Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

which he can neither disprove nor evade; and there a just sentence is not only passed, but forthwith executed upon him, by the infliction of torments severe and poignant as the strokes of whips or scorpions: torments, exquisite in proportion to the sensibility of the part affected; torments, of which he sees the beginning, but is never likely to see the end.

There is not an instance, perhaps, upon re-ed by it in the human mind is described at cord of any age or nation, where the idea of large in the seventy-third psalm, and in the punishment has not been connected with that twelfth chapter of our prophet Jeremiah; of guilt; and the certainty of such connection nor will believers fail sometimes to expeis the great substance of all the Scriptures. rience a temptation of a similar nature, while Sin is often punished in this life; much the object shall continue to present itself, that oftener than we are aware; indeed so often, is, while the world shall last. that we may say to you as Moses to Israel: To take off, in some measure, the force of "if you have sinned against the Lord, be sure the objection, it must be remarked, that, beyour sin will find you out."* We see how sides those judgments of God, which lie open much this is the case in the sacred history, to the observation of mankind, there are where we are admitted within the veil, and others, even in the present life, of a secret the rationale of the divine proceedings in par- and invisible kind, known only to the party ticular cases is unfolded to us. When we by whom they are felt. There is a court are ignorant of that rationale, as without spe- constantly sitting within, from whose juriscial information from above we must be, re- diction the criminal can plead no exemption, specting the course of God's ordinary provi- and from whose presence he cannot fly: dence in the world, it is unsafe, and it may there is evidence produced against him, be not only uncharitable but unjust, to judge in this manner of the calamities which befall our neighbor. But there would be no harm, when calamities befall ourselves, if we should take a retrospect of our conduct, and in that conduct endeavor to discover the cause that might have induced our heavenly Father to send them. It will not be saying too much, I believe, to say, that many times, if the search were made with diligence and fidelity, we should discover it: at least, were we not able to particularize, we should discover enough in general to satisfy us that, be our sufferings at any time what they may, we do not suffer more than we deserve to suffer; but that each of us, without any tincture of superstition or hypocrisy, may, from heart-felt conviction, exclaim, with the good psalmist, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou of very faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled." Every fresh instance of this sort is, indeed, only a fresh confirmation of that grand and most important truth, which should ever be uppermost in our thoughts, that all natural evil is the consequence and punishment of moral. Remove the latter by repentance, and God will remove the former, when he sees that it has performed the work, and produced the effect intended.

It would be in vain however, to dissemble, that, in the present state, as is the offence, such is not always the punishment. Notoriously profligate sinners often partake not, to appearance, the common evils of life, but pass their days in prosperity, affluence, and health, and die without any visible tokens of the divine displeasure. The fact is indisputable; and it was a stumbling-block by very good men of the old time not without great difficulty surmounted. The conflict occasion

• Numb. xxxii. 23.

Trust not to appearances. Men are not what they seem. In the brilliant scenes of splendor and magnificence, of luxury and dissipation, surrounded by the companions of his pleasures, and the flatterers of his vices, amidst the flashes of wit and merriment, when all wears the face of gaiety and festivity, the profligate often reads his doom, written by the hand whose characters are indelible. Should he turn away his eyes from beholding it, and succeed in the great work during the course of his revels, yet the time will come, when from scenes like these he must retire, and be alone; and then, as Dr. South states the question, in a manner not to be answered, "What is all that a man can enjoy in this way for a week, a month, or a year, compared with what he feels for one hour, when his conscience shall take him aside, and rate him by himself?"

There is likewise another hour which will come, and that soon-the hour when life must end; when the accumulated wealth of the East and the West, with all the assistance it is able to procure, will not be competent to obtain the respite of a moment; when the the impenitent sinner will be called-and must obey the call-to leave every thing and give up his accounts to his Maker, of the manner in which he has spent his time and employed his talents-Of what is said by such at that hour, we know not much. Care is generally taken that we never should. Of what is thought, we know nothing. O merciful God, grant that we never may!

