Transcribed from the 1832 J. G. & F. Rivington edition by David Price,
email ccx074@pglaf.org
THE
DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE
UNDER
DIVINE VISITATIONS.
* * * * *
BY THE
REV. NEWTON SMART, M.A.
OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD.
* * * * *
“WHEN THY JUDGMENTS ARE IN THE EARTH, THE INHABITANTS OF THE
WORLD WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
* * * * *
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. G. & F. RIVINGTON,
ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD, AND WATERLOO-PLACE:
AND SOLD BY J. HATCHARD & SON, PICCADILLY; PARKER, & TALBOYS,
OXFORD; ANDREWS, DURHAM; CHARNLEY, NEWCASTLE;
RENNEY, SUNDERLAND; AND OTHER BOOKSELLERS.
* * * * *
1832.
* * * * *
LONDON:
PRINTED BY GILBERT & RIVINGTON,
ST. JOHN’S SQUARE.
* * * * *
TO
THE REVERED MEMORY
OF
ONE OF THE KINDEST AND BEST OF MOTHERS,
WHO
RECEIVED HER CHILDREN AS A GIFT THAT COMETH OF THE LORD,
AND PRAYED AND LABOURED,
WITH EARNEST AND FAITHFUL DILIGENCE,
TO BRING THEM UP IN THE NURTURE AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD,
THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED
WITH THE DEEPEST FEELINGS OF FILIAL LOVE, GRATITUDE,
AND VENERATION.
“THE MEMORY OF THE JUST IS BLESSED.”
THE
DUTY OF A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE,
&c.
_Isaiah_ x. 3.
“WHAT WILL YE DO IN THE DAY OF VISITATION AND IN THE DESOLATION WHICH
SHALL COME FROM FAR? TO WHOM WILL YE FLEE FOR HELP?”
THE aspect of the times, upon a careful survey, presents, to the
thoughtful mind, cause of anxiety for the safety and welfare of the
empire; and, to the religious mind, ground for apprehension, lest the
Almighty should be about to visit, for the sins of the nations, by
“pouring upon them the vials of His wrath.” {3a} In the emphatic
language of our Lord’s prediction of the latter days; there is,
throughout Europe, “distress of nations with perplexity; men’s hearts
failing them for fear; and for looking after those things which are
coming upon the earth.” {3b} In this country, to an alarming state of
popular excitement, there has supervened a new cause of dread, so great,
as almost to absorb, for the present, all subjects of merely temporal
interest. A fearful and most fatal pestilence, which had extended far
and wide in Asia, has been gradually spreading throughout Europe, and
steadily advancing towards our shores: there exists a difference of
opinion as to whether or not it has reached them; but thus much is
certain; an epidemic, similar in character, and hardly less malignant and
fatal, has broken out in one of the seaports of the kingdom, and extended
to some of the neighbouring towns and villages; thus appearing to
establish its identity with the Continental disease.
Under circumstances so calculated to produce general apprehension, and so
full of danger to the community at large, it becomes a matter of vital
importance to enquire, What is the course a Christian people should
adopt? To such an enquiry, the sincere Christian,—who is satisfied, that
the safety of nations and of individuals is, at all times, in the
protection of the Almighty; and who believes, that the sword, the famine,
the earthquake, the tempest, and the pestilence, are but instruments in
the hand of God to execute His sovereign and gracious will,—may justly
reply in the words of a prophet of old, speaking in the name of the Most
High: “THEREFORE, ALSO, NOW SAITH THE LORD, TURN YE EVEN TO ME, WITH ALL
YOUR HEART, AND WITH FASTING, AND WITH WEEPING, AND WITH MOURNING. AND
REND YOUR HEART, AND NOT YOUR GARMENTS, AND TURN UNTO THE LORD YOUR GOD:
FOR HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL, SLOW TO ANGER, AND OF GREAT KINDNESS,
AND REPENTETH HIM OF THE EVIL.” {5a} And how is a whole nation to be
called upon to humble themselves before God in the day of their
visitation? Let the same Prophet return the answer; “BLOW THE TRUMPET IN
ZION, SANCTIFY A FAST, CALL A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY, GATHER THE PEOPLE,
SANCTIFY THE CONGREGATION, ASSEMBLE THE ELDERS, GATHER THE CHILDREN. LET
THE PRIESTS, THE MINISTERS OF THE LORD, WEEP BETWEEN THE PORCH AND THE
ALTAR, AND LET THEM SAY, SPARE THY PEOPLE, O LORD.” {5b}
As the Almighty, “with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning,”
{5c} is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;” {5d} as “whatsoever
things were written aforetime, were written for our learning; that we,
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope:” {5e}
let the people of this kingdom, strong in faith, raise, on an appointed
day, their united voice in prayer; and in the language of sorrow,
humiliation, and repentance, cry, O Lord, “we have sinned with our
fathers, we have done amiss and dealt wickedly;” {5f} but “Thou, Lord,
art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them who
call upon Thee!” {5g} Alas! because we see not the “outstretched arm” of
Omnipotence, which governeth the nations; because we hear not the “mighty
voice” which universal Nature obeys; we too often forget that “the Lord’s
hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it
cannot hear:” {6a} we too often forget that it is “God that ruleth in
Jacob, and unto the ends of the world.” {6b}
But is it sufficient to call upon a people, suffering under the
apprehension or infliction of Divine judgments, to assemble in the courts
of the Lord’s house, to acknowledge the justice of their punishment, and
