xxx. 29) crying to Him, with penitent confession of our sins,
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, their sin is hid" (Hosea xiii. 12). Not that his sin was hid from God, but his sin is hid; that is, it is recorded, it is laid up against a day of reckoning. That this is the meaning, is clear by the foregoing words, his iniquity is bound up; as the clerk of the assizes binds up the indictments of malefactors in a bundle, and, at the assizes, brings out the indictments, and reads them in court, so God binds up men's sins in a bundle; and, at the day of judgment, this bundle shall be opened, and all their sins brought to light before men and angels.--_Watson,_ 1696.
THE GREAT DETHRONEMENT.
ii. 18. _And the idols He shall utterly abolish._
There are a great number of things which would be incredible if they had not actually happened! Men who, like ourselves, boasted of "reason" and "common sense," sought to settle their disputes and to vindicate their honour by the duel; they have stoutly believed in witchcraft, in "touching for the king's evil," and in other absurdities. But surely the supreme folly of which men have been guilty is idolatry. That men should fashion an idol of wood or stone, and then bow down to worship _it,_ what absurdity is this! Yet +I. The idols have had a long reign in the earth.+ Trace human history back as far as all extant records will enable you to do so, and you will find idols enthroned in the affections of men. That they should ever have been set up there must be regarded as one of Satan's subtlest and greatest triumphs. The instincts that lead men to worship are so strong, that his only hope of preventing fallen men from returning to their allegiance to God lay in persuading them to worship some other thing or being. His difficulty and his device were those of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 26-28). He seems to have led men down step by step: stars, images as representatives, then the images themselves: first, natural principles, then living creatures in which these principles were supposed to be embodied, then the living creatures themselves. To have begun at the end would have been too great a shock; the absurdity as well as the wickedness of such worship would have been too obvious. Thus was the empire of the idols founded, and it continues to this day. +II. The empire of the idols has been world-wide.+ It might have been supposed to be a folly that could be imposed only on a few barbarous tribes, and that all civilised nations would have rejected it with distain; but as a matter of fact, it is precisely among these nations (Egypt, Greece, Rome, Judæa, India) that idolatry flourished most and in its basest forms. Hence the empire of idolatry was co-extensive with the globe. In Elijah's time even God thought it a great thing that He would assure His prophet that there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings xix. 18). +III. The idols have been served with passionate devotion.+ In almost all ages worshippers of idols have put to shame the worshippers of God, by their fidelity to their convictions, the scrupulousness of their observance of the rites which they have esteemed religious, and the greatness of the cost at which they have done honour to their gods. +IV. The idols have had for their allies the most influential of social and moral forces.+ Their priests and dependents (Acts. xix. 25) have jealously watched every encroachment on the empire of their gods. Rulers, for political reasons, have strenuously endeavoured to uphold the national faiths. Custom and fashion have wrought in the same direction. But, above all, the idols have had their most powerful allies in the human breast--in the instinct of worship, and the craving for sensual indulgences. _Idolatry has combined these most powerful of all cravings_--has provided deities in whose worship the worst passions of man's animal nature have been gratified. +V. Nevertheless the empire of idolatry shall be utterly destroyed.+ It shall vanish as utterly as the great empire of Assyria. "The idols He shall utterly abolish." Already that empire has been overthrown where it seemed most firmly established, and the complete fulfilment of the prediction of our text is obviously now only a question of time. Even in heathen countries, men are becoming ashamed of their idols, and are representing them as merely the _media_ of worship. The victory of Christianity over idolatry is already assured. The struggles that are yet to shake the world will be, not between Christianity and idolatry; not even between Christianity and atheism, for atheism is necessarily merely a brief episode in human experience; but between Christianity and other forms of monotheism.
APPLICATION. 1. _In the wide-spread and long-continued empire of the idols we have a conclusive proof of man's need of a Divine revelation._ The natural progress of fallen man is not to light, but to darkness (Rom. i. 21-23; 1 Cor. i. 21). 2. _In the prediction of our text, we have a conclusive proof of that in the Bible we have such a revelation._ Consider the circumstances of the prophet: idolatry on every hand, corrupting even His own people. It was contrary to all experience; it must have seemed to many who first heard it as the ravings of a lunatic. Such a prediction, already so marvellously fulfilled, came from God! 3. _In the approaching complete fulfilment of the prediction of our text, let us rejoice._ And let us labour as well as pray, that the time may be hastened when by idolatry God shall be no longer dishonoured and man degraded.
