takes place;--not only the sinning that once itself, but being so seduced
by it, as forthwith to continue in the commission of it ever afterwards,
without seeking for arguments to meet our conscience withal; from a mere
brutish, headstrong, infatuate greediness after its bad pleasures. There
are beasts of prey which are said to abstain from blood till they taste
it, but once tasting it, ever seek it: and, in like manner, there is a
sort of thirst for sin which is born with us, but which grace quenches,
and which is thus kept under _till_ we, by our own act, rouse it again;
and which, when once aroused, never can be allayed. We sin, while we
confess the wages of sin to be death.
4. Sometimes, I say, this is the immediate effect of a first
transgression; and if not the immediate effect, yet it is always the
tendency and the end of sinning at length, viz. to enslave us to it.
Temptation is very powerful, it is true, when it comes first; but, then,
its power lies in its own novelty; and, on the other hand, there is power
in the heart itself, divinely given, to resist it; but when we have long
indulged sin, the mind has become sinful in its habit and character, and
the Spirit of God having departed, it has no principle within it of
strength sufficient to save it from spiritual death. What being can
change its own nature? that would be almost ceasing to be itself: fire
cannot cease to burn; the leopard changes not its spots, and ceases not
to rend and devour; and the soul which has often sinned, cannot help
sinning; but in this respect awfully differing from the condition of the
senseless elements or brute animals,--that its present state is all its
own fault; that it might have hindered it, and will have one day to
answer for not having hindered it.
Thus, easy as it is to avoid sin first of all, at length it is (humanly
speaking) impossible. "Enter not into its path," saith the wise man; the
two paths of right and wrong start from the same point, and at first are
separated by a very small difference, so easy (comparatively) is it to
choose the right instead of the wrong way: but wait awhile, and pursue
the road leading to destruction, and you will find the distance between
the two has widened beyond measurement, and that between them a great
gulf has been sunk, so that you cannot pass from the one to the other,
though you desire it ever so earnestly[5].
Now to what do considerations such as these lead us, but to our Lord's
simple and comprehensive precept, which is the same as Solomon's, but
more impressively and solemnly urged on us by the manner and time of His
giving it? "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." To enter
not the path of the wicked, to avoid it, and pass by it, what is this but
the exercise of _watching_? Therefore He insists upon it so much,
knowing that in it our safety lies. But now, on the other hand, consider
_how_ many are there among us who can be said to watch and pray? Is not
the utmost we do to offer on Sunday some kind of prayer in Church to God;
or sometimes some short prayer morning and evening in the week; and then
go into the world with the same incaution and forgetfulness as if we had
never entertained a serious thought? We go through the business of the
day, quite forgetting, to any practical purpose, that all business has
snares in it, and therefore needs caution. Let us ask ourselves this
question, "How often do we think of Satan in the course of the day as our
great tempter?" Yet surely he does not cease to be active because we do
not think of him; and surely, too, his powers and devices were revealed
to us by Almighty God for the very purpose, that being not ignorant of
them, we might watch against them. Who among us will not confess, that
many is the time that he has mixed with the world, forgetting who the god
of this world is? or rather, are not a great many of us living in
habitual forgetfulness that this world is a scene of trial; that is, that
this is its _chief_ character, that all its employments, its pleasures,
its occurrences, even the most innocent, the most acceptable to God, and
the most truly profitable in themselves, are all the while so handled by
Satan as may be the most conducive to our ruin, if he can possibly
contrive it? There is nothing gloomy or superstitious in this, as the
plain words of Scripture will abundantly prove to every inquirer. We are
told "that the devil, our adversary, as a roaring lion walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour[6];" and therefore are warned to "be sober, be
vigilant." And assuredly our true comfort lies, not in disguising the
truth from ourselves, but in knowing something more than this;--that
though Satan is against us, God is for us; that greater is He that is in
us, than he that is in the world[7]; and that He in every temptation will
make a way for us to escape, that we may be able to bear it[8].
God does His part most surely; and Satan too does his part: we alone are
unconcerned. Heaven and hell are at war for us and against us, yet we
trifle, and let life go on at random. Heaven and hell are before us as
our own future abode, one or other of them; yet our own interest moves us
no more than God's mercy. We treat sin, not as an enemy to be feared,
abhorred, and shunned, but as a misfortune and a weakness; we do not pity
and shun sinful men, but we enter into their path so far as to keep
company with them; and next, being tempted to copy them, we fall almost
without an effort.