to humble themselves before their God? Let the volume of inspiration
again reply, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto
me? saith the Lord?” {6c}—“WASH YE, MAKE YOU CLEAN, PUT AWAY THE EVIL OF
YOUR DOINGS BEFORE MINE EYES; CEASE TO DO EVIL, LEARN TO DO WELL, SEEK
JUDGMENT, RELIEVE THE OPPRESSED, JUDGE THE FATHERLESS, PLEAD FOR THE
WIDOW.” {6d} “BEHOLD, TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE, AND TO HEARKEN
THAN THE FAT OF RAMS.” {6e}
Much has been effected when a nation has been brought to prostrate itself
before God, and, through a deep sense of its guilt, weakness, and misery,
to flee unto Him, who alone is mighty to save; but incalculably more has
been accomplished, when to the prayer for mercy has been added one for
grace; and it has been truly, not less the language of the heart than of
the lips, “Sanctify to us this thy fatherly correction, that the sense of
our weakness may add strength to our faith, and seriousness to our
repentance.” {7a} May God, of His great mercy, vouchsafe to the people
of this land, “to know the time of their visitation;” {7b} to humble
themselves before Him, who “in faithfulness has caused them to be
troubled;” {7c} to “seek the Lord while He may be found, and to call upon
Him while He is near;” {7d} and to “repent and turn themselves from all
their transgressions: so iniquity shall not be their ruin.” {7e} Oh that
the practical infidelity, which exists to such a fearful extent in the
present day, may not withhold from a suffering people the deliverance and
blessing which God alone can bestow! A neglect and distrust, if not a
denial of God’s Providence, in the preservation and government of nations
and individuals, is one of the most crying sins of the day. Because the
natural eye does not perceive the visible workings of a Divine economy in
the course of events, it practically ascribes all to human means, and
relies on human aid. But, as if “the finger of God” was to be revealed
as pointing in wrath to this great truth of natural and revealed
religion—a Divine providence—one of the most remarkable and terrible
features of this fatal pestilence, through which so many millions of
human beings have been swept away, is, that whilst human prudence has
been completely baffled in its plans of prevention, human science has
failed in its attempts at cure. What a salutary lesson does this teach,
in a day when earthly is often elevated above heavenly wisdom in the
estimation of men, and when the arm of flesh appears more confided in
than the arm of Omnipotence, for the accomplishment of events!
May the great Disposer of events, who, in the dispensations of His
Providence, is graciously pleased to educe real good from seeming evil,
make this awful visitation productive of religious advantage to this and
other nations. May earthly sovereigns learn that the Lord, by whom
“kings reign, and princes decree justice,” {8a} is their defence, and
“the Holy One of Israel, their King:” {8b} may the rulers of the people
remember, that “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain.” {8c}
For although God’s providence governs all things in heaven and in earth,
still the great Sovereign of the universe, “the King of kings, and Lord
of lords,” “waiteth to be gracious,” nor suffers His truth to fail. He
shuts not up His loving-kindness in displeasure, but listens to the
prayers of the meanest of His servants; and in answer to them, He often
suspends, and sometimes averts his just judgments. The guilty cities of
the Plain would have been spared for the sake of ten righteous, if that
number of the servants of the true God could have been found amongst the
inhabitants. {9a} Nor is the prayer of humble and contrite guilt
disregarded. The judgments impending over Nineveh were suspended, when
that mighty capital, at the preaching of a prophet, acknowledged its sin,
and humbled itself before the Lord. {9b}
Let, then, the prayer of repentance, faith, and submission, arise to the
throne of Divine grace, from the united people of the land; and, soon as
the merciful object of this visitation is answered, we may humbly trust
the command, as of old, will be addressed to the destroying angel, “IT IS
ENOUGH, NOW STAY THINE HAND.” {9c} For the Almighty has himself
declared, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it:
if that nation, AGAINST WHOM I HAVE PRONOUNCED, TURN FROM THEIR EVIL, I
WILL REPENT OF THE EVIL THAT I THOUGHT TO DO UNTO THEM.” {9d}
May, then, this nation receive grace, in this their day of trial, to
“TURN FROM THEIR EVIL,” before the Lord “allow His full displeasure to
arise.” May they learn and acknowledge, that their only hope of safety
is in the mercy and long-suffering of God, who alone can preserve them
from “the pestilence which walketh in darkness, and from the sickness
which destroyeth in the noon-day.” May they “offer faithfully,” and the
Lord “receive acceptably,” their prayer for deliverance: “Have pity, O
Lord, have pity upon Thy people, both here and abroad; withdraw Thy heavy
hand from those who are suffering under Thy judgments; and remove from us
that grievous calamity, against which, our only security is in Thy
compassion!” {10a} And may our gracious and long-suffering Lord be
pleased to arrest in its course the pestilence, now confined to few
places, and to permit it not to spread dismay and death through the towns
and villages of the kingdom.
