waiting upon God is suspended ; the way to the throne of grace is ob- structed. How confidently would he offer his peti- tions, if he were persuaded of his own acceptance : how gladly would he plead the promises, if he felt his title to them secured in Christ. But alas ! it is not with him as in days that are past, when the candle of the Lord shone on him. His mind has become attached to the earth; his views of the blessed Kedeemer are indistinct; he is convinced that his strength has departed, that his faith lan- guishes, and that he is defiled with sin. Now his repentings are kindled ; now he knows how evil and bitter a thing it is to foi^ake the Lord, and to depart from his fear ; and when he considers how long God has borne with him, how many favours he has received, and how brutish has been his ingrat- itude, his heart is broken, his tears flow, he seeks the lowest place in the dust of abasement, wondei^ that affliction has not long since overtaken him for his carelessness and neglect, and bows before the Lord without a murmur. At such a time, the language of the afflicted soul will be : " Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins ? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled : thou hast not pardoned. Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not, without any intermission, till the Lord look down and behold from heaven." Christian brethren, who have known affliction, and have been chastened of the Lord, that you should not be condemned with the world ; who have suffered the loss of friends, of health, of property, oi reputation, how often has one hour of such trials done more to show you your sins, and humble you in penitence, than months of ordinary self-examina- tion, or stated means of grace ! When chastisement has its proper operation, the Christian will seek not to be comforted merely, but to be taught of God. " Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of M f I 4 222 I CONSOLATION. thy law." He seeks to know why God contends with, him, and lies very low in contrition, when the still small voice of the Lord says to him, " The Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel : O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me." Micah 6. And this exercise leads to godly sorrow which is not to be repented of It is under deep affliction that we feel most deeply the connection between sin and misery, and acknowledge that the connection is just and holy. Smarting un- der the rod, we know that the Lord hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities ; and that it is of his mercies that we are not consumed. It was not immediately upon the commission of his atrocious crime, that David was humbled ; but when he was chastised and smitten to the earth, hear how he mourns, not so much over his sufferings as his sin : " Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness ; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgres- sions, and my sin is ever before me. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me." Psalm 51. THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT, 2!^3 Times of affliction afford some natural faciiiues for cultivating repentance. Occasions of sin are then removed ; the world is excluded. The man confined to the silence of the sick room, or the house of mourning, cannot by idle pursuits divert his mind. He is forced to think ; and to think of his sins. He considers his ways, bewails his transgression, and re- news his covenant. He learns to confess, " Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastise- ment, I will not offend any more ; that which 1 see not teach thou me : and if I have done iniquity, I will do no more." Job 34 : 31, Now, in these experiences of the afflicted, there is a real consolation. Such tears are sweet, and it will probably be the unanimous testimony of all true penitents, that they have enjoyed a tender and re- fined delight in those moments of grief, in which they came to God as a forgiving God, and heard him say to their souls, in accents at once of gentle rebuke and comfort : " Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver ; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction," "for mine own sake will I defer mine anger." " For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Hedeemer." Isa. 54. 3. Chastisement is useful as a trial of faith. To use the expression of Bishop Hall, " untried faith is uncertain faith." There often is in profes- sors of religion enough of the semblance of piety to 9.U CONSOLATION. THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT. 225 if lull their conscieiices while they are prosperoiis, but not enough of the reality to support them in time of trial. Adversity makes the exercise of faith needful, and puts the strength of that faith to the test. It is compared to the fire, the furnace, the fining-pot or crucible, because it not only purifies, but tries; it not only consumes the dross, but ascertains the gold. . . ' There is no true believer who does not desire this trial. The very supposition of being found wanting at the day of judgment fills him with horror. His daily supplication is : '' Search me, O God, and know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts ; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me m the way everlasting." Christian reader, give a mo- ment's thought to this question, Is your faith suffi- cient to support you in the hour of death, if that hour (as is very possible) should soon and suddenly arrive ? Are you not ready to sink under ordinary afflictions ? How then will you bear this greatest of trials ? To adopt the language of Jeremiah (12 : 5), " If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses ? And if, in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?" This trial of your faith is plainly important, and it is the office of chastisement to constrain you to such a trial. If your standing in the covenant is so firm, through huml)le trust in God, that you can say, " But he knoweth the way that 1 take : when he hath I tried me I shall come forth as gold," you are happy indeed. But this conviction is not likely to be strong in those who have not passed