"And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with
the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as
oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the
Most High ruleth in the kingdom of, men, and giveth it to whomsoever
he will." Daniel iv:32.
Every man, who believes that the path of virtue is thorny, and that of
vice is pleasurable, is not only deceived, but has not yet learned
that the Most High holds the reins of government, and dispenses to his
creatures their rewards and punishments. It is evident, if every man
solemnly believed that a course of sin would bring upon him certain
and unavoidable misery--and that every species of dishonesty would
lessen his fortune in the world, he would abandon his course, and turn
his feet to the testimonies of God. The transgressor is therefore
deceiving himself, is resting under a strong delusion, and is yet
ignorant that the Almighty rules throughout his vast dominions.
Certain it is that a wicked man was never happy while remaining in
that condition, and it is equally certain that no one ever yet went
unpunished.
To this point we intend to invite your serious attention in this
discourse. The expression in our text, "till thou know that the Most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men," does not only imply a knowledge of
the existence of a Supreme Intelligence, who governs the world, but an
obedience to the moral laws of his empire. On this proposition we
purpose to offer a few rational, and not only rational, but
irresistible arguments. We will first notice the condition of those
who are guilty of heinous crimes, and then come down to the common
walks of life, and bestow a few remarks on those who are indifferent
about their condition, and only guard their conduct so far as comports
with the customs and manners of that portion of the community, who
have no higher principle of action than to be considered respectable
among men.
Though we come before the public to defend the doctrines of Christ,
yet, my friends, you will bear in mind that it is also our duty to
enforce his precepts, and exhort to the obedience of the gospel. That
we should point out the road of sin, error and misery, and also
endeavor to throw the light of heavenly truth on the pathway of human
life.
We will begin with the murderer, who wantonly embrues his hands in the
blood of his fellow. So far as he has violated the laws of his
country, he is a subject for public execution, and has nothing to hope
for, at the tribunal of human justice. His misery, whether it arise
from the contemplation of an ignominious death, from the fear of
detection, or from the consciousness of having violated the moral
principles of his nature, is alike insupportable, as well as
indescribable.
Is he detected? Shut out from the world and confined in his loathsome
cell, he is left to his own reflections, and to all the horrors of the
gathering storm. But even admitting that he should escape detection,
and be left to his own meditations on his deed of blood, he would,
like Cain, breathe out in agony of soul, "my punishment is greater
than I can bear!" He might, indeed, mingle with the busy throng--he
might even smile, and wear a face of pleasure, but behind this mantled
mask he would conceal a heart of pain. He might, indeed, gaze upon the
landscape, listen to the songs of the grove, and contemplate the
glories of nature, but the charm, that once gave him ecstatic delight
and solid joy, is vanished from his sight; and all, that once was fair
and lovely, wears the frown of darkness and indignation. He gazes upon
little children, and hears their artless and innocent prattle,
reflects what he once was, and every joy, that sparkles in their eyes,
sends a dagger to his heart. The rustling of a leaf strikes him with
terror and alarm, and every passing breeze bears to his tormented soul
the groans of the dying man, and conscience forces him to listen to
the heart-rending tale of wo. Fain would he fly from himself, and
enjoy one hour's repose; but alas! That God, who rules in the kingdom
of men, has written a law in his heart, where he reads and feels his
condemnation, and where conscience sits on the judgment seat,
constantly holds him arraigned at her tribunal, and fans up in his
bosom the burning flames of hell! He may lie down on his pillow, but
spectres haunt his brain; and awake, asleep, at home, abroad, he finds
that he has rendered his own existence a curse. He lives in misery,
and in darkness expires.
Let us next notice the thief, who plunders our property. His crime is
of less magnitude than the above, but his guilt is in proportion. No
one by such means has ever enriched himself. He, who obtains property
by dishonorable means, is ignorant of its value, and will dishonorably
spend it. He has forgotten that God governs the world. Our
state-prisons and penitentiaries not only (so far as human laws are
concerned) reveal his fate, but speak his woes. But suppose he escape
detection, and is only exposed to the naked and fearful grandeur of
that law which God has written in the heart. He hears its thunders,
and he feels its fires. He his taken from some fellow being his hard
earnings; and sees him and perhaps his children mourning their
misfortune and suffering the miseries of adversity. Guilt takes
possession of his soul, and misery, which the hand of time cannot
extinguish, rolls its dark waves of damnation upon him, and drowns his
dearest joys, while poverty marks him for her own.
God has so constituted his plans in the government of the world that
the plunderer cannot prosper. Inward horrors and fears of detection
abstract his mind from the proper duties of life, so that misfortune
and defeat find their way into his plans, which might otherwise by
calm deliberation have succeeded, and disappointment and misery,
satiety and disgust, and all the evils that are the offspring of his
iniquity, commingling in a thousand ways, render his existence
wretched. Relying upon dishonesty for support, he becomes but a
midnight beggar. His slumbers are haunted by frightful dreams; and
fear of detection, prisons and dungeons are torturing his imagination
and incessantly sporting with his broken peace. He is a stranger to
those solid joys arising from the practice of virtue, is doomed to
encounter all the miseries that attend his ill-chosen career, and to
drink every drug of wormwood and gall that heaven has mingled in the
cup of dishonor. He lives a nuisance and pest to society, and dies
covered with infamy.