Thus far, the duty of a Christian people _collectively_, under Divine
judgments, has been shewn; it remains to consider their duty
_individually_; which involves the consideration of what man owes to his
God, his country, his neighbour, and himself, under any general
visitation of Divine Providence. The Christian’s duty towards God, when
His judgments are abroad, is a recognition of, and submission to, His
chastening hand: to his country, unwearied exertion for the removal of
the evils which appear to have called down the Divine vengeance: to his
neighbour, friendly assistance, religious exhortation, and spiritual
consolation: and to himself, through Divine grace, humiliation,
repentance, amendment, and daily preparation for death and judgment.
These several duties, being all dependent upon each other, and intimately
blended in their operation, may, perhaps, be not unfitly considered, as
embraced by the public and private obligations of Christians under
afflictive dispensations; which may be briefly stated to be—earnest
prayer and incessant labour to effect a PERSONAL REFORMATION, and, as far
as in them lies, a NATIONAL REFORMATION; which are proposed to be
considered, as follows, more at large.
Let individuals “humble themselves under the mighty hand of God;” {11}
let them acknowledge the extent of their sinfulness, and the justice of
their punishment; let them confide in God’s mercy, and commit themselves
to His safe keeping; let them seek for grace to reform, in their lives
and conversation, whatever is at variance with the Gospel; from which,
and not from the maxims of men, let them learn what is required of
Christians.
Let them publicly bear testimony at once to the justice and mercy of
God’s judgments, and strive earnestly to rouse the nation to a sense of
its guiltiness, which has exposed it to the Divine displeasure; let them,
in dependence on the blessing of Heaven, labour to eradicate all infidel
and heretical opinions; to advance a reformation of public morals; and to
promote a general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful
knowledge.
Too justly does the language of Isaiah, addressed to the rebellious and
guilty house of Judah, apply to our own times: “Ah, sinful nation, a
people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are
corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One
of Israel to anger, they are gone backward.” {12a} May He, “who alone
can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men,” and convert
them from the evil of their ways, “pour upon all flesh the spirit of
grace and supplication;” {12b} that individual may extend, until it
become national repentance, and the whole nation worship before Him.
Then will the scourge of His wrath prove the harbinger of His mercy, and
we shall become a chosen people, a holy nation unto the Lord. Then may
our gracious and long-suffering God allow us, without presumption, to
draw comfort from those words of favour and forgiveness, spoken to His
people when humbled and contrite: “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel;
for thou art my servant; I have formed thee, thou art my servant: O
Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me: I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins: return unto me, for I
have redeemed thee.” {13a}
I. The Christian’s duty of personal reformation under Divine judgments.
It is from the volume of inspiration—whence he derives all the light
which he enjoys, as to the providence, beneficence, and love of God;
whence he draws all the knowledge he possesses as to the nature of his
own being, the object of his present existence, and the place of his
final destination;—man must learn his duty under the Divine
dispensations. The Holy Scriptures are to the true Christian “a lamp
unto his feet, and a light unto his paths.” {13b} When pursuing his
heavenward journey through this vale of tears, the prospect often appears
uninviting and gloomy, the sky dark and troubled, and the way, always
narrow, becomes sometimes a thorny and tangled path. Dangers also, more
or less near and alarming, keep the pilgrim often under apprehension, and
always on his guard. Still, he pursues a straight-forward course, from
which he deviates little—for he possesses a guide more unerring than the
compass of the mariner, and that guide is the infallible Word of God.
When darkness obscures, difficulties perplex, and dangers environ his
road, in his unfailing “lamp” he finds light, guidance, and safety.