Be not you thus deceived and overcome, my brethren, by an evil heart of
unbelief. Make up your minds to take God for your portion, and pray to
Him for grace to enable you so to do. Avoid the great evils of leisure,
avoid the snare of having time on your hands. Avoid all bad thoughts,
all corrupt or irreligious books, avoid all bad company: let nothing
seduce you into it. Though you may be laughed at for your strictness;
though you may lose thereby amusements which you would like to partake
of; though you may thereby be ignorant of much which others know, and may
appear to disadvantage when they are talking together; though you appear
behind the rest of the world; though you be called a coward, or a child,
or narrow-minded, or superstitious; whatever insulting words be applied
to you, fear not, falter not, fail not; stand firm, quit you like men; be
strong. They think that in the devil's service there are secrets worthy
our inquiry, which you share not: yes, there are secrets, and such that
it is a shame even to speak of them; and in like manner you have a secret
which they have not, and which far surpasses theirs. "The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear Him." Those who obey God and follow Christ
have secret gains, so great, that, as well might we say heaven were like
hell, as that these are like the gain which sinners have. They have a
secret gift given them by their Lord and Saviour in proportion to their
faith and love. They cannot describe it to others; they have not
possession of it all at once; they cannot have the enjoyment of it at
this or that time when they will. It comes and goes according to the
will of the Giver. It is given but in small measure to those who begin
God's service. It is not given at all to those who follow Him with a
divided heart. To those who love the world, and yet are in a certain
sense religious, and are well contented with such a religious state, to
them it is not given. But those who give themselves up to their Lord and
Saviour, those who surrender themselves soul and body, those who honestly
say, "I am Thine, new-make me, do with me what Thou wilt," who say so not
once or twice merely, or in a transport, but calmly and habitually; these
are they who gain the Lord's secret gift, even the "white stone, and in
the stone a new name written which no man knoweth, saving he that
receiveth it[9]." Sinners think that they know all that religion has to
give, and over and above that, they know the pleasures of sin too. No,
they do not, cannot, never will know the secret gift of God, till they
repent and amend. They never will know what it is to see God, till they
obey; nay, though they are to see Him at the last day, even that will be
no true sight of Him, for the sight of that Holy One will then impart no
comfort, no joy to them. They never will know the blessedness which He
has to give. They do know the satisfaction of sinning, such as it is;
and, alas! if they go on as they are going, they will know not only what
sin is, but what hell is. But they never will know that great secret
which is hid in the Father and in the Son.
Let us not then be seduced by the Tempter and his promises. He can show
us no good. He has no good to give us. Rather let us listen to the
gracious words of our Maker and Redeemer, "Call unto Me, and I will
answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest
not[10]."
[1] Gen. iii. 6.
[2] Eccles. xi. 9.
[3] 2 Tim. ii. 26.
[4] 2 Tim. iv. 10.
[5] Luke xvi. 26.
[6] 1 Pet. v. 8.
[7] 1 John iv. 4.
[8] 1 Cor. x. 13.
[9] Rev. ii. 17.
[10] Jer. xxxiii. 3
SERMON VI.
Miracles no Remedy for Unbelief.
"_And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me?
and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I
have showed among them?_"--Numbers xiv. 11.
Nothing, I suppose, is more surprising to us at first reading, than the
history of God's chosen people; nay, on second and third reading, and
on every reading, till we learn to view it as God views it. It seems
strange, indeed, to most persons, that the Israelites should have acted
as they did, age after age, in spite of the miracles which were
vouchsafed to them. The laws of nature were suspended again and again
before their eyes, the most marvellous signs were wrought at the word
of God's prophets, and for their deliverance, yet they did not obey
their great Benefactor at all better than men now-a-days who have not
these advantages, as we commonly consider them. Age after age God
visited them by Angels, by inspired messengers, age after age they
sinned. At last He sent His beloved Son; and He wrought miracles
before them still more abundant, wonderful, and beneficent than any
before Him. What was the effect upon them of His coming? St. John
tells us, "Then gathered the Chief Priests and the Pharisees a council,
and said, What do we? for this Man doeth many miracles. . . . . Then
from that day forth they took counsel together for to put Him to
death[1]."
In matter of fact, then, whatever be the reason, nothing is gained by
miracles, nothing comes of miracles, as regards our religious views,
principles, and habits. Hard as it is to believe, miracles certainly
do not make men better; the history of Israel proves it. And the only
mode of escaping this conclusion, to which some persons feel a great
repugnance, is to fancy that the Israelites were much worse than other
nations, which accordingly has been maintained. It has often been
said, that they were stiff-necked and hard-hearted beyond the rest of
the world. Now, even supposing, for argument's sake, I should grant
that they were so, this would not sufficiently account for the strange
circumstance under consideration; for this people was not moved at all.
It is not a question of more or less: surely they must have been
altogether distinct from other men, destitute of the feelings and
opinions of other men, nay, hardly partakers of human nature, if other
men would, as a matter of course, have been moved by those miracles
which had no influence whatever upon them. That there _are_, indeed,
men in the world who would have been moved, and would have obeyed in
consequence, I do not deny; such were to be found among the Israelites
also; but I am speaking of men in general; and I say, that if the
Israelites had a common nature with us, surely that insensibility which
they exhibited on the whole, must be just what we should exhibit on the
whole under the same circumstances.
