Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

gious conference. As the fruit of his labours, he had the hap piness to see a considerable number of hopeful converts added to his church, whom he esteemed his glory and joy.' He showed the same satisfaction in religious revivals in other places: but let it be remembered, that his attachment to religious revivals included no fondness for the irregularities which have sometimes accompanied them. All ostentation and noise, rapturous impressions, enthusiastic flights, all disorderly conduct, every thing contrary to Christian decorum, he disapproved and lamented. At the same time he believed that some such appearances might consist with the saving work of the Spirit, though by no means to be numbered among its fruits.

He possessed an uncommon degree of Christian candour. If indeed candour consist in thinking all religious opinions equally good, and in forming the most favourable judgment of those who are lax in sentiment and remiss in morals, then he did not possess it; but if candour be the operation of an enlarged and judicious mind, and of a benevolent gentle heart, few characters have a better claim to it than he. He was an equitable judge of the characters, and a mild interpreter of the actions of men. Toward them who differed from him in belief, he cherished a generous affection; but he did not hesitate to judge any thing erroneous in the sentiments or practice of others, which really appeared so to him. The scheme of modern liberality, whether in preaching or in books, wounded his benevolent heart, and excited fearful apprehensions concerning the cause of the church. In his view, it stripped the gospel of all its glory. Socinianism he pronounced to be a cold, lifeless, chilling system, the name without the essence of Christianity,' having nothing to arrest the attention and command the heart."It takes away,' he often said, the life and soul of religion.' He considered it as very near the confines of Infidelity. In the spread of this and other forms of Anti-Christian theology, he clearly saw the decay of vital piety, the peril of immortal souls, and the desolation of Zion.

In June, 1792, the corporation of Harvard University harmoniously invited Dr. Tappan to the office of Professor of Divinity; and his learning, his piety, and his aptness to teach, abundantly justified his appointment to that important station.

When he was introduced into the professor's office, the religious character of the university was uncommonly dissolute. For some time, the students had received no regular instruction in theology. Books containing the poison of Deism, were eagerly read; and the minds of many were corrupted: the tide of fashionable opinion began to run in the channel of infidelity. Few dared to be serious advocates for the cause of Christian truth. The great object of the pious founders of the college was forgotten; the glory of the gospel was neglected, or treated with profane ridicule; the Sabbath was generally devoted to

science, to vanity, or to indolence; immorality and disorder, in various shapes, had become prevalent, and mocked the power of persuasion, and the arm of authority. Such was the moral and religious state of the university when Dr. Tappan entered on the duties of his office. The great object which he pursued in his public and private lectures, was to defend the principles of natural and revealed religion, and to lead the students to the knowledge of their Maker and Redeemer. He uniformly appeared to be deeply concerned for the religious interests of the university. His whole official conduct was calculated to conciliate affection, to excite serious regard to religious truth, and to impress the importance of religious duty. He had a just conception of the movements of the juvenile mind. Not expecting youth to overlook their pleasure in their love of improvement, he aimed, in his public lectures, to unite entertainment with information. He happily combined brevity with fulness, and animation with exactness. He was didactic, yet persuasive; profound, and yet pathetic. It was impossible for young men of liberal minds to hear his public lectures with the well adapted and fervent prayers which introduced and followed them, without a conviction that religious truth could be vindicated by argument, and that Christian piety ennobled the soul, and yielded the best enjoyments.

The high esteem and ardent love which he commanded, added much to his salutary influence on the internal state of the university. So much of the father appeared in him, and so remarkably inoffensive was he in all his intercourse with the members of college, that a stigma would have been fixed upon any one who should have reproached him. To revile him would have been a rude assault upon that sacred affection with, which he was cherished and honoured at the university.

During his professorship he was frequently invited to preach in the neighbouring societies, and sometimes in distant places. Wherever he preached, he was remarkably popular. There was not wanting in his preaching something to command the respect of the immoral, to please the taste of the polished, and to refresh the souls of the pious. He willingly laboured in the ministry, even above his strength. It was his highest wish to serve God in the kingdom of his Son. He gladly embraced every opportunity to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to spread the savour of pure religion. He was indeed a burning and shining light!

[ocr errors]

[ocr errors]

But that shining light is extinguished. When his amiable character had become generally known, when his prospect of usefulness was growing brighter, when the sphere of his influence was extending, and the energies of his mind and heart were most constantly and most intensely excrted, his prospect was suddenly overspread with clouds, and his useful life closed.

When ministers are the best qualified to do good in the world, then are they often most ripe for the kingdom of Heaven. To replenish the heavenly mansions, the excellent ones of the earth are taken away.

[ocr errors]

Let us then turn aside, and behold that scene where the good man's character is tried. Though Dr. Tappan's sickness was short, it was long enough to display his humility and faith,to confirm the truths he had preached, and to glorify the Saviour, in whom he had believed. The notice of approaching. dissolution, though very sudden, did not discompose him. With many expressions of humility and self-abasement intermingled, he declared his hope in the infinite mercy of God, through the, atonement of Christ. At the beginning of his sickness, his spiritual prospect was clouded. He had such a sense of the evil of sin, and of his own ill desert, that nothing could afford him the least hope of eternal life but the all-sufficient grace of the Redeemer. In that he found rest to his soul! After such solemn and prayerful examination of himself, as becometh a man hastening to the bar of eternal justice, he found reason to hope that he was the subject of saving religion. At the last, though he showed in a remarkable degree the spirit of a penitent, he had strong consolation.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

When his wife, with unutterable tenderness, expressed some of the feelings which were excited by the thought of parting with him, he said, If God is glorified, I am made for ever! Cannot you lay hold of that?' To his sons he expressed his sorrowful apprehension of the religious state of the college. On being told that the students were more attentive than they had been to the Bible, he replied, Well, the Bible ever has been, and ever will be, the best guide for young men.' He charged his children to be very attentive to their mother; adding, "It is in the power of children to plant a thousand daggers in the hearts of their parents.' In the same interview, he said, I charge you to love God supremely, and to love your neighbour as yourselves; for without these, there is no true religion !?