-The answer of a good conscience, diffusing peace and serenity over all the powers and faculties of the soul, refreshing like the dew falling on the top of Hermon, exhilarating as the fragrance of the holy oil descending from the head of Aaron; sweetening the converse of society and the charities of active life, and affording, in retirement and solitude, pleasures concealed from the world around us, joys in which "a stranger intermeddleth not ;" enlivening the morning, brightening the noon, and gilding the evening of our days; effecting what is so difficult to be effected, and what nothing else can effect, at once making life pleasant, and death desirable, as leading to something still superior to all we feel here below

It will still be alleged, perhaps, that in- | tabernacle, the divine favor attending us and stances are not wanting of the worst of men, ours through every stage of our existence, in principle and practice, going out of life sanctifying prosperity, which by the displeawith no less composure than the best. I be- sure of God may be rendered a curse, and lieve these instances to be very rare indeed. turning adversity itself into a blessing, while But admit the allegation, that there are some; it becomes an instrument to rectify the diswhat do they prove? What can they prove? orders of our minds, to soften the few hard Why, certainly, unless all that has been con- places remaining in our hearts, to smooth and ceived and uttered by the wise and good of lay even the little roughnesses in our temevery age concerning God and religion, right pers; thus gradually and gently preparing and wrong, virtue and vice, truth and false- us for our departure hence, and fitting us for hood-unless all this be a mere dream, they the company, to which we are going, of "the can prove only that such persons die in a spirits of just men made perfect-" a state of ignorance, stupidity, or judicial blindness, with hardened hearts, and seared consciences. When the drunkard ceases to feel in the morning the usual pains and penalties of his last night's debauch, he fancies the strength of his constitution has triumphed over the mischief of intemperance, and that the bitterness of death is past. Alas, poor man! the fact is, that his constitution, by his ill treatment of it, has lost the sense of natural good and evil, implanted in it for its preservation; he has no longer that motive left to reformation, and is therefore sealed up to perdition, which is coming upon him, fierce, speedy, and irresistible, like an armed man. But however, by habits either of sensuality or infidelity, the conscience may be drugged and laid asleep in this world, let it not be forgotten, that (whether some men believe so much or not) there is another world beyond this, in which it must awake and sleep no more. And if in this world some sins are punished, as we have assurance they are, while others of far greater magnitude and more atrocious guilt are permitted to go unpunished, it will follow, by a consequence which the wit of man cannot gainsay should he study for a thousand years to do it, that such sins, not being punished here, will most inevitably be punished there. Else were God unrighteous indeed! As touching the nature of those after-punishments, I shall only say (the misgivings and forebodings of him who has deserved them will speak the rest,) that they are such as will be inflicted, after the expiration of the day of mercy, by inexorable justice and almighty power.

We have taken a view of the evil to be avoided by repentance. It consists in the temporal judgments of God, the terrors of a guilty conscience, and the pains of eternal death.

The good to be obtained needeth only to be mentioned in very few words. It must have offered itself to your thoughts as we passed along, branching into these opposite particu

lars

-The light of heaven shining upon our

-The reward in heaven, the glory that shall be revealed, to be known only when it shall be revealed; the bliss without alloy and without end, which he cannot conceive who has not experienced, and which he who has experienced can find no human language able to express.

Such evil is to be avoided, and such good to be obtained by repentance, that plank remaining to a shipwrecked world, on which alone we can escape to the haven of rest. All have sinned, and therefore, in order to be saved, all must repent. It is surely the least they can do; and to those who do this, through faith in the blood of Christ purifying the conscience from sins past, and the power of the Spirit of Christ supporting and carrying them on for the time to come, exceeding great and precious promises, comprehending and confirming all that has been advanced, are made in every part of Scripture, which before this audience there is no occasion to recite.

III. Some short rules shall be laid down for the conduct of our repentance through the several parts, of which, under the first head of this discourse, we have shown it to be composed; that so it may be made to answer the character already given of its power and efficacy under the second.

1. Stifle not convictions.

The world,

through all its vicissitudes, natural, political, and moral, the casualties of youth, and the increasing infirmities of age, is full of warnings and admonitions. Day unto day showeth this speech, night unto night uttereth this knowledge. We hear, but resolve to forget. Many of the employments and most of the amusements of life are engaged in, that man may fly from himself and from his own thoughts. Attend to every suggestion of this salutary kind, from what quarter soever it may proceed; attend, and slight it not. It is the voice of God calling you to repentance. Listen and obey.

of obedience may be rewarded with every thing else that is necessary" This I had, because I kept thy commandments."

4. Resolve speedily. Fruitless is sorrow for having done amiss, if it issue not in a resolution to do so no more. And in forming this resolution no time is to be lost. He who doth not resolve to-day, will be much less disposed to resolve to-morrow. Procrastination in many cases is dangerous: in this it is often fatal.