MAN'S INSIGNIFICANCE AND GOD'S SUPREMACY.
ii. 22. _Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?_
In this verse the whole Bible is summed up. The folly of trusting in man, and the necessity of trusting in God alone, is its greatest lesson, from its commencement to its close. This is what we are taught--+I. By its record of God's providential dealings with the Jews and other nations.+ Continually He has accomplished His ends by very different means than man would have selected. Egypt saved from perishing by famine through the instrumentality of a young slave; Naaman delivered from his leprosy through the ministrations of a little maid; Israel rescued by Gideon and his three hundred soldiers; the boastful Philistines defeated by a young shepherd, &c. +II. By the grand scheme of human redemption which it discloses.+ In it God is everything, and man nothing. The only means by which man can be restored to holiness, to the Divine favour and life everlasting, were provided by God; man contributed nothing either to its completeness or efficiency. The benefit is man's, the glory all belongs to God. Nor in appropriating it does he do anything that is meritorious. In repentance there is no merit: it is simply that state of mind which is required of us in view of the sins we have committed. Nor in faith; it is simply the recognition of the ability of another, and the consequent entrustment of ourselves to Him, to do that for us which we confess our inability to do for ourselves.--Blessed is the man, and he only, who has learned these two things. So long as a man depends on his own wisdom, power, and goodness, or on the wisdom, power and goodness of other men, he must be disquieted and unhappy. We can attain to substantial quiet and an abiding satisfying peace only when we feel that our dependence is on a Being omnipresent, independent, and supreme, as well as abundant in truth and love (Isa. xxvi. 3).--_Joseph Holdech, D.D., American National Preacher,_ xxxvi. 255-265.
LESSONS FROM A NATIONAL BEREAVEMENT.
(_Sermon preached on the Sunday after the death of President Harrison._)
ii. 22. _Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?_
The event which has just befallen us as a nation is fitted to teach--+I. The vanity of human dependence.+ The atheism of the human heart displays itself in a disposition to confide entirely in an arm of flesh. This is so in the family, the church, the nation. In various ways God endeavours to teach nations their real dependence upon Himself--by famine, by pestilence, by commercial disasters, by the death of their rulers. What "fools" we must be, and how "brutish" must be our understanding, if we do not lay to heart the lesson which He has now given us (Ps. cxlvi. 3). +II. The pettiness of party strife.+ How much of selfishness, unkindness, anger, and untruthfulness does the spirit of party give birth to! How seldom politicians of opposite parties do each other common justice! How fierce are their rivalries! But how mean, how worthless, how unworthy appear the objects of their strife when death enters the arenas and waves his skeleton arm! What a great calm falls upon the agitated spirits of men! How noise is hushed and excitement subdued! How like do the flushed and eager politicians seem then to silly children quarrelling for the possession of a bubble that has just been blown into the air, and that will disappear the moment it is grasped![1] +III. The vanity of the world, the certainty of death, and the nearness of eternity.+ These lessons are _taught_ when a beggar dies, but are more likely to be _laid to heart_ when a prince is laid low.[2] +IV. The supreme importance of a right moral character.+ Most instructive is the interest felt by survivors in the moral character of the departed, in the evidences of his preparation for death, in the manner in which the great summons affected him. This is the testimony of the human conscience, that in comparison with a fitness to appear before the tribunal of God, everything else loses its importance. When was the amount of a man's _possessions_ inscribed on his tombstone? The bare suggestion of such a thing would be construed as a mockery of death, under whose denuding hand the rich man leaves the world naked as he entered it. But if, in all his life, there was one virtue in his moral character, one trait which can afford satisfactory evidence of God's approval, this, be sure, you will find sculptured in conspicuous characters on his monumental marble. One thing alone can prepare any for their last account--the belief and practice of the Gospel of God. Have _you_ the great calm which is inspired by the confidence of being prepared for the great change?--_W. Adams, American National Preacher,_ xv. 97-105.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Here, like a shepherd gazing from his hut, Touching his reed, or leaning on his staff, Eager Ambition's fiery chase I see; I see the circling hunt of noisy men Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounts of right, Pursuing and pursued, each other's prey; As wolves for rapine; as the fox for wiles; Till Death, that mighty hunter, earths them all. Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour? What though we wade in wealth, or soar in fame? Earth's highest station ends in "Here he lies"-- And "Dust to dust" concludes her noblest song.--_Young._
[2] The glories of our birth and state Are shadows, not substantial things; There is no armour against fate: Death lays his icy hand on kings; Sceptre and crown Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Some men with swords may reap the field, And plant fresh laurels where they kill; But their strong nerves at last must yield: They tame but one another still; Early or late They stoop to fate, And must give up their murmuring breath, When they, pale captives, creep to death.