through the furnace. The apostle Peter, in comforting the dis- persed saints, explains to them this end of their chas- tisement, " If need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perish- eth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." We have already seen, in the course of our medi- tations, some of the ways in which faith is tried by affliction. If any be afflicted he will pray. But there can be no comfort in prayer, where there is not a belief that prayer is heard, and will be answered. The supplication of one who pours out strong crying and teal's, in a great fight of afflictions, is a very dift'erent thing from the formal addresses of one at ease. The sufl^erer cannot be consoled until he finds that God is his friend ; he cannot find this without faith ; and in this manner, most directly, chastise- ment convinces the soul, that it is still unprovided with the shield of faith, or awakens the exei'cise of tnis grace, with great and unspeakable satisfaction. And thus the tribulations which have succeeded one another through life, give us stronger and stronger reliance on God, for the approaching hour of death. At some future day it will be sweet to remember how the Lord sealed us with his Spirit of adoption, in these times of trial. Therefore, " beloved breth- 15 226 CONSOLATION. THE USES OF CHASTISEMENT. 227 ren, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice, inasmuch iis ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings ; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceed- ing joy." 4. Chastisement is useful, as it strengthens faith, by leading the believer to the promises, and espe- cially to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no expression in the word of God better suited to reconcile the Christian to trials, than that of the Apostle Paul : " He [that is, God] chastens us for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness " — partakers of His holiness ! What words are these ! This is the very summit of your desires. This you have been toiling for, and longing after. This you have earnestly implored, and are you now ready to shrink from the very means by which your Father in heaven is about to promote your sancti- fication ? By no means will you be led to relinquish this appointment of God for your good. Now it is by these very trials that your graces are to be in- vigorated. We have seen that these trials disclose the ix ality and degree of our faith. We may go further, and observe that faith is greatly increased and strengthened by the same process. Faith is strength- ened by exercise. As the touch, or any natural faculty, becomes obtuse and often useless by want of exercise, or the removal of its proper objects, so faith languishes and seems ready to perish, when those truths which are to be believed are long kept out of the mind. The most valuable truths of the Christian are ''the exceeding great and precious promises." He does not feel his need of these prom- ises while he is indulging in that self-pleasing which usually accom])auies prosperity. In penning these lines we say advisedly, no man can fully value health who has not been ill, nor appreciate the services of the kind and skilful ]ihysician, until he has been healed by him. And thus also, no man can fully prize, or fully understand the promises of the Scrip- tures, until they are made necessary to his support in advei-sity. Many of the most precious portions of revelation "are altogether a dead letter to such as have never been exercised ])y the trials to which they relate. The believer who is in sufferings or straits of any kind, comes to God by prayer ; and in attempting to pray, seeks some promise suitable to his precise wants." Blessed be God! he needs not to search long — so rich are the treasures of the word. These promises he takes as the very truth of God. He pleads them at the throne of grace ; he ]>eli( ve^ them, relies on them, rejoices in them. This is faith ; these exercises are vital exercises of the renewed soul. ^ So long as the Christian is oppressed with affliction, these exercises must be continual ; and in propor- tion as the trial is great, must the faith be great also, so that he often finds every earthly support cut away, and is taught, with implicit trust, to hang on the simple word of Divine faithfulness. This is em- i ^28 CONSOLATION. phatlcally tlie life of piety; and it is enconragecl, developed, and maintained in time of trial. Affliction is sanctified when we are made to feel that nothing can satisfy us but God, and when we actually wait upo^^ God, and rely on Him as our only hope. It is then that the Christian finds the promises cimfirmed to him : " Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." " No chastening for the present is joyous, but i^rrievous ," ^ilt show me thy salvation." Like Paul he triumphs, Foi I am now ready to be ofiered," &c. This happiness we sometimes witness ; but where have we found it? In the house of prosperity, where death has never invaded the family circle ; where all have more than heart could wish ; where health, and opulence, and honour unite to expel all care ? No ! but in the hovel of the poor, where one affliction hath followed another, till earthly hope is almost extinct. In the darkened chamber of mourn- ing, whence all that was most loved and cherished has taken its last flight. In the bed of lingering, incurable disease, and in the very gasp of death I Here religion hath set up her trophies ; here is hap- piness, here, where things hoped for are substan- tiated to the believing soul, where things unseen are evidenced to faith by divine influence. In every case of suffering it is the prime wisdom oi the Christian to fix his eyes upon the heavenly crown. In every other hope you may be disappoint- ed, in this you cannot. Try, as you may, all other fountains for your solace, there is a time coming when you must be driven to this. Become familiar with the meditation of heavenly glory ! Daily con- template that joyful deliverance from evil, that in- dissoluble and ecstatic union with the Lord Jesus Christ ! Then, when death lays upon you his cold hand, you can say, '' I am prepared for this hour. I have