little saved remnant, from that deluge which destroyed a world of ungodly men, in the ark which God commanded; which that "preacher of righteousness prepared for the saving of his house;" and which Providence conducted and preserved amidst the wild uproar of contending elements-and with him perceived the wrathful storm spending its fury, and the dawning light of a day of mercy returning. We have seen the renewed, restored world, again overspread with violence, ignorance, impiety, and idolatry: and the hope of the human race ready to be extinguished in the person of a wandering, aged, childless man; that in the decay of exhausted, expiring nature, the world might be made to see, and to acknowledge the vigour, the infallibility, the unchangeableness of God's covenant of promise. We removed with that illustrious exile from place to place, and with joy beheld his faith crowned at length with the promised seed," in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed." From that "tender plant," that "root out of a dry ground," we saw a succession of fair and fruitful branches arise, while we studied the noiseless, sequestered, contemplative life of Isaac, and the active, variegated, chequered life of Jacob, his younger son. In the affliction of Joseph we felt ourselves afflicted, in his exaltation we rejoiced, and by his virtues and piety, in every variety of human condition, we received at once instruction and reproof. The sweet historian, who had disclosed all these wonders of antiquity to our view, opened to us all these stores of knowledge, all these sources of delight, comes forward himself at last upon the scene, and continues to minister to our pleasure and improvement, by a faithful and affecting detail of his own eventful story, and a candid display of his own sentiments, character, and conduct. What heart so hard as not to melt at sight of yonder weeping babe, a deserted, exposed, perishing Hebrew child, floating down the stream! What heart does not glow to see him the pride and ornament of Pharaoh's imperial court, instructed in all the learning of the Egyptians! What bosom catches not the hallowed ardour of patriotic fire from the intrepid avenger of his country's wrongs! In whatever situation or character we view him, whithersoever we follow his steps, we feel ourselves attracted, delighted, instructed. He furnishes us with the history of his brother Aaron and his family, and of the establishment of the Levitical priesthood, a type of the everlasting and unchangeable priesthood of the Redeemer. We attended the venerable pair of brothers to the top of the mountain, and beheld Aaron stript of his pontifical robes, resigning his charge, closing his eyes in death; and heard Moses himself warned to prepare for his departure. Not only by a display of worth and excellence, but by a delineation of vice, by the exhibition of a "heart deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," has he conveyed to us the means of instruction and improvement; in presenting us with the portrait of Balaam, who "loved the wages of unrighteousness." In the character of that bad man, we behold the humiliating union of great talents and a corrupted heart; prophetic gifts and moral depravity; knowledge of the truth, and wilful adherence to error; admiration of virtue, and fixed habits of vice; an earnest wish to "die the death of the righteous," with a deliberate determination to live the life of the wicked; and all this mystery of iniquity explained in one short sentence; his heart went out after its covetousness. All these have passed in review before us; and their existence, in succession to one another, occupies a space of two thousand five hundred years. But the text collects them, and us, and all succeeding generations of men, into one great co-existent assembly, to undergo a judgment infinitely more solemn than ever was pronounced from human tribunal! a judgment infallible, final, irreversible; which shall bring to trial, and condemn all hasty, rash, erroneous judgments of men, clear injured innocence, bring to light and reward hidden worth, abase insolence and pride, detect and expose hypocrisy. Let the prospect of it direct all our inquiries, animate all our exertions, dictate all our decisions on the character and conduct of other men, and influence, form, and govern our own. Thus the review of preceding personages and events, and the prospect of those to come shall be animated, improved, sanctified; thus shall we feel our interest in, and connexion with the church of God universal, of every age, and converse with Moses and the prophets as our contemporaries, countrymen, and friends, whom we shall shortly join, and be united to them in bonds of pure and everlasting love. Recollecting times past, anticipating ages to come, let us draw near and consider this great sight, and may God grant us to feel and improve. its influence. The imagery of the scene is sublime and striking. "I saw a great white throne." "A throne," royal state, established empire, acknowledged sway, the right and power of judgment united, universal, everlasting, uncontrollable dominion. A "great" throne. The seat of kings is raised a little above the people; that of Solomon had six steps; ivory and gold lent their combined aid to enrich and adorn it. But what is the glory of Solomon? his throne, once the seat of wisdom, to whose oracular voice foreign potentates and their nations listened with admiration and respect, was at length dishonoured, degraded, defiled by the impurities of idolatry, and by the imprudence and apostacy of him who sat upon it; and thus deprived of one of its firmest supporters, it shook under him, and he at length dropped from it, a monument of the nothingness and vanity of human grandeur, wealth, and wisdom. Ten of its twelve props slipt from beneath it, through the imprudence of his son; and, after a few convulsive struggles, it sunk at length into the dust, a poor, precarious, subordinate throne, subject to the lordly state of an Assyrian prince. What is the glory of angels that excel in strength? Delegated power, derived splendour, imparted wisdom, dignity under authority. But, behold on yonder radiant throne, one "made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." "He maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness, is the sceptre of thy kingdom." "Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Behold "the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up," surrounded with the seraphim, crying continually unto one another, and saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his goodness." 