Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

mischief and scandal, while the tongue administers neither caution nor reproof. Heaven has pointed out a successful remedy against this shameful, deleterious practice, and put it in the power of the hearer to employ: "The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue." (Prov. 25:23.) Let every one, instead of countenancing, promptly discourage this sin. Let them frown upon it. If ever an "angry countenance" was justifiable and praise-worthy, it is so here. Sin, for the most part, is cowardly:-it is conscious of its own shame. Let the whisperer, then, meet your frowning brow, when he comes with his defiling tongue, instead of your open ear, and there will soon be a check to this common, this growing, this wide-spread evil, which indeed destroyeth much good.

Nearly allied to this mischievous character, is the base slanderer: whose " lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it:" who utters false speeches against his neighbor whom he avowedly hates, to the prejudice of his fame, safety, welfare, and that out of malignity, vanity, rashness, ill-nature, or bad design. He is the "ungodly man that diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is a burning fire." What pains does he take to find out something on which he may found a slander, or give some colorable pretext for it. "If none appear above ground, rather than want it, he will dig for it, by diving into what is secret, or looking a great way back, or by evil suspicions and surmises, and forced inuendoes." Ten thousand are the vehicles on which infamous, malignant slander is conveyed. "Of all characters in society, a slanderer is the most odious, and the most likely to produce mischief." "His tongue," says the great Massilon, "is a devouring fire, which tarnishes whatever it touches;-wherever it passes, leaves only desolation and ruin;-blackens what it cannot consume;-a disguised hatred, which sheds in its speeches the hidden venom of the heart; an unworthy duplicity, which praises to the face, and tears to pieces behind the back;-a deliberate barbarity, which goes to pierce an absent brother."- "It is a restless evil, which disturbs society; spreads dissensions through cities and countries; disunites the strictest friendships; is the source of hatred and revenge: fills whatever it enters with disturbance and confusion; and every where is an enemy to peace, comfort, and christian good breeding. It is an evil full of deadly poison: whatever flows from it is infected, and poisons whatever it approaches; that even its praises are empoisoned; its applauses malicious; its silence criminal; its gestures, motions, and looks, have all their venom, and spread it each in their way."

Another sinner, who destroyeth much good, is, the vile seducer, who, like the devil, described by Milton, found in Adam's bower, by Ithuriel and Zephon,

[ocr errors][merged small]

So this incarnate devil enters the abode of peace and happiness, and decoys the darling daughter, or defiles the wife of his unsuspecting neighbor. Do you hear the sighs, and behold the tears of yonder disappointed, broken-hearted parents? Alas! the cruel spoiler came. Their beautiful flower is blasted: their tender plant is withered, and destroyed for ever. Their fond hopes, their pleasing prospects, are all vanished. O had it been death, instead of the beguiling serpent, that had entered their humble mansion, and prostrated their beloved child, their grief and sorrow had been hushed, and their tears dried up long ago. To have laid her in the grave, and embalmed her memory in their tender affections, in their parental bosoms, would have been hailed as a high privilege, a precious boon from heaven, instead of the foul disgrace, the disappointed hopes, and the everlasting reproach under which they must groan, until their hoary heads go down with sorrow to the grave! Behold the grief-worn countenance of that dejected, forlorn, wretched husband! Ah sweet peace and domestic comfort, which once smiled upon his humble abode, and lightened the toils of the day, are gone for ever. The wily serpent, the unsuspected monster in human shape, has unhappily succeeded in alienating the affections, and destroying the fidelity of her who was the desire of his eyes, the wife of his youth. This "poor man had one little ewe-lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: it did eat of his own meat, and drink of his own cup, and lay in his bosom." It was the partner of his joys, the soother of his sorrows, and the solace of his life. Thrice happy days! had they but continued. But, instigated by the devil, and hurried on

by the force of a base passion, the fell destroyer came. The worst that could hap pen was success. He took the poor man's lamb, and pierced his bosom with many sorrows, beclouded his moral atmosphere,―embittered his days, and hurried him to the tomb.

Yonder comes the duellist! Honorable man! he has just slain his brother whom he hated in honorable combat! He has, like a bloody savage, shot him through the heart, and hurried him, unprepared, to meet his righteous Judge. Behold what mischief he has done! That happy family whose earthly prosperity under the smiles of an indulgent Providence, depended upon the fostering care and skilful management of an affectionate husband and kind parent, is now beclouded with sorrow, and threatened with poverty. Ah! who can hear the grief-vented sighs, and behold the flowing tears of that new-made widow; who can hear the tender cries of those fatherless children who so lately prattled on a doting parent's knee, but must, with all his soul, for ever execrate the horrid practice, which has its origin from hell, is the fruit of malignity and hatred, having the name of honor, falsely so called, and, being fostered by pride and ambition, ends in blood and havoc here, and in eternal perdition hereafter. To this rash, mistaken mortal, his great Creator, his righteous Sovereign says, "Thou shalt not kill"-"Vengeance is mine." And, moreover, tells him that, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:" and that "no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." Heaven-daring rebels! who can thus despise their Maker's laws, contemn his authority, assume his right to take vengeance or dispose of life, and in an awful moment, blinded by a mistaken notion of honor, and under the domination of the wicked passions of malice and envy, hatred, ambition, and murder, hurry themselves, stained with each other's blood, before the dread tribunal of their offended Sovereign.

