THE original temptation set before our
first parents, was that of proving their freedom, by using it without regard to
the will of Him who gave it.
The original excuse offered by them after
sinning was, that they were not really free, that they had acted under a
constraining influence, the subtlety of the tempter.
This has
been the course of lawless pride and lust ever since; to lead us, first, to
exult in our uncontrollable liberty of will and conduct; then, when we have
ruined ourselves, to plead that we are the slaves of necessity.
It has been always the job of Religion and Law to protest against
the sophistry of EVIL, and to preserve those truths which the unbelieving heart
corrupts, both the freedom and the responsibility of man, the sovereignty of
the Creator, the supremacy of the law of conscience within us, and the
irrelevancy of external circumstances in the judgment which is to be made upon
our conduct and character.
.We are accountable for what we do and what we
are,—that, in spite of all aids or hindrances from without, each person is the
cause of their own happiness or misery, is a truth proved to us both by Conscience and Acquired
Knowledge.
Nature
conveys it to us in the feeling of guilt and remorse, which implies self-condemnation. On the
other hand, It is the great prevailing principle, in
every age of the world, and through every Culture.
The change of times, the
varieties of knowledge, the gifts of grace, do not interfere with the
integrity of this momentous truth.
Praise to
the good, punishment to the bad, is the revealed rule of God's government from
the beginning to the consummation of all things. The flaw of our ancestors did
not abolish, nor do the provisions of mercy supersede it.
It is my wish now to give some illustrations
of the operation of this sophistry in the affairs of life; not that it is a
subject which admits of novelty in the discussion, but with the hope of
directing attention to a mode of deceiving our consciences, common in all ages
since the original transgression, and not least successful in our own.
To find fault with the circumstances in which
we find ourselves, is our ready and familiar excuse when our conduct is
arraigned in any particular. Yet even the heathen moralist saw that all those
actions are voluntary, in which we ourselves are in any way ultimately the
principle of action; and that praise and blame are awarded, not according to
the mode in which we should have behaved, had circumstances been different, but
according as we actually conduct ourselves, things being as they are.
It is we,
and not our circumstances, that are, after all, the main cause of what we do
and what we are. THANK YOU.
"The
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Gen. iii.
13.
THE
original temptation set before our first parents, was that of proving their
freedom, by using it without regard to the will of Him who gave it. The
original excuse offered by them after sinning was, that they were not really
free, that they had acted under a constraining influence, the subtilty of the tempter. They committed sin that they might
be independent of their Maker; they defended it on the ground that they were
dependent upon Him. And this has been the course of lawless pride and lust ever
since; to lead us, first, to exult in our uncontrollable liberty of will and
conduct; then, when we have ruined ourselves, to plead that we are the slaves
of necessity.
2.
Accordingly, it has been always the office of Religion to protest against the
sophistry of Satan, and to preserve the memory of those truths which the
unbelieving heart corrupts, both the freedom and the responsibility of man;—the
sovereignty of the Creator, the supremacy of the law of conscience as His
representative within us, and the irrelevancy of external circumstances in the
judgment which is ultimately to be made upon our conduct and character.
3. That we
are accountable for what we do and what we are,—that, in spite of all aids or
hindrances from without, each soul is the cause of its own happiness or
misery,—is a truth certified to us both by Nature and Revelation. Nature
conveys it to us in the feeling of guilt and remorse, which implies self-condemnation.
In the Scriptures, on the other hand, it is the great prevailing principle
throughout, in every age of the world, and through every Dispensation. The change of times, the varieties of religious knowledge, the gifts of
grace, interfere not with the integrity of this momentous truth. Praise
to the obedient, punishment on the transgressor, is the revealed rule of God's
government from the beginning to the consummation of all things. The fall of
Adam did not abolish, nor do the provisions of Gospel-mercy supersede it.
4. At the
creation it was declared, "In the day that thou eatest
... thou shalt surely die." On the calling of
the Israelites, the Lord God was proclaimed in sight of their lawgiver as
"merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and
truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." And when Moses
interceded for the people, with an earnestness which tended to the infringement
of the Divine Rule, he was reminded that he could not himself be really
responsible for others. "Whosoever hath sinned against Me,
him will I blot out of My book." The prophetical Dispensation enforced the
same truth still more clearly. "With the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure, and with the froward
Thou wilt show Thyself froward." "The soul
that sinneth, it shall die; make you a new heart and
a new spirit, for why will ye die?" And after Christ had come, the most
explicit of the inspired expounders of the New Covenant is as explicit in his
recognition of the original rule. "Every man shall bear his own burden ...