In all this we shall see the truth of our text exemplified, that God
rules in the kingdom of men, and brings punishment, not only upon a
haughty monarch seated on the throne of nations, but upon every
transgressor however obscure may be his condition in the walks of
private life. The sovereign decree of his empire is--"THOUGH HAND JOIN
IN HAND, YET SHALL THE WICKED NOT GO UNPUNISHED."
But we take our leave of flagitious crimes and proceed to notice men
in the common walks of life. Every man who makes riches, or public
honors the chief end of all his pursuits, and gives all his attention
to the attainment of his object, and over-reaches in bargains whenever
an opportunity offers, or sets various prices on his merchandise,
according to the person with whom he deals--such a man will never feel
himself filled with riches, nor satisfied with honors. The reasons are
obvious. He commences his career under the impression that happiness,
contentment and all the rational enjoyments of life consist in wealth,
and in human greatness. He soon finds himself in possession of as
large a fortune as he first supposed would make him happy. But his
desires for more, having imperceptibly expanded, he finds within an
increased restlessness, and even greater desires for _more_ than when
he first set out. He still believes, according to his original
impression, that happiness lies in gold; and that the only reason why
he has not obtained those solid joys in possession which he first
anticipated, is because he still needs more. But though wealth may
flow upon him in oceans, his cravings for more will ever swell beyond
what earth can give, and leave him a more wretched being than he was
at the commencement of his course. Here is his loss--here is his
punishment. God has not placed happiness in wealth. _"A competence is
all we can enjoy, O, be content where heaven can give no more."_
Or let him rise to that station of honor, which he now believes will
satisfy him, and his ambition would aspire to one more exalted. Let
him govern one kingdom, and he would desire to subjugate another till
the whole world bowed to his nod. And were every star an inhabited
world, and did he possess means to invade them, his ambition would
continue to soar till he ruled the universe, and were there no object
left to which he might still direct his ambition and continue to soar,
he would set down in despair, and, like Alexander the Great, weep and
sigh for more worlds to conquer.
All this restlessness and misery arise from false notions of:
happiness--from not realizing that the Most High rules in the kingdom
of men--and from a want of confidence in his word, which points the
rich and the poor alike to that noble path of virtue and religion,
where true happiness and unbroken peace forever reign. By men
embracing virtue, and in their feelings and actions ever acknowledging
the supremacy of Jehovah, inevitably leads to happiness and
contentment. But in doing this we are not to deprive ourselves of the
enjoyment of honest gotten wealth, nor of the rational pursuits and
interchanges of social and domestic life. Religion was not given to
deprive us of the common comforts and conveniences of life, but to
sweeten them. Our Redeemer says, "seek first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Sin
and misery in this world are inseparable: so are righteousness and
happiness. If they are not, then it remains for the advocates for a
future retribution to show how men are to be sufficiently rewarded and
punished in the future world.
There is my friends no solid happiness, no permanent satisfaction only
in the contemplation that God governs the world, and in the practice
of pure and rational piety. This you may know by studying your own
bosom. Have any of you thus far spent your days in striving to find
perfect bliss in the various pursuits of life? Have you aspired to one
object, abandoned it, and taken up another? If so, can you say that
you have found the happiness you anticipated, and so earnestly sought?
No! What is the reason? There is one thing needful. Whatever may be
your pursuit, if you are thoughtless that God governs the world, and
if instead of rendering him the homage of a grateful heart, you
blaspheme his name, or are selfish and regardless of the happiness of
your fellow creatures, you must, according to the established laws of
his empire, remain in that same restless and dissatisfied condition
till you know by experience that the heavens do rule--till you bow to
the sublime requirements of his word. _That dissatisfaction_ varied
according to the condition of moral character is the punishment God
sends upon us for our indifference. From this indifference we may rise
to that unquenchable thirst for riches, already noticed, and our
sufferings will receive new accessions according to our moral light.
And from this we may rise to a desire for honour and power, till we
are hurried on by ambition to conquest and slaughter where we are
doomed to suffer all the miseries a Buonaparte endured. From this we
may rise to dishonour, fraud and theft; and as we rise in crime, our
miseries increase in degree, till we imbrue our hands in innocent
blood, and thus render our bosoms a hell and our very existence a
burthen.
Every man is in a condition of uneasiness, suffering, guilt, hardness
of heart and blindness of mind exactly in proportion to his moral
conduct. Let us then be wise;--and if we desire happiness, let us seek
it in that course where the unerring word of God assures us it can
alone be found. Let us acknowledge "that the heavens do rule," and
rest assured that He, who notices the fall of a sparrow, will not wink
at our evil doings.