longed for this deliverance to meet my Lord in his temple. I have lived in communion with the blessed Lord of heaven." "Lo, this is my God, 1 have waited for him, and he will save me ; this is the Lord, I have waited for him ; I will rejoice and be glad in his salvation." I •i I i THE HOLY SUBmSSION OF CHEISTS WnX CONSIDERED AS A SOURCE OF CONSOLATION. I I X. i 1 ^VRE very name Gethsemane carries remembran- J- ces which sadden the demeanour and fill the eyes. How can we draw near to it? Especially, how can we withdraw the curtain and expose the di\ine hu- miliations of that hour, when we know so well how many have already gazed carelessly on every pang of the Son of God, until they are hardened like the nether millstone ? And this is one reason why we shall not attempt a picture of that scene ; but after a hurried glance at the series of events, will single out one expression as our theme. Every reader will remember that the disciples had risen from their couches in the guest chamber of Jerusalem, and joining in a hymn, had descended into the little val- ley, which on the east separates the city from Olivet ; and in that valley had found, at the foot of the hill, the garden now so memorable. It was just out of Jerusalem, over the brook Kedron, between the brook and the place where the mount begins to as- cend. It was a spot to which Jesus was accustomed to resort for solitude and devotion : and the fact is connected with his betrayal. He caused the eleven to sit down and pray, while he went further onward 16 242 CONSOLATION. to pray also. Three of the number were more pri- vileged. They went to his more secluded retire- ment, and were witnesses of his agony. The terms which describe this have an awfulness which belongs to no other words in Scripture. " His soul was ex- ceeding sorrowful f immersed in sorrow ; in death- sorrow. It was an indescribable and unearthly suf- fering, mingled with tears, and cries, and blood, and angelic appearance. It was an hour of agony — tne hour. IMark 14 : 35. He was fallen on the ground, and the unseen cup was at his lips. All the strug- gles and wresthngs of the universe are nothing to this. Here is Divinity in conflict with itself. Here is the Father bruising the Son. Here is God the Saviour, as it were, contending with God the Just, lest the sinner should have what he deserves. Here is manhood exalted to be the vehicle of divine atone- ments, and Godhead upholding the only nature that could die. Here is the fainting, sinking, foi^aken Messiah, still looking up, and crying, '' Abba, Father." " Abba." It is the word of the babe, when first in that dialect he knows the filial language, and reads the father's soul in his eyes ; the simplest articula tion of langwige ; the most trustful outburst of af fection— " Abba, Father." It is the recognition of supreme power and Godhead : " All things are pos- sible to thee." It is the cry of nature suffering in its profoundest depths, and exclaiming for help, or rescue, or alleviation, in the moment of anguish, and pressed by unutterable woes. "- Take away this cup from me !" It ia» nevertheless, tbe total, instant, ^\y SUBMISSION OF OHEIBt. 243 solute subjection of the whole spirit to Jehovah • " Neveitheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt !" The proposition to be considered is this- T/ie svhnission of Chiefs will to the will of God is the great atoning axit, and tU motive and pattern for owr mbmissiAm, and the source of mir consolation, ^ 1. The person here huwhled is to he regarded. It is not the absolute Jehovah, who has neither parts' nor passions, and who is to all eternity insusceptible of change or pain. It is not any one person of the adorable Triune Godhead, considered absolutely, se- parately, and in respect to his divine nature. Such acts and sufferings as those to which we ascribe atonement seem to have required a suffering adjunct, that is, a human body and soul, in order to be possi- ble ; and such acts and sufferings alone vindicate the Incarnation. Nor yet was it man, simple, naked man : no, not the greatest, best, purest, holiest, love- hest, heavenliest of mere men ; priest, king, or pro- phet ;— it was not a bare teacher, a superior Jew, Jesus, son of Mary, who was subjecting himself to God. Such subjection as this would indeed have been good and admirable, but finite, and unworthy of occupying this distinct, prominent, and mysterious place in the gospel annals. A thousand martyrs have suffered, without a murmur, like this; yet their sufferings had nothing vicarious, nothing pe- nal, nothing meritorious. The personage who\ere submits his will to the will of absolute Divinity, that is to Law, in its subhmest sense ; to infinite right ; the personage who endures and obeys ; who 244 COKSOLATION. shrinks in torture, and yet looks up in love ; who dies of a thousand griefs, yet bathes with tears the Father's hand which smites, is without any complete parallel in heaven or earth, in time or eternity. He stands alone ; for the exempt case, the unprecedent- ed juncture in the world's history, demanded the appearance of one unlike all othei-s. Hence the im- possibility of explanation in regard to this mystery. All explanation lifts up the mind to the desired heic^ht by means of some truth of likeness, some ana- logy, some similitude. Here there is no analogy, no similitude: likeness fails, and so does explanation. God may be likened to God, and man to man ; but the resulting Christ— God and man in one ever- abiding union — is comparable, in regard to this union, to nothing in this world or that which is to come. The very term Person^ not found in Scripture, but adopted by catholic usage, from a very early age, testifies to the necessity felt for some new phrase to mark a new relation, and guard against a new error. Hence the early creeds multiplied words to prevent any one from supposing either that there was but one nature in Christ, as if the divine and the human were intermingled, so as to leave no hu- man nature and no divine nature, but a third es- sence betwixt the two ; or that there are two per- sons, a personal Godhead united to a personal man- hood— a God and a man ; these early formularies opposed themselves to both errors, maintaining the truth with a fulness which savoured of tautology. " Who, although he be God and Man, yet he is not SUBMISSION OF CHRIST. 