The garlands wither on your brow; Then boast no more your mighty deeds; Upon death's purple altar, now, See where the victor victim bleeds! All heads must come To the cold tomb! Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.--_Shirley._
THE DEATH OF STATESMEN.
(_Funeral Sermon for the Right Hon. George Canning._)
iii. 1-3. _For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah . . . the counsellor, . . . and the eloquent orator._
By the death of a great statesman at the head of a government, we are reminded.--+I.+ Of +the weight of government in a fallen world.+ It is a burden that has crushed many, and has brought them to an untimely grave. +II.+ Of +the weakness of the shoulders of mortal men.+ The government of a single country, especially in troublous times, has proved a burden too great for the courage and the endurance of the strongest of men. +III.+ Of +the uncertainty of all human affairs.+ Often does the statesman think of the uncertainty of arriving at the object of his ambition, but seldom of the uncertainty of his remaining there, except when he recollects how many are struggling to replace him. Little does he think of another foe, who lurks behind, and who in some unexpected moment will hush his eloquent tongue, and turn his fertile brain to dust. +IV.+ Of +our absolute dependence on the Supreme Governor.+ We are apt to think that it is on the profound counsellor and mighty orator that the nation's welfare depends, and to think little of Him who made them what they are, to be employed as He pleases, laid aside when He pleases, and replaced if He pleases, by others as richly endowed. +V.+ Of +the necessity of personal preparation for death.+[1]--_J. Bennett, D.D., The British Pulpit,_ i. 297-304.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] So live, that, when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, that moves To that mysterious realm where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not like the quarry slave at night Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.--_Bryant._
NATIONAL GREATNESS.
iii. 1-8. _For, behold, &c._
+I. The elements of national greatness are intellectual and moral, rather than material.+ A nation may have "the staff of bread" and "the stay of water," but lacking the persons enumerated in ver. 2, 3, it cannot be a great nation. While, therefore, it is reasonable to put forth efforts to increase the material resources of the nation, we should be more concerned to improve the producers than the produce. +II. For the supply and continuance of these supreme elements of national greatness, we are absolutely dependent upon God.+ Well to remember that for all material blessings we are _absolutely_ dependent upon Him. The moral value of a bad harvest is often great; it reminds us that, do what the most skilful agriculturists may, it is "God that giveth the increase." Nor less dependent are we upon Him for the _men_ without whom no nation can be great. Wise statesmen, skilful inventors, eloquent orators, &c., are very special gifts of God; such men cannot be manufactured. +III. These essential elements of national greatness God will take away for those nations that are regardless of His goodness and defiant of His authority+ (ver. 1, 8). National sins bring on national judgments. No national judgment is more severe or prolific of disasters than the removal or denial of great leaders. +IV. Not only can God abase the greatest nation, but He can reduce it to the depths of humiliation which beforehand it would have regarded as inconceivable.+ See through what states of national sorrow and shame the prophet declared that Israel should be led. 1. The diminution of its material resources and the removal of all its leaders of society (ver. 1-3). 2. The government entrusted to weak and childish rulers (ver. 4). 3. Social anarchy (ver. 5). 4. Social degradation so extreme, that men are solicited to rule merely because they have a little wealth (ver. 6). 5. The last state of national degradation--its supreme places of authority have become so contemptible and perilous that no one can be induced to fill them (ver. 7).
These considerations concern us individually. The nation is but an aggregate of individuals; and what they are, it is. Hence it behoves us--1. _To strive after personal holiness._ This seems a very small remedy for national evils. But it is only by each man adopting it that the nation can be made religious. If each _drop_ in the ocean could eliminate the salt with which it is charged, the _ocean_ would become fresh. Besides, by our example we may stimulate others to personal reforms, and they again others. 2. _To entreat God to deal with us as a nation in the way of mercy, and not of judgment_ (Ps. ciii. 10). There is a mighty power in intercessory prayer. 3. _Diligently to promote all moral and social reforms._ We must labour as well as pray. A Christian man will assist in all political reforms, because it is the will of God that righteousness should prevail in all things. But much more interested will he be in all movements and institutions having for their end and the intellectual and moral advancement of the people: the school, the temperance society, better dwellings for the working classes, the diffusion of a pure literature, &c. 4. _To put forth constant efforts to bring and keep our fellow-countrymen under the influence of the Gospel._ Of all regenerative and conservative influences the Gospel is the most active and powerful. A nation composed entirely of genuine Christians would be at once the most happy, prosperous, and powerful the world has ever seen. The direct and short way to exalt Great Britain is to strive to lead all our countrymen to the knowledge and service of Christ. This is a work, not for ministers only, but for the whole Church. There would be more happy Christians if there were more working Christians. It is not the running brooks, but the standing pools, that become stagnant.