"O shame to men! devil to devil damn'd
Firm concord holds, men only disagree
Of creatures rational, though under hope
Of heav'nly grace: and God proclaiming peace,
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife,
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars,
Wasting the earth, each other to destroy:
As if (which might induce them to accord)
Man had not hellish foes enough beside,

That, day and night, for his destruction wait."

Finally, the sinner who destroys his own soul, awfully verifies the declaration before us. The soul of every man is of incalculable value. This at once appears from the excellency of its nature, the perpetuity of its duration, and the amazing price of its redemption. One single soul outweighs ten thousand worlds, "and twice ten thousand more," and "calls the astonishing magnificence of unintelligent creation poor." "The eternal salvation of one soul," says Dr. Doddridge, "is of greater importance, and big with greater events, than the temporal salvation of a whole kingdom, though it were for the space of ten thousand ages: because there will come up a point, an instant, in eternity, when that one soul shall have existed as many ages, as all the individuals of a whole kingdom, ranged in close succession, will in the whole have existed in the space of ten thousand ages: Therefore, one soul is capable of a larger share of happiness or misery, throughout an endless eternity, for that will still be before it, more than a whole kingdom is capable of in ten thousand ages." How great, then, is the loss of one soul for ever! The gain of all this world, and ten thousand such, with all their boasted enjoyments, would not indemnify one man for the loss of his soul. So our blessed Savior, who knew the worth of souls, has taught us. (Matt. 16:26.) And yet how many are destroying their souls as fast as they can, by daily transgression, by neglecting the only way of salvation, by pride and self-righteousness, inordinate love of the world, by error and delusion, and the various ways suggested by a depraved heart, and devised by the god of this world, who blinds the minds of them that believe not, and leads them captive at his will. But we hasten,

III. To show how the divine apothegm, in the text, is illustrated and verified, in the church of God.

And here the first who meets the eye is the slothful minister, or idle shepherd. He is placed as a watchman on the walls of Zion. His duty is to warn the sinner when the sword cometh; to feed the flock over which he hath taken the oversight; to watch for souls, as one who has to give account; to be instant in season and out of season; to nurture and discipline souls for heaven. But in all this he fails. He seeks his own ease, profit, and pleasure. The church languishes and pines away under his hand. His preaching is calculated neither to edify the body of Christ, nor to convert the sinner from the error of his way. Instead of being an ornament to his profession, and a blessing to the world, "he brings his sacred function into reproach, scattering the flock whom he should have gathered, and destroying whom he should have saved." Should he, moreover, be scandalous in his conduct, by intemperance, covetousness, or lewdness, he offends the people of God, hardens the hearts of sinners, brings a reproach upon the ministry, weakens its influence, and proves a stumbling-block to sinners wherever he goes. Such an one is Satan's best friend, and the greatest enemy of God and man. But if a heretical teacher, who can tell the good he destroys, by "privily bringing in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them." For, alas!" many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." They "handle the word of God deceitfully;" they "cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine of Christ, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." Such false teachers ruin many souls by causing them "to depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." Then it is that "they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." The good Lord have mercy on those ministers, who, denying the proper divinity, and real sacrifice of the Son of God, deny" the Lord that bought them!" If these be not "damnable heresies," then where shall we find any? Yet these are industriously taught, and too successfully propagated under the plausible name of Unitarian, or the more beguiling and unsuspicious name of Christian, assumed by those who are well known in this country to have been long and industriously engaged in disseminating and inculcating the damnable doctrines of Arius and Socinus. One such reverend sinner, active, popular, and influential, at the head of a party, a university, or roving through the country, "handling the word of God deceitfully," deceiving the "hearts of the simple, by good words and fair speeches," (See Rom. 16:17, 18,) can destroy more good than a host of candid, open, avowed infidels. The licentious antinomian, likewise, who teaches that the law is no rule of life to believers under the gospel, that nothing is required in man's salvation but faith in Christ, thereby destroying the obligation to good works and holy living; as also the teacher of universal salvation, which destroys all distinction of character-strikes at the root of all experimental religion—confounds all notions of virtue and vice-saps the foundation of morality -takes off every restraint from vice-opens the flood-gates of iniquity-and speaks peace to the wicked; from such teachers may the Lord speedily deliver our land, and from their poisonous errors save the souls of men!