At this moment, a dark cloud hangs over this country:—nay, more, the
storm of Divine displeasure has already commenced. Lest, therefore, it
should burst upon us in its full “fury,” let all betake themselves to
that blessed light, which, amid the thickest darkness and most appalling
storm, can “guide our feet into the way of peace.” {14a} Let the enquiry
be made as to the course to be adopted in the words of a Prophet: “_What
will ye do in the day of visitation_, _and in the desolation which shall
come from far_? _To whom will ye flee for help_?” {14b} Let the same
Prophet reply: “TRUST YE IN THE LORD FOR EVER, FOR IN THE LORD JEHOVAH IS
EVERLASTING STRENGTH.” {14c}
Trust in God is the necessary fruit of faith, which is the only basis on
which religion can rest: “he that cometh to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him:” {14d} thus,
except with one philosophical school of antiquity, a belief in the being
of a God has, even amongst the Heathen, always been accompanied by a
trust in His Providence. In the Christian scheme, this trust is a fixed,
governing principle. “To take notice of the hand of God in every thing
that befalls us,” says the learned and excellent Sherlock, “to attribute
all the evils we suffer, and all the good things, to His sovereign will
and appointment: this is the foundation of all the other duties which we
owe to Providence, and the general neglect of this makes us defective in
all the rest.” {15a}
This passage supplies a clear view of Christian duty under afflictive
dispensations. As faith recognises an Almighty Father’s will in the
appointment, and His hand in the direction of events, the believer refers
equally national and individual prosperity and adversity, mercies and
visitations, to Him, “whose power ruleth over all.” And as he refers all
events to the will and appointment of the great Governor of the Universe,
he endeavours to receive whatever befalls him, as coming from His hand,
with patient submission and humble thankfulness: for he knows how
immeasurably his punishment falls short of his deserts; and he is
assured, that “_God chastens us for our profit_, _that we might be
partakers of His holiness_.” {15b} At the same time, therefore, that he
relies with firm dependence on the tender mercies, the blessed guidance,
and sure protection of his Heavenly Father; he seeks for grace to improve
to the spiritual advancement of himself and others, the divine
chastisements,—“chastisements which originate in love, and are tempered
with mercy:” {15c} “_For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth_, _and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth_.”{16a} He enters, therefore, anew
upon a careful review of his past life, and again summons before the bar
of conscience, “the sins of his youth, and the offences of his riper
age;” he recalls to mind the warnings he has had, the privileges he has
enjoyed, and the mercies he has received; and he institutes a rigid
scrutiny into his present life, which he tries by the unerring test of
God’s holy word. And if he be sincere and honest, and not a dissembler
with God, and a deceiver of himself, the language will spontaneously
burst from his lips; “It is good for me that I have been in trouble, that
I may learn Thy statutes.” {16b} “Oh, Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in the day of affliction,” {16c}—“Turn Thee unto me, and have
mercy upon me, for I am desolate and in misery. The sorrows of my heart
are enlarged; oh, bring Thou me out of my troubles; look upon my
adversity and misery, and forgive me all my sin.” {16d}
Not that probably his life has been stained with deeper or more numerous
offences than the generality of men: it may be that he has been “brought
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” and has never departed
from serving his God; it may be that he has long ranked amongst those who
strive to be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, amongst whom they shine as
lights in the world.” {17a} But still there lives not the man who has
not much to repent of, and to humble himself for, before the Lord. And
when the sorrows of life, the judgments of God, or the approach of death,
loosen the hold of earthly ties upon the affections, and the attention
becomes intently fixed on that invisible world of spirits, whither all
are hastening: then, even he, who has long sought to serve his God with
devout reverence and holy obedience, feels with stronger force, and sees
with clearer view, the fearful extent of his omissions of duty and
commissions of sin. When he considers that one moment may suffice to
usher him into the presence of that Great Being, of infinite purity, in
whose sight the heavens are not clean; when he remembers the condemnation
passed on all sin by a righteous law;—conscious guilt compels him to bow
before the Lord with the deep self-abasement of him who “smote upon his
breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner;” {17b} and conscious
weakness makes him call to the Saviour, with the imploring voice of him
who cried, “Lord, save me.” {17c} For when the conscience is fully
enlightened, and the heart sanctified by Divine grace, a clear perception
of the holiness of God’s law, and a deep sense of personal unworthiness,
are produced in the believer, which at once humble him to the dust, and
lead him to throw himself entirely on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Then it is that he labours to devote himself more entirely to
his Master’s service, “and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all
things:” {18a} then it is he “sets his affections on things above:” {18b}
“looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works.” {18c} And then it is that he takes for his song