SHAMELESS SINNERS.
iii. 9. _They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not._
Extremes are generally detestable: equatorial heat, arctic cold; the speaker whom we must strain to hear, the orator who roars, &c. So in morals: foolhardy rashness, cowardice; prodigality, penuriousness; hypocrites, and such shameless sinners as are spoken of here. Such persons are even more detestable than hypocrites; these at least pay this homage to virtue, that they array themselves in her outer garments. Desperate and vain is the endeavour to cloak iniquity, yet even this is better than the effrontery which leads some to flaunt it in open day. How surprising is such effrontery! When we consider what sin is--a thing horribly degrading to man as well as insufferably offensive to God--we should have expected beforehand that men would have been as anxious to hide their vices, as they are to conceal any loathsome disease with which they may be afflicted. But it is not so. There are tens of thousands of sinners as devoid of shame as were those who dwelt in Sodom; nay, they glory in their shame. Consider--
+I.+ THE CAUSES OF SHAMELESSNESS IN SIN.
+1. Ignorance.+ There are many so uninterested in moral and spiritual things; they have grown up surrounded by such evil examples, that they have no consciousness of the foulness of their vices, any more than a peasant has of the ungracefulness of his manners. This cause operates among the lower classes to an extent scarcely conceivable by the cultured and refined. +2. Habit.+ Many an open and shameless sinner, at the outset of his career, when he was first betrayed into transgression, was ashamed almost to walk through the street, and imagined that every one whom he met had heard of, and despised him for, his offence. But the offence was repeated; it became a habit; and in proportion as it has done so, has the offender's sense of shame died out of him. He thinks as little of it as a soldier does of his uniform, which when it was first put on caused him to think that all eyes were fixed upon him. +3. A desire to silence conscience.+ The effrontery is often assumed, just as the rustic traveller when near a churchyard whistles, not because he is courageous, but to keep his courage up. Conscience reproaches and warns, and the sinner seeks to silence it by greater desperation in wickedness. +4. A seared conscience.+ In the course just named the sinner too often succeeds. Conscience, defied and outraged, desists from her useless efforts, and gives herself over to an insensible lethargy; there will come an hour of terrible awakening; but meanwhile she is blind, deaf, dumb, and the sinner perpetrates the most abominable iniquities without a blush.[1] +5. Infidelity.+ The sinner has succeeded at last in persuading himself that what he wishes were true is true, and that there is no God, and, consequently, no day of judgment and no hell. As soon as men have cast off fear of God, it is easy for them to cast off fear of men. The ordinary fruit of infidelity is vice. What but prudence is left to restrain the infidel from partaking in the pleasures of sin? And how weak prudence is in any real contest with passion!
+II.+ THE CONSEQUENCES OF SHAMELESSNESS IN SIN.
This is declared by the prophet to be woe--woe of peculiar intensity and awfulness. "Woe unto their soul!" &c. They stand in peril of the severest chastisements of the Divine justice--+1. Because shamelessness in sin is an aggravation of sin.+ It is felt to be so in the home, in the nation. Disloyalty is an evil thing, but to break forth into open rebellion, and to take the field against the monarch, is worse. +2. Because shamelessness in sin adds to the contagiousness of sin.+ One reason why sin is so hateful in the sight of God is because it renders every sinner a moral pestilence. Corrupt, he corrupts others (Eccles. ix. 18). But of shameless sinners this is especially true. (1) _They lead many to imitate them in their wickedness._ In every community these shameless sinners are ringleaders in vice and recruiting-sergeants for the devil. (2) _They confirm many in wickedness._ Many are "halting between two opinions," and these shameless offenders, by their example, and often by their persuasions, supply that which is needed to bring these irresolute ones to a decision for a life of iniquity. Thus they are soul-murderers as well as soul-suicides. Justice, therefore, demands that their punishment shall be especially severe. Their doom will probably be as manifest as their guilt.