It confirms this view of the subject to observe, that the children of
Israel _are_ like other men in all points of their conduct, save this
insensibility, which other men have not had the opportunity to show as
they had. There is no difference between their conduct and ours in
point of _fact_, the difference is entirely in the external discipline
to which God subjected them. Whether or not miracles ought to have
influenced them in a way in which God's dealings in Providence do not
influence us, so far is clear, that looking into their modes of living
and of thought, we find a nature just like our own, not better indeed,
but in no respect worse. Those evil tempers which the people displayed
in the desert, their greediness, selfishness, murmuring, caprice,
waywardness, fickleness, ingratitude, jealousy, suspiciousness,
obstinacy, unbelief, all these are seen in the uneducated multitude
now-a-days, according to its opportunity of displaying them.
The pride of Dathan and the presumption of Korah are still instanced in
our higher ranks and among educated persons. Saul, Ahithophel, Joab,
and Absalom, have had their parallels all over the world. I say there
is nothing unlike the rest of mankind in the character or conduct of
the chosen people; the difference solely is in God's dealings with
them. They _act_ as other men; it is their religion which is not as
other men; it is miraculous; and the question is, how it comes to pass,
their religion being different, their conduct is the same? and there
are two ways of answering it; either by saying that they were worse
than other men, and were not influenced by miracles when others would
have been influenced (as many persons are apt to think), or (what I
conceive to be the true reason) that, after all, the difference between
miracle and no miracle is not so great in any case, in the case of any
people, as to secure the success or account for the failure of
religious truth. It was not that the Israelites were much more
hard-hearted than other people, but that a miraculous religion is not
much more influential than other religions.
For I repeat, though it be granted that the Israelites were much worse
than others, still that will not account for the fact that miracles
made no impression whatever upon them. However sensual and obstinate
they may be supposed to have been in natural character, yet if it be
true that a miracle has a necessary effect upon the human mind, it must
be considered to have had some effect on their conduct for good or bad;
if it had not a good effect, at least it must have had a bad; whereas
their miracles left them very much the same in outward appearance as
men are now-a-days, who neglect such warnings as are now sent them,
neither much more lawless and corrupt than they, nor the reverse. The
point is, that while they were so hardened, as it appears to us, in
their conduct towards their Lord and Governor, they were not much worse
than other men in social life and personal behaviour. It is a rule
that if men are extravagantly irreligious, profane, blasphemous,
infidel, they are equally excessive and monstrous in other respects;
whereas the Jews were like the Eastern nations around them, with this
one peculiarity, that they had rejected direct and clear miraculous
evidence, and the others had not. It seems, then, I say, to follow,
that, guilty as were the Jews in disobeying Almighty God, and blind as
they became from shutting their eyes to the light, they were not much
more guilty than others may be in disobeying Him, that it is almost as
great a sin to reject His service in the case of those who do not see
miracles, as in the case of those who do; that the sight of miracles is
not the way in which men come to believe and obey, nor the absence of
them an excuse for not believing and obeying.
Now let me say something in explanation of this, at first sight,
startling truth, that miracles on the whole would not make men in
general more obedient or holy than they are, though they were generally
displayed. It has sometimes been said by unbelievers, "If the Gospel
were written on the Sun, I would believe it." Unbelievers have said so
by way of excusing themselves for not believing it, as it actually
comes to them; and I dare say some of us, my brethren, have before now
uttered the same sentiment in our hearts, either in moments of
temptation, or when under the upbraidings of conscience for sin
committed. Now let us consider, why do we think so?
I ask, why should the sight of a miracle make you better than you are?
Do you doubt at all the being and power of God? No. Do you doubt what
you ought to _do_? No. Do you doubt at all that the rain, for
instance, and sunshine, come from Him? or that the fresh life of each
year, as it comes, is His work, and that all nature bursts into beauty
and richness at His bidding? You do not doubt it at all. Nor do you
doubt, on the other hand, that it is your duty to obey Him who made the
world and who made you. And yet, with the knowledge of all this, you
find you cannot prevail upon yourselves to do what you know you should
do. Knowledge is not what you want to make you obedient. You have
knowledge enough already. Now what truth would a miracle convey to you
which you do not learn from the works of God around you? What would it
teach you concerning God which you do not already believe without
having seen it?
But, you will say, a miracle would startle you; true; but would not the
startling pass away? could you be startled for ever? And what sort of
a religion is that which consists in a state of fright and disturbance?
Are you not continually startled by the accidents of life? You see,
you hear things suddenly, which bring before your minds the thoughts of
God and judgment, calamities befall you which for the time sober you.
Startling is not conversion, any more than knowledge is practice.