in the house of his pilgrimage, “I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are
right, and that Thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be
afflicted.” {18d} “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward
man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are
eternal.” {19a}
Such is the conduct of the true believer under the chastening hand of the
Lord; such the improvement which, through the Divine blessing, he is
enabled to make of those afflictive dispensations, which are sent in
mercy to remind him, that he is only a “stranger and pilgrim upon earth,”
and must “desire a better country, that is an heavenly.” {19b} And when
God’s judgments are upon the land, when He has smitten the people with
pestilence, the servant of the Lord rests with firm faith on the
protection of Him, who has promised, as “thy days, so shall thy strength
be.” {19c} He knows that whatever happens to him is by the appointment
of God, without whom even “a sparrow shall not fall on the ground;” {19d}
he has further, the blessed assurance, that “all things work together for
good, to them who love God;” {19e} therefore he has all “the joy and
peace in believing” of those, whose minds being “stayed on God,” {19f}
abound in hope through “the power of the Holy Ghost.” {19g} Not that he
supposes he will possess a necessary exemption from the power of the
pestilence; this would be to presume on God’s protection: not that
trusting to Divine Providence he neglects all human precautions, and
unnecessarily exposes himself to danger; this would be, in the strong
language of Scripture, to tempt God: not that he relies on human
precautions as supplying any ground of security; this would be to
distrust God. But believing that the pestilence can have no power over
him, except by the Divine appointment; and being assured, that, if such
be the Divine will, it will prove for his final and eternal welfare; he
uses, with entire dependence on the Divine blessing, the precautions
which prudence dictates; and commending himself to the safe keeping of
God, he faithfully and diligently discharges the duties of his station
and office, whether of pastor, magistrate, citizen, physician, or
servant, or, as they may be included in one word, of Christian. Not that
the believer, whilst he “wears this veil of flesh,” is elevated so far
above human infirmity, that, through the power of faith, he knows neither
weakness nor fear in the hour of danger, and in the discharge of duty.
St. Paul—in allusion to the marvellous change wrought in the soul, “by
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ,”—says, “but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on
every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also
of Jesus might be made manifest in our flesh.” {21a} Still, they who
have learnt, through grace, to confide, with the simplicity of a child,
on the power, care, and love of their heavenly Father, will, amid
difficulties and dangers, “prove more than conquerors, through Him who
loved us, and gave Himself for us;” and will repose, with firm faith,
pious hope, and holy confidence, on His protection, IN WHOSE HANDS ARE
THE ISSUES OF LIFE AND DEATH; and who has said, by the mouth of his
prophets, “THOU SHALT NOT BE AFRAID FOR ANY TERROR BY NIGHT, NOR FOR THE
ARROW THAT FLIETH BY DAY; FOR THE PESTILENCE WHICH WALKETH IN DARKNESS,
NOR FOR THE SICKNESS WHICH DESTROYETH IN THE NOON-DAY. A thousand shall
fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh thee.” {21b}
There are some sincere Christians, who, from natural timidity of
disposition, or from constitutional debility, are peculiarly susceptible
of fear; and distress themselves by considering such fear a proof that
they do not possess the favour of God. Let them earnestly pray for that
holy and firm faith, which disarms apprehension under great and imminent
peril; but if they do not obtain it, let them not despond, but continue
their prayers; it may be a blessing which Heaven has still in store for
them. But if not, _having learnt submission to the Divine will_, let
them draw comfort from words which should be so deeply engraved on the
memory, as to be ever remembered, and speak peace, in their moments of
doubt and alarm, to their troubled souls: “FEAR THOU NOT; FOR I AM WITH
THEE: BE NOT DISMAYED, FOR I AM THY GOD: I WILL STRENGTHEN THEE; YEA, I
WILL HELP THEE; YEA, I WILL UPHOLD THEE WITH THE RIGHT HAND OF MY
RIGHTEOUSNESS.” {22a}—“The truth is, the greater our fears and sorrows
and aversions are, the greater is our submission to God: it may be
thought a great weakness of nature to be so afraid of our sufferings; but
it argues the greater strength of faith, and is a more glorious victory
over self, to make our very fears and aversions submit to the Divine
will. Submission to God does not consist in courage and fortitude of
mind to bear sufferings, which many have, without any sense of God, and
which the profoundest reverence for God will not always teach us; but he
submits, who receives the bitter cup and drinks it, though with a
trembling heart and hand.” {22b}
Thus much having been stated, that the timid mind or the sickly frame;
the tender plant of grace or “the bruised reed;” may not sink under a
weight of obligation, the fulfilment of which is above their present
strength; and may not despair, because they fear they can never attain to
that measure of faith, “which, whilst it kisses with filial reverence the
rod of correction,” can, in the strong language of St. Paul, “_glory in
tribulation_ also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and
patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us.” {23a} Let it be remembered, at the same time,
