i. 3. _My people doth not consider._
The universe is regulated by fixed laws, by which God preserves and
governs all things. Man is endowed with rational powers, intellectual
faculties, capable of apprehending these laws, whether they become
known to him by revelation or by his own discoveries, and of using
them as his guides. His well-being depends upon his harmony with
them, and his dignity and bliss on the right application of his
mental powers. One of Satan's main stratagems is to endeavour to
hinder him from using them aright; to induce him to act without
forethought or reflection, and to incite him to act merely on
impulse, feeling, or passion.[1] As a result of these artifices, the
great mass of mankind live without thought, and are borne in stupid
insensibility to the eternal world. Thus God complains of the
infatuation of Israel, "My people doth not consider." To consider is
to think deliberately, to reflect maturely. There are many subjects
to which our consideration should be attentively and diligently
given. We should consider--+I. The character and will of God.+ His
_words_ should lead us to this. If you see a beautiful picture, or
piece of sculpture or mechanism, you naturally direct your thoughts
to the artist or mechanist who has produced it. The grandeur of the
divine works surrounds you, and ought you not to consider the
wondrous Architect of the whole? His _relationship to you_ should
induce it. Your existence is derived from Him, and He fashioned you,
and bestowed on you all your endowments. He is your Father, your
bountiful Preserver. Besides, you are ever in His hand, ever before
His eyes, He surrounds you. And He is great, wise, powerful, holy,
and just. His love and favour are heaven; His anger and frowns are
hell. +II. Ourselves.+ What are we? What our powers? our
capabilities? our end and destination? the claims of God? our duties
to others? the improvement we should make of the present? the
preparation we should make for the future? Are we answering the end
of our being? &c. +III. Our spiritual state before God.+ Is it one of
ignorance, or of knowledge? folly, or wisdom? guilt, or pardon?
condemnation or acceptance? alienation, or sonship and adoption?
safety, or imminent peril? Are we heirs of wrath or perdition, or of
God and salvation? +IV. The importance of life.+ Life is the seedtime
for eternity, the period of probation, the only opportunity of
securing eternal blessedness. How short it is, how fragile, how
uncertain! How criminal to waste it, to pervert it! &c. +V. The
solemnities of death+ (Deut. xxxii. 29). Consider its certainty, its
probable nearness, its truly awful character. Try to realise it.
Consider if you were now dying, &c.[2] +VI. The great concerns of
eternity.+ The judgment-day. Heaven, with its eternal glories; hell,
with its everlasting horrors. Eternity itself, how solemn, how
overwhelming! How blissful to the saint! how terrific to the sinner!
ETERNITY! +VII. That salvation which will fit us for living, dying,
and for eternity.+ Provided by the mercy of God, obtained by the Lord
Jesus Christ, revealed in the gospel, offered to every sinner,
received by simple faith, and which delivers from guilt, pollution,
fear, and everlasting wrath. +VIII. Our present duty and interest.+
Men are supposed to care naturally for these. But their care usually
relates merely to the body, and the things of time. Consider whether
it is not your _duty_ to obey and serve God; whether it is not your
_interest_ (1 Tim. iv. 8). +IX. That there is no substitute for
religion+ (Jer. ii. 13).
_Application._--Urge consideration upon all present. 1. _Some have
never considered._ Now begin. Retire and reflect; weigh and consider
these things. 2. _Some have considered occasionally_--in church, or
when sick, in the house of bereavement, &c. Cultivate the _habit_ of
consideration,[3] and carry into effect the conclusions to which you
will inevitably come. 3. _There is hope for all who will consider._
4. _They are hopeless who will not consider._[4]--_Jabez Burns, D.D.,
Pulpit Cyclopædia,_ vol. ii. pp. 34-37.