245 two, but one Christ. One, not by the conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the man- hood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person." In contemplating this holy mystery we must not look too closely into the ark, nor endeavour with uiceness of scholastic distinctions to separate what is divine from what is human in the person or the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. To m, and for our salvation, he is " One Lord^' and it is enough for us to look on his deeds and atonement as proceeding from one indivisible and glorious Pei-son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Li a sense, all he does and all he suf- fers is divine, inasmuch as the divinity sustains all, the divinity concurs in all, and the divinity gives merit and infinitude to all. It is the Son of God, who prays. Standing as Mediator, between all that is purely God, and all that is purely man, himself God-man, he oflei^ up the tribute of a will absolutely and unspeakably surrendered to the infinite will. The prayer which He himself prompted was never so uttered as by him in the garden, " Thy will be done !" Which leads me to remark, 2. There was in our Lord, in the garden, a strug- gle hetween his innocent nature and the will of the Almighty Father. The words are plain — "Take away this cup from me ; nevertheless, not what I will but what Thou wilt." If there was no struggle there could be no meaning in such words. There was a cup, brought to his lips, which he was ex- pected to drink, and which the Almighty Father is « I 'i 246 CONSOLATION. commanded him to drink, but which nevertheless was so repugnant to all the instinctive feelings of nature, as to be the cause of those ineffable fears and griefs and astonishments. There was present a suffering nature, a part which could sigh and grieve ; a voluntary nature, which could accept or reject ; a loving nature, which could yearn with godlike affec- tion and pity for the salvation of a world of be- lievei-s ; and a subdued and holy nature, which gave up all for the honour and glory of infinite justice. It was a vicarious work from first to last in which Christ was engaged ; that is, he was acting for othei^, not for himself. Human nature would never have been assumed^ unless to lift up that human na- ture from its sunken condition. To carry man up to God, it was necessary for God to become man. It was not enough that God should decree the sancti- fication of the fallen. Something besides sanctifica- tion was demanded, something more than the pre- sent, actual holiness of the creature. This, it is true, was intended, as a grand result ; but before this some- thing must be done. A legal obstacle lies in the way, which must be removed. There is a claim of Law, which must be satisfied. For this sanctifica- tion the Son of God became man ; to satisfy in the nature which had offended. The will of the race has become opposed to the will of God : this is only another way of saying the race has sinned. There is an awful and irreversible penalty. Not for an in- stant wiU I admit that God's threatenings are meant Dnly for alarm and not for execution. They are i i SUBMISSION OF CHRIST. 247 executed, with direful condign vengeance in the fall of Lucifer, in the fall of Adam, in the Deluge, in the cities of the plain ; as they will be in the retribu- tions of the Last Judgment. In all and each of these. Divine Justice burns forth to the execution of threatened penalty. In none of these instances would such penalty be inflicted, if threatening could be set aside without fulfilment. Perfect subjection of will in our Surety, without any struggle, would have been infinitely holy, would have been immea- surable obedience, and would have fulfilled the law in a way of active righteousness ; but it would not have been endurance of legal pains ; it would not have answered the vindicatory p^rt of the law, and it would not have exhibited to the universe the high spectacle of the Son of God subjected to anguish for the sinner's sake. Hence the necessity for the strug- gle of which we have spoken. The yoke is borne, and it is felt to be a yoke. The cup is bitter, or it would not be a cup of atonement. The genuine though perfect humanity of the Kedeemer, having all the instinctive love of ease and hatred of pain which belongs to humanity, turns pale and shudders, and sinks and groans and dissolves in blood, before it drinks this cup: — yet drinks it! A total in- stantaneous subjugation of Christ's will to the will of God, of such a nature as to overwhelm and drink up the native propensities, such as to cast out all pain — would not have been endurance of penalty Hence the need of shrinking, repugnance, and strug gle, in the suffering subject Hence was there wrung 248 CONSOLATIOIS'. SUBMISSION OF CHEIST. 249 from our divine Eedeemer the cry — " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me !" In our view, that which is essential to atonement is the bear- ing of sin, that is, the bearing of penalty. And we stop short, and content ourselves with light, insuffi- cient views of the part sustained by Christ, when we do not include in our thoughts the crushing of the human nature (which would have been its anni- hilation but for the sustaining power of divinity), under the weight of legal pains endured representa- tively and vicariously. There was a force drawing the will of Jesus away from the cup of anguish, which force we must in some degree appreciate, be- fore we can duly esteem the glory of his drinking it up. This was the struggle of Christ's will, in Gethsemane. 