that though none should despond, because they possess not a strength of
faith bestowed only on the most highly-advanced Christians; still, all
must earnestly seek grace to be enabled to “go on unto perfection;” {23b}
by having implanted in their souls that “perfect love, which casteth out
fear.” {23c} And, as undoubting faith, unrepining submission, and
unwearied supplication, are amongst the leading features of the true
Christian character, they alone can enjoy the consolations of the Gospel
of peace, who are “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing
instant in prayer.” {23d}
It is a painful, an awful consideration, how many, in this Christian
land, “care for none of these things.” {23e} I speak not merely of the
profane, the scoffer, the sceptic, and the infidel; of those who “make a
mock at sin,” and, disputing or disbelieving the truth of Christianity,
“live without God in the world;”—I speak also of the gay, the
thoughtless, and the proud; of the worldly, the avaricious, and the
sensual; of the envious, the malicious, and the censorious; and, with
shame be it said, of unworthy and false professors and teachers; of the
unsound in faith and morals; of the lukewarm, the self-righteous, and the
hypocritical; in short, of all who, declaring a belief in the Christian
faith, either mistake its doctrines, disregard its spirit, abuse its
privileges, or live unmindful of its strict and holy obligations.
Against all such the Gospel denounces condemnation and woe. How, then,
are they prepared to meet the awful dispensation of Divine Providence,
which has fallen upon the nation? Let the prophet’s enquiry be addressed
to them:—“What will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation
which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help?” Will ye dare
to say, “O Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of
affliction?” What! can ye in sickness apply to God for relief, who in
health were “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God?” {24} Can ye in
affliction seek comfort of God, who in joy have by your actions denied
God? Can ye in adversity flee to God, who in prosperity had not God in
all your thoughts? {25} They who have never really sought, and submitted
to the guidance of the Gospel, cannot hope to possess its support and
consolations in the first hour of need. How dark, therefore, to such, is
the season of sickness, of sorrow, and of adversity: they enjoy no light
from above, no comfort from within, no consolation from without, which
can brighten the gloomy mind, cheer the desponding heart, and soothe the
alarmed conscience. Faithful and busy memory serves only to supply a
painful retrospect of opportunities neglected, and warnings despised: and
conscience, which had long slumbered in a deadly lethargy, often now
inflicts her sharpest stings upon the wretched sufferer. And should they
be arrested by the sudden stroke of a fatal malady, when living in
forgetfulness of God, and intently occupied with the pursuit of pleasure,
honour, or of gain; how terrible is the approach of death! How often, as
this life is fading from the darkening eye, do the realities of the next
burst upon the mind, with a distinctness and force never felt before!
How often, as the soul is trembling on the fearful verge of eternity, is
a vain wish entertained for the return of a brief portion of that time
which has been spent in sin, folly, or the acquisition of what will not
profit in a dying hour! But is the prayer for mercy, extorted by fear
and suffering, never heard; is the tardy repentance never accepted? On
the contrary, we believe the prayer of humble and contrite guilt to be
never rejected: but, be it remembered, at the same time, that repentance
is the gift of God, and that those who long trifle with their day of
grace, and by silencing the admonitions of conscience, resist the Spirit,
may be visited with the fearful punishment of judicial blindness and
final impenitence. “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have
stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: but ye have set at nought all
my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your
calamity, and will mock when your fear cometh; _when your fear cometh as
desolation_, _and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind_, _when distress
and anguish cometh upon you_. _Then shall they call upon me_, _but I
will not answer_; _they shall seek me early_, _but they shall not find
me_: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the
Lord; they would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof.” {26}
From this fearful denunciation of Divine wrath upon obstinate and
hardened disobedience, what an awful lesson may be learnt, under the
present circumstances of this country. How descriptive are many of the
terms employed of that fatal pestilence which has broken out in the land!
in the suddenness of the seizure, it resembles “THE WHIRLWIND;” by its
destructiveness, it causes “DESOLATION;” and from the intensity of the
sufferings which it produces, arise “DISTRESS AND ANGUISH.” God grant
that the threatened vengeance be not equally verified;—“THEN SHALL THEY
CALL UPON ME, BUT I WILL NOT ANSWER; THEY SHALL SEEK ME EARLY, BUT THEY
SHALL NOT FIND ME.” Oh! let not any individual risk incurring such a
fearful doom by delaying his repentance! The Lord now calls every one
with a voice that all must hear; He has “bared an arm,” which all must
see; let not any longer refuse, let not any longer disregard, lest they
should fill up the measure of their iniquity, and be swept away by the
blast of Divine displeasure! Let not any trust to that, at all times
presumptuous, if not always fallacious, hope, a death-bed repentance.