APPLICATION. 1. _Let those who have been thus shameless in sin humble themselves before Almighty God._ Even for them to-day there is mercy (ch. lv. 7; i. 18). Let no sinner be deterred from seeking mercy by the greatness of his sins (Ezra ix. 6, with Ps. cviii. 4, and Rom. v. 20). Yet let no sinner presume further to transgress because God is so merciful. There is an awful warning in the gracious invitation (ch. lv. 6). 2. As ignorance is one main cause of shamelessness in sin, _let Sunday-school teachers recognise the importance of the task in which they are engaged._ Though they may not be able to point to individual conversions as the result of their efforts, they are not labouring in vain; by them the moral sense of the community is being raised. Evil as are our days, the testimony is conclusive that the former days were not better, but worse. 3. As habit is another main cause of shamelessness in sin, let _the young be anxiously on their guard against the formation of evil habits._ But habits grow from acts. A single action is consequently more important than it seems. There are certain actions which have in themselves a special decisiveness of influence. When a young man has once entered a bar parlour, he has entered upon the high way to drunkenness; he may not reach it, but he is on the high way to it. Another most decisive step towards shamelessness in sin is taken when a young person who has been trained under Christian influence joins a Sunday excursion. It is by this gate that millions have entered the path of open transgression, along which they have hastened to perdition. 4. _Let the people of God be very careful to leave shameless sinners without excuse._ It is by the inconsistencies of professing Christians that such persons endeavour to shield themselves from censure and to silence their consciences. Hence Eph. v. 15; Col. iv. 5; 1 Thess. v. 22.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Blind and ignorant consciences speak peace, or hold their peace, because they have not skill enough to find fault; they swallow many a fly, and digest all well enough. While the scales were upon Paul's eyes, he was alive and quiet; he thought concupiscence, the sin and breeder of all sin, to be no sin. Such consciences discern sin as we do stars in a dark night,--see only the great ones of the first magnitude, whereas a bright even discovers millions; or as we see a few motes in the dark houses, which sunlight shows to be infinite. Such think good meaning will serve the turn, that all religions will save, or a "Lord, have mercy on us," at the last gasp. The law which nature has engraven, they tread out with sins, as men do the engravings of tombs they walk on with foul shoes: they dare not look in the glass of God's law, which makes sin abound, lest the foolishness of their souls should affright them. A number of such sottish souls there be, whose consciences, if God opens, as He did the eyes of the prophet's servant, they shall see armies and legions of sins and devils in them.--_Ward,_ 1577-1639.
CHEERING WORDS AND SOLEMN WARNINGS.
iii. 10, 11. _Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat of the fruit of their own doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with them; for the reward of his hands shall be given him._
Into these two orders, the righteous and the wicked, the Bible is accustomed to divide the whole population of the globe.--A crimson line runs between the righteous and the wicked, the line of atoning sacrifice: faith crosses that line, but nothing else can. There can be no righteousness where there is no faith.--This distinction is so sharp and definite, that no man can dwell in a borderland between the two conditions. A clear line of demarcation exists between life and death, and such a division is fixed by God between the righteous and the wicked. There are no monstrous nondescripts, who are neither sinners nor saints. This text ought, therefore, to lead to great searching of heart.