1 "A great white throne," the emblem of purity, truth, and righteousness; itself unsullied, and purifying all that approach it. "Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne; mercy and truth go before his face." "Shall not the Judge of the whole earth do right?" With the purest intention, with the highest degree of human sagacity, with the most extensive knowledge of the law, and the most determined resolution faithfully to apply it, earthly tribunals are not secure from error; craft may overreach wisdom; hypocrisy may disguise the truth, or cover falsehood; the stream of justice may be diverted or forced out of its channel, and the pellucid tide undergo a temporary pollution. The princes of this world must see with the eyes and hear with the ears of other men; the worthy and the wise may, of course, be kept at a distance, while demerit, wickedness, and folly bask in the sunshine of royal favour. But yonder radiant throne applies an infallible test to all that approach it: hypocrisy drops the mask, the windings of deceit and cunning stand exposed, the brazen, imposing forehead of impudence is covered with a blush, and the stony, unfeeling, unrelenting heart is dissolved into water-modest worth rears its drooping head, conscious integrity expands its glowing bosom, and purity seeks the source from which it sprang. Observe the difference; mark the changes which these undergo, as they draw nigh; see the hardened sinner, cased in sevenfold adamant, adyancing with intrepid step, striving to make assurance pass for innocence. But, lo, the rays of that white throne have fallen upon him; the spots begin to appear, they grow blacker and blacker, he gradually becomes abominable and more abominable; odious to the beholder, a terror to himself, he shrinks from inquiry, darkness is diffused around from the brightness of that light; he calls upon the mountains to fall upon him, and upon the hills to cover him. Not so the humble, follower of the Lamb. His countenance becomes more and more serene, his confidence increases, every blemish disappears, "the glory of the Lord is risen upon him," his lustre brightens as he proceeds, at length he is united to, he is lost in the fountain of joy. "No man "I saw him that sat on it." hath seen God at any time." Remove that cloud, that vapour, and I am unable steadfastly to behold the face of the sun; how much more, the face of Him who arrays the sun in all his effulgence! If he raise his voice a little louder in the whirlwind, or in the thunder, I am overwhelmed and lost. Ah! it is conscious guilt that appals me, that clothes the face of God with terror, that roars in the tempest, that raises the voice of the mighty thunder: but, "reconciled unto God," "justified by faith," I "have peace with God," I see as I am seen, I know as I am known; "beholding with open face as in a glass the glory of the Lord," lo, the believer is gradually "changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." 66 Did the pomp and wisdom of an earthly potentate dazzle and delight the eyes of a sovereign like himself, and constrain one inured to scenes of magnificence to cry out, "It was a true report that I heard in mine own land, howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and behold the half was not told me!" What then will it be to see, with the beloved disciple, "a great white throne, and him who sits upon it," with the myriads of the heavenly host bending before it, rejoicing without trembling. Grant me, gracious God, now to see thee in these thy lower works, in the wonders of thy providence, in the exceeding riches of thy grace, in the face of thy Son Christ Jesus, and thereby prepare me for seeing thee as thou art, and for being made like unto thee! Place me with thy servant Moses upon a rock, put me in a clift of the rock, cover me with thy hand while thou passest by, remove thy hand, that I may trace thy presence in the blessings thou hast left behind thee, that | illiterate, the slave and his master. But I may be strengthened to meet the direct rays of thy countenance, when thou comest to "be glorified in thy saints, and admired in all them that believe. "From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." "All these things shall be dissolved. The heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." "They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same." God "spake and it was done; he gave commandment and it stood fast." "At his word earth and heaven rose out of chaos," and lo, he looks them into nothing again; they shrink from his presence, they vanish at his nod, they cannot abide the brightness of his coming. They have fulfilled their day, they have accomplished the purpose of him who made them, they have contributed their aid toward the rearing of a more glorious fabric, and having become unnecessary, that moment disappear. these marks of difference are for ever abolished. Indeed they were long before abolished. Before that great and notable day of the Lord came, before the judgment was set, or the books were opened, disease and death, and the grave had levelled all the distinctions of this world; had reduced the sceptred monarch to the condition of the peasant, annulled the difference between the slave and his master. The decisive hour is now come which is for ever to determine who is henceforth to be accounted small, and who great: the hour that shall bring to light hidden worth, and thrust presumptuous pride into outer darkness; that shall exalt the good to the throne of God, and plunge the wicked into the depths of hell. The dead small and great. Even the awful distinction between the dead