There is likewise the proud, conceited, ignorant, disputatious sectary. If the people are awake to the concerns of religion-if they are hungering for the bread of life-if they are desirous to be taught "the good and the right way"—instead of promoting their spiritual interests and the good of the church, he forms parties, stirs up strife, distracts the minds of the simple, weakens the bands of brotherly love, and is made rather a successful instrument of satan to depreciate real Christianity. He fights about matters that are comparatively indifferent; offends the pious of other denominations by misrepresenting and ridiculing their religious sentiments, hardens the hearts of the ungodly, and disgusts the people of God, and caricatures the pulpit, by his indecent, fulsome, ridiculous stories and expressions, designed "to court a grin, when he should woo a soul." In the church, likewise, among inferior officers and private members, is to be found many a "Hymeneus and Philetus," with their "profane and vain babblings"—" and their word will eat as doth

its

66

a canker." Many an "Alexander," to weaken the hands of a pious minister, as "the coppersmith" did St. Paul's, when he did him much evil-"for," says he, "he hath greatly withstood our words." Many a contracted, bigoted, imperious, intolerant "Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence-prating against" those who are God's servants, and followers of the blessed Savior, "with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would." (3 John 9:10.) Whose cry is "stand by, I am sounder than thou"- The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we." Who is ready to exclaim-"I only am left"-yes, "they are few indeed, if none belong to Christ who do not belong to their party-that do not see with their eyes-or hear with their ears-that sing not with them—that are not dipped with them, or sprinkled with them-that casteth out devils, and yet followeth not them." This abhorred spirit hath done more mischief in the world than can be possibly estimated. "The readiest way in the world," says the excellent Mr. Jay, "to thin heaven and replenish the regions of hell, is to call in the spirit of bigotry. This will immediately arraign, and condemn, and execute all that do not bow down and worship the image of our idolatry." Such a religion is without judgment, though not without teeth: it bites and devours, and in times past has deluged the church of Christ with the blood of her martyrs! The forbidding sternness of bigotry is yet destroying the peace, the happiness, and the spiritual interests of many. It enters not into the kingdom itself, and others that would go in, it hinders. It not only assumes the authority to dictate, but likewise imposes its dogmas upon others, a wife and children perhaps, under pain of eternal damnation. What a usurpation of power, what an unauthorized stretch of domination is here!

"Let Cæsar's dues be ever paid

To Cæsar and his throne;

But consciences and souls were made
To be the Lord's alone!"

May this implacable spirit, whose ignorance and folly are written in characters of blood-whose ensanguined crest has so long been reared to affright the children of men and whose rash accusations, cruel surmises, and malignant anathemas, have withered and blasted the tender endearments of brotherly love, the fond enjoyments of domestic harmony, and ruined the souls of men, be speedily banished from the earth, to curse the world no more,

"Till joined in Christian fellowship and love,

The church on earth shall meet the church above."

Time would fail, my brethren, and your patience be exhausted, were we to attempt a enumeration of all the evils occasioned by the unhappy conduct of wicked and mistaken men in the church of God. I shall therefore only mention the professor that walketh disorderly. This is a character, alas! too frequently to be met with:-and scarcely is there any one that does greater injury to the church and the souls of men than he. His covetousness, his dishonesty, his lewdness, his intemperance, his inflamed face, and inebriated breath, his carnel conformity to the worldyea, one act of his brings the whole church into disgrace, and makes religion to stink in the very nostrils of those around him. "And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me stink amongst the inhabitants of the land, amongst the Canaanites and Perizzites". The disorderly walk and conduct of professors, forms the most popular and successful objection against christianity. Tis here the Philistines rejoice, and the uncircumcised triumph. Tis here the ungodly laugh, and exclaim, Ah, so we would have it. Chiristianity is stigmatized, and its professors arraigned as hypocrites. The wicked are hardened and emboldened in wickedness, the weak are offended, the saints are dishonored, and the very name of God is blasphemed in the world. See how God himself complains of this in the case of David, (2 Sam. 12: 14.) "Because, by this deed, thou has given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." How great then, must the evil be, when by such conduct a man's own household, and the multitude around him, become discouraged and offended, and set against the very means of salvation!

[blocks in formation]

THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS.

JOHN 6:44 "No man can come to me, except the Father who hath sent me, draw him."

The change, which the Scriptures represent as passing upon every one that becomes a servant of Christ, is radical and thorough. "Born again," ‚” “raised from the dead," "created in the image of God”—these are the terms used to express its greatness. Language not less remarkable and significant is also used to describe the effects of this transformation upon our present condition and future destiny. In consequence of it we become "the children of God," "partakers of the divine nature," and "heirs of glory." The interest naturally excited by any wonderful and momentous event, might lead us to examine, how this change is effected. But we are impelled by a much stronger motive, as we learn that ignorance on this subject may draw after it the ruin of the soul. In regard to the way in which our spiritual renovation is effected, there are two opposite errors, each of them fatal-and one or other of them, men are generally inclined to adopt. The one consists in the notion, that the divine agency is not exerted in the conversion of a sinner-the other in the notion, that human agency is entirely superseded. It will be our object to show that there is a union of both these agencies in conversion—that there is a work of God, the drawing of the soul; and that there is a work of the sinner-the coming unto Christ. GoD's AGENCY IS EXERTed in MAN'S CONVERSION.

1. The general drift of Scripture, exhibiting man as dependent on God for all spiritual good, establishes the truth of this doctrine. Learning and acuteness are valuable for elucidating occasional scriptural difficulties and clearing up occasional obscurities; but these rare gifts are not necessary to an intelligent apprehensio of the leading parts communicated in sacred writ. The poor were to have the gos

« AnteriorContinuar »