+I. The well-being of the righteous.+ 1. _It is a great fact that it is well with the righteous._ It is well with him _always:_ in prosperity, which is a time of peril; in persecution, which is hard to bear; in childhood, manhood, and old age; in time, and throughout eternity. 2. _We are assured of this fact on Divine authority._ Reason might assure us of it, but it is better to have it under the hand and seal of omniscience. If thou canst not see it, let God's word stand thee instead of sight. 3. _It is the will of God that His people should know this great fact._ He would have his saints happy, and therefore He says to His prophets, "Say ye," &c. 4. _With God's people it is emphatically "well."_ When GOD says it is "well" with a man, it must be well indeed. 5. _There are many obvious reasons why it is well with the righteous._ (1.) His greatest trouble is past. His greatest trouble was the guilt of sin. (2.) His next greatest trouble is doomed. The dominion of sin over him shall speedily come to an end. (3.) His best things are safe. His treasures are in heaven. (4.) His worst things work only for his good. (5.) He is well _fed,_ for he feeds upon Christ; well _clad,_ for he wears the imputed righteousness of Christ; well _housed,_ for he dwells in God who has been the dwelling-place of His people in all generations; well _married,_ for his soul is knit in bonds of marriage union to Christ; well _provided for,_ for the Lord is his Shepherd. (6.) God has put within him many graces, that help to make things well; _faith,_ which laughs at difficulties; _love,_ which accepts them; _patience,_ which endures them; _hope,_ which expects a rest to come. (7.) Day by day, God the Holy Ghost visits him with fresh life and power. (8.) He has a bank that never breaks--the glorious "throne of grace;" and he has only to apply on bended knee to get what he will. (9.) He has ever near him a most sweet Companion, whose loving converse is so delightful that the roughest roads grow smooth, and the darkest nights glow with brightness. (10.) He has an arm to lean upon that is never weary, never feeble, never withdrawn. (11.) He is favoured with a perpetual Comforter, who pours wine and oil into every wound, and brings to his remembrance the things which Christ has spoken. It is well with the righteous in life, well when he comes to die, and well after death. 6. _The blessedness of the righteous rest upon a solid ground._ The text says, "they shall eat the fruit of their doings." Those are the only terms upon which the old covenant can promise that it shall be well with us; but this is not the ground upon which you and I stand under the gospel dispensation. Absolutely to eat the fruit of our doings would be even to us, if judgment were brought to the line and righteousness to the plummet, a very dreadful thing. Yet there is a limited sense in which the righteous man will do this. "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat," &c., is good gospel language; and when the Master shall say, "Inasmuch as ye did this unto one of the least of these my people, ye did it unto me," the reward will not be of debt, but still it will be a reward, and the righteous will eat the fruit of his doings. I prefer, however, to remark, that there is One whose doings for us is the grounds of our dependence, and we shall eat of the fruit of His doings.
+II. The misery of the wicked.+ To expound the woe pronounced against him, you have only to negative all that I have already said about the righteous. It is ill with the wicked; always ill with him; and it shall be ill with him for ever.[1] But _why_ is it ill with the wicked? 1. He is out of joint with all the world. Ordinary creatures are obedient to God, but he has set himself in opposition to the whole current of creation. 2. He has an enemy who is omnipotent. 3. His joys all hang on a thread. Let life's thread be cut, and where are his merriments? 4. After these joys are over, he has no more to come. 5. Of all the comforts and hopes of the righteous, he is utterly destitute.--_C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,_ vol. xiii. 13-24.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Many sinners who seem so jocund in our eyes have not such merry lives as you think. A book may be fairly bound and gilded, yet have but sad stories writ within it. Sinners will not tell us all the secret rebukes that conscience gives them. If you will judge of Herod by the jollity of his feast, you may think he wanted no joy; but at another time we see that John's ghost walked in his conscience. And so doth the Word haunt many, who appear to us to lay nothing to heart. In the midst of their laughter their heart is sad; you see the lightning in their face, but hear not the thunder that rumbles in their conscience.--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.
Suppose a man were in prison, committed for some great offence, and condemned to die under the displeasure of his prince or state, and his servant should come to him, saying, "Sir, be of good comfort; your wife is well at home; you have very sweet children, an excellent crop of corn; your neighbours love you dearly; your sheep and cattle thrive, and all your houses are in good repair." Would he not answer that servant, "What is all this, so long as I am condemned to die"? Thus is it with every wicked man. He is under the displeasure of the great God, a condemned man, and God is angry with him every day; and if his heart were open to be sensible of it, he would say, "You tell me of my friends, and goods, and name, and trade; but what is all this, so long as I am a condemned person, and God is angry with me every day I rise?"--_Bridge,_ 1600-1670.
Who would think, now, that sees how quietly the multitude of the ungodly live, that they must very shortly lie roaring in everlasting flames? They lie down, and rise, and sleep so quietly; they eat and drink as quietly; they go about their work as cheerfully; they talk as pleasantly, as if nothing ailed them, or as if they were as far out of danger as an obedient believer. Like a man that hath the falling sickness, you would little think, while he is labouring as strongly and talking as heartily as another man, how he will presently fall down, lie gasping and foaming, and beating his breast in torment! so it is with these men. They are as free from the fears of hell as others, as free from any vexing sorrows, not so much as troubled with any cares of the state of their souls, nor with any sad and serious thoughts of what shall become of them in another world; yes, and for the most part, they have less doubts and disquiet of mind, than those who shall be saved. Oh, happy men, if they could be always thus; and if this peace would prove a lasting peace! But, alas, there is the misery! it will not. They are now in their own element, as the fish in the water; but little knows that silly creature when he is most fearlessly and delightfully swallowing down the bait, how suddenly he shall be snatched out, and lie dead upon the bank; and as little think these careless sinners what a change is near. The sheep or ox is driven quietly to the slaughter, because he knows not whither he goes; if he knew it were to his death, you could not drive him so easily. How contented is the swine when the butcher's knife is shaving his throat, little thinking that it is to prepare for his death! Why, it is even so with these sensual, careless men; they fear the mischief least, when it is nearest to them, because they see it not!--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.