Be not deceived: God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap." Even in his Epistle to the Romans, where he is
directly engaged in declaring another, and at first sight opposite doctrine, he
finds opportunity for confessing the principle of accountableness. Though
exalting the sovereign power and inscrutable purposes of God, and apparently
referring man's agency altogether to Him as the vessel of His good pleasure,
still he forgets not, in the very opening of his exposition, to declare the
real independence and responsibility of the human will. "He will render to
every man according to his deeds; … tribulation and anguish upon every soul of
man that doeth evil ... but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good; ... for there is no respect of persons with
God;"—declarations, which I will not say are utterly irreconcilable in
their very structure with (what is called) the Calvinistic creed, but which it
is certain would never have been written by an assertor of it in a formal
exposition of his views for the benefit of {139} his fellow-believers. Lastly,
we have the testimony of the book which completes and seals up for ever the
divine communications. "My reward is with Me; to
give every man according as his work shall be. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of
life." [Gen. ii. 17. Exod.
xxxiv. 7; xxxii. 33. Ps. xviii. 26. Ez. xviii. 4, 31. Gal. vi. 5-7. Rom. ii. 6-11. Rev. xxii. 12, 13.]
5.
Moreover, we have the limits of external aids and hindrances distinctly stated
to us, so as to guarantee to us, in spite of existing influences of whatever
kind, even of our original corrupt nature, the essential freedom and
accountableness of our will. As regards external circumstances: "God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it." As regards the corrupt nature in which we are born: "Let no man
say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; but every man is tempted, when he
is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed; then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." And as regards divine
assistances: "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened ... if
they fall away, to renew them again unto repentance." [1
Cor. x. 13. James i.
13-15. Heb. vi. 4-6.]
6. Far be
it from any one to rehearse triumphantly, and in the way of controversy, these
declarations of our privilege as moral agents; rather, so fearful and
burdensome is this almost divine attribute of our nature, that, when we
consider it attentively, it requires a strong faith in the wisdom and love of
our Maker, not to start sinfully from His gift; and at the mere prospect, not
the memory of our weakness, to attempt to transfer it from ourselves to the
agents, animate and inanimate, by which we are surrounded, and to lose our
immortality under the shadows of the visible world. And much more, when the
sense of guilt comes upon us, do we feel the temptation of ridding ourselves of
our conviction of our own responsibility; and, instead of betaking ourselves to
Him who can reverse what we cannot disclaim, to shelter ourselves under the
original unbelief of our first parents, as if the serpent gave it to us and we
did eat.
7. It is my
wish now to give some illustrations of the operation of this sophistry in the
affairs of life; not that it is a subject which admits of novelty in the
discussion, but with the hope of directing attention to a mode of deceiving our
consciences, common in all ages since the original transgression, and not least
successful in our own.
8. To find fault with the circumstances in which we find
ourselves, is our ready and familiar excuse when our conduct is arraigned in
any particular. Yet even the heathen moralist saw that all those actions are
voluntary, in which we ourselves are in any way ultimately the principle of
action; and that praise and blame are awarded, not according to the mode in
which we should have behaved, had circumstances been different, but according
as we actually conduct ourselves, things being as they are. Commenting on goods
thrown overboard in a storm, he remarks "that such acts must be considered
voluntary, as being the objects of our choice at the time when they are
done, for our conduct is determined according to the emergency." In truth, nothing is more
easy to the imagination than duty in the abstract, that is, duty in name
and not in reality. It is when it assumes a definite and actual shape, when it
comes upon us under circumstances (and it is obvious it can come in no other
way), then it is difficult and troublesome. Circumstances are the very trial of
obedience. Yet, plain as this is, it is very common to fancy our particular
condition peculiarly hard, and that we should be better and happier men in any
other.
9. Thus,
for instance, opportunity, which is the means of temptation in the case of
various sins, is converted into an excuse for them. Perhaps it is very plain
that, except for some unusual combination of circumstances, we could never have
been tempted at all; yet, when we fall on such an occasion, we are ready to
excuse our weakness, as if our trial were extraordinary.
10. Again,
the want of education is an excuse common with the lower classes for a careless
and irreligious life.