5. Renew your resolutions daily. Else will they be soon forgotten, and consequently never carried into execution. It is the interest of the passions that they should be forgotten. Cares and pleasures will be apt to efface them; temptations will return and prevail; a relapse will be the consequence; and all the work must be entered upon anew, with difficulties increased, strength diminished, and courage appalled. To prevent this from happening, no better method can be devised, than every day to renew the impressions once produced. During so short an interval, the enemy can make no very considerable breach in the works-none but what may be easily repaired, and put again into a state of defence.

2. Be serious. The subject will cause any man to become so who considers it as he ought to do; who reflects what sin is in the sight of God, what sorrows it occasioned to the Son of God, what destruction it hath brought upon the world, and is about to bring upon himself, unless prevented by a timely repentance. Memorable are the words of a great statesman of our own, when, because he seemed pensive and thoughtful towards the close of his days, some court buffoons were sent to divert him: "While we laugh, all things are serious about us. God is serious, when he preserveth us, and hath patience toward us. Christ was serious, when he But after all-"Except the Lord keep the died for us. The Holy Spirit is serious, when city, the watchman waketh but in vain." It he striveth with us. The Scripture is serious, is he who granteth repentance unto life; and when it is read before us. Sacraments are it is he alone who can perfect the good work, serious, when they are administered to us. when it is begun in us. To him, therefore, The whole creation is serious, in serving God let prayer be made, without ceasing, at mornand us. Angels are serious above, while ing, and at evening, and at noon day, and that they wait for our conversion. Evil spirits instantly. And when can we, with more are serious below, in endeavoring to effect | propriety or more effect, prefer our petitions, our destruction-And shall man not be seri-than at this time, that He would be pleased ous, who of all other creatures hath most rea- to prosper the word that hath been spoken son to be so?"

to the purpose for which it hath been spoken; 3. Be frequent in confession. The church that they who have not yet begun their reenters upon her service with it in public, and pentance may forthwith begin it; and that every one should do the same in private. If they who have begun it may be enabled hapyou feel not that warmth of devotion you pily to complete it; that all may make a due could wish to feel when you begin, you may use of the present holy season, which to many experience it before you end your confession. may perhaps return no more; and no single The very repetition of proper sentiments in person leave this place liable to the reproach proper language will produce the affections of God by his prophet, that, when "the stork which they are intended to express. Begin, in the heavens knoweth her appointed time, as an act of obedience to him who has assured and the turtle, the crane, and the swallow us, that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful know the time of their coming "-he should and just to forgive us our sins." Such an act not know the judgment of the Lord."

DISCOURSE XLIX.

THE DEVOUT SOLDIER.

ACTS, x. 31.

Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.

In the histories of this world we read of | called the Italian band, a devout man, and conquests gained by the sword and spear; we one that feared God with all his house, view the celebrated heroes of ancient and which gave alms to the people, and prayed modern times marking out their progress to God alway." through kingdoms and empires with havoc and desolation, while "every battle" of those warriors" is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood." How different the scenes presented to us in that portion of sacred story, styled "The Acts of the Apostles," or the exploits of those who were sent forth to subdue the world to the obedience of Christ! Here too we read of conquests; but they were gained by faith and patience, by prayers and sermons, by meekness and long suffering. Here we behold a mighty prince making his progress upon the earth; but that prince is the "Prince of Peace," and his progress is the progress of salvation: he makes war against the unruly passions and affections of sinful men, and all his desire is, to command a willing people in the day of his power.

From the name and profession of Cornelius, it appears that he was a Roman, and, consequently, a heathen. But the character here given of him makes it evident that he must have been in some sort a convert to Judaism, and instructed out of the law; otherwise the Holy Ghost would not have called him a devout man; he could not be said to have feared God, that is, the true God, whom, as a heathen, he could not know, much less worship and serve by prayer and alms-deeds. He was therefore one of those who were styled Prosclytes of the gate, not circumcised and made complete Jews, but taught the general princi ples of true religion, the knowledge of God and a Saviour who was to come, and permitted to attend and offer up their devotions in the outer court of the temple at the times of sacrifice. The Ethiopian nobleman, who came to Jerusalem to worship, and was baptized by Philip, must have been in the same state with Cornelius, and so became prepared, like him, to receive the Gospel, when it was preached to him.