THE GREAT LAW OF RECOMPENSE.
iii. 10, 11. _Say ye to the righteous,_ &c.
This is the testimony of _conscience;_ conscience testifies that that which is here predicted ought to take place--that the condition and circumstances of men ought to be conformed to their character. This is the testimony of _reason:_ in its clearest, calmest, strongest hours, it endorses this testimony of the conscience. This is the declaration of _Almighty God;_ He here promises that He will do that which conscience and reason agree that He ought to do. Thus we have here a conclusive concurrence of testimony, and the truths announced in our text should be recorded in our memory as absolutely certain.
These declarations remind us of two things. +I. That we are living now in a season of probation.+ These messages are much needed, because we are surrounded by much that is perplexing. Here and now fidelity to conscience often entails much loss, sorrow, and suffering. Many of the wicked are prosperous and triumphant. Iniquity _pays._ Moreover, the sufferings of the righteous and the successes of the wicked are often lifelong. This contrast between what ought to be and what is, has been a source of moral disquietude in all ages (Ps. lxxiii., &c). Yet it is absolutely necessary. Without this moral obscurity there could not have been any moral probation. There is no temptation in prussic acid, because its deadly qualities are indisputable, and because they operate instantaneously. If all sins had their penalties as clearly and closely tied to them, vice would be impossible. And so would virtue! Obedience to the Divine will would then be, not an act of choice, but the result of an irresistible moral compulsion, and it would have in it no morally educational influence, and nothing to render it acceptable to God. Not by chance, then, not by mistake, not as the result of a harsh and unloving decree, but as the result of ordinance of the highest wisdom and grace, we are now living in a season of moral probation. But, +II. We are hastening on to a season of rectifications and rewards.+ Conscience and reason attest that there _ought_ to be such a season, and the Scriptures assure us that there _shall_ be (Eccles. xii. 14; Rom. ii. 6-10, &c.)
The great facts of which our text reminds us, 1. _Should give calmness and steadiness to our faith._ We should not be greatly moved either by the distresses of the righteous or the triumphs of the wicked. These are most transient. The longest life is really a most inconsiderable episode in our being. This is but the beginning of our voyage; what matters it whether we clear out of port in a storm or amid bright sunshine? What will happen to us on mid-ocean is the only thing worthy of our concern. 2. _They should govern us in the decisions we have continually to make in life,_ between courses that are right, but involve present suffering, and those which are pleasant, but wrong. The sick man who refuses to undergo the present pain which will assure him of future health, and prefers the transient ease which will presently give place to intolerable agony, is insane. Let us not imitate him in his folly. But if the rewards of every man's hands shall be given him, how shall _any_ man be saved? This is precisely the difficulty which the Gospel was designed to meet. It is precisely because no man can be saved on his own merits that Christ came into the World, and died for every man, and now offers redemption to every man. This offer is made to YOU. For Christ's sake, the sins of the righteous shall be forgiven them; and for His sake likewise, they shall be rewarded according to their works (Matt. x. 42, xvi. 27; Heb. vi. 10, &c.) Between the doctrine of justification by faith and the doctrine of good works there is the most perfect harmony.
THE CURSE OF A WEAK GOVERNMENT.
iii. 12. _As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them._
"Children," "women," are not to be taken literally. In interpreting the second of these figures, we must remember the status of women in ancient times in the East. +I. A weak government is a curse.+ 1. By such a government the affairs of a nation are mismanaged, its resources squandered, and its great possibilities unrealised. 2. A weak government always becomes in the end an oppressive government. By it the national burdens are caused to press most heavily on those least able to bear them. 3. Under such a government, privileged classes and monopolies multiply and grow strong, to the hurt of the nation at large. 4. Worst of all, and as the source of countless evils, government itself comes to be despised, and the national respect for law destroyed. In short, under a weak government a nation makes rapid progress towards anarchy. +II. The curse of a weak government is not long in overtaking a nation that gives itself up to luxury and loses its regard for moral considerations.+ 1. It is only by such a nation that such a government would be tolerated. 2. By such a nation such a government is likely to be for a time most popular (Jer. v. 31).