3. Notwithstanding this struggle, ihefi^e was a 'perfect svhmission of Chrisfs will to the will of the Father, " Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt." The length of foregoing repugnance is a matter not revealed. That there was no moment in which the holy submission of our Saviour gave way, is cer- tain. That the grace of a loving subjugation to law transfused itself through the whole of the sinkings and agonies of nature, so that the two coexisted at every instant, is most probable. Through the whole, there was so much of weakness as to insure pain, our sac- rificial pain : through the whole, there was so much of acquiescence as to insure obedience, our vicarious obedience. And who does not know that even in the lesser world of human affection^ and iu ^ > many a domestic hour, love and pain may be so blended as to be the very warp and woof of our heart's existence ; pain being still pain, yet embraced even with transport, and chosen without a lingering hesitation, for the sake of the beloved object ; as when the mother suffers for her offspring — the fa- ther for the son — the wife for the husband — the brother for the brother! And shall we wonder when He in whom are gathered up the glory and beauty of all virtues, graces, and exalted benignities, stoops to taste the cup which our sins had pre- pared ! It is the crowning act of his life of sulmiis- sion, on which he is now entering. In a certain sense, the whole period, from his birth till his resur- rection, was one series of humiliation, one subjection to covenant, one tribute of obedience, one satisfac- tion to law, and one Eighteousness. In the same sense, this whole period was one submission of will ; because there is no obedience but of will. But, nevertheless, this permanent ol)edience of our Mediator for our sakes does at certain epochs reach a point of overflowing, which reveals the same more fully to us ; as in the garden, the arrest, the trial, and the cross. Infinite are the mysteries of that piacular suffering and submission, which were passing within the darkened chamber of Christ's soul, and which no finite mind can ever comprehend! Not more private and inaccessible was the Sanctum Banctorum,^ than this Holy of Holies of our Atoning God and Elder Brother. The little that we know is, that he suffers and submits. 250 CONSOLATION. SUBMISSION OF CHRIST. 251 III' This is enongh. This is the bowing down of the will, the federal, vicarious, mediatory will, to the law which we had injured ; to the law in its twofold power, as commanding and as smiting. It is the will, the stul)l)orn, impious will, which in us fights against God, and l)y all human power is unconqueral)le. It is the will that does all of sin that is active, that rejects salvation, and that damns the soul. It is the will, the God-defying will, which now, this day, in some who read, deliberately sets itself against the Most High God. It is the will which Jesus Christ, amidst an ocean of contending griefs, offers up, steeped in death and humbling, pure and unresisting, unto God for us. And though he made this offering a thousand and a thousand times during the course of his mediatory tabernacling among us, and though there was no instant in which he made it not ; yet at certain moments he did more formally and observably consummate this surrender of self; and this is one of them. It is the completest, as it is the most stupendous, oblation unto God which the univeree has beheld. In aU its parts, it forms the theme of eternal thought and songs. " Not my will, but thine be done." In a certain sense it might have been avoided ; for God the Father is omnipo- tent ; but not in any sense Avhich would not have left us in hell. In regard to the manner of help, it might have been avoided. " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall pre- sently give me more than twelve legions of angels ?" Matt. 26:51. " Put up thy sword into the sheath ; ^ the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" John 18 : 11. It might have been avoided, in respect to power, but not in respect to love. " Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee : take away this cup from me ; nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt ! " What thou wilt ! Here is the supreme and infinite and eternal will which binds the univei*se. What iiiou wilt ! Here is the divine will which, if unopposed, would have kept an eternal universe in happiness, but which was violated by sin. Here is the will, which all nature obeys, but which devils and men have outraged and defied. Here is the will which is dear to all holy intelligences, and infinitely dear to the Son of God, the holiest of intelligences; to this will, therefore, he submits himself at once and irre- vocably, though it costs him the greatest sacrifice which has been known in all worlds. This obedi- ence, even unto death, is the atonement. It is a satisfaction of infinite value made to the will of Jehovah, that is, to Justice. It is an oblation both of doing and of suffering. It fills the cup of duty ; it exhausts the cup of penalty. It meekly says to Almighty Justice, "Thy will be done." It does this, not in some remote planet, or distant circle of heaven ; though in such regions there are perpetual tributes to the Infinite Will. Such would have been pleasing to God, but would have availed nothing to our earth. Here, on this accursed orb, the satisfac- tion was rendered. It is not a submission of will, by some supei angelic being unrelated to ourselves. n ^,:r-*-¥P^C^'r«m'»- . 252 CONSOLATION. SUBMISSION OF CHRIST. 253 nor a declaration solely of God's hatred against sin : it is an offering up of an immaculate, law-fulfilling, covenanted obedience of act and suffering, in our human nature, by one who is chosen as the head of our human nature ; who assumed our human na- ture for this very end, and who in every deed, groan, teai pang, and drop of blood, acts in and for our human nature; so that for all purposes of atonement, we then and there obey and suffer in Christ, as truly as in Eden we disobeyed and suffered in Adam. So far, therefore, from being unjust for God to impute to ub the acts and expia- tory pains of Christ, his subjection of will to God as (if they were) our own acts and pains, it is beauti- fully and gloriously and infinitely just, inasmuch as these are the acts and pains of One who is our Head. Christ performs the whole mediatory work as the head of a great moral person, his Church. He is as truly connected with all the members as our head or heart is with our extremities. Christ's satisfac- tion is our satisfaction. " If one died for all, then all died."