Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

"me.

by the Almighty as victims devoted to perdition,such thoughts would make us miserable indeed. They would sharpen the arrows of adversity, and mingle poison into the bitter cup which we are doomed to drink. Then might we cry out with Job, in the hour of despair, "I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, "I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. The "terrors of the Lord set themselves in array against The arrows of the Almighty are within me, "the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. Why "hast thou set me as a mark against thee? My soul "chooseth strangling and death rather than life." These doubts and terrors are now removed. Fear not, O man! who strugglest under the adversities of life, I bring you good tidings of great joy; the afflictions which thou endurest are not the stripes of an hard master, who seeks thy destruction; they are the chastisements of a kind father, who punishes only to reform. The God of love has no pleasure in the misery, or in the death of his creatures. His eye overflows with pity, whilst his hand is lifted up to strike. Whilst he bruises, he binds up the wound. surely will administer consolations to the wounded in mind, and speak peace to the broken in heart, when they reflect that the evils in their lot are a part of His providence, who doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men; that they are not marks of his wrath, but indications of his love.

This

Further, As a consolation to the afflicted and distressed, Christianity assures us, that the various occurrences in human life are not accidental, nor detached events, but parts of a great plan that was concerted in the councils of Heaven before the world began, and is going on from age to age. If the moral world were a chaos without form, and void of order; if every event in life was separate, unconnected, and final, men, under the pressure of affliction, would often have occasion to complain. But, when we take in the discoveries of revelation, and behold a general order of things established, and a great plan going on;

[ocr errors]

This

when we consider that every particular event is a part of the great system of Providence, and conduces to form a perfect whole; when we call to mind that not part of our life is an ultimate event, but has a reference to a future state, and is only the means to an end, we will acquiesce in the established order of nature, and follow on, active and cheerful, wherever we are called by Providence. In the early part of our life, when we are under the discipline of a master, we are instructed in arts, and trained to exercises, of which we know not then the meaning, nor the use. life is but the infancy of our being, and a state of mo ral discipline for a better world; let us not therefore be surprised or murmur, if many things fall out which seem adverse to our present good. When the Christian considers that the sufferings of the present life are connected with the enjoyments of heaven, and with the improvements of eternity, the unfavourable and hostile appearances of this world will vanish from his view, Familiarised to this grand and magnificent system of things, he will not complain concerning the conduct of Providence, nor think the universe in confusion when he is in disorder. He does not look upon himself, as self-love would suggest, as a whole, separated and detached from every other part of nature; he regards himself in the light in which he imagines the great Spirit of the world regards him. He enters into the sentiments of the Divine Being, and considers himself as a particle, as an atom in an infinite system, which must, and ought to be disposed of according to the good and the conveniency of the whole.

Lastly, As a ground of joyful consolation to the distressed, let me remind you, that afflictions are not only requisite parts of our education for heaven, but that they are also necessary means of our improvement in the virtues and graces of the divine life. Adapted to the progressive and probationary state of fallen man, the administration of Providence assumes a variety of forms. Light and shade, the sunshine of prosperity, and the storm of adversity, succeed each

other, and chequer the scene of human life. In this mixed dispensation of suffering and enjoyment, the wisdom of Providence shines conspicuous. Were we always to be favoured with the smile of prosperity, and the candle of the Lord ever to shine upon our head; we would be apt to grow intoxicated with pride, to prove ungrateful to the Author of our being, and reserve to ourselves some part of that incense which we ought to burn upon his altars. On the other hand, were we always to be under the cloud of adversity, were Providence for ever to frown upon our designs, we would be ready to resign ourselves to despair, and cry out with the good men of old, "Is the "mercy of Heaven clean gone? Will he be favour"able no more?" This mixed dispensation of Providence is not only most favourable to religion, but is also best adapted to the nature of man. Man is made for suffering as well as for action. There are many principles in the human frame, many faculties of the mind, and many qualities of the heart, which would lie for ever latent, were they not called forth to action by the adversities of life. Man was never destined by his Maker to slumber on the couch of repose, and to bask in the sunny season: He was appointed to labour and to action; to struggle with the tempest, to weather with the winter of affliction; to encounter peril; to endure pain, and, by Christian magnanimity and heroism, by patience, by perseverance and invincible vigour, to reach the crown of glory which is reserved on high for all the sons of God. The afflictions of life present an occasion for this spirit to exert itself; and for these graces to appear. If there were no adversities in human life, the scene of action would be limited, the career of virtue would be shortened, and a wide field of moral glory be lost to the world. Had we no trials in our lot, what need were there for the exercise of patience and resignation to the Divine will, which form such a striking part of the Christian character ? Had we no afflictions to encounter, and no evils to fear, what occasion would there be for that strength