That man, whose existence hangs upon a thread, which a moment may suffice
to snap, should defer his preparation for death and judgment, is such an
act of madness, that nothing but a knowledge of its certainty could make
a religious mind credit the fact. What! risk an eternity of joy or
misery on the chances of a moment! for beyond the present moment, man
possesses no security of the continuance of life. And the very
presumption which leads him to calculate upon long years to come may call
forth that awful sentence,—“Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be
required of thee.” But if the postponement of turning and calling upon
God be, under ordinary circumstances, full of presumption and danger,
what is it now in times of pestilence? From the many instances of
mortality which encompass us on every side, “there comes a voice, which
solemn sounding bids the world prepare.” The judgments of the
Almighty,—to those who are living in forgetfulness of Him, and
disobedience to His commands, but have not entirely thrown off His
service,—speak the language addressed to Jonah, “What meanest thou, O
sleeper? Arise, and call upon thy God.” {28a} But to those who refuse
to turn, who “harden their necks against the reproof, and will have none
of the counsel of God;” they resemble the characters of flame upon the
walls of the palace of Belshazzar, which announced the terrible
decree,—“THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES, AND ART FOUND WANTING.” {28b}
The Christian writer, judging from the experience of the past, cannot
close his eyes to the sad truth, that there are some whom mercy softens
not, whom threatening warns not, whom danger alarms not. Who amidst
manifestations of Divine wrath, display hardened unconcern or desperate
wickedness. What a striking proof have we here of the effects of sin in
hardening the heart, and deadening the conscience. But let not any
imagine that such men will view the approach of the fatal malady without
alarm. The bodily anguish will probably supply no parallel to the mental
terror, when they find themselves clutched, as it were, in the grasp of
the mortal disease which is destroying them. And in the ordinarily brief
interval between seizure and that death, which so often ensues, if
conscience resume her power, how terrible must be the remorse, how
unutterable the anguish of the affrighted soul, which sees death, death
eternal in view, and yet cannot pray: or if the cry for pardon and help
to their long-forgotten God, burst from the quivering lip, it is the
bitter cry of almost despairing terror. Sad as are many of the scenes
which human life presents in its passage from the cradle to the tomb; and
harrowing to the feelings of beholders as is the sight of corporeal
anguish; how immeasurably do other scenes of human suffering fall short
of the union of bodily and mental agony, often witnessed on the death-bed
of terrified guilt! but still, to the religious mind, there are two
death-beds still more fearful, as being more hopeless; and they are, when
desperate wickedness, at its last hour, evinces hardened indifference or
blasphemous despair; when no prayer is offered, or when curses are
mingled with the prayer.
May the fear of such death-beds act, through the grace of God, as a
salutary warning to those who are living in sin, and neglecting to
improve the call to repentance sent in mercy: and let their thoughts
extend beyond the present life, and draw further instruction from the
awful truth—that whilst death terminates to impenitent guilt its present
sufferings, it commences others far more terrible.
Were it permitted to a living man to pass the portals of the dark
prison-house of disembodied spirits, and witness the punishments of the
condemned,—the unceasing gnawing of the undying worm, the unremitting
burning of the unquenched fire;—what words could express the joy and
thankfulness of that man, on returning to the land of the living and the
place of hope! Would he lose a moment in fleeing to the cross of Christ,
for deliverance from sin, and refuge from the wrath to come? Would he
still defer seeking for “repentance towards God, and faith towards our
Lord Jesus Christ?” {30} The terrible realities he had witnessed of that
state of untried being on which the soul enters at death, would doubtless
haunt his waking and his sleeping hours, and he would find no rest till
God, by his Spirit, had spoken peace to his affrighted soul. And then,
long as life lasted, it would be his daily subject of grateful
thanksgiving to his gracious long-suffering Lord, that he had borne with
his iniquities, and had not cut him off in the midst of his sins: but
through the Divine mercy he was allowed on earth “to praise the Lord with
joyful lips,” instead of “in hell, lifting up his eyes, being in
torments.” {31}
But such a visit to the place of condemned spirits is not necessary to
learn all that in our present state of being it concerns us to know. The
volume of inspiration has revealed the awful truth, that an eternity of
torments awaits the condemned in a future world.