* If one lives, all live. When that glo- rious submission of will to God takes place, the law is satisfied by a federal compliance, which for evei cuts off all payment of that debt by those means. 4. The submission of our Lord amidst this in conceivable struggle is the pattern and motive for our submission to GocVs will So beautiful a sight, to those who account moral perfection the great, est beauty, was never presented, as in the spot- ♦ Sec the original. less obedience of Jesus; and so pre-eminent a part of that obedience is nowhere displayed as in this clos- ing night and day of his life of humiliation ; and in these hours of agony, no single moment is more in- tensely hallowed and subduing than that in which he cried, " Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt." I seem to behold all heaven bending down to- wards a world on which for forty centuries there has not been one immaculate object, to concentrate its gaze on the " Man of Sorrows." " These things +he angels desire to look into :" they cannot imitate, though they admire. They " adore and burn ;" but such stretches of benevolence are beyond their reach. Angels cannot suffer : they have not become incar- nate. Such sti'uggles are wondrous to them. Glad- ly does one of them descend to Gethsemane. and appear " strengthening him." This is a love which has been the grand attraction of the church in all ages, and which we celebrate in a sacrament. It is love in its highest exaltation ; suffering love ; tearful, bleeding, dying love. As you drew near and meditated on it at that table, did your heart melt, O my brother ! to consider that it was for you and for your sins that this unexampled act of submission was put forth ? And as you ventured to stretch out your hand to the bread of the sacrament and the cup of blessing, did you try to measure your obligation ? Ah, you found it immeasurable ! By all the legal submissions of Jesus Chiist your Lord, and especially by all the untold agonies of that I 254 CONSOLATIOK. hour of darkness, when the sword of Jehovah awoke against his fellow, and smote the Shepherd ; by all his profound obedience of soul, you lie bound also to obey. From every drop of that precious blood, the voice comes to you, "Submit yourselves unto God." No thunder of Sinai can so move the will as these gentle groans of your beloved Saviour in his woe. That rebellious will, which is perpetually offending and resisting, and which you mourn over as your chief calamity, the plague of your heart, the serpent in your bosom, never, never yields to bare Law. Obligation may be felt ; it is felt in hell ; it produces the fear of hell : " the devils also believe and tremble ;" but obligation does not convert. If you have ever fled to Jesus with the intolerable bur- den of your sins, you know this. You know that the denunciations of penal vengeance, often repeat- ed, produced only sullen avei-sion, and maddened your sense of inability, sometimes even to despair. You became afraid to look toward the fiery mount and the tables of the law ; for so often as you look- ed, you sinned ; and so often as you strove to amend, you sinned the more ; and though your conscience was lashed into exacerbation of remorse, your heart acknowledged no true submission to the Grod whom you had offended. But when from the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and trumpet, and terrible words, which made you exceedingly fear and quake, you were gently led aside, and brought to this Zion, to Jesus the Mediator of the SUBMISSION OF CHRIST. 255 New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling; when here you were made to behold the incarnate Son of God bending his will (at vast, unspeakable cost of glory and happiness) to that law which you would not fulfil, obeying that precept which you had trampled under foot; and himself enduring those pangs which you had merited ; and when, in addi- tion to all this, and above all this, you saw this same Jesus turning to you^ (ungodly and rejecting sinner as you were,) and as it were drenched in the blood which you had shed, and offering to you the full value of the atonement to which you had con- strained him ; then, then, the mountain of ice began to melt ; then the full soul began to flow down in rivers of penitential tenderness. Christ had con- quered, and you were his ; and as he bore you away in triumph, subdued by the power of his compas- sions, you vowed that after the example of this di- vine submission, you also would submit your will to God. For Christ's submission is not only our motive, but our pattern. Here is our example; here we learn that greatest, hardest lesson of Christianity, to say, " Not as I will, but as thou wilt." It is parti- cularly learnt in time of afiliction and bereavement ; in the chamber of illness and mourning ; in the al- tered scenes of sudden depression and overthrow ; in the downhill of friendless old age and poverty. Then you hear God saying : " Should it be according to thy mind V If God had let you have your own way ; if he had let your riches remain ; if he had spared those whom you are now mourning for; if he 256 CONSOLATION. had confirmed your health ; if he had put an end to your fears ; if he had granted you all your fond de- sires, how, I pray, my dear, suffering fellow-Chris- tian, could you ever have learnt that lesson which you are now learning ? How could you ever have had any sympathy with the submissive Son of God ? You sometimes think thus, I dare say : " O if I could only do some great work for Christ ! If I could only strike some blow, achieve some exploit, brave some peril." But let me assure you, you may as certainly and fully glorify Christ by submission as by act. Make sure that you are called to suffer, and you may even glory in it by submission. I could repeat to you the famous old heathen saying, that "a good man struggling with adversity is a sight worthy of the gods ;" but I prefer to say, that you are never so pleasing to God, and hence so like your adorable Redeemer, as when you are surrendering yourself unreservedly to the providential hand of Him who doeth all things well. Still say, though all his waves and his billows go over you, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him !" When trials grow heavier and more frequent, remember Him, who under the greatest and heaviest trial, still look- ed up, and said, " Abba, Father, all things are pos- sible unto thee : take away this cup from me ; ne- vertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt !" Let me, in conclusion, entreat those who feel themselves ignorant of these experiences, to reflect on the opposition of their will to God. See what a change has yet to be wrought in you. Is it not 1 4 STTBMISSION OF OHEIST. 