But you urge, that perhaps that startling might issue in amendment of
life; that it might be the beginning of a new course, though it passed
away itself; that a miracle would not indeed convert you, but it would
be the first step towards thorough conversion; that it would be the
turning point in your life, and would suddenly force your path into the
right direction, and that in this way shocks and startlings, and all
the agitation of the passions and affections, are really the means of
conversion, though conversion be something more than they. This is
very true: sudden emotions--fear, hope, gratitude, and the like, all do
produce such effects sometimes; but why is a miracle necessary to
produce such effects? Other things startle us besides miracles; we
have a number of accidents sent us by God to startle us. He has not
left us without warnings, though He has not given us miracles; and if
we are not moved and converted by those which come upon us, the
probability is, that, like the Jews, we should not be converted by
miracles.
Yes, you say; but if one came from the dead, if you saw the spirit of
some departed friend you knew on earth: what then? What would it tell
you that you do not know now? Do you now in your sober reason doubt
the reality of the unseen world? not at all; only you cannot get
yourself to act as if it _were_ real. Would such a sight produce this
effect? you think it would. Now I will grant this on one supposition.
Do the startling accidents which happen to you now, produce _any_
lasting effect upon you? Do they lead you to _any habits_ of religion?
If they do produce some effect, then I will grant to you that such a
strange visitation, as you have supposed, would produce a greater
effect; but if the events of life which now happen to you produce no
lasting effect on you, and this I fear is the case, then too sure I am,
that a miracle too would produce no lasting effect on you, though of
course it would startle you more at the time. I say, I fear that what
happens to you, as it is, produces no lasting effect on you. I mean,
that the warnings which you really have, do not bring you to any
habitual and regular religiousness; they may make you a little more
afraid of this or that sin, or of this or that particular indulgence of
it; but they do not tend at all to make you break with the world, and
convert you to God. If they did make you take up religion in earnest,
though in ever so poor a way, then I will grant that miracles would
make you _more_ in earnest. If God's _ordinary_ warnings moved you,
His extraordinary would move you more. It is quite true, that a
serious mind would be made more serious by seeing a miracle, but this
gives no ground for saying, that minds which are _not_ serious,
careless, worldly, self-indulgent persons, who are made not at all
better by the warnings which _are_ given them, would be made serious by
those miraculous warnings which are not given.
Of course it might so happen in this or that particular case,--just as
the same person is moved by one warning, not by another, not moved by a
warning to-day, moved by a warning to-morrow; but I am sure, taking men
as we find them, miracles would leave them, as far as their conduct is
concerned, very much as they are. They would be very much startled and
impressed at first, but the impression would wear away. And thus our
Saviour's words would come true of all those multitudes who have the
Bible to read, and know what they ought to do, but do it not:--"If they
hear not Moses and the Prophets," He says, "neither will they be
persuaded though one rose from the dead." Do we never recollect times
when we have said, "We shall never forget this; it will be a warning
all through our lives"? have we never implored God's forgiveness with
the most eager promises of amendment? have we never felt as if we were
brought quite into a new world, in gratitude and joy? Yet was the
result what we had expected? We cannot anticipate more from miracles,
than before now we have anticipated from warnings, which came to nought.
And now, what is the real reason why we do not seek God with all our
hearts, and devote ourselves to His service, if the absence of miracles
be not the reason, as most assuredly it is not? What was it that made
the Israelites disobedient, who _had_ miracles? St. Paul informs us,
and exhorts _us_ in consequence. "Harden not your hearts, _as_ in the
provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness . . . take heed
. . . lest there be in any of _you_" (as there was among the Jews) "an
evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God." Moses had
been commissioned to say the same thing at the very time; "Oh that
there were such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep My
Commandments always!" We cannot serve God, because we want the will
and the heart to serve Him. We like any thing better than religion, as
the Jews before us. The Jews liked this world; they liked mirth and
feasting. "The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
play;" so do we. They liked glitter and show, and the world's
fashions. "Give us a king like the nations," they said to Samuel; so
do we. They wished to be let alone; they liked ease; they liked their
own way; they disliked to make war against the natural impulses and
leanings of their own minds; they disliked to attend to the state of
their souls, to have to treat themselves as spiritually sick and
infirm, to watch, and rule, and chasten, and refrain, and change
themselves; and so do we. They disliked to think of God, and to
observe and attend His ordinances, and to reverence Him; they called it
a weariness to frequent His courts; and they found this or that false
worship more pleasant, satisfactory, congenial to their feelings, than
the service of the Judge of quick and dead; and so do we: and therefore
we disobey God as they did,--not that we have not miracles; for they
actually had them, and it made no difference. We act as they did,
though they had miracles, and we have not; because there is one cause
of it _common_ both to them and us--heartlessness in religious matters,
an evil heart of unbelief, both they and we disobey and disbelieve,
because we do not love.