Will not, then, this suffice to rouse thoughtless and sinful men to a
sense of danger? The judgments of the Almighty now upon the land; death
approaching many under a fearful form; the presumption and sinfulness of
trusting to a late repentance; the danger of the infliction of judicial
blindness; the horrors of a guilty death-bed; the torments of the damned,
have all been urged as so many calls to repentance, and may God accompany
them with his grace, that they may not be urged in vain; but all of these
equal not the awfulness and terribleness of AN ETERNITY OF TORMENT.
There is something overpowering in the idea of unmitigated unmitigable
woe; it is so terrific, that it astounds, it is so vast, that it
overwhelms the mind: for the finite faculties of man cannot grasp
eternity: they are lost in the maze of millions of years rolling on in
endless succession. But if there be any who have tost, for one night, on
a bed of suffering; any who have experienced, for one hour, the racking
torture of intolerable pain; let them ask themselves how they would
endure, in the immensity of endless time, “the worm which dieth not, and
the fire which is not quenched.”
May this awful consideration have its due weight upon every reader; may
those who have not yet been “turned from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God,” obtain grace to seek pardon and peace through
the Saviour who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel;
that, through Him they may escape “the fire prepared for the devil and
his angels.” {32a}
“Knowing, therefore, the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men,” {32b}
says St. Paul: who afterwards adds, “Now, then, we are ambassadors for
Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ’s
stead, be ye reconciled unto God.” {32c} It is thus the Christian
minister declares the denunciations of Divine vengeance, and the
certainty and eternity of Divine punishments, that he may prepare the way
for a joyful acceptance of the offers of Divine mercy. This two-fold
duty of the ministerial office, is beautifully described by Cowper:
“There stands the messenger of truth, there stands
The legate of the skies! His theme divine,
His office sacred, his credentials clear.
By him the violated Law speaks out
Its thunders: and by him, in strains as sweet
As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace.” {33a}
The dispensations of the Almighty are at once the inflictions of his
displeasure, the warnings of his love, and the invitations of his mercy:
to every sinner they address the enquiry, “Despisest thou the riches of
his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and
impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of
wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God?” {33b} May the
Almighty give his blessing upon the afflictive visitation He has sent
upon this land, that sinners may be roused to a sense of their danger,
and brought to embrace thankfully the offers of pardon and salvation,
made through Christ Jesus our Lord!
The Holy Scriptures present at once the most earnest calls to repentance
and the most gracious offers of forgiveness. “As I live, saith the Lord
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked
turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for
why will ye die, O house of Israel?” {34a} “O house of Israel, are not
my ways equal, and are not your ways unequal? saith the Lord. Therefore
I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,
saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your
transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you
all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new
heart, and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? for I
have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God.
Wherefore, turn yourselves, and live ye.” {34b} “Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be
as wool.” {34c}
Such are some of the invitations of the Holy Scriptures to turning and
calling upon God. Let us, then, suppose the case of one who is alarmed
by the Divine threatenings; who, conscious of his guilt, sees as it were
the gulf of perdition yawning beneath his feet; but is deterred, by a
sense of the heinousness of his sins, from seeking the pardon which he
despairs of obtaining. How is he to be addressed? The love and mercy of
God, as shewn towards a guilty and perishing world, in the mysterious,
but most gracious, plan of redemption, through the Saviour, must be
pointed out, and largely dwelt upon. Under the severer dispensation of
the Law, amid the awful splendours of its promulgation, the Lord was
proclaimed to be “the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by
no means clear the guilty.” {35a} Under the Gospel dispensation, it is
emphatically said, “GOD IS LOVE:” {35b} that “God so loved the world,
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.” {35c} Let not, therefore,
the heinousness of past sins, and the sense of present unworthiness,
deter any from coming to the Saviour: for “God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved.” {35d} And that gracious Saviour has authoritatively declared,
what is the sole condition of acceptance, through His infinite merits:
“Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life:” {35e} and has tenderly invited all to flee unto Him who labour
under the yoke of sin, or the burden of sorrow; “Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest: take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall
find rest unto your souls: for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
{36a} Before the nativity of our blessed Lord, the command was conveyed
by an angel, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins.” {36b} Agreeably to which, He Himself says, “I
am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” {36c} And
St. Paul prefaces his delivery of the great truth he was commissioned to
teach, in a manner befitting its importance: “This is a true saying, and
worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners.” {36d} If the Gospel did not contain a free pardon for
sin, little would it be in accordance either with its name, _good news_,
or with the proclamation of the heavenly host, which heralded the birth
of the Messiah: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be _to all people_, for unto you is born this day in the city of
David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” {36e} To every penitent the
promise is addressed—“Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.”
{36f} The Divine mercy towards repentant sinners knows no restrictions;
the cleansing power of the Saviour’s blood, no limitations.