257 time to begin? Is there not motive to begin? What is it that is ruining you? If (as is probable from your present habit of mind) your soul should be among those at the left hand of the Judge at the last day, what, so fai as you now can judge, will have been the cause of your condemnation ? What is it that is now dragging you hellward with so dire a fascination ? What is it for which you are selling your soul? Seek for it in your morning thoughts; seek for it in your musings by the way; seek for it in your watches and your dreams. Bring out to view that which you are choosing before Christ ; and when you have looked at the idol, whether of lust, or pride, or power, or money; ask yourselves whe- ther in this you have reasonable cause to trample on the blood of a dying Redeemer, and to forswear the heaven which he has purchased by his submis- sion. 11 i ■f CONSOLATION FROM GOD'S PROMISP:. NEVER TO FORSAKE. XI. A S if it were not enough that God has given us -^ his Sou, and with hira all things, we are con- tinually repining and distrusting. Not instructed by a thousand instances in our past lives, in which God has extricated us from difficulties, and been better to us than all our fears, and forgetful of the great fact in our history that not one good thing hath failed, of all that the Lord promised, we act over again the murmurings and the incredulity of Israel in the desert. " They forgat God their Sa- viour." " Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word, but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord." Ps. 106. Li such circumstances, it would be infinitely just in God, to take us at our word, and leave us to sink in our own unbelief, and suffer all we fear ; but blessed be his holy name, his ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. He condescends to reason with the wayward, ungrate- ful child, and to bring his promises into view. So in that remarkable passage of the epistle to the He- brews, in regard to anxieties about temporal sup 262 CONSOLATION. GOD WILL NOT FOESAKE. 268 port, the apostle says, " Be content with such things as ye have ; for He hath said, / will never leave thee nor forsake thee''' It is not certain what parti- cular passage of the Old Testament is here quoted, for such are the riches of promise that the mean- ing is found in many passages. The reference may be^to the case of Abraham (Gen. 28: 15): "And behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,— for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Or to the case of collective Israel : (Deut. 31 : 6) : " Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee ; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." There is a gracious mystery about covenant pro- mises, which we should earnestly seek to understand. What God promises to any one of the Old Testa- ment saints, he promises to every behever, with such modification as suits his particular case. For all these promises are difierent leaves of the same tree of life, different expressions of the same covenant of grace. In this sense, whatsoever things were writ- ten aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through scriptural patience and comfort might have hope. It is in this way that thousands of be- lievers have drunk at the same fountain ; and what God said to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has been the refreshment of many souls in all generations. This principle of interpreting promises is implied in the verse just quoted. The apostle cleai^ly W invites all Christians to receive, collectively and in- dividually, that comprehensive promise, w^hich may originally have been addressed to an indi^adual or to " the church in the wilderness." He gives it a form so general that it is not so much one promise, as all promises in one. And he adds a force of as- severation, which our language cannot reach ; for in the Greek these few words contain no less than five negatives ; to give the full force of which we should have to read it thus: "I will never, never leave thee, I wall never, never, never forsake thee." The precious truth therefore which I commend to you for all coming years, is this : God engages in cove- nant, to be with the believer, for all needful good, now, henceforth, and for ever.* When God says that he will never leave, it is of course a promise to be ever present. But this means more than that omnipresence which reaches equally to all creatures. This indeed sustains their existence, but does not insure their happiness; because the worst and most wretched of men might say with the Psalmist, " If I make my bed in hdl, behold thou art there !" It means more than that provi- dential sustentation and help, in regard to which God causeth his sun to rise and his rain to fall, on the evil and the good. It is not only a benignant and bountiful but a gracious presence, founded on the provisions of the covenant of grace. God will not forsake his Son, the head of the mystical body, and therefore he will not forsake any one of those * Ov \ii\ at dvS>j oM^ ov ^Ji at eyxaraXiTroo. \ 264 CONSOLATION. GOD WILL NOT FOESAKE. who are joined to his Son. Let us clearly appre- hend this connection. There is no gracious deahng with any, but through the Mediator. There is no adoption of any, but in the only begotten of the Father. There are none reconciled, but through the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. There are none accepted, but " in the Be- loved." All the wealth of blessing is treasured in his hand ; and in him all the promises are Yea, and in him Amen. Which will serve to answer a ques- tion that no doubt has been