and the living shall then be done away. They were dead, but are alive again; "for all live to him." Behold the mouldering earth, before it be for ever dissolved, restoring to existence every particle of itself which once entered into the composition of a human being, which was once animated with the breath of life. Behold the spacious sea, before it be for ever The local and transient effects of an earth-dried up, surrendering its hidden treasure, quake, a hurricane, an inundation, are striking, impressive, and permanent: proud cities levelled to the earth, or swallowed up of it: fertile plains overwhelmed with a briny or a fiery tide; the glory of man sought, but not to be found. But what is this to the dissolution of a globe? Surely the balance must be destroyed, a blank in nature take place, and wild uproar ensue. No, the vision represents a whole system passing away; that sun, and all the surrounding planets, and innumerable other 66 'planets circling other suns," lost, yet not missed; fled, "as the baseless fabric of a vision," and not a wreck left behind; and yet no schism, no deficiency in the body; for the promise of the Eternal immediately repairs the loss; he makes "all things new;" "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." With the heavens and the earth, the little, fading interests and distinctions of the world vanish also. Before his face all is reduced to one level, all is composed and tranquillized; every one reads his doom in the face of the sovereign Judge. The heavens and earth have fled away, but the rational beings which peopled them remain; they are of a more enduring substance, they partake of the nature of God himself, they are immortal, eternal like him. "I saw," says John, "the dead small and great stand before God." When time was, these were distinctive characters. There was the infant of days, and the hoary head, the inhabitant of the palace, and of the cottage, the learned and the not the silver, and gold, and jewels which its vast womb contains, but the innumerable myriads of men and women it had been insatiately devouring during so many ages, and whom it can no longer cover or conceal. The sound of the last trumpet has dispelled their long slumber. See, they emerge from their watery bed, they spring up into newness of life, their eyes again behold the light, the light of an eternal day, they swim through regions of transparent air, they can die no more, they hasten to appear before their Judge. Behold the grim king of terrors, faithful to his trust, giving in the exact register of his wide domain, resigning his awful empire, restoring his captives to life and liberty, and their rightful Lord; not one lost, not one detained: and the great destroyer is at length himself destroyed. And for what purpose this mighty preparation, this second birth of nature, this new creation of God? Behold an assembled world, from the father of the human race down to the youngest of his sons, stand before God. They stand as subjects in the presence of their Sovereign, as expectants before the eternal Arbiter of their destiny. In his eyes, in their own consciences they read their doom; they stand to hear the irreversible decree; their posture speaks acknowledgment of the right of judging, submission to authority, acquiescence in the wisdom and justice of the Judge. But that erect attitude must quickly change into the prostration of dutiful and grateful children, or of foes subdued, of wretches condemned: for lo. The books are opened, and judgment be-| gins. It is spoken after the manner of men. Earthly judges refer to statutes as the rule of their decisions; men are tried by the laws of their country, and because human faculties are lunited and imperfect, the memory unretentive, the understanding liable to error, the heart warped by partial affections, facts must be preserved in written documents, to prevent alteration or mistake, the law expressed in clear and distinct terms, and the cause, not the person, of the party, held up as the object of judgment. But what need of books or of records to assist the memory of Him who is omniscience, to whom are known all his own works, and all the ways of men from the foundation of the world; whose will is the law; and who knows no distinction but that between truth and falsehood, right and wrong? What need of external evidence, of the testimony of others, when every man carries the evidence in his own bosom, and is acquitted or condemned of his own conscience? What, O man, are the contents of these awful books? The words thou art now speaking, the pursuits in which thou art now engaged, the spirit by which thou art now actuated. Thou art every day filling up the record, with thy hand enrolling thine own honour or shame; and the unfolding of that day shall reveal that only which thou thyself hast written. On thyself it rests, whether the last solemn discovery is to cover thee with everlasting contempt, or to crown thee with joy unspeakable, and full of glory: whether the opening of the book of life is to display thy name in golden characters to angels and men, or the register of condemnation consign thee to everlasting punishment. The book that shall be opened is none other than the book of scripture, the infallible rule of faith and manners, and according as thou art conformed unto, fallest short of, or exceedest that standard, so shall thy doom be. In meditating on this subject, let us learn to forbear from exercising this dread prerogative of the Eternal, let us refrain from judging. God has challenged this right with emphatic solemnity as his own: "Judgment is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” "All judg ment is committed unto the Son." "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever, thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judg est another thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judg‐ ment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality; eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness; indignation and wrath: tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. But glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no respect of persons with God." But while by every serious consideration thou art restrained, ignorant fallible creature, from judging another,―by every serious consideration thou art encouraged, constrained to examine and to judge thyself. It may be the means of preventing, of averting the righteous judgment of God. It will lead thee to the discovery of thy own weakness, and thereby become a source of wisdom and strength. It will unfold the deceitfulness of sin, and the treachery of thine own heart, and lead thee in trembling hope to the blood of sprinkling, which taketh away the sin of the world. It will render thee compassionate and gentle to the infirmities of others, because that thou also hast sinned. It will produce "godly sorrow, which worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of." It will render the promises of "mercy to pardon, and of grace to help in every time of need," precious to thy soul. It will help to regulate thy path through life, and diminish the terrors of death They were judged every man according to their works. In this mixed and imperfect state, it frequently happens that the guilty escape, and the innocent suffer. "The fathers eat sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge." Princes play the madman, and quarrel, and fight, and myriads of unoffending wretches pay the forfeit of that folly. But before yonder tribunal every one appears to answer for himself; every one comes to reap the fruit of his own doings. "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O God, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified." "If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” "Have Finally, habitual and rooted impressions mercy upon me, O God, according to thy of a judgment to come, will serve as a suploving-kindness, according unto the multi- port under the rash censures and the unjust tude of thy tender mercies blot out my trans- decisions of men. From the strife of tongues, gressions." "Behold, O God, our Shield, from the hatred of a merciless world, you can and look upon the face of thine Anointed." * Rom. ii. 1-11. retire to the silent feast of a conscience void | unto our God, which sitteth upon the throne, of offence; and with confidence appeal from and unto the Lamb." "What are these which the angry tribunal of a creature like thyself, are arrayed in white robes? And whence to Him who knoweth thy heart, who seeth in came they?" "These are they which came secret, and will reward thee openly. "Bless out of great tribulation, and have washed ed are ye when men shall revile you, and their robes, and made them white in the blood persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, throne of God, and serve him day and night and be exceeding glad for great 16 your re- in his temple: and he that sitteth on the ward in heaven." "Who shalay any thing throne shall dwell among them. They shall to the charge of God's elect! It is God that hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neijustifieth: who is he that condemneth?" Be- ther shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. hold that "great multitude which no man For the Lamb which is in the midst of the can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and throne shall feed them, and shall lead people, and tongues, standing before the them unto living fountains of waters; and throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with God shall wipe away all tears from their white robes, and palms in their hands, and eyes."* crying with a loud voice, saying, Salvation * Rev. vii. 9-17. HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE LXXIII. And they journeyed from mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us: and Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.-NUMBERS XXI. 4-9. THE restlessness, peevishness, and discontent, which men are continually expressing, prove at once the degeneracy and corruption of human nature, and furnish a strong presumption of the immortality of the soul. To behold one generation after another, of moping, melancholy, sullen, surly beings, in the midst of an overflowing profusion of blessings, charging God foolishly, tormenting themselves unnecessarily, and disturbing others maliciously, clearly demonstrates, that man is alienated from his Maker, at variance with himself, and unkindly disposed towards his brother in other words, that he is a fallen, corrupted creature. To behold men, whatever they have attained, whatever they possess, forgetting the things which are behind, and eagerly reaching forward to those which are before, the eye never satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing, is a presumption at least, if not a proof, that we are designed of our Creator for something this world has not to bestow; that some principle in our nature is superior to the gross and grovelling pursuits in which we are warmly engaged, but in which we find and we take no rest: 2 T and thus the very misery we feel is a presentiment of the felicity which we were created to enjoy. But alas! our dissatisfaction with sublunary good things, "the things which are seen and temporal," is not the result of experience, nor the resignation of a mind humbled to the will of God. No, it is the miserable effect and expression of insatiable desire, of unmortified pride, of disappointed ambition. If we arrive at our object, with ease, its value is diminished by the facility of acquisition; if obstacles lie in the way, and possession be removed by distance of time and space, we are quickly discouraged, and timidly give up the pursuit. When empty, there is no end of our complaints; when full, we loathe and reject the best things: if we succeed, our prosperity destroys us with folly, insolence, and self-indulgence; if we fail, we are undone through shame, chagrin, and resentment; if we shun the rock of "vanity" on the one side, we are sucked into the whirlpool of "vexation of spirit" upon the other. The history of Israel is, in truth, the history of human nature. Did they discover a stubbornness which no calamity could tame. 28* |