11. Again,
it is scarcely possible to resist the imagination, that we should have been
altogether other men than we are, had we lived in an age of miracles, or in the
visible presence of our Lord; that is, we cannot persuade ourselves that, whatever be the
force of things external to us in modifying our condition, it is we, and not
our circumstances, that are, after all, the main causes of what we do and what
we are.
12. Or,
again, to take a particular instance, which will perhaps come home to some who
hear me, when a young man is in prospect of ordination, he has a conceit that
his mind will be more fully his own, when he is actually engaged in the sacred
duties of his new calling, than at present; and, in the event he is perhaps
amazed and frightened, to find how little influence the change of circumstances
has had in sobering and regulating his thoughts, whatever greater decency his
outward conduct may exhibit.
13.
Further, it is the common excuse of wilful sinners, that there are peculiarities
in their present engagements, connexions, plans, or professions, incompatible
with immediate repentance; according to the memorable words of Felix,
"When I have a convenient season, I will send for thee."
14. The
operation of the same deceit discovers itself in our mode of judging the
conduct of others; whether, in the boldness with which we blame in them what,
under other circumstances, we allow in ourselves; or, again, in the false
charity which we exercise towards them. For instance, the vices of the young
are often regarded by beholders with an irrational indulgence, on the ground
(as it is said) that youth ever will be wanton and impetuous; which is only
saying, if put into plain language, that there are temptations which are not
intended as trials of our obedience. Or when,
as lately, the lower orders rise up against the powers that be, in
direct opposition to the word of Scripture, they are excused on the ground of
their rulers being bigoted and themselves enlightened; or because they feel
themselves capable of exercising more power; or because they have the example
of other nations to incite them to do so; or simply (the more common excuse)
because they have the means of doing so: as if loyalty could be called a virtue
when men cannot be disloyal, or obedience had any praise when it became a
constraint. In like manner, there is a false charity, which, on principle,
takes the cause of heresy under its protection; and, instead of condemning it,
as such, busies itself in fancying the possible circumstances which may, in
this or that particular instance, excuse it; as if outward fortunes could
change the nature of truth or of moral excellence, or as if, admitting the
existence of unavoidable misbelief to be conceivable,
yet it were not the duty of the Christian to take things as they are given us
in Scripture, as they are in themselves, and as they are on the whole, instead
of fastening upon exceptions to the rule, or attempting to ascertain that
combination and balance of circumstances, in favour of individuals, which is
only known to the Omniscient Judge.
15. The following apology for the early profligacy of the
notorious French infidel of the last century is found in even the respectable
literature of the present day, and is an illustration of the kind of fatalism
now under consideration. "It is certain," the apologist says,
"that a brilliant, highly-gifted, and more than commonly vivacious young
man, like Voltaire, who moved in the high tide of Parisian society, must necessarily
be imbued with the levity and laxity that on every side surrounded him, and
which has rendered the period in question proverbial for profligacy and
debauchery … This is not observed in defence of his moral defects, or of any
one else, but in answer to those who expect the virtues of a sage from the
education of an Alcibiades. His youthful career seems
to have been precisely that of other young men of his age and station, neither
better nor worse. It is scarcely necessary to prove the tinge which such a
state of society must bestow upon every character, however intellectually
gifted, which is formed in the midst of it." No one can say that the
doctrine contained in this extract is extravagant, as opinions go, and unfair
as a specimen of what is commonly received in the world, however boldly it is
expressed. Yet it will be observed, that vice is here pronounced to be the
necessary effect of a certain state of society, and, as being such, not
extenuated merely, as regards the individual (as it may well be), but
exculpated; so that, while the actions resulting from it are allowed to be
intrinsically bad, yet the agent himself is acquitted of the responsibility of
committing them.
16. The sophistry in question sometimes has assumed a bolder
form, and has displayed itself in the shape of system. Let us, then, now direct
our attention to it in some of those fortified positions, which at various
times it has taken up against the plain declarations of Scripture and
Conscience.
17. (1.)
Fatalism is the refuge of a conscience-stricken mind, maddened at the sight of
evils which it has brought upon itself, and cannot remove. To believe and
tremble is the most miserable of dooms for an immortal spirit; and bad men,
whose reason has been awakened by education, resolved not to be "tormented
before their time," seek in its intoxication a present oblivion of their
woe. It is wretched enough to suffer, but self-reproach is the worm which
destroys the inward power of resistance. Submission alone makes pain tolerable
in any case; and they who refuse the Divine yoke are driven to seek a sedative
in the notion of an eternal necessity. They deny that they ever could have been
other than they are. "What heaven has made me, I must be," is the
sentiment which hardens them into hopeless pride and rebellion.