rising in the reader's mind, to wit, To whom is the promise of the text made'? It is made to believers, and to none others. To all men, without exception, God is loving and bountiful ; but his promise never to forsake is made to such only as by receiving Christ make all the promises their own. That God will leave and for- sake the finally impenitent, and that to all eternity is a truth which ought to thunder in the ear of every ungodly reader. _ , • , j. • How can I expound such a promise as this '. It is simple and clear as light. It needs not so much ex- position, as belief and application. It is not the promise of one blessing, but of all. It does not so much say what God will do, as declare that there is nothing which he will not do. The Lord God ,s a sun and shield ; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. In these words he offers not simply his gifts, but himself Whatever there is in God of help and comfort, is herein made over to the believer, through Christ Jesus ; for he 266 S says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. It contains provision for body and for soul, in life, in death, and in eternity. It covers every instance, addresses itself to every character, and meets every emergency. Resting on the veracity of Jehovah, it needs no proof. Rising beyond all qualification and exception, it requires no elaborate comment. But it does require to be illustrated and amplified, so that it may be seen to apply to our several cases. As originally urged, it was addressed to those early Christians who were in worldly straits. " Let your conversation be without covetousness ; and be content with such things as ye have." To the Church, Christ says, ^^The poor ye have always with you." In primitive days, a large proportion both of preachei-s and hearers were literally poor. To the poor the gospel is preached. God hath chosen the poor rich in faith. It has been so in all ages ; it is so at the present time. Some who read this at once make the case their own. At those seasons of the year, when careful persons look into their aff'airs, balance their books, take account of their stock, and provide for their liabilities, there are many whose hearts fail them. The future is very dark in respect to their daily bread. Such cases are not beneath the notice of Him who feedeth the young ravens ; they should not be neglected by the Christian dis- ciple. Let such rejoice to know that their accounts are audited in heaven. As their cry is, " Give us this day our daily bread," so the answer is, " Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be ! 266 CONSOLATIOIT. sure." Cast all your care upon him, for he caretb for you, and gives you this as the primary and lite- ral meaning of the promise, "I will never leave thee nor foi-sake thee." But the supply of food and raiment is not the only temporal blessing which a believer may want. Other things there are, connected with health and illness, cheerfulness of temper, place of abode, safety by land and sea, treatment by friends, neighbours, or enemies, social relations, connections in life, among parents, children, husband and wife, master and ser- vant, education, learning, good name among men, strength for labour ; in a word, all the lights and shades of our common journey ; all these awaken our solicitude ; and in regard to all, our only secu- rity is in having God with us. This he graciously promises. It is our part to lay hold on this immu- table word. It has been the stay of thousands— it is strong enough to be ours. Mark well the nature and extent of the promise : God does not say you shall have no afflictions, or that you shall never fear, or that his presence shall never be doubted. Indeed, iu other places, he says the very reverse. " In the world ye shall have tribu- lation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Ah, brethren, we are sometimes brought into perils, where we need a new, special, and divine application of the promise to our hearts, or we sink into despair. The trial seems unlike all we ever had before, and all that others have- endured. The •snemy whispers, " There is no help for him in God.'' I GOD WILL NOT FORSAKE. 267 The sun of your common day has set in clouds. The stars of your common night are hidden. The wind howls tempestuously, and the sea is chafed into deadly fury. Your helm is broken, your sail rent, and your bark all but foundered. The only light is the lurid flash, and perdition opens its chasm to swallow you up. I specify not the sort of affliction : your own heart will tell you that; and it makes no difference here. One in ancient times, in such a case, could say, " For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas ; and the floods com- passed me about ; all thy billows and thy w aves pjxssed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight ; yet will I look again toward thy holy tem- ple." The thought of God in such moments affords the only hope. And it is heard, above all the com- motion of the elements, saying, "It is I, be not afraid !" God does not forsake his people in their extremities ; if he should do so, all would be despair. As if to prepare them for extraordinary encounters, he often throws his promise into a form which indi- cates great and sore trial ; thus showing us that no one is to be dismayed, or to doubt his loving-kind- ness, because danger is great and imminent. It is not said. Thou shalt never be in pestilence ; but it is said, "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee!" It is not said. Thou shalt never go through fire and flood ; but it is said, " When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and. through rj vers, they shall not overflow thee/ 268 CONSOLATIOK. You may not promise yourself that you shall neveir be an orphan; but you may declare assuredly, " When my father and mother forsake me, then the- Lord will take me up," that is, he wiU never leave me, nor forsake me. The promise before us fully justifies the per suasion that there is no variety of character, no stage of life, no peculiarity of temporal distress m which the believer may not count on God's presence, pro- tection, aid, deliverance, and comfort. And a behev- in