The cures for political evils are not political but moral. Political remedies will but modify the symptoms. Political evils are really due to moral causes, and can only be removed by moral reformations. Hence, while good men will never neglect their political duties (no good man will neglect any duty), they will be especially in earnest to uplift the nation morally, and therefore will do their utmost to strengthen those agencies which have this for their aim--the church, the school, and those societies which exist for the diffusion of the Scriptures and of religious liberty. Wherever the Bible becomes the book of the people, oppression by "children" becomes impossible, and the government of "women" is set aside.
BLIND LEADERS.
iii. 12. _O my people, they which lead thee[1] cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths._
This is at once a lament and a condemnation--a lament over the misfortunes of those who are misguided, a condemnation of their folly and wickedness in permitting themselves to be led astray. +I. Men need to be led.+ 1. _This is our need as individuals._ Every day we need an answer to the questions, What ought I to do? Which way should I go? In the journey of life, we continually come to crossings at which we are conscious of our need of guidance. 2. _Guidance is still more necessary for men collectively._ What shall be the belief of a community? What its action? Like the apostolic band (John xxi. 2, 3) communities remain idle, undecided, until the born leader says, "I go a-fishing," and instantly they say to him, "We also go with thee." Men are naturally gregarious; like a flock of sheep they crowd and inconvenience each other, not knowing which way to turn, until one bolder than the rest breaks away from the flock, and then instantly the flock begins to follow him. +II. As a rule men are misled.+ Boldness and wisdom do not always go together. Not seldom the courage which prompts men to become the leaders of others, and which goes so far to command the assent of others, is a compound of self-conceit and ignorance. Men are always prone to trust in the self-confident: they will believe the boastful quack rather than the diffident philosopher. Hence in all ages men have been caused to err--the blind have been led by the blind. How true this is to-day in political matters, in social, in commercial, in religious! [Give instances.] On every hand, in all these realms of thought and action, there are those who can only rightly be described as leaders who cause the people to err. Yes, all men carry within them two leaders, in whom they are disposed implicitly to trust, but by whom in the majority of instances they are misled--reason and conscience. How absolute is the confidence placed in these guides, and how seldom it is justified! +III. To be misled is one of the most terrible of evils.+ 1. It involves the loss of all the good to which right leadership would have conducted men. 2. It involves disappointment, shame, sorrow, and often irretrievable ruin. 3. It plunges men into painful perplexities, so that even when they have begun to suspect that the path they are pursuing is erroneous, they know not how to discover the true one; it seems to them to be "destroyed;" they search for it in vain. They are like travellers who, in the darkness following _Will-of-the-Wisp,_ have strayed from the highway into a morass: to stand still is impossible, and yet to step in any direction, may plunge them into worse perils (Matt. xv. 14). How criminal is the conduct of those who betray their fellow-men into misery such as this!
In view of these facts, 1. _We should not entrust ourselves to the first guide who offers himself to us._ Let us examine the credentials of those who ask us to trust ourselves to their care (Matt. xxiv. 24; 1 John iv. 1-3; Isa. viii. 20). 2. _In weighing the claims of men to be our leaders, we should have regard supremely to their moral qualifications._ Their intellectual competency is, of course, not to be disregarded, but moral character is infinitely more important. Not all good men are fitted to be leaders; but no bad man can be safely followed by others. He is continually apt to be guided by policy, rather than principle, and policy leads to perdition.[2] Policy is at the best but guess-work--steering by the current; the man who is governed by principle steers by the stars, and neither can be long misled, nor will he wilfully mislead others. _Practical Application._--Never vote for any candidate for a public office, however clever he may be, if his integrity is doubtful. 3. _Every man needs guidance more close and intimate than any of his fellow-men can afford him:_ he needs to be led even in choosing his leaders. Whither shall he look for this guidance? To his reason, his conscience? These guides themselves need instruction:[3] in the absence of it, they have led millions to perdition. We need supernatural and sure guidance, and we have it (1) in God's Word, and (2) in God's Spirit (Prov. iii. 5, 6). The man who follows these guides will be led always in the paths of righteousness and peace.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The marginal reading, "they which call thee happy" (Mal.