From the immense disproportion between our finite minds and the infinite
objects of future hope, our conceptions of the disimbodied spirit must
necessarily be feeble. But while we anticipate the promised freedom of
the celestial world, the disenthralment of our intellectual faculties,
and the deliverance of our moral powers from all corruption, the mind
becomes more and more habituated to the scenes thus disclosed, and even
reaches to prospects of resplendent beauty; to visions of unclouded
truth; to the solution of the little difficulties of our own earthly
trials; to the evolutions of the Divine character in connection with our
little planet, and even to that infinitude that mocks the bounds of time
and space.
Thus the pious Christian, who meditates upon God and the heavens, the
work of his hand, feels a divine influence spread over his soul, while
the active and the retired, the ardent and the timid, the philosopher
whose mind is illumined by the varied lights of science, and the pious
_slave_, whose researches are confined to the sayings of some unlettered
expositor, will each cherish anticipations congenial to his peculiar
state of mind. Yet all will grow in grace; all will rise above the level
of temporal delights; and all will embrace in their expanding
conceptions the mighty import of that glorious promise, that “eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man,
the things that God hath prepared for them that love him,” 1 _Cor._ ii.
9, till elevated so far above earthly associations, that each can say,
“I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness.” _Ps._ xvii. 15.
What degree of moral likeness will gradually be produced by a near
contemplation of unveiled perfection is reserved for eternity to
disclose. But the time will at length come when to every sincere
Christian and true disciple, dazzled by the refulgence that will break
upon his astonished sight, Jesus Christ will address the language of
affection, as he did to Martha: “Said I not unto thee that if thou
wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God?” _John_ xi. 40.
“Then we all, with open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of
God, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory.” 2 _Cor._
iii. 18.
Such, then, is the picture and such the prospect of the Christian
character; and well may Christians, even the slave, “Reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed.” _Rom._ viii. 18.
From the monarch down, viewed from the distance of eternity, man
occupies but a point. All earthly distinctions become so small that
nothing short of the eye of omnipotence can see them. The same language
describes, and the same God will prepare their rest.
The Christian slave feels exalted even while on earth, for he is well
persuaded “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God.” _Rom._ viii. 38.
If for a few days the afflicted Christian and _slave_ “wander in the
wilderness in a solitary way;” if “hungry and thirsty, their souls faint
in them,” he is yet “hastening to a city of habitations.” _Ps._ cvii. 4,
5, 7.
If even the sun of his earthly hopes be set, yet he is hastening to a
country where “thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon
withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the
days of thy mourning shall be ended.” _Isa._ lx. 20.
With such views the heart is elevated above the pains and miseries of
this transitory world to the contemplation of hope celestial.
The mere philosopher, who views the mutilated structure of the moral
world, sees no renovating principle to reorganize its scattered
fragments. He mourns with unavailing sorrow over the ruins of his race,
and chills with horror at the prospect of his own decay. But the
Christian sees a fairer earth and a more radiant heaven. And should the
poor slave, forgetful of this high destiny of his Christian character,
and of his ultimate home, feeling, like Hagar, the slave of Sarah, the
hand of his mistress dealing hardly by him, and, like her, attempt a
remedy by flight; like her, he will hear the voice of God, saying,
“Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hand.” _Gen._ xvi.
9.
Like her, in humble submission, he obeys the command, and prays, “O
Lord, correct me,” for “I know that the way of man is not in himself it
is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” _Jer._ x. 23.
In the miseries and vanities with which he is surrounded, the Christian
only sees proofs of a fallen, not of a hopeless state. He, like old
Æneas, is seeking and looking for a home in a foreign land, and, like
him, constantly requires the interposition of some friendly providence
to warn him that he is still distant from the destined shores.
Mutandæ sedes; non hæc tibi littora suasit,
Delius, aut Cretæ jussit considere Apollo.—_2d Ænead._
Like the Israelites, he has pitched his tent in a wilderness of sin, and
feels grateful for those afflictions that reiterate the admonition:
“Arise and depart, for this is not your rest.” _Micah_ ii. 10.
He knows that “this corruptible will put on incorruption, that this
mortal will put on immortality, and that as he has borne the image of
the earthly, he shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” See 1 _Cor._
xv. 49, 53.
Why then should our hearts sink in sadness, because, as we have seen,
sin has destroyed the balance of moral power among men,—even the
foundation on which their universal equality could exist, whence some
races of men have gone deep down in the pit of human degradation, until
the man and the brute are found in the same animal tenement.
Such is the poisonous nature of sin, that the heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations always finds “feet running swiftly to ruin.” See _Prov._
vi. 18.
But God hath promised that the remnant of Israel shall not speak lies:
“Neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they
shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” _Zeph._ iii.
12, 13.
But the ways of God are not as the ways of man; he makes his enemies
build his throne.
Therefore, be ye not deceived, for “there shall be false teachers among
you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord
that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” 2 _Pet._
ii. 1.
Study and pray to improve the powers that God hath given, while you
compare the things that be with the causes and designs of Providence;
and while you note that “the evil bow before the good, and the wicked at
the gates of the righteous,” note also that “the way of the ungodly
shall perish.” They shall be “like the chaff which the wind driveth
away.” For “the hand of the diligent shall bear rule; but the slothful
shall be under tribute.” “He that hath not sells himself to him that
hath.” Therefore, “the borrower is _servant_ to the lender,” and
wherefore, “_wisdom_ is better than rubies;” for “by me princes rule,
and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me,
and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with
me: yea, durable riches and righteousness.”
But God hath promised that “the whole earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” _Isa._ xi. 9.
Therefore, so long as the tares and the wheat shall grow together, “Wait
ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I will rise up to the
prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble
the kingdoms to pour out upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce
anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all
call on the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. From beyond
the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my
_dispersed_, (בַּת־פוּצַ֔י _Bath Putsi, the daughter of Phut, the most
degraded of the African tribes_,) shall bring mine offering.” _Zeph._
iii. 8–10.
The slavery of the African tribes to those of the true faith is here
clearly announced, and the great benefit of their conversion to the
worship of the true God proclaimed as an abundant reason.
Thus Isaiah, speaking of the house of Israel, the prototype of the
church of God, says—“Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and the
merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over
unto thee, and they shall be thine; they shall come after thee; in
chains they shall come over, they shall fall down unto thee; they shall
make supplication unto thee, saying, Verily, God is in thee, and there
is no God” _beside_. _Isa._ xlv. 14.
And these people, in a state of pupilage, are thus referred to by
_Zephaniah_: “I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and
poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.”
God ever requires of the powerful the protection of the weak, of the
more learned the instruction of the ignorant, and of the more wise the
government of those who cannot govern themselves.
“For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a
light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the
ends of the earth.” _Acts_ xiii. 47.
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