VOL. II.

Nn

[ocr errors]

of mind which enables us to brave the dangers of life, to bid defiance to the evil day, and to repose, at all times, firm and unshaken, upon the arm of the Almighty? Were there no dangers to combat, why should we take unto ourselves the whole armour of God, the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation? Not only does adversity present the occasion of spiritual improvement, but has also in every age produced an host of saints, who, clothed with this divine armour, have fought the good fight, and have come forth conquerors. You have recorded to you the faith of Abraham; you have recorded the meekness of Moses; you have recorded the patience of Job; but had it not been for the trials which they underwent, the dangers they had to combat, and the distresses they had to bear, their glory might have perished, and their names been lost in oblivion. As the nightingale, it is said, when bereft of her young, fills the woods with the music of woe, and, from the impulse of sorrow, warbles her sweetest strains; so, from the wounded mind, and from the broken spirit, the favour of devotion, and the eloquence of prayer, come up with such pathetic memorial before the throne, that the Divine ear listens delighted. True religion, true virtue, brightens in distress; she emerges from the deep with tenfold radiance, and never shines with such transendent, such triumphant, such immortal beauty, as when wandering through the darkness of an eclipse. You see, then, that in these paths you are in the company of the good, and are encompassed with a cloud of witnesses. You are not left alone to climb the arduous ascent. On these mountains, the feet of patriarchs, the feet of prophets, and the feet of martyrs, have trode. On these mountains, a greater than patriarchs, than prophets, than martyrs, appeared.

The fourth and last thing proposed, was, To consider Christianity as affording a joyful consolation against the fear of death.

Many and various are the evils to which human

life is subjected. To finish the mighty sum of them, and to make the scene end with pain, as it began with sorrow, comes the evil of death. The king of terrors, with his black train of attendants, even when seen at a distance, makes the firmest knee to shake, and the stoutest heart to tremble; and, when exerting his influence upon feeble minds, and assisted by the power of the imagination, has kept multitudes, all their days under the cloud of melancholy, and under subjection to bondage. It is the great excellence of the Christian Religion, that as it affords consolation in all the evils of life, so it also provides a remedy against the fear of death.

Hence the prophet, looking forward unto the days of the Messiah, breaks out into these strains of exultation : "I will redeem them from death: I will ransom them "from the power of the grave: O death, I will be

thy plague! O grave, I will be thy destruction!" "Hence, says the Apostle Paul, Forasmuch as the "children were partakers of flesh and blood, he him"self also took part of the same, that he might de"stroy him that had the power of death, that is the "devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

The evils attending death to men, in a state of nature, are manifold.

One of these is the uncertainty of our future destination. Reason gives us little information concerning the state of the soul when it departs from the body. We see the body mingle with its kindred elements, and return to the dust from whence it was taken. But what becomes of the soul? Does it too cease to exist, and vanish into air? Or does it still live and act in another scene? Here we are lost in conjectures and uncertainty. We see the traveller involved in the cloud of night, but we know not assuredly of any morning that awaits him. The ocean spreads before us vast and dark, but we know not with certainty if it will waft us to any shore. What a disconsolate situation of mind is this! Afflicted

« AnteriorContinuar »