Hitherto the apostles, in compliance with their orders, had confined themselves to the Jews, as the Gospel must be first preached to that once highly favored people. But now the hour was come, when the great mystery of divine mercy, the call of the nations, should begin to be unfolded, and God 1. God Almighty hath his servants in all would show some specimen of the riches places and in all conditions, even those of his grace reserved in store for the hea- wherein one would least expect to find then world. St. Peter was, therefore, sent them. The profession of a soldier is genewith the glad tidings of a Saviour to rally thought very unfavorable to religion, Cornelius, a Roman centurion, on the however it comes about; for certainly, if circumstances of whose call and conver- there be any one man to whom religion is sion, as they are very particularly related more necessary at all times than it is to anin the chapter from whence the text is other, a soldier is that man. His life is taken, I shall proceed to offer some consid-" always in his hand," always liable to be erations, which, it is hoped, may be of use

to us all.

"There was a certain man in Cæsarea, called Cornelius, a centurion of the band

taken from him, therefore should he not

[ocr errors]

forget God's law." Death besets him on every side in its most terrible forms, and threatens, each moment, to call him away

to judgment: therefore it behoveth him to stand ready with his accounts prepared. A sect that arcse here in England during the last century, held it unlawful to bear arms; but without grounds. For when the soldiers applied to that most rigorous and austere preacher, St. John the Baptist, he did not exhort them to quit their profession, as he would doubtless have done had it been unlawful in itself, but only recommended a proper behavior to them: "Do violence," says he, "to no man, and be content with your wages." So that there is no natural or necessary connection between irreligion and the profession of a soldier. On the contrary, true religion never appears to more advantage than it doth in that character. It pleased God to accept a person of the military profession as the first fruits of the Gentile world. | And he must be a person of very little sensibility, who is not charmed with the account given us of Cornelius, an officer in the Roman army.

it in the way of peace. Such is the true use of that power which God hath granted unto men, from him that ruleth over millions, to him that hath only a single servant. The manners of a family depend upon those of the master. His principles and practices soon diffuse themselves through the house, and the piety or profaneness, the sobriety or intemperance, the sloth or diligence of servants, discover to the world the nature of that fountain from which they flow. "Cornelius feared God, with all his house." He set a good example, and took care that they should follow it. He honored the name of God himself, and it was not blasphemed by his domestics. While he was proceeding to heaven, he did not send them, or let them go, to hell, but carried them all with him. He feared God, with all his house; there was not one wicked or disorderly person in it. And now, recollect who this man was. He was a soldier; he was a Roman. How will his example, in this respect, be held up at the day of judgment, to the shame and condemnation of Christians who have never once thought of following it!

2. "He was a devout man "—not only what the world calls "a decent character, a good sort of a man," by which is often intended a goodness with no religion, and 4. Cornelius " gave much alms to the very little morality; but a thoroughly pious people, and prayed to God alway." True man, one that "feared God," that set God religion consisteth in the love of God, and always before him, and regarded him in all of man for God's sake. The former shows he said and did. Such a fear is the first itself in the exercise of piety; the latter and principal part of divine wisdom, and it in that of charity. One leads us to God, is peculiarly excellent in a soldier; because as the only person who can supply our he who fears God as he ought to do, will wants; the other induceth us to supply fear nobody else. True courage must be those of our neighbors. Prayer is powerfounded in true religion; for a bad man ful, and alms are powerful, and when they cannot be a brave man, with his eyes open join their forces, omnipotence itself is and his thoughts about him. Nor could a pleased to be overcome by them. Alms general give a better exhortation to his give wings to prayer, causing it to ascend army, than that given by Christ to his dis-swiftly toward heaven; and prayer gives ciples; "Fear not them which kill the body, and, after that, have no more that they can do; but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him who, after he hath killed, hath power to destroy both body and soul in hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him." And a heathen historian, who was himself a great commander, could say, that "the soldier who first serves God, and then obeys his captain, may confidently hope to overcome his enemy."

*

strength to alms, enabling them to follow after, till they enter the everlasting doors together, and present themselves before the Most High. They rise like vapors from the earth, and return again, like them, with a blessing. But, in order that they may produce this effect, a man must not be niggardly in his alms, he must not be inconstant in his prayers. "Cornelius gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway," that is, at all the stated and proper times of prayer.

3. Cornelius" feared God, with all his house." Piety, like the sun, communicates 5. From the account which Cornelius itself to all around it. Every family is a gives of himself to St. Peter, at the latter little kingdom, of which the master is end of the chapter, it appears that he was prince; it is a little flock, of which the accustomed to join fasting to prayer. master is shepherd, appointed by Heaven" Four days ago," says he, "I was fasting to govern it in righteousness, and to guide

• Xenophon.

until this hour." Prayer is an ascent of the soul to God. The corruptible body I presseth down the soul, and hinders it in its

« AnteriorContinuar »