18. And it
must be confessed, so great is the force of passion and of habit, when once
allowed to take possession of the heart, that these men seem to have in their
actual state, nay in their past experience, long before the time of their
present obduracy, an infallible witness in behalf of their doctrine. In
subduing our evil nature, the first steps alone are in our own power; a few
combats seem to decide the solemn question, to decide whether the sovereignty
is with the spirit or the flesh; nisi paret, imperat, is become a proverb. When once the enemy of
our souls "comes in like a flood," what hope is there that he ever
will be expelled? And what servitude can be compared to the bondage which
follows, when we wish to do right, yet are utterly powerless to do it? whether
we be slaves to some imperious passion, hushed indeed in its victim's ordinary
mood, and allowing the recurrence of better thoughts and purposes, but rising
suddenly and sternly, in his evil hour, to its easy and insulting triumph; or,
on the other hand, to some cold sin which overhangs and deadens the mind,
sloth, for instance, or cowardice, binding it down with ten thousand subtle
fastenings to the earth, nor suffering it such motion as might suffice it for a
renewal of the contest. Such, in its worst forms, is the condition of the
obdurate sinner; who, feeling his weakness, but forgetting that he ever had
strength, and the promise of aid from above, at length learns to acquiesce in
his misery as if the lot of his nature, and resolves neither to regret nor to
hope. Next he amuses his reason with the melancholy employment of reducing his
impressions into system; and proves, as he thinks, from the confessed influence
of external events, and the analogy of the physical world, that all moral
phenomena proceed according to a fixed law, and that we are not more to blame
when we sin than when we die.
19. (2.)
The Calvinistic doctrine, if not the result, is at least the forerunner of a
similar neglect of the doctrine of human responsibility. Whatever be the
fallacies of its argumentative basis, viewed as a character of mind, it
miscalculates the power of the affections, as fatalism does that of the
passions. Its practical error is that of supposing that certain motives and
views, presented to the heart and conscience, produce certain effects as their
necessary consequence, no room being left for the resistance of the will, or
for self-discipline, as the medium by which faith and holiness are connected
together. It is the opinion of a large class of religious people, that faith
being granted, works follow as a matter of course, without our own trouble; and
they are confirmed in their opinion by a misconception of our Church's 12th
Article, as if to assert that works "spring out necessarily of a true and
lively faith" could only mean that they follow by a kind of physical law.
When this notion is once entertained, it follows that nothing remains to be
done but to bring these sovereign principles before the mind, as a medicine
which must work a cure, or as sights which suddenly enlighten and win the
imagination. To care for little duties, to set men right in the details of
life, to instruct and refine their conscience, to tutor them in
self-denial,—the Scripture methods of working onwards towards higher knowledge and
obedience,—become superfluous, nay, despicable, while these master visions are
withheld. A system such as this will of course bring with it full evidence of
its truth to such debilitated minds as have already so given way to the
imagination, that they find themselves unable to resist its impressions as they
recur. Nor is there among the theories of the world any more
congenial to the sated and remorseful sensualist, who, having lost the command
of his will, feels that if he is to be converted, it must be by some sudden and
violent excitement. On the other hand, it will always have its advocates
among the young and earnest-minded, who, not having that insight into their
hearts which experience gives, think that to know is
to obey, and that their habitual love of the Truth may be measured by their
momentary admiration of it. And it is welcomed by the indolent, who care not
for the Scripture warnings of the narrowness of the way of life, provided they
can but assure themselves that it is easy to those who are in it; and who
readily ascribe the fewness of those who find it, not to the difficulty of
connecting faith and works, but to a Divine frugality in the dispensation of
the gifts of grace.
20. Such
are some of the elements of that state of mind which, when scientifically
developed, assumes the shape of Calvinism; the characteristic error, both of
the system and of the state of mind, consisting in the assumption that there
are things external to the mind, whether doctrines or influences, such, that
when once presented to it, they suspend its independence and involve certain
results, as if by way of physical consequence; whereas, on studying the New
Testament, we shall find, that amid all that is said concerning the inscrutable
decrees of God, and His mysterious interposition in the workings of the human
mind, still every where the practical truths with which Revelation started are
assumed and recognized; that we shall be judged by our good or evil doings, and
that a principle within us is ultimately the cause of the one and the other. So that it is preposterous in us to attempt to direct our course by
the distant landmarks of the Divine counsels, which are but dimly revealed to
us, overlooking the clear track close before our eyes provided for our need.