Dr. Tappan's death was no common calamity. To the surviving partner and children and the other near connexions, no tongue can describe the greatness of the affliction. Youthful genius and virtue mourned the decease of a friend and patron; the church and nation lost one who had sought and prayed for their welfare; the university felt that one of her pillars was fallen; and Religion herself wept over the tomb of Tappan, who had pleaded her cause, lived for her honour, and rejoiced in the hope of her approaching triumph. It is rarely the case that the death of any man is so extensively felt, so generally noticed, and so tenderly lamented.

Dr. Tappan was born April 21, 1752; and died August 27, 1803, aged fifty-one.

9

THE PARABLE OF THE BARREN FIG-TREE

ILLUSTRATED.

In every parable two things must be observed; the literal IN meaning of the words, and the moral they are designed to teach. My intention, in this essay, is to state and illustrate a few propo sitions respecting the fig-tree, and to shew, as I proceed, how they are applicable to the Jews and to ourselves.

1. The fig-tree had a proprietor: A certain man had a fig tree.' He had obtained lawful possession of it, and could dispose of it according to his pleasure.

The Jews had God for their Proprietor. They were his, not only by creation and preservation; but also by their public, so, lemn, and repeated engagements. At Sinai they entered with him into a covenant, in which they promised him universal obedience, exclaiming with one voice, All that the Lord has commanded us, we will do.'

[ocr errors]

Have not we also a Proprietor? Many act as if their persons, their time, their talents, and their substance, were their own; and as if they.were not accountable for the manner in which they employ them. Of such I would ask, Were you created by your own power? Are you upheld by your own exertions? Are the sun, and the rain, and the earth, and the beasts of the field, which all minister to your nourishment and clothing, your property? Could you answer these queries in the affirmative, I would admit that you are your own masters: but is it not obvious, that you are indebted to God for your existence, preservation and comforts? Many of my readers, I trust, are professed Chris tians. Were you not dedicated to God in baptism, and have you not consecrated yourselves to his service, at least in prayer, if not at the communion-table? Do you not profess to be bought with a price,' with a price of infinite value, with the blood of the Son of God?

[ocr errors]

2. The fig-tree was favourably situated. While other figtrees, in those days, grew by the way-side, this was planted in a vineyard, where it had a good soil, where it was protected from the storm, the pillager, and the careless passenger; and where it was attended by a faithful and laborious vine-dresser.

While

The Jews, like the fig-tree, were favourably situated. God left other nations to learn the knowledge of their duty, and the means of performing it, from the unassisted light of nature, he communicated his law to them, appointed a class of men to read it in their hearing, raised up prophets supernaturally inspired to instruct them, and instituted rites and sacrifices emblematical of good things to come.

Are not we also favourably situated? We are not like many nations around us, or like our remote ancestors, destitute of

XVI.

C

divine revelation; but we reside where we enjoy the Gospel in its purity, and without external molestation. Our privileges are far superior to those of the Jews: they had the prediction; we have the accomplishment: they had the shadow; we have the substance:-they had a portion of Scripture; we have the canon complete :- they had an obscure; we have a clear revelation of the divine will. Besides being permitted to attend on public ordinances, from Sabbath to Sabbath, we are allowed to read the written word; and are favoured with many catechisms, and other productions of pious and learned men, suited to the capacities of all sorts of persons. Many of us have been religiously educated, and have had set before us the example of piety in our progenitors. May not God say of us, What could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done?

3. The proprietor of the fig-tree expected it to bear fruit. He sought nothing but what he had a right to expect, considering that he was its proprietor, and that he had placed it in such favourable circumstances.

Faith, repentance, and obedience are the fruit that God requires, Was it not reasonable in God to and expects men to produce.* expect these from the Jews? And may they not be reasonably expected from us?

God expects not merely the leaves of a profession, but the fruits of faith and holiness, from such as enjoy the means of He expects us to be deeply affected with a sense of our grace. unworthiness; to be convinced of our need of a Saviour; to behoid and admire the Saviour whom he has provided; to give a welcome reception to him, who has come in the name of the Lord to save us; to resolve and endeavour to live to his glory, and to walk in his commandments and ordinances blameless. 4. The proprietor was disappointed in his expectations: - he sought fruit and found none; not even one fig. Only real saints and how few of these produce the fruits of faith and holiness ; were there in the Jewish church!

Alas, among ourselves, how few are there who bring forth fruit! How many make no pretensions to faith and holiness! and what multitudes are a reproach to the religion they profess! How deficient in quantity and quality is the fruit produced by the Do not multitudes bring forth what is worse best amongst us! than no fruit, the clusters of Sodom and the grapes of Gomorrha ? They assimilate themselves to the brutes, by gratifying their impure desires, scoff at divine ordinances, and blaspheme that Were cursing and swearsacred name by which we are called. ing, and Sabbath-profanation, were gluttony and drunkenness, were dishonesty, and lying, and perjury, the fruit that God required, he would find more with some individuals, than he finds of faith and holiness in a whole town.

*Acts xvi. 31. Mat. iii. 2. Mat. xxviii. 20.

« AnteriorContinuar »