This perverse substitution in matters of conduct of a subtle
argumentative rule for one that is plain and practical, is set before us, by
way of warning, in the parable of the talents. "Lord, I knew Thee
that Thou art a hard man ... and I was afraid, and went and hid Thy talent in
the earth."
21. (3.)
Another illustration may be given of the systematic disparagement of human
responsibility, and the consequent substitution of outward events for the
inward rule of conscience in judging of conduct.
The
influence of the world, viewed as the enemy of our souls, consists in its hold
upon our imagination. It seems to us incredible that any thing that is said
every where and always can be false. And our faith is shown in preferring the
testimony of our hearts and of Scripture to the world's declarations, and our
obedience in acting against them. It is the very function of the Christian to
be moving against the world, and to be protesting against the majority of
voices. And though a doctrine such as this may be perverted into a contempt of authority, a neglect of the Church, and an
arrogant reliance on self, yet there is a sense in which it is true, as every
part of Scripture teaches. "Thou shalt not
follow a multitude to do evil," is its uniform injunction. Yet so irksome
is this duty, that it is not wonderful that the wayward mind seeks a release
from it; and, looking off from what is within to what is without, it gradually
becomes perplexed and unsettled. And, should it so happen that the face of
society assumes a consistent appearance, and urges the claims of the world upon
the Conscience as if on the ground of principle and system, then still greater
is the difficulty in which it has entangled itself. Then it is that acts which,
exhibited in individual instances, would have been condemned as crimes, acquire
a dignity from the number of the delinquents, or their assumption of authority,
and venture to claim our acquiescence as a matter of right. What would be
insubordination, or robbery, or murder, when done by one man, is hallowed by
the combination of the great or the many.
22. Thus,
for instance, what is more common at the present day than for philosophers to
represent society as moving by a certain law through different stages, and its
various elements as coming into operation at different periods; and then, not
content with stating the fact (which is undeniable), to go on to speak as if
what has been, and is, ought to be; and as if because at certain eras this or
that class of society gains the ascendancy, therefore it lawfully gains it? whereas in truth the usurpation of an invader, and the
development (as it is called) of the popular power, are alike facts, and alike
sins, in the sight of Him who forbids us to oppose constituted authority. And
yet the credulous mind hangs upon the words of the world, and falls a victim to its sophistry; as if, forsooth, Satan
could not work his work upon a law, and oppose God's will upon system. But the
Christian, rejecting this pretentious guide of conduct, acts on Faith, and far
from being perplexed to find the world consistent in its disobedience,
recollects the declarations of Scripture which foretell it.
23. Yet so
contrary to common sense is it thus to assert that our conduct ought to be
determined merely by what is done by a mixed multitude, that it was to be
expected that the ingenious and eager minds who practically acknowledge the
principle, should wish to place it on some more argumentative basis.
Accordingly, attempts have been made by foreign writers to show that society
moves on a law which is independent of the conduct of its individual members,
who cannot materially retard its progress, nor are answerable for it,—a law
which in consequence is referable only to the will of the Creator.
"Historical causes and their effects being viewed, at one glance, through
a long course of years, seem," it has been said, "from their steady
progression, to be above any human control; an impulse is given, which beats
down resistance, and sweeps away all means of opposition; century succeeds to century,
and the philosopher sees the same influence still potent, still undeviating and
regular; to him, considering these ages at once, following with rapid thought
the slow pace of time, a century appears to dwindle to a point; and the
individual obstructions and accelerations, which within that period have
occurred to impede or advance the march of events, are eliminated and
forgotten."
24. This is
the theory; and hence it is argued that it is our wisdom to submit to a power
which is greater than ourselves, and which can neither be circumvented nor
persuaded; as if the Christian dare take any guide of conscience except the
rule of duty, or might prefer expediency (if it be such) to principle. Nothing,
for instance, is more common than to hear men speak of the growing intelligence
of the present age, and to insist upon the Church's supplying its wants; the
previous question being entirely left out of view, whether those wants are
healthy and legitimate, or unreasonable,—whether real or imaginary,—whether they
ought to be gratified or repressed; and it is urged upon us, that unless we
take the lead in the advance of mind ourselves, we must be content to fall
behind. But, surely our first duty is, not to resolve on satisfying a demand at
any price, but to determine whether it be innocent. If
so, well; but if not, let what will happen. Even though the march of society be
conducted on a superhuman law, yet, while it moves against Scripture Truth, it
is not God's ordinance,—it is but the creature of Satan; and, though it shiver
all earthly obstacles to its progress, the gods of Sepharvaim
and Arphad, fall it must, and perish it must, before
the glorious fifth kingdom of the Most High, when He visits the earth, who is
called Faithful and True, whose eyes are as a flame of fire, and on His head
many crowns, who smites the nations with a rod of iron, and treadeth
the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
My object
in the foregoing remarks has been to illustrate, in various ways, the operation
of an all-important truth; that circumstances are but the subject-matter, and
not the rule of our conduct, nor in any true sense the
cause of it. Let me conclude with one more exemplification of it, which I
address to the junior part of my audience.
25. (4.) In
this place, where the stated devotional services of the Church are required of
all of us, it is very common with our younger members to slight them, while
they attend on them, on the ground of their being forced upon them. A like
excuse is sometimes urged in behalf of an unworthy participation of the Lord's
Supper, as if that communion could not reasonably be considered real, or
dangerous to the impenitent, which was performed under constraint.
26. Now,
let such an apologist be taken on his own ground. Let it be granted to him, for
argument's sake, though in no other way, that this general exaction of
religious duties is unwise; let him be allowed the full force of his objections
to a system, which he has not yet experience to understand. Yet do these outward
circumstances change the nature of the case in any practical respect, or
relieve him of his responsibility? Rather, is it not his plain duty to take
things as he finds them, since he has not the power of changing them; and,
leaving to his superiors what pertains to them, the task of deciding on the
system to be pursued, to inquire how he ought to act under it, and to reflect
what his guilt will be in the day of account, if week after week he has come
into the presence of God with a deliberate profanation in his right hand, or at
least with irreverence of manner, and an idle mind?
27. And,
again, as regards the Holy Communion, how do the outward circumstances which
bring us thither affect the real purpose of God respecting it? Can we in
earthly matters remove what we dislike, by wishing it away?—and shall we hope,
by mere unbelief, to remove the Presence of God from His ordinance? As well may
we think of removing thereby the visible emblems of bread and wine, or of
withdrawing ourselves altogether from the Omnipresent Eye of God itself. Though Christ is savingly
revealed in the Sacrament only to those who receive Him in faith, yet we have
the express word of Scripture for saying, that the thoughtless communicant, far
from remaining as if he did not receive it, is guilty of the actual Body and
Blood of Christ,—guilty of the crime of crucifying Him anew, as not discerning
that which lies hid in the rite. This does not apply, of course, to any one who
communicates with a doubt merely about his own state—far from it!—nor to those
who resolve heartily, yet in the event fail to perform, as is the case with the
young; nor to those even who may happen to sin both before and after the
reception of the Sacrament. Where there is earnestness, there is no
condemnation; but it applies fearfully to such as view the Blessed Ordinance as
a thing of course, from a notion that they are passive subjects of a regulation
which others enforce; and, perhaps, the number of these is not small. Let such
persons seriously consider that, were their argument correct, they need not be
considered in a state of trial at all, and might escape the future judgment
altogether. They would have only to protest (as we may speak) against their
creation, and they would no longer have any duties to bind them. But what says
the word of God? "That which cometh into your mind, shall not be at all,
that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the
families of the countries, to serve wood and stone." And then follows the
threat, addressed to those who rebel:—"As I live, saith
the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with
fury poured out, will I rule over you … And I will cause you to pass under the
rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant."
28. And
these words apply to the whole subject which has engaged us. We may amuse
ourselves, for a time, with such excuses for sin as a perverted ingenuity
furnishes; but there is One who is justified in His sayings, and clear when He judgeth. Our worldly philosophy and our well-devised
pleadings will profit nothing at a day when the heaven shall depart as a scroll
is rolled together, and all who are not clad in the wedding-garment of faith
and love will be speechless. Surely it is high time for us to wake out of
sleep, to chase from us the shadows of the night, and to realize our
individuality, and the coming of our Judge. "The night is far spent, the
day is at hand,"—"let us be sober, and watch unto prayer."
(Preached on Sunday, November 4,
1832, in his turn as Select Preacher.)